Fantasy Baseball Today - Live Roto Mock Draft Part 2! Rounds 11-23 Picks & Team Breakdowns (3/2 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 2, 2023

We're breaking down the second half of our live 12-team Roto mock draft! In Part 2, go through rounds 11-23 and then recap each of our teams. 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.  Get Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question, email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Welcome back into Fantasy Baseball Today, part two of our live mock draft. We're doing a 12-team standard roto 5-5.5. We left off in round 11.

I mentioned that I took Hunter Renfro and Blake Snell. Renfro, I've mentioned many times, is kind of the cutoff for me to get my third outfielder. Well, guess what? It worked out perfectly because he's my third outfielder. I've got Eloy and Ronald LeCunia ahead of him. And then Blake Snell is someone I typically have never been in on, but now I am.

I kind of buy into the contract year thing with him. They stay healthy, made the adjustments in the second half last year, and was awesome. just kind of want to see him maintain those adjustments. After I took Snell, William Contreras, Clayton Kirschaw, Logan Webb, Logan Gilbert, and Chris, you took Jorge Polanco. We were talking before we started up here today, and it sounds like Polanco is someone you like quite a bit.

Yeah, I don't necessarily, I'm going to be honest, I kind of hate every pick right now. Not like specifically the picks other people are making. Those are fine. You guys are great. Their picks are too good, and it's leaving you with nothing to get excited. I don't love this range of the draft, or more specifically, I don't love the hitters that are available right now. And I probably should have just taken a pitcher, but I wanted to stick with my, I said earlier, I was going to wait like eight rounds to take my next pitcher.

It hasn't been eight rounds yet, and I probably should have just done that because Polanco, I already have a second baseman in Tommy Edmund. I really like Polanco a lot as a wait on second base type of option. less so when I have to use a middle infield spot, especially because there are still middle infield players who fit my team build, who I really like that I probably need to target, and like would really hate if... You might be able to use one of them in your utility spot.

Right, but that's what I'm saying. It's not going to stick an outfielder into your utility spot, and there are a few dedicated DHs worth taking. I would just really hate if like three rounds for now, I take Nico Horner as my utility, you know? Like that would be a bad, way to draft. And so, but that, that's a type of player to name just a type, not a player I might take, but just a type of player who probably fits my team build that I, that would be helpful for me.

But because I took Polanco as the clock was running out, because I didn't like any of the other hitters in my queue, now I'm kind of, I'm, I'm a little backed into a corner here. So, not super thrilled right now. After Chris took Jorge Polanco, Tyler Stevenson, Anthony Rizzo, Nick Lodolo, and Nestor Cortez, Scott, you're back on the clock for two picks. This is the 11-12 turn. So I'm with you in that Hunter Renfro is sort of my last outfielder before the drop-off. But the reason I say Hunter Renfro is the last one is because Anthony Santander tends to go before them. And I think they're very similar players.

I'm going to take Santander here. I actually prefer Renfro even though Santander tends to go earlier. But, you know, I'm not going to. I'm not going to pout about getting Santander at this point. A guy who hit 33 home runs last year. And especially since one of my favorite sleepers in the outfield large nuke bar is already gone, I don't want to have too many outfield spots to fill late. I'm also going to take another player I don't really like, Jeremy Pena.

I think he's lasted a couple rounds longer than he usually does. And I need a shortstop. I actually got squeezed out there because I wasn't. I'm willing to reach for Carlos Correa back at the turn where I took Max Muncie and Ryan Presley. And then everybody took all the good shortstops, Willie Adomas, Carlos Correa, to Anderson, Chris took. They all went before it got back to me. So I've had to wait a couple rounds to Phil shortstop. I'm thankful Jeremy Payne is still there.

Hopefully 20 homers. Hopefully close to 20 steals too. He had 11, I think, last year as a rookie. Yeah, and hopefully he'll be able to come closer to 20 As stealing bases gets easier this year And his early season pace last year was really good, Scott. You remember he suffered an injury And then second half of the season he wasn't the same

Got back on track in the playoffs. Pena was amazing. He won ALCS MVP. He won World Series MVP. If you live on the Twitter streets, you might have seen a picture of Jeremy Pena's triceps. Guy is pretty jacked. Best shape of his life, he's pretty young.

He better be in good shape. And the reason I don't like him, since it's probably worth stating that, is just because his plate discipline is miserable. He walked 22 times last year. And that's just a quality in players I don't like. I think it points to a low floor as a hitter, and it obviously limits your run scoring potential. But the Astros tend to bat him high in the lineup anyway.

For some strange reason, he is a higher priority in Dusty Baker's lineup. Kyle Tucker is. Yeah, I don't know what's going on with you lately, Sky. You took Pena in this draft. You took Ahmed Rosario in the TGFBI draft. Like, I thought you hated that guy. I do. No, in both cases, I got squeezed out as shortstop and had to settle for somebody I don't like

just to avoid, because the drop-up, that's like, there's a real steep drop-off at shortstop coming up soon. There are a couple of rookies that I like, but the thing about investing in a rookie as your primary shortstop is if he does what so many rookies do and falls flat on his face, there's no recourse for you.

You just have a crappy shortstop all season long. And I don't want to find myself in that position. Scott, you want to look at the draft and see who was just taken in round 12? Oh, yeah. Yeah, 135 overall Miguel Vargas. And it's worth pointing out, Raymond Atherton picked Miguel Vargas and he said in the chat that it was because he panicked when Dustin May got taken one spot ahead of him. And as I've said, I've said a few times that I love my anchor pitching approach.

And a big part of that is that I can usually wait until like the 12th round and take Dustin May. And I'm not going to be able to do that this time. So won't feel as good about my pitching staffs as I normally do. And I swear I'm not just saying this because of the Yankee fan, you know, the Yankee thing. Luis Severino in round 12 pick 137. That's a pretty good value. I like that, especially when he's going after Dustin May. I just, I don't know what it is about our own mock drafts.

Like I never get the players I really want. Like, Miguel Vargas is ADP, even since February 1st on NFBC. outside the top 200. And he goes 135th in this draft. Just like totally deflating. All my late round targets are gone before the late rounds even start. So to give a window into my decision making just now,

I took Chris Sale with the 138th pick. I'm, I've decided I'm, I know Scott's been the Chris Sale guy this year. I'm going to be the Chris Sale guy. I just moved him up. I'm kind of, I'll be doing a rankings update in the next couple of days. days now that I'm back from vacation.

He's going to be inside my top 120. Overall, I just, Scott, you've really talked to me into just like, he's Chris Sale. You know, he's still mostly Chris Sale. If he's 85% of Chris Sale, he's absolutely worth a top 120 pick. But I was... We have no reason to doubt he's still Chris Sale.

I mean, we haven't really seen him. We saw him a little bit in 2021 for enough starts, I think to convince me he hasn't lost it following Tommy John surgery. And if that's the case, I don't know. I think I'm getting too lax with him lately because. Yeah, I mean, you've got him ranked around here, like 145-ish. I'm not prioritizing him enough. Yeah.

