Fantasy Baseball Today - Live Roto Salary Cap (Auction) Draft Part 2! (3/10 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 10, 2023

We continue on with our live Roto Salary Cap draft! Does Frank ever spend his money? How much do the mid-tier players go for? Let's also take a look at our teams about halfway through. 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.  Make sure to join our Fantasy Baseball Today March Madness bracket challenge here: cbssports.com/baseball 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

Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Welcome into part two of our live salary cap slash auction draft that we are doing. Left off part one with Marcus Semyon who was thrown out at 25. Guess what? He goes for $1 more, 26. And Scott, you won Al Touv at 30, correct? I did, yes. So would you rather have, I mean, you can't.

If I'm spending, I want batting average. And that's not something Simeon's going. gonna get me. All right, fair enough. So, send me in for the 26 there. Scott got out too bad 30. Vinnie P. Baby! It's up there at 14. Oh, people want, people want Vinnie P. They want Vinnie P. And I am at 16. Who wants Vinny P more, Frank? Me or you? A little bit of a bidding war here. It's going to be you. You're going to get them at 17. Hands off the keyboard. That means I'm done. You can take it for 18. Nope. All yours. And you finally get it.

I'm glad I have one share of Vinnie P because it wasn't going well in the snake dress. Right. Yeah. And it's another source of batting average, hopefully. Admittedly, I wanted him too. I had him written down for 14 or 15, Scott, and, you know, a couple dollars gets passed. I'm like, all right, I'll slow it down on Vinny P.

He's all yours. I had 15 for him, too. I could justify 17, but 18. I agree with you. It was more than I could do. Kevin Gosman is up to 15 bucks. Chris is in. I know there's been some discussion this spring about Kevin Gossman

and the new rules that they're kind of cracking down on box and apparently there's a lot of movement in the way that he pitches. And he's still kind of struggling with that. I read an article about how it's something Gossman is working on throughout spring training and making sure he's set with these new rules that are coming into play this season. But he made another spring start on Thursday. He looked fine.

Chris, is this a concern of yours at all when I come? comes to Kevin Gossman, the new rules and the crackdown on box. It could be a concern. So much of performing at this level is mental, but I don't factor it into how I'm viewing him at all. It's a risk factor, but it's one that I have to imagine he'll get over. Hey, these guys are professionals, right? Same thing as Kenley Jansen with the pitch clock, right? It's ultimately, I'm not that worried about Kenley Jansen. I think he'll be our right. Maybe early on in the season struggles a little bit with it, but I think he'll come around. Michael Conforto went for two.

Kevin Gossman again went for 19. And now Big Pete. Not a lot. Yeah, I threw Conforto out there just because I did see today. He played in the outfield for the first time. So that's a good sign as he's coming back from that shoulder surgery. And, you know, we'll see what happens. I would have been happy with him at a dollar, willing to let him go to.

And I'm pretty sure he hit a home run, Chris, either today or yesterday. Yep. Yeah, Michael Conforto, that is. Pete Fairb. Bank's is up to nine bucks. He's a hype guy this year, rightfully so. Awesome stuff last season. But injuries.

Can he stay healthy? It was only 24 or 25 innings that Fairbanks threw last year. And of course you have the usual Tampa Bay chicanery that comes with their bullpen. But if he can even get 20 saves, I think P. Fairbanks will pay off a $9 price tag. Jake McCarthy, someone we mentioned the other day, or at least I did, as a a bust, a player, I just don't really find myself finding up with very often.

Yeah, I mean, like we talked about it, I think during the bust episode, he's very team build dependent. So like, where I've got, you know, Randy Roserena and Bobauchette and Mookie Betts and Fernando Tatis don't really see a need

to get Jake McCarthy, even though you know, there's a decent chance he ends up being a pretty good buy here. Yeah, he's slowing down around $8,9. It seems, even though I don't, I don't like him as much this season. It seems like a pretty good price relative. And, oh.

Scottie was in at 10. Mm-hmm. Is he out at 12? Three, two, one. He's not out. He's not out yet. He's back in. He's back.

He's back in. Scott is fired up for a little Jake McCarthy at 12 bucks. Sold. I liked him a lot more at 10. Would you say roughly 20? percent more. Roughly. Yeah, about that amount.

So you wound up with Mullen's too, right? Scott, too. You're getting some speed. By the way, Dan, Dan, he placed and forced you on it. I don't know how I knew I wanted him

that much. Well, he's listening to this. Not that you were, not that you knew you wanted him, but just that he waited until the last second to give you a little taste of your own medicine. I figured it was either him or

Edmund. Like I had... How much money to spend? I had... So I still had $18 of that Dalton Varsho fund left over. I had 20 budgeted for Varsho. Two extra went to Pasquantino. Two more than I budgeted for him. And I had another $18 there.

Hang on a second. And Brian Reynolds was the player out there. Brian Reynolds right at 17. Okay, that's how much you went for. I just want to make sure I didn't miss on a great buy there. So I had 18 to spend. It was going to be either between McCarthy or Tommy Edmund, because I knew I wanted another big base dealer to pair with Mullins.

And even though McCarthy at $12 was more than the $9, I think you should go for, $12 is less than I'd probably have to spend for Tommy Edmund. And frankly, I need the outfielder more, I think. Well, Scott, speaking of Outfield. Field, Alex Kirloff just went for two bucks. Yep. I wouldn't, he's not worth three to me. He's worth two to me, but he was thrown out there for two.

So let me reset here on the podcast and the video side. We are currently doing a live salary cap draft, also known as an auction, 12 team, five by five roto with $260 budget, standard categories and a roto style lineups. And we're, we're moving along here. We're about, uh, not halfway. I would say hopefully a third of the way through. It's going to be a pretty long one here. I'm expecting four-ish hours, maybe more than that.

Alec Manoa is up to 21. Now 22. I wonder if people see him as the end of a tier. No, there's still some other pitchers available. Yeah, I think there's next three or five left in this tier. Yeah, Luis Castillo, Zach Gallen. Trishon Javier. I'll tell you what.

Kevin Gosman for 19 versus Manoa for 22. That's pretty good. Excellent. I like that. I prefer Manoa, but. Straight up, yeah, but if I'm telling you, you're getting him for $3 less, Scott. I still think I prefer Minoa.

Okay, fair enough. I mean, I would take the savings on Cosman personally. Jazz Chisholm is out there. We know one person who will not be bidding on him, and his last name starts with White. Jazz at 25, no, 26. All right, so let me ask you guys. Jazz Chisholm's approaching 30 here.

He's at 28 right now. Jazz Chisholm for 28 or Ozzy Albies for 21. Albies. Albies. I've got Chisholm ranked a little bit ahead of Albies, but it's only like seven spots total. They're a couple of bucks in my auction values. So, yeah, I think Albies is the best buy there. Since Corey Seeger was my biggest overpay at 30, do you prefer Corey Seeger for 30 or Jazz Chisholm for 29?

Jazz, I have him ranked ahead of Corey Seeger. No. Yeah. I think in Roto, I would say the same thing. Rather have jazz. But it's close. I mean, he'll give half the runs in RBI of Seeger because of the amount of time he misses.

But he will have more steals. I'll give you that much. All right. Scott is out on jazz and the injuries. Speaking of out, I threw out George Springer. He's up to 17. I had him and Eloy kind of priced at a similar range.

I got Eloy 18. Well, guess what? Chris has Springer at 8. 18 right now. Will it last? Yes, it will. I'm happy with that. That's right around where I've got them for. Yeah, again, I had, I wrote down three names, Eloy, Springer, and I'm not going to reveal the other one yet.

