Fantasy Baseball Today - Mailbag! Drafting Prospects in 2024? Eury Perez vs. Walker Buehler (9/4 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 4, 2023

It's mailbag time! How will we approach drafting prospects in 2024 (3:05)? ... What will our pitching strategy look like next season (10:00)? ... Drop Masyn Winn for Hunter Renfroe in NL-only (14:55)? ... Eury Perez vs. Walker Buehler next season (19:40). .... Drop Felix Bautista in redraft leagues (28:25)? ... Who is Yoshinobu Yamamoto (30:00)? ... Drop Tyler Anderson in AL only (35:34)? ... Let's rank some hitters (38:05). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. It's mailbag time. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Labor Day, Monday, September 4th.

I am Frank Stamphill, joined by the one, the only, Scott White. Hope everybody had a great Labor Day weekend. Get all those fantasy football dress out of the way. It's time to focus on the stretch run of the baseball season. Scott, it's been a while since we've done a mailbag. Are you ready? Oh, I am beyond ready. Let's get it started.

Let's get it started. And first up, we have Mark, who actually sent in two questions. It's getting a little bit greedy here, but it's fine. These are questions that I like. So we'll start with the first one. I feel like there were a ton of fun prospect callups. this year that haven't quite delivered most of the mid-season hitters. As you prepare for drafts next year, how can you project?

Which ones will make a large leap going forward into year two? Or will they just have to be wildcard gambles going into next year? How much do you lean on pedigree, winning out, or do you look at how they perform this year? I feel like Spencer Torkelson and Riley Green are good examples of this from this past season. And then he goes on to provide, I was about to say Clyde Edward Zelaer. Wow, I got like football brain already. Christian Encarnacios Strand, because he just wrote CES, so I started thinking C.E.H. Yeah.

So Ancarnacian Strand, Ellie De La Cruz, Jordan Walker, those were the names that he mentioned, Scott. Have you started to give any thought to this of which prospects might get pushed down next year based on, I guess, not living up to expectations this season? Well, they all will. They all will. He lists Ellie de la Cruz here, and I don't know if he's going to fit in that category, because I feel like he's the most hyped of them and he's still been,

just because of how many bases he's stolen, he's still been a valuable fantasy asset though he's obviously slowed down with the bat. I think Ellie Dela Cruz will be, will approach him similarly to the way we did O'Neill Cruz this year, which was what, like a fifth, sixth round pick, something like that. And that's assuming he doesn't go on to have a huge September,

which is always possible. Higher. Possible for any of these points. I think he's going to go higher. Okay. Well, I mean, let's see where the final numbers end up, but that's, it obviously, it wasn't long ago where people were chiding us, that people were chiding us for leaving him out of round one.

So maybe you're right. I just don't know how much attitudes have cooled on him based on the, the poor work at the plate of late. But yeah, he won't slide that much. The others will probably slide a lot. And, you know, you don't want to be invested in too many of them, probably because they're not all going to take a step forward in year two. I think that was a problem I had in some of the deeper rotisserie leagues especially

is investing in too many upside types who then didn't take that next step forward. But like there's no reason in a dynasty league to be off of Jordan Walker now or off of Christian Incarnassion Strand now. And I bring up Dynasty League because it's not like, it's not like the long-term prognosis has changed. We don't know exactly when the breakout's going to come. I can't point out anything in Jordan Walker's profile that says, yes, it's absolutely going to happen on opening day 2024.

But there's every reason it might. Or it might be more of a mid-season breakout situation like we've seen with Torkelson this year. There's no predicting exactly when the breakthrough comes. And that is one of the great frustrations. You just try to look for signs that the upside is there. and then try not to pay too much for. Try not to forfeit too much in pursuit of upside that you end up putting yourself in,

giving your team too low of the floor. Yeah, I would agree with that. I don't know if Jordan Walker and Carnaccio-Strain will go as low as Torkelson did this year. I think Torkelson was outside the top 200, maybe even top 250. You know, they'll probably be outside of the top 150 picks. I do agree with you.

