Fantasy Baseball Today - Opening Day Rosters, Severino to the IL and FAAB Strategy (3/27 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 27, 2023

Happy Volpening Day (1:40)! Is it time to drop Oswald Peraza? ... Jordan Walker has officially made the Cardinals (9:08). ... How much should Oscar Colas rise up draft boards (14:12)? ... Hayden Wesneski has made the Cubs' rotation (15:50). ... We have other prospect updates (16:53). ... Luis Severino will start on the IL with a strained lat (24:40). ... Kyle Wright will also start on the IL (32:00). ... What do you need to know about FAAB (48:12)? Should you be aggressive early in the season? ... We wrap up with some mailbag questions (1:00:05). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Fantasy Baseball Today is a finalist in the Baseball Category for the Sports Podcast Awards! Quickly create an account and vote here: https://www.sportspodcastgroup.com/sports_category/best-baseball-podcast/ 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, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question, email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Is opening week a thing in baseball? If not, it is now. Welcome to opening week and welcome to Fantasy Baseball today on Monday, March 27th.

Frank Stample joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, Prospects have made their opening day rosters. We have some confirmation. We'll break all those down. Injury updates, FAB in-season strategy, and a new segment. Five mailbag questions in five minutes.

See how it goes. If you're watching us on YouTube, please like this video and subscribe to the channel. If you haven't already. And if you're listening on the audio side, make sure to download, follow, and leave a five-star review. We really appreciate it.

Before we get started, just have to tell you about some of the fun shows we've got coming up this week. Monday night, it's a big night for us. For the People, listener league, live draft will happen

on YouTube at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. That is a 16-te-to-head Categories League. But before that, we'll actually have a bonus podcast. 7.45 p.m. Eastern Time. So stacked Monday night.

Be ready. We'll be joined by the Iron Man. Hall famer Cal Ripkin, Jr. It's going to be a ton of fun. I think we'll ask him some stuff about the Orioles. We'll talk about the new rules and all that fun stuff.

But definitely looking forward to that. That's going to be amazing. Chris, are you ready for Volpening day? Yeah, baby. Anthony Volpey, excited. Even before the news, on Friday, I wrote my spring rankings, risers, and fallers, which is definitely different than spring winners and losers that Scott's writing tomorrow. Totally different.

Yeah, I think I wrote about 12. Volpe was one of them. I had moved him into the top 150 in Roto Leagues. I think he was about 160th and head-to-head points. And I'm more or less inclined to leave him there, which probably means I'm not going to get any Anthony Volpe. Where does he move on? About 150.

Okay. And I'm inclined to leave him there, which probably means I'm not going to draft Anthony Volpe in the, I think I only have two drafts left that I'm doing. one of them is a salary cap auction league, so I might get him there, but I think there's a bunch of Yankees fans in that league, so probably not.

He's a very exciting player. He's one of those guys. Like, you look at the 50 steel number that he posted last season, and you think like, man, this guy must be blazing fast. He must be Corby and Carol, and he's not really. You know, you look at the scouting reports, and it's like he's like a 5560 grade runner. He's just a really good base runner.

Does that make you more or less likely to think that he's, going to steal a bunch of bases. I mean, he's five out of five. Yeah, he's five for five in the spring. He sold 50 bases in the miners last season. Yeah. I think you can look at it two ways, right? Like, we talked about this all offseason.

The guys that are fast could post even bigger steals numbers this year. But I think there's something to be said for like base running wit. And if you're just like a smart base runner, I think Volpe could take huge advantage of these. I think the Yankees, like this was part of why they went. and got Isaiah Kanafatella last year. You know, they wanted a more athletic, dynamic roster. And I think they're going to let Anthony Volpe run. The only thing for me that keeps him below, like Jordan Walker and Corby and Carole,

one, I just think the tools aren't quite as impressive, at least based on the scanning reports. And also, he struggled his first, like, month of double A. He wasn't super great in like the month or so that he was at AAA. So I do think he might be one of those guys who needs a bit of time to adjust to a new level. That's not a knock on him. He's a super talented player who has figured it out at every level. I guess not at AAA, but he was only there for 20-something games or 30 games.

But, you know, I believe in him because, one, he doesn't have like the super loud tools that Jordan Walker and Corbyn Carroll do. And because he has had that adjustment period at every level, I'm a little lower on him than those guys. So you mentioned you moved them up to inside of your top 150 in Roto leagues. There were 80 drafts done at the NFBC this weekend. Volpe's ADP was 150.96. So right around 150, the main event draft that I did on Saturday night, he went up pick 118, and then I had a head-to-head points home league on Sunday. That's a keeper league, so I guess it's a little bit different.

You could keep a player for one round higher than the previous year. He went at 112 in that draft. So just to give you some perspective of where I, saw him go this weekend. Scott, if anyone else is still drafting leading up to opening day, I think you're probably going to have to use a top 100 pick on Anthony Volpey at this point. Yeah, I ranked them as a top. I think he's technically a little outside of my top 100 by like five to 10 spots, but I've tiered him in that very large shortstop tier that includes, you know, Xander Bogart's, Danesby Swanson, Carlos Correa, Willie Adamas.

Volpe is now the last of that tier, which, you know, because I try to draft toward the end of a tier, that means I'm more likely to get him. And that's great because I think he is, I think he has a pretty high floor, as I said, on Friday's show. I think he has a, for being a 21-year-old rookie, I think he has a pretty high floor because his plate discipline is so good, because he collects stolen bases at such volume. It's going to make it pretty hard. Even if he has some issues with batting average, you know, Chris pointed out the slow start last year.

And I think even with a very strong finish, he ended up hitting... 2049. So, you know, even if there are issues with that, and it was a storyline you heard often, whether it was at the time it was happening to Anthony Volpe, those early season struggles, or after the fact,

looking at some of the scouting reports, like it was just, it was freaking cold where they were playing. And it was an issue, actually, for Oswald Paraza, too. They both got off to dreadful starts. And so their season-long batting average suffered because of it. It could be cold in New York in April, certainly, or it could not. And hopefully it doesn't impact Volpey much and he just hits the ground running and is even better than how I rank him.