And there he is, Teoscar Hernandez. He gets thrown out very next player. So, yeah, I all had them all for around $17, $18. Yeah, who was the other one, Eloy? Eloy, Springer, and Teoscar. I have them all for around the same price, Chris. Yep. Yeah, I've got them all around the same price as well.

I'm trying to... Come on, someone. Somebody bid up to Oscar one more dollar so we could get 18 for each. Ah. All right, he goes for 17. I'm going to be me, Frankie. Not going to be you. All right.

Fair enough. I'm doing a bad job of realizing if there are any good players left, but I only have four, so I should probably start bidding on some. I tell you, this is... There's not many players at this point. There's a lot, is this a lot harder than it looks, man. Oh, I believe you. I do not envy the spot you're in

because I don't envy the spot I'm in and I don't have to talk nearly as much as you do. Right. Francisco Lindor gets thrown out there. I don't know, maybe this is the one. Let's see how much he goes for. He's up to 17, 18, 19. I am legally prohibited from bidding it on him

so I can take a little break. And he's slowing down at 22. Francisco Lindor. Boom! The hammer! 23. Will anyone go one more? for Frankie Lindor.

They should. And, oh, geez, I almost got him. Was that unkind of me to say they should? No, it's totally fine. I don't really want Lindor. They still should. Yeah, I probably should still go in on him.

He's at... Oh, Frank. He goes for 25. Eh. There's so good players left, right, Scott? I don't think so. Not as good as Lindor. Maybe I should have went.

He was the last... Go get Tommy Edmund, Frank. Ah, I love Tommy Edmund. Actually, yeah, you know, I'm scrolling down. It's, oh, geez. If I want batting average, this is the guy, Stephen Kwan. Give me Kwan. Give me.

Go for the same amount as McCarthy. One more dollar, baby. Man, you're right, Scott. I probably should have went after Lindor. I was telling you. I was literally telling you. Yeah, I should have done it. Anyway.

I thought about it at 26, and I have like $41. $1. My max bid is 27. I couldn't have gone 26. You literally could have. It would have made for great content, though. I'll tell you that. I would have been tilting the entire rest of the draft. Stephen Kwan goes for $12. I did bid on him at 11. So I was looking to get a little batting average in steals from Stephen Kwan. Had a big second half last year. You know, big for Stephen Kwan.

And you know, it was like four home runs? No, five, Chris. I have the top bid on U.Darvish right now who's up at 17. And sold. All right. Wanted a decent SP2 to go along with Gare Kohl. And there you go. Got my top two starters.

Garikol, U.Darvish. Where was I when all the good players? were going. I mean, geez. You're hosting a podcast. There's none left. Framber Valdez, all the enforcer. Framber Valdez went out for one, R.J. White

jumped a bit to 15. He's not, he's got places to be, you know. He's not trying to sit here, let that clock tick down. I mean, we all have to stick around for the reserve drafts. I'm not now. We're all stuck here. We're stuck here till midnight, folks.

Framberval... Probably not that. Framber Valdez winds up going for $16, so $1.00, $1. less than you, Darvish, eh, just probably go for around the same price. I think that's fine. William Contreras,

we've got another catch route here now in Milwaukee, of course, brother of Wilson, breakout season for William Contreras last year. And the stackass numbers all back it up. I mean, he's going a little cheaper than MJ Melendez, but if you put stock into the stackhouse numbers, William Contreras was a lot better than MJ Melendez last year.

Now, Melendez does have, the added benefit of likely seeing more time at the DH and outfield spots to, you know, he could have 150 plate appearance advantage on William Contreras. All right. So I wound up winning William Contreras at $10. I had budgeted 12 for him. So save a, save a couple bucks. Good. You're going to need them. This is going to be a fun one, Chris. I know.

You're going to need that money, Frank. I know. I need it. Go your safety belt. All right. Let's go. Ooh. Riley Green. Green. Is the player that was thrown out. And he's up to three.

How much did, how much did Newpar go for? I think it was like 12 or something. Yeah. I go five. Will Green rival New Bar? Chris, should I go seven? It's less than New Bar. I could drop the hammer.

It's hammer time. Not going to do it. He's all yours, Chris. Thrilled with that one. That's pretty good. I know I'm a lot higher on him than the consensus. He's a $10 player for him. me, but even at six, I think most people would have that as a pretty good value.

And I have one outfield spot left, so there we go. I have three, but you know I have a lot of spots left. So, Kerry Carpenter is currently going for three. That's an interesting name to be thrown out there. I was regretting buying him in an AL-only league. So, I mean, he had a lot of home runs in the miners last. last year, but he's weird. He's one of those guys are going to be on the roster. The scouts don't, don't necessarily buy the numbers either.

Kerry Carpenter, according to Rosser Resource, is penciled in as the strong side platoon at the DH for the Detroit Tires. Grayson Rodriguez. Is he platooning with Miggie? Uh, I guess so. Okay. Yeah, I mean, I guess Carpenter could play a corner outfield spot as well. Yeah, I'm trying to remember who was he's supposed to be competing with for an outfield job and drawn a blank. Somebody who I don't think is very good. Of course, it's the Tigers. Akil Badu.

Yeah. I know Badu is stolen some bases this spring, but overall, I feel like the numbers probably aren't too great for him. Matt Veerling, a name that we haven't mentioned, is having a really big spring for them. Grayson Rodriguez wound up going for $8. Could turn out to be pretty good. Yeah, I am. There are a few pitchers. Like, it's so easy to find pitchers that you like at pretty much every point in the draft or at every dollar value that it's sort of hard to like complain that anyone's a good value.

But Grace and Rodriguez is a guy. I'm surprised hasn't seen his price go up more than it has. I think Kodaisanga is another one that I'm kind of surprised hasn't been. priced up more as well. Christian Javier is up to $19. To Chris? I'm always happy when Chris buys somebody who I know he's lower on than the consensus.

Defending champ, Greg Lathrop jumps in. 20 bucks for Christian Javier. Yeah, 19. He would have been a very good fit with Justin Verlander for me. So I would have been happy with that, unfortunately. Didn't happen. It's a little pricey for Javier, but again,

he's he's one of these helium names right now he's he's been aggressively been moving up draft boards and he was he placed very high on that that survey who's a must have player i think he was the fifth highest to go getter he's one that like if he had gone you know been nominated for the spots earlier he might have gone for 22 um so you know let's get some of these pictures off the board i want to i want to see some of the good players that are left on my ranking list There's not much. Throughout Luis Castillo at 15, Jeffrey Springs just went for $8.

I mean, again, breakout candidate like Grayson Rodriguez, $8 each. They went to the same team owner that is Tim Kanik and Luis Castillo for 18 bucks. So I would say of the mid-tier guys,

Castillo and Gosman are the ones that really stand out for me, $18 and $19, respectively. I like the prices on those two. Yeah, I'm higher on Gosman. Gallon's in a similar tier, so he's up now. And I got Darvish at 17, so I imagine Gallen will go somewhere in there,

17 to 19-ish. And Gallen. Good price print. You can get in there yourself. No, no. I mean, I got to save some of my money for hitters, Scott. My hitting is... Do you, though?

