Fantasy Baseball Today - Mailbag! (03/07 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 7, 2020

Recorded before the Aaron Judge news, we answer your questions via Apple Podcast and email at [e-mail] Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @CBSFantasyBB, @AdamAizer, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite Join our March Madness Bracket Challenge at http://2020podcast.mayhem.cbssports.com/e/d7feed30238637cc2387331ab3061dc1fb5219555f0e9a8b?ttag=BPM20_cpy_invite_new 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/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. What a fantasy question? Email fantasy baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. We're fantasy. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. We are invading your weekend. Happy Saturday, everybody.

Welcome back to Fantasy Baseball today. We've got a mailbag for you consisting of questions that you left on Apple Podcasts and emails at Fantasy Baseball. at CBSI.com. Adam Azar, Scott White, Chris Towers, blah, blah, blah, you know who we are. Let's get to it. I'm imposing a two-minute time limit on every question.

You have no more than two minutes to answer. And the reason is, these people have been kind enough to leave us reviews or send us emails. Let's get to as many as we can. This starts, this one's from DeKav. Let's start with him. DeKav.

Question for the mailbag. Who is this year's Catelle Marte? Whose underlying stats look similar to his, to Marte's in 2018. who's poised for a 300 average 30 homers, 200 plus runs in RBI season, out of nowhere. Is it out of no...

Is J.D. Davis out of nowhere? No, I think it's similar, right? Like, finish strong, big second half, numbers were good. Though he would be my pick. Is Nick Castellanos out of nowhere? Also very good. Big second half. That production would be out of nowhere. Yes, he's not out of nowhere, but yeah. Yeah, I think that's...

100% within the realm of possibility for him. Okay. Garrett Hampson had a big finish. Here, we're going to talk about a few more of these potential guys. From DJS 5566. Big fan of the show. What order would you draft these outfielders? Avi Sayo Garcia, Mark Kana,

Nomar Mazar. I'm glad we got a Mark Kana and J.D. Davis reference in the first five minutes of the podcast. Now we can just not mention them again. You know who I'm going with first in those rankings? Nomar Mazzara. I'm even going to go with Canada. I think we probably have the same order.

Maybe Adams is different. Two of these guys are on my sleepers list. And those are Kana, followed by Obissel Garcia, who after Nick Castellianos might be the biggest part beneficiary of the offseason. And then third is Nomar Mazarra, who doesn't, it's not like he doesn't have sleeper appeal, but it's not, it's a more difficult case, I think. In his case, you're just betting on pedigree,

not on, like, anything in the underlying stats, really. Change of scenery, yeah. But it's not like Norma Zarsar has been a bad hitter. Like, I don't, Mark Ken is the obvious number one. Garcia, I don't know. I mean, Garcia's been a lot better the last two seasons. For like, for, like, stretches. He's not that good.

Garcia was pretty usable last year. Not for most of the season, I feel like. I think he was... You know what, I'll find it. Okay, next email. Come back to that. Two of the last three, sorry. From FFG, UIU, of course.

I play in a six-by-six head-to-head Roto League. I guess that's head-ed categories, with holds as a category. How early should the elite non-closer relievers go? We start 10 hitters and 10 pitchers, daily lineups and its holds is a six by six category. I don't think, I think you probably push closers and relievers down in general.

You push closers down. And I think I can't see any world in which I would take a non-closer within the top 100 still. Who is the best non-closer? I feel like there should be an obvious answer. It used to be Nick Anderson. That's why it's not obvious anymore, I guess, because now we're thinking of him as a closer, even though it's not.

I think it's Diego Castillo. Diego, I don't know, because you're hopeful he gets saved. See, that creeps into the, but I mean, just in terms of skills, like I'd put, I don't know, I'd put like a Seth Lugo up there. But Lugo, like Lugo hasn't been this good. Lugo last year, if he repeats it, yeah. Oh, very few relievers have any kind of track record and the ones that do are usually closers by now. Read the things they're saying about Diego Castillo.

