Fantasy Baseball Today - Opening Day Rosters! Prospects, Rotations & More! (3/23 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 23, 2026

Opening Day rosters are coming together! Unfortunately, Konnor Griffin will not be up with the Pirates (2:45). ... We have injury updates on Jeremy Peña, Seiya Suzuki, Nick Lodolo, Kyle Stowers and others (8:24). ... We have updates on some of the hype guys including Mick Abel and Didier Fuentes (25:13). ... MLB rotations are being set (34:36). ... What is Emmet Sheehan's role to start the year (45:12)? ... We have more rotation news (51:27)! ... What do we make of Shane McClanahan and other strong performances this weekend (59:14)? ... Any concern with Garrett Crochet or Tanner Bibee (1:07:48)? ... We wrap up with a quick recap of our 'For the People' listener league (1:11:13). Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CBSScottWhite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Roto_Frank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Opening day is nearly here and things are starting to take shape. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Monday, March 23rd.

I am Frank Stamphill. joined by Scott White. Today on the show, lots of news to catch you up on from the weekend. Opening day rosters are being set, so we're learning who's in and who's out. We had some surprising names sent down, lots to talk about with prospects, injury updates. I have some interesting performances from the weekend as well. If we have time, we'll wrap up with a quick look at our For the People Listener League. And we'll end the show by playing one of the songs that was sent in by the listener, one of the listeners.

and it was a pretty cool FBT intro. So we'll play it as an outro today but maybe on a future episode we'll play it as an intro. Scott? Frank. How you doing, man?

Let's kick this off. I hope you don't have a lot of Connor Griffin because we're going to start there. Where else will we start? He was among, you know, I wrote about the players I'm most invested in,

the players I've drafted the most. The 24 players I've drafted the most. He was among them, Connor Griffin. Three shares. Well, let's talk about. talk about it. It wasn't unexpected. Yeah, but we always knew this was a possibility. Connor Griffin will open the season at AAA. Reminder, he still is just 19 years old. And he really, I think, needed to kind of light the world on fire this spring. And he didn't do that.

He hit 171, four homers, one steel, 749 OPS, definitely had some big home runs and some big exit velocities. And so he flashed at times. It just wasn't consistent enough to walk. to 13 strikeouts here for Connor Griffin, a 28% strikeout rate this spring. Manager Don Kelly had this to say, absolutely nothing he did wrong. You see a young kid who was maybe pressing just a little bit and trying really hard. Connor Griffin, the person is elite, allowing him to go and get back to basics and being Connor Griffin out there. We know there's an elite talent level that comes with him, just looking forward to him being

in Pittsburgh whenever that time comes. I also read that the pirates were a little concerned about how Griffin struggled specifically against fastballs this spring. So I don't know. They're trying to find things that he needs to work on, obviously. Scott, how far did you lower him or plan to lower him? I assume he's just the top prospect to stash right now. Yeah, it's absolutely the top prospect to stash. I think if you drafted him anywhere yet, you stash him because it could be just a short while before we seen.

It could be before the end of April even. There is an important cutoff sometime in that month, though I don't necessarily think this is the Pirates playing surface time manipulation games. I think Connor Griffin didn't show with absolute certainty that he was ready. So I think he looked good enough that he should probably dominate AAA.

Of course, he's dominated every stop up through AA last year. So I'm hopeful we'll see him, at least within the first quarter of the season, and that would make him worse stashing in most contexts. I moved him, let's see. I think I had him about 16th at shortstop, and now he's 20th. So I've moved him behind J.J. Weatherholt.

He is closer to where I have Kevin McGonigal now. And that drops him outside the top 200 overall in Roto League's when I think I had him closer to 150 before. So obviously still in the draftable race. Yeah. Even in 10 teamers, I would say. But you have to weigh how bigger benches, how much you rely on bench players to sub into your lineup as opposed to them just being there as like a way to preserve players

of value. And that's going to be league dependent. But I would say most people, most leagues, someone should be stashing Connor Griffin. Yeah. So I haven't done this yet, but I plan to drop him down to shortstop 24, which will put him just behind Zander Bogart, Otto Lopez, Kevin McGonigal. We still don't know if Kevin McGonigle is going to be up yet. We, I think, kind of feel like he should be, but we haven't got that confirmation yet.

J.J. Weatherholt, I think we feel a little bit more confident that he will be up on the opening day roster with the Cardinals. So still waiting to hear about those other prospects, but for now, Connor, Griffin sent down. Don't know exactly when we'll see him. It could be very soon, Scott. If he gets off to a slow start, this is something that could drag out a little bit. So it's just keep your timeline realistic, I guess, or your expectations in check here

for Connor Griffin. For those, I would be surprised if he got off to a slow start just because, like, again, he went from low A to double A last year and was exactly the same amazing producer throughout. So I think it'll handle AAA easily, but it is always possible he doesn't. For those still drafting his NFBC ADP this weekend was 189, and that was over the course of 109 drafts. So there were tons of NFBC draft this weekend. So that's a pretty big data sample there. 189 for Griffin, but his max is 297.

His min was 103. So depending on when they were drafting, you know, Friday, people might have still thought that he was. going to be up on opening day, and then obviously we got that news on Saturday. So that kind of affected the ADP from those drafts on. Speaking of shortstop prospects, Colt Emerson will begin the season in the minors as well. This one, I thought there was a chance, Scott, just because the injury that J.P. Crawford is dealing with, a shoulder right now. I guess they could go with Leo Rivas in the meantime.

And Colt Emerson has only played like five or six games at AAA and still only 20 years old. So I totally get them sending him down. I don't think we had as much confidence that he would be up. Where I'm sure you're working on your prospects to stash. Do you think Colt Emerson will be among like the top five prospects to stash heading into the season? Just going off the top of my head, probably outside the top five. But I would guess in the top 10. That's something I'll be looking at a little later in the week.

Okay. We got a bunch of injury updates as well. Jeremy Pena hit again on Sunday, and the Astros are still discussing whether he will travel with the team back to Houston in advance of opening day. Still working his way back from that fracture on the tip of his right ring finger. The NFBC ADP this weekend for Jeremy Pena was 129. The 13th shortstop off to board behind Trevor Story just ahead of Willie Adomas. Does that make sense, Scott, based on what we know right now about Pena? About 130 right between Story and Adamas. That's exactly, I mean, I don't know that I have him exactly 129, but I have them between

those two short stops. So yeah, that sounds right to me for Jeremy Pena. Sayas Suzuki, we learned, will not be ready for opening day because of that PCL sprain in his knee. The expectation is that Michael Conforto will make the opening day roster there with the Cubs. Suzuki's 80P this weekend was 125 as the 29th outfielder off the board just after Joe Adele and Teoscar Hernandez. How does that sound for say Suzuki. I don't think I moved him down quite that far. But let me double check. Suzuki, I have him

23rd. You said 20, 29. Yeah. Yeah, I still have him ahead of Joe Adele and Teosker Hernandez. But honestly, I still have him in a higher tier than those two. I moved Suzuki to the back of the tier. He was more in the middle of the tier before. I don't expect him to miss.

much time. They haven't even confirmed that he'll begin on the IL. Yeah, they made a point to say that they haven't determined that yet. He's out for opening day, but they don't know that he's going to be out so long that they want to put him on the IL. Next up, Jackson Holiday took live BP this weekend with no issues. He continues to work his way back from hamate bone surgery. his ADP this weekend over at the NFBC was 198. And a reminder, there are no IL spots over at the NFBC. So right around pick 200 there for Jackson Holiday, who could miss the first couple weeks of the season.

