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

Episode Date: March 14, 2025

Frank Stampfl, Scott White and Chris Towers just wrapped up their Mock Draft MEGA STREAM! First up we did a 12-team H2H points mock draft with weekly lineups on CBS. The guys talk through picks, strategy, their teams and more. 🏀 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 league. Well, fantasy. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Welcome into our first ever fantasy baseball today mock draft mega stream. I am Frank Stample, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers.

here is the plan for the day. Five drafts, one live stream. We are covering different formats across all different sites. We are trying to help everybody. Regardless of how you play, where you play, this will be the fantasy baseball mock draft prep show for you. Chris, this was kind of your brainchild.

It is happening. What are your expectations? I apologize in advance to Frank and Scott for making them do nine hours. of streaming this afternoon. Two days after we did a four and a half hour auction stream, Frank and I have tout wars in two days. It's, let's do it.

I got, I'm two Diet Coke's in. Let's go. Scott, I would ask if you are ready, but you don't really have a choice. You have to be ready. Yeah, I guess. The draft's going to start whether I'm ready or not. Yes, there are, you know, someone in the chat said, I'm usually sleeping at this time.

That's actually Scott is usually sleeping at this time. Not 2.30. Maybe one. Scott works nights. I work days. It's fine. Here is the schedule for today, by the way. We are about to hop into a CBS head-to-head points mock draft.

That'll be first up. That'll take us up to about 4 o'clock. We'll have a head-to-head categories mock draft on Yahoo. That's with daily lineups at 4.15 p.m. Eastern time. We will do a head-to-head points. Daily lineup league on ESPN. That is their standard format. That's coming at 530.

We will do a Roto Wire online championship. That is a 12-team roto draft over on the NFBC. That also has an overall prize component. We'll do that at 7 p.m. Eastern Time, and we will end the night with an MLB underdog best ball draft. We'll have some guests popping in as well. We will intro those people once they are here. But it is about time.

I will pull up the draft. And Scott, without further ado, let's get this thing started. I'm hitting play. All right. First draft is up and running. Head to head points mock over on CBS. I will read off some of the rules and regulations

just so you know everything that's going on here. Chris, you are drafting third. Scott, you're drafting fifth. I am drafting sixth. I randomized the draft order so we're not spread out. We're all right next to each other. There's going to be lots of sniping and crazy things going on. So we'll see exactly how that works out.

This is a 21 round draft, shallower lineups, nine starting hitters, one of each infield position, three outfielders, one utility, then we have five starting pitchers, two relievers, and five bench spots. The scoring format on CBS for hitters, one point for each of a single walk, run RBI, hit by pitch. Two points for a double or stolen base, three for a triple, four for a homer, negative half a point for a hitter strikeout, and for pitchers. Three points per inning, three points for a quality start. seven for a win or save half a point for a pitcher strikeout, minus one for each of a walk, earned run, hit aloud, or hit by pitch, and minus five for losses.

The first four picks of this draft were Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt, Shohei Otani, and Jose Ramirez. Scott, you are up. Yeah, those picks are pretty much by the book. It's a little, just a little interesting that we didn't see Bobby Witt drop below two. I actually rank him third in this format. Nothing new came out about his forearm today that I saw. The Royals said they were going to reevaluate him in the morning

after x-rays were negative. I presume no news is good news as far as that goes. And so I would say continue to draft him as planned. I'm going with Juan Soto here at pick five. I knew I wasn't going to get him. And I was a little surprised that he lasted all the way to five. I mean, probably should be the fourth pick. Jose Ramirez is awesome as well.

I will go ahead. and take Kyle Tucker, who up the walk rate last year, OBP was great. He's in a contract year, traded over to the Cubs this off season. So we're just hoping he picks up where he left off. And he could be that awesome player once again.

The plate discipline increase for Kyle Tucker, I think last year. It was a near even strike out to walk ratio, right? And that makes him look even more attractive in this format than years past. I think it makes sense that he goes this high if he can sustain that. And of course, that's the reason Juan Soto is a fifth round pick, or I mean, the fifth overall pick in this format,

or maybe he should even be fourth overall, when you might see him go toward the end of round one in a five-by-five roto league. Juan Soto more walks than strikeouts basically every year. It helps to set him apart in a point league. I will say. I did the best and worst values in every round for yesterday's newsletter and I do you guys think one sort of is maybe overvalued in roto this year? I think he's up to like sixth over the last couple of weeks.

And I get that the floor is super high. But four categories stud, right? Yeah. But I like, I get what you're saying. Is there a huge difference between him and Yoron Alvarez? Yeah, like isn't Yorna Alvarez a better bet for batting average and power if they play this number of games? You can't put the injury aside.

Sure. a guy with chronic knee issues in his 20s. Yeah. And Soto is incredibly durable. So from that perspective, I mean, it's almost night and day. You expect Soto's going to play 150 plus games with his eyes closed this season. So, I mean, is that worth, I'm looking right now over the past week? Juan Soto 6.8 and Yordon Alvarez 16.7. So is it worth 10 picks of value?

Maybe. That's security. It might be. I'm not sure. I would go, I would more go to say Yordon Alvarez is underrated, undervalued in drafts than Soto personally. But it depends how much you... And roto, we're getting into roto analysis here in a points trap.

But it depends how much... How urgent you feel the steals need is, I suppose. After I selected Kyle Tucker at 6, there was Mookie Betts at 7, followed by Yordaun Alvarez, Corbyn Carroll, Gunner Henderson, Paul Skeens, Vlad Jr., and into round 2 now, Francisco Lindor and Terrick Scoobles. So Gunner Henderson's been a big talking point, dealing with the intercostal strain. Believe we all lowered him down to around 9th or 10th.

He goes 10th in this draft, which probably makes sense, given what we know right now, right? Yeah, that's where we have. I'm a little surprised at Vladimir Guerrero going 12th. This feels like not his best format. And, you know, obviously his best attribute is batting average, and that's wasted in a points league. There's no direct rewards for that. I suppose he manages the strikeout rate well, but just to give you an idea, as good as Vladimir Guerrero was, second best year of his career, 3.57 points per game.

Francisco Lindor, who the same guy paired him with at the round 1-2 turn, 3.72. So kind of a typical year for Lindor, and he was two-tenths of a point better than Vladimir Guerrero in what was one of the best years of his career. Yeah, now we do have the 2021 season for Vlad that we can point to and say he has best player in fantasy upside. But that's four years ago. And last year, he did play at that level for about four months. Frank, if you have the date that he got his haircut. It was sometime in June.

I don't have it available right now. But we've also seen more years than not where he's just kind of a guy. you know, even in a head-to-head points. He doesn't walk, like he doesn't strike out very much. He also doesn't walk very much. He's a pretty aggressive hitter. So he's more like an average walk-rate guy. I rank him first to first base for this format, Vladimir Guerrero.

But I would say both Bryce Harper and Freddie Freeman probably have more upside in this format than Guerrero does. They're both coming off kind of down years for them. Yeah. Well, Guerrero's coming off one of his best. Anyway, he wasn't going to go that much later than 12, but just wanted to put that out there. He's another player who loses value in points leagues. After Terrick Scouble, there was Bryce Harper, Zach Wheeler, Freddie Freeman. Ellie Dela-Cruz falls down a little bit in a points league.

I think that makes sense. Maybe this was a little bit further than we usually see him fall in a head-to-head points draft. Ellie Dela-Cruz goes 18th overall. I was kind of hoping he would make it to me. But he did not. And I have a little dilemma here because I have a little dilemma here, because I have Kyle Tucker with my first pick. He's an outfielder.

Top of my board is Fernando Tatis. Do I want to clog two outfield spots right away? Or do I take Trey Turner to lock in the shortstop? Maybe I'm overthinking this one, but I found myself missing out on elite short stops in this format, and I don't want to do that again. So I'm going to go take Trey Turner ahead of Fernando Tatees. Maybe I'm overthinking it.

Tatees just isn't his best format. I think it's totally defensible for him to go in the middle of the second round. But I opted to take Trey Turner, just because I want to lock in a better shortstop, don't want to clog those outfield spots. Scott, you are up. Will you take Fernando Tatis? Yeah, I face the same dilemma

after taking Juan Soto with my first pick. I think I'm going to do something a little unconventional, though. I think I'm going to make things spicy here at 245 from my perspective in the morning. And so it's not just that I've already have one outfielder and the top players remaining are outfielers. It's that their roto,

coded outfielders, you know? I want impact from every spot in a points league. I'm going to reach a little and I'm going to take William Contreras. Oh, not where I thought you were going to go, but if you want to get him, there was no guarantee he would be there in the middle of the third round. No, it's definitely earlier than I've ever taken him before. And I guess we're going to see if it's a little bit of an experiment. I've never faced these particular options in round two in a points league.

just kind of been, I don't know, I feel like the person who makes it back to me in round three is going to be somebody I might have considered here in round two. And meanwhile, I might have missed out on William Contreras if I waited. So we'll see. Scott, can you look something up for me? Sure. How did Fernando Tatis in points per game compare to Vlad Jr. last year? I believe he was higher, but I believe they're both unimpressive. So yeah, not quite a bit higher. J-Rod. Tatis was 3.1. Vlad Guerrero, so I was asking to compare Fernando.

