Fantasy Baseball Today - Mailbag! Next Corbin Burnes, DH Effect on NL Pitchers, RPASPs & More (3/26 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 26, 2022

Before we get to the Fantasy Baseball questions, what is the best egg sandwich construction (1:35)!? ... Let's get to your apple podcast questions (4:25). Who might be the next Corbin Burnes? ... What is the universal DH effect on starting pitchers (9:32)? ... Which players can you target in HR-only leagues (15:05)? ... Matt Olson or Wander Franco in a keeper league (18:22)? ... Emails (23:45)! What about this forgotten bunch? ... Should you trade the first overall pick in a daily lineup league (29:55)? ... Who are the best RPASPs this season (35:30)? ... Fernando Tatis or Wander Franco in a keeper league (36:52)? ... What is Dansby Swanson's value this season (39:39)? ... What is Chris Sale's keeper value given his injury (43:13)?  'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank 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. With fantasy. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. All right, we have ourselves a massive draft weekend. Let's answer some questions.

Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Saturday, March 26th. Frank Stamphill joined by Chris Towers. Thanks again to everybody for sending in your Apple Podcast. questions and your emails, Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Reminder that if you can keep those questions shorter, it helps because we are receiving a lot of questions this time of year. What's going on, Chris? Hello. Howdy, bud? How's life? It's good. I'm, as people listen to this, I'm currently in Puerto Rico.

It's 40 degrees warmer than it was in New York, so it's great. It's great. It reminds me I should turn off my space heater. Yeah. It's a little chilly in New York City. right now. It's now cold again in New York. So we had that little brief period of time where it was warm and we got to faked out a little fake out of it. You get a little fake out spring and you get all excited and you take the shorts out of storage and then then you don't get to wear them. So I'm, I'm thankful. I'm thankful to the weather in New York City for making me look forward to my trip. All right. I actually, I have another question for you, Chris. I ate a fantastic egg sandwich earlier today, bacon egg and cheese on a roll. It's just like a classic.

staple, New York City, probably other places too, but, you know, whatever. I'm from New York, so I feel like... But New York is the center of the universe, the only important place. 100%, right? What is your favorite egg sandwich construction? This is a loaded question. The egg? Do you put cheese on it? What kind of cheese? What kind of meat? What kind of bread? So my preference would be like a soft roll, like a Martin's potato roll, would be my go-to. I like it. Grilled it on the outside a little bit. And then you go, egg on the,

my preference would be sausage on the bottom, fried egg on top, cheese, bun. I'm a sausage patty over bacon guy. Oof, it's close. It's definitely a close call.

It's just a little more substantial. That's what I appreciate is that the bacon, you know, you get like two stripped of bacon and they're like way for thin and I just prefer having a little more heft to my sandwich with it's got a better it's got a better weight in your hand what kind of cheese are we going with there or american cheese anytime you're talking about cheese for like a burger or a breakfast sandwich in particular american cheese is the ideal cheese i'm not one of these snobs that like like i love

a good cheese but i'm not one of these snobs that think that like oh american cheese isn't real cheese like whatever it's delicious it's like chemically engineered in the lab to be delicious It melts well. It's got like a salty taste that really fits well with those specific types of sandwiches. It's the ideal. Don't give me cheddar or, you know, just American cheese is the ideal for that kind of sandwich. I get it. I get it.

I used to think along the same lines. My fiance taught me that American cheese is not real cheese. So I've kind of been converted. Who cares? Who cares? It's made from real cheese. Like, who cares? This, this, this puritanical approach to, like, what is real cheese?

You know, what does that even mean, right? It's all just like milk that's gone bad, right? Isn't that how cheese is made? I don't really know. How, Chris, if you don't know, you know, I don't know. It's just old milk. Fair enough? That's all cheese is.

It's just old milk. So who cares if it's real or not? Give me the bacon. I like the sausage every now and then, pause, but, uh, give me the bacon. I'm like the guy in the matrix. I was like, I know this American cheese isn't real. And I know it's just the matrix telling me it's real. But it tastes delicious.

Well done, bacon. Fried eggs, cheese on an egg roll. Let's make it happen. Let's get it to your questions. Apple podcast review questions. This one is from Elliott 8-617. Gentlemen, you may have forgotten this by now, but you called Corbyn Burns's greatness well before it happened.

So, who is the not? Next, Corbyn Burns, who is the middling pitcher no one is paying attention to that will someday be great. And Chris, I feel like there are a lot of options for this. We were talking beforehand, there are just so many starting pitchers going late in drafts that I am excited to select. You can't draft all of them, but do you have a few candidates in mind here that can, look, Corbyn Burns, we're setting the bar pretty high.