Scott, we got some bad news for my guy, our guy, Nick Ladolo. Here we go. Left is start Sunday due to a blister on his left index finger, and he has dealt with blisters each of the previous two seasons before this one. So 2024, 2025. He's dealt with some injury-related things in the past. None of them have been drastic in terms of elbow, shoulder, things like that. It's been blisters.

It's been some lower body stuff that Lidolo has dealt with. But once again, dealing with a blister here, GM, Brad Maydor, Midor. Probably should know that. Is that their GM? I don't know. Isn't it like Nick Crawl? Maybe he's the president of whatever. They said that they'll see how Nick Lidolo is doing on Monday.

They said you hope he felt it soon. enough to get out of there before it got bad. We'll see how it recovers and go from there. So for anyone still drafting, Scott, what do we do with Nicolidolo? Yeah, that whole tier of starting pitchers for me is, honestly, I don't know how to approach it. So it's a small tier, it's right in the middle, it's the next best things. It begins with Nolan McLean and Cam Schlittler, nothing wrong with those too, obviously. then Nick Povetta, who seems to be healthy at the moment,

but he had an issue earlier this spring that I think has caused people to back off him. Nick Lodolo, who we're talking about now, Chase Burns, who we're not sure is going to be used like a conventional starter since they kept six on the roster and they're saying it's going to be six for five spots. Brandon Woodruff, who still not clear he's going to be ready for the start of the season as he comes back from the latter issue. He has been pitching in spring games. but just himself sounds like he's not sure he's going to be ready.

Tyler Glass now, perpetual injury risk. So he looked great on Sunday for what it's worth. Struck at 11, I think. Trevor Rogers and Gavin Williams, who they're seemingly fine. So a small tier of starting pitchers there, given how big the position is, and most of them have real concerns heading into the season. And because it's so small,

I'm reluctant to drop all of those guys out of it. Lodolo, Burns, Woodruff, Chase Burns, because I do think they are better in theory than everyone in the tier that follows. And plus, you're leaving such a tiny tier there. I haven't come up with an answer I'm satisfied with, so I've kind of just left it alone. but we just did a draft here for the people league.

It's a 16 teamer, so on the deeper end for sure. It really changed the complexion of starting pitcher for me. Not only that, but I think maybe the biggest revelation from the weekend is it it really clarified which late round starting pitchers of the many late round starting pitcher options I find interesting. It really clarified which are worth drafting and which not. and I'm sure we'll get into some of that later. So between those two developments, the middle, the very middle of the position taking a big hit,

kind of the higher end of the middle to, kind of the area I'd like to live in, to be honest, taking a big hit. And then the late round options kind of getting dwindled down, I'm suddenly feeling a little more urgency at the position. For those who still have yet to draft, and I know there are a number of people who have. who do still have yet to draft. They don't necessarily handle it on the weekend. So something to keep in mind.

Yeah, so in that draft that we did here on Sunday night, again, it's very unique setup for this league, the four of the people, listener league draft that we do, 16 team head-ted categories, quality starts instead of wins. Nick Lidolo went at pick 120, and that was after Nathan Avaldi, Spencer Strider, Zach Wheeler, Sunny Gray. So I haven't...

A little lower, yeah. I haven't counted up all the pitchers, but I imagine that's probably somewhere in like the SP 35-ish range, something like that for Lodolo. And I have him around SP 26. So he did fall a little bit, at least compared to my rankings in that draft that we did hear on Sunday night.

And I don't even know his situation, well, really, I guess a lot of them. We don't know Burns' situation exactly other than that he's on the roster. we don't know, we still don't know if Woodruff's going to be available for the start of the season. I'm presuming not because if they haven't said he will be yet,

it makes me think he won't be, but we don't know. And then Lodolo with the blister, part of what makes this so scary is it's the same finger, a blister on the exact same finger, left index finger that's affected him in the past. And in the past, it's not just that he misses time with the blister,

but it affects the grip on his most important pitch, the curveball. Yeah. So he is, I mean, he has gone to great lengths to avoid these blister issues. But, and maybe he has such familiarity with this point that he caught it early. I noticed one Reds beat writer mentioned that the blister didn't break, which I presume is a good sign. So it was more of like a hotspot, which maybe will help him recover sooner. But it's up in the air, clearly.

I mean, they're going to check on it a couple days. It's possible he goes on the IL. Probably be a short stay if he does. So that's another reason why I don't want to bury Lodolo in my rankings. But it's concerning, it's particularly concerning giving his history with this issue and how it has shown that it can affect his performance. Yeah. So I think I'll probably drop him a little bit again.

I don't want to overreact to this. I think I'll probably put him around like SP 34. And I mean, there's just a lot of pictures I like in that range, too. So just ahead of him would be Bubba Chandler, Shotti Imanaga, Ryan Pepio, Emmett Sheen. I mean, these are Camp Schlitler. These are all guys that, you know, I talk about quite a bit. So I still like Lidolo.

Could be a short thing on the I.L. I almost would prefer that, right? Like, let's just get this out of the way. Let's nip it in the bud. Let's get Lidolo healthy and have him for the long haul this season, rather than trying to continue to battle through this thing. We got more bad news. Kyle Stowers,

re-injured his right hamstring and will miss three to four weeks. Rastal Resource has Liam Hicks as the DH. They have Griffin Conine in left field. I also saw a report that Connor Norby could get some time in the outfield here to just to kind of mix and match and move guys around, I guess to try and put their best lineup on the field here. Stowers's NFBC ADP this weekend was 176 with a max of 283. Scott, how far did you or plan to lower Kyle Stowers in the

rankings. So that one I haven't gotten around to yet because it was a little later in the day and I moved on to working on other things. So let's deal with that now. I feel like I got to drop him outside the top 40 because it sounds like he's going to miss most of April. And potentially it could extend it to May. I mean, hamstring recovery from hamstring strains isn't always the most straightforward.

So, 39 I have Caglione, got to move him behind him. Dailan Lyle, I'd move Stowers behind him. Ramon Luriano, that's another sleeper pick of mine. Brian Reynolds, another sleeper pick of mine. I think I need to move him behind all of them. Then you get into Noel V. Marte, who I, it's looking like he's going to make the team, right? He just had his fifth homer Sunday.

I know it was mostly defensive issues, but I don't know. J.J. J.J. Bladay has been playing so well that maybe they could still justify sending Marte down. I don't know. He haven't really heard anything there, but it's up in the air. I think I could, I think I'd want to move stowers behind him. So that puts him about 44th, which is ahead of Sadan Raphaela, who I don't want anything to do with Brenton Doyle, who I'm also not a big fan of. Then you get into Stephen Kwan, South Freelich.

They have their uses, but they're obviously capped in terms of what their ceiling is. Yeah. So that sounds about right to me, 44 for Kyle Stowers. Yeah, I was thinking the same exact range. That would put him just behind Brian Reynolds, Dalton Varsho for me, Caglione, Alec Berluson, names like that. So I think that makes sense. They drop Stowers down into the mid-40s in the outfield. And I know some people have already been, you know,

hitting us up on Twitter, Scott, asking for replacements. I don't know if you have sleeper hitters that are going to come out for like the first half week or the long week, is that something we're planning to do, Scott? Yes, it is. I'm going to work on that tomorrow. It's going to come out Tuesday. So I haven't gotten into that yet.

