Fantasy Baseball Today - Live Roto Salary Cap (Auction) Draft Part 1! Early Nominations & Strategy (3/8 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 8, 2024

It's time for our annual LIVE Roto Salary Cap (auction) draft! In the first hour we run through early nominations, strategy, winnings bids, team construction and much more! Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

in to Fantasy Baseball today on March 8th. I am Frank Stamphill, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, you asked, you're going to get it. Live 12-team, Roto salary cap draft, also known as an auction with the standard 5-5 categories, $260 standard budget. Shout out to our league champion from last year, Dan Richards, who frankly dominated all of us. Here is the plan.

So the first two hours will be, on audio as a two-part podcast, then we'll sign off the pod, and we will stick around for the rest of the draft here on YouTube. So we're going to be live for the next four to five hours. Buckle in. It's going to be an adventure. I thought you were going to show us your plan. I was going to take a screenshot.

Oh, no. I'm going to take Leo Rodriguez. Screen print. There we go. That was the next thing. I was going to enhance. Enhance. Does everybody have their plans ready?

I got to say, the Kokomo intro. couldn't have been less appropriate for this because I am going to be a stress ball for like the next two hours that you'll hear. I'm not... I'm not... I'm not in a good place mentally either. I'm way behind on the work I needed to do today.

Now we got this draft. I'm a mess, you guys. Yeah, let's just preempt everyone and say it's really hard to do an auction while podcasting at the same time. So if we all finish in last place or close to it, I swear that's the reason why. All right.

Deep breaths. It's going to be fine. It's going to be fine. I love how someone responded on Twitter and asked, over under the time that Scott start tilting, two hours and 15 minutes. I said, more like 15 minutes.

Way under. Way under. I can predict, yes. All right, so let's pull up the draft board and here we go. Live auction, ready to go. This is not a mock draft, by the way. We play this league out every year.

We're playing this league out again. Last year, Dan Richards was our champion. I believe Chris finished fourth. I finished fifth. And we don't need to rule our sky. Yeah, we won't talk about that's fine. That's fine. Are we ready to go?

Are we up and running? We're running. Yeah, if we get a nomination up here from Chris Mitchell. You know, I'm kind of springing it on everybody suddenly. Here we go. All right. Bobby Witt is his nomination. Bobby Witt Jr. is up first.

Come on, man. Let's, oh, yeah, there you go. Jump it up. $35 bid all the way up to $35. Let's see how high this goes. Typically in this draft, the limit does not exist. So we will see how people treat this one here today because, yes, typically the elite players do go for quite a bit

in this specific draft. All right, so up to $44 for Bobby Witt. Scott is in on the bidding here at 45. For those who have never played in a salary cap league or an auction, you should change that because it is the best way to play, in my opinion. you can come up with any type of strategy that you like. You can get any type of team,

all within the restraints of $260, of course. And there we go. The first players off the board, Bobby Wood Jr., $46 to Raz Beaton. And Scott, you were in on the bidding. What happened? I took it up to 45. Okay.

And that's where I stopped. Got bid up to 46. So I have my limits for everybody. I have my limits, regardless of what my plan shows. Who knows if Bobby Wood was even part of the plan or if I was just in on the bidding for the fun of it. But now I'm nominating and I'm nominating Rondell to Cunia

so we can get the big one out of the way. We'll see what he ends up going for. He's already up to, oh my goodness, $58. $60, 61. Oh, yeah, 61. So. No concerns over the knee here. Well, yeah, I wondered if people would back off, given that there does seem to be just out there in the fantasy baseball playing world concerns over Acuna's knee, even though he's gotten the all clear.

It's supposed to be better after a couple weeks. He's supposed to be ready for the opening day. People can't help but worry when they've got that big of an investment. And he ends up going for 61. And now Julio Rodriguez is up. $61 for one Ronald Acuna. And Julio Rodriguez now up to 44. Minder that Bobby Witt went for 46.

And so I'll be 46. I have Julio Rodriguez ranked ahead of Bobby Witt. So here we go. Oh, you're in on J-Rod for 46. Yeah! Let's go! There you go. That was part of the plan.

There you go. You see it right there. Julio Rodriguez, he was part of the plan. I got it for $46. The same price as Bobby Witt and $15 less than Ronald de Cunia. So I am in. Is that how much you wanted to spend on him?

I wrote down 45-ish. So yeah, I think I was alright with that. I know I have them budgeted for less on the site. If you check our rankings on CBSports.com, I do have Julio for less, but factoring in what I said earlier, I know that this room is usually pretty hot on elite players.

so I did factor in that he would go for a little bit more. And Corby and Carroll, boom! Oh! Oh, I thought I had him in 43. The last second bid. Scott had Corby and Carol ready for 43. Symcannic comes in with the $44 bid. All right.

Scott. Corby and Carol goes for 44 and I stopped at 43. So this is a very familiar feeling here how I just don't quite budget enough for the high-end targets I'm looking for and maybe my team will turn out better for it it did not the last two years I will point out

yeah Bryce Harper the player I love how much do I love him that's the question well he've already spent $46 so I don't know guess what he's already at 32 and as much as I love Bryce Harper I don't think I'm going to be in on the bidding here so yeah he's up to 30 He keeps going.

The room is hot early on. And it's worth mentioning and people will see it. If you stick around throughout this entire draft, there will be savings at some point. If there's inflation up top here on the elite players, something will come in cheaper, whether it's the mid tier, the lower mid tier pitching. Something is going to go for a discount. And we will hopefully point that out once it happens. Yeah. So we're five minutes into this.

draft and I'm already a little. So let me just go ahead and reveal. My plan was to get two of Ronald Dacuna Bobby Witt and Julio Rodriguez. That's a lot of money. I'm going to have to redistribute on the fly here. And I'm not sure how it's going to go. Chris, if you've been trying to talk, I just realize you've been muted for quite some time. No, no. I'm still doing a little bit of housekeeping to to get ready. Worth mentioning that Bryce Harper wound up going for 36, and Fernando Tatis is now out,

and he is up to $40. So, yeah, I think around 40 would make some sense here based on where other players have gone. And that is the winning bid. Fernando Tatis for 40. I think in a Roto league, you probably do value him a little bit more than Bryce Harper, and maybe slightly less than Julio or Bobby Witt.