A little questionable. Zach Gallen at 13? Nope. Not yet. It was a monster second half for Zach Allen last year. He was a league winner for a lot of people. and the one thing I worry about him is the BABIP was extremely low last year he's a 45-ish percent ground ball guy so I wonder what the shift restrictions

he's going to regress a little bit but wonder how much that's my question on Galin he I think he's a good pitcher I think he might be a touch over value so I don't typically wind up with him in my dress and he went for 16 so it's a pretty pretty fair price All right We might finish this by the weekend That's what's being said in this I think he was talking about TGFBI All right, fair enough

Someone was rooting for me to do something Do it Frank What was that bit on Zach Allen Wasn't going to be me Ian Hap He's out there for four That's very cheap Is it for Ian Hap

I mean he's going for cheaper than Riley Green It's a little bit more Would you rather have Ian Hap than I like Riley Green Because I want it I have Ian Hap ranked higher. What about you, Chris? More established contract year for Ian Hap. Versus who?

More established as mediocre, I would say. Versus who? Riley Green. Ian Hap had a good season last year, Scott. Ian Hap has become a solid player. I... Do I have him ranked ahead of... I have Riley Green ranked ahead.

So I would rather have Riley Green. Mm-hmm. All right. Ian Hap lines are going before. Ian Hav goes for $5, $1. $1 less than Riley Green. Jose Ibrahim is the current player that is out and about.

Scott, how much did you get Vinnie P. For? 17. 17. All right, so that will be the barometer here on Jose Abraeu. Who I obviously love. I've always loved him.

Now he's with the Astros. You're going to go one more, Scott? Should I go one more? Or should I let you get him? It's up to you. Now, I'll go one more. That's it, though. I'm done. All right. I can get Jose Ibrayu for 14 unless anybody else out there wants to get in on the action.

Frank, you can't take it with you when you go. Boom! So I wrote down Jose Abraeu and Vinnie P. Baby! As my first baseman for 15 to 17 and I get a brayu for 14. So pretty good. I like it. And we are okay.

Robbie Ray, it's the next player up. Robbie Ray. Where do you guys think Jose Abraeu bats in the Astros lineup? Because they're obviously loaded. I would just clean up, yeah. But, I mean, they're going to lead off Altuvae. Fifth is what roster resource has. Fifth.

Yeah, that probably makes sense. Bregman at three, Yordan at four. Good RBI spot. Yeah, and then Jose Abrae at five. And Chris just won Robbie Ray at 13. All right, Chris, back to back. You and me. winners?

Yeah, I'm pretty happy with that one. Let's throw this guy out there. A lot of strikeouts for sure. Yes, which I may need with Justin Verlander as my ace. He's going to get a decent amount of strikeouts, but maybe not the elite, elite strikeout numbers. Robbie Ray went for 13. It'll be interesting to see how much Hunter Green goes for right after him.

Hunter Green will be the opening day starter for the Reds. No surprise there. I think it was probably between him and Nick. Ladolo? I think I'm pretty much down to $3 bids guys. Yeah, that's it. I think I'm down to the Scrubs part of the Stars and Scrubs.

Unless I just find 15 roster spots left in $41. I mean, I could push it $8 to $10 on somebody who I think is just a perfect fit or going for too little, but for the most part, I think we're in the end game now. Very nice,

Did you actually want to bray you or were you just pricing me up? No, he was one of those players who I thought was worth really stretching myself then for good value in RBI production. Scott, adjust your mic again because it's cutting out a little bit. John Carlos Stanton goes for $10. Chris, come on, man. Yeah, he's good. That's fine. I actually, like, that would be my last outfielder and I just, I don't.

I don't necessarily think. You know, I could use one big power bat, but I think that's probably I'm okay passing on him. Fair enough. Tommy Edmund is the player thrown out right now. Has a second and shortstop eligibility. Believe he's on record saying he wants to steal 40 bases this season. You believe accurately.

With the new rules, I think it's possible. Tommy Edmund stole 30 last year, more than 30 potentially. Was it more than 30? Pulling up his page. I believe he's 30 plus two years in a row now, right? Yeah. 30 and 32, yeah. Yeah, that's right.

Incredible position as well. Which reminds me, I should probably bid on him. It's exactly what I did. I think the bidding should keep going, frankly. By the way, did either one of you guys stay up and watch that Korea, South Korea, Australia game last night? I had it on kind of in the background, but I wasn't paying much attention. What happened in it, Chris? Very, very intense at the end.

Australia went up. I think 8-4, Korea had a three-run inning where Australia just could not find the strike zone. And they ended up just falling short, really big upset in that bracket and puts a lot of pressure on South Korea because Japan's coming out of that bracket. But now they lost to Australia,

so they kind of need to beat Japan to have a chance. It's going to be tough. So looking back earlier, Remember, I went $2 more on Jake McCarthy, got him for 12, thinking, well, it's either Tim or Tommy Edmund. Tommy Edmund's going to go for 12. Tommy Edmund did go for more than 12. But for only 14 to Frank, I think that was, I think that was a good deal. Say it again, Scott, which one was? Are you saying Edmund was a good deal or the other player? Edmund for 14 versus my McCarthy for 12. I mean, just in a vacuum, Edmund for 14 was a good deal.

Right. And I'm not even the biggest Tommy Edmund supporter, but You look at my team what I have so far, and I've got Machado, Tucker, Eloy, Abraeu, William Contreras. I've got, I would say a decent batting average, good amount of power. Probably needed another steel guy, so that's why I wind up going in on Tommy Edmund, excuse me. And I won him for 14. Oscar Coloss went for four. Logan O. Hoppe went for four. So a couple of prospects going off the board.

Someone threw out Coloss for two. I went three, and then he went to four. I wasn't willing to go to five for Oscar Coloss. Yeah, I was hoping to get him for two or three. He was one of those late round, late end-game targets I was penciling in. But alas, sometimes they get thrown out too early, and then they're for sure going to go for more than two or three. Tim Anderson is currently being thrown out. And all right, we're going on a spending spree, boys.

I've got Tim Anderson. I win him for 13. So I spent up for Machado, Tucker, and Garikol, and now I'm kind of just living in the mid-tier. Which is what you said you wanted to do, right? I typically do this. I wanted to spend up a little bit more. I think Lindor is probably the one I'll regret not getting.

But I like Tim Anderson a lot. I like the price point, a good amount of the season. Okay, so I am down to... Yeah, for what it's worth, I think Tim Anderson's going to have a bounce back season. He's one of the guys who I think could potentially really benefit from the stolen base rules. I know injuries have been a big concern for him over the years, but he's always had the elite base stealing, the elite speed that his stolen bases don't necessarily lead you to believe he has.

I could see him running more. All right, Tim Anderson, I got for 13. Chris, you got Jorge Polanco for seven. It's a good price. I wrote him down for eight to 10 myself, but I already got Tommy Edmund. You just nominated Max Fried, Frank? Yes, I did. Last of the high-end, definitively high-end pitchers, I would say.

The next best available is Tristan McKenzie. Yep. So that might push up Freed's price. Is it 18 now? Yeah, there's a lot of good relievers left, but the starting pitcher pull has definitely thinned out. And my plan was to throw Max Freed out because I've already got Cole and Darvish. I know I don't want to spend up for another, you know, top-ish tier starter.

And so that's why I wanted to get some money off the board. Max Fried went for 19. There's actually a dollar less than I have him for us. So he didn't. His price didn't get forced up. It's a fair value. Yeah. Hunter Renfro.

Well, he is not a $2 or $3 player. So you know I'm. So you know, Scott's up. That's exactly. I can go six for him. Not if I go first, Scott. No, not if you go first. I can go seven for him.