But just, I mean, just based on news from the weekend, looks like Carson Binge is making the Mets. Spoiler alert is probably further down your notes. Looks like he's going to be there starting right fielder. He had a good spring. I think he's the top outfield prospect of baseball. Skill set could be kind of similar to Stowers. I think Benj is a little more batting average driven

while Stowers more power driven, but neither was all of one or the other. And Benj is pretty widely available. Mike Talkman, Toursen, Tours Meniscus. That's why it seems like a foregone conclusion, Bench will make the roster. I'm not sure it's been announced yet. But it just makes sense that that's what happened.

Yeah. I think if you play in a shallower three outfielder league, too, Dale and Wile is someone that we talk about a lot. He's 65% rostered on CBS. So if you play in a three outfielder league, I think he's someone that could be out there. A little bit further down the list. Yeah, now I like Benj, like you mentioned.

Jung Hu Lee could be a good points league player if you need him in the meantime. Owen Casey, Kyle Stowers's teammate. I mean, we're expecting not what Stowers did last year, but probably a similar skill set, lots of power, maybe a lower batting average. So, yeah, probably the skill set is even more comparable there than for Benj.

with Owen Casey. But, you know, obviously a rookie and that comes with downside risk. Still, it's not got to be perfect to guy off the waver wire. Last injury update here, I wanted to get to, Trey I Savage is scheduled to start

a minor league game on Wednesday. We know that he's starting on the aisle due to a shoulder impingement. His ADP this weekend over at the NFBC. Again, no aisle spots there. 2.39 for Trey and Savage. That is just behind

Mike Burroughs Jack Leiter, Garrick Cole. Does that sound right, Scott? Or maybe... That seems too far. That seems like too far of a drop. I moved you, Savage. I moved him behind Matthew Boyd, which is still ahead of like Edward Cabrera, McKinsey Gore.

Yeah. You said about 230th is where he's going over the weekend. 239, yeah. I have, um, 192 in my own rankings. Yeah. And honestly, it's a good sign that he's already... starting a minor league game. And that is what was reported,

not that he wasn't feeling better from the shoulder impingement, just that he had it at the start. It set him back. He needs more time to get ready. Yeah. And him already starting minor league games, I think validates that.

All right before we take our first break, opening night and opening day are nearly here. I cannot believe it, Scott. We are just about here. I want to remind everyone, stick with us all season long. We'll typically go live.

Sunday through Thursday nights in season 12 o'clock, 12.30. I don't know, times may vary, but we've got to wait for West Coast games to wind down. Later than we should. Later than our wives, they're happy with. After midnight Eastern time, so I realize that it is not feasible

for many people to watch live. But if you live on the West Coast and want to watch us live, we will be Sunday through Thursday nights in season live here on the YouTube channel. Make sure to like this video. Subscribe on YouTube if you haven't already. or follow wherever you get your podcast.

Let's take that break. We'll be back right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today again. It's just really a news-packed episodes, Scott. There's so much to talk about. I want to get back to some of the hype guys. You mentioned Carson Benj. We found out that he is expected to be the Mets opening day

starter in right field, 53% rostered for those who play on CBS. Do you think he's someone that needs to be rostered everywhere, Scott? Is it only five outfielder leagues for Carson Benj? Or can you see it in like a three outfielder head to head league as well? I could see it in a three outfielder league. It just, it depends how far you have to go into the outfield pool. Like if you find yourself suddenly needing an outfielder,

I think his skill set is well suited for a points league. It's just not as many outfielders are normally needed there. So he may get pushed out just because of the surplus. But certainly in five outfielder leagues, Carson, bench needs to be added. All right, we learned that Zebby Matthews was sent down to AAA, which means Mick Abel should be in the rotation. And his last start came on Thursday of last week. He went four and two third innings, two earned runs in that one, six strikeouts, had 11 whiffs on 79 pitches. Obviously, Abel has had a great spring. He was a big name pitching prospect,

came over to the Twins last year in the Yohan-Duran trade. His ADP this weekend, Scott, 287, Mick Abel, just behind Casey Mise, Will Warren, Max Meyer, Merrill Kelly, Noah Cameron. Feels a little too low to me. Yeah, I'd have him ahead of a lot of those guys. Maybe, I probably would keep

Merrill Kelly ahead because his injury seems like a nothing burger. Yep. But other than that, Mick Abel, I'd take him over Casey Mize, Will Warren, Merrill, not Mary Kelly, Max Meyer and Noah Cameron.

How about against some other, I guess, hyped up pitchers this spring? Would you take Mick Abel over Andrew Painter? Yes, I would. How about Shane Smith, somebody I know you like? Let's see what my rankings say there. I do like Shane Smith, but I don't think I've had opportunity to draft him. He has not had a good spring for whatever it's worth, but he was named the White Sox opening day starter pretty early on.

I'm not sure he needed to have a good spring. So I don't know that we need to make too much of that. But he isn't the most proven pitcher. So it's at least worth commenting on. I have Shane Smith ahead of Mick Abel, but I guess they are a few starting pitchers in between them. Yeah. There are only nine spots apart in my overall rankings,

Shane Smith and Mick Abel, but mostly it's pitchers between them. Would you rather have Mick Abel or Cody Ponce? Cody Pons. What about McAbel or Mike Burroughs? Mike Burroughs. And I don't know if you share the same enthusiasm

for this pitcher, but he's been pretty hyped up this spring. Mick Abel or Braxton Ashcraft? I have Abel ahead of Ashcraft because I don't think Ashcraft's strikeout upside quite compares to those others. But he's a pretty good strikeout pitcher who gets a ton of ground balls. So I have enthusiasm for him too.

This is like Sleeper Central at starting pitcher. Everybody, your name, you care. So I don't, just because I prefer some to others, I don't want anyone to think I'm not excited about the ones I'm picking against. The answer is all of them, Scott. It's a range of 12 players in my top 300, and they're just all right there. Yep.

Speaking of the hyped up pitchers, your guy. Didier Fuentes of a. The Braves. He will be on their opening day roster, expected to be used as a long reliever for the first few weeks of the season. The plan from there is for him to get sent down to the minors and then stretched out as a starter.

So not exactly sure when he'll just be a starter for the Braves this season, but I have a good feeling he will make a good amount of starts for them. He had a ridiculous spring then. Nine, no-hit innings, 17 strikeouts to zero walks. His only blemish, his only base

runner a hit by pitch. So he has looked amazing. 16% rostered. Scott, how are you treating Didier Fuentes right now for fantasy? Yeah, it was basically like he threw a perfect game with 17 strikeouts this spring.

Technically not because of the hit by pitch, but that's it's definitely an eye-popping stat line. And I mean, anybody who watched some pitch I think was pretty impressed. Obviously, the Braves were. I don't think there was any intention of having him on the opening day.

He just forced the issue. And I think the only reason he isn't in the starting rotation right now is because they need to keep depth. And so Bryce Elder kind of has to be in the rotation because he's out of options. But Bryce Elder is currently in the rotation. And so is Raynaldo Lopez, whose fastball was down about three miles per hour all spring. And it was down closer to six miles per hour in his final start. start Sunday.

So I think between those two, Elder and Lopez, like the Braves are going to have a need and their rotation very soon. And Grant Holmes's arm is kind of hanging on by a thread right now. Yeah, I mean, he has a UCL issue. They don't seem to think it's a big deal, but we know about it. And so that could possibly become an issue. Look, anybody could get her. Chris Sale, Spencer Stride.

Like, any of them could. It's just the Braves rotation because of those last two especially seems to have more vulnerabilities than most. Yeah. So I don't even, I understand what the plan is. Maybe the plan will come to fruition. I think the plan could get disrupted just by Lopez and Elder blowing up. Yeah. And so maybe Fuentes doesn't end up having that stint at AAA.