And that's him and Dustin May are part of why I feel good about a lot of my pitching staffs when I wait for the number three and number four guys. But there, I was trying to figure out who was more likely to make it to me. in the 13th round, Chris Sale or Joe Musgrove, because obviously Joe Musgrove dealing with this broken toe, we don't know how much time he's going to miss. It's been speculated that it might just be the first couple of turns through the rotation, in which case,

he'd be a great pick in the 10th round, let alone the 12th or 13th. But he went one pick after, I don't know if Chris Sale would have made it to me in the 13th round. So that was a little frustrating, would have liked to have had both. but that's not going to happen. Yeah, that was something I wanted to watch throughout this draft today is how far the injured players slipping.

Let's talk about some of those picks. After Chris took sale, we saw Joe Musgrove go, then Chris Bassett. Bassett the other day was down four miles per hour on his sinker. I don't want to overreact because a lot of veteran pitchers gain velocity throughout spring training, but they usually start like two or three miles per hour lower, not four. So definitely something to watch. Then C.J. Cron, Alexis Diaz, I took favorite. Routy Tellez, big beefy baseball home runs.

He's already hitting a bunch of them. He's got two home runs in the spring. Love it. P. Fairbanks and Kyle right at the turn. We get into round 13. I took Ahmed Rosario. Then we see Brandon Lau, A. E. E. Hennio Suarez, Josh Bell, and Hunter Green. I did.

I was thinking about taking Hunter Green. But then my pitching staff would undoubtedly lead all of baseball and home runs allowed. between him and Gary Cole on the street staff. So it's a lot of strikeouts, but I didn't want to do that yet. Chris, what do you think about this? Actually, you're on the clock. I'll let you make your pick.

Scott, I took Rodi Theles and Ahmed Rosario. And I like doing this where if I have two picks close together, you take two players in Roto, which complement each other very well. So Routy Tellez, I'm expecting, you know, 240, 30 plus home runs, good RBI totals. And then I'm not a whole outcome, but it's possible. And then Amid Rosario,

I'm expecting, you know, 280, 275 batting average, 20 to 25 steals. Those two players feel like they complement each other very well. Yeah, I mean, it depends how balanced your team is up to that point. But if you already feel like you have a good balance going, I think that makes sense. And it wouldn't surprise me if Ahmed Rosario, part of the reason I've warmed up to him is he is so fast and he's always kind of underwhelmed with his steel total considering. And so I'm hoping batting second in that Cleveland lineup, he is going to be somebody who takes advantage of the rule change and is more like a 30-steel guy this year,

which would make him maybe like a better version of Tommy Edmund. Obviously he doesn't have the second base eligibility Tommy Edmund has, but I think, I don't know. I think Ahmed Rosari is looking more and more appealing and giving you even more reason to potentially wait at shortstop. depending how your your build is going and another one kind of his clone just went here Nico Horner I don't know if you want to run through the picks that have happened between ummed up the Horner yeah yeah I could do that real quick after I took Rosario

Brandon Lau ehuhenio Suarez Josh Bell Hunter Green Chris took hazos Lazardo then Nico Horner Sea Suzuki dealing with the oblique injury wanted to see where he goes so he goes I pick 153 and then Vaughn Grissom so Scott where Horner Horner seems a lot like Ahmed Rosario to me They both I think Ahmed hit

11 home runs And Horner hit 10 Rosario has higher He's got more raw power Right he has higher High end max exit velocity So there's You know

You could see him hitting for more He's never done it before But you could see that So maybe a little more upside in that way Mostly though it's runs in RBI That separate the two Niko Horner had far fewer last year but it looks like from early spring lineups,

Horner's going to bat leadoff, which will make a big difference for that, because I think he hit mostly ninth last year. So those two might end up being closer than initially believed. Okay, so I'm up here, and a couple of middle infield options I like have just gone off the board. I keep missing out on... Let's see. Lance Lynn's already gone, right?

Yes, he is. Okay. Okay, yeah, I got my remaining pitchers pulled up here. All right, so one who I don't take very often. But I do have him as my top remaining pitcher is Tony Gonsolin. I think at a roto league, it's probably a smart idea to take him. Especially like this, you can work around his injuries a little easier. He should be great for ERA and wins for however long he lasts, as he was last year.

And the other one I'm going to take is my second favorite old guy who's probably going to deliver 200 plus strikeouts. Chris sails my first choice, but the second choice is Charlie Morton. And so back-to-back starting pitchers here, they are my third and fourth starting pitchers to go with Alec, Manoa, and Tristan McKenzie. I now have Tony Gonsolin and Charlie Morton. Chris, what's the saying? Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. Something like that. Yeah, I think that's a saying.

I don't know if that's the saying. But Scott is back, back, baby. He is back on Uncle Chuck, Charlie Morton. Last year wasn't enough. Spoke about him extensively on, I think, SP preview part three. I'm still a little bit skeptical. He hurt me last year, Scott. He hurt me.

Yeah. I never really understood the, this guy burned me. so I now have a personal vendetta against him and I'm not going to take him again. What if he has burned you the only two times you've ever drafted him in your life? Still. I mean, it shouldn't change your process

if you think the analysis is accurate. And I do in Morton's case. I mean, like I said, he still had over 200 strikeouts last year. His ERA, I think over his final, just going off memory here, something like his final 19 starts. He had like a 350 ERA. His curveball still has 3,300.

thousand RPM, velocity is fine, big bat miss. I think he was just a little off last year and that caused him to be Homer prone in a way he's not normally. And he could be great this year. It's possible. It is possible that last year he was coming back from the broken leg, which he suffered in the previous year's World Series. But I actually, I looked into him a lot. I was looking at like heat maps for his curveball and his fastball.

And he was falling behind last year. Charlie Morton is who we're talking about. His command was off. And then he would have to throw a strike to get back in. And he would just lay one in there and he would get crushed. I watched so many Charlie Morton starts last year. And it was like clockwork. He gave up a lot of home runs.

But he was missing his spots within the zone. It's something we have to pay attention to early on in the season with Charlie Morton. After Scott took him in round 14, Javier Baez goes, Grayson Rodriguez, Masataka, Yoshita, Cody Bellinger, Riley Green to Chris, Yohan, Juran, Hunter Brown, and Tyler. glass now. Chris, I really like your two your last two picks. I know you took Jesus Lozardo, who I know you were upset about Dustin May.

I actually have Lozardo ranked higher and I kind of like him as a breakout if he could stay healthy. And then Riley Green, someone who we both like as well. Yeah, Lazzardo, the problem is I just I don't think there's a, like, can stay healthy aspect to it. I think there's just going to be this time he's dealt with, I mean, Scott, correct me if I'm wrong, but he had Tommy

John's surgery when he was in high school, right? Now, he fell in the draft as a result of that, if I'm remembering correctly. I'm not 100%, but that sounds right. Yeah. And so like he's just, he's never been able to pitch a full season. You remember back when he was a prospect, it was a big issue for him. He's very rarely thrown deep into games at all in his career. So I think he's someone that you just have to bake in a pretty low ceiling in terms of

but I think it'll be good when he's out there. And then Riley Green, he was going around this spot last year before his injuries. He's still a very, very young player who was roughly a league average hitter as a 21-year-old despite, you know, being in a very tough park and dealing with the injury that derailed the start of his season. So I just think there's a lot to like about betting on that profile. All right. After Tyler Glass now, Jordan Montgomery went.