You can. Will you, though? And then he's all yours. And he won't. And I'll take, I like Hunter Rentfro. I get him for six bucks. Spend the money. Like Chris said, I can't take it with me, right?

So that's where we're at. Oh, Devin Williams. Speaking of it, Chris. It's been a while since we've seen one of these elite closers go. Yeah, and there hasn't really, there haven't really been any values among the closers, but there haven't really been any wild overpaid. It's been pretty right down the middle for the closers.

I'm not the biggest. I mean, I think relative to how early Devin Williams would go in a draft, I don't think it's the $13 range. That's a good price for him. That's what he went for. Yeah, I was going to say, I got him for 15. I'm not necessarily in on Devin Williams. I have some concerns with him,

but when he goes $2 less than Felix Bautista, who is currently not healthy, I think that is a good price for Devin Williams. Yeah, it is. I'm not in a position to spend 14 on a closer. Right. And that's the sort of thing that can happen. Like, there may be other people who didn't budget for one either.

And so while they may have been inclined to take them in a draft when their turn came up, the flexibility of the salary cap draft kind of pushes them out of the closer market. And I've seen that actually with every single salary. salary cap draft we've done. They tend to go for less than their ADP would suggest they should go for. Nate Lowe is the player that's currently out there for 11. It's been a real slow burn for him too. He's slowed down around 6. I went in at 7. I went in again at 9. But getting him up to a point where I think he should go. So $11, I think that's fine for Nate Lowe. Let's take our another break here. And we'll be back on fantasy baseball today. Welcome back into fantasy baseball today. Another one

those closers being thrown out there. The top tier, Rysel Iglesias, and he goes to me. You? For 15. 15. All right. Do you like Rysel Eglacius more than Devin Williams? I do, yes.

Okay. So 15 for Eglacius, 13 for Williams. I mean, even if you didn't, sometimes it can just go that way. I think they're all in a similar tier. So, I mean, again, just price-wise, I think Devin Williams was the better buy. But if I could get Ryssel Eglacius for the same prices,

Batista went earlier, I'll do that. I wanted at least one surefire closer, and I get that with Iglesias, who, once he joined the Braz last season, was phenomenal. And now he'll be their closer heading into the season. We've got a little bit of a relief pitcher run. David Bednar goes for,

all right, seven bucks. That's pretty good value, half the price. Yeah, I wanted to see if I could sneak like a next-tier closer in for a couple of bucks and Bednar wasn't the right option. All right. Jonathan India thrown out. Looks like he'll be the lead off man for the Reds

as he has been all spring training. And I think I read somewhere that he wants to run more this season as well. So you're in on the bidding. You hopped in right as he said that. Yeah. I like Jonathan India. I'm

on record with that. He was he's dealing with a hamstring injury all last season. I think it really slowed him down. I think you can get back to 18 to 20 homers, double-digit steals in a really good ballpark in Cincinnati. I just like that we're watching real time as you talk yourself into players. No, this is part of the plans, Scott. I had, I had them written down for middle infield, so. Okay. But yeah, let's do this. The multitasking of throwing a, analyzing a player while you're bidding on them is, is fun. All right, Masataka Yoshida. Now, our good friend on the other day, what was his name again?

I remember his name on the other podcast. Neil. Neil. Yes, Neil made some compelling arguments for Masatake Yoshita, liking them mostly for batting averages, I think we all do. What gets me with him is like, you know he's not going to steal bases. So if there's no power there either, What are we talking about?

We're talking about Luis Arise at best, except he plays the outfield, which is better. So maybe more like Jeff McNeil. That's the best case scenario for Yoshida. Yoshida goes for six. Yeah, with Yoshida, I don't know that we could expect, I think he could probably get to double digits. I mean, he was around 20 in Japan.

You know, maybe he gives us 10 to 12. Obviously, it's a little bit tougher to hit home runs as a lefty in Fenway, so. But I think he could be like 10 to 12 home earners, 270 plus batting average, much better in OBP or head-to-head points leagues. Gunner Henderson, this is,

yeah, my highest ranked hitter that's left. And I'm sure someone out there needs a third basement, so. Yeah, I guess it's the highest ranked header for all three of us, right?

Yeah. Very interested to see how much, this is one of those players where you could just see going for way over value, just because he's like the best hitter available. He's a weak position. He gives you steals. He's, you know, Buzzy as a rookie of the year candidate.

And he's up to $19 now, which isn't a, you know, that's pretty much on point for me. Yeah, Scott, you have, $1 more. You have Gunner Henderson at 18 in your rankings. I have him at 16. Chris, at 14.

Corby and Carol went for 20-something, correct? 23. Okay, so. All right. That's about right. I think that's probably the right price for Gunther Henderson. It does feel like Corbyn Carroll has more helium right now. Oh, yeah. So Brendan Donovan just got thrown out for a dollar. Brendan Donovan with his triple eligibility, second, third outfield.

And I imagine he's going to be the first dollar player. Yes, he is. Right? We didn't have another. I don't believe so. And it looks like... Pretty much batting average help. Donovan might lead off against right-handed pitching. Okay. So maybe he could be...

Maybe he could excel decently and run scored as well. Yep. I'm looking at my roster trying to figure out... Kind of a specialist. What I need. Maybe some more power. We'll see. Sean Murphy.

I won William Contraris at 11. I feel like those guys are tied at the hip. They were traded for each other. and I feel like whenever you see one go, the other one usually goes not long after that. Oh, this is a great price. Wow. Sean Murphy.

What did Contreras go for? I got him for 11. And I felt good about that. I mean, Catreras, I'm sure I have him as like a $13 or $14 player. The 10 and Sean Murphy goes for eight. Yeah. It's a good price.

I've got Murphy at 12. I went for $8, but I don't really want to spend for a second catcher. I've already got Contreras. Much rather have Murphy at 8. Cody Bellinger is up. Five bucks. I know he's hit a few home runs here in the spring. Chris, it feels like last year we were all just like completely out on

Bellinger. Do you have any hope on the bounce back? Nothing but hope. There's certainly nothing specific or concrete that I could point you to to be optimistic about it. It's just, this is a guy who at one point was super talented, and maybe he can be talented again. But no, I don't feel any amount of optimism about him at this point. Cody Bellinger now with the Chicago Cubs.

And, ooh, Jordan Romano was about to go for 14. He did not. Cody Bellinger was working out with Matt Holiday this offseason, somebody who has helped other major leaguers get their swing and their careers back on track. hopefully he could do the same for Bellinger. Didn't you work with Matt Carpenter last year? Yep, that's correct.

Jordan Romano goes for 15, same price as Reisel Eglacius. So not really getting much of a discount on closers. Outside of Bednar, I think Bednar was pretty good at 7. Yeah. Gosh, a lot of people have no money left. I'm thinking I'm in the poor house here, but I'm not the worst off. No, you are not. I don't even, I can't see how much money I have left here.

What do we got? I'm at 28. Ah, all right, so I've got a one more dollar higher max bid than Scott. So if we get into a war, I'll keep that money. I'm not going max bid on anybody. Yeah, I don't, I don't think there's any player worth going. That's not the way Stars and Scrubs works. Yeah, it's not, it's not going to work that way.

Tyler O'Neill is sold for $14. Someone that we've expressed some pessimism about recently. The Cardinals are just, so loaded, man. They're outfield. They've got Lars Newbar. They still have Carlson there. Looks like Jordan Walker is going to make the team. Nolan Gorman could DH. They've got Wanya Pez.

