Fantasy Baseball Today - Live Mock Draft! (03/03 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 3, 2020

We've got a 12-team, H2H Points League mock draft for you on today's show! First, we'll react to the Chris Sale news. And we're joined by a special guest for the entirety of the show as Razzball's B_Don (@RazzBDon) hops on to draft and chat ... Our SP strategy comes into focus. What happens when you can't get as many stud SPs as you'd like? ... How much does position scarcity matter and when does it come into play? And how much do SPARPS (RP-eligible SPs) matter in this format? ... Email us at [e-mail] Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @CBSFantasyBB, @AdamAizer, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday 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/ 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 league. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. Got a live mock draft coming up here on the fantasy baseball today podcast. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the show.

Yeah, big show today. Head to head points, 12 teams, industry experts, plus me. Going at it today, I apparently have the 11th pick, which I guess am okay with. But I got a guest on with me right now, actually waiting for Scott to hop on the podcast. When he does, we'll get the draft started. He goes by B-D-on, and he's from Raz Ball, and he's done a lot of our drafts with us. I'm sure you listeners know him. At Raz B-D-O-N on Twitter, R-A-Z-B-O-N on Twitter.

What's up, B-D-D-on? Hey, man, not too much. You know, just glad to jump on the podcast with you. the resident Razball mock drafter over here. Gray can't be bothered to be jumping in mock drafts. And I think Rudy is fundamentally against mock drafting. So I'm happy to be the one that steps in. And it's always a blast.

I always love drafting. So mocks are always the best kind of result other than maybe best ball because there's no actual playing it out. You can kind of mess with how you're doing it in the draft. You know, you can play with different styles and see how things work out. It's a little frustrating though, because sometimes I experiment and I want to see if it will work in an actual league. And, of course, it's just the mock draft.

And then I'm too chicken to actually do the experiment in an actual draft. So I don't know. Well, yeah, that happens too. Plus, a lot of the leagues, I think that the CBS crew plays out or auctions. So that kind of changes the whole, you know, construct of how you build a team. Now, are you a head-to-head points, Guy? Do you play a lot of these leagues other than the ones you mock on CBS? I do, actually.

I like head to add points. It's the format that I started in. It's the one I've been in for the longest. I do have more roto leagues at this point than I do points leagues. Just kind of the way the industry determines leagues go is typically roto. But I've always enjoyed points. It's a little bit more straightforward for me. I'm a number spreadsheet guy.

So if I can put something in there and just see like the total scores at the end, rather than through the season in roto, you have to make different adjustments on how you're going to get certain categories, how you're going to maybe take away from other people, or what categories you can lose, whereas points is always about just how many points can I put up this week? Joining us now, we have another special guest. You may have heard him on this show. Scott White from CBS is here. Hey, Scott. Did I get your name right? It's actually Scott Waite. Scott Witte. Yeah, yeah. It trips people up often, I know. Yes, or Scott White, maybe, as Heath would say.

we're two and a half minutes away from the start of the draft. Before we do that, guys, Chris Sale is getting an MRI on his elbow. Where do we expect him to go in this draft? Be Don, you can have the first word here. When would you feel comfortable drafting Chris Sale? I think at this point, I was already a little concerned about drafting sale, and I only have him on a maybe one or two of the many, many mocks and drafts that I've done. I think at this point, I'm probably pushing him down.

to a point where I'm probably not going to get them. I'm going to say like the somewhere in the seven to nine round range depending on how many teams in your league. At that point, like the pitchers on the board probably aren't, you know, potential aces. And then it could be worth the upside depending on what the rest of your staff looks like to go ahead and take that gamble on a, on a sale that, you know, still can give you a ton of strikeouts, great ratios when he is in there pitching. Just some concern if that's going to happen this season. So how about you, Darvish, Sunny Gray, Trevor Bauer? They're back to back to back in Scott's rankings. Would you put those guys Darvish, Gray, and Bauer ahead of, or behind Chris Sale?

Darvish and Bauer, yes. Gray, I am just not in on this season. I know that he made some really nice adjustments when he moved over to Cincinnati. But I think people are kind of understand what Cincinnati is doing with their pitchers as well, you know, really emphasizing the top half of the zone, throwing more breaking balls. and I think that may catch up with Sunny Gray of this season. He never really had a special breaking ball. It was acceptable. It was really the number of pitches. I think he had the slider curve balled. He could throw them both.

So I'm a little sketchy on Gray. And if he loses like another tick on his fastball, that puts him in like the 92 mile per hour range. And there's a big difference from, you know, 93 and a half, 94 to 92 and a half, 92. So Gray is one that I'd probably still go with Sale and just hope on the upside or maybe just push that position down my board a little bit longer and wait on it. Scott, you have the first pick. I know you like pitchers. So is Chris Sale out of the conversation for the first pick for you?

Yeah. For the first pick, I would say so. I know exactly what I'm doing with the first pick. It's Mike Trout. Unlike in the TGFBI, of course, that being a 15 team, Roto League. when I switched it up at the last minute and went with Ronald de Cunia. I think Trout is definitely the first pick for this format. Well, you're about to be on the clock, buddy.

I know. So where is Chris? I'm about to make my pick right now. Where's Chris Sale for you? And we'll find out where A. E. E. E. E. Haneo Suarez goes because he had a setback with his shoulder. We'll find out where Aaron Judge goes. We don't have that much information, but apparently he's feeling better, but is likely to start the year on the I.O. One minute on the clock in between picks.

So this draft will go fairly quickly. We are underway. Scott took Mike Trout. when are you thinking about B. And Bidon, by the way, is, oh, he's up now. Okay, so Acuna goes second, which we don't love, by the way, in the head-to-head points format. We like them more in the middle of round one. But Bidon, who you got now with Trout and Acuna off the board, who you didn't take?

I'm all in on the pitching as Scott has been this whole season, especially in the points format. So taking my number one pitch, you're taking Garrett Cole. And I just feel like the bats in a 12-team points format at the end of the draft. even at the end of the draft are still fine. I'll find the hitter hitting, you know, as we go, but you have to lock down the pitching because there's a drop off and you don't want to get caught without those guys.

All right, Acuna 2, Cole 3, de Grom, 4. I have the 11th pick. If Verlander... You just started an early pitching run for be, Don. Somebody's going to get yell at you at a nice value here. Hopefully I may. If Verlander or Scherzer are available at 11, I'll take them.

If not, I'm going to definitely go with a hitter with my first pick. But Scott, sorry, now you can answer. Where for Chris Sale? Well, fortunately, most people are going to be drafting when we have more information, right? Pre-MRI results, it's, it's, his value is either going to, his value is going to be wrong in these mock draft results either way, right? Because if he's, if it's something serious like ligament damage, then maybe he's not getting drafted at all. If it's, if it's just inflammation, he gets a, you know, a cortisone injection. and has pushed back another week or two.

Then he'd still deserve to fall, but probably in the range B. Don was talking about, probably just a little beyond where I have like Mike Clevenger when you start to get to that next tier of pitchers with, like you Darvish and Sunny Gray in that group, Brandon Woodruff, those types. So we're going to react to the picks as they come in. We're going to talk about our strategies. Like ordinarily, if I had the 11th pick and I had to head points league,

in previous years, I'm still going hitter, hitter, and then maybe pitcher, pitcher, pitcher in rounds three and four, but I don't know, like, just listening to Beaton, seeing Jacob deGrom going forth. I don't see how I can't take a pitcher with one of my first two picks. So let's see if we got, we're almost up to me here. The picks after DeGrom at four, Yelich 5, Bellinger 6, Mookie Bet, 7, Alex Bregman, 8, Francisco Lindor, 9, Trevor Story,

So I'm going to take Freeman or Aeronado or Rendon here, but they're all three. Awesome. So maybe I'll just take Verlander or Scherzer, unless I feel like RJ is going to do. You think RJ is going to take two pitchers? Oh, RJ might. He might. Sneaky devil. All right.

All right. So I'm going to take Max Scherzer over Justin Verlander. I think those hitters went in the right order, with the exception of of Ronald Acuna, who went second overall. I think they were the right order for this format. Trout, skipping Acuna, then Yelich, Bellinger, Betts, Bregman. The plate discipline, obviously,

making a big difference in this format, and Betts and Bregman especially excel at that. Okay, so he took Verlander and Rendon. Rendon is great in this format. You're looking for plate discipline in head-to-head points leagues. Walk-to-Strikeout ratio is very important, at least among these elite hitters. So between...