The guy just won the National League, Sy Young. But someone who can ascend to a great level one day. Do you have any options? There are no shortage of later round pitchers who I like. We were talking about Casey Mize before the show. He had a pretty good start against the Yankees. I think there are still a lot of changes in his pitch mix that he needs to make. Still way too fastball heavy, but he's certainly talented enough.

Jesus Lazzardo, another one, Velocity was up in his first spring start. I think there's a chance that he develops that Marlins change up that helps him take a step forward, curveball, obviously important there. Luis Patino, who I've been a big fan of this spring, Tony Gonsolin, gosh, I'm sure there are more. How about his teammate, Aaron Ashby? I feel like that's, that slider is just filthy, gets a lot of ground balls as well.

I mean, I guess he's a little bit more hyped, so it's not like he's coming out of nowhere, per se. Yeah, yeah, I think the Burns one, you know, like it's got to be someone who's been around for a little while and who's had, you know, that's why I think Hazel's Azzarra is a good comp. because, you know, remember, Burns was awful in 2019. You know, was barely used as a starter, but just got hit really, really hard. But there were really encouraging signs underneath.

And I think Lazzardo has a lot of that similarity there, too. Obviously, even more hyped as a prospect. So, yeah, those are some of the options. I'll give you a few more names here. Tyler McGill with the New York Mets. He's a big body. He throws hard. He apparently he added a pitch this offseason, Chris.

I feel like you've mentioned that, either a cutter or a slider. So I am interested in what he can do. And look, if we're talking about spring, someone who's getting hyped up right now, throwing hard, former top prospect, just a name to watch. Let's see how this develops. Mitch Keller. He was former top pitching prospect in baseball, is throwing hard. He's got a great slider.

But the fastball command in the past couple of years has been brutal. And he needs to figure out a third pitch too. So, and the thing is, he's starting about three to four miles per hour harder than he did last season. His average fastball velocity in today's start was 97.7 miles prior. That's Thursday's start for those of you in the future. And that, the kind of, the thing with that is if your fastball velocity is four miles per hour harder, you can get away with a lot worse command. Or the same command, you can get away with it.

It's, you know, you still have to get swings and misses with your other pitches. He did throw his change up a decent amount in Thursday start, which is interesting because that's been, you know, he threw 5% of the time last year. The curveball has been pretty bad, but maybe the faster fastball velocity can help that play up. So yeah, he's definitely someone to keep an eye on. Edward Cabrera, Marlon's prospect, there were a lot of people who viewed him as a better prospect than Sixth of Sanchez when they were both coming up. He was not good last year when he got his chance, but a lot to like there, has that typical Marlins. change up along with good velocity. So he's another guy.

There's guys out there for sure. Oh yes. This one is from JRA1981. Keeper question can only keep three in head-to-head points. Value goes up $5 every year. Garrett Cole, $42, G.olito, $21, Salvador Perez, $9, Wander Franco for seven, and Trevor Rogers for six.

Leaning towards Cole Perez and Wander, Cole would go for 60 plus in this league. Need three, Chris. That does make me lean towards Cole, 47 when he would probably go for 60 plus. But man, I don't want to not pick any one of Salvador Perez, Wander Franco, or Trevor Rogers. Now, I guess the way to look at it would be Perez and Franco would go for more in the draft than Rogers likely will.

At least that would be my assumption because their ADPs are much higher. And so just in terms of like your ability to get the most value, I guess it would be Cole, Perez, and Franco. And, you know, you could get Trevor Rogers back for probably cheaper than what it would cost to get any of Perez or Franco back. So I think that's the way I would go. Yeah, I think that sounds about right. Even with the inflation, I think Trevor Rogers probably goes for $15 to $20 in a league like this. So I'm with you.

I would go with Cole, Salvador Perez, and Wander. Franco. This next one is from J. Wales 9987. So we are going to have an NLDH this year for 162 games, but I'm not seeing that really reflected anywhere in your pitcher rankings. Having a solid additional hitter in the middle of every lineup and not being able to pitch around the 7th and 8 spots should have a negative impact on pitchers, shouldn't it? Should I be favoring AL pitchers expecting a more consistent result? And over the past 10 seasons, National League ERA was lower each year except for one, that one year was the short in 2020,

when there was a universal DH, the NLERA was 4.48, the ALERA was 4.43. It's a weird season, obviously, and they're playing in the middle of the summer where offense is up overall. Chris, what do you think about this? Because I feel like the best pitchers,

like they're going to be elite no matter what. You know, maybe further you go down the draft board, you can use this as like a, tiebreaker or something like that, but I feel like we shouldn't overreact to it. What do you think? I mean, I guess the thing I would want to see would be, you know, were American League pitchers more well represented among the top players at the position in that 2020 season? So I'm going to look that up now. And you got three of the top five were American League pitchers. But five of the top 12. But five of the top 12 or 13 were American League. So I don't know if that's necessarily, you know, it's a small sample