But yeah, what was it I was saying? Friday, he can't keep getting away with it. Yeah, I can't. I can't drop Volpe outside of the top 200 anymore, clearly. And it's a shame, but maybe outside of the top 100. I've got my weather app open and the weather in New York on Thursday, opening day will be a high. of 48 degrees. I think that qualifies as a pretty cold. Blustery. For, for Anthony Volpey. Scott, we were talking beforehand. We were, you know, going through some of our our fab bids here from

Sunday night. You mentioned someone dropped Oswald Paraza in one of your leagues. He was sent down to AAA, which, look, I feel for the guy, clearly it was an open competition between him and Anthony Volpe. I think long term, he still has a ton of value for fantasy. But should people drop Oswald Paraza in redraft leagues where they drafted him? I mean, it's probably similar to Von Grissom, that situation. There isn't as clear of an inn, I guess, for Oswald Parraza, because how long are the Braves going to stick with Orlando Arcea as their shortstop? But certainly the Yankees have a lot of aging infielders,

and it wouldn't be that surprising if Oswald Parraza is up within the first six weeks of the season, I would say. I don't think it's a must to hold on to him. particularly if you're talking a 12-team context. This was a 15-team Roto League, where I was pointing out he was dropped. And even then given the con, it's one of those, you know,

it's one of those NFBC leagues where you don't have IL spots, so bench space is very precious. So in that context, I think it made sense to drop Paraza probably in a 15-team league. But ideally, you'd hold on to him if you are playing in something that deep.

We've hinted around on this podcast, too, that the Yankees could make a trade at some point, I mean, it seems like a pretty clear, you know, match between them and the pirates if they want to go after Brian Reynolds. But as we'll talk about later on, even more injuries to their rotation, maybe they need to go out and trade for a pitcher. And maybe it involves Glauber Torres or something like that. So there are many, there are different paths to Oswald Paraza earning playing time,

either with the Yankees or with another team. Jordan Walker has made the Cardinals opening day roster, as we expected for most of the spring when he got off to a really hot start. Alec Berlison also made the Cardinals opening day roster. Dylan Carlson is likely to begin the season working as a utility outfielder and a bench piece. Juan Yuppez was option two AAA. This weekend, Jordan Walker's ADP was 122.5, which that's maybe a tad higher than where we've been seeing him go. But Chris, this was basically expected at this point.

For anyone still drafting moving forward, are you okay, around 120 for Jordan Walker? Yes, but you're not going to get him there. I mean, like, I'm shocked that it was that cheap in NFBC drafts this weekend because it feels like every draft we've done over the last two weeks. He's gone a lot higher than 122nd. He's been right around 100 and most of ours. And I think you went like, you know, like a fifth or six round in the podcast Points League that we did. I moved him up to 84th. Points in Rota, 84th now.

Put him in that same tier, Jordan Walker with with Gunner Henderson. Honestly, as little as we saw of Gunner Henderson last year. I don't know that Jordan Walker shouldn't be picked before Gunner Henderson. I went ahead and kept them behind, but it should be a pretty close call, right? So, Scott, you're taking Jordan Walker over Volpey, right? Yes. I'm about 20 spots ahead of Volpe. And I mean, part of that is favorable eligibility.

Yeah, third base. And he's going to earn outfield, Jordan. Yeah, exactly. I think Gunner Henderson should still go ahead of Jordan Walker. Like just looking at the numbers, Henderson got to AAA. He had, I think, the exact same number of strikeouts or home runs and stolen bases, 19 and 22. If I remember correctly, that was also Walker's. But Henderson did it at, you know, got to AAA, played well at AAA.

894 OPS there. He was only 21 last season. Then he got to the majors and looked really solid. showed high-end physical tools as well, maybe not as eye-popping as Jordan Walker. You don't have to make the case that Gunner Henderson is a great prospect. We all know that. Well, no, I'm just saying, like, Henderson has already gotten through both the AAA and Major League filter and held his own. It's possible Jordan Walker is just a more skilled player.

And that can overcome that. But I think premium exit velocities, the louder tools. Like that's without without having like big strike. out issues in the miners. Right. The point I'm trying to make, though, is Gunner Henderson also has pretty loud pools himself. You know, it might not be Jordan Walker, but like, Max Exe Exe Velo 111 miles per hour, average Exhibelon, 92 miles per hour last season. That's really good. Ninety first percentile sprint speed. Like, he might only be, you know, a B plus as in terms of raw power and, and athleticism and Jordan Walker might be an A in both.

But the fact that Gunner Henderson has already made it through both the AAA and Major League filters while looking like more than holding his own at both spots, I would say. As a 21 year old, I think he still should be ahead of Jordan Walker. Although I think there are probably people who would agree with you. And I think that's there's a little bit. I said I kept him ahead. I said I kept Gunner Henderson. head of Walker in the rankings, but I, but I, I think it's, I think you could make the argument. There, there's a little bit of a mystery boat box, whatever, mystery box versus a boat there.

And even though Gunner Henderson is himself a mystery box, we, we saw him at the major league level and he was really good, but he didn't look like an immediate superstar. And he didn't have a great spring. So I, I think there's probably a little like, Gunner Henderson could be good. Jordan Walker could be him. And it's like, I agree with. But that Jordan Walker, like, there's a lot of variance in both of their profiles. And if Jordan Walker ends up being better, it wouldn't surprise me. But I do think keeping Henderson ahead is the right call. I guess what I'm reacting to is that they're 50 spots apart in ADP, even with the announcement walkers on the roster.

You're saying, Frank, like that doesn't make sense to me. And that's not how I rank them. I rank them like a round apart, basically. Well, it's worth mentioning that the ADP for this weekend, that includes drafts from Friday and Saturday. And I guess that just came out. I don't know you're including that. Yeah, that news came out.

out on Sunday. It kind of seemed like a foregone conclusion that Walker was going to make the team. One thing I would point out with Walker versus Gunner Henderson, I do think there is more downside in terms of playing time risk for Jordan Walker, where if he gets off to the slow start, obviously there are suitable options in the Cardinals organization to come in and take playing time away from him. So just today on an FBC, Jordan Walker's 104th, 104. That probably makes more sense. So I am 20 spots higher, but that's... Yeah. Oscar Coloss.

Sounds like he has made the White Sox opening day roster as well. The ADP for him this weekend, 257.8. Not the same level of prospect as an Anthony Volpey or Jordan Walker. Different skill set too. He's not going to run. Maybe he'll chip in like five steals, something like that. But more so for batting average and power, Oscar Coloss. This spring he hit 270 with three home runs, one steal, just a 14% strikeout rate.

