Fantasy Baseball Today - Mailbag! Isaac Paredes, IL Pitcher Stashes & More! (3/7 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 7, 2026

Let's get things start with our Apple Podcast Review questions (2:50). ... Emmet Sheehan or Jac Caglianone for the upside (5:13)? ... Will life find a way with Isaac Paredes (11:00)? ... Who are some targets at the 2-3 turn (22:08)? ... Let's get into your email questions (28:30)! ... Thoughts on Rhett Lowder after the Hunter Greene injury (36:10)? ... Who are the best pitchers to stash on the IL (41:06)? ... Is there any hype around Caleb Durbin (49:00)? ... Should we be focusing more on the second half of the season in H2H leagues (53:18)? Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@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/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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. And first pitch, watching. 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. Hey there.

Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Saturday, March 7th. I am Frank Stanful, and look who decided to hop on a mailbag. It is. Scott Wynne. Yes, sir. Here I am, ready to answer the mail. Let's do it. I like mailbag episodes.

Yeah, sometimes they get a little wonky. You know, we get some fun questions and get to talk about... Let your hair down a little bit. Get to talk about things I guess we don't normally talk about. So go outside the structure a little bit. We do have your Apple Podcast review questions and then some emails later on. Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com is the address to send those questions into. But first up, we will start with those Apple podcast review questions.

So drop a five-star rating on Apple and then leave a question in the review. And big thank you to everybody who has done this so far. It really does help the podcast out a lot. And we have quite a few of these to get to. So let's jump in. This one is from Jason in Louisville. My draft was done a couple weeks ago, 15-Team Rodo with five outfielders. My third outfielder was Jerkson ProFar.

Whoops. Would you go with Victor Robles, Lane Thomas, Jake Meyer? Garrett Mitchell, Trevor Larnick, Javier Baez, Jacob Melton, Parker Meadows. There's also hurt guys like Tommy, Edmund, and Lars, Neupar, who might have the most upside. It's been a while since I've looked at Lars Neupar, but last I saw it, it wasn't like a sure thing he was out for the start of the year, right? I guess it is now. Yeah, I believe he is able to playing games. Going to start on the IL.

Yeah. Yeah, he had surgery on his heels in October. So, yeah, he's got a ways to go. It seems like, I mean, it might depend partly on need. And I don't have a strong opinion. This is a range of outfielders that I rarely have to dabble in. Jake Myers, I think, is pretty safe for playing time and should help in steals. may not be so bad for batting average.

Of course, Victor Robles could be the same and is coming off a lost year. He was the highest ranked of these guys last year, so maybe you just default to that. But if you don't need speed, if you need power more, Trevor Larnick, maybe. I was leaning that way, Trevor Larnick,

but if you needed speed, I think Robles makes sense. Honestly, your hunch is as good as mine. Jason from Louisville, If you have a strong feeling about any of these guys, I don't think I'd argue against them, except maybe Javier Baez. I don't think there's going to be a ton of playing time there,

and I don't think he's that good anymore, really. Yeah. But the others I'd be fine with. We had James Anderson on the pot earlier this week talking about his AL-only labor team, and one of his biggest misses was Jacob Melton. He seems pretty excited about him. No guarantee he's on the race team to open the season,

but he thinks there's a lot of upside there. So maybe someone you're thinking along, term with Jacob Melton, but to start the year. I do like the upside there, but he's got to make the team. Yeah, I would say to start, it's probably one of Larnick or Victor Robles for me. This next one is from YU's iPad. 12 team hedge head points. I've got to choose between Emmett Sheehan or Jack Caglione with a round 14 value. Each year keeper goes up one round, so I'm tempted by the future upside of Cags, but rankings this season support Sheehan. I think they both have a lot of upside, Scott. Obviously, Caglione is younger and not a pitcher, so I guess there's less entry risk.

But lots of upside for both. Which one would you prefer? Yeah. I think in this context, I'd take Cags. If you're mainly focused on the long term, in the short term, it's a better value for Sheehan. But you know how things go with pitchers, particularly him. He's already had injuries. There are already questions about his durability.

how long the Dodgers are going to let him, how deep they're going to let him pitch into games, how deep they're going to let him pitch into the season. And he may not be, even if he's great, he may not be a long-term keeper for you just because that's the way it goes at pitcher. Caglione could be second, third-round type bat for years to come, especially in a points league because the strikeouts,

he keeps them under control. So I'm not saying it'd be. a bad idea to keep Shee in a discount, but I think Caglione's a little more appealing to me. If the main thing you're talking about here is I'd like to lock in a rising talent for cheap. Yeah, I think that's all well said. I will not dispute any of it. I do have Sheehan ranked higher for this season and I like him a lot as well. So I would lean Shee in here. But if you want to go with, I think the safer projection with a hitter, rather a younger hitter, rather than a pitcher, especially a Dodgers pitcher,

then I totally get going with Caglio in there. This one is from Jeremy in SC. So we've got a couple of options, South Carolina, Southern California. Those are probably the main two. I haven't met Jeremy here yet for what it's worth. I'm going to guess it's Southern California. I have the third overall pick in a 10-team league,

five-by-five categories with OBP instead of batting average. I'm torn between Juan Soto, Bobby Witt, Jose Ramirez. I don't know why. I was like drawing a blank. I'm like, wait, who Jose? Jose Ramirez and Ronald Acuna. I am a Braves fan.