Oh, Vlad Guerrero, I'm sorry. Tatis was 3.13. Guerrero was 3.57. Okay. Pretty big difference. Yeah, yeah. But not, Tatis wasn't at his best and Guerrero was close to his best. Yeah.

Chris, you must have been smiling from ear to ear when you saw both Scott and I pass on Fernando Tatis. He is a player I know you typically do like. Yeah. I mean, even in a down year getting 3.1, 3.1.3. points or whatever per game is really solid because that'll get you to right around that 500 point mark that we're looking for from a like a second round pick and obviously we know you know you have to go back to 2021 which is as far as you have to go back for Vlad's best season but he has

550 plus point potential um so I'm happy to see it I didn't have an outfielder yet Tatis is sort of where Vlad was last year where it's like oh the data keeps saying he should be better. We finally saw it come through for Vlad's. So the hope is it does for Tatis. That's why his value remains high. Okay, I'm up again. You are up, Scott, and I will catch people up on some picks here.

After you took Contreras, there was Catelle Marte, Tatis to Chris, Jackson Trio, and then Jaron Duran into round three, Corey Seeger, Ronald Acuna, Corbyn, Corbyn Burns, also to Chris, and then Julio Rodriguez, who does take a bit of a hit in this format, falling to the middle of the third round. That might be a little bit too far for him to fall. I came within one pick of what I thought would happen

after taking William Contreras last round. And just for some context, in 2023, Julio Rodriguez scored 556.5 points in this format, which is basically a late first rounder. So if you think he can get back to that level, it's a phenomenal pick. Yeah. The problem was last year, Julio Rodriguez averaged 2.69 points per game.

Which is on the verge of not startable. Yeah. Well, it was 3.50 from July on. He got injured for his hopeful resurgence. So it may have just been a bad timing there. But that does show it's a little bit of a precarious format for Julio Rodriguez. I do follow it up. the Rodriguez pick with a roto-coded outfielder,

but one with some versatility in jazz Chisholm, who already has third base eligibility and could pick up second base. Well, presumably will pick up second base. So, yeah, I think I like how that turned out. Chisholm has my third pick, William Contreras, is my second. It would be interesting to know if somebody would have taken William Contreras in that pick 21 to 28 range. so that I couldn't have had him.

But as thanks, Stan now, I'm happy with the way that turned out. I also want to point out with regards to Julio Rodriguez. He's already gotten 31 plate appearances this spring. He has talked about wanting to get as many opportunities as he can this spring, either in grapefruit league games or he's playing on the backfields more often. He just wants to avoid the slow starts that have plagued him throughout his career. That's the plan for the Mariners and Julio Rodriguez. He does have three doubles and three homers in 11 games.

So, so far so good. After Chris selected Corbyn Burns, there was Julio Rodriguez, as we mentioned. Scott took Jazz Chisholm very interesting. I selected Matt Olson. The next pick was Logan Gilbert. So I was debating between those two in particular, Olson versus Logan Gilbert. We'll see if I regret passing on the starting pitcher.

But I'm just thinking of all the points league mock drafts we've done, where I either wind up with a bad shortstop or a bad first baseman, and I just didn't want to do that again. It's easy. We just spoke yesterday on our position preview updates about passing on the third round, third baseman, because there are other really good third baseman in this format,

like the Breggmans and other names that go later on. So that's why I didn't wind up taking Austin Riley or Mani Machado either. And it's kind of the opposite at Shortstop, where the best players in Shortstop, are going to be good at both, right? There's a bunch of first rounders at that position or first three rounders. But you know, you look at like C.J. Abrams.

He's way better in Roto. O'Neill Cruz probably much better in Roto. And even the like safer fallback options, like Ezekiel Tovar, uh, Jeremy Pena, those guys. useless. Pretty bad in a point. Yeah. So I think shortstop's actually a position you do have to be pretty conscious of as

you're drafting and I had to head points league. Just getting back to that third base point where the everybody behind Jose Ramirez, Austin Riley, jazz chisholm, they're they're all more better geared for rhodo player because of plate discipline. Let's throw 2025 out because it was a weird year for both Riley and bregman. 2024, those two averaged, uh, exactly the same amount. out 3.33 points per game. And, you know, you're going to be able to get Bregman a lot later.

Breggman's not the only one. Esock Perid is average 3.06 points per game two years ago. So the better, the mid-round third base options tend to be better for points leagues, while the early round third base options tend to be better for Roto. After I selected Matt Olson, there was Logan Gilbert, Austin, Riley, Jackson, Merrill, Jose Altuvae, Emmanuel Clause, and Rafael Devers with the last pick of round three, 36th overall. He has been falling in drafts recently, has yet to appear in a spring game. Are you guys okay with this fall?

Does this make sense here? Rafael Devers at the three-four turn. I think it's fine, yeah. I still have him ahead of Machado, and Machado's the second best player available on my board. So I think this is exactly right for Devers. Yeah, he hit a home run off of Walker Bueller in a intra-squad scrimmage today. Yeah, but that's not hard to do. It's Walker Bueller. I mean, fair.

Red So, you know, we've talked a lot about the Yankees problems this spring. Red Sox have three of their projected opening day starters on the IL to open the CER or will be on the IL with Lucas Gialito, the industry. So that's another team where, like, is Walker Bueller the number two? starter for the playoff contending Boston Red Sox. That's not great. That's not ideal. It's not what you want.

But yeah, look, we've talked about it. The Devere's situation is really hard to parse because how much of it is actually just his shoulders not right. How much of it is him not being happy about likely plan to move him off third base. How much of it is like everyone's just like, hey, you're not healthy so that when we put you at DH, we can say it's because you're not healthy and not because we think you're a terrible defensive player. You know, if it's the latter and Raphael Devers is fine, it could be one of the steals of the draft. A lot of interesting picks here. Yes, after Raphael Devers,

we're into the fourth round, Chris Sale, Alex Bregman, and Kyle Schwabber. So my idea of passing on third base, because I can get Alex Bregman later, it wasn't really that much later. This is a little bit earlier, Scott, than we're used to seeing Bregman go. even in this format. Well, that's what happens when we're talking about him during a draft and saying how he might be available later. Somebody goes and make sure that doesn't happen. Interestingly, I'm kind of pivoting away from Bregman here. So if you wanted to say something, Chris.

No, no, no. The same guy who took Bregman with his round three pick just before the Raphael Devers, somebody else took Raphael Devers, he took a manual Class A with the 35th overall pick in a points league draft. And sometimes we see him go that high round three in those really deep roto leagues where saves are very scarce. No way I do that in a points league. Like, you know me in a points league, only two relief pitcher spots to fill between 12 teams. And a lot of those are going to be filled by relief pitcher eligible starting pitchers. So there are going to be save sources left over. I might wait until the very end of my draft to take a couple of them.

I think there's a time where it makes sense to reach up for an elite guy like Class A, but probably not to like round seven or eight. And he goes in round three. So just, yeah, I want to be my approach. Yeah. The last couple picks, Mani Machado, followed by Cole Regens, and then Garrett Crochet, who I was thinking about taking if he bated to me

just because I never see him go this late. Even in a points league draft, I think as long as he's healthy, he will be treated like an ace starting pitcher and be allowed to go six-ish innings on a per-star basis for the Red Sox this season. up to this point I have an outfielder, a shortstop in a first baseman, Tucker, Trey Turner, and Matt Olson.

I'm going to go ahead and grab a starting pitcher. Framber Valdez, someone I think excels in this format. He gives you lots of innings per start. And entering a contract here with the Astros, still on a good team, should get some wins. He regularly gives a lot of quality starts as well. So happy to take him here as my SP1. So a bit of a pitching run as we approach you, Scott. What's the pick?

Yeah, I'm thinking about a pitcher two. Thinking about it. Round four is usually earlier than I want to go, but I'm not thrilled with the hitter selection overall. I think, though, I'm going to go with a hitter to avoid the first base problems you refer to, Frank. It is a position where in shallowly lineup leagues like this, you could get boxed out and end up with an unappeal.

starting someone who you're kind of forced to start rather than really eager to start. I'm going to take Pete Alonzo here. Ah!

It's coming off a down year. Snipes, snipe, pew, pew, pew. But you're still pretty good in this format. Typically Pete Alonzo's

like 3.3, 3.3.4 points per game. Last year it was like 2.9. But yeah, I think for being such a big power hitter,

he strikes out less than you think. And if you buy any of the talk that he has studied his swing from the postseason to make better swing decisions this season. I'm not sure I completely buy that, but something to prove once again, it's back-to-back career years, contract years, excuse me, for Pete Alonzo.