Scott, I don't know if you moved Oscar Coloss up at all now that we know he will be with the White Sox. I feel like we were kind of operating under that assumption anyway, though. Yeah, I hadn't doubted that in a long time. But I probably just need to move him up anyway because I keep missing out on him. I got him in my home league on Sunday, Scott. There you go. I haven't gotten Oscar Coloss in a draft that actually matters. So I probably have him lower than my actual feelings.

about him than he should be. So probably needs to go, let's see. I have Riley Green up a bit higher in him in the outfield. And I think I'd like them back to back. So that would put Oscar Coloss. Probably around 40th for me in the outfield. OK. And that would be inside of your top 200, correct?

Or around 200? I believe so. I have to double track. Yeah, you have Riley Green at 205. So closer to 200. So about 50 spots higher than what Oscar Coloss's ADP was this weekend. Hayden Wisniewski officially won a spot in the Cubs rotation. Well deserved, awesome spring for him.

2.1-2 ERA, 112 whip. 22 strikeouts over 17 innings pitched. The ADP this weekend for Wesneseke, 2.47.8. Chris, for people still drafting, would you rather have Hayden Wisniew? Or Clark Schmidt with the Yankees someone who has been a big riser this spring. as well. I would go with Wesnese who touched 97 in his

most recent spring outing and there was a quote from him where he basically said like he basically implied that he's hit 99 this spring which this is a guy who maxed out at 95.9 miles per hour last season. So you know the fact that he looked pretty good

last season the sweeper especially was a legitimate out pitch for him and then appears to have added a mile per hour or two even to his fastball velocity. I think Hayden Winsneski is a very interesting player and he's one of my spring risers for sure. Ryan Pepio will be the Dodgers fifth starter while Tony Gonslin is on the IL. Still kind of up in the air in terms of the timeline, but maybe Gonson's back by like the end of April early May. So I'm not sure it's

going to be that long for Ryan Pepeyo. Of course, other things can happen in the meantime. Scott, what level or size leagues should Ryan Pepeo be rostered in heading into opening day? I think he's outside of the 12th team range, not by much. And, you know, if he goes out and strikes out a bunch of guys in his first start, he might, he might become a top priority off the waiver wire, even with the expectation that he doesn't have the job for long. but you know if you're talking like a 15 team context or something deeper then Pepio might be worth picking up he does have big strikeout upside it's been control that's held him back in the past and we saw it in the nine appearances he made last season 10.4k per 9 6.7 walks per 9 apparently

he cleaned up his delivery improved his release point this spring that was part of the narrative surrounding Pepio. And, you know, the Dodgers are good at helping pitchers maximize their potential. So it's certainly possible that Pepio's made strides that would make him more of a fantasy asset. And that's what we're going to be watching when he does take the mound. He did issue five walks in 13 and two-thirds innings. It's a spring. So not bad.

Not great, but not bad. I think he allowed 14 hits, though. So the whip was pretty high this spring. The control has been an issue in the first. a pass for Ryan Pepeio, but there is big swing and miss potential there with him. Both Brett Beatty and Mark Vientos did not make the Mets opening day roster. Scott, you were right. The Welsh and I were wrong on Brett Beatty. There was a report that Eduardo Escobar could be on a short leash though.

Are you looking to stash Brett Beatty in the meantime? Ideally. I mean, he plays third base. He has a lot of upside. He isn't blocked that decisively. So who is it? we were talking about stashing before Oswald Parraza. Yeah, I think Beatty is a higher priority stash than Paraza.

I agree with that. Grissom. Yeah, I think he's worth stashing in most leagues of 350 plus players rostered, let's say. Yeah, I think there's an easier path there. It's if Eduardo Escobar struggles, if Dan Vogelbach struggles, they can slide Escobar over to DH and they could bring Beatty up or Beatty could just take Escobar spot. So, yeah, I see more paths there. for him. Orioles pitching prospect D.L. Hall was optioned to AAA so he can continue to build up as a starter. Chris, Dill Hall's probably not someone worth stashing at this point, right? No, I don't think so.

It would have to be a pretty deep league. Reds prospects, Ellie Dela Cruz and Christian and Carnaccio-Strain will both begin the minor league season on the IL. D.L. D.C. Brian Dela Cruz. Uh, Brian Dela Cruz. Eli Dela Cruz, excuse me, has a hamstring strain and Encanacian strain has a herniated disc in his back. Scott, are you stashing either of the? disease. Well, I did have Incarnacion Strand among my 12 prospects to stash. I think he was fifth or sixth on that list. And unfortunately, this news of his injury is coming amid reports that Joey Votto may not be ready for opening day after all. So Incarnacion Strand might have had a second path to that job, but now I don't think he's supposed to start

playing in games until late April. So that alone makes him pretty hard to stash unless we're talking about an NL only league. I'm still excited about the power. The fact he has third base eligibility, but you can't roster everybody. Yeah, I have Encarnasse on Tran and NL only labor, and I'm holding him. There's a waiver running on Sunday night here,

and I chose to hold on to him for now. Last one that's up in the air right now is this Brewer's outfield situation, Joey Weimer and South Freelik. Both Tyler Naquin and Kessonhira will not make the Brewers. Apparently, they're looking for a, trade for Kessenhira somewhere that he can play, which is like kind of mildly interesting in

the deepest of league. So I don't know. Let's see where he winds up. But Joey Weimer has power and speed. Sal Freelick, kind of a juiced up Stephen Kwan, I guess we could say. Scott, are you adding or stashing either one of these, Joey Weimer or South Freelick? Well, I've been in any five outfielder league basically drafting Sal Freelich. And he was number one on that list of 12 prospects to stash at the start of the year, obviously with the presumption. He wouldn't make the wrong. roster. So, you know, three outfielder leagues is probably too shallow to stash somebody like Freelick, but five outfielder leagues, I would guess he's stashed in the majority already, and if he isn't stashed in yours, he should be. Weamer was not on that level for me. I thought he still had

a ways to go developmentally, and I thought Sal Freelick was clearly ahead of him in the pecking order. but now I have doubts because at one point Freelick was optioned this spring, right? And I think he's technically optioned right now. And Weimer hasn't been. Weimar stuck around the whole time. When Freelick got optioned, it was before the news of them passing on Tyler Naik when letting him go. So it didn't seem like there was a path for either. But now there's a path for probably one or the other.