So perfect timing, Scott. You just had your Tout war draft a couple days ago. You had the fourth pick, and that has OBP instead of batting average. And you took a cunia. But here with the third pick, I'm assuming that Otani and Judge are the first two picks,

I would very easily go with Wantsoto. Yeah. I think OBP League, it's a clear top three. Yeah. I mean, it's a clear top three in a traditional five-by-five league, too, with Witt being the third. But with OBP, I think definitely Soto. I will note, two of the last three years, Akunia has had a higher OBP than even Soto. That was the eye-opener that caused me to switch my pick in Tau Wars, the fourth pick,

switch it to Acuna when I was thinking Jose Ramirez initially. but Soto much more reliable and his OPP. It may have been second to Ocuna those two years. It was probably not just second. I think Judge was ahead too. But the point is Soto is about as bankable for that stat as anybody. This next one is from Michael B. Jordan, question mark.

In a 12-team, NO-only dynasty, five-by-five Roto League with 11 pitching spots and a $275 budget, keeping a $25 Mason Miller, $16 Edwin Diaz, and $1 Trevor McGill. Do you think hanging on to Logan Webb for $25 and Sandy Alcantara for 11 can work with an elite reliever heavy build

to keep the whip monsters in check? I mean, it's in a lonely. I think all of those are fine values. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you have to expect the threshold you're trying to meet in the whip category is quite a bit higher in an NL only league than a mixed league.

So I would not stress about it nearly as much. You have a chance to get a pitcher as, a pitcher as good as Webb, a pitcher as good as Alcantra at a discount. I think you just do it. Now, I don't know that $25 is that big of a discount for Logan Webb. It's basically market price.

I think that's what he went for in NL labor. It is basically market price. I would agree with that. So if, but you have to remember other bargain keepers, other teams are keeping other players at a bargain. And so that's going to lead to inflation on the free agent market. That probably means Webb will go for more than $25.

So I think I'd just keep them. Yeah. And to your point about the whip category in an NL only league, I wrote down the third place finish. in each category in NL labor last season, just to give myself a target, something to aim for within the auction myself. And the third place in WIPP last year was 121

in an NL only league, at least in my NL only league. So just a bit of a reference point there for you. Webb is pretty much right in line with what you need for WIP. Yeah. I mean, last year it was 124, so I guess he could be even higher. But Mason Miller, Diaz, McGill should all have great whips. obviously a lot less innings, but it does help bring it back down a little bit there on Logan Webb.

This one is from Buster's Posey. Doesn't ESOC Paredes seem like an obvious life-fines-away situation? Even if they do all stay healthy, the Astros have to know that he's a better bat than any of their outfielders. I've been drafting him on my bench thinking that if things break right for him, he could hit 30 home runs. Am I crazy? No, you're not crazy. I don't know when this email came in, but I feel like we've talked about this a lot lately.

I agree with the point Buster's Posey here is making, first of all, that I think the Astros recognize Paredes is one of their best hitters. I can't think off the top of my head where he would rank, but from a real-life context, probably ahead of like Jeremy Pena even, because of the superior on base skills. So he would be behind Yord, Alvarez, just ranking their hitters.

Maybe Altuve? Maybe Altuvae. Yeah, we're talking third or fourth best hitter for Perides. And so, you know, experience at first base, experience second, in addition to third. There's the DH spot. They've talked about maybe playing Yorna Alvarez and left field more. I think between those spots, Paredes is going to play close to every day. And then if anyone of Alvarez, Carlos Correa, Christian Walker, of course, Altuve as well, shoot, I mean, Pena has a broken finger now. Yeah, that's a totally fair point.

Why wouldn't Correa just shift back to shortstop and Paredes is third? Yeah. Already life is found away. So I think it'll continue to be that developments like that that keep Paredes in the lineup as well. Yeah, and that is a... I've taken to just like drafting him at ADP, maybe a little slightly ahead and trusting that the upbats will come. Once you provide an update on Jeremy Pena,

we are recording this a few days in advance. It's Thursday. This is coming out on Saturday. But we did get news that Jeremy Pena has a fracture on the tip of his right ring finger and will be reevaluated in two weeks. So he will miss the World Baseball Classic. And there's a chance that he's not ready.

for opening day. So, yeah, that would certainly just move Correa over to shortstop, and Paredes has a spot at third base, but, you know, Pena will be back, and then we've got to figure this all out again. But, yeah, it could open up at least some early playing time there for ESOC Paredes. This one is from EC Wild. This is a dynasty question.

Keep 12 guys and up to 5 with rookie eligibility. 12-team league, head-to-head categories with saves plus holds and OBP. I'm down to keeping two of the following three. I think they're all similar late round cost. Yvonne Herrera, who does have catcher eligibility in this league, Yandy Diaz, and Cade Smith. Again, saves plus holds here. He needs to keep two of the three.

Okay, so which one are we eliminating? I think Yandi Diaz. Even with the OBP, it's tough. Definitely keeping Herrera. I think it comes down to D. versus Cade Smith. Yeah. Yeah.