I took Jeffrey Springs. the first time I've got him all offseason. So very excited to do that. It's my SP4, love it. And at the turn, Jordan Walker, so my strategy of, you know, Gordon Walker and an old guy. Like, no,

no, but no buzzy players are slipping through the cracks in this draft. No, I'm just not going to draft. I'm just not going to draft a third basement. I think that's probably my strategy for this draft. Freddie Peralta, the first pick of round 15.

This is another one where I have him as a bust, but he has lasted so, long. What's the injury issue here? Exits with thumb laceration, I think he'll be fine. It's Daniel Bard. I get him as my second closer in round 15. I mean, when he's going, you know, 125, 130 in that range, there's other

closers or potential closers I like more, Alexis Diaz or maybe even waiting a little bit, take a shot on P. Fairbanks. All those names are gone. Daniel Bard is still there. So, yes, I wrote him up as a bust. This is just way too late, in my opinion. I get Daniel Bard as my second closer in round 15, and I'm good with that. After he goes, Drew Rasmussen, Ian Hap, and Oscar Gonzalez.

Outfield is dwindling. I probably should have taken a look. The drop-offs already happened, so I don't know. I don't know that now is the best time to take outfield. Yeah. I took a look. It would make sense to reach for Lars Neuparden now if he was still available. Like now if there's an outfielder you really like, especially given the behavior,

this particular draft room has demonstrated, you should probably reach for him. But I don't know that I'm particularly moved by the Oscar Gonzalez Ian Hap crowd. Yeah. Relative to the talent available at other positions. Well, I mean, Scott, come on. Oscar Gonzalez, man.

It's one of my sleepers. Come on. Okay. Well, then maybe you should be inclined to reach for him. Maybe I should have taken him. Yeah, exactly. He's not one of my sleepers. didn't even look at it. Oscar Gonzalez, there are some question marks with the plate discipline.

He's a very free swinger, but very good athleticism. He hits the ball really hard, and he's pretty fast. So I wonder if maybe he can steal a few bags this year with the new rules. After Oscar Gonzalez, we see Tyro Esrata, Paul Seawald, Joe Ryan, and Kodi Senga. I kind of like that value for Senga. Pick 177. Chris, if I did not take Daniel Bard, would you have taken him over Paul Seawald? Um, it's possible. I would imagine I, I might have, but it's not like I was like laser focused in on RP. It was just more, well, you know, this is kind of the, the spot. Hopefully there is one guy that I'm really hoping makes it back to me.

I maybe should have took him there, but it's well above ADP. So hopefully it's, you know, hopefully it'll work out for me. Chris, what do you think about where Jordan Walker just went? The last pick of round 14, 168, we saw his first spring training game, 430 foot home run off Johnny Quato. I think the other day he had a double over 100 mile per hour exit velocity. What do you think about where he's going and the likelihood he makes the opening day roster? I mean, it sounds like he's certainly got a real shot at making the opening day roster.

And if he doesn't, I mean, we're at the point now of his career where, you know, he could be an injury or a good two weeks away. from getting called up to start the season. So I think it's a perfectly reasonable gamble to take at a time in the draft when nothing is certain. You know, like that's it's not like the guys that you're passing up to take him are legitimate superstars. There's players that I like, but I think he's a fine pick there. I think this is probably the right spot for a player who could be a legitimate. I mean, if all breaks right, a five category contributor, but even if not,

you know, should be able to contribute power and speed. He is a freak. Jordan Walker is just an incredible athlete. Six foot five to hit the ball as hard as he does. And he is fast. I've said this a lot this all season. I saw him out at first pitch Arizona, the Arizona Fall League,

and the dude is fast. Jordan Walker could go get it. He could run around the bases too. Yeah, his max and 90th percentile exit velocities, not just for a 20-year-old in double. they were good for major league caliber players. I think the stat was his 90th percentile max exit velocity would have been fourth among major league players, which you just don't see with minor league hitters, even guys with very good power.

So that is very, very impressive. And I trust the Cardinals. They've done a pretty good job in their development. So very interested to see Jordan Walker this season. After Chris took Paul Sewell, Joe Ryan, Codaisanga, Reed Detmer's, Thai France. Scott took Ezekiel Tovar, and you've got one more pick here, Scottie. Yeah, I do. I am going to take Cattel Marte.

And, yeah. So I did, Ezekiel Tovar is the sleeper. I like a lot of rookie, obviously. Rocky's intended shortstop. I think he'll hit for a, I think he can be a five-category contributor because he has all the benefits, of course, field. and you look at the home run, Steele's pace he was on in the miners last year.

I kind of feel like we should be more excited about Tovar than we are about Von Grissom. Speaking of somebody who's excited about Von Grissom, and yet he tends to go a lot later. So based on the way people have been reaching in for the buzzy picks, I wanted to do the same with my middle infield spot. I went ahead and took Catell-Marte, for my utility spot, as I was saying earlier,

it's not like you need to feel like you need to keep the utility spot open for a position that's just crazy deep. Because no position is crazy deep. First base and shortstop are the deepest, but they're not crazy deep. Already the depth is dwindling at first base, and I still have a corner infield spot to fill. J.D. Martinez, I believe, is still out there, right? but all things being equal I'd rather have Catele Marte than J.D. David,

J.D. Martinez. Certainly than J.D. Davis. Yeah, and more than J.D. Davis. Yeah. Yeah. So, I'm not sure what the alternative would have been if I hadn't taken Marte.

I looked into Tristan Kossis, maybe at first base, but there are a few third basemen, actually, that out there that I think are satisfactory for my corner infield spot if Tristan Kossis doesn't make it back to me. And starting pitcher, we just crossed into a new

tier, so I wasn't anxious to dip my foot into those waters yet. So I went ahead and went with a hitter in Cattel Marte, who I think is just being drastically undervalued this year.

It goes outside the top 200 in ADP. It's crazy. You just got him at pick 181. We're in round 16 here. Jay Cronaworth goes, then Daniel Hudson, Matt Chapman, who lasted really long. I was thinking about taking him as my third baseman, but that will not happen.

Again, I will not have a third baseman this draft. Jonathan India, Chris said Brian De LaCruz, then Tristan Kosses, Brian Hayes, Luis Garcia, and Logan O'Hoppeon. Oh, what do you know? I'm on the clock here. See, I think I need outfield. Outfield's bad.

I need third base. Third base is bad. Any pitchers that we like here? Pablo Lopez, Giolito. Okay, kind of interesting. John Gray, someone I have as a sleeper this season. Any outfielders? Brandon Nimmo, which is kind of boring, you know?

This is what happened. Because everybody took all the fun sleepers already, there's nobody fun. Like my sort of blueprint for a draft has been scribbled over at the end, and I don't know what to do with myself. So I'm going to go ahead and take Pablo Lopez. as my SP5. I was debating him in Gialito.

