Fantasy Baseball Today - LIVE Roto Salary Cap Draft Part 1! (3/17 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 17, 2021

Here are the salary cap draft results if you want to follow along! We're joined by a very special guest to break down our live Roto Salary Cap Draft! How much did each of Jacob deGrom, Gerrit Cole, and Shane Bieber go for? How do you account for inflation during an auction? Wait, Adalberto Mondesi and Francisco Lindor went for the same price? Was Cody Bellinger the bargain of the draft? We answer all of these questions and more in part 1 of our live Salary Cap Draft. Join our FBT Bracket Challenge for a chance to enter the 'For the People' league: http://cbssports.com/FBTbrackets Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank, @AdamAizer Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ 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

Hey everybody, so we went super long with this salary cap draft. Surprise, surprise. One day I'll get my timing down. But because of this, we decided to make it into a two-part podcast. No worries. By the time you finish listening to this first part, the second one will already be in your feed. Thanks for listening and enjoy.

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. I drive. Satterfield episode. Got a fantasy question. Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Now here's Frank Scott, Chris, and Adam. Who's ready for a live roto salary cap draft?

Welcome into fantasy baseball today. Frank Sample joined by Scott White and Chris Towers, depending on when you are listening or watching this. Happy Stone Cold Steve Austin Day, 316. Happy St. Patrick's Day to all that are out there. Live 5xifery salary cap draft today with a standard $260 budget that we are playing out with some heavy hitters. Obviously, Scott, Chris and myself, RJ White, our manager, Tim McLeod, B. Don from Razball, Nick Mimicos.

I hope I said that right. Garrett Atkins, David Doak, Chris Mitchell, and some guy named Adam Azer. I'm not really sure how he got in here. He's more like a... He's a fantasy football guy. Wait, what's that? Oh my goodness gracious. And now, welcoming to the podcast. It is, Adam. What up? Mr. Azer. How you doing, buddy? trying to find a player that hit like one home run last year because you said heavy hitters

so I'm trying to be like well I'm this I'm Nick Magigal I don't have a home one last year did he? Even better I don't know you might have more muscle mass than Nick Magigal actually that's bad

you guys call them a sleeper I have no idea what I'm doing this I'm just gonna have fun I'm just gonna have fun I've got a new acronym that I want to try after Tapap AMC last year. And I just going to have fun.

I'm going to wing it tonight. I'm going to wing it. We are retiring Tapap AMC today here on the podcast. And when we once, I guess once you get one of the players of your new acronym, you can bring it up and let us know what it means, describe it. And I'm sure that will be everyone's strategy this year for salary cap drafts. Of course, Scott and Chris are here on the podcast as well. It's going to be a really fun one.

If you are watching along, much like we did our head-to-head points, mock draft last week. I will have my draft board up for everyone to see. So when I am nominating on a player, when I am nominating a player or bidding on a player, you'll be able to watch that live and see my process. See if I'm annoying with it. Do I wait until there's one second left and then jump in on some bids or do I just kind of jump in and throw guys out at what I think they're worth? We'll see. Before we get to... It's going to be warped by the fact we're podcasting live. Oh, it's going to be right. It's going to be a disaster. It's a good thing. Adam is here to help fill the silence when, you know, a couple of us have a good volley going. I'm sure

that's going to be necessary. I'm going to ask you guys a lot of questions that I hopefully will help people, but I've been weird to be on the other side because almost all of my knowledge comes from listening to the podcast. I've almost made it through all of the position previews. I didn't quite get to all of them, but I've been reading. I've been cramming. I feel like I'm ready to go, but you're going to have to, you're going to have to answer some questions for me. So hopefully, I think it'll be helpful for a lot of people who are not experts. Hopefully you learn something while listening to the position previews, Adam, because I basically went back and listened to how you've done them in years past, and I just tried to model them after that.

So I'm not sure. You guys were great, honestly. It was very helpful. Before we get to the actual salary cap draft, let's just quickly promote a few things. FBT listeners, we want you to compete with us in our bracket challenge game. Scott, Chris, and I will be in there, and we want you to join us as well. The link to join is cbsports.com slash FBT brackets. The winner not only gets a $100 gift card to Paramount Plus,

but an entry into our For the People Listener League, a 16-te-to-head categories draft that will, the winners of that will be announced next Thursday. So continue to send in your league submissions. We have appreciated those. Lots of really good ones so far. And who enters just one pool? If you're doing a bracket challenge,

you can also create a group to compete against your friends and fill out your bracket for the chance to win a Nissan Rogue and a trip to the 2022 Final Four. You can play on the CBS Sports app, or again, you can join up against us. The link for that is cbsports.com slash FBT brackets. And just a quick reminder that our fantasy baseball today draft prep guide is free and is available now. Chris put a lot of hard work into it, and you can find all of our rankings, salary cap values, draft strategies, tiers, and so much more. The link for that is cbsports.com slash FBBDraft Kit.

Once you get to that page, just drop your email address in there. and you'll get it in your inbox in no time. All righty, Scott. I think we are ready to fire this bad boy up, and I believe Mr. Azer has the first nomination. Wow. You do, yeah. So I like to get some money off the board

with a player that I don't want. A great player, absolutely, but not one of the first rounders that I am targeting. I'm going to nominate Trey Turner. The default is $1. I'll just go ahead and put $20 in there and that people have at it. But I'd rather have Trevor's story,

so I'm going to let the market get set a little bit with Trey Turner. So here's a question. Are we worried about Trey Turner's stolen bases if, in fact, he does bat second or third for the national? I was supposed to ask, I was going to ask that question. Because I've been thinking about this recently with, you know, the talk of Victor Robles batting leadoff. And I think he probably will steal fewer bases if he doesn't bat leadoff.

Agreed. but he may not bat second for even more than a couple of weeks. And like Scott has said all along, just because Victor Robles is batting leadoff in the spring, it doesn't mean that he's going to stick there. They want that to be a thing. I think that as Trey Turner is growing into his power a little bit, they want him to be more of a run producer,

so that's why they have him in the middle of that lineup. But if Victor Robles is not performing, that of course could change. If he stays, if Trey Turner stays batting third all year, I think it's probably going to be more of a 25 steel guy. than the potential 30 or 35 plus that we have seen in years past. Well, we have a bit of a bidding war here.

Trey Turner up to $43 already. Yeah, I've got an aggressive price on him. And he's only $2 less than Ronald CUNY and Mookiee and Mookiee Betts, who are my top values. But that was still priceier than my value for him. Yeah, Scott and I both have Trey Turner at $37 based on standard 5x-Roto salary cap values

and Chris has them up at 42. So Nick Mamikos wins the first player on the board. Trey Turner goes for $43. Scott White, it is your turn to nominate a player. Ooh. Yeah, so I'm nominating Kenley Jansen here. Tell us why.

I'm trying to nominate a bunch of closers because I don't want to pay $2 more than $2 for any closer. If I don't get one for $2 or less, I'm probably not going to get a closer. Don't hold me to that, by the way. but that's the goal. And so, you know, I think if I nominate a bunch of closers that I know will go for more than $2,

hopefully I can drain enough money that I scare people away from bidding up the players I actually do want. And so Kenley Jansen's at $9 right now. Yeah, there's always good values for closers in a salary cap draft. Yeah, I was part of the bidding there. I bid $8 on Kenley Jansen.

I want to get one of my top 10 closers, It was top 12. I'm a little more nervous about Craig Kimberle based on how he's looked in the spring so far. I will admit that. So I wanted to get one of my top 10 and I have Kenley Jansen at $10 in my values. So I wasn't willing to go that far.

But if I could have got him for eight, a bit of a discount there. I wasn't opposed to it. Who is nominating a player? That would be R.J. White. And Catelle Marte, he throws out for $15. Chris Tower is licking his lips here on the podcast. Hey, can I throw in a couple things real quick?