So yeah, 40 bucks, I think, Sounds right for Fernando Tatis. Ah, here we go. I'll have to say something, but Cole Regens is up. Yeah, I'll let you focus, Scott. Of course I'm going to be in the bidding there. Cole Regens, here we go. Where are my limits?

He is up to $18. Will it end there for Cole Regans? Or does Scott actually love? It'll in there. It'll in there. I'm not getting Regens. But Reagan's is the first who actually went for not more than the amount that I've projected auction values. Everybody else has exceeded my auction values.

And I think everybody has by at least $2. So Reagan's actually met it at 18. But knowing that so many of these high-end guys are exceeding it, I'm thinking there are going to be some values later. So I didn't want to pull the trigger around Reagan's. We'll see if I end up regretting that. Show Hey Otani is the player currently thrown out and he's up to $37. Scott is in.

He's got to change up the plan because he won a two out of three of Acuna, J-Rod and Bobby Witt. Those guys are already off the board. We got ourselves a little duel here between Scott and Chris. $39 going once. Yeah, you can have them. Going twice. Sold. $39.

Showhoyotani. It's a Scottydubs. Again, Fernando Tatis went for 40. Yeah, so that'll give me a good solid base of stats across all five categories. It is monopolizing the utility spot, obviously, so I'm out of the bidding on Azuna and Jimenez, some players who might be good values.

But I thought it was worth it. Yeah, especially if you wanted to get one of those first round caliber hitters. Scott, I know you've got, what are we down to now? 16, 17 first round caliber hitters? We're running out. Yeah, Mookie Betz. Mookie Betz is going for 42 here.

So that's another one. $2 more than I had him projected for. And for what it's worth, Otani was $3 more than I haven't projected for. But it's easier to get in on Otani once with Akunia and Rodriguez and Corb and Carol are already gone. Yep. So Mookie Betz goes for 42.

Right after you got Chohi Otani for 39. And it is, we're waiting on Tim Kanikson. nomination here. And in Autonom, I think. Freddie Freeman. So what do we got?

Yeah, I'll go $2 in Freddie Freeman. You're crazy, Chris. Chill, man. I got some money burning a hole in my pocket. Back to back to back to back Dodgers, by the way. How about that?

Let's go. I mean, I just, I did have the realization the other day while watching them. Like, oh yeah, Freddie Freeman's their third best player. Like, just. That's dumb. It is dumb.

Yeah. And from what I saw, Freddie Freeman was batting third in the lineup. And I think as of now, that's what we're expecting is Mookie Betts, O'Tani, and Freddie Freeman. One, two, three. Let's go Dodgers. Yeah. Go Dodgers. Let's go, Scott.

Scott won his boy, Freddie Freeman for 40 bucks. All right. Let's try something here. Let's see. $79 combined, Scott, on your first basement and your util. Mm-hmm. Position scarcity is for wimps. All right, Chris, so talk to me about this.

You threw a roll of Chapman out for two bucks early in the draft. Was totally willing to get him for $2. Someone else went to $3. That's totally fine. Yes. But that's something that I like to do early in the draft is throw out a player who maybe should be a dollar player for two. See if they can sneak them through.

If not, if someone wants to spend $3, I'll let them take them. And I think it is, you kind of learn something. Obviously, it shouldn't be one of the players, the low dollar players that you're most excited about. But if it's one you could live with for a dollar, you'll learn something about the room. Are they going to bid on anyone they see?

I don't know that we learned that for sure because the Roldest Chapman went for three. But now that the players, okay, Aaron Judge went for 30. here, which is... That seems like I'm right exactly what I happen. Pretty good. Relative to some of the other players.

Yeah, $1 less than Freeman. Yeah, that's probably the right... Yeah, I haven't had a single one yet that went for less than my, or at my value. Everything's been above. Reagan's and Judge have been at, but every other one has been over. Yeah, for me. All right, Trey Turner is the next name up.

So we're just kind of sticking to, outside of Chris's our old as Chapman and Cole Regans, just really stick into the first round hitters, first second round hitters, I would say for the most part so far. And Trey Turner is up to 35. Chris gets in on the bidding. 36.

Once we get past sort of the elite players that I'm sure everybody was planning to build their team around, once those are off the board, that's when I'll probably start throwing out some low-end guys just to see how the bidding goes on them. So I could do that right now because my turn is up here.

Trey Turner, by the way, went for $36. So relative to the other names that have gone, you know, in the mid to lateish first round. I think a slight discount compared to some of those others. Masataka Yoshida. Masataka Yoshita, we recorded a mailbag earlier in the day. His name just kept coming up. I don't know why, but if you want, listen to it on Saturday, and you'll hear some talk about Masataka Yoshita.

So why Yoshita's got? That's why he was top of mind for me. Well, because I didn't think I'd really win him for a dollar, but I only have him as a $3 player, and now he's up to $7 in the bidding. I don't know if that's going to back off. Get some money out of there. I was bad.

I finished low in this league, so maybe don't use my auctioneis as a guide, anyone playing in this league who's out there listening. $7 is what he ended up going for. But yeah, I think that was an interesting experiment. So I'm probably going to keep throwing out low dollar players who are more than $1 players for the next several nominations. And I have Yoshita for $4 on...

Just to drain more money from the overall pool. I have Yoshita for $4 on the website. I do have ATC projections pulled up all we're doing this as well. And in this format, they have Yoshita for $11. bucks. So I don't know. It could turn out to be a value. Spencer Strider. I threw out the first starting pitcher here. I want to get some money off the board because I know that I was not going to be in on the bidding for Spencer Strider. And he went for $43. So yeah, I think that is the fourth highest price player, right? Behind Bobby Witt, Acuna and Julio Rodriguez.

Yeah, Corbyn Carroll went for 44. So I think that makes sense. Usually a mid-first rounder. And here we go, Juan Succo. Actually, Juan Soto. He looks really good so far in spring training. And he is up to at 40 bucks. People are buying in, Chris. Yankee Stadium, they see the big spring so far, 41 bucks.