And since Weamer's been there the whole time, I know. One of the Brewers beat riders was, it seems like those on the Brewers beat in general. The feeling is that Weemer is the more likely of the two to claim that right field job. So yeah, and those same five outfielder leagues where I thought Freelick should already be stashed, Weemer was the top waiver wire target for me or has been in these initial runs of waivers, of fab, whatever you want to call it. And he's, of course, an interesting prospect in his own right. not nearly the floor of South Freelick.

A much more volatile prospect is Joey Weamer, but a lot more upside. Tons of athleticism. 21 homers and 31 steals between double and AAA last year. The year before, 27 homers and 30 steals, draws a good number of walks for a guy who you think of as having that volatile profile. and strikeouts could be an issue,

batting average could be an issue because of it. But if he delivers on that power speed combo and is playing every day for the Brewers and five outfielder leagues, Joey Weimer could quickly become a force to be reckoned with. And I was reading an article from Adam McAulvey who covers the Brewers for MLB.com. And he also leaned with Weamer

because of being a right-handed bat in the outfield. So they already have Garrett Mitchell and center. They have Christian Yelich in left field. They have Jesse Winker, who's like their D.H slash could play corner outfield as well. So he speculated that they want another right-handed bat in that lineup and in the outfield. And that's why he was leaning with Weamer.

We'll see if that's actually what happens with the Milwaukee Brewers. Let's take our first break here. And when we get back, we'll get into some other news and notes from the weekend here on Fantasy Baseball Today. Fantasy Baseball today is a finalist in the baseball category for the Sports Podcast Awards. We're going up against some big names. And it is a voting system,

which means we need your hands. help. You can scan the QR code in the top right corner if you're watching on video or find the link in the podcast or YouTube description. You'll need to quickly create an account on their website and then vote for FBT. Voting ends April 6th. Let's get into some news and notes from the weekend. It turns out Joe Musgrove will begin the season on the IL but is targeting a return April 11th against the Mets or April 16th against the Brewers. So he'll miss the first two to three starts of the season. That is Joe Musgrove. Luis Severino will open the season on the IL. Well, bad news.

With a low-grade, a lat strain, he said he'll resume throwing and could miss as few as three to four starts. Not buying it. It sounds like a gentleman named Johnny Brito, or Yanni Brito, will join the rotation. Severino went on the 60-day aisle last year with that same strained lat muscle.

He's dealt with right shoulder injuries, all kinds of injuries to his right arm and entering a contract year. It's kind of a disaster. Chris, how far do you, see dropping Luis Severino and your starting pitcher ranks. So he missed two months with a lat strain last year. I believe it was a grade two strain.

So the Yankees were really cautious though. Apparently he was ready to return and they were just like, nope, we're putting you on the 60 day. I'll. We're not even giving you this opportunity. And then yeah, he came back in September. I'm not moving him down too much in my pitcher rankings.

But part of that is just that there is a pretty big tier drop in the overall rank. So I've got, I had him in like the mid-30s, right around Blake Snell and Kyle Wright, around 120th overall. I'm going to drop him to around 150th overall, but that's only like five spots in the pitcher ranking. So he'll be around 40-ish for me, I think. There's still some upside there, obviously, but I'm very, very worried about the ability to stay healthy. I moved him down a lot more than that. I moved him down to 50th in my starting pitcher rankings,

which is between Redetmerz and Grayson Rodriguez. And I mean, you look just above Severina, and I know all of our rankings are a little differently, but are a little different, but Lucas Gialito, Pablo Lopez, Chris Bassett. Actually, you know what? Yeah, I'm going to move him work because I would rather have RedetMersch than Louis Salerino at this point.

So, yeah. That's what I decided upon. Yeah. I'm with you there. Scott, you have Severino and Glassnow back to back. I could see Severino's timeline being kind of similar to Glassnow. Maybe Glassnow has a little bit more upside, but I think that's probably a fair ranking. Yeah, I actually moved Glass.

When I saw how far I was moving Severino down, and I'm like, well, I need to take Glass Now with them because, yeah, I thought the timeline was similar. And on the subject of Redembers, this is kind of a side. I'm taking it a few degrees aside here, because I'm going to talk about. about Tyler Anderson for a second. I was thinking as I was putting in some of my initial waiver claims, and it's always a challenge to figure out who you want to drop. And in a shallower league, I was thinking,

it was a shallow head-to-head points league. I was like, should I drop Tyler Anderson to clear a spot for somebody on the waivers who I'm excited about? Because it's a head-to-head league, and if he's never going to make two starts because it's a six-man rotation. But I was reading something early this spring that talked me out of it, where basically, if they have an off day, they're going to treat their sixth guy more like a swing man.

And if they have an off day during the week, basically everybody's going to start every sixth day, but not every sixth turn. So there will be up to start opportunities for the top five, which I presume would include Otani. Yeah, I mean, that was how they started using Otani last year. I think he ended up having like one or two two star weeks at the end of last season. But that helps Tyler Anderson status and Patrick Sandoval

and to get back to where I started, read Depmer. So that's, I think, less incentive to stay away from them in points leagues if you had been inclined to do so. I'm wondering who that swingman will be. I think Tucker Davidson is in the driver's seat for that because he's out of options. And he's looked okay this spring. Yeah, he has. I drafted Griffin Canning as Scoresheet League super late,

so I'm kind of hoping it was going to be Griffin Canning. He's had a good spring. He's coming back from a ton of injuries as well. So we'll see what happens there. Brito, by the way, the person who could be filling in in the Yankees rotation in the meantime, last year in the minors, 296 ERA, 115 whip, 91 strikeouts in 112 and 2 thirds.

Does not get a lot of Ks, does get a lot of ground balls. So, A.L. only, I mean, you know, the deepest of league. There's a name for you, Johnny Brito. Carlos Rodon will be about a month away from joining the Yankees once he throws live batting practice. That comes per Jack Curry of the Yes Network. Based on my calculations of his throwing schedule thus far, it sounds like he's going to throw a few more times,

a few more bullpens, and then he'll get into live batting practice. They said maybe that can happen sometime this week. And then he's a month away. That means he's probably, like May 1st is probably the target date for Carlos Rodon, if that. Are you guys planning to move Carlos Rodan down at all? I took him at 94th overall in my NFBC main event this weekend. And in hindsight, it might have been a little bit aggressive on Carlos Rodon on a league with no IL spots, but I was looking for the upside there.