Go ahead. Last year, so Tray Turner went for $43. I think that's pretty good. Last year, Mike Trout and Ronald Ocuna went for 52 with a similar group of players, not the same, similar group of drafters, not the same group exactly, but very similar. 52 each Christian Jones meant for like 45.

Those three players actually all went to donkey teeth. He got the three most expensive players, and I don't know if he didn't pay attention to the league. I'm not sure, but he came in like 10th. so I thought his team was so interesting when we did this last year we've been doing this league for so long Catel Marte went for $21, sorry

talking too much but that was one of the most aggressive he went studs and duts yeah major studs they got the major studs and it didn't work out for him not to say that it can't but I just thought people might want to know that ooh de Grom

so Catel Marte goes for 21 even the more aggressive Chris Sowers has Catele Marte ranked higher than the rest of us. You have Catele Marte at $21. And R.J. White is actually the one who threw him out at $15, and he won him for $21. So that is a potential strategy throwing out players that you want. Jacob de Grom is all the way up at $52,

and the leading candidate to get him right now is Nick Mimikos, who also won Trey Turner. So could be going with a similar strategy there of paying up for some of those top-tier players. This is the only format that you can do that, where you can get two first-round. players and that's why this is well yeah the only like yeah this method of disseminating players right this is so de grom goes for 54 and i had hoped that the high-end pitchers wouldn't be as inflated

as we saw in the head-to-head points version of this where we saw the big three all exceed 50 and it like it made more sense in that format for a number of reasons uh both because uh because pitchers tend to be more valuable and because there are way fewer line-up spots to fill. So, you know, you can go a little crazy with the bidding without suffering too much later on. Well, you know, it's happened to do Acuna now because Acuna is approaching 60 at this point. He's the one-up now. So this is what we talk about when we've done strategy podcasts and we talk about salary cap values and there you go. Ronald Acuna goes for $57 to Tim McLeod. It's hard to just put a single price on what a player is worth. So people email in and they say, well, why don't you tell us?

us how much this player's worth. We can tell you, but you have to be able to account for inflation. And that's something that we have mentioned before. You know, Scott has Ronald Acunae valued at $41. I have Acuna at 42. Chris has him at 44. He just went for $57. So what we know now is DeGrom and Acuna just went for way more than what we actually have them down for, which means if you want top tier players in this salary cap draft, you are going to have to spend more to get them than you expected. So just keep that in mind. Brennan Lau is now being bid on and he is up to $10 with Chris Mitchell, which actually seemed like a pretty good price. It's climbing back up now.

$11, $12. I threw out Brandon Lau just to see what the kind of, you know, probably third or fourth tier players are going to go for. I have Brandon Lau as a $15 player. I'm not sure what you guys have him as, but. 17. Looks like he's going to go 14, 15 at least. So no discounts so far, at least based on my value. Kenley Jansen, the closest thing to a discount.

Scott, it's interesting. Scott, can you talk about how if all these players are going for more than we have them valued at? What is that going to do to the mid, the mid tier of players and even some of those $1 players? I feel like that's going to cause even better players to go for cheaper later on in this salary cap draft. Yeah, that's, that is what's going to happen. There are only so many dollars to spend. we have our salary cap values calibrated for 12 team leagues, $260 budgets, exactly what this is.

So if you've got the high end guys exceeding the cost by $5 to $10, you're going to see some real values with those middle tiers. And, you know, it's going to be, obviously you want great players. They're the most likely to deliver great results and separate you from your competition. So it's going to be kind of a balancing. How many can I go without in order to take advantage of what will probably be discounts later? Well, time to change this strategy because pitcher number one on my list that I have here that I wrote down, Jacob Grom or Garrett Cole for $40 to $45.

Well, that didn't happen. Garrett Cole just went for $51 and now Shane Bieber is currently at $50. Yeah. And just to provide some contacts when you're talking about the best players going $5, 10, uh, in Garrett Cole's case, $15 more than I have him for, uh, you only have $11 per spot, 11.3. So,

when you have one player who's, you know, who you spent $15 more than expected on, um, you know, that's going to shave basically almost a half, or more than a half dollar off of your average for the rest of the team. Now,

so, you know, that's just the kind of thing to keep in mind. It's a good point. Good point that you bring up there, Chris. And this is an interesting player because Cody Bellinger gets thrown out here pretty early on in the salary cap draft.

Slated to make his spring training debut on Wednesday. We have not seen him play a game yet. Of course, coming back from shoulder surgery, which he suffered in the playoffs of last year, and he is currently up to $30. Zero discounts so far. Kenley Janssen's still the only player who's gone for less than my valuation.

If this ends here, this is going to be good. Yeah, so that's a very good price. It seems good relative to the prices we've seen, but I have Bellinger for 31 and it just went for 30. So, you know, like, it's not a discount. I didn't want them for more than 31, you know. I still think that based on the other players that are going to get pushed up in terms of their values here,

Cody Bellinger, in comparison, is going to wind up being a pretty good discount at that price. And I don't even like Bellinger. I've talked about that quite a bit. so, Adelberto Mondesi is now the player being bid on and he is up to $26. Let's see, 27 now. 28 for Chrissy Pooh, who has him everywhere.

How high will he go? He is one of my most rostered players so far. Oh, man. Five out of my 12 leagues I have him. One of them is a head-to-head. A mid-tier is going to go for so cheap. Yep. I'm trying to remind myself to stay disciplined here.

I let him go for 34. I have him for 31. Yeah, I'm just trying to It's always difficult to calibrate I'm not a nominated player But I'm trying to remind myself Yes, there are going to be discounts later But I'm also trying to remind myself that

Like, of the 23 players I'm bidding on here For my roster, chances are half of them are going to amount to basically nothing for me I actually looked into this For last year, last year I finished second in this league And of the 23 players I bid on, only 11 amounted to anything, amounted to anything. And only one off my roster. The first place guy, Dan Richards, I looked at his roster, too.

Only 12 of the 23 players he bid on amounted to anything. I mean, the rest were basically dropable. Yeah. So that's what we're looking at. And that was only for a two-month season, by the way. That was only for a two-month season. Half of our players ended up being discarded. And there you go.

I threw out Corey Seeger on purpose because I wanted Scott to get involved. I was a little worried that you were talking there, Scott, and you weren't going to get your guy. Bidding and talking and winning. All right. Yeah. Corey Seeger. $6 more than I. Seeger was somebody I penciled in as my shortstop coming into this.

I wanted them for 25. I don't know. I may regret going $6 over, but as I was saying, half my roster is probably going to get swapped out anyway. So I want to make sure I have some players I can depend on. someone just jump bid Zach Gallin up to $25 and is that too much for Zach Gallup? I would say

that is... I'm for 21. Yeah. I'm for 24, so it's... There's some questions about, I think there's been something in recent days that, you know, his innings may be more limited than we thought. I'll try to find where that came from.

Yo, Adam, what's going on, man? You're back up here to nominate. I want Franklin get on the board here. So here's Manny Machado for 10. He's not written down as one of the players I want, but I'll take him for $12. Moby-Machato currently going for $12. If I win him, sure.

Is it just the shoulder with Bellinger? Because how is, like, in what world is Adelberto Mondecee more expensive than Cody Bellinger, who was like a top five player? Alberto Montesi could be, you know, over a full season, because we saw him have a hot streak

a couple of years ago at the beginning of the year and then he ended up being a terrible hitter. So my thing with him and it's kind of similar to Kestenhero where they've had really good streaks and they've had really bad streaks. Who, Bellinger or Mondesie? No, Mondesie.