Look, if you get Gleito as your SP5, there's not much risk because if it doesn't work out, all right. I mean, he's the end of your staff. You can either bench him or if he's really bad, you could just drop him. Look,

chances are you're dropping someone who you draft here. I mean, it's not like a 100% chance, but you're going to have a lot of roster turnover on these types of picks. So if Gialito busts, there's not really much risk there. And for those watching, you might see Jose Miranda at the top of my screen and wonder,

well, why isn't Frank just taking Jose Miranda as his third baseman? He's dealing with a shoulder thing right now. I kind of want to learn more about it. He is not competing in the World Baseball Classic now because of the shoulder injury. He's being brought along pretty slowly now in spring training. So I think we need to learn more information. The twins are quite hopeful he'll be ready for opening day. That was quite hopeful.

Well, when you're already hearing that they're thinking about, opening day as like a hopeful, a target return? Quite hopeful, Frank. Yeah, I get it. I get it. I don't think Jose Miranda's very good. That would be my reluctance to take him. Yeah.

Here's for some context. Here's just the players in NFC ADP from a year ago, just a year ago, around 175. It's just going to go in order, starting with, Nelson Cruz, Joey Gallo, Sayy Suzuki, Luis Severino, Camillo DeVal, Marcelo Zuner, Ranger Suarez, Anthony Rizzo, Alex Kirillof, Taylor Rogers, Marcus Sherman, Terrick Scoobel, Josh Donaldson, probably about a coin flip as to whether you actually wanted any of those guys on your team for more than the first couple of weeks of the season. Now, you may have had them on your team

for a while, but there's a pretty good chance you dropped a bunch of those, and things don't tend to get better as you go lower. So this is the part of the draft where like, yeah, we're, you know, we're hoping that you're going to have starters here. We're certainly drafting these guys as starters. But it's it's the case that this is the point in the draft where there's just a ton of variance, a ton of variability and a ton of attrition. Yeah.

So. Which is usually why like this is the part of the draft where I don't want safe and boring. like a Jose Miranda. I want to sell out for upside like a Jordan Walker. He's already gone. But there are plenty of upside-y types out there still.

And I just cued up a bunch of them. We'll see how many I'm able to draft. But yeah, the roster turnover, like that's kind of the benefit to playing in a shallower league. This is sort of a mid-sized league. It's not the shallowest format. The Waver Wire isn't bursting

with new talent. But there will be players everybody's excited to pick up every week and you can expect maybe a third of your roster to have turned over by the time the season's done. Maybe a third within the first couple months. Let's take one more break here.

And when we get back, I'll catch you up on round 17 on fantasy baseball today. We are in round 17, live Rhodo mock draft here. And so far this round, Jesse Winker. Frankly, that's who I would have taken. But very next pick, I did take the boring Brandon Nimmo, one of 10 players to score 100 runs last year.

Andres Munoz, Cal Raleigh, Scott Barlow with Merrifield, Chris took Anthony Rendon, another third baseman. That won't be on my team. Harrison Bader, Jose LeClerc and John Bertie. I've actually come around a little bit on Rendon to, again, there's no risk. He's going right around, pick 200. We haven't seen him be valuable for fantasy purposes in a couple of years because of all the injuries. but Chris, just team context.

If he's batting cleanup behind Taylor Ward, Mike Trout, and Joey Otani, that's a pretty damn good spot to be in a lineup. Yeah, I mean, you know, there's no risk. Like you said, there's also not necessarily any reason to believe he's going to bounce back. It's just that it's Anthony Rendon. He was one of the best hitters in baseball for a long time. So hopefully he will be able to bounce back.

But yeah, yeah, there's no guarantee he will at this point in the draft, though. again, there's a decent chance you're dropping whoever you take if it's not Anthony Rendon. So you might as well at least hope that it's a guy who could get you 90 RBI and hit for a decent batting average and all the things that Anthony Rendon in an ideal world could do. All right. After John Birdie goes, we see John Gray. And Scott, one of your picks was Jose Berrios, who I am pretty interested in myself. And you've got one more here. Who are you planning on, Scottie?

I am going to take... I'm going to take Oscar Coloss. Oh. One of my sleeper outfielders. One of my last two outfielder spots to fill. I do expect him to be the White Sox starting right fielder on opening day. I do think he's somebody who's starting to get enough buzz that you can't subscribe to ADP. Just blindly follow ADP with him.

If you want him, you better take him. 205 overall, as Chris keeps saying, like we're definitely at a point in the draft now. We're just take your guys and don't even really pay attention to ADP. And then, you know what? Like Frank mentioned with Rendon, I think Colos is a guy who, like let's say you think him and another guy in that range

are fairly similar talents. Take the guy in a really good lineup because if he hits, you know, the way we think he can, there's more room for excess value than there otherwise would be. You know, I was debating Coloss and Jared Kellnick, and I wanted to go Kelnick. I really did, but I ran the calculation, okay, I haven't seen a lot of people drafting Kelnick in 12th team. Yeah, but he had a home run today, so. Three home runs now this spring, and the exit velocities are just insane.

It was an opposite field home run this latest one off a lefty, off a fastball. I think it's worth pointing out. On an 02 pitch, Scott. Yeah. And like I tweeted about it, you know, just pointing it out, not really offering much analysis on it. And I got a lot of responses like, don't do this, Scott. You know, we're not going to fall for this again. The guy's 23 years old.

if he hadn't debuted in the majors already, if he had just put up the numbers he was putting up in the minors and now he's competing for a spot at 23, like he'd be drafted like Corbin Carroll or something. I think we're being a little too dismissive. And take advantage of it. I mean, now you don't really have to pay much of anything for Jared Kalnick. And if it doesn't work out, whatever, you'll move on.

But I am warming up to the idea of taking him Obviously, it's more likely to flop than not, but that's beside the point. You're shooting for upside at a point in the draft where it's not going to hurt you. After we saw Jared Kellniko, Andrew Heaney, Jose Miranda, Gabriel Moreno went to Chris, Brady Singer, Austin Meadows, and Carlos Estevez. Chris, speaking of spring training home runs, we saw on Gabriel Moreno's first game this spring, he hit a home run and I think we can all agree he possesses the talent. He hits the ball hard. He makes a lot of contact. Now, if he can flash some of this launch angle throughout spring training, I think that could give us a lot of hope going into the season with Gabriel Moreno. Yeah, I mean, I still think he's probably going to be at least early in the season on the smaller side of a split with Carson Kelly. Although Carson Kelly is really bad against Ritees, I believe, is the way. his career has gone.

So there's a chance that, you know, Moreno takes on a bigger role. But it's, yeah, it's betting on some upside. It's betting on a skill set that hopefully translates pretty well. You know, very contact forward.

He might just be Cabr-Ree's or what Cabr-Reeze was last season because, you know, they're very similar types of players. But I'll, I'll take a chance on a guy who at this point last year was top 10 cup prospect in the game. Yep. That is Gabriel Moreno.

And I agree, Chris. I think there is a chance. Maybe he starts off as playing, you know, two, three times a week, something like that. Ideally, you want it more as a second catcher than anything. But if he's performing, Carson Kelly is not. Then I think we could very quickly see that go to. All right, maybe four or five times a week, we get Gabriel Moreno in the lineup for the Diamondbacks. After we saw him go, Brady Singer, Austin Meadows, Carlos Estevez, Ryan McMahon.

