Fantasy Baseball Today - Mock Draft MEGA STREAM - Live H2H Categories on Yahoo (3/14 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 14, 2025

Check out the H2H Categories 12-Team Mock Draft as part of the Fantasy Baseball Today Mock Draft Megastream Marathon! 🏀 Join our Fantasy Baseball Today Bracket Game: https://shorturl.at/zezZC Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @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/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 lead. We're Fantasy! Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. And it is about time to get things started for draft number two, which will be a standard hedge-to-head categories draft on Yahoo using daily lineups. And we are joined now by a special guest, someone who drafts with us,

All the time. It's Bidon from Razball. Bidon, thanks for joining us, man. Hey, happy, happy to join you. Thanks for having me. How's it going, Frank, Scott? Doing well, man. It's mock draft Megastream Day. We are doing five drafts in a row because we are crazy people, but we are trying to help everybody out, regardless of what format you play in, where you play, CBS, Yahoo, ESPN, points, categories, Roto. We're going to try and tackle every single thing today. Make sure to follow Bidon on X.

at Raz B-D-D-O-D-O-N. That's R-A-Z-B-D-on. And let us know anything you've got going on right now, anything you'd like to promote before we get started. Mostly just the podcast, Razball Fantasy Baseball podcast. It's me and Gray once a week. We're doing the positional. We're finishing up positional as, you know, drafts are fully in season.

That's why we're here right now. So just keep checking out that. I did write an article about our memorial Magazine League auction that we just finished up. So that's over on the site. If anybody wants to check that out and understand what goes on in my crazy mind as I'm, as I'm plotting through those. So that was the CBS Memorial Magazine League,

roto auction. Results are on CBS also, too, if you want to read my recap. But you had an interesting approach because you got Bobby Witt and Aaron Judge both, $49, very studs and duds or stars and scrubs kind of approach. and Andy Barron's is talking to me, so I'm going to mute him. Apparently, that's something that happens when your draft approaches in a Yahoo League. So, yeah, that was a very interesting approach and worth, I would, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts, frankly, so maybe I'll check out that article on Razball.

All right, so here we are. We are in the Yahoo draft room, and again, this will be a standard head-to-head categories draft with daily lineups, and it's an 18 round draft. So shallower lineups here. We've got 10 starting hitters, one of each in-field position, three outfielders, two utility spots, and then two starting pitchers, two relief pitchers, and four pitcher spots.

Usually there are five bench spots, and that does work into some of the strategy of playing in this format. But I eliminated the bench spots for today, so we can keep things moving. We have lots of drafts to do today, and I don't want to get bogged down on drafting bench spots. But if there's anything else that you guys want to point out

on what you would have done if we had bench spots. I know that does work into the strategy quite a bit in this format, whether it would probably take more pitchers. Yeah. I'll just say that at the front of there was a been. I probably take out some pitchers before my hitting spots were filled completely. Yeah. So taking starters that you might want to stream, some late round upside guys, or even just loading up

on relievers or platoon bats that you want to just kind of play in and out of the lineup based on when they're playing and what the matchup is. I think that makes a lot of sense in this format. It's the standard five-by-five categories, again, with daily lineups, with a 20 innings pitched minimum. So that does kind of factor in some different strategies if you want to go relief pitcher heavy, and we heard for years about the Marmol approach, Marmull strategy. I'm not sure it's called that anymore.

There are different variations of it, but I do think maybe you can get one or two starts in your lineup and then just load up on relievers if you wanted to do that. Bidon, what is your typical strategy when playing in head-to-head categories and the daily lineup format? Yeah, so for categories, I really like to kind of attack the hitting, obviously. There's so few spots. You just have to grab those impact bats. I think with categories comes the possibility of, you know, ignoring one category. I don't really like to ignore more than one category. I just put you in such a drastic hole to start the week. Even taking like one or two speedsters can kind of make out for ignoring it for the whole draft. So I think you can kind of find

those guys to at least be competitive. And then yeah, I do like going one or two starting pitchers and then just a lot of closers and high-end relievers to keep the ratios pretty strong and in stream. I don't remember the last time I, done a draft on Yahoo. So this is going to be, this is going to be interesting, just navigating the room here. It will be very interesting. The draft has started, by the way. Again, this is head-ted categories on Yahoo with daily lineups. And I have the first pick. Scott has the fourth pick. Bidon, I don't know which team name is yours. What pick do you have here? I'm the third pick. I am the Donesty. So I'm up right now. I'm right. We're all loaded here in the front. You know, I think the third pick is probably the easiest pick in

in any draft right now. You just take whoever falls out of the top three. So I will do that and take your own judge. I'm not throwing shade here now. I'm just, where do you see the pick history? It is on the bottom right, I guess, in the chat. In the chat, you guys just look at it in the chat. Or you can click draft results on the big middle screen.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay, there we go. There we go. Yeah. Okay, I'm right there with you, Scott. I haven't done a draft on Yon. in a long time. So we're kind of relearning on the fly here

while we're also trying to teach everyone how to drafts. All right. So this head-to-head categories format is the format where I'm most beyond Roto, Roto obviously, it's a full season competition had categories week to week. So I like getting category

dominators that I can count on actually making a huge impact within that small time frame. And there's no clear one than L.E. De La Cruz. I don't know that I'd take them forth overall on a Roto League. I might go Jose Ramirez instead, but I'll take them here in head-to-head categories. And I do think that makes sense. For those wondering, the top pick in the draft was mine. I took Shohei Otani the batter. In this league on Yahoo, there are two different Otanis.

There's the batter one. And then there's the pitcher Otani. So you'll see him, I think, probably get drafted at some point today. I do have in Roto League's Bobby Witt as my top player. you know, he got hit with the pitch last night on his forearm. Sounds like he's going to be okay. But I think in head-to-categories, I still would take Otani. For the reasons you mentioned, Scott, he could just be a dominator. The fact that he has the upside to hit 50 home runs, the upside to steal 50 bases. I don't think he's going to do that again.

I think it would be more like 20 to 30. But in a roto league, I want that more balanced. I want to take it a little bit safer. It's deeper lineups. And to me, I would take Bob, Witt, and Roto, but I'll take Otani in head-ed categories. So I don't think we talked about this on the. podcast though. Dave Roberts did say the other day that he anticipates Shohei Otani sitting more this year, which he had gotten away from. And remember when the angels first signed him, it was like he doesn't

bat the day before he starts and the day after he starts. I'm not sure Roberts is taking it that far. But with the return to pitching eventually, I guess we don't even really know when that's going to happen. He anticipates Otani sitting more this year. So something else to think about when you're weighing him as the top overall pick. And of course, if he was a lot of a two-way player if he was a combined pitcher and hitter in this format, daily lineups, you for sure make him the number one pick. You will see that later on. We've got an ESPN

head to point draft coming up where he's one player that gets all of the benefits. He gets his pitching points. He gets his hitting points and it's daily lineup. So I think he absolutely will be the first player in that format. After Ellie, there was Jose Ramirez, Juan Soto, Kyle Tucker,

Mukie Betz, Gunner Henderson, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Corbyn Carroll. Beat on, we know that Gunner Henderson is currently dealing with the intercostal strain. Before that, he was pretty consistently a top five or six player. He's dropped a few spots. What do you think about Gunner? Do you think he should be dropping?

He goes ninth overall in this draft. Yeah, I've dropped him to the back end of the, I guess what would be the first round of this draft. So I dropped him to 12. It's not that bad. I think he's going to be back pretty early. He's still going to be a great player when he's, get back. I have no concern about that. But I think that's kind of where the line is.

Is it 12 for me where there's kind of the end of a tier that he's going to slot into with the injury? All right. After Vladimir Guerrero, there was Corbyn Carol. And at the turn, we get Fernando Tatis and Francisco Lindor. The second pick of round two goes to Paul Skeens here. And he is the SP1 off the board, followed by Yordon Alvarez. B. Don, who do you have is your SP1 this year? Paul Skeens or Terrick Scoobel? I have Terrick Scoobel. We've seen him do it. I just feel like that that has to give him a little bit of an advantage over somebody that we haven't seen do the innings yet. Although, you know, based on recent history, maybe you should take the one who hasn't done it yet because the one who's done it is probably getting injured. I agree with you on Scoobble being number one.