I don't think you should be drafting multiple of these. players, but if you want to leave your draft with at least one of them, just like an upside prospect bounceback or maybe even some of the top prospects for next year, depending on how crazy this team gets on like a Jackson Holiday or a Jackson Cheerio, I think that's totally fine to do, but I do agree with you. Like, in redraft leagues, I kind of did the same thing as you as like, I had a lot of prospects this year and I think we probably just need to cool it for redraft. Like maybe it take one of them, maybe two if they just go super late, but you probably don't want more than that.

And that's a flaw that I think is still built on this idea that, you know, three, four, five years ago, a lot of these guys were hitting right away. I think just last year, Scott, like we got crazy, maybe not we in general, but like the industry did because we got Julio Rodriguez and Spencer Shreder and Michael Harris, right? And we saw these rookies come up and just have like truly dominant, amazing seasons. And we all just kind of started to project rookies doing stuff like that moving forward. Yeah. And there will always be guys.

like that. It's just a question of how probable is any single prospect to do that. I also want to say there is some nuance to, you know, how many do you draft? I don't necessarily think you need to limit yourself to one. Maybe two or three

is fine. You may just not want to go as many as four or five. In a league that's deeper where you can't backfill off the waiver wire if they don't pan out. In a shallow league, I think you can go to town draft as much upside as you want. because the waiver wire is going to be abundant all year.

That's a good point too. I think even if you do play in a deeper league or a 12-team Roto, where it's a deeper starting lineup, you have the middle corner, five outfielders, I think you could draft these guys for your bench, but you probably don't want to rely on them as starters, like we were doing with like a Miguel Vargas this season or even Jordan Walker.

We pushed him inside the top 120 or even top 100 picks. You know, Anthony, Volpe is going to be an interesting one. I was just thinking about him too because just last week, You know, he becomes the first Yankee rookie 20-20 season, which, okay, power and speed is nice, but he's batting 215, you know? So it's like in the grand scheme of things, what does it matter? And how do we value him moving forward? I think he's a pretty tough guy to figure out. And 20 steals aren't as valuable as they used to be.

So just saying 2020, oh, that sounds super impressive. But not there are enough guys doing like 20-30 plus now that it's not as impressive, especially when there's no batting average to go along with it. I do expect Volpe to take a step forward next year. And he might fit into this category as well, shortstop being as deep of a position it is, where he goes too late because people were underwhelmed by him as a rookie. I think he fits into that same category, sure. A couple other names I'll just throw out there.

I think they're going to be completely buried. Assuming they have playing time next season, the Orioles guys, I think they're going to be great candidates to buy. Jordan Westberg, Colton Couser. you know, Westberg's stuck around and he's, you know, he's been fine, but like, Kouser hasn't really done anything and he came up and failed. Those are the prospects that we usually get super cheap. The first year, they come up, they fail.

Everyone just wants to push them all the way down the draft board. They want nothing to do with them anymore. I think the Orioles guys in particular, if they have jobs on opening day, I'll be pretty, I'll feel pretty good about buying it on the upside of those guys for super, super, super cheap. The second question from Mark is the glob here to stay with the changing pitching environment. How big is Scott's Circle of Trust going into next year before the Glob hits? Oh, he's kind of mix of metaphors here. Glob and Circle of Trust.

Well, the Glob is here to stay in as much as that's how I think you should approach the starting pitcher position next year, where there are a couple dozen truly standout pitchers that are worth paying a premium for, and you might want to grab one or two of those. and then there's just this giant mass of like five dozen pictures after that where it's going to be really confounding from start to start what you should expect from those guys.

It's just a total mess. And there probably will be some worth singling out in that group that do show the upside to step out of the glob, to transcend the glob, to enter the circle of trust, however you want to put it. I don't know if the glob branding is going to stick.