I got a third basement, boys. Josh Young will be. my third baseman in this knock. That's the move. I mean, if you can't get Jordan Walker, if you can't get Anthony Redone, I'd be willing to go with Anthony Rendon before Young,

but just get young. If you're talking about a 12-team league, something deeper than that, you can't afford to miss then maybe you look at like an Alec Bone or something instead. But if it's a shallower league and you could shoot for ups,

I'd do so with Young, I would say. Yeah, I mean, that's exactly what I was thinking. And that's what we said on the third base preview is if you miss out on the top guys, wait, take either Walker or Josh Young, pair them with an old guy. If we were drafting bench spots in this draft as well, then I would probably wind up with a Justin Turner or even Alec Bohm who was on the top of the queue, which I am mildly interested in. I was listening to the Phillies broadcast the other day and they said he put on some muscled this offseason and he wants to pull. I mean, his problem has not been hitting the ball hard. He hits the ball pretty hard. He's like 85th to 90th percent on. most of the quality of contact metrics.

He's just like Brian Hayes, hits the ball on the ground too much. Yep. Yep. Big thing for Alec Bohm. But if he could pull the ball more, it's something apparently Rod Thompson has been emphasizing with Alec Boe. That's exactly what we want Hayes to do too,

speaking of which hit a home run the other day. And he mentioned that as an emphasis that he knows he needs to put the ball in the air more and pull the ball. That could lead to a to Brian Hayes breakout. Even an Alec Bone breakout. if both those guys do that this season. At the start of round 19, well, the last pick of round 18 was Jack Flaherty.

It's really good value. I mean, 2.16, why not? Then Patrick Sandoval. I took J.D. Martinez, fill in my utility spot. Estuary Ruiz. Then Joey Meneses, Cabr Ruiz, and Michael Conforto. Chris, you're on the clock. Let's pull up your team.

I've never been a big fan of Jack Flaherty, but he's someone I've drafted a decent amount this year, just because you don't have to pay very much for him at all. And, you know, I didn't like him when he was being drafted as an ace. But when he's your seventh pitcher, it's a lot easier to talk yourself into it because he's clearly very talented. You know, I think the upside is probably an SP2, at least on a per inning basis. And so, yeah, why not take the chance? Wow, Chris, Homer picks often.

I know. Hases, Lizardo, and Edward Cabrera on the same. team. Yeah, I mean, look, if there's one thing the Marlins have been good at, it's developing young pitchers. We know, we've seen it from Hazis Lazzardo pitching at a high level at a major league level. And, you know, Edward Cabrero, one of my favorite sleepers. We talked about him a lot this spring. I think, uh, I think there's significant breakout potential there. And he hasn't made his debut yet, right, this spring? I don't believe so. He'll be a fun one to watch. That's Edward Cabrero. We're talking about a pretty fun last three starting pitchers. He's

So Chris, Chris Sale, Hazis Lazzardo, Edward Cabrera. Lots of talent with all of them. Can they stay on the mountain? That's the biggest question. And that's why I like the anchor approach at starting pitcher. You know, McClanhan and Verlander, there's enough volatility there where I feel a little iffy about the innings and counting stats that I'm going to get from those guys. But the idea is, at least, that you have your two guys you can trust for 180 innings,

200 plus strikeout, elite ratios. and it gives you a lot more flexibility in the type of pitcher you can draft from that point on. After Edward Cabrero, we see Alex Verdugo, Andrew Benintendi, Francisco Alvarez, and Jeff McNeil. Scott, you are on the clock for two picks. Yeah, so I almost went pitcher-pitcher, like two bounceback candidate pitchers with that last pair. I decided to take an outfielder Oscar Coloss instead.

But I was going to go Barrios and Flaherty if I went that route. The reason I didn't is because that would leave me with only two pitcher spots if I'd taken two. I'm sorry, it would have left me with only one pitcher spot if I'd taken two pitchers then. And I really like this range at starting pitcher. It's part of the reason why I'm so comfortable waiting as long as I am. And I find in these roto drafts where you only have the nine pitcher spots to fill in, there's not a lot of incentive to carry a bunch on your bench, I'm out of pitcher spots before I'm out of pitchers I like.

So I am going to take two here. In fairness, you've only got three spots total left. So, you know, you're running out. After these picks, I have only three spots left. Yeah, entering these picks, I had five spots left. But I'm going to go ahead and fill out my pitching staff with Miles Michaelis and, and Merrill Kelly, two pitchers who were must starts in every format basically all of last season and nobody wants them this year. There's some degree of skepticism with them, though I don't think, you know, I think part

of their success is just the environment changed and they are equipped to take advantage of that. So I think there's decent hope they're going to follow up on it. And Kelly's case, the strikeout rate is good enough that as long as he gives you the he's going to give you a useful number of strikeouts. Michaelis less so, but Michaelis is better built for ERA suppression. It's going to be a big workload for both of them. It's going to be the potential for double-digit wins for both of them. And I think they're just tremendous values at this stage of the draft. What did you coin them, Scott? The Mount Rushmore this year?

The Mount Rushmore of pitchers who figured out how to succeed in the the post-juice ball league. And they are... Really rolls off the tongue. Miles Michaelis, Merrill Kelly, Martin, Martin Perez, and Tyler Anderson. I'm most skeptical of Perez and Anderson. Kelly and Michaelis, I feel best about.

So that's why I went ahead and took them here and didn't want to take the chance that, you know, didn't want to have to go with Perez with my next pair of picks. Yeah, I think Kelly is the one that I like most as well of that group. I might put Tyler Anderson second. He really developed his changeup last year. So if he leans into that pitch a lot again with the Angels, then I think there is a decent chance that Tyler Anderson has value again.

Not that it repeats what he did last year. Let's see what's going on in round 20 now. We've got Miles Michaelis, Jonah Heim, Giovanni Gallegos, James and Tyone, and, Ouch. I really wanted Trevor Rogers, but he goes here at pick 233. I'm sorry, Chris, but you couldn't take a third. I couldn't get a third stallion. It's okay.

I am on the clock and I'm going to take a starting pitcher. And it's a guy who I like quite a bit. As a sleeper, Tyler Malley, he was pretty good in 2021. Obviously not as good in 2022. But we didn't really get to see him outside of Cincinnati. And his philosophy was up in his first spring start, right? Tyler Malley, yes, it was up one mile per hour on the first. That's what you want to see because it was down a little bit last year.

He dealt with shoulder issues. But his numbers are, I think his ERA is like a run and a half lower on the road than it wasn't Cincinnati for his career. So I'm hoping getting a full season in Minnesota, getting away from Cincinnati is going to be good for him. And, you know, in an ideal outcome, mid-3s ERA and, you know, 10K per 9 is not out of the question. All right. that is Tyler Malley. Yeah, the fastball velocity is huge,

Chris, because the fastball is his best pitch. So if he can keep that VLO up, shoulder stays healthy, then I do think Tyler Malley is grossly underval. Yeah, I was going to say 200 strikeouts rather than go with a K-per-9.