I just feel like we're in the minority at this point. After Yordon Alvarez, Julio Rodriguez, Jackson, in Turyo, there goes Terek Scoobel, and then Trey Turner. Oh, boy, we're getting close to my pick here. We are. Freddie Freeman? Okay, so still going in the middle of the second round. I know in some drafts he's been slipping a little bit. There's talks that he is still going to get work done on his ankle throughout the course of the season, not expected to play day games after night game.

So I'm not sure we can, we'll get the typical volume out of Freddie Freeman, but probably still in the 140 to 150-ish game. range this upcoming season and Scott you're up oh boy what do I do here Harper Jaron Duran or or I guess a second wheeler all the speed if you that's what I'm kind of thinking that actually I'm gonna get so many steals I just won't I won't have to draft another base stealer the rest of the draft basically I'm gonna try it what the heck Jaron Duran is my second pick to go with Ellie de la Cruz. I don't mind like over killing it in a category in this format either.

Like you don't want to finish a distant first and something in Roto because that's just wasted point opportunities. But again, it's a week-to-week competition. I want to like be sure I win steals every single week. And this combo assures me that. We'll see if I can dodge base Steelers enough the rest of the draft. That's going to be the challenge for me. Beidon, you are up. your first pick was Aaron Judge. Who are you going with here? You know, I think I'm going to go with just kind of a home run play. It's a shallow league.

There's not a lot of positions we have to fill. So I'm just going to take Ronald de Cunia Jr. here. And him and Aaron Judge give me two potential number one players in a shallow format. I can find an outfielder for, you know, whatever time I have to miss with Ronald. Yeah, we were just talking in the last draft about the report. it sounds like early mid-May now, which feels like it's being pushed back some. Mid-May, I mean, is a quarter of the season.

I get what you're saying about shallow league, and I agree with it, that if you're going to take a chance on the upside guy, the injury risk guy, shallow league is where you do it. I've just, I'm, after hearing that report mid-May, that sounds a lot worse than like late April early May to me,

just in terms of how much time Akuni is going to miss. I am up. The last couple of picks were Ronald Cunia and then Jackson Merrill. I will go ahead and take Bryce Harper here who not is really, he's not really a standout in any particular category. He just kind of chips in across the board,

but you get yourself an elite first baseman that should hit 30 plus home runs, good county stats and a great Phillies lineup. And I think, I think I'm going to do the Phillies double dim and go ahead and get Zach Wheeler as well, because I do in the Headtead Categories format, like to have at least one elite pitcher that I just leave in my lineup, don't have to worry about it, throw them out there.

There's so many different ways you can play it. Again, you can punt starting pitchers and go with mostly relievers in this format, but I still do like to have at least two starters that I can rely on, keep them in my lineup, then kind of build around that, some relievers and streamers that I could plug in for the right matchups. So double fillies for me. And the next pick is Cole Regens. And B. Don, you are back up. Your first two were Aaron Judge and Ronald Acuna.

Yep. And so I'm in a little bit of the trap that I get into this draft season where I really love outfield and I just keep ending up with more and more outfielder. So I'm going to try and avoid falling into more outfielders, kind of, and go with just a kind of crazy set of tools. I'm just going to go ignoring average, basically, and just go for the mix of home runs, stolen bases, and I'm going to go with O'Neill Cruz here.

Give me a little versatility, shortstop outfield. I can move him around if I want later, or even post-draft to make a replacement for Acuna, and shortstop and outfield are both fairly deep. so I can find one or the other will give me a value, I think, at some point. This is typically earlier than we see him go. 27th overall, I believe the ADP is, you know, usually in the 40s, so like a fourth round pick in a 12-team league.

And I've been avoiding him at that cost just because we haven't seen the step yet. He still can take it. There's a massive upside. But struggles against lefties, too many ground balls. Be Don, if you're taking him here, you're expecting the breakout to happen. You're expecting a big season from O'Neil Cruz. yeah absolutely i mean the the tools are so loud he hits the ball you know as hard as you can ask somebody to hit a ball he's still you know young in his baseball career so yeah i think there's there's still

a lot of improvement to come even if he does what he does last year which is 2020 you know that's that's perfectly fine he showed improvements in the second half um you know with with average with the strikeout rate so if he can continue to kind of of work on that. You can be a 27% strikeout guy with an 11% or a 10.5% walk rate. Like that's going to continue to play up and allow him to see better pitches if he just doesn't chase so many bad ones. And so, yeah, I think he started to make that change last year. I think he's being underdrafted this year. And I'm happy to have him, especially in, again, this kind of format where his average is going to really hurt me even if he doesn't take

this step forward. I think he does in that specifically. All right, after O'Neo Cruz, there was Matt Olson, Jazz Chisholm, Ketel Marte, and Austin Riley. Scott, you selected Matt Olson. Yep. Last round when you took Jaron Duran, and I said you could go all in on speed. I actually thought you were going to take Jazz, which you took Duran for him. And then, but you also passed on Jazz in in round three, which surprised me. No, I'm going to avoid base Steelers from now on as much as I can help it. I'll probably get some by accident.

But, but, yeah, I think I've got plenty of steals to. to expect to win the category most weeks, just between De La Cruz and Deraan. Otherwise, I probably would have taken Jazz Chisholm. I like the versatility. I like the speed element, the bulk of steals in this format. But after taking Duran,

I felt like I needed bulk home runs. So I took Olson. I was kind of tempted to take Austin Riley instead because he's more likely to help him batting average also, which I'm kind of trailing in with Ellie Dela Cruz is my first pick. But first base feels like a more important position to fill early. So I went Olson instead. Oh, you know what?

I just realized there's a draft board function here, and that's kind of cool. So you can do that. We didn't bring it up last round when Freddie Freeman went 20th, just before I took Jaron Duran. He feels like kind of an odd choice for this format, since he's not going to excel in either home runs or stolen bases. He is going to give you great batting average in theory, and maybe that was the thinking there, just build a nice batting average base. I feel like that's a less predictable category from week to week than the counting stats.

So I don't want to like bury myself in batting average, but I'm not obsessing over it either. I just thought that was like to the point I probably would just take Olson outright over Freeman in this format. Right. After Scott selected Matt Olson, there was Jazz Chisholm, Cattell Marte, Austin Riley, William Contraris, Logan Gilbert, Garrett Crochet, Michael Harris, Manny Machado. And now we are into the fourth round. The first pick of round four is Wyatt Langford. So last draft, he lasted until the fifth round in a head-to-points league here in head-to-head categories. Wyatt Langford goes 37th overall. And there is a lot of helium, lots of excitement. Despite the oblique injury early on in camp, Langford is back and he's blasting home runs.

Beidon, how do you feel about Wyatt Langford this season? Popular breakout candidate once again, but he comes at a cost going at the three-four turn in this draft. Yeah, I mean, I love, I love Wyatt Langford. I have him, you know, in the third round. So I'm absolutely perfectly fine with him going where he went, especially in this format again. You just, he has so much potential for power speed. I really don't mind it at all. I mean, that's a pretty nice team on the turn there, Tatis, Lindor, Mani Wyatt,

although you probably say that about everybody's lineup through the first three rounds, hard to look too bad going through that kind of thing. And I want to say, Scott, I completely agree on Freeman. Now, I'm a noted Freddie Freeman hater in the least in fantasy. He's in the 80s for me in my rankings. Wow, that is extreme. I would have taken Olson anyways. Are you worried about the ankle, the potential day games after night games sitting?

They've thrown that idea out there. Is that why you have Freeman that low? Yeah, so he's been a accumulator who was going to miss games. And on top of that, we've seen, you know, the power continue to drop. The friends aren't great. Like, he's just not hitting the ball as hard as he used to. I think he can get back to maybe mid-20s home runs, but I don't want to pay up for, you know, average,

which is kind of ficklecies in the season and then middling power with, I mean, I don't know where the steals ever came from other than he's kind of a smart baseball player. but I don't really expect him to run at any kind of clip like we saw him do for two years randomly. All right. After Langford, there was Pete Alonzo, Chris Sale, Corbyn Burns, Brent Rooker. Reminder, there's two utility spots in this draft. Corey Seeger, Raphael Devers, and Blake Snell. Scott, you are back up.

