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

Episode Date: March 10, 2023

We're in the end game now. How much do the late-round players go for? What kind of pitchers does Scott wind up with? Which players were taken in the reserve rounds? 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 back into a Kokomo Friday, part three of the live salary cap mock draft that we're doing. It's not a mock draft, actually. We're playing this one out, but for your purposes, for SEO purposes. It is a live salary cap slash auction, rhodo style lineups, two catchers, one of each infield position, five outfielders, and then, of course, nine pitcher spots. We are entering the final stages of this draft here. We just hit an intermission, but I've got a few more roster spots to fill.

I know a bunch of these guys got some spots to fill as well. And we'll do it. We'll fire it back up. You're ready to nominate? You're up first, I think. Heck, yeah, I am. All right, let's go. All righty, we're back in.

We're nominate some very, very exciting players, like Spencer Steer. All right, Spencer Steer looks like he's going to be the starting. third baseman. Don't say that. For the Reds, although he could bounce around a little bit. Yeah, I mean, he was pretty dreadful in his 28 or so games

in the majors last year, but back to back 20 Homer seasons. And, you know, he's a little oldish for a prospect, 24, but if you're going to bet on a guy with fringe-ish skills, I think doing so

with someone who plays half their games in Cincinnati's a pretty good spot to be in. Pretty good numbers in the minors last year. And yeah, you won him, Chris. for a buck. Yeah, I'm happy with that for a dollar. Spencer Stier for a dollar.

Jesus Lazzardo is currently out there. He's going for five, now six. Yeah, I thought about throwing steer out there for two, but I'm glad I played that one right. Lazzardo up to eight, and as much as I like Lazzardo, I would rather have Blake Snell, who I got at that same exact price.

So, and there you go. He goes for eight bucks. Jesus Lazzardo, just say healthy, please. Skills are awesome. team context is not great, but I'm expecting good ratios, lots of strikeouts, as long as Hazard's

Lizardo is healthy, ready to pitch. Scott, is this a sleeper of yours, or you're just, is this kind of a testing, testing the water? Is somebody I may win for a doll. You might.

And, you just did? Okay. Do you actually like Justin Seal? I feel like I haven't heard much of them this offseason. He is, somebody a lot of people

like as a sleeper. He had a very strong finish. He doesn't appeal so much to me personally, so it was an example of a player I don't but I don't really want for more than a dollar. He did finish very strong

his, let's see, three of his last five starts, nine Ks or more and over his let's see, from June, from June on the final three months of the season. He had a 205 ERA. A little suspicious because, you know,

the whip was considerably higher than that. But yeah, a lot of people like Steele and I don't mind having a share of him, especially since he's a pitcher who could potentially give me strikeouts. Something else I've mentioned, I've heard mentioned for Justin Steele is that the Cubs defense should be much improved

with Danes vonson and Cody Bellinger, one roaming shortstop, one in the outfield, obviously. But it could help Justin Steele has a really good slug. Chris Taylor thrown out there for two bucks, and he is one for two bucks. In the meantime,

Mitch Keller went for a dollar. The old Mitch Keller thing, huh? Mitch Keller is, him and Justin Steele are like perfectly fine $1 players. I think there's a better chance you're dropping Mitch Keller than Justin Steele though. Mitch Keller, he has like nine pitches now.

He just keeps adding pitches. He's really, give Mitch Keller this. He's putting the work in. I don't know if it's going to work out for him, but he is not resting on his laurels. Yeah. So he is specifically,

he has a splitter cutter hybrid that he's pretty happy with. I'm not going to say the nickname for it because I'm not sure. No, it's a slider cutter hybrid. Sorry, slider cutter hybrid. Oh, I know what it is.

Got it. But yeah, he's, you know, it's first two hours. the springs look pretty good. It's like, what, five innings, but still. Jake Cronoworth went for $3. Danny Jansen as well. Danny Jansen.

Danny Jansen for three. I was in on two for both of those guys. So those were players I like, but don't love. Cronoworth is one of those names where he's another one just kind of boring. He's sold out for power the past couple of years. He's not a power hitter. That's why the batting average has gone down. But if he's batting fifth in the Padres lineup, I mean, the counting stats could be tremendous for Jake Crowder. So, oh, I just missed my opportunity to nominate a player. So there you go, Logan Webb.

Wow. Pay attention, Frank. What are you doing? All right. Logan Webb is probably one of the last few top 40-ish remaining starters left. He's someone that I think is probably, I'm surprised there's, like, he had a really good season. It wasn't a great season, but it was a really good one. And his price went down from last year because,

he went from being a popular breakout pick to just I think kind of being viewed as a boring innings eater type but there's still like I like a high floor pitcher who has room to grow and I do think Logan Webb is that kind of player so like I think he's actually a very good value

this year I haven't drafted him as much as I would like to but I did put a bid in for six which would have been my max he's one of the few players I was I'm still willing to go to my max bid for so I wouldn't have minded if he had gone to me. Yeah, I think there's two very clear analysis points for Logan Webb. It's like, I look at him as someone who the swinging strikes and the strikeouts came down, Chris, and I look at that as a negative.

And you probably look at it as a positive. Like, if he gets back to where he was two years ago, then he could be a great value. Yeah, it's, he was good despite not getting strikeouts. That's true. And we do think that his slider can be better than it was last. season in terms of getting whiffs. And if it can, then, you know, I think there is room for him to take a little bit of a step forward. Yeah.

I worry about the Giants defense, though, and the fact that he does pitch more to contact with the shift restrictions. So I think I've probably, of all three of us, I'm probably the one that is overvaluing the shift restrictions for pitchers most. But it's just kind of in the back of my mind for groundball pitchers who maybe don't have the best defense behind them. And I think Logan Webb might fit that category. Yeah, it's possible. It's still a great park to pitch in. So I do think that the, like I said, the floor is pretty high. And Joe Musgrove was going to go for seven.

He was the other guy. I was willing to max bid. And I really wish I had the two extra dollars to take him down because that's going to end up being one of the best buys of the draft. I feel very confident in that. Yeah. So Logan Webb went for nine. And then two picks later, Joe Musgrove goes for seven. Of course.

What is your max bid, Chris? Six. Scott just broke that down. He's like, all right. He's like, I know what Chris could bid on. Joe Musgrove goes for seven. He's dealing with a fractured toe and could miss the first two or three starts of the season, but... He's already throwing.

He's played catch on consecutive days, so I think he's going to be back pretty quickly. Doesn't sound like a long-term thing for Joe Musgrove. DJ Lamehue thrown out there for $2. There have been whispers that the Yankees want DJ Lameh to lead off in as long as he's healthy and games. How much is he going to play? Yeah, I mean, that's a big question. Yeah.

I think they can, so what they're doing right now, Scott, is they're trying out Aaron Judge in left field so that Stanton could play right field because right field is smaller. And then if they do that, they get probably D.H. Rizzo or LeMayhew. It just kind of opens up another roster spot for them to get someone in the lineup. Yeah, Luis Arise just went for, A buck. I'm doing a lot of sighing. That's probably not good.

All right. Louisa Rize just went for a dollar, and that was one. I was close to going. It's close to going two dollars on, but I just have ambitions for an even better, better middle infielder, you know? I don't know.

That's one we'll look back and wonder. All right. I got Jose Verrios for three. Yeah, I hate that. I hate that for me. for a buck. I mean, that's, that's great. It's great. Great buy there. Even if he just gives you batting average.

I mean, he should score runs, obviously, and not really provide much else. Jose Burrios for three. Scott sounds like you're back in on the bounceback. Oh, so you wind up with Burrios and Gilito. All right, so both of the bouncebacks. Nice. Yep. I mean, I'm giving myself options

because I didn't buy high-inch pitchers that they're not contra, so I'm trying to get guys with high-end upside. Obviously, they're not going to all work but I want to give myself bites at the apple. Chris, in the meantime, you won Nick Cassiano's, and while we're talking about bouncebacks, he obviously fits into that category.