You know, because we've only really got like two seasons of Cody Ballinger and one of them was a 60 game season. And one of them he only played like 109 games or whatever. So, you know, we really don't have much to go on. But if you just take what he's done across those two seasons,

You're looking at like 90 runs, 80 RBI, 67 stolen bases, 15 home runs. I'm not saying he's going to do that. But if he does, he's probably a top 10 player in Roto. Yeah. Especially if the number two guy in steals has 35, which is entirely possible. Right. If you have, all right, if he plays a full season, you probably don't have to invest much in steals.

I get that. But he's got a lot of downside. Yeah. Yeah. No, I definitely agree. He was the shortstop on the All-Boomer Bus team for a piece I wrote last night.

We talked about that a couple days ago on the pod too. It's just refreshing getting Mondesie and not really having to devote a single dollar to steals after that, you know? Because all the Steels guys are going to be inflated beyond what they are even in a draft. And then with Bellinger, you asked about Bellinger specifically. I mean, it's not just the shoulder.

That's pretty big on its own. He also wasn't that good last year, not even second round caliber. He also was making changes to his swing then. I think there's a lot of reasons people are nervous about Challenger. Stop making changes to your swing. He won the MVP and he started making changes to his swing. I know, it was crazy.

It made no sense. It made absolutely no sense. The thing that has worried me a tad as well, Adam, outside of the shoulder, is in two of the past three years, he struggled against left-handed pitching, which I just don't like to see that from my first or second round pick. So that coupled with the shoulder injury, I think he could get off to a slow start.

Might be sending some Azer trade offers for Cody Bellinger early in the season, if that is the case. Let's catch people up on some of these prices that went finalized. Zach Allen goes for $25. Mani Machado went for 29, which seems like a pretty good buy

when Corey Seeger goes for 31. Edwin Diaz, another reliever off the board. He goes for $16. So there's only two relievers thus far. Diaz went for $16. Kenley Jansen went for nine and Jose Ramirez goes to Chris

Chris you now have two third baseman you have Ramirez and Machado your corner infield spot is filled up yeah and that's you know sometimes you do something while you're multitasking

and I saw him for 42 and I was like look I have him for 43 so I'll go and it was only after that that I remembered I have Manny Machado but look I have Manny Machado and Jose Ramirez on my team

I can't really complain that oh no, now I can't draft Gene Segura for $4. You know, like, it's kind of, it's not really something to actually be worried about. Mookie Betts is being bid on by, I don't know, Adam, Adam's jumping in a little bit here.

I don't want Mookie Betts. I, uh, by the way, I think I have to have a closer discussion here because, God, it's such a terrible position. And in this format with nine pitcher spots, you, you know, typically you want like three closers. That might be, Hold on, I want to see if I get mootie bets. 49 bucks for mooky bets going one.

Going twice. Azer is on the board. There he goes. Mookie bets for 49 versus Ronald Acuna who went for 57. Yeah, and Jose Ramirez who went for 43. So I think Jose Ramirez was like a pretty good value there. But yeah, that's for a lot less than a kunia. I like that.

I'm into that. I was in on Ramirez for 41. And then Chris and that other guys. guy got involved. So, oh, Fernando Tatis gets nominated here straight away, 42. I guess that's fair. Should go close to a similar price to Muki Betts, maybe even exceed him. Currently at $45 for Fernando Tatis, is he going to stay there? Ooh, he was about to go for 45. And then we see it jump up a I was about to hit 46. I'm glad I didn't because there was a, I thought about it to multiple bids in there that would have driven it up to 49 if I was the last one.

I don't have a single share of Fernando Tatsis yet this season. Any other? Which seems weird. I haven't been in the right spot in the draft yet. Yep. You basically... I don't have any... I keep picking sixth or later,

which basically means I'm getting Shane Bieber. Shane Bieber, Scott, I don't know if you saw, but he allowed eight earner runs in spring training. I did see that, yeah. So you should probably never draft him again. Oh, here come. Mad Rosario at three airs, which doesn't help. One of the guys in my acronym.

Okay. All right, Adam. Let's see. Walker Bueller. 25 was too much for Gallon, and I know you guys don't love Bueller. We all like it more than Galin, I'm pretty sure. Actually, I haven't ranked behind Gallon in my rankings. I've got him four spots ahead of him in the overall. Let's see. Walker Bueller is up to... Bueller versus 29.

Yeah, I'm not going to pass. I'm going to pad. The acronym, throwing out the acronym. What is the acronym? Are you not ready to reveal it? Last year was Tappapap. which was two Aces plus Hater and Paxton and more closers. Tap Hap AMC. I wanted big time strikeout guys, but only two or three of them.

And then win saves, win ERA, win whip. This year it is, what was the hell is it? FAM. Fab AMC. FAB is spelled PHAB. It is Flair. No, FAB, sorry, Fab. This is a great

mnemonic device. F-F-M-A-M-C. F-A-M-C. F-A-M-C. That would be Flaherty and Bueller plus Hater and Morton and more closers. Already, already it's out the window.

Yeah, I was looking at it up because you texted it to me today, so I was going to help you out there, but you finally got it out, so. It's very confusing. Bad acronym to begin with. Juan Soto is on the board right now for $48.

Now 49. So we were talking about closers, Adam. You say, and more closers. It feels like this is not the year to end more closers, anything. I don't think it is. I think I'm going to try to get two of the top 10 or 12. So here's my, like, in all honesty, you got to be really committed to fantasy baseball.

And I just don't know that I'm going to be the one putting in fab bids on Wednesday night when somebody gets a save. So I don't think I'm going to be able to play the waiver wire that well. I'd like to have two solid closers with job security when I leave. this salary cap tonight. But it's just a really bad year for that. So I just don't think you can go with that strategy out of the gate. I think you can adjust to that strategy if you're good off waivers where you try to win saves

an ERA and WIP by going with a relief pitcher heavy strategy. But I don't think you should really draft that way. Let's catch people up a little bit here. Fernando Tatis went for $48. So $1 cheaper than Mookie Betz. That seems pretty nice for Tatease. Walker Bueller gets. up over 30 bucks, 32 for Walker Bueller, and then Juan Soto.

I was in on the Soto bidding, so I'm going to have to adjust my strategy once again, all the players that I wanted. Juan Soto goes for 53. Clayton Kershaw, as of now, is being bid on. He is up to $26. Reminder, Ronald Acuna went for 57, if you're just comparing Soto versus Akuna. And Clayton Kershaw goes for $26. Who would you guys rather have?

Kershaw at 26 or Walker Bueller at 32. No, Kershaw. I agree. have Kirchaw ranked ahead. So, yeah. And that seems pretty reasonable for Kershaw, which is incurred. I actually have Kershaw going for 28.

So maybe I should have been on him, A, and B, you know, other than the big three of Cole, Bieber, and DeGrom, I'm feeling more confident that these pitcher prices aren't going to be inflated the way they were in the head-to-head points version. How much did Bieber wind up going for? Bieber went for 50 as well. So.

Yeah. Story, this is the guy that I wanted. When I nominated Trey Turner, I did this with story in mind. So I wanted to see Turner went for 43. So don't bid me up, guys, but I would like to get Trevor's story. I have a $38 bid in right now. Well, I want him too, Adam. So I kind of called him.

I think kind of, I sort of called him here. Oh, Mr. Azer and Scott. Do we have ourselves a bit of a bidding war here? 42. I think you should have. I don't think you should because I'll tell you why. Yeah!

Let's go! What if he gets traded? He's not getting traded. Like, we dealt with that every year with Aaronado. He never got traded. Oh, he did get that. So Scott got a story for the same amount as Turner, which doesn't make me feel great.