So hoping to have a big one and get back on the market next off season. The next pick was Adley Ruchman. Chris, did you just react to that? Did you, you're not a fan of that? No, it was the Pete Alonzo pick that I reacted to. I was planning on taking him because this is the problem when you drafts. show Hey Otani is the top players on my board are probably Marcelo Zuna and Brent Rooker. And I considered doubling up on Brent Rooker, just going totally Galaxy Brain and just maybe he gets outfield eligibility early on.

I did go and check Mike Curland does a really good spreadsheet every spring tracking every team's lineup. Brent Rucker did play in the outfield yesterday on Wednesday for the first time this spring was his first appearance in a game. I would felt better about it if he had made like two or maybe three or even four appearances in the outfield. Because if it's once every 15 or so games, it's going to take a while for him to get outfield eligibility. So yeah, that's, I just couldn't quite do it. but I do think he's clearly the best hitter left. I consider one of the U-Till only bats too. I usually like Swarber in the fourth round of this format

because his OBP and walks are just so awesome. But I did want to get that starting pitcher. I think it's a fine time to take either one. And we just saw Marcelo's going to go 47th. Chris, you selected Ozzy Albies and then Dylan C is the last pick of round four. We're into round five. Scott, I feel like I might have cut you off.

I'm sorry. What do you have? No, it's fine. I was just going to catch up people on the picks. All right, because Chris took Ozzy Albiz, then Marcel O'Suna went right after. Dylan Seas was the pitcher I was considering. He goes at the end of round four, paired with Marcus Simeon.

Who's better in points leagues, I would say. 49 still feels a little early. And there goes Wyatt Langford at 50. I was getting excited. I had a chance to take Wyatt Langford for once. Unless you were going to take him here, Chris. We're finally doing a draft without Doc Eisenhower, so we could see where Wyatt Langford normally goes,

and it's pick 50, the second pick of round five. He is points league coded, too, I would say. And actually, for as bad as he was for five months last year, he finished with a higher point per game average than both Jackson Turyo and Jackson Merrill for the season. His was higher, Wyatt Langford. Now, if you just isolate the best portions of the season,

for Churio and Merrill, which we often do when we're talking about them, they were better for those stretches. But, you know, we're not isolating Wyatt Langford's best portion in September. And he was pretty great during that. And the usual- Oh, you know what? Jackson Merrill was slightly better than Langford. They were almost equal in points per game.

But Langford was better than Churio. I feel like once we see why Langford go, we're almost certainly about to see James Wood go. And that's exactly what you did, Chris. And, you know, for he's going to strike out a lot. That's the primary knock against James Wood in a points league. And I think he will be better for Roto. He wasn't terrible for points last season.

It wasn't quite three points per game. It was probably like two nine just eyeballing it. 28, two, I believe. Yeah. Like for a guy that we expect to take a step forward, that's not bad. He walked a lot. He was on like an 80 walk pace last season. in.

We've talked about his kind of middling game power because he doesn't lift the ball. Well, there were a lot of doubles in there. And there are going to be some triples because he's super fast too. So I think James Wood could be a sneaky option. And I just didn't want to go pitcher here. That's the primary issue. And if I thought Brent Rooker was going to have outfield eligibility early on in the season, I would have done what Frank just did.

And after you selected James Wood, there was Blake Snell, Michael King to Scott, and I took Brent Rooker. I was so nervous that one of you guys, well, I guess, Chris, you weren't going to do it after you talked about it. But I was really nervous, Scott. You were going to take Brent Rooker. You didn't. You wound up going with Michael King. Thank you for that. I appreciate it.

That was the debate, King or Rooker. Rooker was great last year, obviously. He averaged 3.4, 2 points per game. But I do think he's going to give some of that back, especially in batting average. and he strikes out close to 30% of the time. I feel like it wouldn't take much of a slide statistically for Rooker to go from being a really good starter like he was last year to just kind of a decent starter.

And meanwhile, we might see in a smaller lineup league like this, we might see some pretty attractive hitters slide because they're already blocked in that lineup spot across the 12 different teams. And so I kind of wanted to leave utility open. That was more of a secondary aspect, but it's like, you know, if, I don't know, someone who I really like in this format,

like Brandon Nimmo, let's say, or Jerksson ProFar, if I've already filled my outfield in there, they're very late, you know, it would be nice to be able to stick them in a utility spot. So I took my first pitcher Michael King instead, and we'll see what pitchers make it back to me. Maybe I'll take another. Well, the next pick right after Brent Rooker was one, Junior Camerre.

55th overall, the rise continues on Junior Camerrano, popular breakout candidate this season, followed by Pablo Lopez. Chris, the helium on some of these breakout guys. We see it every spring. We spoke about Camerro yesterday. The ADP over the past week, I believe, was 69.5. Goes even higher here, 55th overall. And not necessarily. If Cominero is as good as we think he is,

he's going to be good in any format. But he's not one of these guys that has like precocious plate discipline. He didn't strike out very much. He also didn't walk very much in the minor league level. So not necessarily the reach I would make, but I can totally see it working out. I don't really understand why maybe I do understand why Junior Commonero is rising so much.

because somebody wrote such a catchy song about him, but wrote and performed it. But like what has happened? He had a two homer game this spring. One of those home runs was kind of a cheapy that wouldn't have made it out in many venues. Other than that, there hasn't been a lot of like external factors

contributing to his rise up the rankings. So I'm a little surprised it continues, especially in this format, given the number of third basemen that excel in this format, at 55. Look, he's priced out of my range at 75 as much as I thought I was going to like him back in October when I made that song.

But here, you know, he just keeps moving up draft boards and I'm not, I'm not, I love the upside. I think it's Austin Riley-like, but, you know, just because a guy has premium exit velocities and a not so terrible strikeout rate, so did Jordan Walker. Like, it could go wrong. Yeah.

After Pablo Lopez, we got Vinnie Pee. Baby. Vinny Pass Guantino, Shota Imanaga, O'Neill Cruz, and Lawrence Butler. Another popular breakout this season. This was the round for the breakouts. Round five, we got Butler, Camerero,

James Wood, Wyatt Langford. First pick of round six is Teasca Hernandez. The only, I guess, counter I would bring up to taking like a Caminero or a Brough, or a breakout candidate in this range is the player pool feels kind of flat at this point. Maybe you guys feel differently,

but if there's someone that you feel really passionate about or you really feel convicted that they're going to have a big season, I think you can make the case just because the player pool feels a little bit more flat at this point in the draft. I get what you're saying. I think that's a good argument in principle.

I would say my response to that in head-to-head points drafts is this is where I load up on pitcher. Once all the MVP caliber bats are gone and the hitter pool especially flattens like you're talking about. Okay, here's where I pile on pitchers. Brent Rooker may have been the last one of those MVP caliber bats that you took, Frank, and I took King one spot. Michael King, my first pitcher, one spot ahead of that.

But in theory, probably going to go pitcher the next few picks. We'll see how quickly they get scooped. up though. All right. Go ahead, Chris. I do want to point out with Junior Kamenara, part of it is he went bonkers in the Caribbean series postseason. He had, they played, he played 21 games for Esco Guido.

He had a 12, 23 OPS, 12 walks, seven strikeouts, four home runs in 22 games. So he does have seven homers in his last 31 games, including spring training and the Caribbean. series, which is what you're hoping for. I'm not saying it's a great idea. And I think a lot of it is just kind of the helium, as we like to say, you know, that that huge bomb he hit in the walkoff home run he hit in the Caribbean series is certainly part of it. That might have accounted for like 15 picks worth of rise by itself.

But yeah, he was going like outside of the top 100 before January. And now it's, he's going to be probably a top 60 pick before we're done. This happens every year, though. Yes, it certainly does. After Luis Castillo, there was Aranola, Max Fried, C.J. Abrams, and Jacob de Grom. I am up. Let's check out what I have. Matt Olson, Trey Turner, Kyle, Kyle Tucker, and then Brent Rooker, and Framber Valdez.

So a few different needs here. I'm going to go ahead and take someone who I feel like has lasted longer than he usually does, and I understand that there's injury risk. I don't usually draft Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but I will take him here as my SP2. I have that kind of insurance built in with Framber Valdez as my SP1. And I do think when Yamamoto pitches, he will be treated like an ace. He'll be allowed to go six innings frequently. Will he go much more than that?

Probably not, but I do feel okay with him as my SP2 in round six. Yeah, I'm surprised you went with Yamamoto versus another pitcher who I'm going to take here right afterward. And I know you like you. You like him even more than I do. I think Logan Webb is even better suited for this format because of the volume he regularly provides over 200 innings last year, even though he wasn't at his best. I was also catching up on some box scores the other day. Took a little break from writing to catch up on box scores. And that cutter he's introduced this spring.