I've really been fading him this draft season, and it's just because there's nothing. There's nothing in the underlying numbers that gives us hope outside of, like the others, it's really the track record. Can Nick Castanos just get back to the player he was? Yeah, look, that's exactly it. There's nothing specific that you can point to

with Nick Castiano's that I can say okay he was actually better than he was last season he was pretty bad last season he earned most of that the underlying numbers were not very good but we're also not very far removed from him being a true impact bat so I don't love that I maxed out for Nick Castellanos when pitching is a bigger need for me I am down to dollar bids for the rest of the show so probably not going to get anybody for a little while I can just sit back and uh you know maybe crack open a beer or two but it's uh it's fine it'll be be okay. So this is this is happening here like it has in so many of the the roto drafts I've done. I have four pitcher spots left and about two dozen pitchers that I want. So I just nominated

John Gray for a dollar and R.J. White went $2 for him and I'm like yeah I mean John Gray seems like a pitcher I'd be happy to have for $2. But I didn't want to leave myself with three pitcher spots when I have so many pitchers still I like. So it's, This is part of the reason why I'm happy to go the cheap route at starting pitcher. And I think you're playing it right, Scott. I mean, you throw a guy off for a dollar. If you've got two dozen that you're willing to get, it's like, all right, on to the next one, see if I can get this guy for a dollar, right?

So let's keep going down the list and see who you wind up with. You did bid on Oswald Paraza, who went out for a dollar. You bid two, but then someone else went for three. Yeah, yeah. And he was one of my middle infield targets. if I didn't get Ezekiel Tovar, which I didn't. But it's again, like I'm looking at the options left, and I like a lot of them.

So I don't know. I mean, I can't, I, there's still enough money out there that I'm not going to get the best options, obviously. So I may look back on Paraza for $3. I may look back on a rise for one and be like, man, I wish I had gotten them as my middle infielder. But as it is now, I am,

I'm compelled to go for the options who are, still out there like Ahmed Rosario, one who just got nominated now. But of course, his prices rapidly rising beyond the point I'm willing to go. Five dollars is what he's at right now. And that's what we're going for. Pretty good buy, but not a buy I could justify. Yeah, very good price for Ahmed Rosario. A couple others that went, Jimmy Hergett for a buck, Oswald Praza for three. Sal Freelik went for a dollar, which I believe caused Chris to suck his teeth. Yeah, not very happy about that. Obviously, I didn't have a spot on my lineup for him.

So I was going to have to wait to the reserve rounds if I wanted South Freelik. And that's a great pickup with Garrett Mitchell leaving the game with a hamstring injury. Yes, we don't know if it's serious right now. But if it is, you know, South Freelik is someone who could be in the opening day lineup in a pretty good Burroughs lineup in a good park with some speed and some contact skills. So I really think he could be very well worth using in fantasy if he has a job. Glaber Torres went for $4 just after Amin Rosario went for five. So as I said in our two or part two of this very long live stream and podcast, a lot of the mid-tier players that are available are going to go for much cheaper than you think they should,

much cheaper than we will have them listed for on the site in terms of our salary cap values. And that's just because there's not a lot of money to go around. So people are being very particular about the players that they are choosing to bid on at this point in the draft. Ryan Mountcastle goes for, he's currently going for $3. And, you know, I feel bad for Mountcastle guys because this guy crushed a ball last season. He had the breakout. Great stat cast numbers. But just because they took out a chunk of their ballpark in Camden Yards, it just killed power for writing matters.

I like that. He had the breakout. You know what? Man, Grayson Rodriguez is going to make a lot of money in his career. He needs to send a stipend to Ryan Malkassel because everybody says they did this for Grayson Rodriguez, move the fences back, help these pitchers develop. Send Ryan Maltcastle a bit of your paycheck when you hit it big, Grayson. I think they did it more so for John Means and then so that they could make moves like the Cole Irvin one.

Yeah. They made this off season because. Yeah, I hate it. Like, that's, like, it just feels slimy to me, the Cole Irvin signing, because it's like, oh, did you, did you do this to your stadium? I'm going to do this. I'm going to go five on Nico Horner, even though I said I was doing nothing but two, three-dollar bids. And I got them.

Nice. I got them. And we all know you'd rather have Nico Horner than Ahmed Rosario. Why? Because you hate Ahmed Rosario, Scott. Ahmed Rosario went for five as well. So the same thing. Like, I wouldn't have gone six for Nico Horner, you know?

So, yeah. You know, one player we haven't talked about really at all this offseason has been JD Martinez, who's utility only, signed with the Dodgers. And I was looking into him the other day. The stat cast numbers are still pretty good. Obviously, he's lost his step. He's getting up there in age. probably going to back cleanup for the Dodgers this season.

I just got him for two bucks. You guys have any strong opinions on J.D. Martinez? No. He's not quite... I think he's in decline. I think he's in decline. He's going to be in the Dodgers lineup, presumably playing every day. And the Dodgers have done some magical,

transformational things with players. So that... That gives me hope for him. But... It's not enough hope that I want to have a true D.H. In that utility spot, you know, it's not like I'm putting David Ortiz there, Shohei Otani. Right.

It's J.D. Martinez, who I can't even count on hitting 20 home runs. So I just, I mean, I don't blame me for buying him for $2, but it's just a pick I have a hard time getting excited about. Speaking of $2, I wound up drafting Alex Lang for two. Sorry, Chris. I know you threw him out for a book. Yeah, I was hoping I could sneak him through as one of my $1 bids. This is how things are going to go for the next hour or so for me. Yeah, and we'll be right here to cover all of Chris's frustrations. Alex Lang, the Tigers traded Gregory Soto this offseason.

He does struggle mightily with control, but seems to be the leader in the clubhouse for the tiger's closer gig, or at least the majority of the saves for that team. And the change-up and curveball are both really, really good swing and miss pitches for him. So there could be a lot of strikeouts there for, uh, for Alex Lang. Tyler Malley currently thrown out for a buck. Chris, if you could go to right now, would you? Absolutely. He was one of the players I thought about throwing out for two early on in the draft. Um, so yeah. And I'm not so sure I wanted him.

I know. That's one that I was just, I was, I was going to throw out for a dollar later on in the draft. But I wanted to wait until there's a little less money floating around. This is always the tough thing about, you know, hitting. your max bit early. I thought about going too because Chris, frankly, you've talked me into Tyler Malley. I think there's a lot to like. The V-Lo has been up so far in spring training.

So I'm hoping the shoulder is good to go. But there's still, there's better pitchers left. So I'm just wondering if... That's the thing. Maybe I won't get those guys for a buck. But if I could get, you know, one of these names for two, I'll go the extra dollar for one of those guys. It's just how real, like, yes, there are better pitchers left than Tyler Malley.

And I have, I'm down now down to three pitcher spots. I probably want one of them to be. a reliever. Shadon two on Kyle Raleigh. All right, he's going way beyond that. That's fine. Yeah, that's, that's tough. That's tough.

Because I like, there is some money out there. There's not a lot of money, but there's enough that, is it realistic you're going to be able to win the best players who are left, any of them, for two or three dollars? I don't know. This is a fun player getting thrown out right now. Este Uri Ruiz. Somebody tagged me in a video, I believe it was Shea Langaleers.

So obviously talking about it from a catcher perspective trying to throw out Estuary Ruiz. And he said that this guy is a nightmare on the base pass. We already knew that. But I guess it's just kind of fun to hear from a teammates' perspective. Is he going to get to first base? That's the biggest question, right? Same thing we used to say about Billy Hamilton. You can't steal first.