He was concerned about his family last year in Venezuela, and he just had a rough year from that standpoint. He came back. He was a little bit out of shape. But I've been just reading some quotes. They are super excited about him. I wouldn't be surprised if he got the closer's job back. He's a lefty who throws like almost 100 miles per hour,

and he was a freaking stud in 2018. So he's toward the top of my list. But I like Lugo, too. I mean, there's a lot of guys. This would be a situation where I lean into the volatility of relief pitcher, because there's going to be so many options who we don't even see right now that are coming through. And when you're combining saves and holds like,

that, it just increases the supply so much. I wouldn't really spend on reliever. Yeah, good call. Let's see, next question. By the way, I couldn't find anything on Obizzo Garcia. He had an 885 OPS in 2017 and like a 790

last year. So useful two of the last three years. Yeah, 790's not really going to do it for me, especially since I'm predicting it'll be better in Miller Park. Hopefully, but he's a ground ball hitter. You're a ground ball hitter. I understand, but he hits the ball hard enough and has gotten to where he hits it in the air enough

that I think he could hit between 25 and 30 homers. How many did he have last year? No more Mazarra could definitely hit 25 to 30 homers. Yeah, he just doesn't do anything else. Right, obviously Dale Garcia is a good source, a batting average too. Not a great source of batting average, but a good one. O.C. Dogg is a draft strategy question. 10-team 5-5 categories league

What's the ideal starting pitcher and relief pitcher ratio compared to hitters and how early do you go after those pitchers in this shallow of a league? 10-team 5-by-5 categories league. I didn't really understand this question. So why did you... So a 10-team league...

It's a great... That's a perfectly fine follow-up, Scott. I don't know why. No, I get it. He's asking whether you should make hit... pitchers more of a priority or less of a priority in a shallower format. And in this instance, we talk a lot about how in a head-to-head categories league,

you can punt starting pitcher and still have an effective squad. So in a shallow, less shallower format, does that change your approach? Does it make you more or less likely to go after the elite starting pitchers? More. because you're not going to be able to get away. I agree. Like, ERA and WIP are going to be better for the other teams who do get starting pitchers just because the lower-end ones are getting washed out.

But yours should be even better if you go to remember. I don't think that's as predictable. Also, in a shallower league, you're not going to have quite the same advantage at hitter, because the hitting pool is just so deep. Sure. So I don't know that it makes sense to be like, well, I'm just going to punt, pitcher and load up on these elite hitters. That's fair.

From D. Scott 509, one star review, done with the show unless Heath comes back. I'll still read Scott's stuff. What about my stuff? From Danny. For 2020, for whatever reason, I'm drawn to both Miguel And Doohar and Gio Orshella. And I want to take both, hoping that one or both hit, literally and figuratively, in my utility spot. Am I crazy? When do I pull the trigger on them?

And how do they compare to say Justin Turner or Edwin Encarnacion? Can you chat about Induhar and Orshella for me? I think Justin Turner's better than either, but he's also more expensive. I think there are similar playing time concerns for all three and for Encarnacion as well. But I don't mind drafting several Yankees. Scott had like 19 Yankees in his breakouts discussion yesterday. That's right. It was a steeper-back.

Whatever. Whatever. And so, yeah, I think that's a perfectly viable strategy. They're going to play. It seems like a decent amount, probably every day for the first couple of weeks, at least, if not longer. The thing about And Duhar and Herschela is they're not really competing. They both could be in the lineup a lot.

I mean, Herschela figures to be an everyday third baseman unless he goes back to being a bad hitter. and And And Duhar can spell void at first, can play left field, can D.H. So it looks like And Duhar is going to have an audition while the outfielder's are injured. I'm getting the sense from how much left field he's playing this spring that Andrew Har is going to play a lot. I don't think his playing time is as assured as Urchella's. But, you know, Luke Void factors into this discussion too. And I don't know.