Chris, do you plan to drop Carl Sordaunt at all in the ranks? Not really. You know, I think this was more or less what we were expecting as like, like when he initially got hurt, I think, uh, I think the, the, quote was like the best case scenario would be sometime in April. So my assumption was more like May. Now, we had been a little more encouraged by the last few reports. So, you know, it's a little discouraging.

But I guess the biggest thing at this point is it sounds like he's pain free and it's just about building back up. So, you know, I think late April, early May is probably the right timetable. I took Carl Sordaun ahead of, these are the next pitchers that went right after him. Blake Snell, Nestor Cortez, Trista McKenzie, before he left with injury, Jeffrey Springs, Lance Lynn. Scott, would you have done the same? Rodon over Snell, Cortez, McKenzie Springs. Well, I think I missed this update on Rodon,

so I hadn't moved him down yet or weighed the possibility. Yeah, I'm going to have to think about that. So I think a critical point in the starting pitcher rankings when you're talking about a guy who's injured is Clayton Kirshall, because, of course, we expect him to be injured for a third of the season.

at least, we don't know when it's going to be. But at some point, you're drafting him with the expectation he misses about a third of the season. So I have Rodan 25th. I have Clayton Kirchall 34th. You said Lance Will Lynn went ahead of Carlos Rodon? He went just after. Just after. So I have Lance Lynn 33rd just ahead of Kirchall.

And that might be where I slot Rodon that would put him behind Joe Musgrove, who's on a quicker timetable. I mean, Rodin we think is better. Of course. Start for start, inning for inning. Yeah, I don't know. I'm going to have to think about that a little more since I'm just now considering it. Okay.

Kyle Wright is expected to be placed on the 15-day IL retroactive to March 27th, but is only expected to miss two turns in the rotation. He had a late start to spring with shoulder soreness and needs more time to build up. Both Jared Schuster and Dylan Dodd will start the year in the Braves rotation. Scott I saw in some deeper leagues, Dylan Dodd was being added on Sunday night. How do you think this plays out?

Because I thought about adding Dodd as well in these deeper leagues. Because who's to say, maybe Schuster has a rough couple of starts. If Dylan Dodd looks good, maybe when Kyle Wright rejoins the team, it's Dylan Dodd who stays in the rotation, and then Schuster gets sent down. So I can see it going either way. Basically, the competition continues. Right. And the starts are going to be more meaningful for both Schuster and Dodd.

I think the fact Schuster starting game three of the season indicates that he's going in with the advantage, but it could certainly change with the two or three starts. Is it two starts right expected to miss? Or three, or two or three. Two turns in the rotation. Two turns, because I moved him down a bit as well with the news that,

you know, he's beginning of the year on the I. I moved him a little, I moved him behind Charlie Moorneck, actually, which also means behind Jesus Lazzardo, Hunter Green, Nick Lodolo,

behind that group, that group of high upside pitchers who are going to be healthy to start the year. And we have questions about Kyle Wright's ability to repeat last year's numbers anyway. So he's now 42nd in my pitcher rankings. Yeah, I don't think it's necessarily wrong

to add Dylan Dodd as long as it's a low investment because it's very likely a short-term stay. But it is possible that it becomes more. Tristan McKenzie was removed from Sunday start due to right arm tightness. Everything says that it was precautionary, but I mean, look, anytime we see an arm injury, to someone like Tristan McKenzie.

He doesn't have the thickest frame or anything. He's dealt with a bunch of injuries in the past as well. Chris, how are you handling this Tristan McKenzie injury? I moved him down a little bit. Not too much. It was, I think, two or three spots in the pitcher rankings, but enough that it marks my concern. My concern is noted in the rankings now.

And I think I'm a little more concerned about McKenzie than most. He feels a little like Jose Berrios-e to me where there's this, I think, thought that he might have like ace upside left. I think he's probably more like a very safe pitcher who probably maybe doesn't have the upside, especially with regards to strikeouts. And so I, yeah, he's 32. I could see moving him down a couple more spots, but I haven't done that yet. Wander Franco had an MRI on his sore right quad, and manager Kevin Cash said the results were favorable. He still has a chance to be ready for opening day, but this is the same quad that Wander Franco had issues with last year.

Scott, you're on the clock right now. Are you taking Wander Franco or Anthony Volpe? I'm taking Franco. Like I said, Volpe, I moved to the very end of that large tier. That also includes Franco. I mean, it wouldn't be the shock at the sender. if Volpe had a better season, especially if Franco misses some time. But I'm going to give Franco and what we've seen of him already against Major League pitchers.

I'm going to give him the advantage there. I might just pass up Franco and give Volpe later. You know, that's basically what I'd been doing already, passing up Franco to get Carlos Correa or Willie Adamas. And now Volpe's a part of the end of that tier two, for me anyway. So that might be more realistically what I do. Tyler Glass now threw on flat ground from 75 feet Sunday, and he's expected to return in early May if he does not suffer any setbacks.

Kenley Jansen expects to pitch Monday after leaving Friday's appearance with lightheadedness and dizzy spells. Say Suzuki took batting practice Saturday and looked good, though he's still expected to begin the season on the IL with that oblique strain. Speaking of Obliques, Mitch Hanigur will open the season on the I.E. with a grade 1 oblique strain. We know the Giants like to mix things up, but Ross the resource has Michael Conforto,

Jock Peterson, and Mike Yostremski in the outfield with Blake Sable at D.H. Sable's an interesting name too. I know you picked him up, Scott, in a 15-team two-catcher league, and I think anywhere where you start two catchers, Blake Sables's probably in the mix as like a low-end, you know, catcher two

in one of those leagues. Yeah, I have him higher than you probably think. in my catcher rankings because he's ahead of Logan O'Hoppy now who might not make the roster. I'm 17th, Blake Sable, just after Danny Jansen in my catcher rankings. Just the way the Giants'

coaching staff in front office has raved about him this spring, showing good plate discipline. They've talked about his speed, how he brings the speed element and he did steal, he has stolen two or three bases this spring, left-handed hitter,

which helps get him in the lineup. capable of playing the outfield. I think Blake Sable's going to get enough at bats, even if he's the backup catcher to Joey Bart to be a relevant fantasy catcher this year. Brendan Rogers was placed on the 60-day IL with that left shoulder injury, as expected. And speaking of the Rockies,

Mike Mustak has made their opening day roster. Also, L.A. Huris Montero had an awesome spring. He went 19 for 57 with five home runs, It's just a 17.4% strikeout rate. And he was named the MVP of the Rocky Spring Training for whatever that's worth. Scott, I know that you just added Montero in the great fantasy baseball invitation. I added everybody in PGFBI. I added everybody.