Now it's up to me. It's going to be Aeronado or Freeman, guys. Which way would you, I think I'm just, I think I'm just going to go Aeronado. How would you go there, guys? B. Don, Freeman or Aeronado? I'll go with Aeronado just because of the potential injury concern on Freeman. I still like Freeman plenty, but given those two choices, I think Aeronado is pretty much as lock as it gets.

Scott, I went with Aeronado. They're just so few third base spots for the number of third basemen who need to be rostered. So I guess I'd kind of make a position scarcity argument there, even though it's not like first base is scarce. It's just third base is crazy. Right, right. All right.

So I guess we're cool with either way, sounds like. Round two, Verlander, Aeronado, Jose Ramirez, Juan Soto. So Bidon, you're up in, what, like five picks? Yeah. And you took Garrett Cole with the third overall pick. What do you want to accomplish here in round two? So if Shane Bieber makes it to me, Well, not Bieber because he's gone.

If Flaherty makes it to me, I may go with Flaherty here. Other than that, I'm probably just going with whatever the best bat available is to me. Right now, it would be between, like, J.D. Martinez, Devers, Harper. Freeman's still there. Are you that freaked out by the injury? I thought Freeman went. If Freeman's there, then Freeman would be the next pick. Yeah, he's still there.

Oh, man. Yeah. Okay. So Bieber's a little controversial. Freddie Freeman just went, by the way. You like Shane Bieber, you're on deck, so I'll let you think. But you like Shane Bieber this year? You're in?

Yeah, I'm in. I had questions about him last year, but I think he's answered everything that we have to ask about. And he's just been an absolute stud. He has the control. I think he's really what I think he learned last year was how he has to mix in, you know, pounding the zone with leaving the zone occasionally to get the swing and misses so that you're not, people aren't just sitting in the middle of the zone waiting for you. And so some of the peripherals may show that, you know, he was outside the zone more.

Maybe some of the contact was up a little bit different. But I think part of that was him expanding the zone for himself to become a more unpredictable pitcher. And I'm up now going with J.D. Martinez. I would have taken him potentially in the spot that you were even in at him on the turn. So happy to get him here. Oh, all right. That's almost a full round later. I will check in on round two, Verlander.

Aronado, Jose Ramirez, Juan Soto, Walker, Bueller, who was in fact the fifth pitcher off the board, followed by Bieber, then Flaherty, then Freeman, then George Springer, who I like better in point. I mean, he's a good player either way, but better in points leagues because he might lead the league in plate appearances, and that's another thing that matters in this format. J.D. Martinez to beat on.

Real quick, beat on, would you have taken J.D. Martinez or George Springer, both were available? I would have gone, J.D. I just, the way that my projections go, I have him higher. Okay. Steven Strasbourg goes 23rd and Scott you have Mike Trout and now you're back-to-back picks.

Yeah, so this is you take Chris Sale out of that starting pitcher pool and Who, Patrick Corbyn? It feels 24th. It feels pretty yucky here. Yeah, Patrick Corbyn is who I'm going with first. And I'm tempted to take another starting pitcher

even though it feels too early. It's really early. Yeah, Blake Snell and Chris Sail dealing with elbow injuries. It's so frustrating at this point in the draft. Yeah. Best hitter available is

Trey Turner, Jordan Alvarez, Andrew Bogart's Devers, Charlie Blackman? I'm debating between Trey Turner and Jordan Alvarez. Hate filling my utility spot this early, but he was so in this format especially, and he's

just incredible last year. Turner obviously tends to fall in this format because I think people tend to actually undervalue steals a little bit, but man, I am so worried about what starting pitcher is going to look like when it gets back to me that I think I'm going to pass them all up and take my next up, which is Lucas Gialito.

Doesn't that just feel... It feels awful. How do you feel about that, Bidon? So he got Mike Trow, Patrick Corbyn, and Lucas Gialito. My, how things have changed in fantasy baseball. Yes, absolutely. I actually think it's probably the right move for where he's at. As I mentioned, it seems to be steering very pitching heavy anyways.

So you have to get them. Otherwise, you're just stuck. So you have to put yourself in some of these uncomfortable positions, at least if you've been playing fantasy for a long time. It was always like, oh, you don't take a pitcher until the third round, the fifth round, maybe later. And now it's gone completely reverse. And you have to put yourself in these situations where it really feels awkward.

Like right now, I should take Bryce Harper. I really should take Bryce Harper, but I'm going to take Luis Castillo because I need the pitching. He's the last one I have in that tier before next drop off. So that's where I'm going. Okay.

Would you have taken Lucas Gialito before him? Or who else was in that tier? I would not. I have Castillo ahead of Gialito. Gialito is in that same tier, but I have Castillo ahead of him. Okay, okay. So interesting.

Just as long as we're in the same tier there. Because I was, I was, part of the hesitation was, I wasn't thrilled with Lucas G. Alito specifically. And yet he was the next to my rankings. And it was like, do I go against my own rankings? There's always that debate mid-draft where you're in crisis mode and you're having to, you're getting, it's like a truth serum, you know. I think the question, though, is like how much better, Corbin's pretty proven, I think, you know, even though it's just, it's been two and a half years of him having a ERA understom.

330. So he's really good. Then you got Gialito. Now, what's the difference between Gialito and then probably you could have gotten U. Darvish or, you know, one of these guys, Darvish, Gray, Bauer, something like that with your next pick? Well, we'll see. We'll see. We'll see who's available in 24 picks for you. And then what's the difference? If there's not that big of a difference, maybe you should have waited. However, maybe you want both. Maybe you want Gile, maybe you want Corbyn, Gialito, and then with one of your next two picks, you're also going to take a starting pitcher. I bet you do, right? You'll have three in your first five picks. Well, it just depends who's there.

The rest of this round, so B. Don took Luis Castillo, and since then it's been Zach Granky, Mike Clevenger, Blake Snell, Clayton Kershaw, and Aeronola. Huge pitcher run here. I may not, we may have dropped beyond the point where there's a starting pitcher I feel like I can trust. Somebody just commented there are hitters at this draft, yeah? Yeah, pitcher run here. I am hoping to get Charlie Morton in three picks. If he's not available, you know, it's too early for sale, obviously.

Snell's gone, you said? Blake Snell's gone. Yep. Yeah, if he's not available, I'll probably wait until the next round to grab a pitcher. You just have to realize, like, it's going to feel early, but that means there are going to be hitter values. So you can be okay with that. Pete Alonzo goes off the board.

Ooh, I'm on deck. I really want to get Charlie Morton. Am I on the clock? Oh, Starling Marte. I hate that pick. in a points league, Scott White. Hate that. Charlie Morton is my pick.

Very happy. Starling Marte had his best points league showing, I think, ever last year because the power was his best home run output ever. But it's still, like, he's just, even if you get that again, he doesn't stand out in any real way.

So, yeah, it doesn't. Especially when there aren't that many hitters off the board yet because of, because of what we're doing with starting pitcher. Like Jose Altuve could tell Marte, are still available. Jordan Alvarez, Bogarts, Devers, Charlie Blackman,

who will probably be my next pick. It's either going to be him or Al Tuvei, hopefully. Fernando Tatis is interesting there at 36 overall. Last pick of round three. Scott, how do you feel about that? It's fine. Obviously, he goes earlier in Rodo because of this deal's impact. Not good with the plate discipline,

a lot of strikeouts, so that suppresses his value here. But the overall upside is still very high. and just in terms of the order short stops go off the board. I would put it as the same in this format. Zander Bogartz, you could make a better argument than Enroto to take him over Tatis, but I'm not totally convinced Zander Bogart's power output last year was legit. So I still tend to go Tatis.

All right, so I took Morton in round three, and then the next two picks at the swing were Fernando Tatis with the last pick of round three and Charlie Blackman, which is why I went, at the beginning of round four. So I took Jose Altuve. Aaron Judge, I think, would have been... I mean, I was thinking about taking him, but I'd like to see if he makes it to my pick in round five.

But I thought he would have been really good in round three. It wasn't, you know, obviously with the injury concerns that he's going to fall. U. Darvish comes off the board next. Let me just give people the landscape here. We still have Jordan Alvarez, Bogart, Devers, Ketel Marte, Judge, Chris Bray. Ryan, Rizzo, Glaibre Torres.