But all right, whatever. I like him. It's not terrible. You've got to get your guys. You got to pay up, especially for those first round players. Adam had story originally. at 41. Scott did go to 42 and then Mr. Azer jumps back in with a $43 bid.

Now Brandon Woodruff is up for bidding. And I genuinely would have taken him for 42. That was not bidding up to tick off Adam or to deliver better content. I learned my lesson with Nando a few years ago. I never bid up.

The player. Jerko? I never price and force. Jedjerko, Scott? Yeah, that was the famous or the infamous Jed Jerko incident, yeah. Adam, you have spent $43 or more dollars on two players already.

You have Mookie Betts and Trey Turner. Are you going with a little stars and scrubsy here? I'm not going to have another $40 player. So I'm not going to go donkey teeth. But I think there's a lesson to be learned of what Scott said about how many players end up being pretty useless for your team. I had probably the best hitting last year in this format,

which is ironic because I thought I would do really well in ERA and WIP because I went with the relievers and I didn't at all. But my hitting was great. I had Freddie Freeman and Trey Turner and they basically carried me. So, yeah, I guess I'm going to be more like studs and duds and less balanced, but not all in. Boba Chet. Wow. I threw out because I don't really want Boba Chet, and he is kind of a hype guy. So I wanted to see how much he would go for. And he's all the way up at $34, which is three more.

dollars than Scott spent on Corey Seeger and it is the same price that Alberto Mondesie went for. So based on ADP, there are people who like Bobachette enough to use a borderline second round pick on him. It's not crazy. For those people who like Bobuchette,

we wouldn't do it. We have basically been all over that. We've said that he's overvalued all along. But Boba Shet goes for $34. But even then, a $34 player is more like a late first rounder, at least in my. valuations.

Carlos Carrasco is currently going for a dollar, so let's change that. He's not going for a dollar. Carrasco up to 17, and he threw, I believe it was an 18 pitch bullpen session, something like that. It was in the teens on Tuesday, and he will pitch again. I believe in the coming days, Carlos Carrasco, dealing with some elbow inflammation. We don't know if he'll be ready for. for the start of the season, but the last we heard, they asked him, and he said, yeah,

I'll be ready. No problem. Carasco now at $24, so no discount here. And Scott doesn't care. He needs his pitching. He's starting to get angsty. Right now, guys, I look at what this. He's starting to sweat a little bit, his breathing's getting heavier. My first grimace of the draft here was actually Brandon Woodruff a couple picks ago at 27. just couldn't bring myself to go 28 on him, even though I wanted a $25 guy in that range.

I could have had a gallon for that. Kershaw would have had to be 27. Woodruff would have had to be 28. I get Karrasco for 25. It's, there might be, I don't know, like a Flaherty or something for less than that, and then I'll regret it, but you know, you can't always hold out for the perfect value. I think 25 relative to the 28, it could have spent on Woodruff for the 27 on Kirt. Shaw. I'll take that because I really don't have any

issues with Carrasca's elbow. I think he's fine. Yeah, but right now, as I look at this and with all the experience that I do this every year, and I'm seeing almost every player is going for more than we expected. So at some point, there are going to be a lot of values and that's usually,

to me, that's when, you know, the Mike Mustakis or the Niccastianos of the world, those types of players, the... It's not going to be Nicastiano. All right, well, the guy who would go like a hundredth overall. Yeah, Musacus, maybe. But the thing about the way this year has gone is, one,

that Castellanos has never been a discount in any of the drafts that we've done. Yeah, we always like them. And everybody in the industry likes him. And I would be surprised if there were very many pitcher values until you get to, I would say probably outside the top 40. But it depends when they get nominated. Sure. So right now, I'm not nominating anybody I want right now.

There's too much money on the board. And I'm just, I'm going to nominate players that I don't want. And I'm going to hope that I'm lucky enough to get somebody that I want when you get into this run. I can't believe this guy went for this. That happens every time you do a salary cap draft. Yeah. But I agree with Chris that for pitchers specifically, it's, you know, you might, you might see that from a Kevin Gosman or a Frankie Montas, somebody just outside the top 40. But like a Carasco or a, I don't know, a Lance Lynn.

Like, they're going to go for the amount they're going to go for. And 25 for Carasco, I have them for 23. So it's not even really a real overpay. Francisco Lindor goes for $34, which seems like a great price when you compare him to Boba Chet, who went for the same price. And also Adelberto Mondesie, who went for $34. So really nice buy there on Lindor for RJ White. If you're watching at home, you saw Adam Azer doing a little fist pump action here.

He wound up with, this is weird. I mean, he's fist pumping because he got the Indian seventh inning reliever. James Karen check for $13. Talk about it, Adam. He's so, well, I was listening to the relief pitcher podcast today, and that was like two weeks ago, but Scott seemed pretty convinced that he was going to be the closer. He's an elite, this is the thing, he's an elite pitcher.

And so even if he doesn't end up getting the saves, he's going to be so valuable in this format, and I will have to find out, I will have to get saves on the waiver wire. Hopefully I can do that. But I think Karen check, if he is, closer. I think he's a $20 plus player. He's a 20-ish dollar player and I got him for 13. I was very happy about it. He might have

more strikeouts than like Kyle Hendricks. Is he really not going to close? Is that a thing? No, we don't know for sure. We don't know that for sure. They haven't announced. He's had a rough spring a lot of walks. So that's kind of made me a little more nervous than I was two weeks ago. But I have yet to see anything indicating he's not the front runner. Yeah, he walks guys. That's okay. Victor Robles went for $14, which seems like a bit of an overpay for a middling player,

someone who would go in that 150 ADP range. Mike Trout currently going for $46 to Chris Towers. Does anyone else going to jump in? Ooh, 47 for Garrett Atkins. Does Chris have another one in him? Does he? I don't know. Come on Chris.

Or do I. Moahaha. $50 for Mike Trout right now. The former Rocky's third baseman, Garrett Atkins, just got a $48 bid placed on him. There is that somebody named Garrett Atkins. Every time I see him,

I think that. Every time I see him in our drafts are on Twitter. Frankie. I'm on the board with my trout. So I actually wrote down, I wanted one of Trout or Juan Soto because I don't have a single share

of either of those players and it seems like they were a little bit undervalued this year. Mike Trout, Mike Trout more than the other two being undervalued. but 50 bucks. I didn't really get much of a discount on him.

I think he was the fourth hitter to go for 50 plus there. Again, that is Mike Trout. So I had a bit of strategy. He was the last of that pier. Yeah. So you expect a little bit of inflation there also. Yeah, that was played very poorly by me. Freddie Freeman is currently up to 37.

Now this is, now this just makes me. Oh, no, I got to get it. This just makes me feel terrible because I just spent $50 on Mike Trout. And Freddie Freeman goes for $37. Oh, come on. While everyone's snoozing over here. Oh, gosh, that's a great buy. RJ's going to...

This shows that nobody really wants to get left out of stolen bases. Let's see. We may all agree that, okay, Freddie Freeman's supposed to be a first rounder. But when we have to put our money where our mouth is, we'd rather pay up for guys that are going to deliver stolen bases. That's how you get Victor Robles going for 14 and Freeman going for 37.

Well, I have story and bets. if I didn't have one of them, I absolutely would have been heavier on... I just figured I was sitting out Freeman because I said I'm not getting another $40 player. I can't believe he didn't cope for... Yeah, 40. RJ got two values there

in Francisco Lindor for 34 and Freddie Freeman with 37. And sometimes I almost feel like that's the better way to go into a salary cap draft. Just bargain hunt, see who's going for cheaper than they should. And, I mean, your team might turn out awesome.

Oscar Mercado for a buck. It's a Chris. dollar bid there, Chris. Sneaky. Oh, wait, hold on a second. I don't even like Trevor Bauer. Yeah, I tried to put in a bid there and it flows me out. So we're going to have to redo that.