Yeah, just absolutely no values to be had right now. Look at Chris being all disciplined and stuff. I'm not used to this side of you, Chris. It's weird. I'm not either. Like I said, The vibes are off. And Juan Soto goes for 42 bucks.

For comparison, Aaron Judge, reminder went for 38. So I think a lot of times... Judge looking like the best value of the first round so far. Yeah, I would say him and Turner. Turner for 36, I think.

Was, I think, a pretty good value as well. Kyle Tucker, will just continue on with these first round caliber bats, and he's up for a buck. We got to keep this thing moving along. So let's jump in this up to to 30.

I would say just a piece of advice for anyone who's doing an auction online, be very careful with the plus $1 bid button because people will do crazy jump bids. And then next thing you know, you press $1, plus $1, and you got a guy for like $45 and you didn't need to do it. So you meant to, you meant to bid for 20 and you get stuck at 40. Yeah, that'll happen. Chris, I mean... That is not what happened there.

I think that is a phenomenal buy for, for, Kyle Tucker. I actually wrote down, I wrote Julio, Tucker, or Tatis. I wanted an outfielder that can give me power and speed, and I wrote 40 to $45. I spent on the high end for Julio Rodriguez, I spent 46. But man, to get Kyle Tucker

just gone 41 for Tatis, though. Yeah, I know you do like Tatis quite a bit. But Tucker's awesome, so. Yeah, I mean, Tucker's great. He's going to bat in the top four of that lineup for the first time. So counting stats should be there. He's excellent. There's, it's a nice, well-rounded skill.

set to build a team around. It's just, you know, I look at Otani at 39 and Judge at 30 and Tucker was sort of the last guy in the tier remaining for me. So I don't love it, but it's fine. It's fine, relatively speaking. I got Freddie Freeman for 40. Kyle Tucker and Freddie Freeman tend to go back to back. Yeah. I think it was right in line with the way this draft is playing out. And the previous nomination was Yorda Alvarez. He went for $38 so the same price as

Aaron Judge. Garikol is up and he is currently going for 33 bucks. A reminder that Strider went for 43. So we'll see how much more Garikol will rise. 34 going once, going

twice. Goodbye. That's goodbye. Sold. 34 bucks. Garacol. Yeah, very solid Solid buy Yep That is exactly what I haven't predicted for

But relative Strider went $6 more than I haven't for So this one should be fun Ellie De La Cruz is thrown out And obviously We know the hype surrounding Ellie De La Cruz

He's kind of a polarizing player He's very fun to watch He's amazing hits the ball hard One of the fastest players in the league There are some warts Strikeouts Ground balls last year Last year, struggles against lefties, but huge, huge upside.

No discount to be found here. No, he is up to $28. So, you know, if we're just kind of converting that into where that would be in a draft, that's probably an early third round pick or late second early third rounder, yeah. So, and now $29 for Ellie Dela Cruz. And sold. $29 is the price for Ellie. And here we go.

Matt Olson. Scott already has Freddie Freeman. I don't know if he wants to clog up the corner this early in his draft. Well, you never know, Frank. You never know what kind of tricks I get out of this sleeve. Matt Olson, the price has climbed now to 34. Why not? He got bit up right away.

Yeah, Scott went 35 and then we're back up to 36 here, which... Anybody want 37, Matt Olson? And that's about right. I think Bryce Harper went for 36, and those guys typically, maybe Olson usually goes a little bit earlier than Bryce Harper in a draft. But that's about right, I would say.

Matt Olson for $36, at least based on the way things have gone with early round players in this draft. Rafael Devers is the next name that is thrown out. And I don't know, let's get this moving up here a little bit. So Devers up to 24, 25, 26, all right, 27, 28. Where will it stop? Nobody knows. $28 going once. Nope. Still going. 30. Oh, Chris is, oh, Frank is in. Wow. Up to $32. All right. Well, I guess I won't have Raphael Devers.

$32 is the price and he is sold. Yeah. That's about, I guess that's about right? I had him at 28. So 32 is a little high by my standards. Olson was on point for me. I had Olson at 36. He went for 36. But I think that makes three total players that have gone for my projected amount

and everyone else has gone over. Chris, why are you doing this, man? You know, this is like on the football side, like Jamie and Dave will always make their very first bid a kicker for $1. And it's always so boring, and I'm kind of doing that here. Carlos Estevez.

Yeah, Chris threw up, Carlos Estevez, we should probably let everyone know, right? I mean, he's up to $6. That's another one. I was perfectly happy to get him for two. If other people want to bid up Carlos Estevez, that's good. Take more money out of the pool.

I was the one, Chris, because that was down to one second. I can't let Chris have Carlos Estevez for two bucks, you know? So I started the bid up to three and then he wound up going for $6. For anyone watching us live on YouTube, by the way, you can see the results here. We've got the draft room up and running. Make sure to like this video. Subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. And if you aren't watching, if you haven't subscribed,

what are you waiting for? YouTube.com slash fantasy baseball today. Jose Ramirez is the next player up, and he's currently at $35, which seems a... No! Perfectly happened. I tried... Did the clock reset?

I tried to bid at 36, but it didn't work. Wait, did the clock reset? Because sometimes there's a glitch that happens. I didn't see, but I don't know if we want to... No, it just ran out. If people are watching, you saw, I went there. Nobody's saying anything, so I guess it was... I clicked 36, but it's fine.

I'll let it rock. Gotta be a little quicker than that. It's a great, it's great bye, Chris. I mean, you got, you got... I'm happy with that one. Jose Ramirez for a dollar less than Bryce Harper and... And Matt Olson, I do like that quite a bit. Ozzie Albies is the next name up, and he is at 27.

I think the same price as Ellie. No, Ellie went up to 29. Ooh, that's good. Yeah, that's pretty good, yeah. Seems pretty good on Ozzy Albies. I've got it for 26. That's one of the better values so far. Maybe the big splurges are behind us,

and now people are bidding with more restraint. All right, I got to nominate somebody here. All right, Scott's going to nominate somebody. What we're going to do is take our first break, and we'll find out what happens right after this. Welcome back in. And the big nomination from Scott White, Hunter Brown, thrown out for a dollar.