size. Kenton Maeda was a top five pitcher that year. Marco Gonzalez was one of the American league pitchers who was in the top 10. So, you know, I don't know how much you can take from that. But I don't know. It matters, certainly. But I don't know. Like, I feel like that's already being taken into account in the projections. And so that shouldn't be that. big of a deal, but I'm not 100% certain on that. It's a fair question, and it's one that I, I guess I haven't given as much thought specifically to as I should have, just because on a population level, I don't know how much it matters. So it's, it's more of a, trying to figure out which pitchers are under or overvalued as a result of that. And it's especially tough, Chris,

because five of the top six starting pitchers being drafted right now are in the National League. So I mean, what are you going to do? Fade all of them? You know, it doesn't make that much sense. There's Garrett Cole, Corbyn, Walker, Bueller, Jack Husser, Jacob de Grom, and Brandon Woodruff, those are the top six starting pitchers being drafted. Then you get to Shane Bieber, who, I mean, we have concerns about anyway

when it comes to his shoulder and the fact that he allows a lot of hard contact himself. Zach Wheeler, after that, dealing with the shoulder injury. A lot of the, really, wow. I'm looking at it now. Nine of the top 11 starting pitchers drafted. are in the National League. So, I mean, do you want to prop up someone like Robbie Ray or Lucas Gialito because of that

or downgrade Sandy Alcantara or Aaron Nola as a result? I'm not going to do that. I mean, these guys are ranked as highly as they are because of, you know, the skills that they possess. And I probably should have mentioned this earlier in the offseason, but the way that I started my rankings overall this year, which was different compared to years past, is it was, I kind of made a combination.

Chris helped me do it actually. A combination of projections, early NFBC ADP, Scott's rankings, I think a couple other rankings, and I just kind of put them all together. And that was like my base of rankings. And then I started moving things around as the offseason progressed, moving players around that I like

or moving players down that I don't like. So again, I think that that is already factored into those projections. So it's a good point there from you, Chris. This one is from, I did not write it down. But he writes D.E. Dear Bill Riser and Lance Bean. I think he included,

or she, that this is for Scott. All right, so these are the main protagonists. Some kind of old video game, I would think. Yeah, it's a rage or something. It's Contra. Yeah. Were you ever big on Contra, Chris? I never really got into it.

I don't know if I've ever played Contra, actually. Yeah. Streets of Rage. It might be in the Switch store. Like one of the Contra games might be in there in one of the like packages, but I've never played it. Yeah. Streets of Rage is definitely a banger, though.

I'm happy you brought that up. Played a lot of that growing up. I am in a 16 team head-to-head categories Keeper League that uses each category as a win or loss. I am able to keep five players from last year. I've decided to keep Sandy Alcantara in round eight, Bobauchette in round 13, Fernando Tatis in round 14,

and Robbie Ray in round 15. I need one more. Lance Lynn, round 10. Paul Goldschmidt, round two. Freddie Peralta, round 19, or Trevor Rogers in round 15? Peralta in round 19 is the clear outlier there. I think it's possible he's the best of Lynn, Peralta, and Rogers. I'm not sure how you have that ranked.

I have Lynn higher than him, but yeah, it's the round differential there is significant. Yeah, I would definitely go with Peralta. I have a ranked Lynn Peralta, Rogers in the round. rankings, but yeah, the nine round difference between Peralta and Lance Lynn. I'll take the value there as well. This one's from Chicago Panther. Hey, Kyle, Jake, and John. There's some pretty basic names. Yeah, I mean, I was thinking when he mentioned Chicago, that maybe that's Bears quarterbacks, but the only one I can think of is Kyle Orton. So I don't know. John Kittner ever play for the Bears?

I don't know. Jake D'Alome? Maybe, actually. Did Jake D'Lone play? I have no idea. For the Bears? He might have. No, probably too much.

Never played for the Bears. No, he didn't. All right, well, let us know, whatever it is. I play in an 11 team strictly home run league. Ten roster spots, seven starters. We got another question like this

recently. Actually, this might have been the same person. Oh, we'll answer it anyway. No ads or drops or trades. A lot of ways to win here. The goal is to win each week. So streaky hitters help. Most home runs at the All-Star break and also the entire season.

Looking for your picks to lead the league in homers slash streaky hitters to win weeks and or sleepers. It's the Cubs starters from their World Series team. Conno Hendrix, Jake Garrietta, John Lester. Yes, that would make sense. We are hosting a baseball podcast. All right, Chris.

Some sneaky hitters to lead the league in home runs or streak, just streaky guys in general. I mean, Joey Gallo comes to mind as like, obviously, the face of streakiness. Depends what range we're talking about,

but if we're talking like 10th round or later, the profit pocket, all of those guys, Cow Shwarber, Josh Bell, especially, but also Joey Votto, based on what he did last season.