Yeah, Oscar Mercado is a player. I really like. I think he's going to play pretty much every day for Cleveland. I know they're trying out Amman Rosario in the outfield or, well, Eddie Rosario and Amman Rosario. But my guess is Oscar Ricardo plays pretty much every day. And this was a guy who was a top 150 pick this time last year. I still think he can be a 15-15 guy.

So, you know, one thing I do like to do if I can early on in the draft is get a couple of those dollar guys early, who I like just to kind of have that certainty baked in. So, you know, it's, I understand nobody else likes Oscar Mercado. Would you've gone three if someone had gone to? No, no. I thought about putting him out for two, but I figured the way, like, I can draft him with my last pick every. single time. So I figured nobody was going to go to, especially not this early. You know what?

I thought with Ahmed Rosario, them trying him out in center. Like yesterday, I thought, okay, this is bad news for Oscar Mercado. But then Ahmed Rosario makes three errors today. Yeah, I don't know if that's going to work out for them. Trevor Bauer goes for $35. Who was the last starting pitcher that went before him? Carlos Carrasco went for 25, Wood just went for 27.

What's interesting about that Bauer for 35? RJ, R.J. White jumped the bid from 30 to 35. But, you know, I might have gone 31, 32 on Bauer, but 35 was just too far. Why you got to do that, Scott?

You know, I was about to get myself a little Anthony Rendon for 20. You know what? No, I'm not going to bully me out. Scott, I know that. I know you, love Rendon and Bregman? Is that more a points league thing? Or is that

all across the board? That's all across the board. I mean, they're even better in points, but they're even cheaper in points because of all the pitchers pushing them down. But they're not cheaper by hitters, are they?

I would think... No, no, they're probably not cheaper among hitters. But I don't think they really get pushed up the way they probably should. I think Bregman... There's just the concerns about his hamstring. And he just played in a game, I think, today for the first time,

due to a hamstring injury that he had in January. So, you know, with the way those, those can linger, I think it's, he's been discounted in a way that I think makes sense for the most part. So Anthony Rendon, you wound up with Anthony Rendon for $27, Scott, which seems like a pretty good value. Oh, a little host battle here? Is that what we're doing? Adam. Not anymore. I'm out. I'm out. Adam and I were bidding on Carlos Correa, who is now up to $13, which I have him at $16.

Scott has him at 14. Chris has him at 11. So this is probably around the range that Carlis Correa should go for. I've never been a Correa guy. I think I bashed you last year, Adam. I've been off him forever. But this is actually the lowest he's going in ADP and the cheapest he's going in salary cap drafts. He's entering a contract year, 26 years old. I can get behind Carlos Correa having a potential massive season here at his lowest cost ever. So I actually like I like getting Correa at that price. Stalling Marte is currently being bid on and he is up to $17. Scott, would you, did you talk about your Anthony Rendon for $27? I didn't. I had hoped to get a first round caliber base dealer. So obviously not just a pure base dealer, but an across-the-board guy.

I'd hope to get one of those, whether it was Jose Ramirez or Trevor Story, I'd hope to get one for around $40. There is still one out there, Christian Yelich, but at this point I'm not confident at all. I can get them for $40. So I'm disseminating those $40 to some of like the next rung down the ladder, which includes guys like Anthony Rendon. And, you know, I'll probably be able to split those $40 into two high-end,

if not super elite type hitters. Speaking of Christian Yelich, let's throw them out here at $30. Get some more money off the board. Starling Marte goes for $24, someone that can help you in that Steel Department, a potential 2020 bat there. I have him for $23. What happened with Yelich last year? So a big reason that he blamed was not having the in-game video,

Adam, which many hitters blamed. J.D. Martinez, Javier Baez. those hitters will have in-game video this year. And he was coming back from an injury where he fractured his kneecap. I mean, it's not really an easy injury to come back from. He did that late in the season back in 2019. So I think you couple those things together and you kind of give Christian Yelich the benefit of the doubt. He made harder contact than ever before.

It was just the strikeouts were up like we've never seen before. Come on, Adam. And I think, did I just- Chris hates somebody jumping in at the last second. That is like rating to him. You didn't need to make a decision. Just bid. You know who Christian Yellich is.

I was listening to Frank. He convinced me. He was the 10 seconds that it took for me to make that. That was all right. That's my third $40 plus player. So I totally lied. So you lied to us. I got excited.

I got excited. I was like, I kind of want to try this. I think Yelich, if he can bounce back, he's arguably the most valuable player. If he can get back to his previous form, he could be the number one player in this format.

He's incredible. Yeah, I agree. You should have me have him. Why didn't you go 44 there? Because I was frustrated out of spite. I'm going to have terror. The rest of my team is going to be terrible. Geez, I have three players, 43 for story, 43 for Yelich, 49 for bets.

Aye, aye. Yeah, but you have three of my top 10 players or top. I have to spend at least 30 bucks on Gary Sanchez. So I mean, if you're not the sort of person, if you're not the sort of person that's going to play the waiver wire at him, as you were suggesting earlier, then studs and duds like that, Stars and Scrubs, whatever you want to call it, probably not the way to go. Oh, not the way to go?

No, not the way to go. I agree. Because you're relying. Yeah, Stars and Scrubs through those studs. Stars and Scrubs work. I will play the waiver wire, two, degree. I'm not going to be as good as I'm not going to be as active. But you, you know, what you said about how less than half of the players that you got last year and you're in the

salary cap auction, sorry, the salary cap bidding. Yeah, so I'm thinking if I just have, we're dropable, basically. We're dropable over the course of two months. If I have four or five great players that anchor my lineup, then I don't have to be that good on the waiver wire. We're currently bidding on Kentomaita. Should I bid? Scott, should I bid Scott up? He's at $24. You don't know if I bid again, Frank. You probably would. So I'm going to let you have him anyway at $24. I don't want to get. I wasn't going to. You would have, you would have gotten made it for $25.

It's not a terrible price for him. Corbyn Burns was the player before that went for 22. And I let out a sigh when that happened because I don't have. So basically what I'm doing for the salary cap draft is trying to get a bunch of guys that I don't have any shares of yet. And Corbyn Burns is a fun player. And I don't have him anywhere. and I was looking to get him for that $18 to $20 range, but Burns went for 22, so a little bit over what I was willing to pay for him. And then Scott sneaks in there with Kenta Mida for 24.

I believe you now have two pitchers, right? Scott, you have Kenta Mida at 24 and Carlos Carrasco at 25? That is correct. And U. Darvish is currently being bid on. He is up to $28. 29. I mean, Chris, you're not allowed to have U.Darvish

because he's a good pitcher. I have had several good pitchers. pictures on my teams. Can I just say, if there's one thing I want to accomplish now, I have to do that to Chris at least one more time. Bid him at the last time. That was incredible. I kind of whiffed on the button, Chris, so it took like an extra second for me to get.

Oh, okay. U. Darvish goes off the board for $33. Trevor Bauer went for 35. So I think those two pitchers are in a tier, a similar tier. So getting Darvish for a few bucks cheaper than. you Darvish is I think a pretty pretty good buy there at 33 Aaron Hicks

This is ridiculous See there's no way there's no way Hicks would go for $4 like he is right now If he got nominated during the end game Exactly right That's just that's just one of those You throw anybody out who's You know worth starting

And they're going to get bid up for some strange reason This is another one And I like Hicks I say that as somebody who likes Hicks I just know there are going to be comparable players for cheaper later during the end game. And Jared Kelnick, prospect for the Seattle Mariners, gets thrown out for $1. And very similar to Aaron Hicks is already up to $4, $5. I do know that Tim McLeod is a prospect guy. So he's probably looking to land him there.