It's currently up to five. I have him as a $4 player So I almost jumped in at 3 But it's one of those ones where it's like I have him as a $4 player I don't necessarily love like Locking in a roster spot for a marginal player this early too You know that that's that's one of the tough things about that strategy

And Scott I assume you were Fine getting him for a dollar if it happened And yeah Yeah I mean I didn't really want him But for a dollar I'd be okay with that Anything more? I'm fine to drain money. Keep draining money.

It went up to eight. So that works for me. And Hunter Brown wound up going for eight bucks. And the next player out here is Austin Riley, who is currently up to 28. Not anymore. 28 no more. He's up to 29 to Raz.

I have him as a $29 player, and I was really going to be frustrated if he went for less than that, even though I already have a third basement. So thank you for bidding him up, guys. And here we are. Austin Riley is up to $32, and who will be the winning bidder? Will it be me?

It will not be me. Oh my gosh. Beat on in with Fia. One more than Devers. You know what? I'm going to do it. Yep, I'm going to go with it. I'm overspending here on Austin Riley.

$34. To go with my Julio Rodriguez, right? To go with my Julio Rodriguez. But that part of the plan was Devers or Riley. So. I'm sticking to it. He, Riley, was the last first round caliber hitter left. If my, if, if, if I'm looking correctly right?

If you consider him, I think he's kind of on that, he's kind of, you know, a mid-second rounder. But he's, he has first round caliber. And he is obviously really consistent and has a high floor. Yeah. So I wanted one of those third baseman and I wanted a power and speed outfielder. So wound up overspending. I wish my $36 bid. Chris, if I went 36 on J-Ram, would you have gone through?

37? I don't know. Yeah, it's tough to say, right? Like, after the moment? You know what? I'm going to say no. Yeah, so I don't love that. Just to make you feel worse about it.

Yeah, I don't love that. We were waiting for Scott to tilt. It's me. I'm the first one. Here we go. Well, I had a tilting moment there. Byron Buxton, I cannot bid on him because I've already filled DH. So it's 11-person competition here.

That's the tough thing about the, when you're not bidding on your bench is you're immediately out on utility players once you filled that spot. I wondered if you were going to be so busy talking, Chris, that you didn't have bit on Byron Buxton. But you got in there. I got in there. Now, J.R. Fenton with the high bid. I have him as a $5 player. No, I have him as a $5 player.

I'm fine letting him go. Okay. Discipline, restraint. I like that. Austin Riley went for 34, as we mentioned. After that, it was Corbyn. He just kind of slipped on by for $32. Garik Cole went for $34 earlier.

So $2 less on Burns. Makes perfect sense. Are you interested in knowing what the defending champ Dan Richards team looks like right now? Let's see. I believe it's $10. He's got a $43 Spencer Strider. Okay. And he built his team around pitching last year, too.

It's worth noting. And he's got a $40 Fernando Tatis. Oh, okay. He's spent pretty big already. All right. But really focused on, it was, clearly a high priority to him to get the best pitcher. Byron Buxton wound up, you know,

snailing his way across to $9. I love where it's like, everyone waits till it goes down to one. All right, I guess I'll go one more dollar. Then they wait until it gets down to one second. All right, I guess I'll go one more dollar. And that's what we had with Byron Buxton, just kind of a slow roll. The next name is Terrick Scoobal, who is currently up to $23 to Greg Lathrop, who won this league, I believe, two years ago.

And he is, I know he's a big Tires fan. So might be in on Terex Scoobel. Laythrip, Frank. Apologies. Greg Lathrop, let me get away with calling him Lothrip for like four years before he finally corrected me. Well, I'm happy you corrected me because, yeah, I should probably know things like that. Territz Google, up to $27. Hmm.

Not yet. Not done. 28. So again, just trying to calculate this, that's probably an early third round pick, man. That spring hype might be climbing a little bit on Terik's Scoob. It was too early for me to have a chance that Terrick Scoobel, I feel like, based on the way the bidding is going. Because I had him, as much as my ninth pitcher, but a $20 player. Yep, he's 21 for me.

Next up, we have Adley Ruchman, the first catcher, I believe, nominated here today. And Chris, how dare you bid on him? He was in your bus 2.0. I'm just going to keep bidding. Just keep on going, baby. Let's see Adley Rutchman ATC

I'm not going to reveal how much ATC has him for because that might influence the bidding so I don't want to do that and he is up to 17 bucks Adley Ruchman

this is a two-catcher league by the way reminder on that I'm going to guess he's like a $25 player Yeah this is too cheap I don't even want Adley Ruchman

but I bid 18 because this is just too cheap I have an ad 18 Yeah, the auction calculator on fan graphs puts a pretty heavy premium on catchers from what I've been able to tell. So, yeah. 18? I don't. That seems like a pretty good value.

I just down my rankings. I have Adley Rutsch been listed for $22 on the site, but maybe there's something wrong with my auction values. I don't know. No, I mean, look, I don't do everything right. But I had him. I did not want him. So I have them lower in my rankings, then I'm probably going to draft him.

I had him as an $18 player. He went for 19. I think that's totally fine. Wyatt Langford is the player on the clock now, and my goodness. Oh, gosh. Look at the bidding go. So Adley Rochman went for 19.

Wyatt Langford is up to 15. So. It stopped there. Once you got to 15, it stopped. Yep. But I have him as a $12 player. I put in a bid around 12, and I'm happy to let him go after that.

Scott, by the way, on the website, you have Wyatt Langford for 15 bucks. I know. I wasn't going to say it, but at least he didn't go for less. Sorry. I still think there hasn't been a player who's gone for less. I don't think so.

Outside of Adley-Rutchman, who I have for 22 on the website. But yeah, it's around where you should go, the $19 for Rutchman. Pete Alonzo is the name that's up. He is currently at $30. Chris is in. Reminder that I spent 34 on Riley and 32 for Devers. I think Alonzo... What did Alonzo?

Alonzo usually goes for around those guys. Olson was 36. Olson was 36. That's a goodbye. So Pia Alonzo for 31 bucks. I mean, I have him at 36 and 28, so I guess it's a matter of perspective, but there's nothing wrong with it. I have Alonzo at $28 as well. And the next player thrown out there is Vladimir Guerrero.