Tyler O'Neill's injury prone. I think there's still a good amount of upside there, but a lot of downside as well. Yeah, I did add Tyler O'Neill on my bus 2.0. I just I think there are more ways for things to go

wrong for him than right. And we've only seen it go right for him once. Like he has to be, because of how much he swings and misses, and because he's had pretty serious injury concerns, he needs to be exceptional in quality of contact, not just good. And I'm not sure you can rely on that. Scott, were you in on the bidding for Trissa McKenzie who went for $11? I kind of feel like I should have been.

He went for $11. Yeah. need a number two still and he's certainly look I mean the guy had a sub two a sub three ERA 190Ks a sub one whip last year he's pretty good I mean for $11 yeah it's it would have put me in a really desperate spot

but it may have been where we'll see what some of the other because there's still a lot of pretty good pitchers out there so none is good as McKenzie he was the highest one left but you know I'd rather have a couple six dollar guys than an $11 guy given the build of my team so we'll see I just got Anthony Rizzo for $7 and I really went on

quite the spending spree I've only got four hitter spots left to fill two outfielders utility and my second catcher Kenley Jansen is starting out there and he's up to seven bucks I'm trying to figure out

on the fly what this team needs It's not going very well. Kelly Jansen is up to 11. Greg Lathrop, our defending champion. Scott, you got one more dollar in you? No, I don't. I can't do it. All right.

If I can't do it for McKenzie, I can't do it for Jansen. The discipline. That's what it takes. I'm much less concerned about discipline in the early game than I am in the late game. All righty. Chris, you're up to nominate a player. I feel like you've just been throwing out $2 players for a long while now.

Yeah, going to continue in that trend. Although this is one I may be able to get for a dollar. We have no idea if Liam Hendricks is going to pitch this season. Obviously, coming back from the non-Hodgkin's lymphoma diagnosis, but he was in camp with the White Sox recently through a bullpen session. So, you know, we'll see. RJ White took him for two. Hard to justify a $3 bid on a player who just, we have no.

idea if he's going to play this season, but one, really, really hoping that it happens. And two, you know, still a chance that he comes back and is the White Sox closer for a decent stretch. Yeah, absolutely rooting for Liam Hendricks to get back on track with everything he's dealt with this offseason, but we just don't really know. And from a fantasy perspective, obviously he's just someone you're going to have to leave on your bench for the entire season until hopefully. You should be I.

You should be able to put him on the IL, I would guess. I don't. Is that true? Does baseball have like a non? Because I know the NFL has like a non football injury, but they just have the IL, right? I would imagine he's on the, the IL. He's not going to be on like the restricted list. You might be right about that.

That's a fair point. Yeah, Liam Hendricks. Scott, do you think he'll be on the aisle. He'll go on the aisle. All right. Yeah, so look for $2. We've. Yeah, we have five aisle spots in this league.

So that was the thought process there. I thought about throwing them out for two. I thought I could sneak him through for one. All right. Nice little strategy. Clayton Kershaw goes for $10. Trissa McKenzie, not too long ago, went for 11. So similar price points for those two.

Is this Sean Murphy? No, it's Sean Mania. That was last year's snafu. For anyone who watched or listened to the podcast last year, towards the end game, Scott was saving all of his money for, remind me, which one, Scott? It was actually Sean Minai who I wanted.

Okay. And you wound up bidding on Sean Murphy. Right. I saw Sean Am, Oakland. They were both on Oakland at the time. And I was like, oh, that's the guy. And I think the bidding had ended by the time you guys clued me in to the fact that was the wrong Sean M.

Scott was for my utility spot. Because part of my strategy last year was Salvador Perez, Dalton Varsho for my catcher spot. So I filled those early. and I had an open utility spot and I ended up filling it with John Murphy, who it turns out was better than Sean and I, of course, but at the time it did not feel that way. Sure did, yeah.

Scott was so angry. I've never seen him that upset before. We wouldn't let him roll it back. We were like, nope, you got to stick with Sean Murphy. I mean, that's not the first time a name mix-up has happened like that. And if somebody points it out right away, I always roll it back. So it just felt like, you know, you guys were, you guys were sticking it to me for no good reason.

Yeah, we're jerks. I will fully admit that. Sucks to suck. You're just a better human than I am, Scott. Sean Maniah, I almost said Murphy now. My brain is messed up. $5 for Sean Mania, then one buck for Christian Vasquez as a second catcher. Max Muncie goes for eight.

I'll tell you what. I got Rizzo at seven. I think I would have rather spent that extra dollar on Max Muncie. I was telling that Sean M's story and dragging my feet, to look up what I had Muncie for. I haven't for 15. I'm pretty high on him. He goes for eight. Right.

Blake Snell. I don't know. Blake Snell is the next one thrown out here. Contract here. And made some adjustments in the second half. And he was pretty awesome. So I'm going to be in here. Try and get Blake Snell with my SP3.

Got the leading bid for eight bucks. Let's see. If I could hold on. Boom. Got him. All right. Well, I've got Cole, Darvish, and Snell. A lot of strikeouts.

It's all good about it. Christian Yelich. Next up. We're not for $7. All right. Christian Yelich just kind of feels, I guess, boring is the right way to describe him. A 15-15 hitter,

260 to 270 batting average. That's what I'm expecting. I would say he is a high floor, high ceiling player at this point, because I do still believe, and I've said this multiple times, I do still believe that there's a chance that he gets back to being not a 50 homer pace guy, but a 25 homer guy. And if he does that, I think the ceiling's going to be very high as a, you know, legitimate five category guy or maybe four category guy. All right, Christian Yell. which went for 11.

I won Snell for 8, as we talked about. I threw out Ryan Helsley. I've already got my top closer in Russell O'Glacey. It's not my top ranked closer, but a top closer that I wanted on my team. So I threw Halesley out there to get some money off the table. And Scott. Some of my money, Frank. Scott, you just won another one of your busts.

I know. I know. What's going on? But hey, I mean, relative to the other safe sources, is Hesley for $8. I'm not going to complain about that. I was beginning to worry I might not get any saves. And that would have been a difficult way to start.

But now I'm legitimately down to two or three dollar bids. I can't splurred anymore. Jose and Miranda goes for two bucks. That's one of those, Scott, where even, even though we might be a little bit lower on Miranda, I mean, if you could get them for two or three bucks. Yeah. Yeah, that's a problem.

Seems like a good deal. Lancelin is the next one thrown out. And I like Lance Lynn too, but having just one Blake's now, I could already say I will not be in on the bidding for Lanselin. So Chris, I'm rooting for you, bud. I hope you get him. I would say that Miranda bid $2.

That's the sort of, like, when we're in the end game, I go $3 on the players I really want, and $2 on the players I just kind of want. and Miranda is one of those players I just kind of want. So somebody getting to $2 before I get a chance to get to $2, basically just puts me out. Lance Lynn went for eight.

Chris, you were in on the bidding, but not willing to go nine, huh? No, I mean, my max bid is, what, 30? So it's just, I don't think it's enough upside there for me to lock in such a significant portion of my budget. Gotcha. Yeah. Lance Lynn, when he first returned from his knee injury, first five or six starts back last year, didn't look right. The numbers were awful. And then from that point forward, he was awesome. We're talking like two and a half ERA, sub one whip, really good strikeout numbers. He had a career high swinging strike rate last year. So Lance Lynn and Snell, I think those are, that's kind of the, that's the package duo. I want one of those guys as my SP3 and pretty much all of my drafts. That's what I've been working with so far. Reese Hoskins went for eight to Chris. Yeah, I'm pretty happy with that.