Up to $6 for Kelnick. So a very similar situation. And this is, I think, a good lesson for people who are, if you're trying to sneak players by, some players that are have a little bit of hype to them in spring training, even Aaron Hicks. He's been getting hyped up a little bit on podcast. We've talked to a little bit about him here and there.

If you throw him out in the middle of his salary cap draft when there's still money on the table, he's going to go for more than he should. Jared Kellnick winds up going for $7. If that happens later on, he's a $1, maybe a $2 player. So that's what's happening right now as we are still in the early part of this salary cap draft.

And Bryce Harper, my man. is currently thrown out, and he is up to $29. He goes for $35. That's my prediction. 35. Will it be to me? I don't know. What do you think, Scott?

Should I bid on him? Get in there. Lindor went for 34. I do like Bryce Harper. He's not part of the plan that I have written down here. He's already up to 35. Will he exceed Scott's prediction? Going once.

Going twice. Look at this guy. Oh, I was about to say. The crystal ball. Scott White. By the way, with Harper now at 37, like I have him for 31. So even still, these high-end guys are going for,

in this case, $6 more, $5 to $10 more. And what I have them for? Cody Bellinger. When it happened, I said it, I thought he was going to be a great discount at $30. And I like Harper more than Bellinger.

Do I like Harper $7 more than Bellinger? No. But you can't predict that at the time. And that's why it's so much is timing based in a draft like this. So Bellinger gets thrown out early. People who really don't know about the health. You get them at a bit of a discount there. And Chris, there was that Byron Bucston for five bucks.

Hmm. What was the thinking there, Chris? Because I know you really, really want Byron Buston. I was hoping I could just get at 5. No, that nobody likes him like I did. That was never going to happen. You've been seeing what happened with Hickson Kellnick? Right, but, you know,

there's only one other guy bidding so far. Okay. Is he worth five bucks? No, he's definitely not worth nine. I have him for 15. I'm just kidding, Chris. So according to Chris. But I think Buckson is one of the most undervalued players right now.

I have him for. I have him exactly for $9. So that is, that is a fair price. Scott is lower on. Buckson, obviously Chris is the highest, and I'm somewhere in between. So, Max Scherzer, an interesting one because he has looked lights out in the spring, and I think that that is going to cause his ADP to rise a little bit, and I am predicting that he will go for close to $35

here. I think he will, I think he will go for a similar amount as Trevor Bauer. We'll see where that stops at. He's currently up to 31. Chris has Max Scherzer as his SP4 overall. That's really where the rankings begin at starting pitcher this year. There's a There's a very clear top three. And then you ask Chris, he says Max Scherzer is his SP4. Scott has Bauer and I have Aaron Nola as my SP4. So I was close. Max Scherzer goes for $33.

How do you feel about that price, Chris? It's more than I have him for, but I'm thrilled with it given the prices and given how much I like Max Scherzer. Yeah, he made it through last season without any back or neck issues, which is the thing we're concerned about. Obviously, he's 36. So we're also concerned about that. but the velocity was fine, the swing and strike rates were fine, most of the underlying numbers,

except really for the walk rate was fine. And given the small sample size and given the fact that Scherzer's never had issues with walks, you know, since he broke out, I don't really have any concerns about that. I think he's, you know, like you said, he's my number four SP. I think he's going to be awesome. I think, you know, Scherzer is a pillar of my starting pitcher strategy. this year. The thing that scares me most about Scherzer, obviously the age, he's 36, has dealt with some injuries. It doesn't scare Chris as much, but obviously the older you are, he has

had some recurring things. I think it makes it more likely for those things to come back and rear their ugly head for Max Scherzer. And the past couple of years, he has allowed harder contact. The Babbab has been up, the batting average against. He's allowing more hits. Again, that is Max Scherzer. So I think that there's a chance that he can completely bottom out this year. And I also realize it can make me look completely foolish and finish to the top five starting pitchers. He could absolutely bottom out. He's 36 years old. He's much, much closer to his last major league pitch than his first. Jake, can we talk about this guy here? Because I have really no idea what to make of him when I beat $2 on him because, oh, damn it. I just

been three. I did not mean to do that. Jake Cronin was a $5 player. You know what I like about Jake Croninworth? He is eligible at first, second, and short. So is he good? I just got him for $3. So I think he's a good player to have. Okay. I have Jake Cronoward worth as a $1 player. I mean, he was,

he way underperformed his expected stats last year. And yet I don't totally buy that there's hidden power in there. But he could hit for average. He could steal some bases. Like he could just be kind of a handy, multi-eligible, kind of not hurt you in anything,

kind of player. You know, probably going to pick up outfield eligibility. too, I would guess. Oh, nice. He's been so far at least. It's been mostly jerks and pro far filling in for Trent Grisham with

Cronomworth mostly playing the infield. But I think it's possible. He does get outfield eligibility. One thing that's been really interesting that I noticed, at least over the last two weeks, Haseung Kim has not played a position except for shortstop. Obviously, that is a position on the Padres that doesn't allow for much playing time.

So, you know, he was someone who we thought like Lindor, like or like, pro far and like Coronaworth could be a super utility guy. And they've talked about him that way. But they haven't been using him that way. Speaking of him, too, on him, by the way. I unfortunately bid at the same time as someone I got up for free. I just want to say that. Speaking of Trent Grisham, he is dealing with that hamstring injury.

So I threw him out right now to see what his, price would go for and he is already up to $10 and now he's up to 11. Let's see what I haven't priced out as because I could be in... I would guess you haven't as close to a $20 player, right? I'm sure I do. I haven't at $21. How much are you worried about the, uh, this, this injury here for Trent Grisham? Should he go for less than this?

Oh, he's up to $15. Scott in an intense bidding war $16 for Trent Grisham I am not going to I'm just going to go ahead and say it you're a coward No no I'm not Yeah I'll take you like him

He's not part of the plan dude I have a plan But you won't bid on him Dude you're a cowl It's part of the plan The definition of a coward Chris he's part of the plan dude It sounds like he's going to be ready for opening day Even with that hamstring injury

You know presumably it'll be a short absence If he isn't And like the way steals are being pushed up in this I'll take Grisham for 16. That's $2 less than I had marked him down for. I did grimace earlier at at TJ LeMayhew went for $27 a few picks ago, which was the same amount I bought,

I bought Anthony Rendon for. It was hard not to go up 28 for LaMayhew knowing I spent the 27 on Rendon because, you know, I'd rather have LaMayhew than Rendon. And I have that extra money to spend since I didn't get that $40 play. That's one that's going to gnaw at me until I fill that money some other way, because that may have been the best way to fill it. Who knows? Not excited about that one.

It just went down. Aronola goes for $33, who I do have as my SP4, as I mentioned. And I was looking to get in. I was in on the bidding there. 33. It's a little bit more than I would like to spend on him. I'm probably going to just wind up with no players because I only have Mike Trout on my team.

I wanted Bauer or Darvish or Nola or Scherzer or Gialito who's still out there. I'd hope to get one for about 30. And, you know, I'd actually hope to get two for about 30. Clearly, that's not going to happen. And so I still, like Maida is looking like my ace right now. Not super comfortable with that.

I think Maida felt to me like one of the most overrated. I just looked at ADP, the most overrated player. He was never as good as he was last year, which was two months against some of the easiest competition in the world. I couldn't believe his ADP. He also, he made some tangible changes last year, Adam, changed his pitch mix, he threw his fastball 12% less than ever before.

He used a slider and his change-up more. It was a really good off-speed pitches for. him. So I get what you're saying. You know, people have made the same argument against Zach Plysac and Shane Bieber that they, you know, obviously faced the American League Central. And there were lots of good matches there. They also faced the National League Central. So I think those are reasonable arguments against, but I kind of just think Kenton Maid is awesome. We also...