And look, Yandi Diaz is generally drafted ahead of Herrera, so partly you have to consider how much you need the first basement. Since it's a head-to-head league, I presume you don't go that deep into the player pool, that the position gets completely plundered. Diaz has the least capability going forward, which is why I kind of reflexively said that. But, you know, the fact that's a saves plus holds league greatly diminishes Cade Smith's value.

He's an awesome reliever. Yeah. But there could be the best reliever in baseball this year. So much interchangeability there when you, when you factor in holds. So it's, I think, I think the, I think the answer that you're least likely to regret is keeping Herrera and Cade Smith and letting Yanty Diaz go. But it is a, it. there is more to consider there than at first glance. I would lean towards keeping Herrera and Yandy Diaz,

but I totally get it. I mean, if you just want to lock in one of the best relievers in baseball who should get gobs of saves this year, so I get it saves plus holds, but I guess I would project at least 30 saves for Kate Smith this season. It does make it a difficult decision, but I would lean with Herrera and Yandy Diaz of those three. Let's take our first break when we return.

We've got a few more Apple podcast questions, then over to your emails right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball. Today we've got ourselves a weekend mailbag, and we are continuing on with your Apple Podcast review questions. This one is from Charles 12233. I have six keepers in an NL-only league, Skeens for 25, Soto for 47,

Agostin Ramirez for two, Otani the pitcher for six, and Bryce Harper for 27. I can keep one more of the following, and I believe he sent this question in before the injury. So here we go. Hunter Green for 22, Owen Casey for two, Francisco Alvarez for two, Dennis Santana for five,

Cade Horton for two. My first lean Scott was one of Alvarez or Horton for $2 each. Yeah, that is how I'm leaning also. And, hmm. We're not sure if it's a two-catcher league or not. I kind of want, I'm afraid I'm going to go against my rankings and perhaps in a significant way if I just answer off the cuff. So I'd like to pull them up here real quick. And I'll only getting some love in this mailbag.

Look at that. Yeah, right? How about that? You're like hardly anybody plays in that format anymore or AL only for that matter, either of the onlies. So I have Cade Horton as a $14 player. an NL only. And I have Francisco Alvarez as a $13 player.

Okay, yeah, my gut was saying Horton, especially since you already have a catcher spot filled with Augustine Ramirez. But it's close enough that I wouldn't argue with you if you were going to make the case for Alvarez. My lean is Horton. Yeah. And, you know, Dennis Santana,

closers are hard to get for as cheap as five. What do I have Santana for? That's fair. 13. So still behind those other two And those other two are discounted more So yeah, I'm gonna say Kate Horton Yeah, I have Alvarez and Horton

Right at 13 bucks each and then I have Dennis Santana Just a few spots behind those two but at $12 so It is close but you're getting a little bit more savings And I think from a roster construction perspective You already have a really good catcher in Augustine Ramirez You do have two pitchers and skeins in Otani But you can I mean to get Horton as your SP3 for two bucks that feels like a really good value there.

So, so is Alvarez. But I would lean with Horton here as well. This one is from Shubi 34, who updated his review, five stars, and he confirmed that it was a misclick. So a couple of weeks ago, Scott, we got a few, like, two and three star reviews on Apple, but they also had questions. I was like, wait, if you don't like the podcast, why are you asking us a question? I don't get it. It turns out it was a misclick, so.

Three stars doesn't mean you don't like the podcast, right? Well, you only- Three stars is average. This is a trade-off here, Scott. If you- No, I understand. You only get your question to answer if you leave a five-star review. Well, you know, you scratch my back, I scratch yours.

There you go. And I'm not, I understand why we need five-star reviews. But if I am just like, if I'm just asked to rate something and, you know, I don't even know the context. for it. Like I would say three is the starting point, right? And if I'm impressed beyond that, I go four or five. It's a little bit of great inflation going on. But, you know, give us five stars anyway. Yeah. You're way too rational, Scott. I mean, you've got to, you know, you got to think with your, with your heart sometimes, Scott. You got to, you know. You know, it was when we were closing on our house,

it came up at the closing that if I, I was supposed to rate the company we were working with one to 10, on everything. And they told me at the table there, if it's anything less than the tent, a 10, they're going to treat it as a 1. And so it's like, okay, I'll give them tens for everything. But it feels like there should be some room there. Otherwise, make it a pass fail grade.

Why say it's 1 to 10 if it's not really? Just good or bad? That's just thumbs up or thumbs down. How did we do? So this question is from Shubi 34. I have the first picket a 12-team Yahoo 5-5 league. Otani is treated as two separate players,

so I am leaning Aaron Judge, but I'm stressing about my second and third pick at the turn. Who are your favorite targets there or favorite positions to fill? So, if there's one of the second basemen, there's a 12-teamer, if there's one of the second baseman there, that's pretty easy to do.

So that being Jazz or Cotel-Marté? Yeah, yeah, let me, let me get back to my mixed rankings. So obviously with the Lindor injury, he tends to slide to that range, and I'd be fine taking him there. That's where I moved him in my rankings. It seems like he might not miss any time at all.

Of course, there's still the risk of his power being a little bit less in the initial weeks back from the injury. But I think in the long run, you'll be happy with Lindor at that price. You know, if you have to go Pete a long time, It's not the end of the world, but I do think he's part of a big tier at first base.