I mean, he's going already a lot later than he typically does. Bryce, oh, Bryce, how did I not take Bryce Harper? Because Scott's, I was wondering the same. Because Scott doesn't like Bryce Harper, and he put him too low in his rankings, and now I should have Bryce Harper on my team, and I don't. You know, that really sucks, Scott. All right, everybody out there, if you're higher on- - Make your own rankings, Adam.

Yeah, I'm going to have to. If you're higher on Bryce Harper than Scott is, use your own rankings. Beat on. What's your take? You made a good point earlier about how when all these starting pitchers are going this high, and it's like, oh, man, do I want to reach for this starting pitcher who doesn't seem as good, even when there's these great hitters available? Well, all those great hitters are getting pushed down.

And Bidon and I had this experience Friday when we did an auction for this format. that. And the pitcher values were just totally out of control. Zach Granky went for more than Ronald Acuna. That was probably the most egregious example. But it was situation after situation like that. First and second round caliber hitters getting outpriced by second and third tier starting pitchers. But it's it's still a matter of just how bad your pitching staff is going to look if you don't have enough of those guys and just how unreliable those spots are going to be for you. If you happen to luck into the handful of breakout pitchers off the waiver wire, I mean, Lucas Gielito was one last year. I think there were two or three others.

Okay, but that's such a tight needle to thread and you have to assume none of them are going to anybody else. It's just a very unlikely way to pull it off. If you're having to scrape together a pitching staff with waiver claims who are getting assaulted by home runs every other start. There's just no way you're competing. I don't care how good your starting lineup is. This is a good example of adjusting to what you're seeing in the draft. All right, so B-Don, Bryce Harper is unfortunately off the board, but are you up now? You're on deck?

I'm up at one thing. Let me recap who's gone in the third round. Blackman Altovae. Darvish, Paddock, Devers, Cinderguard. Harper, Bogart's. Ooh, Marcus Simeon, interesting pick from Phil Penebchek. And you are on the clock. And so far, what's your team so far? What are you going to do here? I got Cole Castillo and J.D. Martin on my team so far, knowing that Scott's probably taking a pitcher on this turn, assuming he gets a pitcher he likes here. I'm going to go ahead and take another pitcher and kind of lock up my top three. And then I'll start focusing on the offense.

I'm going with glass now. A ton of concern, but I love, love the guy as a pitcher. The stuff is completely nasty. And if he's in the discussion of like top five pitchers going into 2021, that will not surprise me in the least. He's a bit of a two-pitch pitcher, though, isn't he? I.

Good. Working on a splitter this spring. Well, that's great. A lot of, not that this is encouraging. But even if it wasn't, I mean, like. was a four scene fast about 70% of the time. Yeah. Yeah, I know. Just you wonder. You're going to be glass half empty on Glass Now.

B. Don and I are glass half tall. I like him. I like him a lot. I do. I just like Morton better. I do. Shut up. You are just a bandwagoner right now, Adam. Tyler Glassnow to B. Don, Glaver Torres, to George, and Scott's on the clock with two picks. So Bidon, you have a philosophy like we can write this down. I want three of my top blank starting pitchers kind of deal?

Pretty much. In a points league, I probably am going to end up with three starting pitchers in my first five rounds more often than not. Even in Roto this season, unless the values are absolutely crazy and their pitchers are going off the board like it's a points league, I still kind of go for that same three pitchers in the first five or six rounds. Again, just because the drop-off after that point is pretty steep. I want to get the innings.

I want to get the Ks. And then I'll chase the rest of it, you know, after that, especially in a 12-team format. I don't mind, you know, streaming and finding guys off the waiver wire for the back end. But I want to be able to start, you know, three guys every week and not have to worry about, you know, matchups or anything with them. Barron injury, Cole, Glasnow-Castia will start for me every single, every single week. I just find the pitching's, like, it's the hardest thing to start.

stream in a points league. You can watch matchups and do that with hitting. You know, you can get like a Jack Peterson who will get loaded within a week against Ritey's and you just throw them in as your streamer in the outfield. You can do that. But for pitchers, you're talking about throwing, you know, somebody who you don't want to throw, probably in a matchup, even if the matchup's nice, you're just, it's a terrible place to be sometimes. Yeah. And with the schedule being more spread out than it used to be, the two-star pitching options aren't as good. the streaming two-star pitchers, there just aren't as many of them, because there aren't as many games per week.

It's kind of like a little sneaky thing that we've sort of noticed. It's kind of an unintended consequence, I guess. I don't think... Yeah, I hadn't even considered that. There are a number of factors driving down the value of pitching and making it so that the top-tier players stand out even more from the rest of the pack than they used to. But that's one I haven't considered before.

that's good point. Yeah, so thank you. So I think we should catch up in the last few picks. I wanted to say something about my starting pitching philosophy. I'll basically take what Scott said on the SP preview, four of the top 37 in his rankings. I kind of do it in a tier structure. I'd like one, say like one top 10, two top 20,

three top 30, something like that. I don't want two out of this group to be in my four. Woodruff, Soroka, Burrios, Motos, Lin, Ryu. And then maybe even like Zach Allen. I want one of those guys. If I can avoid it, I don't want to. So I'm looking at the rankings right now. Chris Sale, Sunny Gray, Trevor Bauer, and then that whole group.

So if I want to accomplish my goal of four top 37 and only one of them in that final tier, then I probably need to take Trevor Bauer with my next pick if he's available. I was very surprised of what Scott did. He just took two pitchers, two hitters. Yep. Yorden Alvarez and Cotel Marte at 48 and 49 overall, end of round four, beginning of round five. And I would just read the picks, and then I'll let you talk about it. But Alvarez was the last pick of round four, then Catell Marte, then Wheeler, then Bidon took Ozzie Albiz,

Kluber, Josh Hader, is our first reliever off the board. Austin Meadows, Jose Burrios. By the way, I just changed my mind about who I'm going to pick. I'm going to pick Carlos Carrasco because he's RP eligible. And Sparps are a huge deal. But Scott, you now only have two pitchers in your top five. Your top five picks. You know you're waiting a long time before your six pick because you're at the turn.

You're not going to get four. Yeah, maybe you'll get four of your top 37, but it could be like 36 and 37. Yeah, I'm rolling the dice here. It's a mock. Obviously, I like the value of Jordan Alvarez. I almost took him at the two three turn. So to get them at the 4-5 turn, that was an easy call.

It was between Catele-Marte and my next starting pitcher up, which was Sunny Gray, but this is where the tiers come in handy. I have my little tiers printout here, and I saw that there looked like enough in that same tier with Sunny Gray that I'm hopeful of at least getting one and then maybe getting somebody from that next group that includes like a Zach Gallen, Jesus, Luzardo, Max Fried, that kind of group. If it was for keeps, I probably would have played it safe and taken a pitcher, but mock draft gives you a chance to push the limits, see how far you can take an approach. And I'm giving this one, I'm rolling the dice here, see how it goes.

I got to tell, I don't like round five. I think round five had some picks I just did not like. And there are some really good hitters available now in round six. So round five was Cateel Wheeler, Albies. That wasn't one of the picks I didn't like beat on. Kluber Hayter didn't love it

they actually don't like that one at all Meadows and Hayter doesn't get that many saves because even if he is the closer he throws too many innings that they can't use him and saves are such an important role so he had the lowest fantasy point total for the number one

closer in points leagues in the last 10 years at least last year Meadows, Burrios Rizzo, it's not a bad pick in a vacuum but I don't know. Eloi Jimenez, Jose Abraeu.

Yeah, those two seem very reachy. And I understand, like I think Aloi Jimenez, his ADP is reachy. He's, of course, a elite prospect who had a huge finish to last season. So a lot of people are betting on him, taking another step forward. I'm not with them. I just don't think that's a good use of draft capital. But I can at least understand it. Jose Abraeu, I don't get the argument for it all here.

Bidon, what do you think about those picks about, specifically Anthony Rizzo, veteran points leagues, Eloi Jimenez, Jose Ibrahim. No problem with Rizzo. I actually have him as one of the top. He was one of the top point scores left on my board when he got taken. So no problem with that one at all. Abreu does seem a little bit early. I feel like Abreu is always that guy that you get late that's a value.