Yeah, let's get those first basemen. All depleted. Let's do it. Yeah. And yeah, look, I always find it interesting when comparable players go right next to each other in a salary cap auction style draft. Pete Alonzo just went for 31. Some people might value them very similarly. So that's kind of a barometer here for Vlad Jr. who's up to $28 going once, going twice. Yeah, I was hoping to get Vlad, but not for 28. Who would you rather have Chris Pete Alonzo or Vlad Jr? In a vacuum Alonzo, but

I think I'd still rather have Olson, I think I'd rather have Alonzo for 31 than Vlad for 28. Now, this is an interesting nomination of yours, Chris, J.D. Martinez for $2. And I thought you might have gotten. But Doug Rowe jumped in for three. The J.D. Martinez market has been silent, right? I mean, we've only gotten like one report

about a team making an office. offer even, right? And it was giant. Yeah. I had heard at some point the Mets were interested, but that was like months ago. So I don't know. I think I saw that angels linked to J.D. Martinez at some point this offseason, but eager to fill that DH spot. Yeah. You know, might as well just swap teams, right? Trade J.D. Martinez for Shohei Otani, Angels and Dodgers. I feel that makes sense. Yeah, sounds about right. Sure. Francisco Lindor looks like the, uh, pretty clearly the top hitter left on the board. It's either him or Simeon, I think.

Yeah, maybe Luis Robert, El Touve, kind of in that mix too. But yeah, no, look, we all like Lindor and typically goes as like a second, third round player. So it should be interesting to see. He's up to $29 to Scott. Chris jumps in with a $30 bid.

Will Scott go $1 more? He. Yeah, I'm going to do it. We'll do it. Chris didn't like that. Just didn't like that. Yeah, I mean, 30 already felt a little, a little expensive, so I had to pass. Hey, I spent $34 on Austin Riley, so it is what it is.

$31 for Francisco Lindor to Scott White, who has Otani, Lindor, and Freddie Freeman. It's pretty good. Scott, Stars and Scrubs. Is that the plan? It might have to be. We're not quite all the way there yet, but yeah, I didn't want to have to know. necessarily. We've talked about it on the podcast. There comes a point at shortstop, particularly in these leagues with middle infield spots,

where I'm really not excited about my choices. And so I usually just default to Jackson Holiday because, well, at least there's a chance that you get stud production out of him. But I've already done that in TGFBI and TOW wars and they didn't necessarily want to do it in this league too. So I filled shortstop with Lindor. It'll be interesting to see what Corey Seeger goes for, though.

And speaking of potential injury discounts, Kevin Gosman is the name currently out, and he's up to $23, and it's going to stop there. I think if Gosman's fully healthy, he's probably 25-ish, maybe a little more, a little less, so not a huge discount, I don't think, at $23.

Yeah, I agree. The latest news, by the way, on Kevin Gosman, who has been slowed by a shoulder injury is that... Shoulder fatigue. Shoulder fatigue is that the club hopes Kevin Gossman will be ready to throw off a mound on Monday. So if that happens, that would be some pretty good news there on Kevin Gossman.

Scott throws out Jared Kelnick. I don't like this little thing that you guys have going on here where you're throwing out cheap players trying to get them for a buck. I'm not trying, to be clear, I'm not trying to get them for a buck. I don't think they're going to go for a buck. If they somehow go for a buck, okay, I can live with it. but I'm just trying to get people while there's a lot of money out there to go beyond what their comfort zone would be at the end of the draft

so that there are discounts later. Absolutely, same thing. Actually, yeah, that does make a lot of sense. Keep doing it. I lied. I like what you guys are doing. I throw out William Contreras because I want to see where the closer market goes after Adley Ruchman, who went for $19 earlier.

Catcher market. What did I say? Closer. What's going on with me, man? It's been a long day It has been a very long day It's about to get a lot longer William Contreras is up to $16

I think typically The number two catcher drafted in most drafts finished as the number one catcher in this format last year 5 by 5 roto Yeah And $16 is the price That feels pretty good

Rushman was 19 So that's probably about right I would have preferred Contreras be more like 1718 But I didn't want to be the one to bid 17, 18. Yeah. I feel like a lot of the two catcher drafts

that I've seen from you, Scott, usually wind up with like Travis Darno and somebody else. Well, those are 15 teamers. I don't think I'll have to go quite as low end in a 12 teamer. That's fair. Marcus Semyon is the next player

thrown out. So again, we're kind of going back to the top of the list here in the hitter market. And Chris has the winning big. Yes. For $26. Exactly what I have them for.

Nice. So there haven't been many elite players that have gone for what we are expecting. So all things relative, that's a good buy. I believe Ozzy Albies went for 27. So that's pretty good with Semyon. Kind of devaluing second base. That's interesting. Next player up is Michael Harris, who hit another home run here on Thursday.

He looks great. He sure does look great. And if anything happens to Ronald Acuna, then Michael Harris will be the one that benefits from that. As soon as Chris said he looks great. A flurry of bids came in. I just, I moved the market with my words. We've always, we've all known that for years. It's finally nice to have some confirmation.

Michael Harris wound up going for $28. So thrown out right after Marcus Semyon and goes for $2 more than Marcus Semyon. So I think the market is on the rise. I've seen a lot of smart people in on Michael Harris. I've seen some deeper leagues where, you know, 15 teamers, where Harris has been pushed into the second round now. I think this is going to be the new normal. I think we're going to see like an early third round,

Michael Harris, the way that he's performing in spring. And the likelihood is that he's going to probably bat somewhere in the top six in that Braves lineup. Well, probably sixth. Yeah, that is top six. Technically top six. I'm stretching it a little bit. I could also say bottom four.

That's fair. If either Acuna or all these people, it's probably top two. Yes, that's the thing, is that there is. a path to, you know, 200 plus runs in RBI. All right, Corey Seeger is up to, ooh, he was up to $26 to Scott. And then we got a last second bit here from Garrett Atkins. Is that where you draw the line here, Scotty? I think so.