I don't know. I think Andrew Har is going to get enough at bats to be a worthy starter in basically every format. It'll be harder to fit them in and like a head-to-head league with the smaller lineup. Time's up. I do have questions about whether either is as good as their best seasons has shown. Yeah, same here, but worth a risk of where they're going.

From Rimspence, my question is about prospects. Will you guys name some guys with zero MLB experience that you expect to be fantasy relevant for a little? least half the season. Yes, I actually put together an all-rookies team that I'd like to pull up, but one name that immediately comes to mind is Ryan Mount Castle of the Ryan Mount Castle of the Orioles, who I think will take over as early as May, and could be a really good hitter right away. Not a total stud, but just a good, solid player who deserves to be in your lineup.

Louis Robert ever heard of him Louis Robert Joe Adele Mackenzie Gore Casey Mize Alex Kirillov Alec Baum Tarreek screwball Scooball

Nate Pearson I think Nate Pearson could be up pretty early and he looks ridiculously good yeah you mentioned Alec Baum that's a good one Nick Madrigal could be a nice source of batting

average and stolen bases and he could be on the opening day, Ross. It could be. Evan White, I think, is, there's a chance he's useful. It's a tough park, and his power profile is questionable. But I'm not ruling it out, Evan White being a useful

player. Let's go to some emails. Rich in Chicago says, Dear Spider, Apollo, Clubber, and Yvonne. Those are Greek gods. Who is Spider? Is that, like, Creed 2? I'm no idea. Spider.

I don't know. Like, obviously, I know who Apollo Club or Eddie Vaughn are, but is that... No, he fought Tommy Gunn and Rocky 5. I'm going to spend two minutes just figuring out who Spider is. In the film Rocky and Rocky Balboa, there is a Puerto Rican boxer from Philadelphia named Spider-Riko. Interesting. I don't remember that. Okay.

So Rich wants to talk about the baseball, the lower seams potential. essentially. What kind of effect would this have on hitters if the ball is different? Well, the seams would be higher if it's different, not lower, because the drag would be reduced, and that would make it so the ball doesn't travel as well. I thought it was interesting. I was writing about, in my latest spring notebook piece last night, I was writing about Masahiro Tanaka and how he commented earlier this spring that this seems felt different, which was good news for him because hopefully that meant he got the grip back on his splitter. And, you know, he had a great start on Thursday, five strikeouts and three hitless

innings. So maybe it is back. Maybe the seams are different. But his specific comment said it feels like they did in 2017. 2017 was the year with the other big home run jump. Not as big as last year, but it was historically notable as well. So I'm still thinking. I just prefer not to deal with it.

I would just say I don't think anecdotal evidence is going to help us figure this out at all. I don't think like cherry picking pitchers saying I like the feel of the ball this year better or it's not going to help. We're going to need some hard data and I haven't seen anything on that yet. Okay. It would be,

it's so funny that everything we're doing now in the preseason could be just completely ruined by a change in the baseball. I mean, that is such a significant thing. It's unbelievable that baseball can be, that the statistics, the outcomes of the games can be determined so much by those stitching. You know, it's just, it's unbelievable.

You wouldn't get that in any other sport. Ridiculous. It's ridiculous. It's like the, what if the outfield walls were just moving all the time, you know? Well, the outfield walls are variable length. But what if they were constantly moving? Like it was a.

an arcade game. And sometimes... Like an MVP baseball? You guys remember that? Like the hitting the mini game where there's like a trailer and the Rams. I don't remember that.

Oh man. Let's propose it. Okay. This is from Colin. He wants to know who won't be a thing anymore. Who will finally be a thing? Who will be a thing again?

And who will be the biggest thing? His nominations are Paul Goldschmidt won't be a thing anymore. Julio Orias will finally be a thing. Mark Kana will be a thing again. And Tray Turner will be the biggest thing. And I love the Tray Turner call. That would take too much thought, I think, for me to answer in two minutes.