Your first three picks. Ellie Dela Cruz, Jaron, and Matt Olson. Yeah, I don't love the pitcher situation. I'm probably going to go with another bat here, another power bat. it's between Schwerber and Ozuna. One thing you should mention is that Schwerber has outfield eligibility in this format, which is crazy. Well, apparently so does Azuna. That is something that we are going to be totally lost in.

Yeah, he hasn't played outfield in years. Schwerber at least did 2023. I mean, he should have first base. I would think over outfield, but. I should mention Brent Rooker also has outfield eligibility. I see someone in the chat mentioning that. My brain automatically thinks, you know, all those, those three are util only. But on Yahoo, it's the Wild West.

What happened? Anybody has position eligibility. What happened just then with me being startled to see Ozuna go in the outfield spot in my lineup? It's going to happen a lot in this draft. Yahoo has very, very, very, very loose eligibility requirements. I don't even know what they are. They seem to be very subjective. I think it's just if the guys ever played the position or, or been,

floated as a possibility at the position he's eligible there um swarber goes right afterward yeah i thought about doing it i sided with ozuna because uh because of the batting average concern with with me taking le de la creeze is my first pick i'm just trying to safeguard that i do feel like he is i i feel like he's a safer bet for home runs runs in rbi than ozuna is chorber but ozuna is likely to have the better batting average. All right, I am up. The next pick was James Wood, who again, once we see Wyatt Langford go, it's not long before James Wood comes off the board as well. In a typical category draft, I think I would maybe target some of these second basemen who just do a little bit of everything. But again, I kind of want dominators in this format when you're just

playing a different opponent every single week. And one of my picks is going to be CJ Abrams. I have Otani and Bryce Harper so far. So I feel like I could continue to add to, the stolen bases. I think Abrams could give close to 40 steals this upcoming season. And something I almost never do, but let's try it out in this format. I know that they are much more valuable. I'm going to take the first reliever off the board. I'm a little surprised that he was still here. Emmanuel Claisse at the four or five turn. So I've got my ace. I've got the top reliever in baseball. I got Otani. I've got Bryce Harper. I got Abrams. So I feel like so far I've covered all the bases. We'll see if that works.

I get it. I get it. I think if there was any format where I was going to pay for an elite closer, this would be it. And you like having plenty of relievers to slot in on the days your starting pitchers are off. Not going to come into play without a bench here, but that would be, like we should probably still draft thinking in terms of this is a full, full rosters and everything. And it would make sense to load up on elite relievers a little more. It's not something I'm going to do ever probably in round.

What round are we in for? But I think it's more justifiable in this format. Right after Class A is Devin Williams. And Beadon, you are up. I do just want to point out if there was a category for exit velocity, you win it automatically. Yeah, just give me that one. We'll just put that on like the sixth category.

It'll be a tiebreaker each week. It'll be a nice one to have for me. Yeah, I was going to take Devin Williams if he didn't go. Now that he's gone, there's one pitcher left that I, I kind of have above the rest that are remaining, and that's Dylan C. So I'm going to go ahead and take him. Like you said, it's nice having at least one starter just to kind of lock them in there, and week to week you have them.

I'll probably try and find another one, but there's that. I know that, you know, just listening to the podcast, you guys have talked about the globula of pitchers. I'll grab one or two more from there. But then from there on, I mean, I'm not going to worry about starters. specifically too much. And I think if this is, there's one format where I'm going to go a closer before I would have drafted a starter.

It would have been this one because I would have done it here. All right, Scott, you are back up and your team through four picks, Ellie Dela Cruz, Jaron, Matt Olson, and Marcelo Zuna in the outfield. I'm going to go, I'm going to draft another outfielder, supposedly. You're filling up the outfield. Who's more known for playing second base and that's what will play for me. It's Jose Altufe. Did you guys see the clip of Altuve today?

Playing in the outfield? That was what I was basing my comment on. Not great. I mean, he's learning on the job. Granted, it seemed like it was a tough play on the warning track. And he didn't know if he had to climb the wall or not. And he lost track of the ball. And it just landed.

And he just stood there. He didn't know what to do. He had to be. Did he think it was gone? I think that's. No, I think he saw the backup, the center fielder going to get the ball. So he just gave up on the play. but he's learning on the process.

I think he's keeping on playing it, but it's those angles are hard out there, and that's going to, it's going to be a work in progress. But yeah, I think Al Tuve, you know, he doesn't dominate home runs or stolen bases,

but I have so many guys who do, and I just wanted him to bolster my batting average a bit. Plus, the late lap round options I like at second base are mostly speedsters. So I wasn't sure that I wanted to hold out for that kind of fit in this particular lineup. with De La Cruz and Duran at the start. All right.

Want to reset a little bit here. We are into our two of our mock draft mega stream. First year that we're ever doing this, and we've got five drafts coming up in a row. We started off with CBS Headtead Points. This is a headtead categories on Yahoo with daily lineups. We'll have ESPN headset points with daily lineups as well. That's coming up next at 530.

And then NFBC, RotoWire, Online Championship. is a 12-team roto draft at 7. We'll wrap up the night with an underdog draft. So thanks to everyone for being here. Hit that like button. Subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. We have crossed 30,000 subscribers. Thank you all so much.

31K by opening day. Let's do it. Let's get to 31K if we can make it happen. Scott, I feel like I cut you off. What were you going to say? I was just going to say two picks or three picks after my Altova pick at 55 overall was Jacob de Grom.

And this is also the form. where I might actually take Jacob de Grom because it is shallower than Roto and he's going to be a category dominator for however long he lasts. If Altuve wasn't there, I would have taken DeGrom as my top pitcher. And I was just a couple weeks ago. I wasn't sure I'd say that in any draft mock or otherwise. Yep. And after Jacob de Grom, there was Willie Adomis, Ozzi Albies and Edwin Diaz. So another closer coming off the board there. Bidon, what are your thoughts here on Jacob de Grom?

Sounds like he wants to throw with less velocity on purpose this season. He's looking to stay healthier. Will it actually happen? That remains to be seen. But what do you think about Jacob de Grom in the fifth round? I'm not touching him. He's whoever wants him can have him. I haven't ranked in the 140s.

So I'm safely not getting Jacob de Grom in any of my drafts. Got it. I understand wanting to play it safe for sure with DeGron. There's already some talk to that the Rangers plan to build in some off days and maybe there's a Phantom IEL since in there just to rest him. And they very clearly have an innings limit for Jacob de Grom. The hope is that if he could somehow throw 140, 150 innings this season and he's 80% of the pitcher that he used to be,

then you've got like a top 10, top 12 starting pitcher on your hands. But you're asking for a lot to happen there. with Jacob de Grom. After Edwin Diaz, Michael King, Josh Hater, and we are into round six where we see Mason Miller and Ryan Helsie. So, a bit of a closer run happening here.

The drafter at the turn started their team with four hitters and then two closers, Josh Hater and Mason Miller, and it'll be interesting to go back to that team later and see if they are choosing to punt starting pitchers and really just roll with a lot of those elite relievers in their lineup.

I think there's a weekly minimum of 20 innings on a Yahoo League. So you can't. You probably have to get one or two starts throughout the week at least. Yeah. And you have two SP spots specifically to fill. Right. So there's that also. But yeah, it's 20 seems like a pretty low minimum.

So it's a viable approach. It does kind of him you in. Lawrence Butler just when I was looking forward to taking him. It's something I would do. on the turn. I like kind of causing the chaos and playing a little bit different team strategy, especially in a category style league. So, you know, we have the opportunity right there, grab two of them. You got saves. You can continue to get more saves as they tend to be a little bit devalued this year versus, you know, previous years a little bit, at least once we get

into kind of the middle and back end. So you can grab some of those guys pretty cheap and just kind of keep the ratios and in saves each week. And I don't mind that at all. I mean, I think two or three starts a week, and you can probably stream one of those. It's not too bad. Catching up on picks in round six. After Heldsley, there was Framber Valdez,

Lawrence Butler, Anthony Santander, Ricelyssal Iglesias, Tyler Glassnow, Logan Webb. Scott, you are up. I do just want to point out again on Lawrence Butler. He goes 64th overall in this draft. that's right around his ADP in the month of March over at the NFBC. I feel like we typically see him go even earlier than that. So Butler actually lasts to the sixth round of this draft.