You're hoping it's a tough spot. It's a tough spot. You're hoping somebody kind of falls to you, whether it's Chisholm or Jackson Churio or... I don't think it's crazy that Corbyn Carroll with the handmate could fall that far. I mean, Schwerber, I rank Schwerber higher than the consensus, but I'm looking at ADP now. Schwerber could make it there, and that would be an awesome pick. Yeah. Except you have...

Otani so no it would be an inadvisable pick he said he's leaning towards taking judge so you could do judge if you could start how I started my TGFBI team you never have to worry about home runs again judge Schwarber and some kind of speed option like judge Swarber

Trey Turner that would be the dream that would be awesome yeah I did something similar I couldn't get Turner it's a 15 team or not a 12 teamer but I did judge Schwaber Peaker Armstrong to start TGFBI It's pretty awesome.

I don't hate it. All right. Well, let's continue on. This one is from Bama Tide 11. Need help picking my final keeper. You get one hitter and one pitcher. Category League. Pitching categories.

Win, save, strikeouts. K-per-9, WIP, E-R-A. My realistic options are Bubba Chandler in round 15 and McKenzie Gore in round 20. With the caveat that they jump five rounds every season if you want to keep them. So following year would be Bubba-Tchang. Chandler for 10 and McKenzie Gore for 15. Does that five-round discount sway you towards

McKenzie Gore, Scott? No. No, I'm not, it's not that I have no hope for Gore. It's just that I've seen this movie three or four times before. But you've never seen it in Texas. I've never seen it in Texas. Everything's bigger in Texas, including McKinsey Gore's performance maybe. But I think the odds are against it. I think, we can use history as our guide here. And presume McKenzie Gore will have moments where he looks like maybe he's coming through, but then he'll have rough patches too that bring his final numbers about to where we're used to seeing them. And so I have, when you're talking about round 15, round 20,

particularly if it's a shallower league like 12 teams or fewer, he doesn't say how big the league is, but let's assume it's 12 teams. If you're talking about 15 and 20, it's, that's not, it's five rounds, yes, but in terms of the, in terms of what you're securing in round 15 versus round 20, what you're guaranteeing your team, it's not that big of a difference. What about for next year, round 10 versus 15? Because it moves up five rounds each year. There's a good chance you wouldn't want to keep Gore in round 15.

Maybe you will. I can't predict the future. He has talent, but I've been saying that for a few years now, and he continues to let us down. So I would take Chandler in round 15. All right. This next one is from Coney Island. 10 team head to head points. Need one keeper.

Cal Raleigh in round 11. Junior Caminero. That's Caminero in round nine. And when he wrote in Junior Camerro, he actually put Ha in parentheses there. So I do appreciate that. Byron Bucks in in round 21, Nicolaolo in round 19. So it feels like it comes down to Raleigh in round 11, Caminero, and round 9. Yeah, that's pretty easy.

I mean, Buxton and 21, Lodolo and 19. They're good values too, but particularly the shallower the league gets, it's a 10-teamer. You just want the most impactful player you can get for any kind of discount. And Raleigh and 11, Commonero, in round 9. That's an incredible discount, obviously. I don't even think it matters in this case. It's such a good discount for players that high end. I don't care what the league depth is.

Those two, got to take them. But it's only one. Oh, it's only one. Mm-hmm. I'm sorry. Well, Cal Raleigh's a second rounder in round 11. Commonero's a second rounder in round nine. Third base versus catcher?

Does that kind of sway the decision at all? Well, points versus Roto. It's a points league. So that makes Commonero not as attractive. I think Raleigh. Now, the one, the biggest hesitation, position scarcity is worth bringing up. But the other hesitation would be, does he preserve this discount for future years too? Or like, next year do you get Common Arrow in round nine again or round eight or is a clean slate at that point?

That could make a difference. But with the information I have available, I prefer Raleigh in round the. 11 to Common Arrow in round 9. All right, before we get into our email questions, make sure to like this video if you're watching on YouTube. Subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. 40K by opening day.

Scott, do you want to do the Chris thing where he whispers like 40K by opening day, 40K? Yeah, I think he just did it. Yeah, all right, fair enough. Email questions, fantasy baseball at cbsi.com. This one, or these two, are from Ben in Virginia. First, I've read some articles in The Athletic recently about both pitchers and hitters who may uniquely benefit from the new ABS system.

What are your thoughts on this analysis? And are there any players you're moving up or down in your rankings with ABS in mind? So I have not read this specific article. So I can't... I can try to pull it up in the meantime and see if, you know, if there are any of that just come to the top of mind for you, Scott. I mean, obviously for me, being a Yankees fan, like there have been a lot of strikes called against Aaron Judge

the past couple of years that were below his knees. It's just he's a huge target. I guess he has a bigger strike zone in the eyes of some umpires, but I mean, he's already the best player in baseball. So I don't know how much better he could get, but I guess presumably it could maybe help his walk rate a little bit or something like that. Yeah, I don't even know what criteria they're using

to decide that these pitchers are, I guess they're looking at borderline calls would be my guess, like you just mentioned with Judge. So it's a little hard to comment on the theory when I don't even know what the theory is. But I'm just going to say blanket statement, whatever theory you have is overblown. There aren't going to be enough challenges in a game

to sway the outcomes for a player, the season long outcomes for a player that much. You know, it's not like everything that's borderline's going to get challenged. You only have so many challenges. You don't want to blow through them and not have them for the more critical moments. I don't think it's going to be, you know, it would be different if we were going full ABS. Everything is being called by the computer as opposed to an umpire, but that's not what it is. It's a challenge system.