First run of waivers was in a lot of my least. weeks tonight. And I think the drafts like TGFBI, some of the drafts like TGFBI, they happen later than usual. So there, I noticed going through for this first run of waivers, there weren't as many interesting options as I feel like they're normally on the first run of waivers. And Didier Fuentes struck me as the most interesting option in most of them, certainly in the 15 teamers where pitching gets stretched really thin. Because I think he, I think, I think, I think there's a path for him being a serious breakout this year. I mean, he's very young.

He didn't throw that many innings last year, so there are going to be with some workload issues. But I expect he'll be in the Braves rotation sooner than later, probably before the end of April. And I think there's big strikeout upside here, for sure. So you said you wound up winning him, right, in TGFBI? Yes, for $16 of $1,000. So we were talking beforehand, and I told you,

I'm not going to look at my bids yet. I don't want to be distracted by what happened. And I didn't even get to update them. I just put in like some placeholder bids. But I got Didier Fentis for $1, Scott. Let's go. One dollar. Let's go.

It turns out I could have won them for a dollar too. I don't know. Everybody was sleeping this first run because only four players were bid on in my TGFBI League. And all of them got just one bid. How about this? I dropped Hunter Green to pick up Didier Fuentes. Oh. Not a great feeling.

What a half the league with I.L spots. Yes. Yeah, seven bench spots, 15 team league. There's no IL, so I'm not holding Hunter Green until July or whenever he's back. So maybe I'll look to pick him up like when we're getting closer there. But I knew that I was always going to drop him this first waiver run. Somebody asked me what other SP was I targeting off the waiver wire? Matthew Libertor was one.

He was not really on anybody's radar when those drafts happened. Mm-hmm. Will Warren was out there in some leagues. I have moderate interest in him. He had another good start Sunday, and he finishes the spring and six starts with a 142 ERA and .63 whip. Yep.

The strikeouts, the missed bats, a little underwhelming. I'm not sure it's legit, but if you need a pitcher, I think Will Warren is somebody you could throw a dollar at and see what happens. Yep, I have both of those guys on the rundown a little bit later on, Liberator and Will Warren again, good starts this weekend, had really great springs for both of them.

Last question on Fuentes, is he in that same range, Scott, as the previous names we just spoke about, the Mick Ables, the Mike Burroughs, the Braxton Ashcrafts, or is he behind that tier for now? Just because he's not starting, you know? Yeah, he's behind it for now. Okay. Because I think you can get away with him drafting him later. I don't know, the way I just salivated over him, maybe that's going to boost his stock.

But yeah, he's not, I don't know this is going to be usable right out of the gate in the same way those will be. But the upside is certainly up there with any of them, maybe even surpassing them. All right, let's move on here. Parker Messick has made the Guardian's opening day rotation over Logan Allen, which is pretty much what we were expecting. But the Guardian's rotation is set with Tanner Bybee, Gavin Williams, Slade Cicconi,

Joey Cantillo and Parker Messick. Messick's ADP this weekend was 307. He was behind Roki Sasaki, Clay Holmes, Cade Cavali, Matthew Liberator, Tyler Malley. I think I would take Messick over all of those. Messick versus Liberator is pretty close. I'm kind of interested in Liberator, but yeah. I'd take Messick over all of them. So I guess if Messick happens to be available in your league, he's a great Waverware pickup too.

He just happened not to be available in mine. Especially, man. play in 10 or 12 team leagues, I have to imagine the waiver wire with all these interesting starting pitchers going late in drafts, like, you've got tough decisions on your head because there are a lot of interesting ones that are, you know, that post-250 ADP or might have just went undrafted if it's a shallower league, you know, all these names that we're talking about, Burroughs and Ashcraft and Abel and Messick and Didier Fuentes. A lot of exciting pitchers here heading into the start of the season. Let's get back over to

the bad news, Scott. And this one surprised me. The Nationals sent Dylan Cruz to AAA. This happened on Friday. He had himself a terrible spring. He hit 103, zero homers, a 32% strikeout rate. He is 63% rostered. Do you think Dylan Cruz is someone you have to hold on to?

If you drafted him or if people are still drafting, does he need to be drafted? I had no interest in drafting him in the 16th teamer we did tonight. It is only a three outfielder league. probably would change if it's five outfielders and I think there's a justification to continue to stash him there but it's not like he's ever really looked good in the majors

there have been some injuries and whatnot but let's see how low did I actually put Dylan Cruz this is so funny Scott we moved Dylan Cruz to within one spot in our outfield rankings and again we did not consult this so I have him at 73 you have him at 74

That for me is behind right behind Evan Carter, who is another failure to launch kind of outfielder where, you know, big prospect may be promoted too soon and has just struggled to find his footing in the majors with injuries and whatever else. He didn't have such a great spring. He had a decent spring, I guess, just the batting average is low. But I don't have a ton of confidence in Evan Carter, being an impactful fantasy player.

So I think putting Cruz right behind him makes sense. Like they still appreciate the upside. He's still young enough that he could come through. But it feels it feels like a work in progress

without much progress. If that makes sense. So Dylan Cruz, I drafted him in a few five outfielder leagues. I'm going to try to hold on for now. but I mean if I need that roster spot within the next couple of weeks he's on the chopping block. So I don't think he's someone that has to be rostered.

Five outfielder leagues I would try to for now with Dylan Cruz. I still think there's upside here. Big prospect pedigree. Obviously, you know, very high pick in the first round just a couple of years ago. And it's just weird the way his career has played out so far. He was called up as a 22-year-old. And then obviously last year had the nasty oblique injury that kind of wrecked his season. and then obviously a bad spring here.

So I am not giving up on Cruz long term, but obviously we have to see something from him in the minors. Rasta Resource has James Wood, Dale and Lyle, Jacob Young in the Nationals Outfield, with Andres Chaparro as the DH. And very deep league name here, Scott. It's probably just like NL only,

but Chaparro has flashed some power in the minors. Do you have any deep league interest in him? Not outside of NL only, no. I mean, I probably have more interest in Jacob Yogan, frankly, as a speed specialist, but not a lot of interest there either. All right, Sean Mania will begin the season in the bullpen for the Mets. Apparently, he will be used in a piggyback role. Their rotation is Freddie Peralta, David Peterson, Nolan McLean, Clay Holmes, and Kodi, Senga. Same question, Scott.

Does Sean Mania need to be drafted at all? I think it's more common to go that deep into the pitcher pool than it is to go. go that deep into the outfield pool. So I think he's a little more draftable than Dylan Cruz, but I don't think anyone should be particularly eager to draft them. This does seem like a tacit admission from the Mets that they're worried about what's going on with his velocity too. He performed well this spring.

He has such an unusual arm angle that he might do okay with a 90-ish mile per hour fastball. But it's, it could certainly go the other way. I think it's one where we just have to wait and see. So I'm not giving up on Sean Minaya being a useful or potentially even impactful pitcher this year. But obviously there is a lot of reason for doubt and he's not going to be that usable to start out. As Merrill Kelly indicated, I believe it was last week,

he will start the season on the IL as he continues to ramp up after that back injury that set him back a little bit. The Diamondbacks opening day rotation will be Zach Allen, Ryan Nelson, Eduardo Rodriguez, Michael Soroka, and Brandon Fott. Scott, what do you think happens here in this rotation once Merrill Kelly is back? Do you think they go with a six-man? I understand life can find a way, but let's assume that everyone stays healthy for the first couple of weeks.