And so when you take him early, it just feels weird that he's going where he's supposed to maybe. I'd say the same thing about Carlos Santana in points leagues. Maybe that's catching up a little bit in Roto, but in points he's always been such a stud. He's always been like one of those late first baseman. And when he gets drafted where he should in a points league, it looks really out of place because you're not used to him going in like the, you know, sixth or seventh round in a standard league.

So that's kind of what I have on those. And then I don't remember who the other person was. It was Eloy Jimenez. Oh, Eloy. I think it's probably early for Eloy. depending on where he's, like, depending, because of the people still left on the board, because it was so pitching heavy to start the draft, I don't know that it's the time that I would go for him. But I am a big support of Elo. I think he's probably going to get the average up.

And I think he can probably hit 35 to 40 home runs this season. So I'm kind of pushing in on Eloy, just maybe not to the point that I take him over some of the names still on the board. Well, you mentioned Carlos Santana as somebody who can fall in this format. as good as the walk to strikeout ratio is, like, he should go ahead of Jose Ibrahim. This isn't the format for Jose Ibrahim, who doesn't walk much. It's for a pretty good average,

and so his value moves up in Roto, but Carlos Santana's still out there, right? Also, Josh Bell. Matt Olson's probably out there, right? DJ LeMayh, he's gone, right? He's still there. He went, but not until, not before Obrillo. Okay, so he went after, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, those are more, Those are both, all three, Carlos Santana too. They are better fits for this format than Jose Brayo. All right, Scott's got back-to-back picks. Let's tell you what round six looks like. Chris Bryant, Aaron Judge, to me, I'm a little regretful of that pick because my pitching is not going to be that great, although I do have Carlos Carrasco as an RP.

Bumgarner, Moncada, Sunny Gray, Nelson Cruz, Brandon Woodruff, DJ LaMayhew, Chris Sale, and Bidon took Vladimir Guerrero. Sexy pick. Michael Conforto, after Vlad. Scott takes Mike Soroka.

And, Scott, I think you should take J.T. Ray Almuto. I'm thinking about it. Yeah. I'm thinking about it. 73rd overall. We are into round seven. We have not had a catcher come off the board. It's one catcher.

though. I think there's two. No, I mean, there's one catcher starting for your team. Oh, yeah, yeah. I'd always move a catcher down for me. I probably wouldn't be taking one in the first hundred picks. So that's interesting because Scott and I have a different philosophy on that. This is a shallower

league, we feel like, and you're only starting one catcher. You don't have as many hitter spots as a typical roto league. We sort of feel like it makes sense to get as many elite players at a position as you can, and catcher's really the main position that affords you that opportunity. Did you take Real Muto? No, you took Frankie Montas. I didn't. I didn't. I played it

safe this time. I rolled the dice and it worked out for me because Seroca and Montas are both in that same tier as Sunny Gray, who was my next pitcher at the last turn. So I figured I shouldn't. I shouldn't tempt fate twice. Do you, what do you think about that philosophy, Bidon? You said that catchers outside the top 100 for you in a one-catcher league. Scott and I think that the elite catchers. Maybe it's just whoever it is. For me, it's Ramuto and Sanchez, have more value in this type of format. I can maybe get behind that more in a roto league where they, I feel like they provide more of an advantage here. I just don't see it as much because you can catchers a position that you should, I want to be streaming anyways and I don't want a roster two at any given time

if I can avoid it. So that's kind of why I have it outside the top 100 for a single catcher. they're not going to play enough that you can just leave them in there every day, although this one is a weekly lineup. So it does help for that. But especially like Gary Sanchez, the injury concerns, the terrible defensive play. Like he's going to lose play to appearances throughout the year. Like a real mooto, yeah, he played pretty much every game last year. So that one I'd probably be okay with in a points format.

But I just, it's just not a position that I like to attack. I like to take the total points and I kind of ignore position scarcity more so than I think some other people do. Yeah, so that's the biggest advantage. The reason J.T. Realmuto in my mind is maybe the one catcher to Reese for in this format is because of that playing time advantage and just when you're in the lineup, you have an ability to put up points and when you're out of it, you don't. And he's in the lineup more than most every other catcher. and that can create a pretty wide gap there at the top. And plus, when you have, the other thing is, compared to a Rotter League,

when you have all those line-up spots to fill, and a head-to-head league, it's just nine-hitter spots. It's harder to find ways to get an advantage over your competition just because there are fewer slots there to do it. So to me, it becomes more imperative to do it with each one. All right, so Gary Sanchez actually just went. Frank, that's why you heard a disappointed sigh for me, because I was hoping both would be there,

and then I could skip catcher and then take whoever was left in the next round. Montas, Machado, B. Donn took Hobby Baez, then Solair, Gary Sanchez, Josh Donaldson, Carlos Correa. It's really tough to do a podcast and a draft, because I feel like there are a lot of players that I need to be looking at.

So here's where I'm at. I'll let everybody reset their teams after this round. We're in round seven. I have six players. I have the latest pick. I have Scherzer and Morton. I have Carrasco, who in theory I could swing to my rotation,

but I have him as the top spark. He's an RP for me. I have Aronado, Altuve, and Aaron Judge. And I am on deck as the next two picks have been Max Muncie, a roll this Chapman. Oh, crap. And I really wanted Zach Allen. I really wanted Zach Allen.

But he just went. So now my question is, I, man. So now I'm at the back end of that tier that I really don't like. I know I want J.T. Rayamuto. And I have a pick now, and I have a pick three picks from now. If you really want Real Muto, you've got to take him.

You're right. The other best hitters available are Gallo, Bell, Bichette, Merrifield, Jeff McNeil, Olson, Kestin, Hira. All right, I'm going to take Ray Al Muto. And then I think I have to go with a pitcher. And I might surprise you who I'm going to take. All right, so we just finished seven picks. Scott, who do you have through seven picks? Six picks. Through seven picks, my three hitters are Mike Trout, Jordan Alvarez, and my utility spot, and Catel Marte, the top second basement in my mind. And then my pitchers are Patrick Corbyn, Lucas Gialito, Mike Soroka, and Frankie Montas.

Corbyn, Giolyto, Soroka, Montas. B. Don, who do you have through seven picks? I have LB's, Vlad, J.D. Mart, Garrett, Carol, Tyler Glasno, and Luis Kekyllis. to you. How do you feel about it? I feel very good about it. I like my three pitchers that I've gotten, even if I did have to reach for Glasnow in that spot. Albies is a great guy for this format, good plate discipline. It doesn't walk quite as much as I'd like, but still at second base. If there's a scarce position, I think outside of the, you know, the JT. Real Muto case, I think second base is probably it, if I can lock up Albi is in the right spot. I've been kind of a fan of doing that this draft season. Vlad is kind of an upside play. I think the plate discipline is going to play regardless,

and if he takes that next step in power, he can easily pay off that spot. Even if he doesn't, I think just another year under his belt can only improve things. Baez is not a traditional points league guy, but at 75 or wherever I took him at the... It felt like a value in JD March's a stud. So I really like what I've gotten here so far. Probably time to get back to pitching if the values are right in my next pick. But that's kind of what I'm thinking here. Okay.

And round eight, it has begun. And it is Keston Hira. I took James Paxton. And I think that probably would be a surprise to people. But I'll deal with the month and a half. He's on the IL. And just kind of, I just feel like it was between him and guys like Lance L. Hyunjin Ryu, who we talked about,

might have kind of an innings issue himself. And I just felt like Paxton, other than Ryu, I felt like Paxton was the best pitcher in terms of performance that was left on the board, so I'll deal with the injury. After that, Castellanos, Lemaet, Lynn, Josh Bell, Bo Bichette, Giancarlo Stanton, Carlos Santana.

This first base run is starting to bother me because I need one. Obidon is up. All right. Let's hear what's on your mind. I'm up. I was thinking about going with one of the first baseman that's gone, but since they are gone, and also I have the benefit of actually knowing what Scott White's ranks are since they're sitting right in front of me on the draft board. I'm going to go ahead and take David Price. It's not somebody I think that Scott's going to get, but the person that I have next on my board is not anywhere in this kind of area for Scott,

so I'm just going to hope he drops. I'm taking price and hoping the injuries are fine. because when he was healthy in pitching, he was great last year. And he's going to the Dodgers. I mean, the Dodgers have figured out everything for everybody. I want to, is he really good enough, though, to be going now? Because now we're getting to the point where the starting pitchers, when you're comparing them to, well, I guess the hitters really aren't that great either anymore. Like we're kind of...