You know, his last start Monday, he had 10 whiffs on 64 pitches, four of them on that cutter. He introduced it very late last season so late that for his season count, it was only like 3% of his arsenal. But he threw 20% cutters in that start. And that might be something that allows Logan Webb to take another lead, maybe become more of a strikeout pitcher. I'm pretty excited about it.

All right, last couple of picks. After I took Yamamoto, Logan Webb, Christian Yelich, Josh Naler. I totally thought about taking Logan Webb. Scott, I hear everything that you just said. And maybe in this format, that does make a little bit more sense. I agree, I like the cutter. I like what we've seen from that.

And maybe I need to just move Logan Webb up a little bit in this format, so that does make sense, especially as an SP2. But I guess I was shooting for a little bit more per game upside there with someone like Yamamoto. Chris, you selected Josh Nailer, and then Cody Bellinger. So back to back first basement here. How do you feel about Josh Naylor? Because I'm a little bit more down on him.

I feel like Scott's all right with it. How do you feel about Naylor this season? I think he's going to get a lot of RBI in that lineup. And the nice thing about Josh Naylor for this format is he's another guy who does not strike out very much. And over his career, we've seen some inconsistency, right? 256, 308, 243 batting average the past three years. 20 homers, 17 homers, 31 last year. I don't think he's a 31 homer guy.

I think he might just be like 110 RBI guy in that lineup because he's going to make a lot of contact. He's going to get a lot of singles and doubles. I don't know how, you know, Scott brought up a very good point about the park factor in Arizona and how it might not be as bad as we think for him. So I'm okay with him. there. For what it's worth, last year to show you, this is kind of Josh Naylor's format with the low strikeout rate. He averaged more points per game last year than either Pete Alonzo or Matt Olson.

Down years for Pete Alonzo and Matt Olson, but still, I think this is a fine time to take Naylor. If he had made it back to my pick here in round seven, I might have taken him as my utility spot. After Bellinger at the turn, we got Bryce Miller and Salvador Perez. Tyler Glass now, round seven. that feels like a good gamble at this point. I was going to take class now if he was there. And then Chris, you did select Zach Gallin. Mike Trout was the next pick. Scott, you're up.

But Chris talked to me about Gallin. This usually is his better format of points league. Yeah, Gallin, I, the only downside to taking Gallin there is he might have made it back the next round. And honestly, might it made it back the next next round because everybody's so down on him. His ADP and NFBC drafts over the past two weeks is like 130. people are just acting like Zach Allen is dead. And I don't quite get it. I know his velocity has been down this spring.

I know last year was bad. But in this format, he was an SP1 in each of 2022 and 2023. He has one weird year where he gets hurt with a hamstring injury. And all of a sudden, everybody's just decided Zach Allen's terrible. I don't get it. All right. After Zach Allen mentioned Mike Trout, Anthony Santander to Scott and I selected Jordan Westberg. This is not Jordan Westberg's better format. He doesn't walk all that much. But

if he breaks out the way that I think we all think he will, then I think he will be someone who averages over three fantasy points per game. I don't have second or third base. So it does give me a little bit of flexibility within the draft as well. After Jordan Westberg was 2.89 last year. So it wouldn't take much to get him over three. And he was more like an 8 to 9% walk guy in the minors than the, I think it was 5% last year. So any growth there would help. And it's rookie season it was around 7%. So I think he could walk a little bit more. Maybe the OBP comes up for Westberg

this season. After him, Roki Sasaki and Wilson Contreras. So some catchers starting to go. Scott catches up on your pick. Anthony Santander, round seven. I believe he's your second outfielder. Yeah, he is. It's the pick I've made

so far that I'm least excited about, I would say. It was between him or Bailey Ober is my third starting pitcher, but I just feel like I feel like there are going to be in the rounds to come a lot more pitchers that I'll like than hitters. Santander is not a guy who walks much. He hit for so much power that last year, 3.22 points per game. I don't think he's going to do that again.

If he did, he probably should have gone a round or two earlier. But I think he'll be a little over three and just somebody I can plug in and not worry about. But I'll probably hit pitcher pretty hard hereafter. All right, catching people up on picks. We got Spencer Strider, Michael Harris, Willie Adomis, Seyos Suzuki, and then the first pick of round eight was Justin Steele. I did just see an update come through on Spencer Strider, and the latest that we have here is tracking towards late April debut,

which is pretty consistent with everything we've heard. The news has been pretty good on Strider. He's hoping to get into game action soon, so so far, so good. everything we're hearing. Sounds like late April for Strider, and then I'm seeing an update here on Ronald Acuna as well, hopes to debut early to mid-May. So some Braves updates, Scott,

as you donned the jersey here on Mega Stream Day. That sounds like the timetable's getting a little later for Acuna, doesn't it? I always assumed it was early May, but mid-May would push it back a little bit more, I think. That's a quarter of the season he's missing at that point. Join me. I wrote him up and bust two. point O Scott. I might need to move them down the rankings a little bit. Yeah, I totally get that.

A couple other picks, Tristan Kossis, Bailey Ober, Bo Bichette, and Joe Ryan. So again, in any drafts that you guys participate in, Boba Chet is not going anywhere close to his current ADP, which is around 110th over the past week or so. He goes 88th in this draft. I'm going to make a super timely and relevant reference that everybody here is going to get. We've all seen the 1970s war epic Patton starring George C. Scott, right? Of course you have. You don't even need to answer. Of course, Frank has seen that movie. There's a famous scene where he's in a battle and he beats the other guy in the battle and he's like, I read your book. That's what drafting with people who listen to the podcast is like, like everybody knows who we like that you can't

get anybody that you actually like when we're drafting with people who listen to us. Hey, I got Jordan Westberg, Chris. I managed to pull it off somehow, some way. I did it. For what I'm saying, I don't really like Bo Bichette in this format. Not a great reference. Not a great pick in this format at that. I mean, it's fine.

But yeah, he's not a great player in this format. Dang it, Frank. After Joe Ryan, there was Sandy Alcantara. Wait, I got something on Sandy somewhere. Sandy. And then the very next pick was Spencer Schwellenbach, the best Spencer. Who's a starting pitcher for the Atlanta Braves?

We're doing great with the 70s movie references today before all of our time. Spencer Schwellenbach, yeah, I was excited because for once I was going to get a chance to draft him. No, no, Scott. I think you always take him earlier than I'm even thinking about it. And this time it was just one pick earlier. Is now appropriate for George Kirby?

I think he's fine. He is my highest ranked pitcher. And it could be a great value. Yeah, I'm going to do it. George Kirby. You can gamble a little more on injured guys in a shallow format like this because the threshold, the standard for a replacement player on the waiver wire is so much higher. And there's going to be so much roster turnover just because of players we missed in the draft emerging.

I don't sweat drafting the injured players as much, particularly when they're that high upside. All right, after Scott selected at George Kirby, there was Hunter Green. Robbie Ray and Seth Lugo. Robbie Ray went to Chris. And if you're watching the stream, I did the, the gift. That's a move up the rank. The gift face of the lady who's like, do I like that? Oh, I do like that.

Do I like that? Yeah, I do like that. So just shout, I'm monitoring the chat and I will be all day. And someone mentioned that Robbie Ray had an immaculate inning to open his spring start against Marcus Nemean Wyatt Langford and Jake Burger. Oh, let's just do it. Let's move Robbie Ray up the board based on literally one inning in the spring. Let's screw it.

That's quite a quite a big move, though, Chris. Yeah. Yeah. He has been rising and, you know, he's got that new changeup grip that he learned from Terrick Scoobel. This is around, what would you say, around SP 30 at this point? SP 25 to SP 30. That sounds right. Yeah.

So it is, it's higher than we're used to for sure. Yeah. But I do feel like if there's any format to get your guys, this is it. For the same reason, I said you can gamble on injured players a little more. The penalty for missing on a pick is much, much lower. All right. After Seth Lugo, there was Christian Walker. We're now into round nine. Brian Reynolds, Brian, woo, Luis Robert, and Devin Williams. Chris, you selected Luis Robert.

This is not his typical format, but he fell quite a bit down to 99th overall. Yeah, it's not. Look, if he's as bad as he was last year, nothing matters, right? It's completely like he's barely, he's not usable. He's not rosterable if he's as bad as he was last year. He was at 2.3 points per game. But in 2023, he was a must-start player in this format. I still think he has that upside.

I'm hoping for better days this year. And he fell, you know, it was the, what, 99th pick? I'm not going to complain about that. All right. After Luis Robert, there was Devin Williams, Scott, you selected Ian Hap, and I am up. I could use an outfielder. Ian Hap's good for this format, too, by the way.