Well, that's the concern with Esfell. Terry Ruiz. But he does get on first. Very likely taking second base. So one of the fastest players in the game. Cowellie went for four. Charlie Blackman went for a buck in the meantime. Trey Mancini is currently going for two and he is sold to Scott White. All right. I'm getting a lot of shares of Tray Mancini all of a sudden. I got him in TGFBI and Tout Wars and now in Memorial Mag.

Should we thank the emailer who sent in the email about Tray Mancini? Maybe. I don't know. Let's see how good he is. Same sort of issue where I'm seeing a lot of outfielders I like. Of course, I had corner infield open too, which helps. And I may just slot man see me there. Let's see.

Sayah Suzuki. Okay, good. Sayah Suzuki went for two. I'd feel real stupid. You're getting him for three, Frank? That's pretty good. A good one. Yeah.

I love Sayas Suzuki before he heard his oblique. I mean, he's probably going to miss the first couple of weeks, maybe the first month, but we have five IL spots in this league. And yeah, so I'll just kind of, let's wait on Seyosukee, and hope he is that kind of breakout player I thought he could be. Okay, this makes me feel better about Trey Mancini. Andrew Vaughn got nominated. I went three right away.

He's up to five now. So I wouldn't have been able to get him. Yeah. I mean, I technically would have been able to get him, but I wouldn't have been willing to do what it took to get him because then I'd be, you don't, like, stars and the worst thing you can do if you go stars and screen. Scrubs, you know, you're going to have a lot of scrubs. If you get down to just $1 bids too early, holy crap, you are screwed because you are just going to get the worst of whatever doesn't get.

So I'm screwed is what you're saying. Well, how many do you spots do you have left? You weren't going stars and scrubbed. I have six spots. Yeah, it could be worse. So Chris wound up. I only have six spots too. Chris wound up with $3.30 hitters.

I wrote this down, a Rosarena for 23. another one for 18. So yeah, I mean, spent up quite a bit on some of those guys. Because like it's even worse that like if you don't think it through. Of course, if you've done a salary cap draft, you've probably experienced this yourself.

But it's not just, oh, I can only bid a dollar on, I can only been one dollar on anybody. It's you can only win the players you yourself nominate. Yes. So you have to try and to walk this fine line of nominating a player that's actually good enough. but not so good that somebody goes two on you. Then if he goes to two on you,

you've got to wait through the whole round of nominations again before you have a chance at anybody else. And it just sucks. Absolutely. It is not fun. That's exactly right. Freddie Peralta thrown out there for nine bucks. So Chris Mitchell will try to make sure that he...

Well, that's his last player. And he has $9 left. Yeah, fair enough. And I've obviously won Freddie Peralta for nine. Jorge Mateo went for two in the meantime. Logan Gilbert for six. say what you will about Gilbert. It seems like a pretty good value on him.

Ah, Chris, what's dead may never die? Josiah Gray for a buck. Yeah, we'll see what happens, but like, under the surface, the surface level number is obviously very different between Josiah Gray and Tristan McKenzie. Under the surface, very similar pitchers rely heavily on their sliders

and curveballs for all their swings and misses, not great fast balls. Josiah Gray just tends to get hit harder. so he's got to take a step forward. But like, I could see those guys moving towards one another this year. I'm glad you went $4 on Mitch Hanigar, Frank. I would have been kicking myself if somebody got to three first on him. All right.

Mitch Hanninger goes to me for, so my hitters are basically all felled out. I need a second catcher. And so I'll just tell everyone now, I budgeted $180 of my $260 for hitters. and now I have $6 left for catcher 2 so I probably should have got a better second catcher than what's available

and I don't want Travis Arnault so he's all yours Scott so I'm going to take some of that money and put it over to the pitching side with whatever I need left over there I still only have three starters and two relievers Cole, Darvish Snell, Iglesias and Alex Lang okay I found my dollar nominations catchers nobody wants to go to on any of the remaining

ones because I nominated clearly the best in Travis Darnow and got him for one. Very nice. Like it. A couple of fun pitchers left too. I'm interested to see how much some of these guys are going to go for. Severino, Dustin May. Yep. There's very, very interesting starting pitchers left for sure.

And Scott, it looks like you're going to get Jordan Montgomery for two. I don't know about that. Yeah, not one of them. I mean, he's interesting-ish, but definitely not one of the super interesting guys remaining. I don't know about that. Well, I'll tell you what, Scott. The defending champ says that that was a steal in the chat room, so. I don't know about that.

Jordan Montgomery is a solid pitcher. I mean, high floor. He did get better when he went to the Cardinals last year, too. So we always thought there was another step. Maybe he can get there with the Cardinals. I'm not completely ruling it out. it's not Jordan

my issue is not with Jordan Montgomery my issue is with that was one of my last three SP spots and there's a lot of good ones left yeah

yeah there is I kind of got I got a little bit of money left too so I'm kind of trying to figure out which one of these pictures I want to wind up with so Tony Gonsolin just went for two I'd rather have Tony Gonselin for two

than Montgomery but I couldn't do that to myself again you know and be left with one one pitcher spot. Yeah, I don't know. I may be screwing this up. Let me catch some people up.

We had Darno go for one. Montgomery went for two to Scott. Tony Gonsland went for two. And Yasmani Gondale got thrown out for one. I went two on him. Oh, you jerk, Frank. Sorry, man. I needed a second catcher.

It wasn't me. I was just saying. Like, you didn't go two on Darno. He probably thought he was safe nominating Grandal. Yeah, I just kind of worry about Darno. Second catcher. is how many DH games is he actually going to get? So yeah, he's been someone I haven't really wound up with very much.

And my hitting spots are all all figured out. Wow, I've got three white socks on the scene. That seems, it seems bad. Just realized. Well, it depends who they are, you know. I've got a grandal, Tim Anderson, and Eloy, so yeah. Yeah, those guys are all, those guys are all good. Some good players. You know, it's and and you do have a, Jose Abraeus, so there you go. Getting the band back together. Let's see how much this guy goes forward.

Dustin May is one of the very interesting pitchers left who I would love to have been able to offer some money on. Okay. And they're all bidding out of my range on him, so that's... All right, and he's gone. Yeah. I wanted to throw it out there to test the water, Scott.

How much is he going to go for Dustin May up to $7? So whoever was saving their money, this is who it was for us for Dustin May. I tell you, though. So in all these regular drafts, fill in half my pitching staff with the Mount Rushmore, right? My worst starting, well, my worst starting pitchers, Justin Steele.

But, like, I may get to round out my pitching staff here better than the Mount Rushmore. You know, like, I spend almost nothing on my pitching staff, and I may not have to dip into the Mount Rushmore. But is there anything actually better than the Mount Rushmore, Scott? I mean, they are the Mount Rushmore for reasons, so. True. True. Dustin May went for seven. Tyro Ostrada went for two

I haven't been Busts 1.0 but geez, two bucks It's pretty cheap Yeah, Jared McNeil just went for one Yeah, Jeff McNeil went for one Greg Lathrop just gobbling up the value at this point Whatever positions he has left

Man And I could have gone too Obviously on him But I'm down to just two possible outfield spots I've already filled in the middle infield But McNeil's eligible in the outfield and I just don't know that I want it

for a batting average specialist, you know? Right. Shea Langalears went for $1. If you play on CBS, he is DH only, utility only to start the season, but likely to be the everyday catcher for the A's, so maybe by week two or three,

you'll have catcher eligibility for Shea Langaleers. And that's a goodbye, Chris. I like that. Cabo Ruiz for a buck. Thank you. Yeah, I feel like that's a good combination with Salvador Perez. He was the other one that I was considering.