There's nothing... I'm sorry, Chris, go ahead. We also don't know, like, whether he'll be 160- inning pitcher or 180- inning pitcher. And we've never seen him... I don't think he's thrown more than 135 innings in a major league season. So, you know, that's, I have questions just, you know, I don't think he'll be as good as last season, but that's, I think that sort of goes without saying. And I don't think there's anybody who really disagrees. But I also have questions about, you know, what Kenta Maeda looks like 140 innings into a season,

just because we haven't seen it. He could be awesome. Stars and scrubs. Well, I got Hater and Corinchak now, so kind of, you know, looking for the elite pitchers here. For about the same amount, too, right? Hater, you took for 17 just now. Karen check. Karen check or Corinchek?

Karen check for 13. So you spent a combined $30 on setup relievers, Adam. No, Josh Hater is going to be the closer as long as he is with the Milwaukee Brewers. of course, Devin Williams is there, and he is awesome. Yeah, Josh Hater ultimately goes for $17. And another one, Nick Senzel, where if you, I think later on in the salary cap draft, he's going to go for, he's going to go for pretty cheap. And now he goes for $8.

I like Senzel. That makes me feel so much better about Pyram Buxton for nine. Yeah, I agree with you there. Although maybe I should say something mean to you since you called me a coward. I mean, you know, you got to go for the guys for your guys. You know who's going to love his team, by the way, at the end of this? Frank. Frank has so much money left.

And he's going to get everyone he likes. He's going to get sleeper, every breakout he likes. He's going to get a top 10 player at almost every position. You're going to be in great shape. I don't think so, Adam. I think I actually played this very poorly. This is the downside of coming into this with a plan, right? So a lot of the players that I have written down that I want have not gone yet.

but that means people know that they're the best players available and usually those players get pushed up a little bit in price. When they're the last player in a tier, they're going to go for a little bit more than they probably should. So I don't know that I necessarily... What just happened? Scott just like, that was a great facial expression.

That was terrific. Yeah. Yeah, Tyler Glass now went for 20, which is only $1 than I'd mark him down for. And like the thing is, I just don't want Tyler Glass. now, but I want more good starting pitchers and like... How many left, Scott? Yeah, exactly, exactly.

So I'm really anxious about not going 21 on glass now, even though I don't really want him. Chris? I worry about the durability. Chris, you almost got caught there, dude. I know you don't like Aronado. Someone jumped bit him and then you wound up with the... Yeah, because he was going...

I was going to bid at seven. I have him as a $15 player. Even as my utility, I'd be thrilled. I was about to... And then someone jumped bid to 15, and I got stuck with the $16 bid. That's why you gotta pay attention. Don't worry.

You've got to pay attention during... Like, sometimes people just jump bid and then you could get... You could get stuck with a player that you don't want. And Nolan Aronado goes for $19. Who's making all those groaning sounds? I can't tell. That's me.

It's me. I don't... Is that a good price? Is that... Well, again, Anthony Rendon for 27, and I felt good about that. Nolan Aronado for 19? Now we're seeing some values here.

Exactly. Hopefully there are still some players that you love. And what I would do is I would nominate some of the best players available right now and get, not everybody's going to be a bargain, but get, you know, Lucas Gialito or whatever off the board. That's someone you don't want the best player left because people are starting to get a little thrifty here. Also, Frank, I don't know. You might want to explain the jump bid thing to people who haven't done this

or don't know what we're talking about. Yeah, so basically when there's a player that is going for much cheaper than he should, for example, Nolan Aronado, we were just talking about people were slowly bidding on him $5, $6, and then someone entered in, and you can do this on CBS in their draft room, you can enter in your bid. So they went from a $6 bid to a $15 bid. So that's called a jump bid when you jump multiple dollars at once. And Chris was just bidding because he thought it was going to be a $6 bid, but that's why he accidentally bid 16

because someone jump bid there on Nolan Aronado. So just pay attention when someone is doing something like that. Steven Strassberg for 22 bucks. Adam, you know he's out for the year, right? Not yet. Not just on the jump bid thing, there's a button that is offer $1 more than the current bit. So that is the default.

You hit the button, it's $1 more. So just, I don't know if you said that. But if people who have not done this, it's a little bit intimidating. It's weird, but it's pretty easy to pick up on it. It doesn't take long.

I remember my first one was this league, and I had no idea what I was doing. I ended up with, I think, Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez, and I was like, yeah,

and my team was terrible. So, come on. So far, I'm keeping track of all the players and comparing them to my values. There has only been one pitcher, actually two pitchers

who have not, who have gone for less than $1 more than the value I have them for. So basically, like, I have him for $25. He went for 26. Okay. Can I guess? Sure. Kershaw? Yep. In glass now? No. No. It's Kelly Jansen, actually. Oh, that's not fair. Who I don't have a ton of interest in myself. So I wound up spending $35 on G. Leto, and this is what I was talking about, Adam, where he's the last player in a tier. Yes, I still have money left, but I knew he was going to go for more money than he should have. And that's why I wind up overpaying there. And I would say that I have

overpaid for both of the players I have at this point. I got Trout for $50 and I have Lucas G. Let's Bidding on Aranola at 33. So I don't feel great about that. Kershaw, in hindsight, looks like he was a really good value for the, what was it, $26 he went for? Yeah, $26. Yeah, I like that. Let me give you some key advice here, okay? Go ahead. Never host and draft. A league that you're playing out.

It's a really bad idea. It's a mess. It's a salary cap league. That is brutal, man. So luckily, we're not paying it, which is not a pay league. But don't, yeah, don't host and draft. Very, very difficult.

Yep. It's fair advice. Definitely fair advice. Marcel Azuna goes for $25. So let's compare him to another player that goes in that, third, fourth round range. Well, Lance Lynn was 25. Lance Lynn was 25.

Usually a fourth round player. So yeah, that probably makes sense for Osuna to go for around that price. Yeah, he was, he's the first, Ozone is the first player that I've gotten who was more than my auction or salary value, but it was only $2 more. So I think that's okay. Actually, Scherzer was also more,

but he's a pay. So it doesn't, that's what happens. There we go. We're on the board. Again, I get Tommy fan for 10 bucks. So you got Gialito for 35, just a couple of picks ago, Frank. Yep. That was another one that I had hoped to get for around 30.

Since all the others were gone, I was in at 34. But 36 was just, I wasn't willing to go there. Chris got Marcelo Zuna for 25 right after that, which is about, about chalk, I would say, right? Yeah. Yeah, I have them for 23. I'm sure you guys haven't for right around the same range. Yeah. 40-year-old Nelson Cruz, who just continues to get it done,

is currently going for $12, which, as usual, seems like a very fair value for Nelson Cruz. Yeah, I've been on Tommy Fam at $10. I've mentioned I do like him quite a bit when he's healthy. If he's healthy, of course. Hopefully he can stay on the field. He's dealt with so many different ailments the past couple of years. But I have him priced at $11 in my auction values, and I wind up getting him for $10.

and I do like him quite a bit more than Buxson, who Chris paid $9 for, so I like that as well. Who do we want to throw out here? Who do you guys want? Who do you want, Adam? Oh, I just saw someone that Adam once. Here we go.

Oh, no, don't do it. Here's the big boy. Aaron Judge. I think, I mean, I'm pretty much out on this range. I've got $70 left, and I have one, two, three, I have seven players. Maybe you should just host Adam. Maybe, yeah.

Yeah, like Frank. I don't think I have $20 players left on my roster except for some starting pitchers. I'm going to have to really go easy on the hitting because I have Story Yelich and bets. That seems like a great buy too. I don't even like Judge, but he goes for $18.