I was like, that seems aggressive. He had 210 in 2021. Yeah, he had a lot. He was really good. And starting pitcher, man, has really dwindled down here. I've already got five,

so it's not a huge need. But did Cinderguard get taken? I don't know he man the the spring quotes from him are a little concerning yeah he was like 92 93 with his fastball on his first start and he was like I know I can throw harder and it's like well well that's why I'm wondering if you had invented Facebook you would have invented Facebook you know Cinderguard Cinderguard Cinderguard was one of Frank's favorite sleepers and I wondered if that one spring star was enough to push Frank off of Cindergarde it's not I mean I I want to see a little bit more, but we mentioned it on yesterday's podcast.

There was no velocity readings for that game, but I saw a tweet from a Dodgers beatwriter that he was sitting 90-91. Yeah. Yeah. Which was even bad. Three to four miles per hour lower than last year, which was already three miles per hour lower than before Tommy John. Which we were like what?

Like we're like five days removed from Dave Roberts. like, oh yeah, he's definitely going to be throwing as hard as he was before, right? Like, I'm not imagining those quotes. There was a report from Bob Nightingale that he was sitting 96. Well, prior to the start of games. No comment. So that would be improvement. Cindergarde said he was dealing with some mechanical issues.

I don't know that that makes it more encouraging because you got to sort out those mechanical issues. So, yeah, I'm, I was never as high as Cindergarde as you were, Frank, but I was starting to like him a little bit and now I'm just kind of eh. There's a lot of other pitchers I like more like Drey Jameson and McKenzie Gore. If you're going to go the upside route,

I think one of the kids is a better way to go than the old guy whose velocity keeps dropping several miles per hour. That is totally fair. I mean, the premise of everything was drive line in the offseason

and the Dodgers. devil magic, but if the velocity is already down, then, yeah, it's not looking good. I mean, maybe it'll swing again later in spring training. Andrew Haney didn't pick up that sweeper until, like, the very end of spring training and had the breakthrough season he did. Yeah. After Chris took Tyler Malley last round, we saw Hassan Kim, Alex Cobb, Josh Nailer, Oswald Paraza.

It's a pretty good value. It's 38 for Bras. Yeah, like I'm thinking Parazza is undervalue. He looks like the favorite to win that job. Yep. And I took Alex Lang as my third reliever slash closer, hopeful for the Tigers. At the turn, CJ Abrams, another one, you know, small sample, but has looked pretty good so far in Springs, posting some nice EVs.

And I think he has a stolen base or two already as well. Then Eric Haas, I took Will Myers, who was scratched from the lineup Tuesday with lower back tightness. You hate to see it because Myers is always banged up. But if he's good to go for the start of the season, obviously, everyday playing time, every day at batts in Cincinnati is favorable for fantasy purposes.

After Wilmire, Seth Brown, Nathan Avaldi, Lordes Gouriel, Liam Hendricks, and Chris, you took DJ LaMayhew, who I believe made his spring debut on Tuesday. Yeah,

and there's talk that he's in the mix to bat lead off for the Yankees. Obviously, you know, not going to have a single everyday job, but I think we'll get close to everyday plate appearances is if he's hitting near the top of that lineup

and he can just be what he was prior to the toe injury last year. I still think that he's a a guy who can be very, very useful for fantasy, especially if, you know, I still have some questions about my team batting average. So I think it's a, you know, I think it's a very helpful pick.

And I wonder how, what's his most likely position? Is it third base? Maybe they've just seen enough from Josh Donald's say, they could move as well as, round, but that's what's his name? Aaron Boone was like vociferously defending Josh Donaldson the other day, so I don't think they've given up on him, but it's going to be somewhere, you know?

Yeah. All right. After Lamehu goes, Alec Bohm, Ramon Luriano, who I believe is dealing with an oblique. No, it's a groin. So we'll pay attention to Luriano's, the rest of his spring training. Then Jack Peterson, Martin Perriano. Fred Scott, you spoke too soon. The Mount Rushmore is almost gone, not completely.

Anderson's is still there, right? Yeah. So I was wise to take those too. I mean, I could have still gotten Anderson here. But like I said, I'm more confident in Merrill Kelly and Miles Michaelis anyway. So for my corner infield spot, I'm going to take Brandon Drury. It's one of those situations where there's a lot of reasons for skepticism about the season the Drury had.

But the evidence for him potentially being able to repeat it is that he just did it. And he's still in a hitters park like he was in Cincinnati. Now he's with the Angels. But that's favorable hitters park. Obviously going to play a lot with a lot of good hitters in that lineup. So third to last pick. You know, if he was going 100 picks earlier than this, no thanks. But I'll take Drury here.

Now, this is interesting. I've five outfielder league obviously 60 need to be drafted. We talk about how there's nobody after 30 or so. But there are several candidates here from my fifth outfielder spot that I would be really happy to have. Ultimately, I'm going to go with Jake Fraley.

But Alex Kiroloff is still there. Rist is supposedly feeling better. he has yet to get in a spring game. So that's part of why I'm opting against him. But I would have been happy with him as my fifth outfielder. Also, Garrett Mitchell, who appears to have the center field job locked up already for the Brewers. He showed his speed in a late season trial last year,

swipe 10 bases, I think. So you know he's going to be helpful in that category. He had a two-homer game this spring. He had a double, I think, recently. He's always had good raw power, just a swing that was completely built to undermine it. I don't know. Maybe he's figured something else.

The swing on the home run, especially the second one, look good. So you just went off the board. All right. Yes, he goes here in round 22. We are coming up on the final round of the draft.

Here's what we'll do. We'll take one more break. We'll finish up the draft, recap our teams real quick, and then we'll get you out of here on fantasy baseball TV. All right, we're here in round 22, the second to last round. Jake Frailie, Travis Darnow, and Garrett Mitchell. I have a feeling we're going to see a lot of those second catchers start to get drafted here off the board.

And I agree, Scott, I think this is an interesting range for outfield where, obviously you don't want these guys this late to be your third or fourth. But in a league this deep, when you get to your fifth outfield spot, I mean, take a shot on upside. There's a lot of interesting names here. Even if you need just pure power, someone I found myself gravitating towards is Jorge Solair. If he's healthy, he's going to play.

And I don't care that he plays in Marlins Park. Like, the guy has light tower power regardless of where he plays. I think, you know, if he stays healthy, he can hit 30 home runs. So I think he's a good sleeper. He's twice showed that he could be a must-start fantasy player. And then in between has really let us down. But even in years where Outfields,

the talent is a more normal distribution. Your fifth outfielder is probably not going to be somebody there, you're that confident in going into the season. So the third and fourth outfielder range is much weaker than we're used to seeing it. But by the time you get to the fifth outfield, they're still, especially now that we're seeing the way lineups are shaping up this spring, like when I first made out my rankings, I wasn't giving Garrett Mitchell much credit because I didn't know how much confidence the Brewers.

had in him. And they had Sal Freelick waiting in the wings. So, you know, how much of a chance would Mitchell get just because he got it first last year? Does that mean he'd automatically be slotted in? But now it's looking much more apparent than yes. They do have a lot of confidence of Mitchell. That is his job. Even if he doesn't improve as a hitter, I mean, if he's playing five times a week, he's likely going to steal 40 bases, if not more. So it's not a bad pick here. after Garrett Mitchell we saw Luis Arise, Trevor May, Chris took Brandon Rogers, then Evan Phillips, Spencer Torkelson, and Yasmani Grandal. Chris, on the podcast yesterday, Scott and I were talking to Ariel Cohen about some like boring hitters, Alex Verdugo, Alex Bone. Brandon Rogers feels like one of those players.