I don't know how much you want to get into that. You can bring it up now. I was going to mention it, but... Well, you know, we're kind of recording the podcast out of order here, so I don't know if I don't know if I'm about to talk about something I've already talked about. You know what I mean? Yeah, well, actually, we'll do that on Friday's podcast. So people will already know what we're talking about.

People will already know what we're talking about. Yeah. I do think, I do think it's already. taken on a life of its own, this term glob to describe what I'm talking about. Like, we've already trained the audience up to a certain point. We've already made so many jokes about it. And it's just, it's, it's, it's, the concept is, is, is one we can't shake at this point. So even if, even if the term is problematic because it's been used before, I don't know that

we can separate ourselves up from it in a way that's going to be effective anyway. It just, it'll never hit the same way as the glob has. It'll never resonate quite right like the glob has with our audience. So I think we're stuck with it, even if it feels a little icky. But yeah, no,

the idea that I lost my train of thought. I was going on to another point about the glob. So yeah, the glob is this giant group of like five dozen pitchers that it doesn't make sense. really to prioritize one so much over another because they're all just kind of blah. But I do think there will be a handful

within the glob that are worth distinguishing because they have that kind of upside, whether it shows up their strikeout potential is higher or they just have some kind of standout skill that can set them apart and allow them to take that next step forward. And so those are the pitchers in the glob that I will be willing to single out,

exactly like I said, in draft. and pay face value for. For most of those five dozen pitchers, I think I'm just going to take whoever's left. I'm not going to be that picky about it because the whole idea of the glob is that they're kind of indistinguishable from one another, and they don't really have the upside to distance themselves from one another.

So what's the point of paying up for them? When you're talking about 60 pitchers, I mean, that's going to span who knows how many rounds of the draft. So you could, it just seems like wasted draft capital to, to pay up for any of them unless it's clear that they have the upside to distinguish themselves. So this is way too early of a question. Maybe you've started thinking about it. Maybe you haven't. But the pitchers that come before the glob, right? You said it's 24. I think it might reach 30 if we get guys healthy again, like a Joe Musgrove for next year. if Walker Bueller looks good and we have high expectations for him, maybe even like a Grayson Rodriguez kind of, you know, goes above that group.

Will you want a certain amount of those before we get to the glob? Like two of your top 24 or two of your top 30 pitchers just to like get that anchor and then kind of just wait and take whoever falls from that group? Yes, but I don't know what the answer is yet. I don't know how many it is. I don't know. I don't have a grasp for how drafts are going to play out

and whether it's worth passing up a certain number of stud hitters to get that base of pitching at the top that you're not going to have to sweat so much and guess about so much. I don't know, it's going to be a certain number. I don't know what the number is yet, and I don't know exactly where the cutoff is yet either. I haven't put together starting pitcher rankings for next year.

I imagine there will be some dispute over where exactly the glob begins. All right, let's move on to this question from Irwin, He is in an eight-team Roto-N-O-only league, and he's looking for help with home runs and RBI and asked, would you drop Mason win for any of these three? Ronnie Maricio, and just a heads up, we're recording this on Thursday,

so we don't know if Ronnie Maricio had a monster weekend, or maybe he was just absolutely terrible, but he is getting called up this weekend for the New York Mets. Hunter Renfro, who actually was claimed on waivers by the Cincinnati Reds, so he'll become available, and Carter Keyboom, would you drop Mason win for any of those three names? I don't think so. Let me pull up.

I think the Cardinals have been playing win pretty consistently. He's going to need some days off to keep him from exceeding 130 bats and losing his rookie eligibility for next year. But he has started every game but won since being called up. Granted hasn't done much with it, and there's a chance Ronnie Maricio hits the ground running and him being shortstop eligible as well. you'll want to make the swap at that point.

But I don't know. I mean, we already know when is getting the playing time. I presume between second base and left field, Mauricio will play most every day. But it's, I mean, Buck Showalter hasn't been the most reliable manager as far as that goes. So you may end up dropping the higher volume play who himself could still get hot.