There's some pretty good ones, left. Yeah, there's some, but we're running out of stud hitters. Yeah, this was a rough round for me. In terms of, like I was hoping one of Josh Bell and Carlos Santana would make it to me, and they both went. Right. I have no concerns about the price pick there. I feel like his upside is beyond anybody that's going in this range. I'd much rather have him over Lance Lynn.

I feel like innings-wise, I feel just as comfortable with him as I do with Paxton. And Paxton's never put up a season like Price has done multiple times. So I really have no problem with Price there. If Gallant had dropped to me, I'm a big, fan of Zach Gallen. I might have gone in that direction. But for the pitchers left on the board, I feel like Price is the one. You know, the rest of them all have pretty clear wards where you're betting on like a second half performance carrying over or something like that. And, you know, prices, price has shown it. It's really just whether he can stay healthy. Yeah. I think that you're

hearing it. I mean, right now it's beauties in the eye of the beholder. You're not looking at, well, there are 10 pitchers that I like. So I'll just grab one. You know, you got to find the guy. you like and that's ultimately why I took Paxton because I was worried if I take Lance Lynn he could be a huge bust you know he might just not pitch very well so I decided to take a guy who's on the IL and is always on the IL that's really smart thinking there Scott you have two picks oh you went SPARP you went SPARP all right what you got yeah I'm tempted to go double spark here with Jesus Luzardo and Julio Arias both of whom I like to have breakout seasons but I'm more confident and Luzardo.

There are fewer ways the athletics could bump them out that the Dodgers with the Reyes. I think I am going to go with another hitter. We're to the end of a tier at first base for me. And so I don't have to settle for somebody like

Yulee Gareal. I'm going to take Matt Olson. Yeah, that's what I wanted. It might be who beat on. I wanted to take Whitmerfield. That is my highest hitter left. And actually, my second highest is Jeff McNeil, two second basemen. But I already have Catele-Marté, and it's like, well, if you're going to pay up for Cotel-Marte,

obviously there's some multi-eligibility there. I could fit them all in my lineup, but I don't know. It would feel like it would feel like a bit of a resignation there after I'd already made the investment in Marte. You know, it's funny, Bidon, back on the clock. Let me recap some of the picks here. So he took David Price, then Eduardo Rodriguez went, then Scott took Heslu-Suzardo. If you don't know what a SPARP is, starting pitcher, as relief pitcher, these guys, are eligible as an RP.

And it's a big advantage in points leagues. Big advantage. Matt Olson to Scott, Paul Goldschmidt to George, and now Bidon back on the clock. Take a look at his team, which is Albies, Vlad, Baez, J.D. Martinez, Cole, Glassnow, Castillo, and David Price.

And you just took your first baseman. You took Reese Hoskins. Yeah, I have reached out for a very nice season as far as points leagues. A little bit more concerned in a, in a roto league with the average being as bad as it was. But he has the plate discipline to make a points league work. I mean, he walked almost 25%, or almost 17% last year.

So you can deal with the 25% K rate at that point. And I kind of think that he's due for a bounce back season here. I mean, he's going to be coming into his year 26 season, 26, 27 is kind of that prime, prime age for players to really pick it up. So this is kind of the make it a break at year. year I feel like for Hoskins, whether he can take that next step. And I'm betting on it more than against it. He did lead the majors in walks last year and ended up having, you know, I talked about how

Whitmerfield was my top hitter on the board. Hoskins was 40 points behind him, which isn't as significant as you think, given how bad Hoskins year was. We had an auto pick, commission. Yeah. If you want to tend to that. No, I guess he's keeping it. All right, Junji Ryu is auto-picked.

we'll see if he said something. All right, so, yeah, Hunter, it makes perfect sense that pick. I'm sorry to interrupt you on Hoskins, but I want to make a broader point. Okay, we're in round nine, beginning at round seven. Remember, this is a draft where pitchers went really early. But beginning in round seven, all three of us waited a while for first base. I still haven't taken mine, and I'm screwed because there was a huge first base run. Carlos Santana, Matt Olson, Paul Goldschmidt, Reese Hoskins,

I might be forgetting one, but all these first basemen going off the board. And so that leaves me in a situation where at first base, the best ones available are Yasamani Grandal, who I'm definitely not taking. I already have J.T. Raimuto. Tray Mancini, Yuli, Euligariel,

Edwin Encarnacion, and then, like, Luke Voight. Now, you've heard me say on this podcast, I think Encarnacion is a good fallback option, so hopefully I can wait a few rounds and get him. This is where you look at the roster grid. There's only one other team that doesn't have a first baseman. It's actually the guy who picks right after me, RJ. But I also think we're now at a point in the draft where I am more concerned about

positions and filling up my roster a little bit, especially at shortstop. Earlier in the draft, I was sort of just taking best player available with a tilt towards starting pitcher. I ended up getting a spark, you know, the RP in Carrasco. I ended up getting a catcher. But now I have to really start worrying, hey, if I wait too long, I could be at a huge disadvantage of these positions. So because of that, I have to take Corey Seeger. Because shortstop gets very ugly after him. Now I'm taking him a little out of Scott's order, but I don't like VR.

Mondesie, I have no interested in this format, in this format. And then it's Polanco, Tim Anderson, Dede, Gagoria. So I think position scarcity is a little bit more important now. You run the risk of really being left out of a position. I will let you guys comment on that. What do you think? I agree with you. A drop-off at shortstop is coming.

Yeah, I mean, you have to monitor it at this stage. Sure. Part of the reason it makes sense to load up on starting pitcher early is because relative to all of the hitting positions, the drop-off is sooner and it's steeper. But there still comes a drop-off, a lesser drop-off among the hitter positions. And we're about to that point.

now, like you're saying. So yeah, you have to look at the positions you haven't filled yet, see which ones have the most capable supply still there, and make a decision based on that. Let's look at round nine, and B-Don, you can tell me if there are any picks that really stand out as particularly good or bad. We're into round 10, by the way, we're 113th overall on the clock right now is Devin Davis. Great name. Matt Olson, Paul Goldschmidt, Reese Hoskins, Jun-Jin Ryu, Kirby Yates. Not a lot of true closers off the board so far. That's probably only the second one.

Witt-Mariefield, Jeff McNeil, Michael Brantley, Max Fried, Mike Mustakis, Corey Seeger, Kyle Hendricks. Yeah, so of those, you know, Ryu, we already said, was a bit of a reach. Or, you know, it just seems like, seems like a weird place to take him. And it was a situation where the draft room froze on the guy.

Sorry for that one. But other than that, I think, I mean, I don't really have any problems with them. Yates does feel early. If you wanted to get a closer, though, in that spot, you know, it is what it is. I think haters probably the one to reach for if you're going to do it because of the innings. But as you mentioned, he doesn't get the saves. And I'm not sure if he gets the saves all year this year or not, even when he's, you know, not resting. Just because they have a number of guys that can do it.

Kniebel's coming back if he can get healthy. So they may like him more in that multi-inning role. But if I'm going to spin one, it's going to be him. I think Scott was probably closer to my thought process. If you're going to go for an RP eligible, it would have been like a Julio Uri is there. Who's still on the board. You are up right now, Bidon.

Let me go round in 10. Minor, Weaver, Boyd, Mancini, Kepler, Osuna, Kenley Jansen, Liam Hendricks, close a run. Carlos Martinez also RP eligible. Oh, B. Don takes Julio Rias in your face, Scott White. In your face. I know. That would have been a miracle if he got back to me. What's interesting is another spark actually went before Rias, Carlos Martinez, who, of course, is a favorite to win a rotation spot with the Cardinals after his shoulder held him back

and forced him to the bullpen last year. Just take Kent to Maeda, man. RP's going crazy. Ken Giles. Because starting pitcher itself is, I mean, just at that position, Maeda's almost my top player available. And one of the two ahead of him is Shohay Otani,

who's a wait for him. So I might do that. I'm also looking at third base and catcher here. Yeah, Let me see. So I'm going to run out of time in a second if I don't make a decision. I'm going to say,

Eh, Johanio Suarez is my third baseman. Ah, there we go. And do I want Maida? I hope you don't. So my thinking on Maeda is, okay, the Dodgers always held him back because they had this giant stable of arms and there were terms in his contract where financially it made sense to pull him from the starting roll around mid-August every year.

and that obviously hurt his value. They also limited his innings from start to start, even though he's pretty good the third time through the lineup, the number show. So I'm hoping we get to see full Kinta Maeda now that he's out of the Dodgers organization. And I think I am going to take him here. It's a great pick.