Friend Mill Reyes in that same range. Reese Hoskins, for sure. Reese Hoskins, Josh Donaldson, could hit a ton of homers. Matt Chapman could be a really sneaky source of homers.

I mean, honestly, Randall Gritchick. We haven't, well, we'll talk about that on the podcast from two days ago that we're recording later tonight. But he just got traded to the Rockies and that could be, he could have a very good season. Streaky, you won't streaky, Miguel Seno.

Apparently, Best Shaped's life. You know who I think you might be able to get at a discount? You just signed with the Marlin so people might undervalue him because of that. But Jorge Salare, I think you might be able to get at a discount. So I do like him quite a bit myself. Luke Voigt for sure, Bobby Dalbeck. Yep.

Bobby Dalbeck is a really good one. Luke Voigt, now with the Padreys should play every day. Hunter Renfro could be undervalued. Great ballparking with the Brewers. We like him for other reasons, but Joe Adele was on a 48 Homer Pace last season at AAA and hit one about 600 feet. to dead center the other day in spring. So Joe Adele could be a better power source than you expect.

Cody Bellinger, if he can get back on track, he'll give you 30 plus. Sure, sure, yeah. Max Kepler could hit 30 home runs. We've seen him do it before. Hazers Aguilar could hit 30 home runs. Yeah. Yeah, those are names. I think that's- Those are all names.

It's a pretty good amount. Let's move on to this next one. This one's from John Thundergun. Hey, Dennis, Mac and Charlie. That is the always sunny in Philadelphia fellas. Yeah, I was watching that pretty religiously for a while and then I just fell off. I don't know why. It's pretty good though.

It's not a show I've ever watched consistently, but I've seen a bunch of episodes. It's one that I'll just like throw on occasionally. It's pretty damn funny. Very funny. I play in an 11 team, 6xx-Roto League with OPS as the, I think that's supposed to be 6x5, Roto League with OPS as the additional category. Every team can keep up to four players at a cost of the round before they were drafted last year,

with players able to be kept for four years total. I am keeping Kyle Tucker, Corbin Burns, and Shohei Otani the hitter. Would you keep Wander Franco in the 16th round can be kept for three more years, or Matt Olson in the seventh round who can be kept for two more years? So a little bit more of projection versus higher value

now in Matt Olson? Yeah, that one's tough because I think Olson's just a much better player right now for fantasy and a seventh round value is good enough that I'm thinking I might keep him just because, look, you don't know what's going to happen in 2025. That I don't know if that extra year really matters all that much. It's entirely possible that Matt Olson is just the top three first baseman for the next three years and he's a value at any price. So that's a tough one.

I am lower on Wanderfranco in terms of his immediate fantasy appeal than a lot of people seem to be. So that's playing into it as well. But I don't think you can go wrong with either one. I just think Matt Olson is much more likely to be an impact difference maker this season. So I think I'd just go with him. All right. Matt Olson is like a third round pick on average. So you're getting four rounds of value.

Wander Franco is like a fifth round pick. So you're getting 11 rounds of value. I think I would go with Wanderfranco. Franco. It would not surprise me. If you think their price is reasonable, if you think their price accurately reflects what they're going to do, then I think that makes sense. Yeah. I'm just lower on Franco. Fair. Makes sense. Yeah, I think Olson, there's a good chance that he's better than Franco this year, but would not surprise me if Wander takes an even bigger step forward the following season. This one's from Jerry in New Jersey. 12 team head to head points, start four outfielders,

two utility spots, and up to six starting pitchers. I have a 260. $60 salary cap draft and get three keepers. I'm keeping Burns at 20 bucks. Sandy O'Skantra at 11 to start and was leaning $16 Matt Olson as my last keeper. Is there any keeper I should choose over these players? DeGrom at 47, Scherzerzor at 40, Lance Landt at 28, Ian Anderson at 17. So no, four starting no, I don't think so. I mean, Burns is clearly better than all of them in terms of the value and arguably just in terms of without considering price and Sandy is better than Lynn or Anderson

and Matt Olson at 16, he's cheaper than any of the other pitchers and I think he goes higher than Len or Anderson. So, yeah, I think that's the way to go. Olson, Burns, and Sandy. Agreed. All right, make sure to download and follow our five-minute podcast. That's Fantasy Baseball Today and Five, wherever you listen to

this podcast. And a reminder that we are now accepting your fantasy baseball today podcast. league submissions. The 12 team head-to-head points league draft will be Wednesday, March 30th at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. We also have the For the People League, which is a 16 team head-to-head categories league, and that draft will be the following Tuesday, April 5th, at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. So remember, send us something creative, a song, Photoshop a picture of us, make a poem, create a t-shirt design. Yes, we're actually looking for one of those. Or just tell us why you deserve to be in the league.