I have half my free agent budget left for the year. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Yeah. Well, you know, I spent $133,000, $1,000 budget. I spent 133 on three players. One was Joey Weimer, who we already talked about. One was Jerks and ProFar, who had no business being out there, obviously, was a late signing.

And one was Elehiras Montero, who, as you pointed out, Frank, has had a huge spring, 327 batting average, four homers. This was after last year at AAA hitting 310 with 15 homers in just 65 games. So, I mean, he has a track record of success with the bat. Apparently, not much to speak about with the glove. And with Mike Mustakis there, you know, he came in and had a good spring himself, talked about some adjustments he made in the offseason. And is the veteran who could push Elehiros Montero if Montero struggles, whether it's offensively or defensively?

And I don't think it's going to be a situation where Montero plays every single. day. I imagine Mustakis will steal some starts around the entire infield.

But if it is deeper Roto League like TGFBI is 15 teams, even if it's a 12 teamer.

I mean, I think Montaro's deserving of a roster spot at this point as a as a guy at the

weakest position, third base, who's now going to be a starter in Colorado and has a history of

performing well at the play. We don't need to overcomplicate it. It is worth noting we did see him in the majors last year, and it was pretty underwhelming. And the underlying metrics were pretty bad. He actually outperformed his expected stats, which you would expect with course field,

but you can't even like, you know, make the pre-injury Brandon Rogers case where like, oh, he hasn't really gotten the course field bump yet. Montero did. You know, he had a 318 Babbitt last year. year. His expected Wobo was 260. So I would leave him more for 15 teamers, but I get it. He's had a couple of good seasons in the minors.

He's not that old, and obviously, course field helps, but, you know, definitely a bench rounds kind of guy. It's a situation where, like, we were begging for any signs of life at third base. And now we have one, kind of out of nowhere. And the Rockies in particular. I mean, maybe we don't have a lot of confidence in the Rockies judgment in general, but that they brought in the retread in Mike Moustakis, and that Montero has this clear defensive issue, and yet they're still going with Montero,

even with their history of bringing in retreads and starting them over exciting prospects. I think that that speaks to a level of enthusiasm for Monterey. that goes beyond just, well, he put up good numbers this spring. Jerkson ProFar is still awaiting his visa, but is hopeful he could join Rocky's camp early this week. Ranger Suarez will start on the IL after suffering a setback with his left forearm.

Matt Strom will be the Phillies fifth starter and only should be considered in like NL only. Obviously, some very, very deep formats there. Angels manager Phil Nevin said that the first save opportunity will depend on, quote, what the game dictates. Not exactly sure what that means, but doesn't sound like a vote of confidence

for Carlos Estevez either, a name that, you know, a person who was actually named in the past as, you know, being a possibility for saves, now they're just like noncommittal, so I don't know. You know, I don't know if they've announced that Ben Joyce made the roster or not. He was reassigned to Meyer League camp. I'm going to go ahead and just plant a flag

that Ben Joyce leads the Angels and saves. I think everyone else in that bowl is so underwhelming. Yeah. That that's just going to be my flag plant. That he's going to get the opportunity. Sneak preview for our bold predictions episode right there. Yeah.

It's like your Marlins call a couple years back. I can't remember who it was. Some reliever they traded for. And he said he wouldn't even get five saves. I think he got one before they pulled him out of the roll. Yeah. I'm trying to remember who that might have been. But it was Anthony Bass.

It was the, yeah. I didn't be best. Yeah. So I've done that two years in a row with a reliever then because I did that with Jake McGee last year too. There you go. Yeah. It's going to be my...

Yeah, that's my flag plant for the Angels is that everyone else is going to be so underwhelming that Ben Joyce is going to end up being the guy. I got it, Scott. Carlos Estevez doesn't get five saves with the Angels this season. That's almost too easy because like nobody believes in Carlos Estabez. Right. Aaron Boone said that DJ Lemahue will be the Yankees opening day leadoff hitter.

So even with Volpey making the team, he's probably going to bat lower in the lineup to start. Ryan Nelson was named the D-Back's fifth starter with Drey Jameson in the bullpen. Scott, any interest in Ryan Nelson? Sure. In my 12-team leagues, I could probably come up with half a dozen pitchers, at least in each, that I'd rather have than Ryan Nelson. So maybe the answer should be no. But look, is a prospect. They look good in a few starts last year.

And, you know, obviously things are going to look very different in that range of starting pitchers at the end of April than they do here at the end of March. So somebody to keep an eye on, if nothing else. Yeah, I would say the leagues where I have, Drej Ramison, I'm trying not to drop him because they are planning on using him as like kind of a swing man and keep him stretched out in the bullpen. So I think he'll get a chance at some point. I know Bailey Ober had some sleeper appeal, but he was optioned to AAA by the twins. Uri's familiar signed with the A's yet another name in a bad team's

bullpen. Austin Nola took a foul ball off his left hand Saturday but is slated to play on Monday. For a second there, I thought that we were getting Luis Camp Usano as the Padre's starting catcher. It was about to get really excited, but... Like, tough week for Austin Nola though. Seriously, gosh. Hitting the nose by a pitch comes back to, yeah, that's... He broke his nose. Yeah, tough, tough times. It's rough. Uli Gareel is expected to make the Marlins opening day roster, but Jose Iglesias is not. That means both Brian Dela Cruz and Hesu Sanchez will be there as well. Sounds like Hesu Sanchez, they're planning for him to be a bench bat at the start of the season. That means Dela Cruz would

likely be starting. Josh, let me wonder if that hints that may be a little bit of concern with Josh Chisholm's, uh, it's like a back injury, right? I guess, no, I think it was like arm cramping or something like that. Okay. Yeah. But it's worth mentioning. Jazz is dealing with that, so hopefully he's all right. So wait, Brian De La Cruz, we're back on board with him, right? I mean, I want to wait to see the opening day lineup, but it sounds like he's going to be in there.