I like his submissions. I think those are logical. Man, who? Who won't be a thing anymore? All right. I'm going to say. I wish I could find my answers for this. Trevor Bauer won't be a thing anymore.

They're kind of calling him a bus thing, I guess. I kind of, I'm sort of avoiding Trevor Bauer. I think. Yeah. I think he might just... I think Paul Goldschmidt might be the way I go. Yeah. Who will finally be a thing.

I'm going to say, Jesus Lazzardo, who what will be a thing again? Who will be a thing again? Markana, so who's going to repeat? Oh, so... Oh, I don't get to answer. DJ LaMayhew.

Geez, Scott, just go to buy a Yankee. Like, just put money on the Yankees. Well, Scott, just Venmo. some money. I'll go over the river to Jersey and I'll put a bet on. So my choice for won't be a thing anymore because I'm also on this podcast, guys. I don't know if you guys realize as long as you're not in the bathroom. Ryan McMahon. Okay. That's my choice. He has not been good so far. Okay. We'll finally be a thing, Julio Urias. Just steal it right from Colin. Okay.

It's a, it's a, I still want to come. Colin's a. Colin's a small. smart dude. Will be a thing again? So last year's break, Cattle Marte. Stole it from Scott. Okay. I didn't say him. Will be the biggest thing. And then who will be the biggest thing?

I'm going to go, Jordan Alvarez. Jose Ramirez. Juan Soto. All right. Thank you, Colin. Good stuff. This is from Blake. Dear Brutus, Romeo, McDuff, and Othello. Those are people that Rocky fights. I don't know who McDuff is.

Is that Shakespeare? They're all Shakespeare. I mean, I figured. McDuff sounds like Shakespeare meets the Simpsons. I believe McDuff was the rhythm guitarist for Guns and Rosen. All right, can you talk about these guys

briefly? I feel like they're popping up repeatedly in my mocks and I can use some more thought from you guys. All right, Scott, I'm going to give you a name or going to give me a quick thought. Here we go. John Gray. I think kind of back end useful, maybe a little

undervalued, but I don't see huge upside anymore. Justin Upton. Being way too overlooked. Or was it just Scott? Sorry. I'll turn my microphone on. Scott, give me a quick thought on Justin Upton. Oh.

It really is just Mildon. No, no, no, it's fine. I do Chris was going to pop in there at Upton. Yeah, I mean, so low the cost that you might as well take a flyer if you need power late, but I'm also not depending on him. Chris, Framo Reyes.

will be the biggest thing. Although he lost weight, so it will be a slightly smaller version of the biggest thing. Would you rather have Upton or Reyes? Reyes, for sure. Scott, Christian Vasquez. I'm fine with him as my starting catcher.

I could see how it goes wrong for him and he doesn't perform up to that level again, but I don't feel like the alternatives are enough that you can really afford to be that picky. Chris, Kevin Newman. Kind of wish you had gone with Scott there. I admittedly haven't thought much at all about Kevin Newman. Scott, Kevin Newman.

If you need steals and batting average late, he'll give you especially batting average. And, you know, it could be like a 15-15 season. Not exciting, but potentially useful. All right, thank you for the email. Next email is from Ryan. Do your poll, thon, padden, and groat? Greek gods.

members of guns and roses I have no idea the only thing I can think is no that's not Google doesn't even know there was a thon there's a thon maker in the NBA no I don't think it's that

would you sound like like Thor characters but I'm sure Chris would know if they were yeah would you talk about some high OBP mid to late rounders with guaranteed playing time that I should target mid to late rounders with guaranteed playing time that what that he should target at OBP

good in OBP okay Markana 400 last year um Kyle Schwerber maybe if the batting average is high enough he should be good at OBP is Carlos Santana does he count as a mid-rounder yeah in Roto count as a mid-rounder not Max Muncie but Santana yes okay

all right so they're there What about Marcus Simeon? Does he count? No, I don't think so. He's like in a seventh event. All right. Well, Edwin and Carnas, he won't have a good OBP,

but it'll be good relative to his batting average. So will Miguelson knows, for that matter. See if I can find some hidden gems here. Christian Yellich, is he? Justin Turner. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