And Scott, you are on the clock. Oh, I know who I want to take. It's somebody who's way too low, I think, in the Yahoo draft room here. Adley Rushman. Yeah. One catcher league, smaller lineup league. You know, I like to, that's the format where I want as much impact as I can get from every spot, including catcher. So it's pretty much just William Contreras and Adley Rushman that I'd be willing to pay up for,

but I don't even really feel like this is a payup, round eight. Is that where I just took them? Love that. Round six. Oh, okay. Still fine. Still fine. Yeah.

But, yeah. All right. Well, let's see. B. Don, you are back up here. We'll check in on your team. You've got Aaron Judge, Ronald Acuna, O'Neill Cruz, Kyle Schwerver, Dylan Seas, and up in the sixth round. Yep, I'm up.

I'm going to use some of Yahoo's eligibility here. Grab a player I really, really like this season, and that is Matt McLean. I'd probably go up Brent and Doyle if I didn't already have four outfield eligible players. But, yeah, I'm very happy to have Matt McLean here. Well, talk to us about Matt McLean because he missed all the last season with various injuries,

but if he's healthy, he looks like a player that can go 2020. what are you expecting from Matt McLean? Yeah, I mean, I think 2020, if he stays healthy, is kind of a baseline and he has some room to grow from there. I mean, he's always produced when healthy. I mean, you know, I do a lot of like looking at monthly splits, half splits and just kind of seeing, you know, who are the inconsistent performers, who are the consistent performers. And like he didn't have a bad, he doesn't have bad months when he's on the field. it's just whether he plays or not. So I just think he's a great baseball player, basically,

and love drafting him on my teams. And dual position eligibility allows me to shift cruise for Acuna. McLean can move over shortstop or you can play second. It doesn't really matter. All right. I am up here and I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do. I'm also trying to familiarize myself with like the ranking system here on Yahoo. I have a few ideas of things I want.

I think one of them is going to be. Marker Semyon is still here, but I don't have second or third base, and I know he's not making it back. So I'm taking Jordan Westberg again. And I kind of shuffle him around depending on where I want to use him. I think the other pick I'm going to make, I'm thinking about it.

I was thinking about Brenton Doyle, but in a head-to-head format, playing in Colorado, like you probably don't want him for his road games too. Check in on starting pitcher and see who's left. I've got Zach Wheeler. There's Pablo Lopez, Hote Imanaga. Yeah, they're starting to go a little bit.

I will. You prefer Westberg to send me it now. No. Maybe I should just take both of them, right? I guess I could do that, right, Scott? Yeah, let's do that. Grab a little bit of everything. There's no one else that I'm really like sold on with this pick right now either.

So I was thinking about Brenton Doyle to grab more speed for my team. but in the head-to-head format, it's just, you don't want to have to think about whether you're playing them in Corpus, away from Corris Field, and I've already got Zach Wheeler, I got Class A, so I didn't think I needed to go back in on starting pitching yet. And two names with Samian and Westberg, that they're kind of Jack of All Trades, Master of Nun types, which, you know, are, they're still fine in this format,

but they're not players of extremes. They don't offer you, like, huge value anywhere. But I already have some of those players, I'll just continue to build out that across-the-board production with a player I really like in Jordan Westberg and someone who might be a little bit undervalued the season in Marcus Semyon. The next pick was Cody Bellinger

and Bidon, you are back up. Oh, go ahead. Yep, I'm going to go. The oblique worries me a little bit, but he's back hitting, at least in the cage, so he's swinging again. I'm going to go with Christian Walker, who I think is really going to benefit

from the park there in Houston. All right, yes. I just took him in an NFBC draft myself. So hoping that he is healthy. That's Christian Walker. The swing should be suited for playing in Minutemate Park. It's just, will he be healthy? He's dealing with the oblique. He dealt with it last season as well. He has a history of obliques, but as Bidon mentioned, he's back swinging and the hope is could be ready for opening day. And Scott, you are back up your team so far. You've got Ellie Dela Cruz, Jaron, Matt Olson, Marcelo Zuna, Jose Altuve, and Adley Ruchman.

no pitchers no pitchers yet and i'm tempted to take another hitter but i won't i'll take a pitcher shoda immanaga slid his last spring start his velocity was down two and a half miles per hour but there aren't any like that's just people observing data it's not like there's been alarming reports um coming out from the cubs so i i i'm not alarmed yet it's typical spring training stuff I feel like. And so he has the potential to be a whip standout for sure and pretty solid across the board. I feel like I feel like I'm getting a nice discount here as a budget ace. Be it on I see the Cubs light in the background.

What are your thoughts on Shotu I-Managa the season? Can he follow up a stellar rookie season? I believe he can. I think the numbers are for real. I think if anything, the strikeouts could potentially go up. We've seen he looks really good on that front. and spring training. You know, I think the one thing that is going to be really hard to replicate,

which is out of most pitchers' hands, is the wins. 15 and 3 is going to be a really hard record to duplicate. Even if he's excellent again, it's just so hard to go with that kind of record season after season. And, you know, the Cubs, you know, the wins kind of plays different day to day. so if he catches some bad wind breaks. It's the ERA that concerns me because he's so flyball oriented. Exactly.

And last year it happened to be like rastically in for most of the season, which is not normal in Chicago. So I expect a little bit of equalization on the ERA and on the wins, but I still love Shodah. I mean, he's great. All right. Trying to check back in on the draft picks. I see Bryce Miller was one that recent.

went. There was Brenton Doyle just before that. Josh Naylor, Felix Bautista. Bautista has been throwing in spring. The velocity was way down earlier on. The first appearance was like four miles per hour down from where his sinker normally is. But the second outing, it was back up. I think it was like 96 and a half or 97 miles per hour. So hopefully that velocity continues to climb and we will get a healthy Felix Bautista by the time opening day comes around. The next pick was Bailey Ober, and yeah, we're starting to see that second tier of starting pitchers go off the board here. I was hoping to pair Ober with Shara Imanaga. B. Don, I don't know how you feel about this, but I've been saying it's not in terms of the pitches

they throw, but just in terms of the strikeouts, the walks, the fly balls. It's a very similar profile actually for Imanaga and Ober and if their ERAs flipped this year it wouldn't be the most shocking thing no I completely agree I think if anything over got got a little unlucky on the era yeah better XERA between the two of them yeah and I mean the the whip is always solid so even if the the the area just kind of normalizes and gets to you know three five three six and he doesn't improve which again, I still think he has room for. Like the whip is still outstanding. After Bailey Ober and Bryce Miller,

we got Alex Breggman, Wilson Contreras, Andres Munoz, and Pablo Lopez at the turn. And then one of my favorite, Spencer Schwellenbach, the first draft in a while that I will not have Spencer Schwellenbach on my team. I do just want to come back to this team on the turn. I picked 12 because they started their team with four hitters, and then three relievers in a row. Josh Hader, Mason Miller, Andres Munoz, and Pablo Lopez.

So looking to dominate that saves category, keep those ratios down with all those relievers, but also took Pablo Lopez. So an interesting strategy there on the turn after Schwellenbach, Mike Trout and Ryan Walker. Did I hear Stein from someone? Was that Scott? Yeah, that was me. This was maybe the earliest I was going to take a closer so far this year. I was ready for Ryan Walker.

I was going to do it. After Ryan Walker, Jake Berger and Jr. Oh, no. Commonero. God. Gondero! Ha! Comanero!

Is that it you really going to take, Scott? I actually had an opportunity for once. He made it to pick 90. We were just saying in the head-to-head points ones, he went, he draft, he went 55. And we were bemoaning how how far he's moving up draft boards, but 90, I could do 90. Oh yes. His ADP over the past week or so is inside the top

70 at the NFBC. So Caminero making it down here into round 8 and it's an interesting point and a reminder that drafting in different draft rooms and different formats. Oh my gosh. Scott is not as cool as a cucumber right while.

Like a cute was emptied out. Like I had five players. Extremely uncool cucumber alert. Oh. From CPT. Oh, man. Boba Chet was the one who made me flip out there. I don't know what to do. I better figure it out quickly.

You've got 30 seconds. Yeah, I know who I want to take. Nah, do you? I think so. Okay, do it. If I can figure out how the draft room works. I'm going to take Max Fried as my second starting pitcher. Okay.