If you're a loyal listener, we'll take a few of those submissions as well. Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. That's where you send it. Put FBT Listener League in the subject line. And please let us know which draft you can be in because I believe we're actually going to broadcast both of those drafts as well. So we really need to make sure that everyone is going to be there live in the draft room and everything will work out smoothly.

Thank you. We're looking forward to it. We're going to take a quick break when we get back. Emails on Fantasy Baseball today. All right. so let's get into some emails. Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Again, is the address to send them to. This one's

from Mike in So Falls. Is that how you say that? It's such an interesting word. Sue. Sue. Sue. Sue Falls. Yeah. Got any of that Sue Falls, Sasparilla? It's a quote from a movie.

Well, you know I don't watch those, Chris. Unless it's Adam Sandler. So, if you got any of those, send them my way. There are some guys that have some interest. in, but feel like I haven't heard much about. What are your thoughts on these guys? All right, we've got a lot of Mets in here. Jeff McNeil, Mark Kanna, Eduardo Escobar, Charlie Blackman. I think it's fair to say, Chris, none of these players possess a high ceiling, but definitely could provide a very high floor in fantasy baseball. What do you think about McNeil, Kana, Escobar, Blackman?

Well, three of them are on the Mets. And so that's always, you know, that's a fact. That's always, things don't always go right when you're on the Mets. I think all of these guys are reasonable values. I think McNeil has more bounceback potential than he's given credit for. He was considered one of the best batting average sources in baseball last year, and I'm not sure he's just completely lost that ability, so I don't want to write him off entirely. Kana is just a solid all-around player.

His value in a traditional roto is muted a little bit because he's more of an OBP guy than an average guy, but I think he should hit at the top or near the top of the Mets lineup and could score a bunch of runs while being a pretty solid overall hitter. Escobar is like the perfect fallback middle infielder or corner infielder. I believe he's eligible both second and third. And I've ended up with him really late in roto drafts. He's probably going to hit 20 plus home runs and play pretty much every day. And then Charlie Blackman, another one that like I don't think he's going to have a great season,

but there was something weird going on with him where like his home stats he worse at home last season than he was on the road I don't think that he was something weird that was Brendan Rogers but Charlie Blackman was not as good at home last year as he has been in years past

and that was the same thing for Trevor's story so I kept meaning to look this up this offseason but it was actually 2020 that he was better on the road than at home Yeah, I wondered if there was something going on in Corse Field last year that caused their hitters to just not perform as well at home. I mean, I guess maybe losing Nolan Aronado obviously hurts. Yeah, I don't know.

But I would guess that since he still calls Corse Field home, that, you know, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect better days from him, although he has had right around an 800 OPS at Cores the past two seasons, which is pretty bad given that context. so it's possible that he's just lost it. But, you know, I think Charlie Blackman can still be someone who hits 275 to 280 and scores a decent amount of runs. So I'm not, I think any of these guys are interesting late round options

to fill out your roster, not necessarily the high-up side guys. Yeah, I would probably target them more in deeper leagues where you just need plate appearances. You need someone that's going to give you something. So in those 15-team roto leagues, I've wound up with Charlie Blackman sometimes as my third, fourth outfielder in that format. And typically when I need batting average later on. So if he hits 275 or 280 and scores whatever, 80-90-plus runs, close to 20 home runs,

that I think Charlie Blackman's a great value where he's going. Let's move on to this next one from Josh Lockhart. Who is Starlin, Darwin, and Anthony? That would be like the Cubs. Oh, yeah. early 2010's infield Starlin Casrow Darwin Barney

Anthony Rizzo I guess Yeah Hmm All right Who were we missing there I guess it would be Chris Sprite I don't know who the third basement In like 2011 for the Cubs would have been

I feel like it was somebody super random They had these guys that came through It was still okay that's what I thought It was still Aramis Ramirez Oh I loved Aramis Ramirez back in the day That was my guy man Oh he was awesome He's always undervalued.

Hey guys, I had a question about my fantasy league. It is a 12-team head-to-head points league with 10 hitter spots, normal positions plus two utility spots. However, we changed our pitchers to only two starting pitchers, two relief pitchers, and two other pitcher spots that you can use per day. So with you only being able to use six pitchers compared to 10 hitter spots per day,

this sounds like I guess it's a daily lineup, should I change my draft strategy and put more focus on hitters? yeah absolutely i mean the the pitchers are going to make up i get well i guess the one way you could look at it would be each individual pitcher spot matters more because while you know there's well no because it's a points league so it doesn't yeah no you should absolutely focus on hitters more because if it was a categories league and so hitting and pitching production was evenly weighted no matter where it came from then i think you would make the case that six pitcher spots compared to

hitter spots, you should focus more on pitchers because each individual pitcher is going to have a bigger impact. But because it's a points league, I think you definitely need to focus on having as many difference makers as possible in your hitter spots because they're just going to, they're going to produce a much higher percentage of your points overall. And I think that you should definitely find some relief pitchers to leave in your pitcher spot lineups, the two RP, the two pitcher spots that you can. And hopefully they just rack up, you know, bunch of endings and strikeouts, you know, Paul Seawall, Devin Williams, just guys that, you know, like the Yankees relievers, Jonathan Loisaga, Chad Green, you know, pitchers on good teams that

give you good ratios, good strikeouts, and lots of usage. I think you probably just want to plug those again, plug those guys in on a, in a daily format like that. This one's from Ryan in Vermont. Hey, Keith, Doug, and Jason. I'm getting like Boston Red Sox vibes, but I can't actually I don't know. Jason Baratech, Keith, Doug. He's folk? That sounds right.