I think I'd rather have Reese Hoskins than Lance Lynn, who I just said I wouldn't go $8 for or $9 for. So I'm okay with it. Yeah, I'll say it again. I got Rizzo for seven. I like Hoskins a decent, a little bit more. So I think that's a good price. Oh man, Wilson Contreras went for 11.

I paid 11 for his brother. Thanks. sibling rivalry. Don't love that. Do not love it. Carlos Estevez. Chris, did you throw him out for three? Yes, I did.

I meant to do two. Oh, well. Are you expecting him to be the front runner for States in Anaheim? Yeah, I'm hoping he'll be the closer for the Angels, yes. He has looked awful this spring. Yes, he has. Or whatever it's worth. And it may not be worth much,

but he has been walking everybody in sight. Right. Another closer off the board here. Alexis Diaz with the Reds has been named the team's closer. So we'll be interested to see how much he goes for. I like him for five if that's what RJ gets him for. And he did.

It's a great price. Yeah, maybe Hellsley-Grey wasn't so great. I just want all the best buys, you know. I can't just accept a kind of thing. goodbye. It never works out that way. You know that's got. Never does. All right. Let's see here. Let me try. Let me try Andrew Painter. See if I'll get them for a dollar or if the enthusiasm is still enough that somebody wants them for more. Somebody wants them. One up for two. That's fine. That's the sort of player. I'm happy to get for a dollar.

But I only want him for a dollar. So that is $1 per opinion that he's getting on the health of his elbow. Two dollars. That's right. As of now, for Andrew Painter, it doesn't look like he'll need surgery, but I'd imagine likely to start the season on the IL. Bailey falter in it as the fifth starter to open the season. Jake Fraley.

That's one of Scotty's guys. One of those two or three buck bashes. See if it works. Boom. It did. All right, Scottie. Nice little get on Jake Frilly. Do you expect them to play every day or a strong side platoon? What's your thought?

I mean, I'm hoping every day. If Christian incarnation, this is a point that we didn't bring up with the well. Well, that's a podcast you guys haven't listened to yet because we recorded it out of order. All right. So I do think if Christian Incarnacion on Strand, who's making a lot of headway this spring, makes the roster and forces Will Myers. outfield that could actually impede on Jake Frailey's playing time. So it's kind of a two sleeper squaring-off situation for me. But at worst, Fraley is strong side platoon and probably batting leadoff when he is starting.

And I expect him to run a lot more than last year. I expected him to run last year when he did play. It didn't happen, but now it's easier to run. And he looked great in Cincinnati once he came back from that injury midseason. and he had like an OPS, I think it was over 900 from, you know, basically over the final to two and a half months. All right, that was Jake Fraley. Scott was talking about.

Carlos Correa in the meantime goes for 11. There's still a few more strong short stops out there. We'll be interested to see who has the money left. Who has the hammer to drop it down? We have reached the point where pretty much all the top are many. players on my rankings are either pitchers or short stops. They're actually second baseman.

A couple of good second baseman left. Yep, that's exactly right. I've got one catcher up there as well, but somebody that I think I'm a little bit higher on than you guys. Camila Duval is up for seven. Chris currently has him. Reminder, Alexis, went for five. And Scott, you got Ryan Halsley at what, eight?

Yep. All right, so $1 or less? Fine relative to Deval, but. Yeah. I mean, I would have rather had $5. Alexis Diaz, given my money situation. So more on Fraley. Okay, so we returned July 30th.

And looking at La Dola here. Okay, so Lodolo goes for seven. I tried to get in on Lodolo at 8, and I just was too indecisive. I have them at 9. How much did Hunter Green go for? 10 or 11? 11, yeah. Yeah, I definitely prefer Lodolo for 7 to Green for

11. Okay. Andres Jimenez here. I think this is the best remaining hitter. Yep. I think him and Willie Adamas are the two best for me.

Right. And Andres Jimenez is up to 12 right now. It's a good price. Yeah, it's very good. Well, we get it? And there's not a lot of money left out there is the thing. I got Edmund for four. It's going up a little more.

I got Edmund for this exact price. Who would you guys rather have? Edmund or Jimenez? Edmund. Not by much, but... Yeah. You can play him at shortstop. He's more of a category standout.

We think, I mean, Ander Jimenez could become a 30 steel guy with the new rules. He's fast enough. He had 20 steals last year. I kind of worry his batting average is going to regress more to the Edmund range. But I think they're pretty similar. Edmund just more of a surefire source of steals, I would say. Jimenez has a little more pop.

Okay, so back to Fraley real quick. Give you the exact number. So he's already stolen three bases this spring. And after he returned from injury, July 30th, last year, 2.95 with 11 homers and 903 OPS. So that's the source of my enthusiasm there. All right. That was for Jake Fraley.

Jimenez went for 14. Anthony Santander goes for six. Ladolo, Chris mentioned earlier, went for seven. I got Sneak. at 8. You got Renfro for 6, right? Yeah, I got. Sanjayre right in line with that.

Which I think makes sense, right, Scott? Yeah. Brandon Marsh got thrown out for a dollar. Probably going to go for. Probably going to start in center field, at least against right-handed pitching. Now that Matt Verling isn't there anymore, probably going to play every day, I'd imagine.

Brandon Marsh with the Phillies. So I haven't looked at Doug Rose. team, but maybe he went Stars and Scrubs as well. Might just be the types of players that he needs at this point. He's got Yellage, Trout, Bogarts, Devers,

Albi's Alonzo. Yeah, he might need some cheap buys at this point. The draft is suspended, Scott. Are we taking a break? No, we're not. I'm just trying to deal with an issue here somebody's having with the draft room. All right, fair enough.

Yeah, I wasn't reading the chat. Yeah, it won't let you know. a player if you don't have a spot up for them on your roster. And Dan Richards has first base, second base, corner infield, middle infield, and utility list filled along with outfield. So presumably he's trying to nominate someone from one of those. In the meantime, let me remind everybody,

not that you need the reminder, that it is a great time of year. Spring training, baseball, world baseball classic, and of course college basketball, the madness brackets are. back. Compete against Scott, Chris, and me in our FBT March Madness Bracket on the CBS Sports app. All you have to do is scan the QR code in the top right corner of the screen if you're watching us on YouTube or click on the link in the podcast or YouTube description. Cbsports.com slash baseball to

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Yuan Duran went for $5 and Clay Holmes is currently up to $5 as well but yeah went now up to six so let me think here

I totally forgot the point I was going to make was it about carry on One of the relievers? Is that what is about? I don't remember. If I think of it, I'll bring it up. Fair enough. All right. So, uh, Du Ron will be a nice little measuring stick there for Andrus Munoz. Oh, I remember.

So looking at Dan Richards roster just now, I happened to notice he has three catchers. So one in the utility spot. Yeah. All right. Interesting. Very interesting choice. He didn't get as upset about it as when I did it with Sean Murphy last year. To his credit. But I would say that probably wasn't his plan. Because catchers, by the nature of the position,

aren't going to be able to compete with other options for that utility spot in terms of the counting. Chris Sale, someone who's gaining some helium this offseason, made a spring training debut the other day. Apparently, he was sitting 94 to 96 with a fastball. Looks healthy for now. Cross your fingers. $10 to Chris.