Still looking. still looking Lorenzo Kane should help you Brian Reynolds with his batting average he had a 314 batting average We're doing it that way

377 OBP Kyle Tucker Kyle Tucker Kyle Tucker I'm very excited about Kyle Tucker He went from O for 16 to I'm very excited about him

because he Homer did and doubled yesterday But not excited about him He's on my breakouts list Okay, I think that's pretty much all I've got. Luke Voight. Oh, yeah, that's a good one. He was at like 370 before the injury last year. Yeah.

All right, next question from Sam J. I'm interested to see how you wait players when playing in a points league versus head head head categories. 12 team head head categories, daily lineup changes, standard scoring categories plus OBP and quality starts. So is that, it's a head head head categories league with daily lineup changes, but with OBP and quality categories. starts. That's very point C to me.

Yeah, that's the thing. Counting OVP and quality starts gets you a lot of the way to the value, a lot of the way to picking up what Roto typically leaves behind. This is Mike from the town that Derek Jeter was born in. Was he born in Kalamazoo? Windsor, Ontario. I don't think so. For dear Mike, DMCA, and AdRock.

Please tell me you guys know what this is. I know what it is. I'm pretty sure. I know it's one of two things. It's either... Wait, no, it's not the Beastie Boys. It's... Oh, my God.

It's... Run DMC. Oh, my God. I can't... You're doing a bit, right? Wait, who is it? It's the Beastie Boys. It's the Beastie Boys.

Oh, my God. You know how much I hate the Beastie Boys. Pathetic. My absolute least favorite, like, ever, basically. They're my absolute least favorite. favorite. You know, the Beastie Boys and the Beastie Boys were the lonely island 25 years ago. They were a parody band.

You know they released other like songs besides girls and fight for your right to party. They're the worst. I don't know why. You're the worst. Okay. I know you don't all talk too much about only leagues, but they're a thing still. I'm in a high stakes ale only roto auction league and I love your opinion. I need to win this year.

please help get this in your mailbag show i beg of you all right it's rhodo obp runs rbis homers and uh steals er a whip wins strikeouts saves times two and holds okay i think they double count saves and account holds for one interesting okay so uh 260 dollar budget with my keepers i have 178 to spend i want to go big after trout history suggests he'll go around $60 in this AL-only league. Do you agree? And how much would you go in on a closer like Chapman or Hendricks? I would not go after Trouton and Only League.

I just think you have to... This is totally contrasting the auction philosophy I spelled out in the last podcast on Friday. But I think when you get in a league that deep, you have to spread your dollars so carefully that you can't afford to dump a lump sum like that on a player. But he does have really good cheap keepers. That's the one thing to keep in mind.

In this specific instance... I don't know how many keepers he has, yeah. He's got six. It's Devers, Glaber, Vlad Jr., Jordan Alvarez, and Garrett Cole. In that instance, here's one thing we haven't talked about, really, with regards to A. L.N. NL.L. only. Trout's the only one in the A. Yeah.

Yep. He's by far the best player, especially in an OBP League, because he's going to lead the league in OBP. The first round is littered with NLNLL. players like trout lindor and then who's third like hose ramirez cole and verlander in terms of hitters yeah it's crazy bregman oh bregman i'm sorry bregman yeah um so this might work because devors for 13 Torres for 16 Vlad for 11 Alvarez for six coal for 36 uh this might work but um Chapman or Hendrick scott how much would you go after a closer like that in an AL only league saves are worth double yeah

She also gets holds points. I'm not really sure how to do the quick math there. I don't like spending a lot on Closer because they're so volatile and they're going to cost so much because they're even scarcer in an A-L-only league. I would prefer Chapman because there's a track record there. Hopefully that can counter the volatility. But I would expect to spend more than 20 on those guys if saves are being double-counted.