I think as long as you don't expect too much, he'll hit 275 with 15 to 20 home runs. It's fine. It just doesn't blow you away. Yeah, there's a song called Hey, Jealousy by the Jim Blossoms. If you don't expect too much from me, you might not be let down. I think that's partially what we've seen with Brennan Rogers. We've had very, very high expectations from him, and he hasn't lived up to them. And so we're just kind of throwing him out.

But the one thing about Brenner Rogers that I keep coming back to is he just, he hasn't gotten the course field bump yet. He certainly didn't last year. his numbers were not much better at home than on the road. And you can look at it and say, well, he's not that great of a hitter. So of course. But like,

not great hitters still put up very good numbers at course field. So I still think that there is room for Brennan Rogers to take another step forward. And 11 o'clock. Yeah. My wife changed the timing. So 11 instead of 1130, we might have to adjust that one. Because 11 were definitely podcasting most nights.

So yeah, I think there's room for Brennan Rogers to take a step forward. He's not going to be like a five category guy, but I still think there's a world in which he hits 285 with 20 plus homers if he also stays healthy. All right. Let's catch people up on some of the last couple picks here. We left off with Grand Alvin. Brian Bejo goes, I took Danny Jansen. Both of my starting catchers come from Toronto Blue Jays.

Daltim Par Show and Danny Jansans just kind of fun. At Alberto Mondesie, then the last round here, Christian Vasquez. I took Ross Stripling. He's a sleeper of mine. He kind of re-broke out last year with the Blue Jays, throwing his change-up more. Really good change-up. Hope he does it again this season.

And he signed with the Giants. So obviously great ballpark to pitch in as well. I like Rush Tripling as like an SP6 or even a bench pitcher. Andrew McCutcheon, Tyler Anderson. Andrew Pitzer. Now that's a funny time. I forgot all about him. So bad job by me.

and then Alec Thomas goes as well. Look, anytime you can draft someone who was born in 2003, you got to. Does it make you feel old? Feels painful, man. He doesn't turn 20 until about a week from now. He looked incredible in his spring debut today. Yeah, he averaged nearly 97 miles per hour on his fastball, had a cutter and slider as his secondary pitches.

I saw a pretty nasty strikeout from pitching ninja. where Andrew Painter made someone do the sword thing, and it was great. So, yeah, I mean, the Phillies are going to give him a shot. I don't know how many innings they're going to let him throw this year, but he could be in the opening day rotation. That's Andrew Painter. I thought about it with Andrew Painter there. I like your pick too, though.

I mean, Kentimae, as your, I think it's your SP6 or 7 there. Seven, yeah. Coming back from Tommy John's surgery, his timeline is the same as when Verlander returned last year. Obviously, he's not the same pitcher as Verlander, but he's had about 13 or 14 months since he's had Tommy John surgery. He's fully arrested. The twins have said there are no restrictions with Kenzumay. Yeah, I mean, like he's never been someone who throws particularly deep into game, so it's not like you're going to get a 200-inning season out of him. But if he stays healthy, he gives you 170 really good innings. And, you know, that's what I'm hoping for. This is one of those

situations where like, because we're not playing this draft out, we're not drafting benches. If we were drafting benches, I may have taken Painter a round ago, knowing that Kenta Maeda probably would have been there when I was drafting for my bench. But, you know, I'm, I'm happy. This is another pitching staff. I'm very happy with how my pitching staff looks. All right. After we finish this draft up, we'll take a quick look at each of our teams and you could reveal your entire pitching staff, Chris. After Maeda, at Vesel, Garcia, Christian Betancourt. I like Betancourt as a second catcher. Kendall Graveman, Dylan Floreau, and Scotty, Mr. Irrelevant of the draft is Joey Bart. Now, Scott, you're not Mr. Irrelevant. That's what it sounded like.

Oh, no, absolutely not. Joey Bart. Not Scott. Joey Bart. Yeah. Yes, that's correct. All right, let's quickly run through each of our teams. And, you know, we'll start from the end and we'll work our way back.

We'll start with Scott. Take a look at your team. You're drafting 12th overall in this one. We'll run through the hitters first and then take a look at your pitchers. So in the infield, you've got J.T. Rilumuto, Joey Bart, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncie, Raphael Debrers, Jeremy Pena, Ezekiel Tovar, and Brandon Drury. In the outfield, you've got Teosca Hernandez, Anthony Santander, Jake Freli, Luis Robert, Oscar Coloss, and then Catelle Marte at your utility spot. You wanted to try something a little bit different in this one, Scott. You started first base and third base. Didn't take an outfielder until the three-four turn. How do you think you're?

offense turned up. I think it's fine. I think it's balanced. I, um, you know, obviously there are some potential holes here. If Brandon Drury doesn't pan out, I'll be up looking for another corner infielder, a couple outfielders there that are kind of risky and Jake Frailey and Oscar Coloss. Everybody's lineup has players like that. It's a 14, you know, 14 hitter lineup.

Um, but I don't think, I, I feel pretty good about it. I think there's a lot of balance there. I didn't neglect a position and force myself to have a total scrub there. The one thing I'm missing looking at this lineup is a really safe high-end outfielder. Because while I did get three of my top 30 in Luis Robert Teoscar Hernandez, Anthony Santander, they're all pretty injury prone. So I feel the. lack of a first round outfielder. And I didn't have a choice.

I was picking 12th, so the seven were already gone. It would have been reaching for Mike Trout, who himself is injury prone. Or I could have gone, Fernando Tatis, plugged them in as a shortstop to start out with the idea of moving up to outfield later. But of course, he has his own issues. So I think it just reinforces the idea that I really want an outfielder in round one, which I already knew. and but it also it also suggests that um you know it's not like the sky is falling if you can't get one it's just you're taking on more risk at a position where you need to come up with five startable options yeah your top three they are three of your top 30 ranks outfielders you

accomplished the goal you got robert tiaska hernandez santander all very talented but as you pointed out all very injury prone as well. On the pitcher side, you've got Kenley Jansen, Charlie Morton, Miles Michaelis, Ryan Presley, Jose Barrillos, Merrill Kelly, Trista McKenzie, Tony Gonsland, and Alec Manoa.

So you've got the two surefire closers there with Ryan Presley and Kenley Janssen. You've got seven starting pitchers here. It's got something you said earlier in the offseason is that we're going to have to reprogram our minds to how we think about pitching. And I think that's how I feel

looking at this pitching staff because to me it doesn't feel good enough, but it might feel good enough to you, especially the way that you think pitching is going to carry over this year. So that's me, but I'm sure probably feels better for you. Yeah, I'm pretty excited about it. Like every time, I have yet to come out of a draft thinking, oh, man, pitching is going to be a problem. You know, as much as I keep trying to push the envelope like I'm saying, I keep trying to delay myself from taking pitchers longer to address those hitter scarcities that I think are more apparent now in a post-juiceball league.