Towers. Yeah, that was one where I probably should have just let him go, but I want him. I've got him on a bunch of teams. I'm really, really high on him. So I paid a couple extra dollars and I otherwise would have liked to, although I do have him as a $14 players just at this point in the draft leaves me pretty limited in my options moving forward. All right. Brandon Lau while we were chatting it up, went for five bucks. Yeah, that's one. Really, really good price. If you need pop from your middle infield spot. Yeah, like, that's one that I wrote about Jordan Walker and, you know, how high can

I move Jordan Walker? And I've got Brandon Lau ranked higher than the consensus. He's like 120th for me. And like Jordan Walker's got all kinds of upside. We have seen Brandon Lau have a 250 average 38 homers and I think 10 steals in a season. So like, Jordan Walker probably doesn't have that much more upside than that. So that's kind of the point in the draft where like, it would be hard for me to, to move Walker up if he does start to, you know, lock in that roster spot.

Scott, you tried to sneak Evan Phillips by for a dollar and he went for two. The last I saw, it sounds like Daniel Hudson will not be ready to start the season. Yep. And if that's the case, you know, Evan Phillips could be the closer to start the year. Oh, and it could be a great one if he is. I don't think the Dodgers are that interested in having a singular closer. but it's obviously not a bad gamble for two. I kind of wonder if I should have saved him for later

instead of trying to sneak him through for a dollar. I was saying the perfect guys to nominate right now in my situation are ones that you'll be happy to take for a dollar, but not anymore. And Phillips, I might have been happy to take for two. So it may have been a poor choice for me. I liked what Bidon there did more, Eric Koss for a dollar. dollar. I still have two catcher openings, I believe. Yes. And I think Eric Haas is one people are

sleeping on. He is the Tiger's primary catcher this year. Finished very strong last year. He hit 22 home runs two years ago, 14 home runs last year. He's, you know, for a number two catcher, very solid choice. Yeah, I know he's smacked some home runs so far in the spring as well. That's Eric Haas we're talking about. And a two catcher league is your second catcher. Some cheap pop, I think he's totally fine. And while you were talking, Scott, Ezekiel Tovar went for six. I know that you were in on the bidding.

Yeah. And I think that's probably the right price for an interesting, upside-y type middle infielder. Yeah. Sorry, they're, I'm kind of distracted by the chat room banter. Everything. Somebody didn't mean to go six on Tovar.

But I, Tovar was one, somebody I was hoping to get for like three or four. Not six. Just given his ADP going out, I think he goes outside the top 2 of 25. And I think he's maybe the most undervalued player because of that, because I think he has five category potential in Colorado. Somebody's on autopilot here.

I need to take them off. Okay. So, yeah, let me do with this. Let me make sure. Yeah, fair enough. Scott was talking about Ezekiel Tovar went for six. In the meantime, Willie Adamas went for nine, which at this point, you're just going to wind up getting a bunch of players who like any mid-tier player that has talent

probably going to go for cheaper than they should have because there's just not a lot of money left yeah I mean you look around and like the max bid for most teams is in the teens to 20s there's one team with 28 uh but they have 11 roster spots left there's one team with 19 they've got three roster spots so you know a little more flexibility on that one Kyle Wright is currently going, and the latest news on him, it sounds like he could appear in a spring training game as soon as next week. He's been dealing with the shoulder, had a cortisone shot back in January, but he's slowly ramping up.

As long as he could get a few starts in in spring, I think he'll be good for the start of the season. And by good, I mean active. Maybe the limit is pitch count early, but... He's trying to get some interesting comments, too, about the shoulder. the cortisone shot, he says it's better than it's felt in years and he has more extension on his arm now because of it, Kyle Wright, and he thinks his fastball will play up better

because the way he was having to deliver it before, it put kind of a cut on the fastball and made it less of a swing and miss pitch. So, I mean, I hear that and it's reason to feel optimism for Kyle Wright, but it's also like, okay, but if you're extending your arm further, then that's a big new variable. that opens up the door to all kinds of possibilities, not all of them good, right?

Yes, yeah, that's one of those things that, like, you prefer to hear that a player who has talent but hasn't lived up to it is changing things than a player who has succeeded. You know, it's not entirely like Cody Ballinger a few years ago, but it's sort of like that. And then it's also like, generally speaking, we don't hear,

we don't think of like a cortisone injection in a shoulder as a good thing. And so it's like, well, he feels good now because of the effects of the cortisone. But once that wears off, you know, how is that going to play out? And that was Kyle Wright that we were talking about. In the meantime, Nesser Cortez went for eight, $1 more than Kyle Wright. Daniel Bard went for six to Greg Lathrop. So Greg has now won back-to-back players. And we've got a fun one out.

George Kirby, for many people, he's polarizing. You know, many people think that he could break out this year. He obviously has impeccable control. I think us on this podcast, we're still trying to figure out where are the whiffs going to come from, the swinging strikes for George Kirby. He's still young enough where it wouldn't surprise me one bit if, you know, he develops some kind of slider or sweeper or something to get those whiffs. I mean, just by virtue of he is George Kirby,

He's a breakout candidate, right? It's just I wish I saw a clearer path to it than just relying on the fact he's George Kirby. That's kind of how I feel about Logan Gilbert. I can see a straighter path there with Kirby than I can with Gilbert, which is why Gilbert's more of a bust for me now at his price. But both of them, it's sort of just like, well, they were highly ranked prospects and they're both young. So they're going to take a step forward. but it's like what that step forward looks like

is actually kind of hard to see for me. Scott, you wound up with Lucas G. Let's get him. Yeah, I got a second starting pitcher, baby. So you've got him in Sandial Constra. Yeah. Do you have... I like that as one that gives me strikeouts. I mean, hopefully he rebounds

with the ERA and the whip. Yeah. Or else I'm not going to want to start him for those dragouts. And your only other pitcher is... Sandy Alcantara, one of the best. And Ryan Helsley, right? Yeah, yeah, sure. Closer.

Yep. In the meantime, Ryan McMahon went for three. It's one of those players that he's just kind of boring. But when you look up at the end of the season, he pays off his $5 to $7 in terms of auction value. And he winds up as like a top 150 player, just by virtue of playing and half of his games being in Colorado. and 250, 20 homers, 6-7 steals.

It's boring, but it gets it done. All right, it looks like we are in a break here on the draft side of things. So here's what we'll do. We'll take one more break on the podcast side, and when we get back, we'll take a look at our teams in the intermission. Welcome back into fantasy baseball today.

I am Frank Stamphill, and we've got Chris here with me. Let's run through our two. teams in the meantime, Chris, see what we've got going on. And you have, to this point, Salvador Perez for $17. Reese Hoskins for eight, Jorge Polanco for seven. You don't have a third baseman. Bo Bichette for 32, Adelberto Montesey for two.

Springer for 18, Mookie Betts for 42, Randy Rosarena for 23, Riley Green for six, and Fernando Tatis for 32. So you're kind of spread out here. you got some good values with like Hoskins and Jorge Palanco, then you spent up for for Bichette and Mookie Betts and Fernando Tatis. How are you feeling about the offense right now? I think the offense is really good.