It's a beautiful pick. You know what? If you have to, you move into the rotation, you pick up a closer off waivers because there will be plenty of them. In a 12-team points league where you have to start only two relievers, there will be plenty of saves options. It may not be great, but guys you can get by with

because there are so many sparks that are going to be in people's lineups. B. Don, you're on deck. And we just had a ton of closers go in round 10. E. E. Oh, Hino-Swaris, for the record, went 120th overall. And he had an injury setback today or yesterday in his swimming pool. I want a swimming pool. Earlier this spring. No, I thought he had a setback with the setback.

Oh. Am I wrong? Our site doesn't have it. It could just... I hadn't seen any extra news. Yeah. Okay. Hold on.

Let me see if I'm insane here. The original injury was suffered in a swimming pool. Okay. So maybe I confused a couple of things. All right, I'll double check on that. I could just be straight up wrong. Probably. Last I saw he was on, he was getting on track to potentially be ready for opening day,

which is kind of the company. any line at this point for teams, but that's what was out there that I last saw. Okay. I'm just going to go with I'm wrong, which is a good default. So Bidon, what did you do with your last pick? My last pick, what did it? Oh, I went with Grandal. We're at 120.

Grandal was the other catcher who got just a ton of plate appearances last year. May not get quite as much time out at first base or DH this season with all the guys coming up through the White Sox and all the signings they made, but still, should get a number of at-bats. And if anything, that lineup is getting better. So if the at-bats go down, maybe the runs and RBIs come up and kind of make up for some of that. I'm going to put somebody in my queue that I want later in the draft just so I don't forget him. But he's DH only, so he's easy to forget about.

He's Chris Davis, with a K, by the way. I know C.Riss Davis is having a good spring. But Chris Davis, I think goes way too late. So I'm not going to take him here, but maybe in like round 14. We're in round 11. So far the picks in round 11 are Where are you round 11? Maeda, Fultenevich, Grandal, Contreras,

Robbie Ray, Joe Musgrove, Jose Urquite. Interesting picks. Yeah. We still have Shohei Otani on the board. When should Shohei Otani go? We're a hundred and twenty-eight overall. I mean, I haven't ranked right about now. It seems like he's,

The closer we get to the season, the later he goes, even though I'm not really sure anything has changed there. Mid-May is when they're talking about him returning to the mound. Obviously, you can use him in the utility spot until then. You can use him in the utility spot after then, but you probably wouldn't want to. You'd probably rather have him pitching. But since it's not an everyday role, particularly in a points league, him as a hitter may not be worth using. So it's just a straight stash and one that wouldn't.

it be in your IL spot, it would be on your bench. So maybe it just becomes a logistical issue this early in the draft waiting a quarter of the season, assuming no setbacks to really get the full benefit of Otani. I just tell you how much I despise RJ White. What are you doing, RJ taking Edwin and Carnaccio and just destroy it? That was so rude. I told you, sneaky devil.

You know what, I should have paid attention because I knew he needed a first baseman. so now I guess I have to take Pre-L. I really don't want to take... Nope, I'm not going to do it. I'm just going to wait. No, that's irresponsible. Yeah, I'm going to wait. All right, I'm going to take a... Let's see. I feel like Tommy Fam is falling way too far here.

Oh, you know what? Miguel Sino. He's going to be my DH, but now's the time. 134th overall. You're taking him over Matt Chapman? I did take him over Matt Chapman, didn't I? Yeah. I think he has more...

upside the match. If this were my starting third baseman, I would have taken Chapman for a utility spot for just kind of a let's have some fun. See if we can hit a home run. I'm going Miguel Seno. Are you covering because you forgot Chapman was there? I saw Matt Chapman. I didn't like what I read about Matt

Chapman. They seem to have solved him late in the year and he was horrible and now he's making adjustments to being able to catch up to fastballs up in the zone or something like that. Bidon, did I make a big mistake taking Sineau over Matt Chapman? yeah i think you did

oh come on get off the you're off the show problem with snow and points is the strikeouts i mean he can have a monster week but if he strikes out if he continues to strike out at 30% or more and is at bats it's just never going to be a top points producer so until the strikeouts come down in a points format that penalizes you for strikeouts i just don't see how he's anything more than like a late round flyer

uh honestly that's what he was i mean i here we go here we go let's let's let's let's Throw some numbers in here. On a per game basis, actually, Miguel Sano did outperform that Chapman. It was 3.35 for Sineau. It was 3.20 for Chapman. But on a per game basis, we say that because of Sanoe and his inability to stay on the field. And also, that was with Sineau performing on like a 50 homer pace. So you're asking him max extent of his production and staying on the fields.

I don't think it's a horrible pick, but it's... It's a gamble for maybe not a huge payoff, even if it goes well. Is Matt Chapman so good? That's the thing. I don't think Matt Chapman has the upside. And that was a strictly upside play. That's how you win fantasy. Get the breakout guys.

Sino has a better chance of being a league winner than Matt Chapman. Whatever helps you sleep. Oh, here's an interesting pick. Kyle Schwerber to beat on. Let's catch up. And then you can explain that pick. Let's catch up on rounds. 11 and 12, I guess.

We've kind of missed a lot of picks here. So round 11, Maeda, Fulte, Grandal, Contreras, Robbie Ray, Musgrove, Orkidi, Shohei Otani, Sean Mania, Mitch Garver. We'll catcher, run, three catchers in that round. I took Marcel Ozuna,

then Lance McCullors went, and then RJ White, that little sneak, took Edwin Encarnacion. Then we have Miguel Sineau, Hector Neris, Cavan Bigio, Brad Hand Tommy Fam

Eddie Rosario Matt Chapman Terrible pick wish that had been to know Tommy Edmund and Kyle Schwerber to B-Dahn Are you worried about

the platoon splits I mean if he does sit against lefties he's probably not really viable in this format Kyle Schwerver By the way after that was Stroman and Scott's on the clock for two picks

but Bidon the floor is yours No I'm not overly concerned about it because I don't know that the Cubs necessarily have somebody to put out there And even if they do, he tends to get in games after the starter comes out, which nowadays is sooner and sooner just because he can bring that bat. So that's kind of what I'm thinking here, not so much worried about the splits. And the strikeout rate concerns that I was talking about for Sano is one thing that we saw Schwabre fixed last year in the second half, and the second half dropped it from a 28% in the first half to a 21% K rate in the second half.

I mean, that's a huge difference. And then everything else pretty much stayed the same. He actually hit the ball harder because he was being more selective and getting the right pitches to swing at. So I really don't mind that pick. I feel like it's the right area. And I also seem to have a whole lot of shore shares this year. Okay. Scott, what did you do with your back-to-back picks?