What do you think would happen in the debacked rotation? I think Soroka would shift to the bullpen. Presuming everybody's healthy and humming on all cylinders, that seems like. the likeliest scenario to me. All right, Gleiber Torres was scratched from the lineup on Saturday with lower back tightness, but it sounds like he is okay, and he will be good to go for exhibition games this week. So deeply middle infielder type, Glaver Torres, sounds like he's good.

Kyle Harrison completed a bullpen session on Saturday and is expected to be on the Brewers opening day roster. He has been dealing with a blister on his left index finger. his first spring start Scott Kyle Harrison was interesting it was the three innings two runs eight strikeouts but his next two starts after that he was knocked around pretty hard do you have interest in Kyle Harrison I feel like he's kind of moved behind all these other interesting sleeper candidates we've talked about yeah he had that one interesting eight strikeouts and three innings or whatever it was the first time out and it looked like his pitch selection it changed a little bit but subsequent

starts, he's a little closer to the Kyle Harrison we remember. So I have not maintained the same level of enthusiasm for him. We also learned that Brandon Sprote will be on the opening day roster. I almost think I would rather just take a last round flyer on Sprote over Kyle Harrison. What do you think? Yeah. Yeah. I wonder if I ever actually moved Harrison into the draftable range of my rankings.

I did not. So good for me. It was probably just negligence, but it's negligence that paid off. Yeah, I don't think I moved Harrison up either. I did move Brandon Sprote up quite a bit. I got him up to SP 95. So that is an interesting range of the rankings. I have Liberator Sprote, Ret Louder, Max Scherzer, Didier Fuentes,

all 94 through 98. So it's kind of an interesting range there of the last round. picks there in your drafts. The Orioles option, Dean Kramer, to the Miners, and they opted to go with a five-man rotation, given that the way the early season schedule set up here for the Orioles, they have Trevor

Rogers, Kyle Bradish, Shane Bosch, Chris Bassett, and Zach Eflin. Obviously, Kramer wasn't really somebody that we were interested in for Fantasy Scott, but just worth noting, because we thought this would be a six-man rotation, but they're going to start things out as a five-man there with the

Orioles. Walker... Great, yeah, Kramer. has streamable moments and he has had in the past few years. And I'm sure he'll be back at some point, but it was a surprising demotion. We'll talk about Zach Eflin a little bit later on. He's quietly had himself a nice spring. Hasn't pitched too much, but had a nice start this weekend. Maybe he's finally healthy. Again, that is Zach Eflin. Walker Bueller has made the Padres rotation, which includes Michael King, Nick Povetta, Randy Vasquez, and Hermann Marquez. So Scott, I put this on the rundown before Walker Bueller start on Sunday.

And I just looked it up. Three in a third innings, 11 hits, seven earned runs, four homers allowed. So previous start looked really good for Walker Bueller. It's like five shutout innings with seven strikeouts. Like, oh, well, I don't know.

Maybe there's a chance. Walker Bueller, he's back. I don't know. He was back to stinky on Sunday. Everything was down more than two miles per hour, too, in this stinky start for Bueller. I have noticed that was, true for a lot of pitchers this weekend.

I don't know if it's just dead-armed stuff at the end of spring or, you know, last start. I'm pretty much stretched out already, so let's not do anything to get myself hurt kind of situation. I don't know what to make of it. It might not mean anything for any particular pistol. Even what I brought up for Renaldo Lopez, it was three miles per hour below, which is bad enough. And then six miles in his last six miles per hour and the last start. I mean, I don't know if it's just people easing up at the end of spring training, but it was something I was seeing with some consistency.

All right, Grayson Rodriguez. We'll start the season on the IL as he's dealing with that dead arm as well. The Angels rotation will be Jose Soriano, Yucay Kukuchi, Reid Detmer's, Jack Kohonowitz, and Ryan Johnson. Who is Ryan Johnson? He's 23 years old. He was the 74th overall pick back in 2024. He actually made the opening day roster last year as a reliever.

with no minor league experience. It was the most Angels thing of all time. It did not go well. He was sent down to the minors. He did perform well in the minors, Scott. So look, this is a very deep league name, probably AL only or Deaver points leagues because he is RP only.

But any interest in Ryan Johnson with Angels? I think he's a pretty good ground ball pitcher. Yeah, 51% rating the minors last year, even higher rate this spring. I don't think there's a ton of. upside here, but I could see him being a solid floor guy. Hard to get interested in relative to those other names, though. Yeah, again, I think it's AL only, you know, kind of deeper points leagues right now as a

very deep spark there with Ryan Johnson. Let's take our final break. Can we talk about one more rotation spot issue, development? Yeah, I have a few. whether on the rundown, but maybe... Okay. I might not. Well, it's Emmett Shee and Frank.

I don't know if you saw this right before it came out like 45 minutes before we started recording. Uh-oh. What do we have? Hybrid role to begin the year. Oh. They're already playing games with Emmett. They want him to piggyback with Otani.

Wasn't there another report this weekend where he said he was in the rotation? I don't remember seeing that, but I definitely saw this one. Piggy back with Otani. Now, it sounds like... it sounds like they're not going six man right away and that's part of it so once they have to go six man to space out otani starts enough then presumably she and zen but i just don't like that they're already playing these games with them again no you're right i mean that is a disaster i mean it's annoying i mean that was a little strong i mean you could use them in category leagues right where

if he's pitching four innings of relief like yeah he could give you good ratios and strikeouts and things like that. But in terms of, you know, getting quality starts or length from M.H. Sheen, that's probably going to be pretty hard to get. He did have some relief appearances last year where he went more like a starter's length. Let me confirm that. There were more actual start. There was one weird game on September 15th where he threw seven innings,

but technically came in and relief. So I guess that's what I was thinking of. Is this actually locked in, Scott? Because I'm seeing a lot of Dave Roberts hasn't made a decision yet between Emmichie and Justin Robleski for the last rotation spot. So the report I saw, this is from Katie Wu of the Athletics, could operate in a hybrid role. Either him or Robleski will follow Shohei Otani and his starts.

so yeah, it's not locked in. But the fact that they're even talking about it is so annoying. My gosh. Yep. I think I only wound up with him on one team. I did like him. I wrote him up in Breakouts 2.0. I think we all like the stuff and the skills that he showed last year.

But kudos to you guys. You were all over kind of like, you know, being more cautious with that with Emmichian. Yeah, and I don't like I don't want this to put a big. radioactive sticker on him or anything but I lowered him

in my rankings a whole tier so now he's behind like Michael King he's more in the Cade Horton range of my rankings when before he was more

in the Tyler Glass Now range I mean Kate Horton's still a desirable young arm himself so it's like Sheehan remains desirable, but it's just, you're not as bankable as he seemed. It's really tough in a head-to-points league, though, with Sheehan, too.

Like, you're never going to get quality starts. How much volume are you going to get? It might be a short-term thing, Frank. Right, I know. Don't overreact. I'm overreacting. You got me. This happens at times.

I need Scott to kind of keep me in check and everything, but... You're just upset because you have a lot of Sheehan, right? No, no, no, I only have one share, but I liked him. He was someone that I was... I was talking about it in the past tense. Yeah, yeah. All right, well, let's take our final break. When we return, I got a couple of their items here,

some performances from the weekend. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. Again, still going through some rotation news. Things are being set here ahead of opening day. The Pirates rotation was announced, and it includes Paul Skeen's Mitch Keller, Braxton Ashcraft, Bubba Chandler,

and Carmen Maginsky, who last year had a 355 ERN, a 130 whip, 8.1K per 9, did a good job getting ground balls. Also was much better as a reliever than as a starter. Scott, do you have any deep league interest in Carmen Maginsky of the Pirates? I was not planning to talk about him. So no. I would say less than even Ryan Johnson.