And thank goodness from my perspective, it's only a challenge system because I don't. based on the way the experiments have gone in the miners with full ABS, I don't know that we'd be thrilled with how that played out. But yeah, I think the challenges are going to be sparse enough. They'll affect game outcome, sure. A called third strike that is challenged in the ninth inning will have a huge outcome on that game potentially. But in terms of a player's season-long stat line,

I don't think we're going to notice. Here are, I found an article from Zach Myzel, Mizel, on The Athletic, and these are the hitters who had the most balls called strikes from 2022 to 2025. Sayas Suzuki, Randy Rosarena, Stephen Kwan, Mookie Betz, Aaron Judge, Marcus Semyon, Juan Soto, Glever Torres,

Issoc Paredes, Marcelo Zuna. Those all seem like hitters that take a lot of pitches. And they all have a really good, feel for the strike zone. Right. Yeah. So it may just be, it may just be by

the volume of the pitches they take, they have more pitches that are called the other way. Or impatient umpires wanted to hurry their battle on. Maybe. But yeah, bottom line is I don't,

I don't think it should change how we approach anybody in fantasy, really. The second parter here from Ben. Finally, as I was doing my draft prep, some names jumped out that you haven't really discussed. Luis Renhifo had some decent seasons in 2022 and 2023. He's now with the Brewers.

Luis Garcia, I assume that is the Nationals, Luis Garcia. I know you hate him, but he may gain first base eligibility addressing some playing time concerns. Zach Geloff once had some hype. I know these are not at the top of draft boards, but they're relevant for those of us in Deeper League. So he's got any thoughts on Luis Renhifo now with the Brewers,

Luis Garcia with the Nationals, Zach Gelloff with the A's. Yeah, Renhifo and Gelloff are relevant in deeper leagues like in L, AL only. They're sure to be drafted there, but they're not the kind of hitters, they're not the kind of players I like to invest in in those formats because they feel like low probability,

low probability of reaching a fairly low ceiling kind of players. You know, I prefer to invest in, like if I'm going to go the cheap route, I'm sure they'll be cheap, either higher upside play or somebody who's more guaranteed at bats. I mean, Renhifo appears to slot in as the Brewers starting third basement for now. But if he hits like he did last year, 238 with the 622 OPS, I don't think he's going to stay there long. and I'm not confident that he's better than that. Yes, he was better in 2024 especially,

but in a way that underlying numbers didn't really support. It's not like he had a big market and free agency. I'm not saying there's no scenario where I'd take him, but there's no scenario where I'd be excited to take Luis Renhifo. And then Gelloff, he made a splash as a rookie, but has been pretty awful since then and not unexpectedly given how bad his contact issues are.

So after acquiring Jeff McNeil this offseason, I don't know that the athletics are holding out much hope for Deloff at this point. Yeah, Luis Garcia Jr. You are getting a pretty big discount from last year. I didn't address him, yeah. His ADP was 119 last year. Over the past seven days, it's 236.

And still did some nice things last season, just a 16% strikeout rate. the best quality of contact in his career. Expected stats were very good. 281XBA 470 X-Lug. And looks like he's going to play first base. So could have that first, second base, middle corner flexibility this season. He's, I think, not a bad pick where he's going as like a 15-15 guy, something like that.

I didn't address him because he is the kind of player. I like to target in like an in a lonely league because I think he's, he doesn't meet the threshold of a standard mixed league cutoff so he's kind of out of mind for most people but he doesn't miss that cutoff by much and he could exceed the performance of a lot of those players think like a Brendan who am I thinking of

because that's the opposite league so not him who's a good example in the NL like I have like Otto Lopez around him Semyon, Willie Castro. Like Louis Garcia. Otto Lopez gets drafted way more than Luis Garcia does, but is he really better than Luis Garcia?

I think mainly we're more confident he's going to play every day, but it wanted at all surprise me if Garcia outperformed him because the batting average was so much better. And yeah, you get that eligibility, potentially with first base, dual eligibility. That'd be nice. So I kind of like Luis Garcia for deep, deep leagues. I really don't like Renhifa or Geloff for them. All right. This one is from Baba O'Reilly.

Big fan of the hoop. This, let's see, quick question. With Hunter Green hurt and possibly starting on the IL, what do y'all think of Rhett Louder? So we did kind of wrap up our live mock draft on Wednesday night talking about Ret Louder. He had a good spring start. He has prospect pedigree.