So I got a nice whip base there with Imanaga. But the concerns I have about his ERA, I think Max Freed's going to. counteract that. He's very safe for WIP, for ERA, excuse me, because he's such a good ground ball pitcher. And I think I'll get a ton of wins for the Yankees, as he typically did for the Braves. Scott, I want to give you a stipulation of only drafting left-handed starting pitchers for the rest of the draft. Okay. Okay. I'll see if I can follow through on that. Beidon, you are back up your team through seven picks. You have Aaron Judge, Ronald O'Necunae, O'Neill Cruz, Kyle Schorber, Dylan Cs, Matt McLean, and Christian Walker.

Yeah, so I think I'm going to go ahead and just jump in on the relievers while they're still sitting around. Duran is the top one on the board. It's hard to argue with that, given that I'd love to go to Tanner Scott, but I feel like there's just going to be so many splitting opportunities there. I'll just go with Duran, although he's going to split opportunities too. So maybe I should just talk myself out of this pick, but here we go anyway. I do think at the end of the day, while they both will split to some extent,

My expectation is Duran will still have a higher share of the twin saves than Tanner Scott of the Dodgers. I could be wrong about that. I'll fight about that the other day. I think Tanner Scott's going to have better numbers, though. So I just don't know if the handful of saves is worth getting better numbers. So you're a Johann Duran skeptic too, huh, B. Don? I am. I mean, I don't know.

I was outnumbered on the podcast the other day. Like the numbers are just plummeting each season. And so I don't know why we wouldn't be a little skeptical on what's happening. It was one of those arguments where I don't think the other side even really under each side really could even understand the other's perspective. So there was no way to bridge. I got to shut that. I just got a big old.

My turn to draft. Cal Raleigh is next up. Let's see how Catcher is doing. I think it's, oh, well, there's a really good name there up at the top. I could go that route. I don't have a catcher. I don't have any outfielder's yet. You've guys got like eight outfielder each.

I don't have any. I have Bryce Harper and outfield. Sorry, go ahead. I have Bryce Harper, Marcus Simeon, Jordan Westberg, CJ Abrams, Shohei Otani at UTIL, and then my pitchers are Zach Beeler and Emmanuel Clause. That's pretty good for having no outfielders. Yeah.

But the two catcher is still there? Am I seeing this right? I am going to take Sayas Suzuki with one of my picks. I love Sayas Suzuki. I try to draft him every year. He's another one of these, like doesn't excel in one spot, but I just think he's going to give you

across the port production. I think the Cubs, I'm not just saying this because you're here, B-Dawn, and you have the light in the background. I think the Cubs are going to be really good. I think their lineup is going to be awesome this season. Kyle Tucker joining that team, hopefully a full year out of Sayas Suzuki,

a healthy Danesby-Swanson. I think their lineup is going to bounce back and be really good this season. So have no problems taking him. The other pick, though, I think I need another starting pitcher. I've got to jump back in here. I've got Zach Wheeler.

I've got Clause A. I don't think I need a second reliever yet. And my... You don't want to take that catcher. I kind of do, but I'm worried about what my SP2 will be if I wait. It's amazing that he's still there, right? Yon J.S.

He's ranked 155th. No, I wasn't even thinking about him. I was thinking, oh, there's two... I was thinking about Salvador Perez. All right, I'm not going to take catcher, then. I'm going to take Joe Ryan. It's going to be my SP2 there. To go along with that was secular.

I was looking at him. Good Whip specialist there. But that's a good, like, I think it's important, this Yiner Diaz thing. Because what's his ADP right now on an FBC? It's like 70th. It's like 55 or 65. 55? So his, in top 60, yeah.

In Yahoo, he's ranked 155th and his ADP, 104th. So the ADP is actually quite a bit higher than the ranking. But that's one guy that appears to be buried in the Yahoo room. I don't actually think he's the number two catcher. I think the guy I took Adler. rushman is but yiner diaz according to drafting in categories leagues is the number two catcher not not in yon yawr. 54.99 is the ADP in the month of March for yiner dyes and like i get moving him down in the head-to-head points league he is one of the most walk averse players in baseball

but this is not a head-to-head points league so he should still be very good in this format. That's chris towers by the way he's back he's back from hanging out back from i don't know doing I like that he takes a draft off, but just can't stay away from us. Oh, you took a shower. Our mid-Megastream shower right there. Yeah. I probably want to eat something too at some point. I had a snack, but yeah, it's going to be a problem.

B-Don, we're back to you in round seven. Yeah, I'm going to break one of my rules here. Either way, I was either going to draft a catcher, or I'm going to draft another reliever, and I'm just going to go with a reliever. Talked about him last round, so I'm going to take it. Tanner Scott. Yeah, I'm pretty happy having two closers. That's pretty settled now. Yeah, for sure. You've got two maybe questionable saves outputs, but I still think you get 20 to 25. And maybe that's selling it short. Like if Tanner Scott is just the guy all year,

he can have 40 plus saves. Like that is within his range of outcomes. But if we're just talking, I guess, median projection, but two, that should have really, really great ratios and lots of strikeouts as well. Scott, over to you. Your last two picks, Imanaga and Max Reed. Will it be another left-handed starting pitcher? Well, you know I like category dominators. This is a category dominator. Uh-oh. But he's not a lefty. He's not a lefty. Sorry, I broke the, I broke the rule you set for me. Spencer Strider. Spencer Strider is the pick as Scott dons the Braves jersey. We got an update earlier today that it looks like Strider,

is tracking towards a late April debut. Everything has sounded all right. He's coming back from the internal brace surgery. So we will see. And Niner Diaz goes right after him 101, which is the ADP in Yahoo Leagues, though not the ranking. Worth mentioning again, this is a one-catcher format,

NFBC, lots of two-catcher leagues. I think almost all of them are two-catcher leagues. So I think it makes sense why Niner-D-S would go higher. I mean, 50 picks higher. maybe that shouldn't be the case, but he probably should go higher in a two catch league. The best, apart from maybe one and two, William Contreras and Adley Rushman, Yinder Diaz, the best batting average bet at catcher by a pretty substantial margin. Yeah.

After Salvador Perez, Tristan Kossis, who is projected to bat cleanup for the Red Sox, I mean, the first three of that lineup, Duran, Devers, and Alex Breggman, followed by Kossis, the guy could have 110 RBI this season. It would not surprise me. Can he stay healthy? Can he put it all together? Those are different. Cut down on the strikeouts from last year.

Yeah, but it is a prime lineup spot there for Tristan Kosses. Next up, we get Hunter Green, Luis Robert, Riley Green. Look at that. It would have been cool if we got Green and green back to back. That would have been fun.

Hunter Green and Riley Green. But Louise Robert last, this is two drafts in a row. Head to have categories lasting almost till the end of round. round nine. Bidon, I understand there are questions here about health, team context, but two years ago we saw Luis Roberts upside. It was 38 home runs, 20 seals. You think this is the appropriate time to take a shot in round nine on Luis Robert? Yes. As a noted Lou Bob Hater, even I have them inside the top 100. So had I not had 75 outfielders on my team

already. I probably would have taken them here. Just had other needs on, as far as building the roster out, really. Does anybody know how to move your players around within your lineup on Yahoo? Because it's bothering me that I can't put Marcus Semyon at second base and

Westberg at third. And I would like to guess it just does it automatically. Ah, alright. So if I draft another player that goes into my util spot, that they'll just move players around you. Yeah, if it can't, if it If there's not a natural place for him to go in your lineup,

it'll bump someone over if that's possible. There's nowhere else to go. You can't draft bench players in this mock draft. So I guess that's true. They'll figure it out, hopefully. After Riley Green, Xavier Edwards could be another category dominator. It could be a two-cate category dominator. I guess could be a three-category dominator if we think the Marlins score enough runs.

No, no, no, no, no. He gets on base a lot in theory. If he's hitting for average, you'll get on base at Don. He'll score 85 runs. Oh, he's not going to score 85. Well, if he's, if he bats over 300, he will probably, and stays healthy. He will, he will exceed 85 runs from that lead off spot. I feel comfortable saying, but it's a big F.

How many times has Louisa Rye's done that? And he has the best batting average in baseball. I feel like the pro. So Louisa Rias, though, is a, it doesn't walk. He's a bad base runner. Yeah, he's not fast. Like, Luis Raias just gets on first base. That is the extent of the Luisarize experience.

that is fair after zanmords walks a lot more yeah at the turn we got vini p bennie bennie pass quantino and louis castillo this felt like i'm a little bit down on castillo but this is a pretty appropriate fall i think getting into round 10 uh and then shane omack here comes the money here we go Money talk. Here comes the money. Shane McClanahan, who I believe has only made one spring start, has been one or two. He's only made one official start, but he started against minor leaguers today. It looked very good from what I saw.