All right. So Corey Seeger goes for $27, $1 less than Michael Harris. I like the price for the probable production, but I have, I already have three stud hitters, and at some point I got to buy some pitching. Not to mention outfielders, because I feel like those are the two most important positions, and I have filled neither of them. If I'm being completely honest with everyone out there, which you should always do, be honest. I had Michael Harris on my list of targets for $24 to $26, and he went for 28.

I did have the $27 bid in, by the way, but somebody else went $1 more. So no Michael Harris for me. I get it. We're worried about a lot of things with Luis Ruff. Robert, him going for $3 less than Michael Harris seems like a really good value for Luis Robert. Yeah. That's just me anyway. No, I mean, relatively speaking, I'm sure that I have Luis Robert slightly higher than Michael Harris in the rankings as of now.

So for getting him for $3 less, even though I just spoke him up as a bust yesterday with Luis Robert. Yeah, I think that's pretty good for $25. That was Chris Mitchell who won him. He's got a lot of players already. He's gotten a lot of those low dollar guys we've thrown out there. His two big purchases are Vladimir Guerrero and Luis Robert, but they're both less than 30. And then he has Jared Kelnick, Byron Buxton, Hunter Brown, and Carlos Estevez.

All right. Well, this should be interesting. Jackson Holiday is thrown out there. And I know he's one of your faves, Scott, and he's up to $5.6. I've filled shortstop already. Yeah, but you've got a middle infield spot. It's true. I almost filled it with Corey's.

Seeger. AJ Puck, by the way, went for $3. In the meantime, some spring hype on him. Looks like he will be in the Marlins' rotation to start the year. He's looked great. Introducing some new pitches. He's got what looks like a five pitch mix at this point for AJ Puck. So looking good so far.

You know, this is the nature of this draft in auction, is that someone like Jackson Holiday goes out now. And he might have went for that much anyway, because he's the top prospect and there's a lot of hype around him. he went for $9. He was someone I wrote down as a middle infielder that if I could win for, you know, five to seven bucks, I would love to do that.

But I think being thrown out this early when people sell a lot of money left, we're probably going to see guys like Jackson Holiday, even Wyatt Langford earlier. So go for a little bit more money than they probably should. And Jake Berger, who will be the winner on the burger? We all love them this year. He's up to $11.

Going once. going twice I think I'm out sold I was in at 10 I've got Austin Riley at third base already and I kind of want to

spend down at corner infield I gotta save money somewhere so as much as I like Jake Berger I just it doesn't make sense for how I plan to build this team I mean even even Burger as much as I like him

I have him as a $9 $11 for 11 so at some point there has to be some discounts right that's what I'm thinking I mean there have to be mathematically there there is a fixed economy that we are working in

And so every dollar that goes to one player, by definition, cannot go to another player. Thank you for breaking that down. I think so far just judging everything, I think catchers have been the biggest discount so far. William Contreras for 16 and Adley-Rudson for 19. Evan Carter, by the way, is thrown out. He's up to 14. Reminder that his teammate Wyatt Langford went for 15. And there he goes.

Scott, you won. Evan Carter for 14. You just drafted him in TGFBI. You drafted him in Tout Wars just the other day. Are you? I'm an Evan Carter guy, apparently. Are you the Evan Carter guy? Apparently, yeah.

I think so. I'm actually not that worried about the downside risk, and maybe this is, maybe I'm being stupid. No, no, don't know. He just, he's technically a rookie, but like, I don't know. I feel like he's already proven himself.

I'm not totally sure what the upside is for Evan Carter, like can he get 20 homers? But I think he's, going to deliver like Christian Yelich type numbers and there's a chance he exceeds them given how young he is and how high his pedigree is. So I see him as kind of a state play with upside in the outfield, which like I said, I needed to fill out my outfield some. And while you were talking, Scott, we heard a woo from Chris and that was because Luis Castillo went up to $27. Yep. And Chris, you were in.

I was in up to about 24. That's where I have him valued. I'm apparently not going to overpay for pitching today. All right, so Boba Chet was just thrown out. Here's what we're going to do. Take another break when we return. We'll let you know how much Boba Chet went for right after this. Welcome back in.

Boba Chet, still going up to $24. Typically a, I would say a mid to late third round pick in 12-team Roto Leaks. And he winds up going for the $24. $4. Perfect fine buy. Yeah, I think that's all right. Scott already had Francisco Lindor. Chris, I think you were kind of in on the bidding there, right?

Yes, I have him for 23. I went up to 23. Okay. Trying to be disciplined. I love it. Nate Lowe gets thrown out by, I believe, Scott for a dollar, and he's up to three. I did see a news item earlier on Thursday that Nate Lowe is dealing with some side soreness. so something that we'll have to monitor with him

and Chris you don't care about side soreness you're winning Nate Lowe for five bucks not a player that I probably the first time I drafted Nate Lowe maybe ever honestly but at least before that injury news

I have him as a $6 player projections like him even more so $5 is fine for a corner infield I'll move him into my corner infield now and Nate Lowe coming off a down year if nothing else he's still going to bat in the middle of one of the best lineups in baseball so I believe the counting stats will be there

if I think he needs to be a little bit more aggressive Nate Lowe and if he does that perhaps he can get back closer to what he did in 2022 yeah 171 combined runs and RBI for him last season in a year where he certainly didn't hit up to his ceiling so I think I think it's an okay

by. So I throw out J.T. Real Muto, and he winds up going for $17. To Dan Richards, defending champion. So that's his third player. He has the $43 strider, the $40 Tatis, and now the $17. Real Muto. $1 more than William Contreras. And I think it's defensible.

If someone has Real Muto ranked higher than William Contreras, I think that's totally fine. But I keep throwing out catchers as my nominations just because I want to I want to see where, again, the catcher market is going. And so far, I think they've been pretty good buys. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is a name that's out there, coming off his second spring start where he wasn't as good. I think there's a little bit of an adjustment period here. No one on this podcast is panicking.