He, I believe, is a spark, though. So we should probably know that. And yes. He is a spark. So if you play in points leagues, another name that could potentially be on your radar there is Carmen Maginsky. And it's spelled M-L-O-D-Z-I-N-S-K-I for those looking for the... Did you do that out of memory?

No, no, no, I have it right here on the rundown. There's no way I was going to remember that one. Jansen Junk has made the Marlins as their SP-5. Braxton Garrett was sent down to the miners. Honestly, neither has had a good spring. This makes me a little bit more optimistic. about Robbie Snelling, Scott, just because I don't think Jansen Junk is very good. I don't think Chris Paddock is very

good. So if we get a month of those guys not performing well, I think we could see Robbie Snelling pretty early on this season. He's got to look better than he did this spring. He was, yeah, it was pretty bad this spring. And maybe he will, but the spring took a lot of my enthusiasm way there. Perhaps unfairly because it is only spring, but obviously we'll have a chance to react to Snelling later if he does prove to be deserving of a pickup. We have a bunch of rocky stuff to talk about.

T.J. Rumfield, Edward Julian, Kyle Carros, and Ryan Ritter all made the team. So no, Troy Johnston or Blaine Crim. Looks like T.J. Rumfield at first base, Edward Julian, at second base. Rastor Resource has Kyle Caros and Ryan Ritter on the bench as short side platoons. It's got any deep league interest in specifically Rumfield or Edward Jr. Julian here making the team. Yeah, and those 15 teamers and deeper, I would say Rumfield was the second most interesting player to Didier Fuentes,

who was actually available, at least in my leagues, not saying he needs to be pick up everywhere. I'm talking about the deeper roto leagues. Because I think he'll play a lot, and I think it's an interesting skill set. Good play discipline. Will the power? Obviously, he hit four home runs this spring,

and that was in Cactus League play, where home runs are pretty easy to come by. So will the power translate to major league ballparks at a full-time or better half of a platoon role against major league pitchers? I think that's a real question because the eggs of velocity reading is on their own aren't that impressive for Rumfield,

but he might be able to launch angle his way to a pretty good home run total, obviously has the benefit of playing half his games at course field. I'm interested, enough in deeper leagues to throw a couple bucks at T.J. Rumfield. All right. The Rockies rotation is set to start the year. Kyle Freeland, Michael Lorenzen, Jose Katana, Tomoyuki Sugano, and Ryan Feltoner. So Chase Dolander, he made the team,

but apparently we'll pitch out of the bullpen here. Dolander got off to a nice start the spring, but then his last two starts were pretty rough. I don't think that we had much standard mixed league interest in Chase Dolander. Scott, but he is a high-end prospect. He has the pedigree. So in deeper leagues, I was following this just to see what he could do. But I was pretty surprised he didn't actually make the rotation that chased O'Lander with the Rockies.

Yeah, I don't have a ton of interest in him even if he did. He does have that prospect pedigree. But the book on him coming up through the miners was the fastball shape is so good that it might work on its own. He may not have to deal with breaking balls so much at course. Field, which is often the downfall of pitchers at Corse Field. They just don't break enough there. But the fastball shape hasn't looked that impressive to me. And when I've looked at the data there for Dullender.

Yes. Rees Hoskins will be on the Guardian's opening day roster this spring. He went for, he's gone, eight for 36, 222 batting average with three home runs. Scott, who do you like more just as a speculative deep league corner infielder? Reese Hoskins or T.J. Rumfield? I would have to say Hoskins, because he's been there before, many times he's been there before. And I would say, I don't know, I don't know that either has tremendous job security, but if Charlie Condon, who also had a great spring, is crushing it at AAA, I don't think T.J. Rumfield gets a long leash for the Rockies.

Yeah. So, yeah, I would prefer Hoskins of the two. Alex Freeland made the Dodgers opening day roster over Hessung Kim. Kim will start in the minors. A roster resource currently has Miguel Rojas starting at second base while Tommy Edmund is on the IL with Freeland, Santiago Espinal, Alex Call, and Dalton rushing there on the Dodgers bench. Scott, any deep league interest in whoever fills in at second base, whether it's Freeland or Miguel Rojas or Espinall?

I can't say going into the season that I have much interest in this. No, as Freeland, Alex Freeland showed enough in the minors that I could see him turning into something, yes. But didn't show much of anything when he was up last year. And I think he actually needs to start performing for me to take an interest in him. All right. I did get, we got some news on some young hitters that, things that we pretty much expected. Justin Crawford will be on the Phillies opening day roster. Marcelo Meyer will be the Red Sox starting second base.

Jason Dominguez was sent to AAA. Christian Campbell also sent down there with the Red Sox. One... And I think the Campbell being sent down, again, we pretty much expected it. But that pretty much assures us that Jaron Duran and Willi or Ray, who are both everyday players because they don't really have a right-handed hitting outfielder on their bench. Right. Yeah, I think that's a good point.

And one miscellaneous news item here, the Phillies sign Christopher Sancholy. Sanchez to a six-year, $107 million extension that includes a club option for 2033. He is 30 years old. Look, I'm happy. He's got his money. I totally get financial security, being a pitcher, all that. Feels like a kind of team-friendly extension here for Christopher Sanchez. So look, you get your money, but I kind of feel like if he bet on himself, maybe he could

have wound up making more than that. But I think his contract was kind of weird, too, where I think he had two or three more years after this one on his current deal. So maybe he just wanted to lock in some money before he's like, you know, 33 years old, which I get, but. It's harder to gauge when, you know, somebody is, uh, making so little for the next few years. Obviously, that's obviously the team doesn't want to lose that advantage. So it becomes, okay, we'll pay you a little more.

For the upcoming years, if you take a little less for those future years, then you could get on the open market. I agree. I was surprised how low the figure was for Sanchez, but it's it's not apples to apples comparing it to like if he was on the free agent market. All right. Let's wrap up here, Scott, some performances from the weekend. First up, the good. Shane O. Mack. I don't have it loaded up, but I'll pull it up while we're talking about him. He faced the Red Sox. He threw five shutout innings with four strikeouts. He had eight whiffs on 73 pitches. His velocity remains down.

He averages 94.3 on his fastball, which is two and a half miles per hour down from the last time we saw him. But three of his four starts this spring have been scoreless. Scott, so I still have struggled to figure out my opinion of Shane McClanahan this year,

but I'm starting to wonder if maybe he can kind of do what Brandon Woodruff did last year and he could still have success. being down two to three miles per hour from the past. Where are you at on Chano Mac? Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good about it. The starts have been effective.

He's gotten whiffs at a nice rate. He's going a lot later than Spencer Strider, who, of course, we're worried about the fastball velocity. For him, too, former fantasy ace whose velocity doesn't seem to be where we're used to seeing it. So McClaney is going a lot later than him, and I think he probably has a better secondary arsenal to make up for the lack of fastball velocity there relative to strider. So my alarm just isn't raised as much and the discount is such that it doesn't work out.

You don't lose that much. So I feel pretty good. I actually drafted him for the first time in a league that counts in the 16 team. for the People League. And I'm hoping for the best. There is also a possibility, I mean, that's what they've been saying, that he isn't going max effort right now.