Just because he hasn't done much in two weeks' time doesn't mean he won't take off here, Mason Wynn. And then as for Hunter Renfro and Carter Kibum, Kibum, I just, I think he's totally just a space filler on a rebuilding club. I don't think he has a serious future with the Nationals or any Major League Club at this point. So I wouldn't, I certainly wouldn't drop a genuine prospect for him. Hunter Renfro seems like he's going to be a part-time player for the Reds. And if he wasn't, I like his power in that ballpark.

they have so many outfielders that are worth getting at bats. I think he's going to end up platooning with Will Benson or Jake Frailey when he comes back, one of those left-handed hitters, rather than having a full-time job of his own. If you could convince me otherwise, Frank, then maybe I, considering this guy specifically needs home runs in RBI, then maybe I would be willing to swap out win for Renfro. But playing time situation seems very dice. there. The Reds also claimed Harrison Bader, so that's another name that's in the mix. I assume he'll probably mostly be a defensive replacement or maybe he's a short side platoon as well. Looking at their

roster resource page right now, they have Hunter Renfro penciled into right field. This is without Jake Fraley on the roster. So once Fraley returns, they can move Renfro to right field. They have Spencer Stier at second base. I guess that's a possibility that he could play there. But they also have Nick Bartini at DH. I kind of feel like the Reds would rather have Hunter Renfro in there as the DH just every day over a guy like Nick Martini? I could be wrong about that, but... Well, I...

You could... Yeah, you may have a point there. Because I was thinking, oh, Spencer Steer's going to need to play the outfield sometimes too, but with Matt McLean out, I didn't think about Matt McLean being out, so you may have a point there. And, you know, Jonathan India should be back at some point,

but I don't think he's out on a rehab assignment yet the way Jake Frey is. So, yeah. I think in this specific case, when you're chasing home runs in RBI, I would be okay dropping Mason win for Hunter Renfro. And I think I might do it for Mauricio, too. I think you're more likely to get a few more homers out of Mauricio

than you are Mason win. If they were getting equal playing time, I'd agree. But I'm concerned they won't be. I'm surprised in an NL-only league, you don't have somebody worse you can drop, but let's take your word for it that you don't. Yeah, I think swapping out win for Renfro is fine, given your category needs.

Okay. The other question here, would you drop Garrett Cooper for any of these? I don't think so. It seems like he's playing pretty much every day for the Padres right now, so. Yeah, but is he any good? That's an entirely different question. I mean, I'd rather hold on to win, I think,

than, yeah, drop Cooper for Renfro rather than win for Renfro. I do think Gary Cooper is more. more likely to give you home runs and RBI's though. I mean, he had a 15 homer season once, I guess. It's not, he's not Hunter Renfro as far as the power goes. Yeah.

I think I'd hold him. That's, my opinion. I would drop win for Mauricio and Hunter Renfro and I think I'd hold Garrett Cooper. All right. But that's me. From Jeff, dear Larry, and Balke. Those are perfect strangers. That is correct. Oh, he put the answer right in there. You think I cheated?

No. I put it in there because I had no idea what it was. Who do you anticipate ranking higher next season? Yuri Perez or Walker Bueller? That seems like a pretty impossible question to answer right now. I'll go out there and say Yuri Perez. I think Yuri Perez is going to be that hyped up. Everyone has the breakout candidate.

Technically here, he broke out. He's been awesome. But I think he'll probably be drafted as like a top 20 or top 25 starting pitcher next year. Well, Bueller could be too. I mean, Bueller was no questions asked ace. And in going into 2022, Justin Verlander, coming off Tommy John surgery, was being drafted about in that 25 range. So that might make sense for Bueller as well.