And now it looks like he might have an opportunity. but it was pretty late on in that podcast. So Scott, any thoughts here on Rhett Louder, I guess, as a deep flyer sleeper type? I mean, I've been impressed by his first two starts. He's missed bats at a better rate than I remember him doing as a rookie or even as a prospect. I didn't. He was one of those pitching prospects who, okay, he was drafted high, seventh overall in 2023, seems to rank high for everyone.

but I didn't really see it. It felt like a high floor kind of pitcher instead of the high ceiling types we like to draft in fantasy. But he's looked really good so far this spring, and I think with the Hunter Green injury, has a good chance of making the team. I think he belongs in the late round sleeper discussion. I prefer the upside of a Mick Abel

with the bat missing ability he's shown, but louder, probably more likely to make the team. So they should be drafted in a similar range. You get around 300, you could start thinking about guys like that. All right, let's take our final break when we return back into your emails right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. It's our weekend mailbag. And this next question comes from TJ.

Want you to rate this trade in a head-to-head category's Dynasty League with standard five stats plus OBP and Slug, along with losses and Kada walks. Okay. Team A gets Sal Stewart and Freddie Peralta. Team B gets Vinny Pass Quantino and Logan Henderson. Now, ranked this considering it's an auction, and Team A also gets an extra $12 suspend. Okay.

Team A gets Sal Stewart, Freddie Peralta, and $12. Team B, Vini Pasquantino and Logan Henderson. I think team A, I'm not even sure I need the extra $12. Yeah, that feels really good. Yeah. Freddie Peralta looks like the best player in this deal, not Vinnie Pasquantino. I guess it's close between those two. So to get Sal Stewart and $12, I'm putting, I don't know how deep this league is,

but I'm putting almost no value on Logan Henderson. I'm not confident he even makes the Brewers. He should, but he should have been in their rotation all along last year and wasn't. They have a lot of options. And they don't seem to be enamored with him, which you kind of understand is a weird profile, two-pitch pitcher with a fastball that he doesn't throw very hard. But it's been effective when Henderson has gotten the chance.

I just not confident he's going to be in the rotation. Yeah, I think this is, I don't know, if we're rating it a minus. Feels really good. Did he ask us to grade it? Yeah, want you to rate this trade. All right, three stars. Ah, no, Scott, it's either a 10 or a zero. That's, those are your only option.

Truthfully, I'll give it a... Yeah, probably, I like A-minus, B-plus, A-minus. This next one is from Dan. I am in a points league. Every year I try to draft a starting pitcher IL stash, someone who can be a second-half boost to my team. Last year, I drafted Spencer Strider in the ninth round or so. That one did not work out.

What starting pitcher IEL stash or stash is do you feel could be a league winner? So I know in the NL only one, I was, I usually like to get an aisle stash in that league as well. I got Justin Steele for five bucks, but I had Steele, Jared Jones, Corbyn Burns as options there. I think in the AL, like the two Yankees, Garikol and Carlos Hordaun, come to mind. Yeah. I mean, I like the value of Carlos Ruff. Rodon especially. I feel like since he got the injury label first,

people got comfortable with the idea, oh, he's way down here. But supposed to be back well ahead of Garrett Cole, probably about the same time as Zach Wheeler. And I have fewer performance concerns for Rodon when he comes back. Yes, all things being equal, Wheeler's better. But we don't know, given the nature of Wheeler's injury,

if he's going to be the same. And the cost is much lower for Rodon. So I like Rodon. The cost for Shane Bieber has dropped so far that it's like, why not? I took them in our head-to-head points mock last night. I took him in Tout Wars. I took him in Tout Wars like 334th overall. So we don't know how things are going to play out for him.

He's close to ramping up again and may be back pretty soon and maybe okay. I understand all the concern, but it's the amount it's priced in now is to the point that there's no risk there to taking Beber. So I think that's fine. I think one thing I want to stress with his email, though, taking Spencer Strider round nine as an IL stash, I know this was a lesson for me. Coming back from serious issues like that,

round nine's not the time to invest in that sort of pitcher. There are going to be enough good ones coming back from significant injuries late, that if you really want to fill out your aisle spots, if you really want to chase upside like that, you could do it much later than round nine. If it's smaller stuff, like what Brandon Woodruff is dealing with

and who's someone else, there's somebody else dealing with a minor injury that might miss, Merrill Kelly, Merrill Kelly's who I'm thinking of, might miss his first turn, but it's not serious coming off surgery, major structural stuff.

I don't sweat those very much. I think you can take those at any, kind of discount, but the big injuries, you need a big discount for them. To your point, I mean, Carlos Hordaun, his fantasy pros ADP is 186. Garrick-Cole is 197, so that's much later than the round nine that you had to use to get Spencer Strider last year, scrolling up and down, any of the other injured guys. Yeah, I mean, Bieber hasn't dropped enough in overall ADP, but you mentioned it. There are drafts where he's going as one of the last picks in the draft.

Do we mention Blake Snell? No. But that's not. I think just the vagueness of his situation and the way the Dodgers handle their pitching, I think it's concerning. But he falls close to, sometimes he lasts to around pick 200. And that seems plenty discounted enough to take the shot on him. This next one is from Dylan.

Grade the Trade Dynasty Points League, 440. players are rostered. I trade Willie Abraeu with three years of control and Matt Shaw with four years of control for Michael Garcia with two years of control and Trevor Rogers four years of control. This league subtracts 1.25 for a strikeout and generally favors pitching. So I guess that's for a hitter strikeout minus 1.25. Wow, that is a lot.