All right, let's go to our next email. It's from Sean. Who are some fantasy relevant players that will gain a position of eligibility early in the season, like Sano at first base? I could see Nick Solak picking up eligibility a few different spots.

Outfield, second base, third base. Though I know he's D.H. only right now, but that shouldn't last long. You're D.H. only. Within the first week, Scott Kingery at second base. Is he going to play second? I thought he was going to play third.

No, it looks like Gene Seguro is playing third, and Kingery's playing second. They like his defense there better. Interesting. Gene Seguerre third. Yeah, there you go. Although you would never play him there. Probably not.

Miguel And Dohar. He's going to get eligible. He's over D.H.O. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's a good one. He mentioned Alvarez at Outfield. I've estimated that it'll be some time around the All-Star break. I don't think it's going to happen at all.

I do. I think they'll use him in NL. Parks. I don't think he's going to play the outfield at all because of his knees. Even in N.L. Parks? That is my understanding. Interesting. Is that his knees are going to require. Jordan Alvarez?

The guy in his second season? Yes. What? I'll try to find the report. That's crazy. All right. Scott, you got to go? I am out of here, yeah.

All right, Scott's leaving. You guys enjoy. You can just leave Skype on. We'll just ignore you. All right, so Chris and I'll finish up. This is from Josh, John, from a city south of L.A. San Diego is south of L.A. Right?

Yes. Dear Mike, Mike, Luke, and Miguel. I think those are your. Yankees first basements. The Beatles. Ford, avoid, and Duhar. Ten team headhead categories, redraft league. Would you rather have the third and 18th pick or the ninth and 12th pick?

Ten teams? Ninth and 12th. I'd rather have third and 18th. I actually like picking at the end of the first round. It's your best chance to get an elite steals guy and an elite pitcher. and so the drop-off from 12 to 18, I think, isn't worth it. I think in a 12-team league, I'd agree with you. Then it would be 3 and 21.

But in a 10-team league, I'd rather just have one of those top-five hitters. But you make a good point. From Craig, I'm using Fab. I've never used Fab before. I have no idea how much I should spend. I'm picking up Dylan Bundy and dropping Joey Locacy. Joey Lucasey. $100 budget for the year.

currently I have set at $0.00. Is this pickup attainable? Do I do five? Do I do 10? What? Ah, I have no clue. Dropping Lucchasey for Dylan Bundy, $100 budget. How much? It's certainly possible. You get him for zero. In that instance, if you really want him, especially because it seems like Lucchese could be out of a rotation spot. I would probably bump it up to two or three. The fact that you have zero dollar bids does certainly help you be aggressive earlier in the season because you're not going to be left with zero roster moves. Chris, Alex wants to know if Trevor Bauer, Corey Kluber, and Carlos Carrasco, all former Cleveland Indians or current, all come through spring training healthy. How are you going to rank

Bauer, Cluber, Carasco? I think I would go Cluber, Bauer, Carrasco if they make it through spring training healthy and looking good. From Angel. Who are the top five pitch? we should target after Scott's top 37. The reason I ask is because I normally see people reaching for high upside pitchers after the top 37 go, like Gowan, Lazzardo, Lament, Moentas, Max, Freed. Should we join the reach party or target later round sleepers with similar upside, like Keller, Copac, Copac, Pearsons, Seas, and Houser? I think there's a big drop-off between that first group of Gowan, Lissardo,

Lament, Moentas, and Freed, compared to Keller-Colk-C-Piercing. They're in that top 37. Barely. Barely. I don't think all of them are. I think only Gallin and Motas, maybe. Like, it's splitting hairs, but I think you get, no, I think there's a big difference. I think you should try to get in that Gowan, Lizardo, Lamett, Montas, Freed group.