Do I want Grandaul or Ruiz? It's close for me. Hoping Grandaul could get back on track. Scott Barlow is up for three bucks. The Royal Signer rolled as Chapman this offseason, so we still don't really know who's going to be their saves leader. Yeah, that's one where it's just like, I have such a hard time seeing a,

Aroldus Chapman being on a team, especially a mediocre team, not closing and being happy about it. So that's why, like, my assumption is still that Earl's Chapman's going to be the closer just because, like, would he really agree to be there if he wasn't? And maybe that's not a good reason.

It's just he does not strike me as the, like, go along to get along team player type who's going to lift someone else up. to glory. And why would the royals sign him to a one-year deal, if not to pop up a straight value? Flip up, right? And you're going to put his trade value more with him closing. So.

And I believe he has started throwing in spring games, right? I know he had the weird thing where he like slipped and fell in bust in this lip. Yeah, yeah. He's been pitching. Yeah. I think he's made two appearances so far. That is a role of his chat. I think the hope for the Royals is if they can get, you know, 10 to, 10 to 12 saves out of him. He looks all right. Flip them at the deadline, get, you know, whatever, a mid-level prospect. Yeah.

That's the hope. And then Scott Barlow will take over from there on out. One player that you won in the meantime, Scott, Christian Betancourt for a dollar. And I brought him up when we did our catcher preview as a very deep sleeper as a second catcher. And I like it. I mean, he hit the ball extremely hard last year. He sneakily stole five bases for the raise, and he's already both a better catcher and better hitter than Francisco

Mejia. So I think he's, you know, even if it's a 64-e split, I think he will see the majority of playing time a catcher for the race. I think so too. Yeah, I'll take him.

I'll buy that for a dollar. And that's what I did. I paired him and Travis Darno, $2-dollar capture tandem combined. I love doing that in these salary cap leagues because while, okay, in a regular snake draft, you could say, oh, you could just spend your last two picks on Darno and Bethincourt's the same thing.

It's really not because the amount of savings by going only a dollar on a player, it means you're able to get a better player relative to what you could have gotten at some other position. And I think that, what am I trying to say? the benefit of going cheap at catcher is more in a salary cap league than in a draft because the savings at that position can be better allocated in a salary cap draft than the draft pick savings in a conventional redraft.

A couple other players that went in the meantime. Luis Severino went for five. Hunter Brown went for two. Nick Fortez went for one and Austin Meadows went for two. and I just picked up Drew Rasmussen for three, who has had great numbers as a starter the past couple of years with Tampa Bay, and I think there's a chance he could get to more strikeouts. I know that K. Per Nye was a little bit lower last year,

but he gets swinging strikes, he pitches for a good organization. I like Drew Rasmussen. He is my SP4 behind Cole, Darvish, and Snell. All right, things are slowing down a little bit here. Let's take a little break here. Part 3, and we'll be back right after this. We're back, and Brian Hayes just went for a dollar.

I saw a note earlier in the day that he is dealing with some kind of thumb soreness. Oh, thumb issue, yeah. And he's dealt with like a hand or a wrist before, right? Yes, he has. All right, this is your guy, Fran, Brandon? Frank. Frank, it's your guy, Brandon, Nemo. Oh, well, I don't have any more hitter spot, so I can't do anything.

You blew it. Sorry, man. You blew it, Frank. Yeah, I guess in hindsight. Finding Nemmo. Would you guys rather have Nimmo for two than J.D. Martinez? Probably. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, well, thanks, Scott. You made me feel great. Oh, yeah. Thanks, man. So, Brandon Nimmo went for two. Brian Hayes went for one. Dylan Floro. Chris, you're such a homer, man.

Yeah, snuck him through. It might be a closer. Who, who knows? You know, the Marlins, I think Tanner Scott and AJ Puck were both limited early in spring. So I would say Dylan Flores ahead of those guys. And that makes me think he's going to be the closure to start the season. Yeah, so you're right about that.

Some guys are kind of banged up for the Marlins bullpen right now. Both Scott and Puck have begun throwing. I believe they've pitched in games now, but still they're, you know, two weeks back. They still have Matt Barnes who has closer experience. And Skip Schumacher, new manager of the Marlins, did say that they're going to go with a closer by committee. but Dylan Floro ended the season as the closer and he's one of their only healthy relievers at this point. Scott, you just won Paul Seawald for three.

I thought I could jump in at two and get him, but you really wanted him, huh? Yeah, I did. He was the best reliever remaining and I think the only reliever based on the quality of starting pitchers that's out there. I think C.Wald was the only reliever I was willing to put in one of those last two pitcher spots of mine.

So now I'm down to getting one pitcher. It'll obviously be a starting pitcher. And there are a couple of options I really like, and really three options that are great. And they're a tier higher than the Mount Rushmore. So again, at this point, I'm regretting the Justin Steele and Tyler Malley nominations. So moving forward, you should probably just throw out some of these higher-end names.

names, right? Just to see if you wind up with them? No. Oh, okay. I guess we haven't reached that point yet. No. Well, here's one of them, Charlie Martin, I assume. Yeah. What's your max? This is one. What's your max bid's got? Max bid six. Uh-oh. He's got three spots to fill. Oh, go for. Come on. Go for the way. Go. Go. Go. Go. Oh, boo. I want somebody a little safer than Morton because I already have Gialito. I already have Burrios. What? You love Charlie Morton? I love Charlie Morton.

But I don't know that I love him for this build. I don't think strikeouts are my issue so much as just security. And there are a couple more secure options out there. Is this one of them? Well, he's gone. Joe Ryan. That's who we're talking about. Charlie Morton went for three. Tristan Kossis went for two. Ah, wow. Geez.

Oh, man. I should have gone four on Morton. because now Joe Ryan's up to six. Look, you can't say we didn't try because we were rooting you on here, Scotty. You should have. I should have gone four on Morton. And you threw out Tristan Casas for a buck, right? And I think I heard a sigh when Greg won him for two.

Yeah, you were definitely like in the middle of a sentence and you kind of stumbled over it as that fit came in. But that makes me feel bad because like he was definitely one of the guys that was like, well, I'm going to hang on and see if I can get him through late, but I assume if I had thrown him out there before, you would have bid too, right? Yeah.

And if not you, the person who ended up getting him for $2, whatever. Well, see, what happened was Tristan Kossis, Josh Bell, and Thai France were out there. I would have been fine with any of them as my corner infielder. I threw out the one

that I thought I would most likely get for a dollar, which was Kossis. I almost did. Somebody went two. And since then, somebody's nominated Josh Bell. So now we're down to Bell in France that I want from my corner infilled spot. And I decided to go three on Bell.

I could have gone three on Casas instead. But I'm cutting it a little closer to an animal. And, um, wow, is this really going to happen? Oh, all right. I don't. I shouldn't have said anything. I should have just let Scott keep talking. I was staring at it.

So it's Chris Bassett. Frank was trying to get him for a dollar. I'm going to fill my last pitching spot with him. It was between him and Pablo Lo, Lopez. It's good. It's goodbye. Yeah, hopefully. Yeah. Velocity's been down the spring, Bassett's, but I heard. I mean, I would have rather had Charlie Morton, let's be honest.

I saw a few tweets that say Bassett is someone who typically starts with the lower velocity and uses the spring to kind of ramp up and get up to game shape by the time we get to opening day. So it's down a lot. It's like four miles per hour. I don't want to downplay that. But, you know, as long as he's slowly ramping it up, I think it was down three miles per or his last outing, you know, every month. Yeah, it's not something I'm supremely worried about, but it's just, it's not, it's not the thing you want to hear, obviously. Scott, I had a missed opportunity earlier.

You won Josh Bell, so I feel like you deserve this. Great song. Indeed. Love it. Josh Bell. I've been better off for France, though. Um, maybe. For both. Yeah, I think those players are very similar, both Josh Bell and Thai France.