Walks a lot. Batting average liability doesn't hurt you. 2.95 points per game last year. I know this is not his format, and he doesn't walk at all, but I'm going to take Yiner Diaz. I feel like this is a pretty big fall for him, and I did not have a catcher yet. So I'll snag Yiner Diaz here

and hope that the batting. average and the home runs and the counting stats carries his point game total this upcoming season. But I did think about taking an outfielder as well. We'll see who makes it back. Yeah, I don't know. I'm rethinking the Ian Hap pick now.

I should have been paying more attention to my tears instead of just my rankings here in the draft room. It's too early to be crying, Scott. Come on. I'm not crying. No, I just meant... Cool as a cucumber. You said it was a little playa words. Look at that. The team cool as a

cucumber. Clearly, a draft after my own heart, takes Brandon Nimmo at Pick 104. So that makes me feel better about Ian Hap at 101 because I don't have that injury slide to take advantage of super late with Nemo. Now that is a draft pick

that will cause some tears. Brandon Nimmo at 1004th overall. Right after Riley Green, that was the outfielder I was considering, who not really a name I ever target, but I feel like he's probably better in a points league because for categories, he doesn't run much.

He usually gets on base quite, a bit and I would expect him to yeah mostly be a four category player with a solid on base percentage so I feel like he and hap were about the same points per game last year I just feel like green has a lower floor because he doesn't have that superlative plate discipline and for what it's worth nimmo was 2.95 he was exactly the same as as hap last year so this is his format as well I saw he's he's dhing today right so he's back in games yep I've been the optimist with him all along, but normally we're seeing him fall

drop much lower than this in drafts because people worried about the foot and the knee. Yeah, I think I might have messed up there because we're getting an outfield run and a lot of names that I thought, it might be able to get those players next round. I chose correctly. Riley Green, Brandon, M.O., Stephen Kwan.

He was someone I was looking at. Then, ESOC Paredes, okay, third base starting to go. Shane O. Mack, Shane McClain. Here comes the money. Here we go. Money talks. And then Josh Hader to finish out round nine, the first two picks of round 10, Jason Dominguez and Will Smith.

So I tell myself every draft with one catcher, just wait and take catcher later on. And what do I do? I did the opposite in this draft, so we'll see how it turns out ultimately. And I do apologize. If anyone's listening or watching, you hear some rattling in the background,

there's some kind of construction going on in my building, and I've got to yell at someone. I've got to let him know. Don't you know it's Mothrath mega stream? Come on now. Jerkson Profar at 111. I'm loving the Ian Hap pick now. All my fallbacks go before I get a chance to pick again.

After Jerks and ProFar, there was J.T. Real Muto and Mason Miller. So the elite closer is starting to go off the board here as well. And it's a good reminder that they typically go later in this format in a categories or Roto League. You might see the elite closers go anywhere from rounds like four through seven. and they're going here in rounds 9 and 10, which I think is an okay fall. This is probably the right time to be targeting them. I won't be the one taking one.

Like if a manual Class A was here, I'd take him. But otherwise, I'm not going to be taking an elite closer. But this is, I'm okay with them going here. I think this is about where I rank them. Around pick 100 to 125, that range of the rankings. I am up, and I mentioned there was a huge run on outfielders. The top one is someone who specializes in Roto. I don't think I want to go that route,

even though he is my top-ranked outfielder. You know what? I'm going to go a little bit lower in the rankings and take someone who I think could break out the season. That is Dylan Cruz. Oh, that's good. Typically does, you know, maybe we think of him more as like a category league Roto player

because we're expecting him to run a lot. But the plate discipline was good last year. I think he'll get on base a decent amount. I think overall he'll just improve in his second year. He's likely to bat second in the nationals. up so he'll get a lot of plate appearances and uh feels like an appropriate time round 10 and Dylan cruz is my second outfielder scott you are up no and i think it's a good time to bring up because you say oh stolen bases that's more of a rhodo thing this is a distinction between the cbs head-to-head

points format and the espn head-to-head points formats that you're going to see later today stolen base guys are still pretty darn valuable for us with them getting two points a piece sometimes they actually get overlooked in fact. But I got to make a pick here. Tanner Bybee's the pick. But on ESPN, they're worth one point apiece. So it really, it takes a lot of them off the draft board, frankly. It really limits the usable player pool.

And that's why I think L.E. David Cruz in the middle of round one was a great pick. That's why I think Dylan Cruz, I mean, he might excel a plate discipline too. here at 115, Frank, great pick. Others like Nico Horner, who were going to see go later. Still a great pick in CBS points leagues. But it'll be less the case than ESPN. All right, after I selected Dylan Cruz, Scott took Tanner Bybee, then Hunter Brown,

Matt McLean to Chris, and then Royce Lewis. Chris, I feel like you're usually down on Matt McLean, but this is further than we see him last. Why Matt McLean here? Yeah, this is right around where I have him picked. Not sure that any of the other, I think we might be pretty much at the shortstop tier that we talk about. There are a couple of guys left. But yeah, I just think this was the right time.

What I don't like is when Matt McLean goes 70th or 80th. That doesn't work out for me. I was hoping. And what I was trying to figure out there was I wanted the combo of Matt McLean and Royce Lewis. and I wasn't sure which one was more likely to make it. Royce Lewis goes to pick after Matt McLean. So might have made the wrong pick there. Man, I was debating McLean also, McLean or Bybee,

but I thought we're coming up on a drop-off at starting pitcher. So I went ahead and took Bybee. McLean because of how much he strikes out. It worked out well for him two years ago, but I'm not sure if I believe that he can do that again. and be a standout in this format. But one of the short stops I was counting on making it back, really being available for several rounds still was Xavier Edwards,

who again, because stolen bases are worth two points in this format, is still more valuable than you think for CBS. In fact, he averaged about as many points per game as L.E. Dela Cruz last year. Not going to do that again, but that goes to show you that Xavier Edwards could be a sneaky play in the CBS points format.

he goes right before me at pick 1-24. So I'm going to take another pitcher, Jack Flaherty. You might need to catch us up on the picks, Frank. Yeah, that's a good pick because I was looking at Jack Flaherty as well. After Chris selected Matt McLean, there was Royce Lewis, Freddie Peralta, that finishes out round 10, then Ryssel Iglesias, Sunny Gray, Cal Raleigh, Xavier Edwards, and Jack Flaherty. I was looking at Flaherty.

I'm a little bit upset. I didn't get that pick, so good one, Scott. But I still need a second or third basement. I can move Jordan Westberg around. I'm going to go ahead and select Matt Chapman, who was pretty solid in this format last year. He typically does walk quite a bit, and he had the big season in San Francisco,

so hoping he can carry that over once again here in 2025. Their lineup should be improved. They got Willie Adamas, and we'll see, will he run as much that I'm not entirely sure of, but as long as he gets on base and hits 25-ish home runs, I think he should still be pretty good in this format. Yeah. For what it's worth, Matt Chapman last year, 2.99 points per game. So most of the hitters available now are going to go are averaging less than that. I do think the reduction in strikeout rate to pre-hip surgery levels than we hadn't seen since his Oakland days. I think that was the biggest transformation for Chapman last year versus the stolen base increase. But look, 87th percentile sprint speed. It's not far-fetched. He could keep running. I think it's a good pick at this point.

He was my top ranked player. After I selected Matt Chapman, there was Nico Horner, who looks like he will be ready for the domestic opening day on March 27th. And then Brenton Doyle, 128th. And that was the outfielder I referred to earlier,

who's much better in Rodo, strikes out quite a bit, more likely to contribute steals. A lot of them, so, you know, that should help him, obviously contribute points in this format. But Brenton Doyle slides all the way down to 128th. Does that sound right, guys,

or do you think he slid too far in this format? I think it's right. He is a tough one for points. He's a tough one for points. Not just because of the strikeouts for reference,

2.84 points per game last year. So not amazing, but certainly startable. What do you do when he's on the road? Probably just bench him. Yeah, head to head league. Yeah. It's tough.

Yeah. Not for maybe, maybe not for half a week. on the road for the Rockies, but when they have a full week on the road, he'd probably rather sit Doyle. And I don't know about you, head-to-head points leagues. I'd like to load up my bench with pitchers. I don't want to have to carry an extra outfielder to platoon Doyle.

By the way, Rafael Devers was quoted today as saying he's fine if he has to play DH. It's finally coming out. Yeah, it seemed like things were trending that way. Yep. After Brenton Doyle, there was Zander Bogart's. Christopher Sanchez, I took Matt Chapman hoping. I think I could get Christopher Sanchez next turn. The answer was, I could not.

There is a lot of hype pitchers moving up here. Byron Bucksin, Jared Jones, and then we're into round 12. Kodai Sena, Luis Araz. Gavin Williams, moving way up the board. Then Carlos Correa. Oh, my goodness. And Spencer Arrogetti. There are a lot of pitchers going off the board right now,

and I think I only have three starters at this point, so I don't love that. I hate what just happened to you. The cucumber is heating up. Not so cool. It might be heating up a little bit more too. I want to get Gavin Williams somewhere. I said on last night's pod he could be this year's Chris Sale.