I think it'll be close. Eileen Perez as well. I think personally I'll rank Perez higher, regardless of how it's how it actually turns out in drafts. The biggest reason being that Walker Bueller is coming back from a second. Tommy John surgery, and that is not nearly as reliable as the first Tommy John surgery. It doesn't mean Bueller's career is done or that he can't get back to Ace Form. I just, I don't think it's as safe of an assumption as it was for Verlander coming back from

Tommy John's surgery in 2022. And I was one of the most vocal about, yes, I'm all in on Verlander this year. So it's not that I'm against Tommy John surgery and pitchers are covering from that in general. It's really just that it's the second instance of that for Bueller. Next question. How about ranking L.A. Dela Cruz or Matt McLean for next season? And I'll just point out the recent numbers for L.E. Dela Cruz.

This is as of Thursday. Batting 244 with 11 home runs, 23 steals, a 735 OPS, 35% strikeout rate, 52% ground ball rate. And not everyone plays in a points league, but this is a good indicator of how impactful a player is on a per game basis. Matt McLean average 3.4 fantasy points per game. Ellie De LaCruz is at 3.1. That's the same difference as Ellie versus Christopher Morel.

So 0.3 fantasy points difference there. I still think Ellie De LaCruz is going to be ranked higher. And it's nothing against Matt McLean. I just think Ellie De LaCruz's ceiling is higher than McLean's. Yeah. Yeah, he produces the exit velocities to salivate over and just his athleticism is just so in your face. that I think

I think Ellie de la Cruz is going to have a lot more buzz than Matt McLean going into next season but I might be more invested in McLean for the price

we'll see what the actual difference ends up being but I think I'm going to like the value of McLean more so obviously things are going to change tremendously but I've referenced this a few times

Rob DiPiatro at Deadpool hitter on Twitter they've done a way too early draft and Ellie Dela Cruz went in the second round and Matt McLean went in the fourth. So the difference might not be as big as we think it's gonna be, right? Like, depending on how L.A. de La Cruz finishes out the year,

I think he'll probably be a second or third round picnic season. Again, subject to change. But I think Matt McLean will probably go, you know, two rounds after that. Maybe he's like anywhere from rounds four to six, something like that. Yeah.

So. Yeah, that's my early read on it too. So, yeah. I mean, I don't know how much stock we want to put in that way too early mock draft. It's just like a... It's a 15 teamer. It's a sample of one with a bunch of guys whose heads are probably more in football right now. And so, you know, we need more data, obviously.

But it doesn't sound far-fetched to me. Okay. This next question is from Dan. First off, thank you for all the help this season. Didn't miss a single episode. Thank you, Dan. We really appreciate it. As of the 2023 season, actually,

Maybe I should just read the question the way it's written. As the 2023 season comes to a close, it's time to start thinking about next year. Everyone's excited for next year. I am allowed five keepers in my 12-te-to-head points league. Here are some possible options. Ozzy Albies, Muki Betz, Jose Ramirez, William Contreras, O'Neill Cruz, Matt McLean, Kevin Gosman, Pablo Lopez, Luis Castillo,

Nicola, Jacierrez, and Yuri Perez. That is a lot of, those are a lot of names there. I know who you're not keeping. Nick Lodolo immediately jumps out is not worth... One of these names is not like the others in a bad way. Yeah. And as good as William Contreras is, I don't think he's in this mix either.

Yeah. Yeah, look, obviously, Mookie Betts is still a first round pick. I think Jose Ramirez will probably be like a mid to late first round pick. So I think those two are pretty clear. And then you'll have three more. I'll say, Kevin Gossman in a points league Luis Castillo

and I think Ozzy Albies Yeah You know it's tempting to go with like a Yuri Perez there Especially given that it's a points league That's not crazy yeah But I think Didn't Ozzy Albies go Shockingly early in that way too early mock draft

I was Let's see what we got Because like nobody wanted him, he was barely being, I don't even know that he was being drafted inside the top 50 on average this year. He went 14th overall in that early draft. 14th overall, which I would not advise that as somebody who thought Ozzy Albiz was going way too low at the start of this year.