A couple other bids that got thrown out there. Lorda's Guerrille for a dollar. I think he's someone who's off to a nice start in the spring. He's entering a contract year was playing hurt last season as well. Will Myers won for a dollar. This is how Greg wins, man. We're just sitting here, you know, playing music and drops and stuff. And Greg Lathrop's just sneaking by these awesome players for a dollar.

Will Myers. Good job. Francisco Alvarez went for a dollar. Alec Bone went for two. Launch angle. Alec Bome? Let me take a look at Greg Lathrop's roster. See how it's looking.

Yeah, I have a feeling it's really good. What else is new? Oscar Gonzalez went for two. The outfield's really good for Greg Lathrop. The infield is suffering. Man, you know what? I got J.D. Martinez for two. Brandon M.O. went for two.

Oscar Gonzalez. No, no, no, no, no. That's not what I meant to do, guys. I hit the wrong button. Nope, you got to keep them. You're going to let me back it out this down. No, you got to keep them. No.

Chris, what are you? say? No. I mean, you did say you wanted Thai France earlier, so I don't know. I think you got to keep him. You can back him out if you want to. Yeah, I don't want to see Scott too upset two years in a row. Makes me upset, you know? Last year it was pretty funny. I mean, it's not a bad play. No, for a dollar. Why don't you just keep him, Scott? It's not what I meant to do. I'm not going to hedge in like, it's not what I meant to do. What positions do I have left? This is what I meant to do. Oh, all right. I mean. Garrett Mitchell for three. It's high France for a dollar, Scott.

Yeah, but I already have two first-based men, and I'd rather have the outfield than the potential steel specialist. I got a lot of batting average already. All right. Is that your last player? Yeah, that's my last player. Look at Scotty. First one out. Let's go.

I'm not the first one out. Oh, first one of us three. The first one of us three. Yes, of course, yes. Yeah, fourth, fourth one in the draft. How are you feeling overall, Scotty? Good. I think.

Uh-oh. This is where he goes and he looks at his team. I wanted Morton, I think. I think I should have gone for Morton as my last starter instead of, you know, holding out for Joe Ryan and ending up with Chris Bassett. So that, like, I can't help but fixate on the negative. And I look at the quality of pitchers I could have had and it's like, oh, and I filled a spot with Justin Steele already. And Tyler Malley, I'm less concerned about Tyler Malley, but the Justin Stee, deal one really gets to me knowing what I could have had.

This is like a secret downside of only bidding on your starting spots. It's like you are kind of limited in what kind of flyers you could take. Right. Yeah. And this is part of the reason why I want to go with Stars and Scrubs. So I think it's the right approach for this is because I'm here. talking about how I filled my spots too quickly for my liking, right? And that's with, gosh, how many players did I get for $3 or less? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, eleven, twelve, thirteen.

Thirteen of my 23 spots were for $3 or less. And it's like, man, I wish I had more spots. I could have gotten better players there. Right. Let's catch people up after you took Garrett Mitchell, Clark Schmidt. Speaking of flyers, he went for a dollar. Someone tried to sneak Andres Munoz by for a buck. Uh-uh.

Not today. I went two. Josh Young went for one. Jonah Heim went for one. And it is my turn to nominate a player. And I don't think anyone can bid more than two. So I'm going to throw up Pablo Lopez for two. And I'll get him as my SP5.

And I feel pretty good. That means I've got Garik Cole, U. Darvish, Blake Snell, Drew Rasmussen, and Pablo Lopez as my starters. My relievers, I've got Rizel Iglesias,

Alex Lang, and Andres Munoz. And Luis Garcia goes for two. Who would you guys rather have? Pablo Lopez or Luis Garcia? Pablo. I think so, yeah. Yay.

Yay me. I think Luis Garcia, I don't know, maybe the Astros ride him a little harder with Justin Verlander being gone. But I think he's kind of in that

that no man's land for innings accumulation. You know, a lot of five innings starts. So I just, I find it hard to get excited about him. All right.

Trevor Rogers for a buck. Nice bye, Chris. Yeah, I was, you know, I saw, there's three people with more than a dollar left

and I saw Frank was one of them. And I was like, oh, but he just took a pitcher. He doesn't need another pitcher. And then I looked and I almost had a panic attack because it was just like, oh,

does have a pitcher spot left, but he didn't want Trevor Rogers, thankfully. I did think about it, but Rogers is yours. I'll let you have them. There's one other pitcher that I'm eyeing. I've got $3 left, and nobody could beat that, so I will wind up with this pitcher. And I'm not going to reveal his name yet, because let's build the suspense, right? Why not? Joey Meneses goes for a dollar. Joey two hits.

See if he can carry it over. Monster's second half for the Nationals. We know he's going to play. Just what will he do with the playing time? Craig Camberl goes for two. We are we are truly in the end game now, Scott. I feel like we said the end game came like two hours ago.

This is my end game did. That's fair. That is fair. The overall end game, the end game of the podcast. We are winding down. You know. And we got 16 players left to be picked in the salary cap portion of the draft.

And then we got our six round. reserve draft would be the way we would say it. My brain's a little fried from the three and a half hours. I just took a little, sit down a little more dew, a little more Mountain Dew to keep me going. Do the do. Do the do. It's the code red kind too, so it looks like I'm drinking,

not powers, it looks like I'm drinking, oh, what's it called? Transmission Fluid. Yikes. I'm not. probably does something similar to your insides. It lubricates them? Yeah. Okay.

Bryson Stott thrown out for a dollar. Someone who has sneaky good sprint speed wouldn't surprise me if he sees a big uptick and steals this season with the Phillies. Andrew Heaney went for a dollar. Brian Beyo went for a dollar. Bayo's got some upside, but dealing with a forearm strain and the suspense is over

because I'll be nominating. Detmers. Yeah, that makes sense. For three bucks, and he will be my final player one. I like it. I'm hoping. So now I'm looking ahead and, like, who is going to make it through the reserve rounds? Because some good players are, just by virtue of players, just like Dustin Steele being on the active roster.

Some good ones are going to slip through. And I think I have one of the earlier picks in the reserve rounds. I don't remember exactly where I nominated, but it's the same order. Well, in the meantime So I was hoping Demers might, but no. Chris is going to gobble up Thai France for a buck. Good job.

No, he's not. Oh, no. That was one where I was trying to figure out, like, is he going to get through? Is it even worth it or should I just nominate someone else? Right. In between me nominating France for a dollar and nominating, apparently somebody else RJ wanted

got taken. That's a frustrating. I blame Scott. And you know what? You got him for a dollar, didn't you? Right, exactly. That's what I'm saying. Oh, that is, that is, that's unfortunate.

And I am unhappy currently. It's like I was able to show you, this is what happens if you nominate Thai France. And you were wise enough to say, well, then I'll nominate Thai France. But the variables changed. In my face. Boom. While we wait for Chris to wrap up this team, let's take a look at Scott and a My squads.

And start off with Scotty here on the infield. He's got Christian Betancourt and Travis Darno at Catcher. $2 combined for those two. Vinny Pasquantino, Jose Altuve, Nolan Aronado, and Corey Seeger, Nico Horner at middle, Josh Bell at Corner. And then in the outfield, Aaron Judge, Tray Mancini, Cedric Mullins, Jake Fraley, Jake McCarthy, and Garrett Mitchell. Stars and Scrubs, Scott, did you accomplish your goals here on offense?

I mean, other than the catchers where you're halfway expecting scrubs anyway, there's not a single player in my starting lineup who I'm not happy to have there. I think my least favorite is probably Josh Bell, who may go 280, 280, 25, 80, 80, you know. So I think, no, I guess Trey Mancini, I'm less excited about them that. But, you know, the point is I like them all to some degree. And I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. They're not all going to work out these low dollar players, but there is a waiver wire, and I plan to be active on it.