He was a Boston player on that, on the... What, Doug Mirabelli? Yeah, he was the closer. Doug Mirabelle was on that team, right? Yeah, this doesn't sound right. I'm gonna be honest. They did have two Dugs. They had Doug Maribeli, Doug Mankavitch,

on that team. Doug Mankavich, yeah. They used to call me that in Little League. I was, no, I just, I created that scenario myself because... Yeah, that doesn't sound right, but that's where my brain went. I'm not, I'm not sure why it would be Jason Veritech, Doug Mirabelli, and Keith Fulke. I don't know either. They were all on the Red Sox, but that seems like a pretty random pull, two catchers and a closer.

Yeah, you're probably right. So I think there's probably a different answer there. Okay. 14 team, 5 by 5, Roto with OVP instead of batting average. Daily lineup changes. I have the first overall pitchers. I've been offered 1.4 and 2.25. So the fourth pick and the 25th pick

for the first pick and the 28th pick. Normally I might make this trade, but in this format, is it worth it? And should I be grabbing Otani at the 1-1 with the daily lineup changes and OBP? I don't think that the OBP necessarily helps O'Tani, but the daily lineup changes, if you can reap the rewards,

his hitting and pitching together, I personally want to take him first overall. What do you think, Chris? Do you give up 1 and 28 for 4 and 25? No, because the gap between 1 and 4 is larger than the gap between 25 and 28. But ordinarily, they're only three spots apart. But the difference is the best player versus the fourth best player and the 25th best player versus the 28th best player.

And we're a lot more certain about who the best players are than the gaps between guys. as you go on. So the gap between picks increases, the gap in value between picks, I guess would be the way to say it, increases with each pick that you go. Obviously, it's not linear.

It's not, you know, I guess in some years, maybe the gap between one and five isn't that great. And this year, I think is one of those. But still, I don't think that this is a worthwhile trade

even regardless of that. And yeah, you should be taking a tiny at 1-1 in a daily lineups league, assuming you can use both his hitting a pitching stats. Even with it being OBP and Wonsoto is going to be just so awesome in that format? I think so.

I know Wonsoto is going to be awesome, but that's still only one category. Sure. Where Otani is likely to be better and potentially much better in three of the other five. In addition to actually eight of the other seven of the other 10, Otani's going to likely be significantly better. All right. This one is from Sean. Dear Dominique, Freddie, and Brett.

My first thought was Atlanta area MVP's, but I don't think Dominic Wilkins actually have for one one. So I don't know. And I don't know who Brett would be anyway. Sean included what this is. So I know it. Do you want me to tell you, Chris, or do you want to take another stab at it?

Is that Dominic Wilkins and Freddie Freeman? It is. Who's Brett? it is Brett Fav these are all athletes that left Atlanta I mean I guess technically Brett Favre left Atlanta he never played for them right I don't think so

that seems like something we should probably know does he ever oh yeah no he he appeared in two games with the Atlanta I know he I know they drafted him yeah he went 0 for four on past attempts with two interceptions so left quite a legacy Right. In Atlanta Falcons history.

All right. I'm in a 12-team head-to-head points daily keeper league with the typical head-to-head points roster spots, three outfielders and no middle infield. We have three keepers kept at their draft round the year before. Please help me decide. My best choices are Sandial Contra in the 10th, Chris Bryant in the 13th, Freddie Peralta in the 19th,

Kyle Schwerber in the 21st, and Shane O. Mac, Shane McClanahan in the 24th round. Here comes the money. Here we go. Money talk Here comes the money All right, we need three, Chris. I think it's just Sandy,

Bryant, and Peralta. I think the values are good enough there that you don't worry too much about the like, yeah, McClanhan for a 24th pick for a 24th rounder is super valuable, but I'm not actually sure that's more valuable than Sandy Alcantra

for a 10th round pick, you know? Right. So I think you just go with the three best players. The one that I would say you could make the case for is Schwabor or Bryant, just because they could produce similar overall value with Bryant going eight rounds earlier. Yeah, but I'd rather lock up third base, you know? Yeah, I think there's a good case for that as well.