But it goes to show you that whatever concerns people had about him have basically gone away. And he's back in that, at least. second round discussion, I would say, for fantasy. And he's not old. Like, he's been around a while because his career started at age 21 and he was basically good right from the jump. So it feels like he's been around a while, but he's only 26. He's going to be 27 next year. Yeah. Yeah, I think, I think so Mookie Betts, Jose Ramirez, Kevin Gosman, Luis Castillo, and Ozzy Albies. I think those, I think those are the five. I agree. Let's take our first break. I think we're only going to have one break today. Let's take a break and when we return, we'll continue answering your questions here

on Fantasy Baseball Today. Welcome back into Fantasy Baseball Today, Mailbag Edition here on Labor Day and let's answer this question from Mike. Can I drop Felix Batista? It's a redraft league. I have picked up Yaneer Canneau and a Rollis Chapman as insurance, but I am worried that Batista could miraculously return for the last week or two of the fantasy season and one of my opponents could pick him up. Our league is pretty deep, but names like Christopher Sanchez and Kyle Harrison are available. Ooh, I think I'd have to drop him for Harrison. I understand your concerns, Kyle Harrison, that is.

Is there any other Harrison? Harrison, Josh Harrison, how could you forget? Yeah. See, play for anyone this year? I think he started with the Phillies as a utility guy, but... Okay, anyway, yeah. No, I think you have to drop Batista for Kyle Harrison, especially if you're saying this is a...

pretty deep league. I'm kind of shocked he's still out there. And I probably draw them for Christopher Sanchez, too. I understand your hesitation, because even as we're recording this now, the Orioles haven't officially ruled him out for the year. They haven't said necessarily that Tommy John surgery is the answer even. And they've been so vague about what's going on with his UCL that it may be just a sprain. And he is ready for opening day next year. But we're talking about, is he going to return in September. And I think the odds of that are so low that unless there's just absolute junk out there. There's no reason you should hold on to him. Yeah, I would agree with that as well.

This next one is from Lewis and he asked, where do you rank Yoshinobu Yamamoto versus top prospects to prioritize going into next year? And for those who don't know, Yamamoto is a 25-year-old pitcher considered the Pedro Martinez of Napone professional baseball. This season in Japan has a 134 ERA, a 0.90 whip, 135 strikeouts, over 134 innings pitched, and expected to, just based on stuff that I've read so far, expected to break the previous record for a Japanese pitcher in terms of contract, and that's currently held by Masahiro Tanaka, who had a seven-year $155 million contract when he originally came over.

So there's lots of hype around this guy's got Yamamoto. I'm not going to try and lie and say I know much about this guy. I think we'll learn more about him in the offseason, assuming that he gets posted. But what do you think? I can see there being a decent amount of hype on Yamamoto, at least considering, you know, like Kodi Tsanga just came over and had an amazing season, right?

So I think people might kind of like latch on to that and I don't know, try and make a similar comparison, I guess. He'll be drafted pretty high. probably a little higher than like Kodai Senga was this year. And Sengas turned out to be a great pick. So maybe that'll push Yamamoto's value up even more. Maybe he'll be drafted ahead of the glob. I think that's possible.

And so where do the exciting rookies, next year's exciting rookies, where do they go in comparison to that? And that's the question that's really difficult to answer. I don't even know what rookies were talking about yet. So I do, I did put out an article early this week. 14 prospects I hope to see in September is basically the gist of it. And I was taking some big swings.

We've already seen Jason Dominguez get the call. Austin Wells was on that list. Ronnie Maricio was on that list. So we've already seen three of the 11 called up, maybe more by the time you're listening to this. Some of the players on that list, though, included Jackson Holiday, Jackson Chorio, junior Communero of the raise and Jordan Lawler.