And I think the end result will be good. I didn't leave myself lacking in heels or batting average or home runs. So I like it. All right. Let's check out the pitchers that you wound up with. You got Sandy Alcantara for 28, and then you waited after that at starter. You got Gialito for three, Jose Barrio.

for three, Chris Bassett for two, Tyler Malley for one, Justin Steele for one, and Jordan Montgomery for two. So you got the ace and then you kind of lived in that two to three dollar range and your relievers, you've got Ryan Helsie for eight and Paul Seawald for three. Thoughts on the pitching staff? So I did hear OSP, which I know Chris likes. I took it to its furthest extreme. As I was talking about earlier, now that the juice ball era is over, I'm hoping. hoping my old strategy of leaning into the volatility at starting pitcher comes through, meaning don't spend a lot on it, but what you do spend, make sure it's high upside guys, like former aces like Giolito and Berrios.

And, you know, whoever doesn't work out there because it's more volatile than hitting, it means there are going to be more interesting options emerging on the waiver wire. And hopefully it works out. It used to be a very successful strategy for me, and then the juice ball yard kind of ruined that. Hopefully it gets back to being a successful strategy for me, but it is, I can take pleasure in that I followed through on my plan because the last couple years I don't think I did.

I think I got scared away by some of the overbids for the high-end players and just kind of wound up in this middle ground sludge territory. And finished in the middle of the stanzas. Actually, one of those years, 2021, I finished, had a terrible finish 11th place. Hey, so. Join the club. I was 11th last year, so. There you go.

I had a bunch of players either get hurt or underperform. I spent up for G. Alito last year. Mike Trout was good when he played, but obviously missed some time. I had Yosemani Grandal. Funny enough on this team as well, wound up with him again. So just a lot of underperforming some injury last year. But no excuses was not my best work. obviously. Let's take a look at my team. In the infield, I've got William Contreras and

Yosmani Grandal, a catcher. That's $12 combined. Jose Ibrahim for 14. Tommy Edmund for 14. Mani Machado for 38. Tim Anderson for 13. Jonathan India for six. Anthony Rizzo for seven. Then I've got, just scrolled up on me for a second. Mitch Hanigur, Hunter Renfro, Eloy Jimenez, Kyle Tucker, Seyes, Suzuki in the outfield, J.D. Martinez at D.H. I think it's pretty well balanced. In hindsight, I think when Lindor was going for 23, probably should have been it on him. I think maybe if I had one more 20 plus dollar hitter,

I'd feel a little bit better about this, but for taking, I wanted Machado and Tucker, for getting those guys and then just kind of living in the mid-tier, I think it worked out pretty well. I think it's very well balanced. I've got some speed with Edmund, with Tim Anderson. I think India could chip in some. I think Kyle Tucker will give me 20 plus steals.

Suzuki when he's back, maybe double digits. So I've got, I got speed down. Batting average looks alright. I got some pop. I like it. I like the offense. My only thing, Scott, is I wish I got maybe one more big name. I think it was Lindor in hindsight.

Okay. Yeah, probably. I got to be honest, I wasn't listening because we are starting the reserve rounds now. All right, I'll quickly run through my pitchers then, and then we could just get off and running with this draft. The pitchers I wound up with, Gary Cole, U. U. Darvish, Blake Snell. Ryssel Iglesias, Reed Detmers, Alex Lang, Drew Rasmussen, Pablo Lopez, and Andres Munoz.

All right, whenever you guys are ready, are we up and running? We're good to go? Yeah, yeah, we're going. Oh, sweet. All right. So the first pick of the reserve draft was Alex Cobb, Mackenzie Gore. I really had to pay attention here. Sorry, folks.

I'll put this up for those watching so you can follow along with the draft. Eduardo Rodriguez went to Chris. Let me see. Yeah, he wrote someone we haven't really talked about, but I liked him a lot last season. And his spring, his velocity's been up about a tick, a tick and a half. It's been a weird couple of years for him. Remember, he had the myocarditis issue during the COVID shortened season. Last year, he was away from the team.

But I still think there's room for him to be a pretty useful player. Yeah, I was going to point out that he's having a great spring right now. You don't want to put too much into it, but Eduardo Rodriguez is someone who has had success in the past. No surprise, Scott winds up with one of the Mount Rushmore with Miles Michaelis. A couple other picks, Jose LeClerc went, Taiwan Walker. Trying to figure out what I should do first here.

All right, Harrison Bader goes, dealing with an oblique injury. He might start the season on the IL for the Yankees. I'm up in two picks. I've got an idea. Daniel Hudson could work his way into the closer mix when he's back for the Dodgers. And this is a league with IL spots, so you know, should be able to mix him in there.

Yep. Kyle Finnegan goes, I think that's a really good pick, likely to wind up as the closer to start, at least for the Nationals. And I am going to take... I got snipped on Jose LaClerc. I should have looked at Kyle Finnegan. I took Ramon Moriano because I've got Sea Suzuki,

he will start on the IL, and I need an outfielder to fill in for him. So a little bit of power and speed for racer. Ramon and Greg is up then we've got the turn for two Jorge Lopez

what are you guys thinking about the twins bullpen this season obviously Duron is head and shoulders better than Jorge Lopez but they usually do the arbitration thing where they don't let their team controlled players get all the saves so what are you thinking about the twins bullpen

I think what do I think about the twins bullpen I think it's going to be Duran most of the time. There are going to be times when they'd rather use them in the eighth inning and maybe Jorge Lopez or maybe somebody else

ends up getting saves as a result. But I think it'll be primarily I think it'll be sort of like Paul Sewell was in Seattle last year where Duran will probably get to 20 and maybe even a little beyond but he probably won't get to 30. All righty.

After Jorge Lopez went C.J. Abrams and Alex Verdugo. That's a nice little turn there some upside some safety yeah Luis I probably should have taken CJ Abrams with my first pick I was thinking about it but it just doesn't make sense for me at all I've got India middle I've got Tim Anderson Tommy Edmund so just didn't really need him gonna go ahead and take a an injury stash and I'm gonna draft Trevor Story in the reserves here throw them on my IL we have five spots

there again I don't know how necessary he'll be for this team but you give me a little second half boost I could throw him at utility I took him in Tau Wars. He is kind of like Harper, though, and where it sounds like he's missing. He's more likely to miss two-thirds of the season than one-third of the season, and so that makes it obviously a fine pick

in the reserve round, but it does kind of take the appeal out of it. Yeah, I totally get that with Trevor's story. Showed some signs last year, but overall disappointment is first season in Boston. Brandon Hughes goes to RJ White, Josh Naler, Another just kind of boring pick, but I like it.

You know, two 50, 260, 20 plus home runs for Nailer. Andrew Benintendi, sounds like he could bat third consistently for the White Sox. So, you know, I have question marks about the power, but the counting stats could turn out to be pretty good for Andrew Benetendi. I'm going to take what I think is the last outfielder I like here, and that's Brian De La Cruz, who I've cooled on from earlier because it sounds like they're leaning,

Hesu Sanchez to start and left, but I don't think that'll last. I think Taylor Cruz's talent is eventually going to force the issue. I will say, Miami, there's some crowding issues now that they signed Yuli Garreal, which they've been circling him for a while, but they did sign him today. Also, Jose Iglesias, I don't think he's going to matter much,

but Yuligariel, I'm guessing they signed him with an eye on starting him pretty regularly. So, you know, whether that means Luis Araya's moves to third base, I don't know, but it's, you know, between Garrett Cooper not being guaranteed the first base job or DH every day, he might have to play some in the outfield. There's a little bit of crowding there in Miami with the outfield and D8 spots now. It's a good point. I know it was a minor league contract, Chris. Are you certain that Gurriel will be on their roster on opening day? I'm pretty positive that he, I mean, I know he was holding out for a major league deal and never got it.