Yeah, I mark him at 21, so it's not as great as my stomach was telling me, but still pretty good, 18 for Aaron Judge. it's yeah. This is, this is tough. This stretch,

a lot of, a lot of anxiety over here right now, if you can't tell. Yeah, how is that stomach feeling? It's always how Scott does in salary cap drafts.

It's always the first, like, hour and a half, he's just miserable. You can't hold on to his mouse because his hands are so sweaty. And then, by the end,

he's like, I like my team. A. E. E. E. E. E. E. Hennio, Suarez, is currently going for, $15, $16 now to Scott. Scott is buying in a little bit more.

I think Chris, you have had some influence there. And he is up to... He's about to be a shortstop. He's about to be a shortstop. He did... He played shortstop on Tuesday, right? In spring training? He did.

Oh, well, that game has not happened yet. It is a night game, and we are recording this earlier than usual. So once that starts, I will let everyone know. Okay, so... Aohanios Suarez, I get him for 18. That gives me a little bit of a reprieve for Nolan Air or not. Oh, it could have had him at 20, you know. And like, having read more about the situation,

it sounds like they actually want Suarez as their shortstop, at least on a semi-regular basis, you know. So I really think he's going to pick up eligibility there. And that might come in handy later on. I already have a third basement. I already have a shortstop, too. Seeger and Rendon, but, you know, there's another corner infield spot to fill. And if it comes to it, there's another middle infield spot to fill. Dylan Bundy is currently being bid on. He is up to

$12. And this is exactly that range that we were talking about earlier, that 180p range. Bundy right now is his ADP on Fantasy Pros is 110. So he goes, not yet, Scott is still bidding on me. This is not a discount. He was in Scott's bus column. That's why I nominated him. And now Scott's going to get him. What's this all about? Scott's going to bid on every starting pitcher.

Oh, man. $15 for Dylan Bundy. How are you feeling, Scott? Okay. I don't like that you guys are laughing at me. That makes me feel a little worse. We're laughing with you. Come on, Scott.

Yeah, I'm trying to figure out how to allocate those $30. that I now won't be spending on a starting pitcher, and it seems like I should break it into more starting pitchers. Adam, how much do you... I think when bus 3.0 comes out, I'm going to take Bundy out of it. He's been dropping an ADP, and we spoke about that. I mean, I didn't like Dylan Bundy as much when he was going inside the top 100 picks. There were drafts where I saw him going at pick 90.

I don't love that, but now he's dropping down to like 110, 120 in some drafts that I'm seeing. $15 is probably a little bit more than I want to spend on him, but I mean, he's your cutoff, Scott. He's five of the top 35, and currently you have three of those pitchers, right? Yes, I have Maida, Carasco, and Bundy. And a roll as Chapman goes for $13. Adam got Josh Hater at...

For 13 and Hater for 17. Okay, so Chapman goes for the same price as James Carrencheck. What are we doing here? Come on, RJ. I mean, RJ White throws out Chris Paddock for 14. He's trying to sneak one on by there. Come on, man. What are we doing?

Oh, my gosh. He Paddock's up to 20 now. I rank Bundy ahead, so. Well, I might be the only one who does, but nonetheless. I would say you'd probably got to fix the ranking, Scott, but no. I am notoriously higher on Chris Paddock than everyone else. I had them written down here. I probably should just bid there anyway.

What I haven't written down for? 15 to 18. I could have went up to, to, 20. He was for 21. So if people are buying in on paddock, you know, the paddock that we saw as a rookie, mid-3 Z-R-A, almost strikeout branding, a really good whip, and he's probably going to be worth that. But as of now, that is, that is more than where he's actually been drafted in, in recent drafts. Zach Wheeler thrown out at $8. Adam, how you doing, man? How's, how's fantasy football going? I sent you a text message, Frank. Did you get it? I don't, yeah. I'm not as,

I'm not as nonchalant as you when hosting. I don't really, I don't really check. And I sent you a Slack message too. I'd be really trying to. You can't message Frank while the podcast is going on. This is all the attention, man. There's nothing else.

I'm all right. I'm, you know, I'm nervous about, I was nervous about this draft. Then I was like, that's just fantasy sports. Who cares?

You know, let's just have fun. But this is not, this is going to be, it's going to be a tough, it's going to be a tough league for me. Like, Zach Wheeler went for 18.

I don't know really anything about Zach Wheeler. You know, I mean, he's been so up and down. He's been so inconsistent. How can you trust Zach Wheeler? He's kind of viewed ironically as like a boring innings eater type now. He's gone, what, 190 plus innings, 2018, 2019. And he was among the league leaders last season. But he was a very different pitcher last season than we've ever.

seen before from him. He was a ground ball low strikeout guy last year. Whoa, Jose Ibrahim, you. That's an MVP candidate if I've ever seen one. Yeah, I don't like ground ball low strikeouts, guys. Those are not my favorite players.

I think the strikeouts are going to bounce back for... Right. For, um... For Wheeler. For Zach Wheeler, his swinging strike rate was actually higher last year than it has ever been before. Meanwhile, his K-per-9 was under seven or

something. So that just seems a little wonky. So it seems like he pitched a little bit more to contact, but I think he could get back up to like the 8K per 9 kind of range. Jose Abraeu goes for $21, and I'm sure I have him for more than that. There was zero chance I was

taking Joseabreou. I have a brue at $24, but I have a plan for first base. I think I probably got to get away from this plan. I don't know what's going on. I have no players. The first baseman I want is definitely the first baseman that everybody all of you want as well.

So there's just no way I'm getting him. Is that true? Josh Bell? No. Whoa, whoa, whoa, no name dropping. Come on. No, I'll say, I mean, it's Matt Olson. I know you guys love Matt Olson. How do you feel... I'm the only one who loves Matt Olson. Yeah, I don't want Matt Olson.

Oh, really? I like Matt Olson. A Matt Olson, Nick Madrigal combo. Does that that make sense to pair of the two? You might get 37 home runs from. them. Yeah, but you'd get, you get the batting average

and the power combined, you know, or Pete Alonso. They kind of cancel out each other's weaknesses, is what you're saying. Yes, exactly. I would prefer if it was Pete Alonzo and Nick Madrigal. You'll pay more for that,

probably, but yeah, that's, I kind of think Olson and Alonzo are basically the same. And if, if they had their, if they had their chalk season, to use that word again, it would look about the same.

I don't think Chris agrees with me on that, but that's how I size up those two. This is killing me. How much? I mean, we've never seen Pete Alonzo play as poorly as we've seen Matt Olson play last season, and we've never seen Matt Olson play as well

as Pete Alonzo did in 2019. So I just... That's true, but we thought Alonzo overachieved then, and we thought Olson underachieved last year. And, you know... Right, but I also... also thing also not overachieved in 2019. Jack Flaherty just went for $31.

So Adam, I think you already have to develop a new acronym because you didn't get any of the players that you need. Yeah. Well, I got, I got Hater. And there's still Charlie Morton. And maybe I'll throw James Baxter back in. I don't know. But now, 31 for Flaherty.

I was hoping he'd be like 25. I was foolish. But I really wanted him. He had one terrible start that inflated his ERA, other than that one bad start. He had like a 3-14 ERA. He's going to have a lot of strikeouts. I still think he could be an ace,

like a real ace. I like Flourty too. I didn't like him as much heading into last year because I thought that second half that he had in 2019 was just so unsustainable. But the underlying numbers last year

were actually better than they were in his breakout 2019 season. So I know it was seven or eight starts that he made. So it wasn't much and it was just a weird season overall for all the Cardinals. They had so many COVID concerns.

So you kind of give Jack Flare the benefit of the doubt. He's ranked inside my top 10 starting pitchers.