Yeah. I don't know if I trust it for sure. I would rather see him than Hazu Sanchez. Ah, come on. That Marlins lineup, man, still looks real bad. Like, they basically had the opening day roster, except for Jazz Chisholm out there today, and it's like, these guys really

Chris this is what we're I have so much Jorge Salaire so I am I am betting on a bounce back like I don't know man if you didn't catch our early sleeper episodes it's probably worth mentioning Brian Dale right now put up huge numbers in September

and for the year last year and spent some time in the minors but for those time in the majors had a better expected batting average and expecting slug than than Raphael Devers Yeah, his stat cast page is very, very impressive. Yeah, did basically nothing this spring to earn the second look as Marlin's starting left fielder.

But, you know, we forget spring pretty quickly if the regular season starts differently. They should probably take a flyer on Kestan Hira. That's how dire things are. Hey, I'd like to see Kestan Hira play somewhere. It's probably not going to work out, but you never know. Josh Fleming will open the season as the raised fifth starter. He had a 6.43 ERA and a 189 whip over 35 innings last season. Michael Lorenzen will start the season on the IL for the Tigers,

which means that Joey Wentz will be in their rotation. A high ERA in whip this spring, but 19 strikeouts over 14 and 2 thirds, and his VLO up across the board. So just a name. Deep Leagues, Joey Wentz. Let's monitor him. And get ready for Shintaro Fujimami Saturdays, because he'll start once per week on Saturdays.

to open the season. That kind of rules them out for head-to-head points leagues, right? As I was saying, for the same reason I was worried about those angels pitchers. You're probably right, Scott. But how about in a 24-te-head-to-head points dynasty league? I've got them there. I mean, I guess it would make it easy to, you know, look at the schedule and say, hey, what are his matchups like?

I don't actually know. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Milwaukee. yeah, you might be able to use him against Cincinnati. Can he face his own team? Because that's what we try. That's wrong. That wasn't even right. Angel, Tampa Bay, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, Cincinnati.

Doesn't sound right. He'll have some good matchups, but there will be no better matchup than the team he's pitching. Exactly. Week four at home against Cincinnati. Fire up Shintaro Fujimami, folks. I am all about it. The guy throws heat.

He's got amazing stuff. He has no idea where it's going. So that's the scouting report on Shantaro Fujimami. Let's take our second break, and when we get back, we'll talk about FAB strategy here on fantasy baseball today. Let's get into some FAB tips, and some of our first WaiverWire moves what we've noticed happening in our leagues.

Fab is a type of waiver wire system that is used in fantasy sports, and fantasy baseball, and fantasy football. Basically any type of fantasy sport. It stands for free agent acquisition budget, and it's, in my opinion, the fairest way to run waivers. We'll see if these gentlemen agree.

You start off with a finite amount of money. Usually it's $100 or $1,000. Then your waiver wire is basically a blind bidding process. If you bid the highest amount when submitting a claim, you win the player. But be careful because if your league plays with no $0 bids, once you run out of money, you won't be able to make any more waiver wire claims

for the rest of the season. So keep that in mind. You've got to be, you know, be, on top of that in your fab leagues. I'll talk to you guys. What are your thoughts on the fab waiver wire system? I like it the most. I find it exhausting.

I'm not wild about it. It always feels like, and I've been doing this with the fab for, I don't know, close to 10 years at this point probably. Basically, all my leagues are fab now instead of just straight waiver claims. And yet in that time, and I think this is a,

problem throughout the industry. There seems to be no consensus for what you're supposed to do, like what your bids are supposed to look like. It always just feels like I'm throwing some random number out there that I think's going to be good enough to win the player without completely ruining me the rest of the year because I spent too much. And then the results come in like happened with the first run of TGFBI here tonight. I told you I spent 133 on those three players.

I didn't think I was going to win all three. but one of them, Joey Weimer, didn't get a second bid at all. So my $133 bid on him completely unnecessary. The highest of the three, Eleoros Montero got like a $91 bid,

so still a lot of wasted money there. And maybe it's just because I can see in this particular league what the second place bid was, and so that makes it feel worse because you're never going to do it perfectly, right? But it's just that,

you guys, were telling me about some of the bids in your TGFBI league. Same setup. Same level of expertise, theoretically, the people playing. And you guys had players get bids of $300 plus dollars. So 133 seemed fairly tame for the first run of waivers after weeks of buildup, this backlog of talent building up on the waiver. I thought it was tame.

And to win all three with a big gap between me and me and number two for those bids, You know, it's just like, I don't know. I mean, on the one hand, I'm excited to win them all. On the other hand, I think like just a straight waivers run the one time a week and just whoever's next gets their first pick and then whoever's next gets their first picked of what's left. Like that feels fair to me. It certainly feels less random to me. It certainly feels like you're less likely to shoot yourself in the fun.

Yeah, I got Adamadovino. TGFBI for 231. The runner-up bid was 75. Someone else, Eric Cross, got David Robertson for 377. So, a cool $600 on the Mets closer options. Yeah, they went for way less in line. The runner-up for David Robertson was 112, so 265 less than what he ended up going for. I also got Kerry Carpenter for 78.

Runner-up bid was five. so I overshot that one a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's also like that's a lot more likely to happen in your $1,000 budget leagues than $100 because it's more money. And it feels like it's easier to throw out big bids. And I prefer the $1,000 more money. Why not?

Who wouldn't want more money even though it's the exact same thing? It offers a little bit more flexibility with your dollar bids. but, you know, obviously it's still everybody has the same amount of money. But, you know, I do prefer the $1,000 budget. And yeah, like Scott, I'm not great at wrapping my mind around valuations for players. There are some people who are much better at that than I am. But I think it's fun. Anything that makes fantasy more fun, I think is good.

So I think that's good. I'd feel like it was just a case of, oh, I'm not good at this. if I felt like other people were consistent, but clearly they're not. Clearly, like, I'm just guessing against other people who are guessing, given the huge disparity in bids. Like I said, I mean, this is the time of year. We drafted, I think the draft started in late February, and we're wrapped up by early March.

And so, like, this is the point in the year where you're particularly in a 15 team like this, where 450 players are rostered or whatever, like, the waiver wire is never going to get more robust than this first one. So, like, on the one hand, and like, I spend almost half my budget already. And on the other hand, it's like, well, that'll keep me from overspending on Owen Miller. We're at a dumb hitter. It has a hot football later. Yeah.

And I think it's hard for us, Scott. Someone's texting you. It wasn't me. I swear it wasn't me this time. That's what I was saying. I will, and this isn't an excuse. I just think that's why it's also hard for us to give. Fab advice, you know, people will email in or tweet at us and say, how much percentage should I put on this player?