In that one start he made in a real game, he looked great too. Might just prove us wrong this season. Next pick is Will Smith, the catcher, of course. Beed on, what do you think about Shane O. Mack? Shane McClanahan coming back from his second Tommy John surgery. He's looked pretty good early on. Sounds like he'll be on an innings limit of around 150 this season. I've gone through different swings with Shane.

I was really, really excited as I was starting to put my rankings together. And then it kind of fell off as draft season has gone on. The performance has been very nice, but he's only gotten, I think, two starts so far. So it kind of feels very Shane McClanahan. that I'm going to get 20 to 25 starts and they're probably going to be pretty good, but I don't think I'm getting 30. I got to say this one guy, Mike's way, a little free endorsement there, I guess.

Is he crushing you, Scott? He has, he has gotten me four times, Justin Steele being the latest time. He's a drafter after my own heart. Yeah, so it's been the last four picks, Bailey Ober, Ryan Walker, Luis, Robert, and Justin Steele. after steel went there was matt chapman tanner bybee zach gallon roki sasaki pitching run and scott you are back up your last three picks have been starters will you make it four in a row do yahoo leagues have iL spots i think they typically have a few to start there's none in this mock draft but yeah i think there are obviously but we're trying to draft for the typical yahoo league yeah yeah yeah

you know b don does anybody know i believe so i think it's two usually two All right. Let's fill him right away. I got Strider. And I'm going to take George Kirby also. Is it a little bit too risky though, Scott? Taking on two stash can that it's with your first 10 picks. So it's, you know, pretty early in the track. I would rather taken Justin Steele, even though I have Kirby ranked ahead of him. It's, it's not the ideal, but it's, it's a shallow league with IL spots.

So I can work with it. Beat on. I think the upside is obviously huge between Strider and Kirby. And they compliment each other very. well. Beaton back over to you, your last two picks were relievers with Yohan Duran and Tanner Scott. Yeah, this is definitely a heart versus, versus head scenario for me. You know, I'm looking at my lineup. I have a clear, you know, empty spot that I need to fill. And there's a player that probably should go here for me. But I can't, I can't just ignore the fact that the Dylan Cruz is still sitting here.

I was getting ready to take them. I think I just need to move them up my rankings. I felt like I needed a little bit more steals on this team. I could have used an outfielder. You should have went with your head, not your heart. Come on. Travel your head, man. Well, now I've got to figure out what to do.

And I'm on the clock. So we'll figure it out together in real time. Royce Lewis was the next pick. I could use a catcher, outfielder, maybe another pitcher. So let's check in on all those. Catcher feels a little flat right now. Let's look at the outfield.

Hmm. There's no real standout players, but it's starting to get a little thin here. So I wonder if I should do that. Starting pitcher. There's Freddie Peralta, Hunter Brown, Sunny Gray. So also start.

starting to thin out a little bit on this side of things. I'm going to go ahead and take Sonny Gray. He's someone I've been just drafting a lot. As my SP3, I'm fine with it. The skills were great last season. Maybe he gets traded to a better team at some point this year as well. And as my SP3 to go along with Zach Wheeler and Joe Ryan, I feel totally fine about that.

I think it's got to be outfield. I've only got to say a Suzuki. Do I double up on the Cubs? Do I go Ian Hap and Suzuki together? There's Randy Rosarana. I provide a little bit of everything. I love hearing you talk through your picks. Well, I don't have a lot of time to think about it beforehand, Scott.

So I've got to like, you know, figure it out on the fly here. There's always a very fun name in the outfield still sitting there. Who's that? Has two S's in his name? Is it this guy? Two S's in his name. I don't know who I have ranked higher. Oh,

his name normally doesn't have two S's, you know? No, he's, I think I know you're referring to and that's who I'm going to take. Yeah. I'm going to take Jason Dominguez.

I don't, I would have to consult my rankings, but again, that's the fun of drafting on a different, a different website is that I don't have them right in front of me. Randy or Rosarina was the other player I was thinking about, which he could give you 2020, you know,

hope that he gets the batting average back up to 250. Dominguez could do the same thing, but it's just the mystery box of, can he steal 30 bases? Can he hit 25 home runs? Can he catch a fly ball? That I don't know. But power and speed

should hopefully be there for Jason. I don't know about the pick that came after. Jonathan India, 122. That feels early in a head-to-categories league. It was early even not in a categories league. Right, right. Yeah, even in a points league,

122 would be early, and that's his better format. Yeah, I didn't expect to see him drafted. in this in this one to be honest yeah should provide a lot of uh run scored leading off for the royals the hope is he steals a little bit more playing in kansas city but uh yeah maybe a little bit early here for jonathan india and then beat on your next pick was freddie perolza was that the the head versus heart pick there did you get both of them that was i got both of them so i'm pretty happy with that uh needed another starter i looked at the board i was like there's a few that i

anyways. I have, I had Peralta, you know, at the top of that list. So if I get both, I'm pretty happy with that. Scott, you are back up and your last four picks have been starting pitchers. Yeah. I'll switch to hit her. I'll switch to hit her here, but my third straight injury risk after Strider and Kirby. Christian Yelich, though, I'm starting to feel more optimistic about Christian Yelich. He's homered a couple times already in the brief time he's returned for back surgery. I'm not going to mind having more steals, even though I don't think I really need him,

and there's a good chance he helps in all five categories, batting average included. So I'm happy to get him here. After Christian Yelich, Mark Vientos, you know, that was a good pick, Scott. He was buried. If I knew Christian Yelich was there, I probably would have taken him as my second outfielder

instead of Jason Dominguez. What was his rank in ADP? Did you have him to catch that, or is there a way to look at it now? I think I can go back and maybe show drafted and expert rank 127 so he was a yeah he was there i guess i guess i just i guess i just didn't see him or i wasn't paying attention i don't even trying to remember where i have him ranked to see if that's if that's one you can take advantage of in the yahoo draft room i i just under value i have them

ninety second i probably would have taken yellow there as well so that's a good pick after that one mark viento's jeffman randia rosarena robert swarres so lots of relievers lots of Shoot. Shoot. I do want to highlight Mark Vientos going off the board of 125th here. He's another one where, based on other ADP sources, there's more hype. He's typically a top 100 pick. He lasts all the way to 125 here. And I think that's a little bit more appropriate.

There's still big power upside here. Bidon, what do you think about Mark Viantos this season with that at least loaded top half of the Mets lineup? I actually really like Mark Biantos. I know that Scott's not the biggest fan, but I think the power is legit. I don't know that he's going to continue to hit for a neutral average. But if you can just stay above 240 and hit 30 home runs, I'm pretty happy with that. And in this format, I really don't mind it because, again, you could just be punting average or average week to week is so fickle. You can just hope that he has a good week and, you know, that can kind of win out sometimes.

The power is legit. There's no questioning that. It's just, does he make enough contact to justify staying in the lineup or does he revert to being like a Patrick Wisdom type? After Mark Vientos, there was Hoffman, Randy Roserena, Robert Suarez, Hunter Brown, Ezekiel Tovar. We are in round 11. We're going 18 rounds into this one, Hed Head Head, Head, Head, Categories on Yahoo with daily lineups. We've got to get through 18 rounds. so six more in 20 minutes. That doesn't feel like a very good pace. So you've got to pick this up. We are supposed to start an ESPN draft at 530. I might have to put the start time on that one to 545. We absolutely have to be done with that by 7 o'clock

because we have a live FD draft going on. We can do it. We can get through six rounds in 20 minutes. I believe in us. I believe that we can draft after. Can you drop the pick time? I'll stop using the full clock to explain my picks. You know what?

I'm going to look at that now on the ESPN draft because I think I'm going to lower that to 45 seconds so we can keep that one moving a little bit faster there. So Chris, you will have fun in your draft of 45 seconds because it can, well, it looks like I can't even do that. I can't change more. Chris will be talking about someone in two rounds will go by. Yeah.