So, you know, maybe he pushes for his release if he's not guaranteed a starting spot. But I would think he's going to play more often than not. That is Yuleiguriel, once again, signing with the Miami Marlins. Other picks that went down, wow, that guy went really late. Whitmerfield in the third round of the reserves. That's a really good pick. Volpe also went. Silla Chance.

Volby could be up on opening day. Curtis Mead with Tampa Bay. good pick Chris. I know there's been talks about the raise giving Curtis Meade an extension. Yeah, they've been working on an extension with him apparently which could probably accelerate his timetable. I was going to say that would basically buy out his years, right? Yeah, I mean, that's what they did with Heaven Longoria. They signed him to an extension. I think before he made his debut. The Phillies did it with Scott Kingery a few years ago.

The Astros did it with John Singleton. These are not necessarily the best examples of players who worked out. Right. But they are player. And the service time stuff matters less now than it did back then. But there was, yeah, I think it was Ken Rosenthaler party either yesterday or today, that they are strongly considering giving him a long-term deal, which, you know, presumably would clear a path to playing time. All right. A couple other picks here. Actually, that's Curtis Mead. After Curtis Mead, Jorge Soler, Noah Cindergarde, Spencer Turnbull, Patrick Wisdom, Luis Garcia.

of the Nationals, T.J. Friedel, then Merrill Kelly. You got to get him, baby. Got to get him, Scott. I get him. Yeah, and I actually was really disappointed. Brandon Drury went a few picks later. I was hoping he'd make it to me.

308th player taken. It's gotten to a point for me with Drury. I know he's not the one I took, but it's gotten to a point for me where just like everybody's so out that I'm kind of in by default because like what if he's 80% as good as he was last year? I think at a good hitters park, good lineup, he could be. And then he's eligible at first, second, third,

providing power stats very late, which is hard to find. I'm kind of, you know, I really would have liked, I can't complain about getting Merrill Kelly. I got two now, Miles, Michaelis, and Merrill Kelly, two of the Mount Rushmore, my favorite two of the Mount Rushmore in the reserve rounds. So that makes me feel a lot better about my pitching staff, which was the most questionable part of my team.

but I would have liked to have Drury too. Abraham Lincoln's always been my favorite of the Mount Rushmore guys. After Scott took Merrill Kelly Edward Olavaris, John Birdie, Brandon Drury, Carlos Carrasco, I took Trevor May, who I believe will get the first shot at saves for the A's,

Lance McCullors, you could stash on your IL, Garrett Whitlock, Sir Anthony Dominguez, and Kyle Braddish. It's a nice little sleeper pick there. I know around the industry, he's gained some steam. Eno Saris likes him, some Kyle Braddish from the Orioles.

I'm going to take one of my sleeper pitchers here with Ross Stripling. Now at the San Francisco Giants, throw his change up a career high last year. I think it was 27%. It's a really, really good change up. Obviously, good ballpark to pitch in as well in San Francisco.

And it just goes really late. Pick 315 for Ross Tripling, so I like it. I like it a lot. Do you guys have a feel for the Phillies bullpen right now? Do you think it's Kimbril to start and if he falters maybe they go Sir Anthony Dominguez after that? I think

what they're saying is a committee. I think if Kimbril looks right though, he'll probably corral that job in short order and if he doesn't then it'll probably remain a committee with Dominguez at the front but still a committee. Yeah, that's kind of like my views on our oldest Chapman. Craig Kimball, not quite as mercurial, but has not necessarily been at his best outside of the closer's role.

So I think like you get those guys, you probably want to try them at closer first at least. And if it doesn't work out, then you move on to someone else. But I think given the history of those kinds of pitchers or Aldous Chapman and Craig Kimbril, I would guess they're going to get a real opportunity at the very least. After I took Ross Stripling,

Jose Orkitti, Jock Peterson, I think is a great pick. He goes way late. probably going to give you 25-ish home runs. He's going to play against right-handed pitching. We know how he'll sit against some lefties. After that, Nolan Gorman, Ranger Suarez. Scotty, on brand.

Tyler Anderson. I almost got all for the Mount Rushmore. I took Tyler Anderson, and then Martine Perez went to Garrett Atkins right afterward. By the way, the most angels possible outcome today, apparently Tyler Anderson almost hit Mike Trout, like near the head during their USA exhibition. today. That would have been like the most angels thing that could possibly have happened.

Yeah. Not great there. After Tyler Anderson, Perez went one pick later. Alec Thomas, somebody I was eyeing. I think that's a really sneaky pick there for you, Chris. Marcus Stroman. I think, you know, kind of safe, boring guy, but again, the Cubs defense should be much better this year. Christopher Morel, Randall, Randall Gritchick, who will start the season on the IL. You could stash him. So start. And then Colton Wong at middle infielder. That is a great Chris. Yeah, that's a little tip of the cap to you, Frank. I like that. So I tweeted out earlier today that I finally put these pieces together. Will Smith signed with the Rangers over the weekend. Will Smith the reliever. And he pitched with the Giants a couple of years ago when Bruce Bochie

was the manager. He had a 34 save season with Bruce Bochy. And it all just kind of clicked for me. I'm like, whoa, Will Smith is a really good late round flyer for saves right now. I love it. I think It's a good pick. Yeah, I mean, we don't know if Jose LeClerc's going to be the closer, but figure at this point, the draft, want to take a flyer on that connection specifically that you mentioned. Yeah, I just haven't moved them up my rankings yet, so I just kind of out of sight, out of mind, but I think it's a good pick. Zach Eflin also, a sneaky one, Elvis Andrews and a role of Chapman.

Scott, what would you like to say? I don't think Will Smith's actually going to be the closer. FWIW. Oh, that's a great pick too. Brendan Fott. I don't think he's going to be either. Yeah, I saw Dre Jameson go off and I immediately typed in, fought. He was near the top of my queue.

Jeez. Well, broadcasting and drafting 101. Geez. Oh, man, I just completely forgot about him. That is a great pick. And now I am up, and I don't really have somebody I want. But I'm going to take this guy who had another home run today. Josh Lowe.

It's very good pick, yeah. Yeah, very similar to your Alec Thomas pick, Chris. It's former top. kind of post-hype, very deep sleeper. Sounds like the race want him to win a job in the outfield. And, you know, he's got a couple of home runs in the spring. We'll see what happens. After Brandon Fott went, Seth Brown, Gene Seguerra, Brandon Belt, Yandy Diaz,

and, oh, wait, I'm about to be back on the clock, so I should figure out what I want to do. I think I need another pitcher on my team. And these rankings are all kind of out of whack at this point. Well, and, yeah, the draft room doesn't put our pitchers in the right order, because we don't rank pitchers. We rank SPs and RPs, so that's always a... Oh, man.

That's not very nice draft room. I'm going to go ahead and I'll take Hayden Wisnesty. All right, good, good. I've got a guy at the top of my queue. I'm sure there's... I know he's a Frank Stamphel guy, but I wanted to... I'm sure there's another good starter out there that I'm just not remembering. Oh, I don't know if he's good or not, but...

I know you like him. All right. Well, yeah, he's probably not good then if I like him. After I took Josh Lowe was Seguera, Belt, Yandy Diaz, Adam Duval, a favorite of our boy, Neil Shah, who was on the podcast the other day. I was debating Shintaro Fujinami. I like him, too. I think there's a little bit more volatility with Fujimami. The control is a real issue.

I think the stuff is very good, better than Hayden Wazniewski. But I like Wesneski as well. I wound up with him in Enna only. labor. One of my pitchers there as well. Stephen Mets, can he ever stay healthy? Probably not. But the Cardinals routinely have a good defense. And he pitches for a good team, so why not at this point? Brett Beatty.