And so if we do see his velocity jump at the start of the season, wow, that'll feel really good for those who invested in him. I think he's a fine pick where he's going, which is about 180 overall over the last week, I believe. Let me double check that. Yes, 180. Okay. Again, that was Shane O. Mac.

Here comes the money. Here we go. Money talks. Here comes the money. The money. It might be coming here with Shane McClanahan. It's got two pitchers with different pitches that I just wanted to bring up and find out if you think it matters at all. But Dylan Cease, five shutout innings this weekend with six strikeouts. He had 15 whiffs on 83 pitches. Four came on this changeup that he thought.

through 11 times, and it was different. The velocity was up almost 10 miles per hour, so it was like 87 miles per hour on that changeup, and it had nine less inches of drop from last year, and it was really good. So it just kind of caught me off guard, because normally Dylan C's doesn't really throw a change up. And then Ryan Nelson threw his slider more,

and that was different as well. The Velo was down one and a half miles per hour, it had five more inches of drop, and had seven whiffs. Ryan Nelson is usually just a fastball guy. We usually don't get much from his secondary pitches at all. He was going up against a really bad Rangers lineup, so I just wanted to mention that.

But Scott does, do either of these things matter? Dylan Seas with a change-up and Ryan Nelson with a slider. I wonder if that was more of a cutter for Seas. I don't know. This is the first I've heard of it. But I do think the Blue J. are going to be a good organization for him. And this may be the first indication of them.

I mean, obviously, they signed him to do a big deal. They were excited about him. And yeah, I'd be interested in hearing more about this, but it's something that could help take cease to another level, potentially. Okay, Scott. And I like Nelson as a whip specialist. So if he gets a decent secondary offering,

You know, he does well. He seems to do well the more he throws his fastballs. So I'd rather kind of rather not see him get away from that. But a good secondary option would help. So we actually just got an update, Scott. Per Katie Wu, who covers the Dodgers. Emmett Sheen will begin in the rotation. Justin Robleski will be the piggyback reliever with Shohei Otani.

Okay. Crisis averted. We're so bad, baby. I'm just going to go back and, you know, erase me crying for like two minutes about MSU. I did want to talk quickly about Cole Young, someone we mentioned a few times, Scott, as a very deep sleeper. He had two home runs on Friday. One was a reported 478 feet. Now, that is not showing up in Stackcast anymore, but it was at the time.

I saw it, and I saw a few people talking about it on Twitter. it was the longest home run hit in all of spring training, if that number is true. But this is a few times now where we've seen some really hard and really far home runs from Cole Young, just kind of strengthening his case as a deep league middle infield sleeper. Honestly, I don't even know that it's deep leagues anymore. I'm pretty excited about Cole Young.

He was picked up in our beat FBT NFBC League. That is a 12-team Roto League. So not that deep. 12-team Roto with a middle infielder spot. He was picked up in that league. Yeah. I wish I had a single share of Cole Young because I think he is looking like a breakout from the spring.

They seem really excited about him in Mariners' camp, but I mean the home runs, they're not Cactus League Cheapies. And he always was regarded as a high-end prospect. obviously didn't have a strong showing as a rookie last year, but he seemed to learn from the experience that I know he was dedicated to improving this offseason, which I guess is vague, but I've read about it.

I remember there were some specifics that got me excited. I'm not recalling them right now, but Call Young, I think could potentially be a big breakout this year. I had five pitchers, Scott. I just wanted to quickly ask you about it. They're all late round names. We've mentioned a few of their names already.

But they all wrapped up Good Springs this weekend. Matthew Liberator, Will Warren, Zach Eflin, Max Scherzer, Luis Severino. How would you rank those five heading into the season? Again, it's Liberator, Will Warren, Eflin, Scherzer, Severino. I would rank them this way. And maybe I need to look, I'm going to put Eflin at the end, but maybe I need to look a little close.

closer at him. He hadn't really caught my attention until this latest start. I'm going to go. I believe I have Will Warren the highest. Yes, I do. Will Warren, Matthew Libertor. Eh, I kind of like Libertor more than one. Let's say Liberator, then Warren, then Scherzerzer than Eflin.

But again, I want to take a closer look at Eflin. I don't know. Do you have a case for Eflin? I left out Severino there. Severino ahead of Scherzer and Eflin. Yeah. That was hard to follow. I'm sorry. Honestly, in most leagues, Libertor and Warren are the only ones I'm looking at right now. Eflin hasn't really pitched much this spring. He only made two starts. It was seven and a third, I believe, shutout innings with 10 strikeouts to one walk. What I noticed here in this start is that he used his cutter a lot more.

Both that pitch and his curveball looked really good. I didn't see the lineup that he was going up against. It could have been like a B or a C lineup. But, you know, he had the surgery this offseason, and maybe he's just finally healthy again. So as someone going as late as he is, he could be a whip help, you know, maybe some where in that like 1 15-ish range.

I think he's a name that just needs to be on our radar and maybe starts as a streamer and could develop more into that, more from that this season with Zach Eflin. Two bad starts. from this weekend. And I don't think either really matters too much, but I just wanted to give you the opportunity, Scott.

Garrett Crochet got crushed by the Braves. Velocity has been down a little bit this spring. He is given up 12 earned runs over 14 and 2 thirds. Again, I don't really think it's a big deal. And then Tanner Bybee, eight earned runs over 4 and 2 thirds. His last two starts, it's 23 hits allowed, 14 earned runs, five homers. Have you noticed anything that scares you? at all with Crochet or Tanner Bybee?

No. The Velo was down a little for Crochet and Saturdays start. Like I said, it was down for a lot of pitchers in this latest turn. And it was only like one mile per hour. He said his pitch selection would be different during the regular season. And that's probably true. I mean, he's obviously an established starter at this point. Springs more about working on stuff and building up than it is competing for anything.

and I haven't seen him slip in drafts at all. So I don't think there's anything to worry about here with Crochet. I have backed away from Bybee a little bit because this spring has been so bad. But he's saying his delivery feels the best it has heading into a season in a long time. And he feels like he learned a lot from those three great starts at the end of last season. no obviously was difficult year but ended it with really three really good starts in a row he's he sounds pretty positive about the whole thing obviously his rotation spot wasn't in jeopardy either so i don't want to overreact to that but i have been i went from being

enthusiastic about drafting by b2 it's just like well if he happens to be there at the right time to take him i guess i'll take him but i don't have i can't say i have a ton of confidence in him Mm-hmm. Two final names here on the list, somewhere in between good and bad. Joe Ryan, the results were fine, five innings, one run, two strikeouts here against the Tampa Bay raise. His velocity has been down consistently. I know he was dealing with the back injury, but he averaged right around 92 miles per hour on his fastball here. Last year, he was closer to 94 in the regular season. I did see he was asked about it after the start, and he responded by saying his fastball velocity was

around 92 last spring as well. I didn't look into that, but that's what Joe Ryan said. And then Nick Povetta, bad results on Friday, but I thought it was encouraging that his velocity was up, even though he's been dealing with this kind of dead arm thing that he's going through as well. So any thoughts on Joe Ryan or Nick Povetta? No, I mean, I haven't really moved either in my rankings. I just talked about where I have Povetta, he's in that tier of starting pitchers where there are a lot of question marks, and I don't think his are the biggest. So I would be fine taking him there.