And I mean, the last two starting pitchers I drafted were, like I said, must-start pitchers last year. It doesn't mean they will be again. But if the environment is the same as this year, there will be new Merrill Kellys and Miles Michaelis's that appear. I looked at one of my championship teams from last year, and basically the whole pitching staff, but Zach Wheeler, came off the waiver.

wire. I just think that's where we're back to. And it's, it was so long ago that that's how the game of fantasy was played that I, I do think it's going to take maybe a couple years for people to reprogram themselves. And who knows, maybe the ball will change again during that time. But if it doesn't, I think this is the way. And yeah, I think I'll be, I think I'll do just fine in the categories. I'm not, even strikeouts because I got Charlie Morton, who I think is a pretty safe bet for 200 plus. Alec Manoa and Tristan McKenzie, if they stay healthy, should be at least close to 200. I don't even think that's going to be a major issue. I have seven starting pitchers. Some teams, I'm sure, have six. That'll help make up for the strikeout gap. I think the

pitching staff will be just fine. And you have pitchers on good teams, too, which is an emphasis of mine this offseason. It sounds very obvious, but look, if you want to cover yourself in terms of wins, you want pitchers on good teams as well. Let's slide over to Chris' team. He was drafting seventh overall. We'll start with the infield, Salvador Perez,

Gabriel Moreno, Christian Walker, Tommy Edmund, Anthony Rendon, Tim Anderson, Jorge Polanco, and DJ LaMayhew in the outfield. Mike Trout, Christian Yelich, Mookie Betts, Brian Dela Cruz, Riley Green and Brendan Rogers. You know, Chris, this seems like a pretty balanced offense too.

I kind of like it. What do you think? Yeah, I don't have like multiple stolen base standouts or one guy who's going to carry me. So, you know, it is a lot of like 10 to 15 steel guys. We've talked a lot about how that can turn into two to five steel guys without much changing. So I think that's the place where I'm weakest. got some, you know, really nice breakout candidates and Riley Green and Brian Dela Cruz, guys who I think could take a big step forward as hitters. I'm pretty happy with how this

group of hitters came out. I think it, there's no glaring categorical weakness. And if there's one, it steals and we don't know how that's going to play this season. So it might end up not being as much of a weakness as expected. Hey, put some respect on Tommy Edmund, Chris. Right. Yeah, that's the one guy. He's, but he's not like a 40 steel guy. Well, actually, Actually, I saw a quote from him, or it wasn't a quote, but it was relaying a message that he had given to this beat writer that he thinks he'll steal at least 40 bases with these rule changes. And I've heard some, I've seen more hitters downplaying the rule changes. But Tommy Edmund was once saying at least 40 bases. Interesting.

That's good. Sounds good to you, Chris. Let's take a look at your pitching staff. You've got Justin Verlander, Chris Sale, Edwin Diaz, Tyler. Malley, Kenta Maida, Paul Seawald, Edward Cabrera, Hazie Lazzardo, and Shane McClanahan. So much like Scott, you've got those two anchor relievers. You've got Edwin Diaz, arguably the top closer in the game, and Paul Seawald. And then you've got two aces on your team with Justin Verlander and Shane O'Mack.

And then you just not like Scott. Yes, not like Scott. You filled in the rest with a bunch of upside starting pitchers. It's interesting. There is a lot of upside with this group. Yeah. And then this is. very much like my, it's not necessarily my ideal pitching staff in all of the names.

There were definitely a few guys I would have liked to have grabbed, but I'm very happy with how it came out. I think this, you know, highlights why I really like the anchor pitching approach. The one thing I will say is like with Verlander and McClanahan as my anchors, I probably could have used like a Miles Michaelis type to provide a little bit more of a floor in terms of, you know, innings and end counting stats, but I think it's a really talented group. A couple of my favorite sleepers are out on there in Edward Cabrera and Tyler Malley as well. I guess I wish if I was only going to go with two closers, that one of them was more

of a sure thing closer in Paul Seawald, but I'm very happy with how this group pinned together. I think it'll be quite good. All right. Well, take a look at my team. I was drafting seventh over, second overall in the draft. And I've got Delta, Varsho and Danny Jansen at catcher, then Nate Lowe, Jose Altuve, Josh Young, Wander Franco, Ahmed Rosario, and Rowdy Tellez in the infield. In the outfield, I've got Ronald Le Cunia, Eloy Jimenez, Hunter Renfro, Brendan Nimmo, Will Myers with J.D. Martinez at utility. It feels kind of light. I think it's balanced. I think it's a balanced offense,

but taking Garrett Cole in round two with Ronald de Cunia and then Altuve in the third round. Maybe the answer was to take Nolan Aronado. You know, if Paul Goldstein made it to me there, I probably would have taken him and then whichever second baseman felt to me likely Altuvei. But I didn't. I chose to take a starting pitcher and I kind of regret it now. Because you have that gaping hole at third base where it's kind of like I was saying

his shortstop earlier, if Josh Young, maybe he breaks out. It's possible. But if he doesn't, and it's more likely he doesn't, then you're just stuck with the crap he's the third basement all year, unless you make a trade. So, you know, plug in a pitcher you could have taken where you took Josh Young and then put an Aeronado there in Josh Young spot. And would you feel better about your team? So who ends up being your ace if you take Cole out completely?

And you're talking a late round pitcher instead. So, Gosman. I wound up with Gosman as my SPT too. I mean, you probably would have had to reconfigure your whole draft to, because, and who would be after Gosman, Jeffrey Springs. You went pretty weak at starting pitcher after taking Cole. I have played a change.

Okay. It kind of changed the whole complexion of your draft. So I don't know that we can fairly assess it just by swapping out Cole for Aeronado. But that is the reason I would take Aeronado late in that too is because I don't want to be the guy who ends up having to start Josh Young

and pray to God that he is his best possible self. Yeah, again, if we were drafting bench spots, I would have taken like a Justin Turner. I'm not excited about it, but a higher floor type player to pair with a Josh Young and hopefully between the two, one of those guys works out.

I think it's balanced, but I just, I feel like I'm missing something on this offense. And then on the pitching staff, I've got Garrett Cole, Kevin Gosman, Blake Snell, Ross Stripling, Jeffrey Springs, and Pablo Lopez as the starters.

And my three closers are Felix Bautista, Daniel Bard and Alex Lang. I love the pitching staff. I mean, there's no doubt about that. It's just the way that this draft played out. It was Brandon Woodruff was available in round five. Yeah, it's hindsight 2020. But this is what I've learned.

Maybe it's just the drafts that we're doing with, you know, people that listen to the podcast or whatever it might be or just doing it for this content. That everyone is just waiting on pitching. But that is something I would have done differently in this mock draft. We're going to wrap there. It's a pretty long one. Thank you all for sticking around.

If you haven't, please like the video. Subscribe to us on YouTube. We really appreciate it. We're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching. Fantasy baseball today. We'll be back again tomorrow.

Bye-bye.