You know, I'll have to fill it out with probably mostly dollar players. So that'll, you know, I only got at this point in the draft, uh, eight roster spots, $13 total. So my max bid is six. Not a great spot to be in, but, you know, it's fine. I'll probably, the way I'll probably approach it is spend

five or six dollars on one more player because there are still some impact players who could go for that price. And then I'll have to mostly rely on dollar players late, which is not always a great spot to be in, but that's what happens when, you know, you do spend up in a couple of spots like I did. And, you know,

there are a couple things that like, Mondesi for two, maybe getting too cute there, uh, Carlos Estevez for three. I meant to go two on that one. So, you know, there are a couple spots where I'd feel better

about my team if I had made slightly different decisions, but all in all, I'm pretty happy with where things are right now. I think the hitting especially isn't a very good spot. Let's take a look at your pitchers. You've got Justin Verlander, Robbie Ray, and Chris Sale as your starters. You've got DeVal

and Carlos Estevez as your relievers to this point. So you got that ace. I know, typically in snake drafts, Chris, you wind up with like two aces and then you jump back in. Was that the plan and you just kind of missed out? What do you think? Yeah, like I would have loved to get Kevin Gosman, but he just went a little too expensive. Looking at like there weren't a lot of pitchers in that range who went for values. You know, Darvish went for $4 more than Robbie Ray.

I've got those two backed back in my ranking. So it wouldn't really have been worth it. I've got, I'm a little higher on Robbie Ray than I think you and Scott are. So he is kind of a second ace for me, more like a low end SP2, high end SP3, but I do have faith in him. So it's not that different from my typical strategy. But yeah, I would typically feel better if I had Kevin Gosman or Luis Castillo or someone like that. It just wasn't worth the price difference. All right.

Well, let's take a look at Scott's team now. And start off with the hitters. You got Vinnie P. Baby. At $17. Jose Al Tuve at 30. Nolan Aronado at 32. Corey Seeger at 30.

Aaron Judge. Big Spenda. $48. Cedric Mullins for 22. Jake McCarthy for 12. Jake Fraley for three. We'll start with your offense, Scott. You were very clearly going stars and scrubs.

And then one mid-tier guy. Then he passed Quintino. Well, Jake McCarthy's mid-tier too, right? Oh, yeah. That's right. Yeah. So, yeah, Stars and Scrubs, this was, I mean, I guess I can totally let the cat out of the bag now that I'm out of money. And definitely in the Scrubs stage of Stars and Scrubs, yes.

I, you know, as I've talked about before, I'm trying to channel Scott White v. 2015 and before. Because basically, you know, from the time I started doing this for CBS in 2007, until the juice ball era, I drafted the same way every time, emphasizing going very hitter heavy early on, relying on the volatility of starting pitchers in the good way, like leaning into that volatility by looking for bargains and breakouts there. And it was a very successful strategy. And part of it was in a salary cap draft,

particularly for a shallower league. I want to do it in a deep league, like a 15-team or an A-L-L-N-L-L-L. only prefer 12 team mixed or shallower, stars and scrubs all the way. Because I'm confident enough in my ability to find low dollar targets with a lot of upside or to find breakouts on the waiver wire during the season that the scrubs aren't actually scrubs. And yet I get the benefit of having a bunch of high dollar early round types and all the production that goes with it.

So I'm trying to return to that. We'll see if now that the juice ball's gone, it becomes an effective strategy for me, but that was definitely the goal here. And I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I wanted a higher-in second baseman than Nolan Aeronado. Devers and Machado just went for too much. And I nominated Aeronado while Riley was still out there thinking Riley would also go for more than I was willing to do. It turns out they both went for 32.

So I obviously would have rather had Riley than Aeronado. I budgeted 35 for Altuve just because I wanted him so much. I thought there was really no second basement. in my mind that came close to making the impact he did. So I was happy to get him for 30, but then I spent those five extra dollars right away going five more than I budgeted on Corey Seeger. Again, that was the exact shortstop I wanted.

I don't think he's going to lead the position in home runs. Well, maybe not Tatis or O'Neill Cruz, but otherwise, Seeger's won a very few 30 Homer shortstops. Let's put it that way. And I think he had a good chance he, he's the best batting average source at the position, too. So he was specifically the shortstop I wanted. Of course, I want to judge.

He was far and away the best player in this format last year, and I think he'll get between 80 to 90% of the way there this year. And then I managed to get enough speed, I think, between Mullins and McCarthy, a combined $34 on them, that it's okay that my high dollar players, didn't provide me with much speed. So I'm really happy with the way it's going. We'll see how my $2.3 players turn out.

I don't think they're going to be true scrubs. I think they're going to be players I can get excited about and I'll feel great about my team when all said and done. But it remains to be seen. That's the part of the draft that still has to play out, obviously. I got one and Lucas Giolyto for three. And I do like him at that price. On the pitching side for Scott, you wound up with

Sandy Alcantara, Lucas Shelito, and Ryan Helsley. And obviously, you're going to be in on the bidding for some of these upside-y guys in the final stages here of the draft. I'm going to hop out and I'll let these guys kind of take over and you guys can rip my team apart while I'm gone. I'll be right back. All right, let's pull up Frank's team. Let's talk about what he has here. So a very full lineup.

So far for Frankie. Yeah, which is fun because he has only three players around the 100 pick mark. And now he's drafted like 12 of the last 80 or something. Yeah. Yeah. So he has William Contreras as a catcher. So he's got one of the good catchers. That's great.

Jose I Brayu as his first baseman. I like that. Only $14. Tommy Edmund, second base. Mani Machado, a true stud at third base. You know, I like that. Tim Anderson is a shortstop. He's already filled his middle infield spot with Jonathan India,

which is a fine pick for the middle infield spot. Already filled corner infield with Anthony Rizzo. Same thing. Fine pick. Kyle Tucker, so between him and Machado, he got two really high-end bats. Eloy Jimenez and Hunter Renfro. Three of my top 30 in the outfield,

which is a goal for me in every five outfielder draft. And I think, you know, looking at the balance of categories, I think it's a good balance. He's got a big speedster in Edmund. He has some stolen bases coming his way from Timmy Anderson and Kyle Tucker, between a brave Machado, Rizzo, Renfro, and Eleoy Jimenez, and Tucker himself, of course. Machado himself, I'm not sure if I said him.

Power, he's got power. So I think he's in a good spot balancing categories. And, you know, he hasn't neglected the thin positions, considering he already has a third basement in three outfield. And then you look at his pitching staff, a true ace and Garrett Cole, two big strikeout sources and you, Darvish and Blake Snell. Snell is a big combustible, but, you know, there's plenty of reward with that risk. And then a true closer with Ryssel Iglesias. So how much money does he have left? He's doing well in terms of...

$15. $25, $23 total. So $15 max bid $23 total. So $15. max bid nine spots left to fill. Okay. So yeah, I think it's a pretty good spot. I think it's a, you know, like you said, the hitting categories especially, it feels very balanced. I think it's always tough with runs in particular to know because their runs tend to flow from other categories. If you're good in other categories, you tend to be good in runs. But like Jose Abrae and Ila Jimenez and even Kyle Tucker for an elite player, runs are probably going to be an issue for

those three guys. So I do think like if there's a shortage it's probably in runs but that's that's nitpicking. And that's something he can address with the hitter spots. He has left to fill two of which are

outfield spots. A lot of outfielders bat high in the lineup. Maybe he could go for Brandon Nemo still out there. Yeah, Brandon Nemo is still out there. Frank, you should go for Brandon Nemo. All right. You know, the one thing is

I was going to say Nico Horner but Frank does only have the utility spot left for for infielders. So that that would be a tough fit. Yeah. All right. All right.

Good balance, Frank. Sounds like I'm doing it. Sounds like I'm doing pretty good. Yeah, for being so distracted with your hosting duties. I think you're in a pretty good spot. All right. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

Here's what we're going to do on the podcast side of things. We're going to sign off part two of the podcast. And then we'll pick things up part three here, fantasy baseball today.