What I meant to say was he could be this year's Garrett Crochet. That ended up being a very confusing conversation. Right. Okay. Yeah, that does make more. The point is he's going to be really good, I think, with the way he's transformed his fastball, 1.35, it's always just a little early.

Like, somebody in the draft room is just outpacing me slightly on him. Now I got to make a pick. And you got to do it quick. I got to make a pick, and I got to do it. No more milk in the clock. We got to move. Yeah, we really got to, because we have another draft coming up in 45 minutes. You know what?

You know what? You know what? since I'm not thrilled by everything that's here, I'm going to take another big spring riser. I'm not going to let people in his better format beat me to the punch on Clay Holmes. That's the third time Scott has sniped me. Boom.

Yeah, he's looked great, that new change up. I think Chris's worries about him against left-handed batterers are now out the window. Great ground ball pitcher. I think it's going to work out well for Clay Holmes in a starting role. And he's relief pitcher eligible, which counts for a lot in this format.

Yeah, typically goes, like past week, I think past 200, but in the Points League format, it makes sense for him to go much higher than that. I kind of hate this range of the draft now. I wanted to say also Gavin Williams wasn't the only pick that infuriated me right after him was Carlos Correa.

I still haven't filled my shortstop spot. I passed up Matt McLean a couple rounds ago to get Tanner Bybee. I was counting on one of Xavier Edwards or Carlos Correa falling really far, and neither of them did. Carlos Correa averaged about as many points per game in this format last year

as Trey Turner. Durability issues, I get it, but prior to last year, the previous three years averaged 140 games. I think I'd be willing to bet on him in a points league, especially, given how far Carlos Correa tends to fall.

I have to imagine everybody's got the shortstop position filled by this point, right? You'd think so. Let me check. I'm the only one. You are the only one without a shortstop. So maybe hearing that,

Hearing us broadcast that, they'll be jerks and start taking short steps for their bench. But in theory, I can kick back and just take the best of whatever's left at this point. Let's catch people up on the picks. After, where'd I leave off? Spencer Arrogatti, I think, in the middle of round 12. There was Ryan Helsley. I selected Carlos Rodon, who has not looked good this spring. But last year, he was a workhorse.

And he's kind of like the last of a tier that I saw at least. I don't think you worry about Carlos Rodon's spring numbers. that just seems like. Yeah. Like, we have, I don't feel like we've said enough this year. You shouldn't pay that much attention to spring statistics. Spring statistics, yes. By and large, you should.

I think process you can pay attention to and you should. Statistics, I don't really care that much about performance in the spring. Yeah. After Rodon, Scott selected Clay Holmes, then Kevin Gosman. Chris, you took Alec Bohm. Then Brandon Lau, who goes to the team for the love of the pod. So you have to name your team now for the Lau. of the pod. Followed by Bouten Francis, so the next spark off the board.

And then into round 13, Andres Munoz, Nick Povetta, you say Kikuchi to Chris, Jake Berger, and Scott, you are back up. You know, we got some smart head-to-head drafters here. I still have more hitter spots to fill than I'd like, but they've zeroed in on the head-to-head points league specialists and scooped them all up. So I feel like I get no advantage here by taking a hitter because it's really flat now, what's available. There is one guy who's fallen way past where we have him ranked.

Is it Mark Vientos? Yeah, but he's like, he was worse than Alec Bome last year in this year. Right. I almost took Bome. You ended up taking him after I took Clay Holmes. But I did it obviously. And that would have been one kind of points coded player who was left.

Not amazing in points legs, bone, and Viantos I don't even think is going to live up to last year's numbers so I'm taking Jackson Job I'm parent I'm doing what Chris Towers tends to do in these head-to-head points drafts and trying to gobble up as many of the

sparks as I can I really thought about going Ryan Walker there taking a conventional closer because I do think he has a ton of upside in that role but I think Sparps in general in this format have more upside and like I've been saying all along every time we do a points league draft

I don't I don't know that investing in a closer, no matter how good he is, gives you that much of an advantage because there are going to be ones emerging during the season that'll come close enough to replicating that production. I would guess Walker actually scored a decent amount of points last year, even with 10 wins. I mean, it was only 10 saves there along with it.

It wasn't a full-time closer. Yeah. No, I will say Job, another spring start today that just wasn't very good. even though the stuff continues to look really good. It's he's really befuddling me. I am I am fuddled. Are you cool as a cucumber over Jackson Job? No, not at all because I really, really want Jackson Job to be a thing.

And it's just, yeah, I don't know. It's, it's a little frustrating. Yeah, today it was two earn runs in three and two thirds innings, three strikeouts. One walk, he gave up two home runs. it was one of them to Paul Goldschmidt, one to Jason Dominguez. It just, I think it was only like four or five whiffs again on 60 something pitches.

So it's just three whiffs on 68 pitches. He should be missing bats. Yeah. And he talked about adding the sinker and curb bowl, and he just hasn't featured them that much. Yeah. It's weird because like in terms of like the movement profile, the cutter should be a good swing.

mispitch. The sweeper, the change, like, everything should work. And I just don't know what it is. Maybe he's just, he's also talked about like just kind of not trying to nibble, not trying to avoid walks, just throwing it in the strike zone. And maybe that's just the approach in the spring. And he'll, you know, see it better, see better results when the games matter. But it's, it's frustrating for someone that I am very excited about overall. After your Scott selected Jackson Job, I took Rinaldoe Lopez, then Spencer Steer, Mark Vientos, Jose Barrios, Adoli Garcia, Felix Batista, Grant Holmes, another big riser here, and a spark in CBS head to head points leagues, then Sean Mania and Junghu Lee.

So lots going on. Scott, I think you paused the draft, but I resumed it because we just have to keep things moving if we want to keep pace with everything else that we've got going on later today. I think two of the bigger names here, Grant Holmes at the end of round 13, and then Scott, your guy, Sean Mania, who we got some good news on Thursday. Apparently, he has started up a throwing program, and maybe he's back by like mid-April. Well, that was always the timetable. The concern was that oblique injuries can be difficult to get past completely,

and if once he starts throwing again, maybe it flares up again, sets him back further. so we'll get a good test here by the time most people are drafting. And if his throwing program is coming along without any setback, I think you can draft Sean Mania with a good deal of confidence. It could be more like mid-April. Yeah. All right. After catching people up on the picks here, after Sean Mania,

oh, I am up, I got to make a pick. Jung Hu Lee, Jesus Lazzardo, Nick Ladolo, Bryce Terang, Kerry Carpenter. I need an outfielder. I could use a reliever as well. Let's check in on the outfield, see what's going on. All right, there's a,

I think a pretty clear top name here, and I'll go ahead and select Randy Rosarena, typically better in a points league, but he also walks a lot. So I... Yeah, I think he's underrated in points. You said better in a points league. You met better in a Roto.

I think he's a little... I think he's a little... In a points league from 2021 through 2023. I think he was right. at three points per game, basically. So he was, he's been a must-start fantasy outfielder in head-to-head points leagues. And his plate discipline metrics didn't get significantly worse after getting traded to Seattle, which would be the big concern.

I've seen a lot of like Randy Roserena, Victor Robles, like concern about how they'll hit in Seattle, but we already saw there. And they were not great, but, well, probably wasn't great. But it wasn't like a disaster for any of them. Yeah, no, I don't think Seattle's going to be the problem for Rosarena. And I know he did bounce back over the final four months. I've just never really trusted the profile. And last year kind of underscored why and he's getting older.

And I think it's fine here. Don't give me wrong. I just, I don't know that I want to spend draft capital on him at a point when I feel like he's part of the flattening. at in the hitter ranks right now maybe a little more upside than what's left but his downside is he's just unusable in this format I will say I think everything

it's not just the hitter ranks I think everything's flat at this point in the draft and so once you're at like round 12 in a points league it kind of just becomes get your guy because I think we are at the point across the board and that's why I took Mike Soroka just now as an RP.

Oh look at you taking Grayson Rodriguez. Again, there are very few different. I thought I was going to get him on the way back. There are very few difference makers left. Might as well take the guy that if this elbow injury becomes a non-issue, he's a difference maker. At least potentially can't be.