So I took a couple of guys who fell because of the format, but I think it had reached a breaking point here where they were probably falling too far. That's Jonathan V.R. and at Alberto Mondesi, who could be number one and two in the majors and steals this year with enough power production that it's not like a Malik Smith situation,

and it's going to be enough that they're still worthy starters in this format. Jonathan V.R. was between Kestan Hira and Mike Mustakis and head-to-head points per game last year. And at Alberto Montes, I've expressed a lot of concerns about some of the, some of the way his bat was trending. But, you know, he was dealing with the shoulder injury,

and he was still just behind Jonathan VR and head-to-head points per game last year. We don't know exactly when he's going to be ready. But it's kind of an upside play. And if it doesn't work out, I have the versatility to make up for. drafting these two players pushed Catele Marte to my outfield. It was inevitable. I tried to avoid it earlier. It ended up happening anyway. Do you need to redo that pick, Bd? Scott, one of the losers in

the draft is auto-pick. It doesn't matter. I don't mind the pick, but that's not who I would have gone with. Oh, auto pick for B-Dod. Now, come on, back it up. Let him make a real pick here. He took Ryan Yarbrow. Yeah. All right, Bid, what happened? What were you doing? What were you doing? What were you doing there, Bidon? You was dazing. Just listening to Scott. Looking up stats to argue everything out. Yeah, so, so yeah, Kattel Marte got pushed to the outfield, VR at second, Mondesi, it's short. If Mondesi doesn't recover well, or if he stinks at the plate,

just move VR over, move Ketel back. There's always capable outfielders in a three outfielder league. I'll be fine. It's very true. In fact, we still have David Dahl and Andrew Ben Nintendey on the board. Those are exciting players. and yeah I'm sure there are more outfielders Willie Calhoun I think is still on the board right

or did he get drafted he's still there he's still there I thought about him actually instead of Mondecy and I want to take my second reliever now because there's been a big run but I don't feel like I have to but Josh James is interesting I mean like I don't think Josh James should be going right now but we're 152nd overall but he's RP eligible if he wins the job for the Astros he could be very good it's a high upside

I pick, it's probably a little bit of a reach. Talking myself out of it. All right. Some of the, oh, Willie Calhoun off the board. Some of the picks that have come after Mondesie, Edwin Diaz, then Ramon Louriano to beat on, Eduardo Escobar, Caleb Smith, Mark Kana, earliest I've ever seen him go, 150th. Tanaka, Marquez,

Willie Calhoun, Noamar Mazar. My Q has been ravaged. Let's see. I guess. I got to go with a story. starting pitcher here probably. I only have three healthy ones. My pitching sucks.

I know. I still have a fifth spot open. This is the latest I've gone into a head to head points draft with not all my starting pitcher spots, so. I didn't. I don't like what's happened here, everybody. I don't like it. I guess I'm going to take Cole

Hamels. Cole Hamels. Okay. Now I feel much better about my pitching. He was one of the highest ranked for Scott for what it's worth. Yeah. It's time to start gaming on some pictures. We're definitely in the range of pitchers now where I just have to rank

somebody ahead of the others, but I don't really want any of them. Will Smith, the catcher, I assume, and Taylor Rogers are the next two off the board. And I'm back up, and I need pitching. So I'm just going to keep going for it here. Remember, I have Carrasco, but he's an RP. and one of my starting pitchers is James Paxton. Other than that, I have Scher, Charlie Morton, Luke Weaver, and Cole Hamble's. It's ugly.

Let's go with Mitch Keller. Yeah, let's go with Mitch Keller. All right. Worst pitching ever. But I think the – look, the shallower positions are catcher in second base. I have arguably the top player at both of those positions. I have Altuve and Rayamuto, and I have one of the best relief pitchers. I think if things go right, he will be the best relief pitcher, Carlos Carrasco.

So there are some sacrifices at other spots in the lineup. Uly Gariel off the board. I still don't have a first baseman, by the way. What a team I'm putting together here. And B. Don. I'm also a bad host because I didn't even ask Bidon how long he can stay. I mean, we've been on the air for an hour now. Maybe for all I know, you had to, like, go to the dentist, and I'm keeping you.

No, no dentist appointment today, so I'm good to go as long as you guys will have me. Oh, that makes me feel a lot better. All right, what are you thinking here? The last few picks have been Gurriel, Dylan Bundy, Luis Robert, and Ryan McMahon. I have pretty much filled up my offense. I have the utility spot left. As nice as, say, Andrew Benintendi or Kyle Tucker or some other number. of bats would look in that spot. I'm probably going to pound pitching the rest of the way

and then draft the utility towards the end. So as of right now, I am looking at Ryan Yarbrough, who I made you move back, AJ Puck, Josh James, Griffin Canning, Yanni Chernos, and Jordan Montgomery since he should have a rotation spot for a good while at this point. All right, Ben and Tendee comes off the board. By the way, Andrew Heaney and Jake Oteresee were drafted. Ryan McMahon was drafted. That was interesting. And Bidon, is on the clock, so we'll find out what he's going to do. Let's see Scott's pitching staff here. He had the first pick in the draft, and he took Mike Trout,

and his pitching staff is Corbin, Gialito, Montas, and Soroka. But he also has two starting pitchers in his reliever spots, in Maida and Lazzardo. B. Don took Ryan Yarbrough, George Kurtz, took A.J. Pollock, and, I mean, he's a platoon player. I don't, that's too early for it. Pollock should not be drafted in this format, should he, Scott? This is, no, he's shunning because he is a platoon player, like you said, unless the Dodgers suddenly find a new taker for

Peterson, or Jack Peterson. This is kind of weird. I don't know. I haven't been able to follow this draft as intensely as most of them because, of course, we're podcasting during it. But I feel like something strange is happening here where the options don't look as good as they normally do in the shallower league like this for round 14. I'm not sure how that came to be. I'm going to take J.D. Davis, one of my favorite sleepers,

since I've already missed out on Mark Kana. Over David Dahl. I feel like people are taking their sleepers earlier. They're just like, screw ADP, I'm just going to get my guy. That might be it, yeah. Yeah. David Dahl, Justin Turner, Jorge Polanco. They're all available.

I still think Karris Davis being available was exciting. Scott took J.D. Davis and what else, what else got? Well, Adam. Catcher? You need a catcher. I do need a catcher. But I don't want to take one here. I kind of want to take Justin Turner, but I want to have a place to play him unless Ehoyonio Swars is hurt because I'm committed to Jordan Alvarez.

I think I'm going to follow the trend and say screw ADP. I'm taking Adrian Houser, another spark here. Okay. You took him over Josh James. I did. Thanks for bringing that up. I hope to get James on the way back. Now you won't. If James for sure has the job and he's the leader for that fifth starter job in Houston,

then James will be ahead of Adrian Houser for me because I think the upside is just, I mean, it might be more up there with, like, Luzardo even than, uh, I don't know. I might rank James ahead of even Julio Aureas in terms of upside. I might. Okay. Well, I'm going to have to take him then if he's, you know what? I just talked to him. See, I don't want to talk him up.

It was him or AJ Puck for me, if I'm honest. And I'm not sure that Puck has the same level of confidence from the athletics. I know they've come out and said very positive things and said that, you know, he has every opportunity to get the job and that there would be no restriction. Should he get the job? I don't necessarily believe that. All right. I think we'll do like one or two more picks.

Everybody get their starting lineups sorted out. And we'll recap and finish the draft off the air. We're in round 15 out of 21. and we've got so far in round 15. Let's take a look at the fix. Round 15 is Adrian Houser, Hunter Renfro. You like Hunter? Anybody like Hunter Renfro?

No. No. Not for the shallow of a league. Yeah. Playing time concerns and horrible plate discipline. Josh James, David Dahl, Aaron Savali. Anybody like Aaron Savali? For the Indians.

I don't. but he seems to be a trendy sleeper. I'm not sure I get it. Maybe B. Don can enlighten me. Yeah, there's some numbers that make Savale look a little bit more interesting. I mean, I don't necessarily get on board with him just because the strikeouts aren't there. That's pretty much what I chase in any draft, especially points, because you need any innings and strikeouts. And I'm not sure he's strong at either of those categories. So I feel like that's a reach in this format. There's a little bit more in tight. icing for a roto where I do think kind of the ERA and the whip will stay down.

All right. After Savali was Iglesias, Danny Santana, Nick Anderson, Dallas Keikle, Sandy Alcantara. We haven't really talked about him. Any interest in Sandy Alcantara for the Marlins starting pitcher? He was trending nicely at the end of last season. I don't feel like it was enough of a step forward to justify generally. genuine enthusiasm, especially since it's such a bad team, such low wind potential. And he's just been horrible this spring.

And the way the Marlins are talking about it is like, we need to fix him. Not like, ah, it's just warming up. I don't know that it's 100% guaranteed he'll have a job, though the odds are certainly in his favor. But I just don't think there's quite enough upside on a bad team especially to really make him a priority. I just realized something. That's Sandy Alcantara we were talking about. I'm either a genius or really stupid for just realizing it now.

But I think in the heat of the battle, maybe none of us realized it. After week one, Miguel Sano goes from my utility to first base. Ladies and gentlemen, I have a first baseman, and his name is Miguel Sano. It all comes together.