And neither is Raymond Atherton, who won Yoshinobu Yamamoto for $26. We're still waiting for one of those discounts, some of those discounts to come. it's not coming with elite starting pitching because Castillo went for 27 Yamamoto goes for 26 and now Zach Wheeler is thrown out there so it should be interesting to see

where Zach Wheeler winds up here I am I'm using a different keyboard than I normally do for typing and I just typed 54 instead of 21 and boy that would have been bad Zach Wheeler up to 27

28 make it $28 I'm glad I didn't budget for an 8 I may may not have budgeted for an ace and these are not the prices that I had budgeted for said aces. Yeah. I think we're going to have to change the plan on the fly here. That's happened in every auction I've done. And, you know, NL only, A, L only expected a little more there, I guess. But now in the mixed roto, the aces all go for more than I budgeted

for, which is interesting because my, not budgeted, then I project them for, which is interesting because the projected values are the same as, you know, the order I expect them to go in the draft. So it seems like they get elevated here. Like when people have their choice to do anything, get whoever they want, they do definitely want an ace, even if they're used to drafting one like a round later.

I don't know if you followed what I was saying there. I was responding to a chat message on YouTube. So I give them The value I project the AIS for is like a third or fourth round value But they're going more like a second or third round cost And so it's interesting that it plays out that way Because you know, that's not how it plays out a draft They go in the third and fourth round

But in an auction people decide they really do want one And this is their only way to get it So we're going to bid it up at least in my experience this year That's how it's gone. Yeah, and that's totally fair And some people might just have elite starting pitching value a little bit higher. Like it wouldn't surprise me if if somebody wanted to take Zach Wheeler as like a you know second or late second early third round pick I

don't think that's completely agree. But why aren't they doing that in the drafts this is more point. They're doing it in the auction. Yeah, not doing it in the draft. Yeah, that's definitely a fair point. And Bo Nailer, another catcher thrown out there and winds up going for seven bucks. So I believe we've had four catchers. The other three were the top three, Adley, William Contreras and J.T. Rehulamu, and then Bo Nailer a little bit lower. Someone that we're all pretty excited about. Some power, some speed.

Good plate discipline for Bo Nailer. It's too early. I feel like if Bo Nailer was the 240th player nominated, you could get him for $3. I hate that this is happening right now. Yeah. These are kind of, these are guys that I think I would want to be in on. Even his brother, Josh Nailer.

That had to be. Back to back Nailers. Look at that. That had to be done on purpose, right? See one nailer. You got to throw out the other. Somebody quick on their feet. There you go. Quicker than me.

Josh Naler goes for $13. So we're starting to see some of the mid-tier players go, but still no discounts. Yeah. Look, it's going to come eventually, man. Eventually. But it might be the discounts are your $4 players are going for $1 instead. Which isn't that exciting. Yeah, no, that's totally fair.

Zach Allen is the player thrown out I can tell you I will not be in on the bidding for Zach Allen so I could talk while this is happening he's up to 20 bucks Chris part of the bidding on Zach Allen and now I am no longer part of the bidding on Zach Allen Oh man yeah pitching pitching is going

He's up to $25 Zach Allen Gone 25 bucks to Raz Bidon That's gonna be really interesting as I think there's one clear top pitcher left. And all the other ones have gone for like 26 or more, 25 or more.

It's going to be real interesting to see what happens with that last one in the tier. Yep. Certainly will. Cody Bellinger is the name that's out there and he is currently up for $16. To Scott White. I'll take it, baby. Yep. I'm looking at your outfield spots filled for a combined $30.

And I'm looking at your. and Evan Carter. Your values on the site have Bellinger as a $20 player. So there you go. There's a discount. I don't know that everybody would agree, but for me, yeah, it is. And it might be the first one. It might be the first one.

That means you have to take them off your bus list, by the way, Scott. I'm contractually obligated to do that. You're right. First closer, I believe, thrown out here. Yuan Duran. Yeah, I wanted to see what the cost. closer market might look like with one of the high-end guys, but not the highest end. He went for $2 more than I have them.

One day, somebody is going to have to explain to me what the fervor over Yohan Duran is. Because I'm thinking, okay, he's a Camillo-Dovall, a Jordan Romano-level closer. But I see him sometimes be the first closer drafted. What is going on? What am I missing about this guy? I think the upside case, which I've seen in a few spots, Scott, is that he can be this year's Felix Bautista just in terms of awesome ratios,

massive strikeouts, pitches for a good team. But you already have three closers who are basically that already? Yeah. Hater and Williams and... But I guess if you... If you think Duran is in the same tier

as those guys, then taking him first, isn't that crazy. I don't have him in that team. It's a big leap. Diaz, obviously, coming back from the injury, we just haven't seen him. He was apparently sitting 96,

in a intra-squad scrimmage the other day. I've seen some concern around Josh Hater and whether they're going to make him the quote, like, whether he's going to get all the save opportunities.

I think there's a question about it. If already said he's the court. Right, right. But are they going to like, you know, have some flexibility? I don't think so. I don't think his role is going to be any different

than it's been in recent years. So I don't think that's a, Josh Eastwold in the chat. Have you watched him pitch, Scott? Right, that's what I was going to say Have you watched Josh Hader pitch? But I was going to say like Watch one pitching ninja Jif Scott

And you'll get why Yon and Duran is so exciting Mm-hmm Yeah All right, C.J. Abrams is a player that's out there And there is a $19 bid on him By Oh, I was going to say That was about to be the second one to go for less than

I project Chris jumps in DT out of 20 Now he's at 21 Is C.J. Abrams. I've got him as a $20 player. I couldn't let a discount go. I didn't even want Abrams, but I do have, I do have a few short stops on here written down for 15 and 20 bucks. You would have had to update your bus column too.

By the way, while we were having that Yoan Duran discussion, Pablo Lopez, the last of the ace caliber pitchers Chris was talking about went for 28 to Chris. Trying to resist. The very talented Chris Towers, who is breaking down Yohan. Duron while winning Pablo Lopez for $28. Yeah, same price as Terrick Scouble, same price of Zach Wheeler, $1 more than Luis Castillo. I think that's probably fine. Man, yeah, pitchers are going for a lot.

If Gosman's okay, he was 23, that's going to stand out for sure. Now, relatively speaking, the Gosman buy looks all right. I'd be in a 24 for sure. If I could go back and do it again. I also only have him for 21 right now. but it's more than I budgeted for, but I also went $4 more than I have Pablo Lopez for. So it's all relative.