You can afford to miss here like I've been saying. And there's a chance, Grayson Rodriguez. I think there's a pretty good chance. In fact, I'd say there's a better than a coin's flip chance. Grayson Rodriguez ends up missing It ends up making it back before the end of April It's been long enough I'm gonna take Ryan Walker

I think that makes sense Anytime you can say a guy's name and then they don't go Two rounds later you gotta take them Yeah Let's catch people up here after I took Randy a Rosarena There was McKenzie Gore Merrill Kelly Mike Soroka to Chris Shei Langaleers Ronell Blanco

Zach Eflin Nathan Avaldi Chris selected Grace Rodriguez, then you Darvish, and Ryan Walker to Scott. I am up here. I'm going to take a reliever as well. Someone I have is a breakout relief pitcher closer this season. Jeff Hoffman. And I believe we are six subscribers away from 30K. So I put the comment up and I feel bad because it just it it it hides Scott. Like I did it earlier when he was talking. And that felt very bad because then you just see. Scott like trying to nobody wants to look at this it's okay everybody loves seeing your living room oh yeah you know who's seen this living room cow ripkin

any it's true he's seen my living room Ryan Howard has seen my office that's a true thing any anytime cow Ripkin comes up in conversation which is surprisingly often that's what I say he's seen my living room man I don't like the

things that are happening right now. There are things happening after I selected Jeff Hoffman Max Muncie, who is much better in this format, Chris Basset, Yohan Duran, Chris Bubich, so another spark off the board. There goes Jackson Holiday. Christian Campbell. I really don't like

what's happening. I shouldn't have taken Ryan Walker. I knew I shouldn't have done. Yeah, all the RP or all the sparks now. Chris Bubich, Nick Martinez just went. Yeah. Never take a closer. We are into...

Before the end of a head-to-head points draft. Round 16. Dustin May, Brandon Fott, and Nick Martinez. So, more sparks off the board. Tanner Howke goes. And Dustin May, followed by Trevor McGill. I am on deck. I am going to think about who I am going to take here.

Dustin May, rising up draft boards quite a bit. We talked about him the other day, Chris, with our buddy Nick Pollock. Yeah, I struggle with Dustin May, especially. he feels like a guy I wish was RP eligible because I don't know how high the upside is, especially in a points league. He's going to probably be limited to like five innings early on in the season, especially.

There are going to be times when they skip his workload. He basically hasn't pitched the last two seasons. It was Tommy Durnout. Wasn't Tommy John surgery, was it? It was like flexor tendon surgery. And then I think Desta May is going to be kind of useless in this format, to be honest. His outings are going to be so short, and there are going to be so many interruptions.

I think he's going to be great, inning for inning. We hit 30K. Not going to deliver. There we go. 30K. 31K by opening day. Let's go 40K. Yeah, I don't have much interest in Dust DeMay in this format.

I will say I was tilting not just about the sparse going off the board, Nick Martinez and Chris Boobich, but also the fact that Max Muncie was taken during that run. I was targeting him from a utility spot. I mentioned the other day. I feel like we're undervaluing him in drafts this year, and he's especially good in this format because of how good the walk rate is. Trying to find the point per game number for Max Muncie,

3.09 last year. And then also Jackson Holiday. I could use the second baseman. You got three hitting spots left because you've already drafted your full pitcher group and two bench pitchers. I want a Jackson Holiday also, not because I'm the biggest believer in Holiday, but in a format this shallow, it seemed like a last chance to get like potentially a real high impact guy. If he does have a breakthrough, it seemed worth the gamble in a shallow format like this. I am going to take one of the hitter spots I need Dan Svison. Just in case any wise guy out there thinks he needs a short stop for his bench and I end up starting somebody like Jeremy Payne in a points league. We don't want that to happen. Danzby Swanson, I think, is undervalue too.

Prior in the years, like the four or five years leading up to this year, he's been considered a must start regardless of format. Yep. I am, I took, so after you took Danzby Swanson, Tommy Edmund went off the board. There's a chance he ends up with second base eligibility. If Andy Paez is the starting center fielder. I took Shane Boz, Ryan Pepio went off the board. So there's, you know, we have our concerns about how

those race pitchers are going to work in the new ballpark. Nobody has really come up with like a good explanation for why Tropicana Field was such a good pitchers park. It wasn't just like, it's actually a fairly small ballpark in terms of the outfield dimensions, but something with the way, Adama's had issues with the batter's eye there. So hitters seem to see the ball poorly. The ball seems the ball moves differently there.

It is, it is the only just dome, like totally. indoor stadium left in baseball, right? Totally indoor? Yeah. That may be right. I'm not sure. So from what I've seen, it might also be that because there's no wind at all, the ball just doesn't move the way people expect. So it just, it has played better for pitcher than you would expect otherwise.

And so it's possible that the entire race pitching staff is worse this season than we think it will be, but I'll take the fire on Shane Batch. I don't even, I don't even care that they're not in Tropicana field. It's where they're going. George and Steinbrenner Field with a short porch like Yankee Stadium, but in Florida humidity. Yep. And Tos Bradley and Ryan Pepio especially, I think you're going to get crushed by that

since they're fly ball pitchers. Baz may too. Baws, I'm worried, like he never got a slider back. Yeah. After Tommy John surgery. And he's gotten knocked around sometimes the spring for, you know, he had the low three ZRA. last year, but low strikeout rate too. I'm not sure Shane Bosz is really back to being

an impact pitcher and fantasy, or if he doesn't get that slider back, I'm not sure he ever will be. So I have big concerns about him, and then you add the venue on top of it. All right, I had a devious idea here while you were talking, Chris. I missed out on my potential breakout impact bat and Jackson Holiday. Mm-hmm.

But I can go match Shaw, still, who's looked pretty good, I have to say, now that he's playing regularly for the Cubs, he's past that health issue he had early. Third base is blocked currently by Jazz Chishol, but I'm going to move Jats Chishol to second eventually and have Matt Shaw be my third basement. I mean, Matt Shaw is going to have second base eligibility before,

when I guess he's probably not, right? Who's going to start at second base for them in Tokyo? It might be Shaw and Justin. Turner starts a third. But yeah, we're assuming that by the third game of the season, Nico Horner will be ready and Shaw will move to third. Probably John Birdie. John Birdie looks like or maybe Vidal Bruhan rather than like reorganize their whole infield. That's probably what they'll do.

Matt Shaw has not been officially announced as being on the Cubs opening day roster, but he did travel to Japan. and the way that works is they have like a travel roster of six players who aren't on the official roster but can be promoted if there's an injury. I assume he will be on the active roster. Let's catch people up on picks here. Where do we leave off, Chris? I believe the last one we mentioned was Shane Boss. So we'll go Aheiorez at Pick 191.

Reese Olson, he was, his velocity was up about a mile per hour in his most recent start, Nolan Aronado, Paul Goldschmidt. I took Ryan Weathers a little bit of a reach at 195, but again, at this point in the draft, just get the guys you're excited about because the waiver wire would be full of viable starters in this format. Not a reach. I would have taken him, Chris, if you didn't. Then Tanner Scott, Matt Shaw, Walker Bueller, Zachary Netto, who I'm thinking, I think

we talked about it on yesterday's podcast. I think it's going to be more like late April, early May at this point because I haven't seen him like swinging a bat or throwing at full speed yet. then Joshua Lowe, Jose Soriano, who I've mentioned I like a little bit as a sleeper. Scott, I know you offered me a trade in the Dynasty League involving him that I will consider, although I'm leaning no, Gabrielle Moreno, who... You need a closer too, by the way. Gabriel Moreno hitting the ball much harder this spring, so that's interesting.

Luis Severino, Mitch Keller, Pete Crowe Armstrong, and JJ Bladet. So the reason I say, get your guys. guys at this point in the draft is you look at that whole list and it's a lot of guys who are pretty replaceable and that include i'm not talking bad about anybody that includes ryan weathers there's a very good chance that two starts into the season it just doesn't go well for ryan weathers and i'm dropping him you know this is truly the get your guys format because it's shallow a so if you miss on a pick okay as long as you're active on the waiver wire you can probably make up for it and b you don't have to juggle categories you're not like oh i got it i need

steals right now, so I better take this guy, even though I want this guy more. You can, and that's, that might be, you may have just touched on a reason why I like how to head points so much is because it's, it's truly a matching up wits as opposed to matching up needs. And, and you can really like tailor a team to your own tastes more in this format than others. I never really thought about that before, but it's true. All right. I am back. I had to go feed the cats. Let's go with that one. I moved all my cat stuff out of the room for the seven hours.

We're going to be in here. After JJ Bladay, Max Meyer, another riser here in spring. David Bednar, Brandon Woodruff, and Tyler O'Neill. I am up. Last time I took Max. Were you gone? Were you gone for 30K, Frank? Did you miss the 30K celebration? No, I was definitely here for that. Okay. You missed it.

I didn't hear you celebrating. 31K by opening day. 31K by opening day. 41K by the end of the day. Yeah, let's go. I am going to take Nestor Cortez, nasty Nestor. Keep loading up those starting pitchers on the bench here. And Scott, you're up.

Yep, I just added him to my cue. I think a theme of today is I'm going to not be able to keep up crossing off names on my tier sheet. So it's going to be bad. when we get into some of those platforms where my own rankings aren't built into the room. Oh, that's going to be madness. It is. Hey, there's a sparp still.

I think I'm going to take him. It's kind of a semi-sparp, but I do think he's going to start more than he relieves, and it's true Rasmussen. Yep. All right, yes, we have, do we have any confirmation of what his role is going to be at all for Tampa Bay, at least open the season?