So yeah, I think it's definitely Sandy and Peralta. Apologize to Shane O'Mack. And then Schwabre Bryant is close to a coin flip for me, but I think it's fine to go with Brian. I agree. This one's from John Roberts. I love a few names of relief pitchers with starting pitcher eligibility.

So this is the opposite of a spark. I think I've, last year I dubbed this R-PASP, which there's definitely a better name than that, but that's exactly what it is. It's a relief pitcher as a starting pitcher. I love these guys on my roster for daily leagues because I can plug them in on days.

I have no starters going and get holds or saves and good ratios. Can't seem to find good ones this year. Help. So admittedly, the list is a lot smaller this year. than it was last year. So these are some names that I was able to find on CBS.

Again, these are relief pitchers who have starting pitcher eligibility. Colin McHugh, De Nelson Lemette, Caleb Smith, I don't know how good he's going to be, Tyler Alexander, Garrett Richards,

and David Price, if he doesn't make the Dodgers rotation. There are three potential closure candidates on Yahoo who have relief pitcher and starting pitcher eligibility, Andrew Kittridge, Michael Fulmer, and Corey Knavel. So those three on Yahoo,

and the other names in CBS. Chris, this was a pretty hard pull. I don't know if you have some names off the top of your head or if you're looking it up, but relief pitchers with starting pitcher eligibility. Yeah, that's a really hard one to answer. I don't know. Yeah, no, I got nothing. I'm sorry. It's fine, man. Yeah, it was pretty hard for me to find too. This was from Ryan in Tampa. Hello, McBain, Scoey, and Mendoza. These are pretty unique names. Let's see. I feel like I know this one,

and I'm frustrated that I can't come up with it. I think this is something to do with The Simpsons. Yeah, okay, it's from the McBain. Yeah, it's their like, what's it called? They're like, diehard parody in The Simpsons. Adamazer would be so disappointed to me right now. I'm in a 14-te-to-head points league with everyone keeping three players,

no draft pick tied to player, and can keep them for as long as you want. The league also has four outfielder's, a corner, a middle, and a utility, along with the normal positions. My question is, for my last keeper, I was all set with Fernando Tatis, but now with this injury and surgery, along with his shoulder issues, should I consider Wander Franco as a better option this season and beyond? Or am I just worrying too much? This is tough, Chris, because obviously long term, I think we still all accept Fernando Tatez to be a much better player than Wander Franco. maybe eventually Wander Franco closes the gap

but yeah I mean there's like a three year age gap between them so like we're Fernando Tatease is still at the age where it's like we're seven years away from when you would be like

oh he's starting to get up there I don't know if like so I don't know if that matters like you don't know what's going to happen in seven years um right Fernando Tatees is already that guy that we're hoping

Wander Franco can become and frankly I think it's incredibly unlikely if Wander Franco ever becomes that guy. I'm not sure he's going to be the kind of stolen base threat that can get to that level, unless he's just Wonsoto as a hitter. And even that Tatees is better than Wonsoto, injuries aside, for fantasy at least. So the problem is for 2022, I feel like you almost certainly have better picks than Wander Franco or Fernando Tatis, because we're basically talking about third round pick there.

but if you're looking towards the future, then the 2022 value doesn't matter all that much anyway, in which case, just keep Tatis. Right. Yeah. I now have Wander Franco ranked ahead of Tatease this upcoming season, but... And that's reasonable if you're just talking about for this year. Right, yeah.

But I mean, if you're thinking long term, look, I think we all expect Tatis to be assuming health ranked higher than Wanderfranco going into next season as well. So I would still take Fernando Tatis and hopefully your other keepers can help keep you afloat until Fernando Tatis is back. This one's from Tony B. just wondering your guys' thoughts on Danesby Swanson

in a 12-team Categories League this season. His projections show he could be a decent five-category contributor, but I feel like I haven't heard much about him. I love the show. Thanks for the advice. Well, thank you, Tony B. And Danesby Swanson, he was inconsistent last year. There were a few months where he had down months,

but then he really got going in the middle part, the second half of the season, and he wound up with a pretty strong season overall. So Swanson hit 248, you know, lower batting average, but 27 homers, 88 RBI, nine steals, 78 runs scored. He finished as a 72nd overall player in Roto last season,

and his ADP now is 122. So based on where he finished to his ADP, you're getting about 40 spots worth of value. What do you think, Chris? That is definitely a decent five category contributor. I'm not sure it's much more than that, but yeah, I think he's fine. Shortstop's so deep that it's hard to

view him as a difference maker, but... That's exactly. I don't think you'll ever really regret having Dan Smy Swanson. It's just that there are a lot of players we like more. But like, you know, compare him to what we expect from Wiliadamas, a lot of that sounds pretty similar,

except we're hoping Wiliadamas hits 280 instead of 250. So, you know, I don't, there's nothing wrong with there's really, it comes down and there's just nothing wrong with Danesby Swanson. He's just, it seems like he's settled into kind of forgotten territory.