LeMette is really interesting. I'm not sure he's more than just a strikeout guy. Yeah, he's someone who has a lot of helium. There are a lot of people who like him a lot. I just, I can't see paying the cost, which is like 150th or, might even be higher. It might be like 130th. The 132nd, one pick behind Zach Gallen, two picks ahead of Hazers-Lazardo. I just, I don't see him having the command or the Arsenal to be much more than like a five innings, five and a third innings with a decent amount of strikeouts guy.

This is from Brian. he's in a six category 12 team head-to-head categories league. It's got OBP and quality starts. It's six by six. Now, it's adding quality starts, so that means starting pitchers all of a sudden. More important here. Would you still go four of the top 37 starting pitchers in this kind of league?

I don't know how to balance doing that, getting Hater or Yates, and getting good enough share of the big bats. Well, don't get Hater or Yates. is the first thing. Like, if you add quality starts, not replace wins, but just add it and you don't add another,

like, ratio stat, then relievers just lose a little value there. I think they lose a considerable amount of value. Because their impact is even more muted. They don't, like, they'll help you in ratios for sure, but they're pitching such small inning totals

that there's only so much they can help you in. Yeah. And even adding a sixth hitting category, makes closers less valuable because you're just adding more categories. Winning saves just doesn't matter as much. Winning steals just doesn't matter as much. So yes, four of the top 37 is even more important when you add quality starts as a sixth category and relievers lose value.

Peter at Rutgers. Hey, Ozzie, Tommy, and Geezer. I... Does feel like all rock stars or something. I don't want to be the well-actually guy, but I think... I think he means... Well, hold on. I got to Google this one now.

Yeah, no, these are heavy metal guys. Yeah, it's Black Sabbath. It's Black Sabbath. It's got to be Tony Eomi, not Tommy. But yeah, those are original members of Black Sabbath. Okay. Starting pitching trend is making me want to go hard on starting pitchers this year. But I was wondering, is this starting pitcher trend the same in Daily Leagues?

I know you guys hate Daily Leagues. That's not true. I like them. But I'm sure a lot of listeners could get a little advice. vice here. I think it potentially only increases the

value of those high-end starting pitchers because if you're streaming, you want more guys to go with to choose from who have quality in daily league, you're going to be streaming your pitchers more. Not streaming as in like your

roster, but from starter to bench. I don't quite understand. I think the argument against going, SP heavy in your draft in a daily league is just being like, well, I can just pick up players off the waiver wire and stream them and then dump them or whatever. Or I can play the match. I could draft more guys late, more starting pitchers late and just play the matchups. They're going to screw up your ratio, is the thing. I don't think it's any more or less important personally.

I think it's the same. Fair. And I, in my league last year, my one, no, I had two daily leagues, but in my one that was like daily with, you can make transactions every day. day and potentially pick up a pitcher and stream. The options were really bad. I just didn't want to do it. So for the most part, they were bad.

All right. More Apple podcast questions. I didn't put names in, so I apologize. Hello, Ham, squints, and repeat. I don't, who's repeat? Are those just beloved sports movie? No, ham and squints are from the sandlot. I'm guessing repeat is.

Oh, Tommy Repeat. Timmons. Oh, okay. He's Tim, Timmins? The Colossus of Clout. The Colossus of Clout. Yeah. That guy.

Yeah. Do you guys have some advice on how to draft in a dynasty startup auction head-to-head league? Um. Have fun. Yeah. I mean, get lunch beforehand. You're going to have to, you're definitely going to have to make a priority of age. And Scott does have to have.

an auction or a dynasty top 150 that came out earlier in the spring that you should check out. But it just, I think a lot of people are going to avoid older players probably too much. And one thing that you should keep in mind is you're trying to win this year too. And so if you see that the older players, the Justin Verlanders, the name another old player, I'm blanking. Max Scherzer, if those guys are starting to fall too far or the auction value isn't quite high enough, if someone like, you know, I could see an instance where like Zach Gallen gets close to those guys in an auction dynasty league, you're still trying to win this year.