I think he's going to be sixth starter, like maybe swing man type. But as soon as there's an injury, which there will be an injury. If not, Tosh Bradley melts down and gets sent to the miners. Oh. Rasmussen will be in at that point. After Rastafson, there was Ranger Suarez and Chris, we are over to you. Yeah, I'm, I'll just go with a boring pitcher who I think is kind of interesting, Tomoyuki Sagano. The problem, and look.

having Shohei Otani on your team is not a problem. He's awesome. He's the best. The problem is when I'm looking at like bench hitters, like there's a couple of hitters that I really like left. One of them is a second baseman. But then I look at my team and I've got Ozzy Albies. And I've got Shohei Otani at utility.

So it's like things would have to go really poorly for me to ever start that guy unless he gains outfield eligibility, which he might. And I'll just say the name because it's Jonathan India and I'm the only one who likes him. but I think Jonathan India could be a must-start player in this format with his pretty good plate discipline. He walked 80 times last year could score 95 runs in this Royals lineup. I like Jonathan a lot. Chris.

You spoke it into existence. I'm sorry. Until Jazz Chisholm is eligible in second base, I needed a second baseman and I was counting on Jonathan India. Whoa, you jerk. That's unfortunate for you. This is as bad as that time You denied me Kyle Schwarber

No, that was Frank I have and that was worse also I have no no Rooker Marcelo Zuna on my team We're way past that Never happened We're on to a new draft It's a new day

After Chris selected Sigano there was David Festa Yandy Diaz and we're into round 19 Where we get Jonathan India Justin Martinez Jeffrey Springs to Chris And good old Uncle Chuck

Charlie Morton. Scott, you are up. I don't really like anybody who's left. These guys have been so good at drafting for this format that... I want to give a shout out to because we are drafting us three and listeners. And you have been awesome. They have been great so far. Everyone's on the ball.

You know the format. Everyone's here. Everyone's drafting in a timely fashion. So thank you. All the drafts today will be done with other listeners. So let's hope they're as great as this group because draft one has gone very well. All right, let's get weird. Let's go for a spring training favorite.

He might not even make the team, but whatever. I can drop them if he doesn't. Zebby Matthews. Yeah. Spicy. I like it. Not even 4 o'clock. Scott's getting crazy.

Yeah. Should I get crazy then? Do it. I might get crazy. Then it's time for a jack lighter. Come on down. Yeah. I don't know.

he will play especially good in this format because I think he's going to be pretty inefficient and probably walk quite a few batters. But there are multiple injuries to the Rangers rotation. It sounds like Cody Bradford is going to start the season on the IL. I think Jack Leiter is going to be in the Rangers rotation. Yeah, I'm a little warmer to him after doing my big box score catch up yesterday. That spike change up he has going, I think. Justin Verlander was the other one I was considering he just went as well. You saw the five walks in the most recent start and you were like, I'm in? No, I'm concerned about the control and he's, he's been home run prone too.

So two of the three legs of the fifth triangle lighter has major issues. But that third leg could be a punch strikeout pitcher. So it's not like my favorite sleeper pick, but I would, I'm going to put Jack lighter in my deep sleepers article. Sure. Another trendy spring risers, Casey Myers, who's just had, I think he's got like 13, 14 strikeouts and nine innings so far. his velocity's up again.

Splitter looks really good. He's throwing three different versions of a slider. He might have tinkered his way into being relevant, at least. After I selected Jack Lighter, there was Tash Bradley. Edward Cabrera, who's dealing with an injury, might not be ready for opening day. Justin Verlander, I think that's a pretty good pick at this point. Kumar Rocker might have a chance. Never say never.

Casey Mize, Luis Renhifo, and then into round 20, Mitch Spence, Cedric Mullins, Robert Suarez, Andrew Painter, Luis Heel, so a stash candidate there will miss the first three months, and Logan Oh Hoppe, I am back up, and I need another reliever. Oh! So I will go ahead and... Wow! Uh-oh. I did not think that spark was going to get drafted.

Who is there's a spark that we haven't mentioned who looks locked into a rotation roll. he was not among the 10 we've talked about all spring Mitch Spence I was wondering why he got it I was wondering why he got taken yeah it looks like he's pretty much locked into a rotation spot for the for the A's right now there's a potential not going to be good but there's another potential spark oh Hayden West Nesky goes that's not who I was referring to but if if Shane Smith ends up being a starter for the white socks he would be a spark thank you for the reminder he's another I keep forgetting mm-hmm

Yeah, I mean, it'll be for the White Sox and probably short outings. So I don't know that he's really worth pursuing in this format, but it is worth mentioning. I was the one who selected Hayden Wesnetsky. I don't know if he's very good, but I think he's going to be in the Astros rotation. And he is another potential spark this season. I think he's mildly interesting. Yeah. Yeah.

I'll take an injury stash here. I think the best injury stash, well, who hasn't been obviously just injured recently. And that's Shane Bieber. Yeah. A lot of upside there. He, did you see the video of him talking about the injury the other day? No. But he like heard himself in warmups in his final start and just gutted through it.

I think still had like 11 strikeouts or something. Wow. Yeah, he was awesome to start last season. Yeah, he was really good. And people were hyping him up. He went to drive line in the offseason last year and looked like it was going to be a big season. And I felt a little dumb for calling him a bus before the year. But then he got hurt, unfortunately.

Chris takes Shane Smith, a couple picks later. Yeah, there were a couple of sparks left that I had in my queue. One of them is pitching right now. But I just watched him. I just watched Luis Ortiz give up a home run to Jacob Stalling. So I'm not going to draft him. So this is kind of a funny dynamic in these CBS head-to-head points leagues. We're drafting some pretty obscure pitchers,

even though it's very shallow format, only 252 players drafted. And we're getting into some like deep spring training sleepers. I think this being a smart head-to-head points group, they're just, we all recognize we mostly want to fill out our bench with pitchers and those hitters that you'd almost always see draft. I mean, there are some pretty high-end hitters left for Roto, Luis Garcia, Victor Robles, Nick Castiano's. They're just replaceable in this format.

Who? Lazzardo's still out there now? He's been taken. Yeah. Yeah, Lazzardo's gone. They're just replaceable. The standard, the threshold, the bar to meet for, for hitters at this point is very low.

And did I say that right? Did I phrase that right? Yeah. Yeah. No. Yeah. Thank you for the real time. I got you.

Anytime. In tax check there. Yeah. So, yeah, it's why, why stash one on your bench? You can just pick them up off the waiver wire if you need them. After Shane Smith to Chris, there was Jordan Romano, Will Warren, and we are into the final round of the draft. It's Tyler Holton, Clark Schmidt.

Chris, you are back up. So there are many hitters who I like more than the guy I'm going to take. But let's do it. And if he doesn't make the team, he doesn't make the team. And I'll add one of those hitters. But let's take Cam Smith. Oh, the only hitter on my bench, Houston Astros, top hitting prospect. I really think he's going to make the, like they are, it sounds like they are giving him every chance.

And he's going to play right. He played right field earlier this week in a minor league game. It sounds like they're planning on getting him some work there in a grapefruit league game. So Cam Smith, I mean, he's only played 32 professional games. He may be overmatched, but he's looked really good so far this spring and they really, really like him. And the way they talk about like the intangible stuff, they really think he's ready for the jump. That's the biggest thing. All right.

Let's catch people up on the final round of action. And latest picks, Michael Waka, Luis Garcia to Scott, and I selected Kenley Janssen. So Luis Garcia, who usually is a top 120, 130 pick in Roto, 245th in head-to-head points. Yeah. It makes sense. His skills are best suited for Roto. It doesn't walk much. Steels a decent number of bags.

And also, he's a part-time player, which is bad for head-to-head. it's just a short-term option for me filling in at second base till jazz chisholm till I can slide him over there and then I can put Matt Shaw at third and then I'll have to pick up a player for my utility spot maybe I should have drafted Brent Roker after all

no no you should have left him for me that was good if I don't have to be intentional about the position I could just pick up the best hitter off Waverwire I imagine there will be several that are more worth starting than Luis Garcia in this format all right I selected Kenley Jansen, so I've got two traditional closers with Hayden Wesneski on the bench.

If he turns into an okay starting pitcher, then I could use him as a spark. After that, there was Nick Castiano's, Jameson Tyone, Evan Carter, Yuri Perez, another stash candidate, Caleb Durbin, not to Doc Eisenhower, and Tyler Stevenson. Last pick of the draft, I would assume that person's starting catcher. With the very last pick, you get a top 12 catcher. So that is maybe a reminder and a reason why you might want to wait. to draft your catcher in a one catcher league. We did it.

Draft one is in the books, and we actually made perfect tie. Yahoo's coming up at 4.15. Boom! Mount Podcasts.