That frees up utility. I also took Craig Kimball after Sandy Alcantara went. It just kind of felt like round 15. how many relievers were off the board before Craig Kimbril. When you include Sparps, it was probably close to 20. So Brandon Workman went after him, then A.J. Puck. I took Kyle Tucker, Jordan Montgomery, Hansel Robles, Carson Kelly,

Nate Evaldi. Bidon, you think there could be a bounceback for Nate Evaldi? I think there could be. I just don't know. I've never been a big Evaldi fan. The fastball's always been a little bit straight. The secondary pitches, you know, I feel like they are. very hit and miss.

You just don't know what games he's going to come out and be on it and be amazing. And then what games he's going to come out and just completely leave you hanging. So I've just never been somebody that really get behind Nate of I, Evaldi. At this point in the draft, though, I don't really have a problem with most guys that are going. Like Alcantara, I feel like he's better in a deeper format where you just need innings and somebody who's going to be out there. but it feels like a reach for what amounts to limited upside. And I could maybe say the same thing for Evaldi, although we've seen him put up really nice numbers over short periods,

just kind of here and there. You are on the clock and you took McKenzie Gore. And that like these are the types of picks you have to make in this format. The waiver wire is not bad. I mean, it's not great at pitcher, but we're talking about bench players now. Swing for the fences. You know, take upside.

It's really important. I'm not saying every pick at this stage in the draft has to be as we're finishing up round 16, but McKenzie Gore could be a home run for you beat on. Salvador Perez goes next. And Scott, this will be the last pick we do, and then we'll recap our teams. I guess you can just tell us sort of like

what your plan is at catcher since you don't have one, right? Oh, it's just to wait at this point. If I couldn't get Riumuto out of value I liked, my fallback is usually Mitch Garver, but he didn't make it back to me either. So if I don't get Mitch Garver, I'd just wait in a one-catcher league because there's enough, there are enough usable players for a format this shallow, and there's only one catcher that.

There's no need to pay up for anybody after Mitch Garver's gone. No, this doesn't sound like an upside pick, but I'm going to go Jorge Polanco here, who actually outscored Glaber Torres on a per-game basis last year. I think he's underrated consistently, and that's some more Adelberto-Mondisi insurance there. I'm going to go with Alex Wood. Oh, I went one round too far, right?

I started ground 17 by mentioning my Alex Woodpeck, but that's another sleeper starting pitcher. Bonus for you. You took him from my cue. All right, so here we go. So through 16 rounds, we basically have our starting lineups. I don't have a first baseman, but I will in a week. And Scott doesn't have a catcher.

But Scott's team with the first overall pick in this 12-team points league is catcher-blank, Matt Olson, Jonathan V. are A Eugenio Suarez, does not have a repeat of his injury, Ad Alberto Mondesi, Mike Trout, Cotel Marte, and J.D. Davis in the outfield, Jordan Alvarez at Utility. Starting pitchers are Patrick Corbin, Lucas Gialito, Frankie Montas, Mike Soroka, and Adrian Howser.

And in the bullpen, it's Kenta Maeda and Haisal-Sazardo, two starters eligible as relievers. And Jorge Polanco is on his bench. Maybe you can play him at catcher. How do you like your team? I don't dislike it. Having Mike Trout and Jordan Alvarez, who could be Trout-like in this format especially,

that makes up for what seems to me like less of a pitching staff than I normally have, less of a pitching staff than I'd prefer. I did technically get four of my top 37, but two are at the very bottom of that 37. And then I didn't get a fifth guy who I really feel like has that kind of upside. I do like Adrian Hauser's upside, but it's not. I just don't think even in the best case scenario, he's going to give the innings of a high-end starting pitcher. So, you know, a couple injuries to those four, and my pitching staff suddenly is in trouble.

and we've already seen how likely injuries are to starting pitchers of all varieties. So I can't rest easy at starting pitcher. I'm going to have to be aggressive on the waiver wire as Lucas Golito types from last year emerge. But I think it's pretty good overall. Okay. Be done. Let's take a look at his team. Grandal, Hoskins, Albys, Vlad, Hobby Baez, J.D. Martinez, Kyle Schwerber, and Ramon Luriano.

Uh, pitchers, doesn't have a utility yet, by the way. Pitchers are Garrett Cole, Tyler Glass now, Luis Castillo, David Price, and McKenzie Gore with, uh, Julio Arias and Ryan Yarbrough as his relievers, and also Josh James on the bench, and also Jonathan the Weizaga, who has a chance to make the Yankees opening day rotation and is also RP eligible. So how do you like your team? Grandal, Hoskins, Albys, Glad, Baez, Martinez, J.D. Martinez, Schwerber and Luriano, and then your pitching's very good with Cole, Glass Now, Castillo, et cetera.

Yeah, I actually love this roster, although I pretty much love all my roster. One of the things I try and do is when you're drafting, it's so easy to go by, you know, he's on the board. I need to take him, but I like to get guys that I want on my team. sometimes the projections overvalue my mind and I have to go with certain guys. But I really like this team that I put together. I feel like the hitters that I waited on, I got good values and I got guys that are good for this format. I feel like every points league, you have certain teams that maybe don't make the full adjustment for points. So doing that and having your points projections out and knowing guys that can typically fall in points,

I feel like that helps somebody who's experience in this format to know, like, I can get Reese Hoskins late at first base because everybody has him down lower because of their rotor rankings. You know, Vlad, again, I can think he can make a huge step. And then the pitchers at the end, I'm just going for upside. Loisiga may not have a rotation spot, but at, you know, a guy who can put up like a 30% K rate, if he can get the walks under control, which at least initial reports are looking good that his, control is a little bit better here in the in the spring i feel like these are guys that can make huge jumps i'm waiting on mackenzie gore so he's going to be my one reserve waiting um for a spot but i mean he's absolutely nasty there's he's the no doubt number one pitching prospect and the padres

seemed very aggressive in their in their call-ups and generally in the fact that they need to win now to save save some jobs over there and i could not quite keep up with the pitcher run pitchers just went so early. So I have the number one catcher. I have, in my opinion, the number one second baseman. I have Ray Almutto. I have Jose Altuvei. I don't have a first basement, but it will be Miguel Sineau. Um, no one Aronado at third. He was my first, he's my second round pick after Max Scherzer. Corey Seeger at short. I have Aaron Judge, Marcelo Zuna and Kyle Tucker in the outfield. And Chris Davis, I did get Kairas Davis at my. utility. And at starting pitcher, yeah, look, I'm weak for sure, at least until Paxton comes back.

But Scher, Charlie Morton, James Paxton, very little injury concern with my top three. Luke Weaver, four, and Cole Hamels. And then I have, like, Mitch Keller. Yeah, healthier. Getting even healthier with Weaver and Hamils. Yeah, yeah, it's good stuff. Mitch Keller, Brendan McKay on the bench. I have Carlos Carrascoe and Craig Kimberl at release. pitcher. I actually do like the team. I think it has definitely weak pitching on the surface, but I think if Scherzer is Scherzer, then he's kind of like one and a half pitchers. He's so damn good. I could make up for it. I wish one of us was just like, oh, this team was a disaster. If you do a 12 team head to head points league and you hate your team, you made some mistakes.

It's too shallow of a league, right? It's too shallow of a league. Yeah, I agree. If you don't like your team in a 10 or 12 team, anything like that, it's totally on you. I mean, in a 15 team, you have to make choices and you have to be weak somewhere, anything deeper, definitely. But 10 or 12, there's no reason you shouldn't like your starting lineup at least. Right. All right. Hey, thanks everybody for hanging this is the longest show we've done in a while. Thanks for hanging around for it. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope it was helpful. Oh, B-Dahn, man, from Razball. So how can we follow you and listen to you? Yeah, I am at RazBedon on Twitter. So you can follow me out there, message me, whatever you, you want.

want. I podcast. We are actually on the Razball Fantasy Baseball and Razball Fantasy Football Podcast feeds, although those are not the name of our shows. We are going deep for the baseball side and the football side. Actually, we are just a Rasball Fantasy Football Show for Football. So you can find me there. I am writing up, I'm actually currently writing up a article for that head-to-head auction that Scott and I did last Friday, where you mentioned the Jorge Polanco value at the end. He went for a which made me feel terrible about the 31 I spent on story. And then other than that, I'm writing up draft profiles for football as well. So a little bit of everything.

Awesome. Auctions are crazy. Bottom line. All right. Thanks again for listening, everybody. We'll come back tomorrow. Start talking about sleepers, breakouts, and busts for the rest of the week. Talk you, then.