They were actually the first four, and they might be my prospects one through four heading into next year. How early we draft them next year, I think, depends a lot on whether we see them in September, because if they get called up at some point in September, and it doesn't have to be September 1st, it may be a couple weeks into September. It could be any point in September, really.

If they get called up at any point, though, I think it's very likely they're on their team's opening day roster next year, in which case we're going to be as eager to draft some of them as we were, Corbin Carroll and Gunner Henderson this year. If we don't see them in September, well, it doesn't necessarily mean they won't be on the opening day roster next year. We saw Jordan Walker, Anthony Volpe, make the opening day roster even without coming up last September,

but at least puts it in doubt. And so I think their value, their ADP will start out a lot lower as a result of that. I mean, where we're Volpe and Walker to start out outside the top 200, 250, right? So it makes a big difference, I think, whether we see them in September. If we don't, then my initial reading is,

okay, Yamamoto is going to be drafted ahead of all of them. If we do, depends on who it is, and Yamamoto might be drafted in a similar spot as some of them. I think specifically with Jackson Holiday, if Jackson Holiday is, confirmed to be on the opening

their roster, you're right, I mean, he's probably like a top 75 pick, but even if he isn't and we have some kind of indication that he'll be up early in the season, I think he's probably still a top, like a 120 pick, because I think people will just convince themselves that he'll be up really early in the year, and obviously

there's a lot of hype and lots to be excited about with Jackson Holiday, so he's the one that I think, like, could potentially like separate himself from everybody else, but yeah, it's a fun conversation. So are you going to have him as a top 12 shortstop from the beginning? Seems like you have to be if you anticipate him going that early,

unless you yourself want to draft him that early. Yeah, let me see. So I'm looking at what I have right now. Yeah, I mean, the top 12 for me kind of ends with 9 through 12 is L.A. Dela Cruz, Hassan Kim, Gunner Henderson, and then I have Bryson stop. But you can make the argument for C.J. Abrams, Danesby Swanson, Yeah, I think he's probably in that mix, yeah.

I mean, maybe top 12 to 15, something like that. Yeah, that's fair. I mean, if we, it's hard to say because we don't know, we don't have much insight into the Orioles thinking for him yet. But if it does, if it does seem like there's a lot of momentum for Jackson Holiday making the major league roster, the opening day roster, or if he doesn't,

it's just because of service time manipulation, then he probably will go in that range. It'll probably be, what, Gunner Henderson versus Jackson Holiday, maybe? Like, maybe that range of the shortstop rankings. I don't know. But yeah, it's, you're right. He's one who could separate himself

even if he doesn't get the call on September. It just kind of depends on what the Orioles seem to be thinking. This next question is from Richie. I've had Tyler Anderson in a 10-man head-to-head A-L-only league all season. Playoff start next week. Should I drop Anderson to create an open roster spot to stream hot, deep league pets, consistent relievers, or potential openers? Let me know, I don't think I can take any more from him.

I think it's fine to do. Yeah, I think it's fine. I think because it's a head-to-head league, I assume he means head-to-head points. I think he sent a follow-up that it was head-to-head categories. Okay, okay. Then that makes it easier to do. If it was head-to-head points,

then the threshold for a usable pitcher in a format that deep is so low that just the fact Anderson has a rotation spot. And in fact, it might be in a five-man rotation going forward now that Gialito is out of the mix the way Otani is. So it might be worth holding on Anderson in a points league. But, you know, if you'd want to stream bats instead, I don't think, I don't think you're going to lose much with them.

In a Categories league, in fact, Tyler Anderson may be a net negative. All right, let's move on to this next question from Taylor. Who are you keeping in a 10-man keeper league? Trey Turner or Bobby Witt, Jr., in a head-to-head points league. And I think there is an unquestionable answer to this question, Scott. And it is Bobby Witt, Jr. It is Bobby Witt.