And winning this year is just as valuable as winning in 2022. And so I would say don't take those guys off your board and potentially pivot to older play. Also, check out our mock drafts to see... We did a startup dynasty league. It was in an auction, but just check out to see where kind of everybody went. Devin from Sacramento says, Scott White, I disagree, but I like you anyway. How would you generate your dollar values in a points league?

Wait, did I combine two questions here? No. I'm in a head-to-head points league, no catcher, three utility spots, and no... required relief pitchers. We're switching over to an auction for the first time. Should I bid and grab two high-end pitchers and three high-end bats? And then basically, this is a really complicated question.

It's basically, it's a slightly deeper standard points league. Three, it's a points league, three utility hitter spots, no catcher. So you've got two extra hitter spots to fill. And no required RPs basically means it's going to. going to be mostly starting pitch. Yeah, go ahead. Okay, definitely spend big on starting pitcher. And I, yeah, I mean, studs and duds is what I'd say. Spend big on big time players.

It's a slightly deeper version of a standard head-to-head points league, so the returns on a studs and duds approach could be slightly lesser, but I still think that's probably the way to go in points. This is from Pelo in New York City. Do you think the new reliever rule will have any type of fantasy impact? The kind of pitchers who were being impacted by this rule weren't fantasy relevant. So I don't think so. There will be something.

I just don't know how it plays out. I think it's going to help offense. I think it's going to lead to more runs being scored, basically. Yeah, it could. The margins are so small in these situations that I, I think the effect is likely to be pretty negligible. And Padres for the playoffs, how valuable are saves and steals in a points league?

Or can you just rely on bats and innings? In a snake draft, you can rank the order, can you rank the order in which you can afford to wait on each position? Okay, that's two separate questions. Okay, so volume is much more important than efficiency in a head-to-head points league than in a roteau. League and saves and steals, they matter in as much as they get you points, but they don't matter anymore in a points league than walks or strikeouts or like, they're just ways.

I don't agree with you on steals. They're just ways for people to get points. Well, yeah, but I agree with you. Like, steals don't really matter. You don't target steals, but you do target saves. And the problem is saves are so unpredictable, but saves are actually extremely important in a, in a points league. In a season like this with so many sparks,

there are bound to be probably seven sparks drafted in most leagues that there's going to be probably five to ten closers in most points leagues who go undrafted entirely. Yeah, but if you get the Orioles closer, Hunter Harvey, he could have great ratios. But if he only gets like 20 saves, he's not going to be worth using in a points league. saves are for closers the stat that matters more than absolutely everything is saves

for hitters the stats that matters probably least of all is steals you know like like so it just steals are important they're worth two points they're like doubles but you can't have steel specialists that do nothing like they're those guys are useless yeah malick smith doesn't have much value yeah exactly um and in terms of which position can you afford to wait on outfield is the one that comes to mind is the you can wait the most.

Yeah. I guess third base. Third base shortstop and outfield are the deepest positions this season. They are, but you shouldn't wait because they get gobbled up pretty quickly. And there are a lot of players that are eligible at other positions, like and third base. So it kind of thins the pool a little bit.

Relief pitcher, you definitely, relief pitcher and outfielder are the ones that you shouldn't go too crazy on. And then the ones you should draft the earliest. As soon as we get to round six, maybe round seven, Rayamuto and Sanchez, if they're there, they should be on your team. Yep. That's it. That's our mailbag.

Wahoo! Hey! Good job, Chris. Thanks, man. Good job, Adam. Go get some lunch before the auction. I will. Have a great weekend, everybody. We'll talk to you Monday.