Willie Adamas, while we were talking, went for five bucks. So just another one of those random play. Oh, he was thrown out by Scott. That makes sense. It's a Dan Richards. Dan Richards. Yes.

That makes me think twice. Maybe I should have gone six on Willie Adomas. Willie Adamas, by the way, entering a contract year. And, you know, as a middle infielder for five bucks, yeah. I can turn out to be fine. Devin Williams, up to 19. How much did Duran go for?

17, so a little bit more. I think that sounds about right. I threw out Devin Williams. Similar to the catchers, you know, catcher and closer are, I think, very unique in their own ways. So I did want to throw those positions out a little bit earlier to see what the market looks like at both catcher and closer. And I feel like Chris, you've been doing something similar.

So, Gunner Henderson is the next player out there. He was slowed earlier in camp with an injury, but he's back. He's ready to go. Homer in his first game back, I believe. Yeah. All good there. For Gunner.

For the people participating in the draft watching, he sucks. Oh, yeah. Totally should go for $12 player at most. Yeah, this is way more than, all right. Click bid. Gunner Henderson is up to $23 for those listening and wondering. Not a discount there.

No discount on Gunner, who Chris and Scott both have for $24 on the site. And he's up to 25. So a little bit over that. You know, I realize I haven't won a player in a long time. I'm getting a little bit antsy here. You've spent a lot of money, so maybe that's part of best. Yeah, $70 combined on my Julio Rodriguez and, no, $80 combined. What am I saying?

80 bucks combined for Austin Riley and Julio. So got to chill out a little bit. And that's what I've done. Brian Reynolds is the next player out here. And he is up to seven. By me. Not anymore. Yeah, it's going to keep going, I think.

No, no, it shouldn't. You're going to do the play-by-play every bid? Yeah. Over 15. It keeps going. 16. And it's gone. Yeah.

Ryan Reynolds, same price as Cody Bellinger. it's fine for both of them. I have them both as $15 players. They both went for 16. Yep. I think that's fair. All right. And here we are.

You guys, how many players have you guys won so far? I have five. I have Marcus Simeon for 26. Jose Ramirez for 35. Nate Lowe for five. I don't know. Kyle Tucker for 40 and Pablo Lopez for 28.

That's one of those ones that was just the Nate Lowe one is just like, yeah, that's a good value. I have them as a $7 player or whatever, and it's like, oh, I don't. And I look at it and it's like, I don't actually, I'm not. Yeah, no, I get it. But on the other hand,

there's something to be said for having some cost certainty on your team, you know, like he's a fine player for $5. I don't know. Yeah, again, there's going to be discounts at some point. I do wonder if it'll come in the four. of those corner and middle infielers, you know, they're going for $5 now. Come on, Scott.

What are we doing, man? That was a jerk move from Scott. It was a discount. It was a discount. It was a jerk. Very nice discount. That was a jerk move, man. I did him.

I should have done it. Scott got Nico Horner for 17. I had the $16 bid, you know. Turns out Scott needed another Chicago Cubs player. I got him as a $20 player, but I, what a jerk. You guys were yapping. What a jerk.

I just, yeah. Oh, well. I don't know. I may regret it. I think you're going to regret it, Scott. I think you already regret it, actually. I think you should have me have him for 16. Zach Eflin.

We all love Zach Eflin. Well, maybe not all of us, but I know Chris does. You want him in A.L. Labor. I mean, no, Chris doesn't like this guy. What are we talking about? I hate him. I did not mean to do that bid, but okay. Yes, save me.

All right. Yeah. That was one of those again sneaky where, you know, things are moving fast. I pressed a dollar bid. Uh-oh. I had an $18 bid on Zach Eflin. This is what I got Zach Eflin for in. A.L. only. Scott. $20 to Greg Lathrop. Scott had the $19 bid. So he saved me and then Greg came in. And they Greg saved me. It's worth noting like projection systems like Zach Allen a lot more. Oh, yes. Than the ATC loves the humans. Yes. The humans. I got to make sure I'm on budget here. because everything is so different than I planned it out that I'm just not sure I've done the math right here.

So I need to do some math real quick. Do some math, Scott. I don't think you're going to be in on Edwin-Diaz anyway. So you've got a little time here to figure out what you want to do. Oh, no. Edwin-Diaz is somebody that Chris wants, apparently, up to $18. And Dan Rich's- I just wanted to make sure he didn't go for less than...

If he went for less than Devin Williams, he would be on my team. I wanted to make sure he didn't go for less than Devin White. And he goes $19 again to defending champ. Same price. Dan Richards. Again, that was Edwin Diaz for $19.

Thanks again for everyone hanging out. We've got 250 people here watching us live. We do appreciate you. Make sure like this video. Subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. And Tyler Glass now thrown out there. We've got to see what's going on with pitchers.

There have been no discounts on the pitcher side so far. Will there be one with Tyler Glass now? He's closing in on 20, but he's not there yet. Frank jumping in. Chris jumping in. Well, you would have had to update your bus com, Chris. Yeah, look, I've got Tyler Glass now at 21. So just another one I wanted to make sure he didn't go for less than I had him for.

and he went for 22 that's perfectly fine yeah Kevin Gossman went for 23 earlier right so that's I guess somewhat comparable I can't tell I can't tell how much money I have

I can't read my handwriting well enough yeah look for anyone who this is really hard it's really hard to a podcast and keep track of things and bid on players and you know oh wow Frank you're getting paid for it. That's true. It would have been a lot better if I won Nico Horner, by the way,

but this guy had to be an old meanie. Stealing from me. Yeah, it was kind of a budget buster. I don't know. I don't know if I'm glad I did it. But you know what? I didn't want stolen bases to be a problem. All right, you could have him, Chris. Oh, or not. Yandy Diaz was the bid. I was in. I did want some Yandy action, but he's up to 13. I think I bid 9 and 11. Chris outbid me both times. And then J.R. Fenton comes in with the $13

$13.13. It was a very slow volley, but he ended up being over what I projected again. By $1.13. All right. Here's what we're going to do on the podcast side of things. We're going to sign off our one, part one of our live salary cap auction draft here.

But when we return, we'll be back with part two of this live draft.