There was talk earlier in spring training about Eduardo Escobar playing some left field. I think that's because the Mets kind of, I think they want Brett Beatty in the lineup, but you know, they've got options. for now. Yeah, some upside picks here between Beatty and Ian Anderson, I think, is worth drafting again. I suspect he's the favorite to claim that fifth job for Atlanta, and of course, as upside. I'm going to go with my ace in the hole at catcher here since I spent a max, I spent a total of $2 at catcher, Mitch Garver.

Nice. He should pick up the five games at catcher to be eligible there because he's starting out utility only. He should pick it up by week three, I think. I'll be able to slot him there. And I do think he has a lot more upside offensively than Christian Bethincourt or even Travis Darno. Yeah, it's a good pick, Chris.

So Rwanzi Contreras is the pitcher you wound up taking. I saw his name. I think him and Wisniewski are very similar. But I took Wisniewski because he plays for the better team. Sure. Yeah. Yeah, and Contreras, we still don't know what he is. He's a talented pitcher,

but he hasn't actually been all that good when he's pitched to the major league level yet. But, you know, I think he's close enough to figuring it out. I know he's been working on the change-up this spring that, you know, it's worth the gamble here. A couple other picks going off the board. Nick Martinez, another one of my sleepers that I gave out recently. Terrick Scouble, Kyle Stowers, I think will be a strong side platoon starter for the Orioles.

Then Mike Soroka and John. James Pexton. Chris, believe this is your last pick. This is my last pick. I'm not sure which way to go here. I'm going to go with Nolan Jones. Make it good.

Didn't make it good. I don't know if it got in. Yep, you got it. There you go. Nolan Jones probably going to drop him. But, you know, he's got a chance. He's a recent prospect, top prospect-ish.

A lot of swing and miss at the major league level, but more like a 25% strikeout rate guy. If he could be that at the major league level while playing half his games at course field, I think there's definitely some potential there. Okay. Time to do it, Frank. I haven't done it in any league yet, except maybe AL only. Michael Massey. I like it.

There you go. Michael Massey. Got to have a share of him somewhere. Last pick in the reserve rounds. I mean, I really never thought I would get upset about Domingo Hermann going, but that is who I wanted. He is gone. Really, last round of the reserves.

And now I'm on the clock, and I don't know who I want to take. Clark Schmidt went earlier, so you don't have that one to fall back on. I think this guy is still available. Let me see. Yes. So I will take Ken Waldichuk. I still wanted Domingo Armand. That sucks.

Whatever. All right, so some upside pitchers on the bench. I've got raw stripling, Ken Waldichuk, and Hayden Wisniew. Justin Turner, and who's going to be the last one? Number 360. Mr. Irrelevant, Matt. Matt Mervis. Mervis.

You know, it's, it's amazing how everybody's cooled on him. Like even in the 15-team Roto leagues, he, he drafted it all now. And he's out of bad spring, which doesn't help a lot of strikeouts, surprisingly. But he'll still be the Cubs. He'll still be in the Cubs lineup by June 1st, I presume. Yeah, potentially June. He went in the reserve rounds of my NL. only labor. I just completely whiffed.

I forgot about him. And when he went, I was like, what was I thinking? I should have definitely wound up with Mervis, who was one of the most impressive hitters in the minors last year. Lots of power. Lots of batting average. I saw him out in the Arizona Fall League, and he was amazing. Put on a show. So, lots of

upside with Matt Mervis' season. Let's wrap up with Chris's team. Why don't we? Because we went through Scots. We went through my team. And then Chris finished out his draft. So we'll end there. We'll go through Chris's team and then we'll wrap everything up. You got Salvador Perez and Cabr Ruiz, a catcher,

Reese Hoskins, Jorge Polanco, Spencer Steer, Boba Chet, Adolberto Montesi and Anthony Rendon as your infield. And then in the outfield, you've got Nick Castellanos, George Springer, Mookie Betts, Randy Rosa Rana, Riley Green, and Fernando Tatis. I know you didn't really have a plan coming in, Chris, so I won't ask you about that, but how do you think that? Yeah, I mean, look, my plan is,

Stars and Scrubs for the most part. Like when I say I don't go in with a plan, I don't go in with specific players that I want. Right. Different than specific players that I want in my normal drafts. But, you know, I was, I wanted to get, you know, as many star players as possible knowing like Scott has said, it's a 12 team league. You should be able to get some replacements. So like I took that flyer on out, Alberto Mondes. He's not actually in my starting lineup.

He's going to go on aisle when the season starts. maybe he comes back in May or June and is able to give me a little boost and steals if I need it. But Luis Garcia is going to start a middle infield for me. Fernando Tatis is not going to start the season for me. He's suspended obviously. But once he's back, like, I think between Fernando Tatis, Mookie Betts, and Boba Chet, I probably will have three of the top 15 hitters, 20 hitters by the time, you know, from the point that Fernando Titus is active.

And actually, I think he'll. be one of the 15 best hitters in fantasy overall anyway. So, you know, I got the stars. I think I've mostly managed to avoid any major holes in my lineup. So I feel pretty good about it. Very nice. On the pitching side of things, you wound up with Justin Verlander, Chris Sale, Robbie Ray, Jameson, Tion, Trevor Rogers, and Josiah Gray as your starters. And then for the relievers, you've got Camillo Doval, Carlos Estevez, and Dylan Floro. Were you pleased with the top three, Chris, Chris Sail, and Robbie Ray. I know you said you like Robbie Ray a little bit more than we do, but do you kind of wish maybe you had a better SP2 or SP3? Yeah, I mean, the problem was there weren't,

in my opinion, at least in that $13 range, there weren't really many better players who went. I think like the pitchers who I have tiered with with Robbie Ray are guys like Kevin Gosman Julio Reyes who all went for you know 1920 Zach Allen I have in a similar range those guys all went for more than Robbie Ray so there just weren't really any alternatives that I could have gone with besides Robbie Ray so I'm I'm okay with getting Robbie Ray as my number two you know Chris Sale I'm obviously happy with as my number

number three. He's kind of my default number three starting pitcher. I think he's going to pitch more like an SP2. So I'm very pleased with that. Scott, any parting words of wisdom? Any thoughts on the auction or the reserve rounds or anything in general as we wrap it up

here? Well, I was just looking at who remains, who wasn't taken. And I was looking at, you know, One of my most concerned about it for my own roster. And I don't have a backup at third base for Nolan Aeronado. Hopefully I don't need one.

But you know who wasn't taken? I know exactly who it is. And as soon as I took Walda-Tuck, I was like, oh, I should have taken it. Yeah, I'm thinking I should have taken this instead of Michael Massey. It's Christian Incarnacion Strand, who, of course, is eligible at third base and a big source of power. If he makes the roster, it's still kind of a long shot, I guess. But it is something that is being talked up right now. a lot of power in the miners last year having a great spring.

And there's a need with Joey Votto banked up to begin the year. Probably won't play third base for the Reds, but he maintains that eligibility. So I wish I had, maybe a little bit of a bidding war for him in the first run of Fab. Yeah, but overall I'm happy with the way it turned out. It's easy for me to get stuck on the negative.

I'm very happy with the way my draft turned out. I'm certainly not lacking in speed or batting average. I kind of wonder if maybe I under did it with the power, despite having Aaron Judge. I don't think so. But I kind of wonder. So I guess that's a good spot to be in if that's what I'm most worried about. And especially that I was able to get all of Merrill Kelly,

Miles, Michaelis, and Tyler Anderson in the reserve rounds. Like, I think I think I'm going to have enough pitching. And, yeah, really happy with the way it turned out. Scott, will these results be on the website? Yes, they will. All right, CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball. If you want to run through everybody's team and look at how much players went for

and the reserve rounds and all that fun stuff, leave a comment on YouTube. Let us know who you think won the salary cap draft, the auction here, and we're looking forward to. We're going to wrap there for Chris and Scott. I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again tomorrow with a mailbag.

Bye-bye.