Chris, feel free to come defend yourself if you'd like. After Ezekiel Tovar, there was Alexis Diaz, Sandy Alcantara. Sandy Alcantra. Sandy? Tell me about it. Steve Garcia, Jr., and then we are into round 12. Nico Horner, Ryan Presley, Ian Hap, Brian Wu, Jordan Romano, Jared Jones, Adelaus Garcia.

We are picking up the pace, and Scott, you are up. Oh, I didn't even know I was up. Sorry. 20 seconds left. I better take Esok Periddis before he's gone. He's the last third basement I like as a starter, and I really, really like him as a starter. All right.

That makes sense. After Esok Paratus, Bidon, you are backup. Yep, that's who I was going to take. So now I'm scrammed a little bit. So now I'm going to have to take a little bit of time that I wasn't planning on taking. I'm just going to continue on the reliever thing that I started. I'm going to take Pete Fairbanks here.

Pete Fairbanks. Okay, we're going to come back to that. Actually, I'll let you talk about that pick because typically, I think he's a fade for all of us on the CBS podcast. He has been good the past couple of years, but also velocity has been down. He's been an injury risk. So why Pete Fairbanks here over some of the other names that are available?

It's kind of in line with some other things. Like when he's health, like kind of like the McLean, like when he's healthy, he's really good. I know the velocity is down a little bit, but I'm not overly concerned. He's always kind of bounced back from any kind of velocity dip before. 31 is not a great age to see that happening, but also, you know, without trying to give away too much, you know, this is fake league, so who cares? But I also try and pair him with Useda a lot because you can get him for nothing.

And that way, even if Uzeda's not going to be the closer, he's going to give you elite numbers. and if he is the closer, then you've gotten, I mean, a top level closer for pennies on the dollar. All right. I know I just told everyone to make their picks, but I'm trying to figure out who I want to draft. I took Robbie Ray because Chris wasn't here to do it first. Robbie Ray, known as the wearer of tight pants, of course, and took him as my SP4 and could dominate the strikeout category. to do that big riser this spring and i've got to figure out who else i am going to draft

there's no hitters that are really standing out to me i do need a catcher i think this team could use a little bit more power so the pick is going to be shay langilliers who in his career has much better numbers on the road and uh he's moving to sacramento this season they're playing in Sutter Health Park, should be a little bit better of a hitting environment. And overall, he's just continued to improve the past couple of years. So Cal Raleigh, 80% Cal Raleigh. I'll take that here as my starting catcher with Shay Langalears. And the next pick was Kodi Senga.

Beat on you are backup. Another, sorry, another draft where JT. Real Muto is falling, going behind Langalears again. I thought about taking JTR. Scott, he, he's my, I don't know if he's my highest friend catcher, but I felt like needed the power. I get it. Power, yes.

That's why. Yep. Yeah, I'm just going to continue and just take another closer here. I'm just going to go with that Trevor McGill, who I really like here. You know what? This is where not having a bench is going to hurt me because relievers are going to get pushed up because of it. Yeah. I mean, you don't need starters.

because every reliever is going to go off the board and then, you know, bench relievers too. Yeah. So I'm going to take Bednar just because he's the top closer left. I know. I don't have a second closer yet. And I might be screwed. So I took a manual class A.

I probably waited too long to go ahead and grab my second reliever there. After Bednar goes Stephen Kwan, who felt like he was. was the top player for a while there, at least based on the Yahoo. It's a tough format for him with only three outfield spots. You're not getting any power. Well, you might get double-digit homeruns, I guess. But like a combined 30 homers and steals,

that's tough for as much as he helps in batting average. It's tough when you have so few line-up spots to make up for what he's costing you in those counting stats. And another closer goes, Kenley Janssen and then Jack Flaherty. So, man, I don't know what closers are left. It is not looking great. So got to try to figure that out, I think, on the next turn. And the next pick was Chris Martin.

Will he be the closer of the Rangers beat on? What do you think, Chris Martin in Texas? I have no idea. I mean, I don't foresee them having any idea either. So I don't really know how I can really. comment on it. I mean, Chris Martin's been fine. He, you know, he has the strikeout ability to be closer, but I, again, I don't think Texas knows what they want from it right now. So it's kind of an avoid for me. If they all kind of, if Martin and Garcia and church and Jackson all fall,

then maybe you just grab one. You know, Martin seems to fall quite a bit. He's also like 45 years old. So who knows how long you'll stay healthy. Again, you just kind of grab whoever you like the most. Maybe the biggest thing against Garcia is just that he's a lefty. So you're probably not going to get full-time closer out of him. I feel like their closer's not on their team yet. Yeah, that might be true. It could be a trade.

It could be a signing of David Robertson or Craig Kimbril, or it could be on one of their minor league teams. Emiliano Toyota, I still think that they should give him a chance, but I get it. They want to try to build them up as a starter. So it sounds like they're going to try that. If it doesn't work, maybe he's the closer.

After Chris Martin, there was Brendan Nimmo, Shohay Otani, the pitcher here in round 13, who is not going to start the year in the rotation. We don't really know when he's going to be back. Hopefully mid, late May, we think. I mean,

it could be longer than that, potentially June for Otani, the pitcher. Michael Garcia, Christopher Sanchez, velocity way up the spring. has been a big riser. J.T. Real Mutu to kick off round 14, followed by Lucas Ursaig, Paul Goldschmidt,

Alec Bohm, and Ryan Pepio. Yeah, let's keep this thing moving. We've got four more rounds to complete in the next 13, 12 minutes. So it should be an interesting one. Bryce Terang, who could dominate steals for the team that drafted him. Josh Lowe, Kevin Gosman. Scott, you are up.

Dominates steals for Terang, but suffer, pull down everything else. So I think that's going to go. Not that it's a bad pick at this point. That's just, I don't think it's going to go as well as last year. It certainly didn't go well in the second half. Okay, Kyle Finnegan, get another glob of steals here. Saves, excuse me.

Another Glob of saves. It's not like you knew I needed saves or anything like that. Well, I think we should probably just draft until they're all gone at this point since there's no bench spots to fill. Bednar and Finnegan are my two relievers save sources and neither of them are great for ratios are probably job security I think the rest of my pitching staff

can at least absorb the ratios yeah I were innings from the relievers I entirely waited too long I don't see anyone really that can provide they got pushed up they got pushed up because nobody is everybody has to fill out all their relief pitcher spots before the before you know sometimes bench players would get pulled up before that uh all right

well the next couple picks were colton cowzer matt shaw uh scott took kyle finnegan beat on you took matt shaw be honest was that a homer pick uh probably but uh i at least homework picked him so much that i've also show that in my rankings so i'm i'm all in on matt shaw i think he is he has just a really great feel set for our game. Plus, third base gets really ugly. You know, there's, there's probably another third baseman out there. I should have taken over him. But the triple eligibility he has on Yahoo was pretty tempting as well. I was noticing that. So on CBS, Matt Schall is just third base. He has second base and shortstop both in addition to third base here on Yahoo. I do not think I'm going to take a reliever. It's just I don't see anybody worth taking

So I guess I've got Class A and no one else. I am going to select, I think, let me just make sure, although we don't really have the time to be doing that. A. E. E. E. E. Hennio Suarez. So I think my starting lineup is filled out there. Yeah, I've got Langalears, Harper, Westberg, A. E. E. E. Horeneos, C.J. Abrams, Seiz, Suzuki, Dominguez, Tommy, Edmund, Otani, the hitter, and Marcus Semy.

And I do have to fill in the rest of my pitcher spots here. but that is the latest. There was Dan Trey Swanson, the next pick, and B. Don, you are back up. Yeah, I guess it's finally time to address pitching, starting pitching a little bit. And just in case, I'll go up against the team that has more relievers than me. I'm going to grab a spark and grab Clay Holmes here. Yeah, Clay Holmes, big riser this spring. use him as SPRP, regular pitcher spot in this format.

Yeah, he's looked good. He's looked really good in the transition of being a starter and throwing that change up, throwing a couple other pitches and looks good. Scott, you are up here. A little strategic there from B. Don like that. I'm going to finally get Gavin Williams for once. It's happening. Biggest spring riser.

I think he's poised for a monster break. out. He is your what number of pitchers, Scott? SP5, I think. SP5, correct. All right. After Gavin Williams, Brandon Fott, Mason, Win, McKenzie Gore, Brandon Lau. Thanks, everyone, for hanging out. It's mock draft mega stream. We are deep into a head-to-head categories draft on Yahoo here with daily lineups. We're going to get it. We're going to make the 530 cutoff, Frank. We're going to do it. All right, don't jinx us. Scott, we're trying our best.