Yeah. I think he's going to be a bono. five first round pick regardless of format next year. And I can't say the same thing about trade turner as of now. I think he's usurped Jose Ramirez as the number one third basement. Yeah, I think I made that move in the rankings last week, just the way he's playing. Even in points leagues where there's a big difference in terms of plate discipline between the two, just because it is such a prolific base dealer that it's hard for Jose Ramirez to keep up.

Jose Ramirez has been already 2020 this year. And he's still being outdone by Witton. that format, the lesser format. Think about how amazing Trey Turner has been in the month of August got. So just looking at the last 28 days, fantasy points per game, Trey Turner averaging 4.9 fantasy points. That is an elite number. And it's not something that you can expect over the full season.

Bobby Witt has been even better. Five fantasy points per game. So even with as good as Trey Turner has been, Bobby Witt has been better. So. Yeah. Yep. I think it's an easy one for me. I'm going Bobby Witt there.

This one is from Ed. The podcast led me to a championship last year, and I'm back in the hunt this year. 12-team head-to-head league that adds OPS for hitters. At second base, I've been alternating Cotel Marte and Hassan Kim, two utility spots, and right now I've got Marcel Ozuna and Chas McCormick there. On the bench, I have Marte slash Kim and Royce Lewis. For rest of season, could you rank Kim, Lewis, Marte, and McCormick? I don't have room in my outfield because of Akun.

Tucker and Alvarez, amazing, or shortstop, Mookie Betts. Wow, great flex, great team. Sounds like he's got a great team. Congratulations on the championship ad. So how would you rank in a head-to-head category's OPS League, Hassan Kim, Royce Lewis, Catelle Marte, Chaz McCormick? Lewis would be fourth, as much as I've talked him up recently. I just...

I know Catee has gone really cold. He has. my knee-jerk reaction is Ketalmarte 1, but he has been cold and since it's a Category's league, he's not going to steal bases for you the way Hassan Kim would. So I'm thinking

I'm thinking probably Kim won, actually. Hassan Kim 1, Ketel-Marte 2, Chas McCormick 3, Royce Lewis 4. I think I would put McCormick ahead of Catel Marte right now, and maybe I'm just, it's too much recent, bias, but McCormick has just been so good.

And like we said, I mean, Marte has slowed down. So I think I would go Kim McCormick, Marte, and Lewis in that order. I think that's fair. I'm trying to guard against recency bias because I don't think the underlying stats support necessarily who McCormick's been at this point. You can only doubt it so much because it's been going on for so long. But I still am going to bet on Cattel Marte being a little better than McCormick rest of way. but it's not with a lot of conviction.

All right, this last question is from John. If you had to take two, Griffin Canning, Ryan Pepio, Andres Munoz, in a points league, who would you take? Oh, I answered this question on Twitter. Let's see if I were given the same answer. I'm going to say Munoz, number one. It's a little weird comparing him to two starting pitchers, but he's a much better closer than Canning or Pepio is a starting

pitcher. So yeah, Andres Mune is number one. I will say canning if you need to start the guy right now. And Pepio, if you don't need to start the guy right now and can speculate on upside a little bit. As of the time of recording this, Scott, do we have any indication if Ryan Pepio is sticking around in the Dodgers rotation for next week? He's been optioned. Ah. Why? Why do the Dodgers do this? I mean, they could put somebody on the IL and bring them right back. That is a possibility. I don't think he's made his last start this year.

I agree. I just think they have like three or four young guys that they're kind of alternating with that open rotation spot right now. Even though Pepio keeps proving he deserves that they haven't given it to him yet. Hey, there's a method to the madness, right? The Dodgers are where they are because they're a lot smarter than I am. But selfishly for fantasy purposes, I would like to see Ryan Pepey,

stick around. I think most people would. So yeah, I would agree with that. If you need someone to use right now, it's probably got to be Griffin Canning just behind Andres Munoz. We are going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to fantasy baseball today.

Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify, and we will be back again tomorrow with a huge Labor Day weekend recap. We'll see you then. Bye-bye.