Yeah, that is a lot. That again, how many hitters are even usable? in this league. Well, I know who won is Mikel Garcia because he doesn't strike out much. Yeah. I don't get why you're asking us about this, Dylan. This seems like an A plus trade. What would be the hesitation? Yeah.

Mikel Garcia and Trevor Rogers for Willier, Abraeu and Matt Shaw? Shaw's young, buddies. It's like... Without a starting spot now. Two must-star players for two that might not even be drafted.

Abreu probably will, but he could get dropped in a heartbeat. And it's not like the years of control are that different. One less for Michael Garcia than William Bray. Oh, I think it's, I think this is a slam dunk. A plus plus plus 10, 10 out of 10. This next one is from Michael. Points League with minus one per strikeout.

Soto and Otani are both available for me. And I can retain them for the next four years at identical cost. Am I crazy to go Soto, age 27 through 31, over Otani, age 30? 31, 32 through 35 seasons, considering A's strikeouts and util only. It's not crazy. It's, I don't know, I might even do it. It's not crazy at all. Otani, I just want to double check the strikeout rates here.

It's rare that I ever have to think about Shohei Otani strikeout rate. It's just like, Otney. It's basically been between 22 and 26% each of the past four years. It's a bit high. and Soto's is very or pretty low Soto walks more than he strikes out I presume you're getting a full point

for a walk in this league too sub 20% strikeout rate yeah I think Soto probably does edge out Otani in this format and then you got the youth thing yeah as well this next one is from Joe hey guys love the show and thanks for all the great info wanted to get your opinion on a trade

that I have had proposed to me in a 12 team six by six head to head each cat category, Dynasty League. Runs, home runs, RBI, steals, average, OPS, and then strikeouts, wins, quality starts, ERA, whips, a whip, not whips, saves plus holds. I've been offered George Kirby and a second round pick

in the 2027 first year player draft for Leo DeVrys and my first round pick in the 27 first year player draft. This feels like a pretty balanced trade, but I wanted to get your input if it would be unwise to trade away at Leo DeVrys. is that is the top prospect in the A's organization? I feel like I don't have enough information to make a call here.

I don't know how keepers work. I don't know how many minor leaguers are kept separate from major leaguers. There are a lot of variables here that I don't have, but I will make a call with the ones I do have. And you are getting... giving up a decent amount of future value. Right. I think unless you're...

And your first round pick is gone. I, a prospect as high end as DeVries and potentially another big prospect downgrade with the pick exchange in a dynasty league. I think I'd rather hold on to that, especially since you're getting a pitcher in return and taking on a lot of extra risk

just by virtue of Kirby being a pitcher. He is a young pitcher, but you can't, You can't think too long term with any pitcher. He did include his pitching staff too, and it's pretty loaded. So I'm not even sure that he needs George Kirby. Yeah. I think I'd stand pat.

I think I agree as well. This one is from Chris Longtime Listener and First Time E-Mailer. Thank you guys for helping me become an elite fantasy baseball player. I finished first in the regular season in my ESPN Points League, three of the last five years with your guys' help. I'm curious as to why there isn't any hype for Caleb Durbin this year. stream pull righty in Fenway should do well or do I need to take my points league glasses off so this might have come in before our sleepers 2.0 episode but I brought up Caleb Durbin he is going to be

in my sleepers 2.0 whenever I write that article one of these next couple of days hopefully if I find the time to do that yeah I agree with you I think his pulled air approach in Fenway while it might not lead to more home runs just bang a bunch of balls off the the green monster there and good strikeout rate makes a lot of contact he walked a lot more in the miners as well so i could see like a 270 batting average 350 350 o bp and like 10 homers 25 25 steals it doesn't blow you away but i think it's someone that can beat 80p pretty easily in fenway yeah maybe maybe he could be a sneaky batting average standout you know part of it is I wasn't necessarily thinking of Finway as a park upgrade because you look at expected home runs by Ballpark.

His homeruns are being halved there according to stat cast. He's not gaining. He's losing. Five instead of 11 is what he would have hit. I don't know that I entirely believe it that expected home run by ballpark stat. I don't think it's as sophisticated as we give it credit for. And just the odd configuration of Fenway Park may throw it. for a little bit of a loop.

Somebody wants to correct me out there about that, fine, but that's my understanding based on things I've read. So maybe it's overstating what he'll lose in terms of home runs, and maybe he'll actually gain. But I think one thing we can say for sure is that Babbitt will improve, bounce a balls off the ground monster, ground monster, green monster. And that could make him, you know, dozen homers, 20 steals, let's say,

280 batting average. We saw what it did for, although it was weird. For Bregman last year, his batting average went up, but he actually played better on the road than at home, so it was weird. But overall, it did kind of, like we thought his batting average in Babbitt would be boosted. That did happen, although it didn't happen in Fenway.

So it was weird the way it played out, but. But those numbers I just laid out, I mean, are you expecting more? I'm saying 280, 12 homers, 20 steals. That's giving him 25 points of batting average for that move. And that's still not that. Like, it's, that's a useful player in Roto Leaks especially as deep as you go into the player pool. But that's not a difference maker.