And Joe Ryan, you know, if he comes at any sort of discount, I'd be thrilled to take advantage of that. It's funny, I went, I, coming into like some of the earliest drafts back in the fall and winter, like, yeah, Joe Ryan's going too early. And now I think maybe he's sliding too much in some cases. Yep. Let's wrap up here, Scott, and a quick talk about our For the People Listener League draft. Again, this is kind of the Heath Cummings Memorial when he's left behind here to Fantasy Baseball today. It is a 16-te-to-head categories league where the categories are, it's a 5x5, it's OBP instead of batting average, net stolen bases. So steals minus caught stealing. And instead of steals. And then on the pitching side, its quality starts instead of wins, saves plus holds instead of saves. So it's a pretty wonky one, Scott. It's wonky.

I feel like Keith set it up just to troll me. And for a while, for the first few years, I really struggled at it. I kind of just approached it like a roto league and hoped for the best, since it's had to add categories. But I've won two of the last three years. So I think I have a better grasp on how to handle this league now. My draft was a little odd. My team looks a little odd.

But it kind of always does, at least in the years where I've had success with it. So I'm trying not to get stuck on that because I know that only certain players are really of interest to me in this format, even if I have to reach for them a little bit. Yeah, so we were drafting back to back. I had the second pick. Well, I was sharing this team with Chris, and we took Otani second. You took Juan Soto third in OBP.

Again, that makes sense to do that. Looking at your team now, yeah, it is a pretty wonky one. You got Chandler Simpson in your outfields got and Ben Rice at first base instead of Canada. Yes, I've drafted Ben Rice twice and both times as a first basement, which I know is like heresy.

Look, I've been doing this for a long time. I can't tell you how many times over the years I've told people to never start a catcher eligible player anywhere but catcher. But there's never been a year like this at catcher. And so you get to a point, what happened in this draft is, okay, I have been rice slotted in my catcher spot. I still haven't filled first base yet. The best one on the board is Spencer Torkelson.

Who do I like more? Spencer Torkelson or Samuel Bessio, who's been a monster this spring and, of course, has huge upside. And theoretically, both Bessio and Rice are going to be true everyday players, not just pure catchers. So I decided, well, I'd like Basayo better than Torkelson. So I guess Ben Rice is my first baseman. And I kind of knew that it could play out that way.

When I took Ben Rice, I took them toward the end of round 4. five, I guess it was, a little after pick 60. Is that right? Was that round five? Was that round? I think you took him at the end of round four, Ben, right? At the end of round four. It was a little after 60.

It was a little, it was pretty much right. I think it was like 60. 61. 61. Yeah. It was between him and George Springer, who you guys ended up taking. I wanted to get him both.

Maybe I made the wrong choice. But anyway, I took Rice. And I was kind of thinking, you know, if things don't work, out at first base. Obviously that tier I like at first base, the Freddie Freeman, Matt Olson, tier, Josh Naylor, they're all gone at that point. If things work out so that I don't get like Sal Stewart or Jonathan Oronda here, some of the sleepers I like, then I may have to move Rice to first base. So I'm going to go ahead and take him. I think he's a good value where I'm getting

him. I think he's going to be good for this format. There's a chance I may have to move to first base and that ended up what happened. Ended up being what happened. Yeah, again, it's in a format like this, 16 team head to head categories, OBP, kind of wonky categories, like things are just going to, it just changes. You don't really know what to expect within the draft. And we wound up with a team that doesn't really look like anything either of us draft much either. We started with Otani, Bryce Harper, and Mani Machado. But then we were kind of chasing pitching for a lot of the draft after that and you know we took some kind of boring guys that we expect to get a lot of quality starts framar valdez sandy al-contero should get a lot of quality starts uh we got ryan

pepio so pet boys on the same team happy about that and then tatsuya emai so those are our top four it's like in a 16 team right i guess it could work out but yeah it's like you start three hitters in a league this deep 16 teams it's like you're pretty much chasing pitching from there brought out. So. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

One thing I did is I took Ehuehineos, as about 20 spots early. And that, I think, was that right after you took Springer? So because I was denied Springer after the rice pick, I didn't love any of my choices, but I knew Swaras, you know, it was too early, but in a 16-team league me picking toward an end, good chance he wasn't going to make it back to me. And I just wanted category dominators.

That has been the biggest key to me finding success in this league is just targeting guys that I know are going to give me a ton of something, rather than those jack-of-all-trades types, hope they add up to enough each week that you win the category. So Suarez, obviously, 49 home runs, about 120 RBI last year. Hopefully it stays the same with Cincinnati, fills a weak position. I also took Bryce Terang late in round two. It was like the 30th overall pick.

because of 16 teams, but it was like, this does not feel good. I was so nervous that you were going to take Bryce Harper because Bryce gets a little bit of a boost in OBP, and he was the last first basement in that tier. I was so scared you were going to take. I didn't have him as the last first baseman in the tier because I have Freddie Freeman and Josh Naylor also in that tier. I thought about it. I just, I know since it's only nine hitter spots and it's a 16 team league, and I don't want to be weak anywhere,

any of the nine hitter spots, since there's so few of them, obviously. I really emphasized position scarcity in this one. And I hoped to rank could be a category dominator in stolen bases. Though he actually got caught stealing a lot last year, which I saw after I drafted him. It's not something I think about very often.

But hopefully he's just going to run a lot more in general, more like he did two years ago. And that'll hope to wash that out. The Simpson pick is interesting because he is a category dominator, yes, but he works against some of those other category dominators that I drafted earlier. I just outfield was depleting.

I got him pretty late. Yeah. I felt like stolen base, relative to home run, stolen bases was something I was lagging in. I don't know that I'm going to end up starting them every week. I have Owen Casey and Jordan Lawler, who's going to pick a outfield eligibility on my bench. they may end up being my third outfielder more often if they perform well.

But that's kind of how my lineup came together there. And yeah, the pitching end, I went pretty weak. I took Chris Sale in round three in part because I took them over like a Freddie Freeman, for instance. Because I had a feeling in a 16-teamer, me waiting so long between picks at the third overall, I was just going to miss out on so many ranges of starting pitchers. I wanted to be a little more solid there. Hopefully sales stays healthy. And yes, that's exactly what happened.

It was one of those drafts like it was uncomfortable, and I didn't like how I felt like every pick was not like, oh, this guy fell in my left. It was more like, I got to choose between these four options, none of whom feel like they're priced exactly right. And that's always the worst feeling for drafts. But the decisions I made kept being validated over and over again. Like I took somebody because I feared this was going to happen,

and that's exactly what happened. And that did happen over and over again. I don't know if I'm going to get a good team out of it, but I think I was gratified that when I had to make the best of several bad options presented to me, I feel like the draft played out in a way that suggests I'm. made the right one. All right. Well, we are going to end today's show with a song that was made from one of the listeners who is in the For the People League. His name is Jonathan Greenstein. And let us know what you think in the comments. It was an intro to FBT, kind of a different rendition, a different take

on it, kind of pop punk version. I really like it. And obviously, that's why Jonathan is in the league. So thank you to him. We'll wrap up with that. And again, let us know what you think of it. Hit me up on Twitter, email, drop it in the comments and let us know. I also just, Just want to give you a couple heads up for tomorrow. Well, later today on Monday when you're listening to this, Chris will be back tomorrow, and we're doing our last live draft here on YouTube at 9 p.m. Eastern Time.

That is our head to head points listener league. So just a heads up that we're going to go a little bit, go live a little bit earlier than usual, and it will be a live draft, our last live draft here of the off season. So we are going to wrap there for Scott. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today.

Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify, and we will be back again tomorrow. 9 p.m. Easter time. We'll see you then. Bye-bye. It's Fantasy Baseball today. On CBA! Fantasy Baseball!

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