Yeah, he's not a jag, but because he plays shortstop, he almost feels like a jag because of what he provides. So the strikeouts, I think we've kind of settled at the point where he's going to hit around 250. There was one outlier season where he hit more than that, but. And that was with a 350.

Babbip. He's been right around 300 for most of his career otherwise. He's going to hit 25-ish home runs. He's going to steal like 8 to 10 bags. He's part of a very good lineup. So I get it. I think he's a perfectly fine fallback option. If you somehow manage to miss out on all the other short stops, it's probably better as like a middle infielder than you're starting shortstop. But he's fine. But like I can't tell you that I'm confident Jorge Polanco will be better than him. And Jorge Polanco is going a lot better or a lot earlier. So like, In that regard, I think he's a perfectly fine option. All right.

This next one's from Noah. Grade the Trade. Head to head points. 12 team keeper league. I traded Nolan Aeronado and Jack Flaherty for Matt Olson and Anthony Descliffeani. I think that's an A. Because I think Matt Olson's a much better keeper than Nolan Aeronado. And at this point, I don't think you can really...

Like, I don't know whether Desclafani or Flaherty is going to be better this season, but I can't say I'm articulate. I actually, I do have Descophani ranked higher than Jack Flaherty at this point. So, yeah. A. I have Flaherty-second in my starting pitcher ranks. I have Deiqfani three spots behind him. So it's close.

The gap between Olson-Arenato for me is about 30 spots overall. I would imagine it's a little less. for you, but that's still, I think that's still clearly tips in, uh, in the Olson side's favor. Yeah, so I have, I actually have Olson 29 spots higher than Aronado in my overall ranks. So there you go, boom. Exactly the same. 36 to 65. I'll give it an A minus, but it is a very good trade. This one is from Jay and it's our last question of the day. I am trying to decide on three keepers for my keeper league, head to head categories league with OBP, RBI, RBI runs,

steals, total bases, and then on the pitching side, quality starts, saves, ERA, whip, and K-per-9. Before Chris Sale got hurt, I was keeping Corbin Burns in the 7th and Chris Sale in the 15th. My last keeper was between Charlie Morton in the 12th, Ryan Mountcastle on the 17th, Will Smith the catcher in the 14th, and Paul Goldschmidt in the 8th. Any thoughts on a third keeper? Also, would you still keep sail in round 15 even with the rib injury. No, I would pass on sale. This is interesting just because I started a thing about this league and the

pitching categories in particular. Quality starts, saves, ERA, whip, and K-per-9. This is the Marmol strategy league. This is the league where you can, you should punt starting pitching. But starting pitchers. We don't know if they have an innings minimum. So that obviously, sure. If you don't have, if you have an innings minimum, that's fine.

And like, Corbyn-Berns is still a good keeper. in that context anyway, but like, starting pitchers only give you a guaranteed advantage in one of the five categories. And the elite non-closer relievers can give you an advantage in three of those categories. So just something to keep in mind, Jay, as you're going through the team-building process here, is that non-closer relievers and closers also have more value. So just something to keep in mind. As far as the keepers, I would be going with Corbyn Burns, ironically Carlos Rodon, and

Charlie Mornover Rodon probably. I have Morton ranked higher. I guess this determined... I kind of want to just go with Rodon, though. If you want to, if you plan to try and keep one of these players again next year, there's a very real chance that Charlie Morton retires because he's been talking about it for like three years. If it's just for this year, this is all that you care about. I would take Morton over Rodon,

and then I would take Will Smith as the third one. And even though I like Morton more than Rodon in this format, I think Rodon might have the edge in ERA whip and K-P-R-9. If he's healthy, I think he will have the edge in all three of those categories. That's fair. K-per-9 does change things quite a bit relative to K's, because all of a sudden you're not talking about accounting stat anymore. And then, yeah, Will Smith.

So I would go Burns, Rodon, and Will Smith. All right. And I would go Burns, Morton, and Smith. So you can decide, Jay, between Smith and between Rodon and Charlie Morton. We're going to wrap there. He wanted us to decide for him. So that's not hopeful. Yeah, that's true. Should we flip a coin or something? I typically don't. I don't have change. He can flip a coin. I don't like having coins, Chris, you know? I honestly, if I have cash on the rare occasions I have cash and I use it, I'll usually, like, no matter what the amount of changes, I will just tell them to keep it because I know I'm going to lose it. I know it's just going to like stay in my pocket when I take my pants off and get lost in the

wash or I'm just like there's no situations in my life at this point where I'm using coins. Get out of here, change. What are you doing? We're going to wrap there. For Chris, I'm Frank, thank you all for listening and watching this mailbag edition of fantasy baseball today. We'll be back again on Monday. Bye-bye.