So I just, I don't know that the ceiling is enough for me to get that excited about Caleb Durbin. But I could see him being better than last year. And last year he was useful. So sure. And this goes back to, you know, Sleeper versus Breakout. Like breakout could be a league winner and someone that provides excess value, right? and is being drafted much higher the following year than this one. Caleb Durbin to me just feels like profit potential.

Just, you know, he pays off where he's drafted, provides even a little bit more than that. I don't think he has huge upside by any means, but I think it could just be a serviceable player who's currently going outside the top 200. So it feels like a pretty easy win, in my opinion there for Caleb Durbin. This next one is from Josh. In Head Ted Points Leagues, you need players that will be at their best

at the end of the year during playoff weeks. why don't your rankings reflect that? Pitcher inning buildup is almost an undeniable reality. Any pitcher that can't make it 150 plus innings is not very valuable in hedgehead points leagues. I think rookie pitchers and pitchers returning from injury should be ranked lower, whereas workhorses who pitched 150 innings or more

last year should be ranked higher. Since that means this year, they will be ready for 150 or higher, maybe a full season of 180 innings. I don't know that our, rankings don't reflect that. I mean, certainly I consider how many innings the pitcher is going to throw. I think maybe this is rooted in some outdated thinking.

There was a period, I think it was probably over 10 years ago at this point, where we were seeing a lot of pitchers, young pitchers just get shut down. It's mid-August, you're shut down. You're not throwing any more innings. And teams have gotten better about building in rest during the season. so that you don't get this hard shutdown, this plague of hard shutdowns for young pitchers across the league. I mean, some of the most dominant pitchers,

league winners down the stretch last year were young pitchers, guys like Cam Schittler, for instance. Nolan McLean. Yeah. So I think, yes, especially in points leagues where volume is so important, the number of innings, I think a pitcher can reach theoretically, is a big part of the equation when it comes to ranking it. But I think the process that I think the line of thinking you're going down here,

Josh, is making too much of it and ends up overrating the effect. And I've gotten burned by doing that before. Yeah. And I think there are examples of, and we've talked about pitchers who get a boost in a points league, Logan Webb and Framber Valdez and Sandy Alcantara. I think I have him ranked 10 spots higher in my head-to-head points pitcher rankings than I do in Roto just because I expect there to be so much more volume.

I think there is something to what Josh is saying here for the younger pitches, like pitchers Bubba Chandler, who could be inefficient at times and walk a lot, probably not going to give you six innings per start very often. Chris said just recently about Chase Burns, who could have a very high strikeout rate, but maybe he's a five-and-dive guy very often. I could see that happening for Yuri Perez too, where it's maybe a lot of five, five-and-a-third inning starts for him.

So I can see that, but also, I mean, they're like per-inning per-star upside is, you know, they could give you 10 strikeouts over six innings every, you know, third or fourth start. They have that kind of upside, and so you don't want to sleep on that either. So I think you kind of have to marry that. Like maybe you don't want too many young pitchers in a points league

and you kind of mix in some of those like Sandy and Valdez and Merrill Kelly types and guys like that, but I wouldn't just completely shy away from the young guys either. But that I don't even think, I don't even think that's something you have to think about on draft day. And this is something we talked about a lot and the head-to-head points auction, we just, not auctioned, the draft we just did. Head-to-head points leagues, everybody is so disposable, everybody, except for your true, studs is so disposable that if you're if you've got the same pitching staff in September that you have in April, you probably didn't do that well because you just weren't playing hard enough

to keep up with the competition. Or you have the best pitching staff in the league. Yeah, I guess that's possible. But even then, injuries, you got pretty lucky. You spent a lot on pitching and you got lucky keeping it healthy if your pitching staff looks the same. There are, so many pitchers popping up over the course of the season that then end up becoming integral parts of your lineup that it just seems kind of you're getting things backward by making that the priority on draft day

okay what does this look like in September it's going to look way different no matter what you draft and one more point on just the young pitchers and you talked about teams getting better at building in rest throughout the course of the season I think an example with Trey I Savage and the Blue Jays of them slow playing him early so that they could have him down the stretch

when you need him most, when they need him most as well. So we're even starting to see some of that where it does kind of suck that maybe Yassavage won't be as useful in April or May in a points league, but maybe that will mean that he is more useful in those playoff weeks when you need him down the stretch of the season. So keep that in mind as well. This last one is from Dave,

And he says, Dear Kyle Bradish lovers in a 10-team head-to-head category Dynasty League, where we keep 20 players each year, would you trade Bryce Eldridge and the Miz? That's Jacob Miziarowski for Jeremy Pena and Logan Webb. So this is not even a Kyle Bradish question, but yeah. Eldridge and Mizierowski for Penaa and Logan Webb. Yeah, that's a pretty easy one, especially since it's just a 10-teamer, like Jeremy Pena and Logan Webb already meet the very high threshold to matter in a league that deep. You're hoping Eldridge and Mizorowski get there.

I think Mizorowski especially is sure to be drafted, but it's got a lot to prove. And Pena and Webb should have plenty of good years left in them. So I think this is a easy deal, another one that if we're putting a grade on it would at least be an A, probably an A plus. All right, we're 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 next week.

Bye-bye. Paramount Podcasts.