The next draft after this, by the way, will be a head-to-head points draft on ESPN with daily lineups, and that will be broadcasted by Chris Towers. We'll be hosting that one with Sky Dombrovsky, who is the defending Tout Wars head-to-head champion. So we'll bring him in for that draft as well. And we'll finish out this one. Last couple of picks were McKenzie Gore, Brandon Lau,

Michael Tolia, Zach Eflin, Lane Thomas. and we are on the turn here at 1516. Last pick of round 15 is Seth Lugo, kind of a boring pitcher. I feel like, man, those boring pitchers just get pushed down in a format like this. Has that Gallen gone?

Zach Gallen, he's had to, I would imagine. Yeah, he went in round 10. I just forgot to cross him out. Yeah, we have reached that part of the day, Scott. Missing players to cross off the list part of the list. a day. I'm only doing one and I've already got that. I reached that point like five rounds ago.

So I don't know how you're no crossing names off. Especially with, you know, picks are flying in furiously right now. We are in round 16 at Nick Castiano's Grant Holmes and Taylor Ward. Grant Holmes, big riser as well, lots of excitement there. He looked great last year as mostly a reliever, but expect to be the SP4 for the Braves to start the season. Next pick, Jackson Job, also a rise. you Darvish, Yandy Diaz, for someone who might need batting average.

Nick Povetta, nice pick there, Zander Bogartz, and Scott, you are backup. Well, I was kind of thinking I needed home runs most. I probably don't actually need home runs most, but that was the category I was aching foremost. But I don't think I'm going to overthink. And I think I'm just going to take jerks and pro far, the best all-around hitter left. Presuming he's healthy. The brave say he will be. And that fills my...

Wait, where is he? Did I take him? I show him. Yeah, you took him. Yep, you're good. Why is he not in my lineup? Oh, there he is. There's two utility spots.

Oh, maybe we won't make the 530 cutoff. I didn't realize there were three rounds left. Yeah, come on, you jinxed us. I did. Behan, you are up. Yeah, I'm just going to go with somebody you can be a difference maker, potentially in a category and in a category. and take Bryce and Stott.

Dual eligibility, not that it really matters, since I have a lot of that on my team, but just to grab some cheap speed here. All right. That means I am up, and I waited for reliever long enough, and I am going to do something, I think, interesting. I'm going to go ahead and double up

on both D-BACs relievers here. So regardless of who the closer is, I will have them on my team unless it's Kevin Ginkle, and that would just completely ruin this plan. if I can find AJ. Has AJ That's a good call, Frank. I like that. Has AJ Puck been drafted? I don't think so.

Oh, wait, maybe he has. He was. Oh! Just before you. No. Just before you. I completely. All right, I am going to take Justin Martinez and hope he is the closer.

Oh, that stunk. Whoever did that? You. Oh, you. Yeah. That was... Get him, Frank. I'm going to go ahead and take a roll this Chapman

and hope he is the Red Sox closer, I guess. So hoping and praying on two of those there to join my Emanuel Clause. I waited too long to grab a second closer. And that's why we do this. A learning experience for us, as well as those watching and listening. The next pick was Grayson Rodriguez,

194th overall. Scott, I believe that's right around where you have him in your rankings. This is an appropriate, time to take the chance. Yeah. I mean, I wasn't going to do it because my aisle spots are full of Strider and Kirby. But I do need one more pitcher.

Landon Raup goes next. That's Raup. Yeah, we don't really take you say to here, but I just felt like one of the, acknowledged Landon Raup is having a phenomenal spring training. Looks like you might have an insights kind of spot to the fifth starter job in San Francisco, which is always a great part to be pitching in. And again, he's been, he's been great this spring.

Sorry, I thought I didn't realize Clay Holmes was gone. And now I'm scrambling to figure out which pressure to take instead. Our guy beat on, took him. Like, three rounds ago, Scott. Okay, I'm going to, boy, I really haven't been able to keep up. All right, I better take, all right, Spencer Arrogetti, who feels like, he feels like he's losing helium this spring just as other pitchers have emerged and he's kind of struggled with walks it's spring so i don't know that that means he's forgotten how to throw strikes like he showed

over the final two months last year when he he looks so good yeah i'll take it i think it's i think it's fine upside for this stage of the draft do you still like him just in general yeah i do this is the first time i've actually been able to draft him because there was so much helium early on i just feel like he's been overshadowed by some of those spring risers. All righty. Kirby Yates, next pick. And Andres Jimenez, Ronaldo Lopez, Victor Robles, big steals later on in the draft here. Bowden, Francis, Nathan Avaldi.

Bedan, I wanted to ask you, you took Tanner Scott. Did you think at all about taking Kirby Yates and just locking in the Dodgers relievers? I did. That last pick, if I hadn't kind of just wanted to give Lain and Rapp an acknowledgement, I would have gone either Yates or Yusena. All right. The next pick was Luis Arise, who, man, if you want just huge betting average at this point to help in that one specific category, you will not find a better player than him.

True, but you better be really strong in other categories for the same reasons I gave for Stephen Kwan earlier. Arise is even more exaggerated case. Just tough to make up for those shortcomings with so few hitter spots. I wanted to ask. Such a short time period, too. Yeah. I wanted to ask B. Don, because I was thinking about taking Kirby Yates for my last pitcher spot, too.

You said Yates or Usetta. But that is because there's no bench, right? And you're just trying to maximize the lineup you have. Yeah, exactly. Or would you've gone a different route if there was a bench? I mean, if there was a bench, I probably would have drafted some different hitters. I probably would have more starters on my team. But, yeah, it was pretty much just trying to utilize the bench.

That being said, I don't mind pairing like we're talking about Kirby Yates or Tanner Scott or Pete Fairbanks with you say that because they should all be good. And one of the two in theory should get saved. Although Dodgers, I mean, it could be Copac. It could be Phillips. They could trade for anybody they want and defer their money for forever. I mean, they can do whatever they want. They can do whatever they want. All right.

Well, lots of picks. coming off the board here. I know so fast. Into the final round at the turn. At the 1718, it was Willie Castro, Reese Hoskins, Spencer Steer,

Jackson Holiday, Logan Ohhabi, Sean Mania, Tyler Stevens. There we go. This is, you know, just waiting to the last round

to grab your catcher. I probably should have done that. I see that every draft. Brandon Woodruff, Justin Verlander. Scott, you selected Ryan Mountcastle. Then there was Francisco Alvarez

to beat on and Nick Ladolo. Beaton. Obviously, IL spots and you're stashing, Francisco Alvarez is that something you're looking to do in lots of drafts? No, not really. I just figured I would do it here. He's kind of the last upside catcher here. I don't have anybody to put in the IL so I can go ahead and do that. And that frees me up to in a league like this where we're drafting, I can drop him and probably put somebody else on my

bench where I just not rostering a catcher until it's time for the opening day. And then I can make a cut somewhere along my lineup. All right. I do apologize for us kind of speeding through that, but this was bound to happen at some point today when we're trying to do five drafts in a row and schedule all of them happening. But B-DON, we do appreciate you for hopping on.

Make sure to follow them on X at RazBidon and let everyone know where they can find your work and what you've got going on. YouTube.com slash Razball Fantasy. Razball.com is where you'll find the articles and postings and my rankings. So just go over to Razball. You can find it all or go find me on YouTube if you want to see me and Gray.

There's been a little bit of a battle today. People saying that Scott has the better aging genes over Gray. So that's been a new little debate, Ali Razball comment section. Aging genes, you said? Yep. They say you don't age. And Gray is trying to fight that and say he doesn't either. But, you know, I actually told him he's screwed because he's got the Korean.

co-host. So he's never going to look like he ages better than his co-host. He's really out of luck on that. Here at 40, I'm at the other end of the, you looked like you were 14 when you were 24. Wasn't so hot then. Wasn't so, wasn't so thrilled with that at the time looking 14 to 24, but it's, you know, maybe. Now I'm getting the other side of it. All right, be done. We appreciate you. We're going to unceremoniously kick you out of here, but we appreciate you hopping in. And thanks again, man. We appreciate it.