Every league is so different. Like we just illustrated just between the same format that we're all playing in, players going for wildly different prices. David Robertson went for 211 in my league. And, you know, as who said it, Chris, he went for almost, what, 370 or 380 in your league. So it's just, it's hard to give advice on how much. And it comes down to your needs, too. If you really need a closer, then you probably need to be more aggressive on adding someone like that off the waiver wire. And it makes a big difference to if zero bids are allowed or not. It makes a big difference to if this runs nightly or daily because if, or nightly or weekly, because if it's weekly with no zero dollar bids allowed like this, like we're talking

about, you got to be pretty cautious. You got to, you got to be a little more careful with your dollars because they can eventually run out and you know there's going to be a bidding war every week. If they run daily and you have zero dollar bids, then you could, like when there's a big prospect call-up or something, you could throw like half your budget at them because most of the time those nightly bids aren't going to get a lot of action. And when you run out of dollars,

you can still be throwing out zero-dollar bids anyway. And it seems like there's three realistic options about how you can play fab. You could be really aggressive early. You will have that player on your roster for a longer period of time. If you hit on someone like last year, for example, Kyle Wright or Spencer Strider, you're aggressive on them early, you have them for the entire season. You get to reap all those benefits. Or you could be conservative early, save your money for later in the season when other prospects

are being called up, or you could just kind of play it down the middle. And you could say, all right, I'm not bidding more than $100 ever. You know, if you play in $1,000, just keep everything like 10% or less and just, you know, play it straight down the middle. Chris, how do you find yourself normally playing in these fab leagues? I think you probably want to be more aggressive early on because it's not just that you get a bigger impact out of it, but you'll also just,

you'll have less competition as the season goes on. Players will, you know, have less incentive to, to bid big. People will lose interest, like naturally. So I think generally speaking,

you can afford to be a lot more aggressive early on in the season, especially when it comes to the, you know, prospects or, you know, guys who could potentially make a huge impact. Just because by the,

the time July rolls around, you're going to be seeing a lot fewer double-digit bids in your $100 leagues. Yeah, I bet by the All-Star break, I'll have 75% of my budgets bit every league, probably. And that's probably the right idea because for all the reasons you mentioned already, Chris. Yeah, and last point on Fab, make sure that you set up contingency bids as well. So, you know, multiple waiver claims like you would in a classic waiver-wire system, For example, the league that we keep referring to, TGFBI, the Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational.

It's run by Justin Mason, who does great work with Fangraphs. I had it where, you know, Derek Hall was my top bid, and then I had Josh Donaldson as a backup. I had Eli Harris-Montaro as a backup. So I knew I wanted a corner infielder, but I had all these different amounts and backup bids. And I wound up with Josh Donaldson for $33 out of a $1,000 budget.

Backup was 18, so I actually felt like I played that pretty well. And then I got Kyle Gibson. Fun, Kyle Gibson. 12 bucks with the backup for nine. So, I don't know. Maybe I just got lucky this time. There's definitely going to be times where I overspend or like wildly underspend and just do not time out or feel out the market correctly.

But that is, it's interesting. I think it's still, I think it's the fairest way to play. But yeah, it is kind of hard to figure out what amounts to put down at times in those leagues. Some pitchers real quick. Are we talking about waiver targets now? Because we talked about some hitters just in the process of talking about Fab here. Yeah, yeah, you can bring some up.

So I'm pretty high on Graham Ashcraft right now, and he was barely drafted. He has somebody... I think he opens against the pirates, too, which, if you're into the streaming thing. Even in shallower head-to-head points leagues, there's a very good chance he's available. Well, I say shallower, so that makes it more likely.

But even at head-to-head points leagues, I should say, where people tend to go deeper, what people tend to go deeper into the pitching pool, Graham Ashcraft is likely available. And he already had tons of velocity and a great cutter. And now if the sweeping slider he introduced this spring makes him the bat misser. He's been this spring. I think Graham Ashcraft is somebody who is, his stock is straight to the moon right now.

Also, Josiah Gray, who didn't allow a home run all this whole spring, actually introducing a cutter to his arsenal. And Cutter Crawford. to introduce to Josiah. Mitch Keller also added a cutter and like Graham Ashcraft saw a big jump and strikeouts this spring. These guys play for bad teams, which holds them back, obviously. But I think they're among, you know, we brought it up on a recent podcast how Trevor Rogers and Carlos Rodon a couple years ago.

And Robbie Ray, none of them were of particularly high stature in fantasy. and they all came on very late in spring training with impressive numbers and were among the top waiver claims the first week or two. And they all turned into borderline aces. I mean, Robbie Ray won the Cy Young that year. So it's, I feel like this group is, you know, I can't say they're going to end up with those kinds of outcomes, those kind of high-end outcomes.

But there will be some pictures I'm targeting. There will be a couple of someone who have that kind of outcome. It's just predicting who those someone's. will be is very, very difficult. And I think to your point, Scott, with those pitchers that broke out a couple years ago late in spring, they were all doing something different,

added velocity, new pitch, whatever it might be. That's the same thing with these guys that you're talking about too. So I think it makes sense to look at those names. Graham Ashcraft, 25% rostered on CBS right now. Let's wrap up with five emails in five minutes. You guys are on the clock. This one's from Kyle in Colorado.

I am in a Yahoo 12-team head-to-category league. I give Eloy Jimenez and Brandon Woodruff. I get Mookie Betts and Hunter Brown. So getting the best player in the deal, getting the worst player in the deal. I think this is a good deal. It's a 12-te-to-head categories league. That's pretty shallow.

So I think I'd rather have the better overall player. But it's a close deal. Are we grading it? I'll give it a C plus. I'll give it a C-minus. I wouldn't do it. One way to think about it. is just look at our salary cap values

and those can kind of serve as a stand in at this point in the season for a trade value and it's not a perfect comparison but I would imagine the Mookiee Bet side comes out pretty clearly ahead for all of us would be my guess. Well it depends. I mean I presume you're looking

at head-to-head points salary cap values since it's a head-to-head categories league but it's that level of shallowness. I would guess. All right, this one's from Mike. Hi, Ronald, Juan, and Julio. Three great outfielders. Those are McDonald's characters.

Everyone's got their list of breakouts and sleepers they believe in, but obviously not all of them will pan out. How long should we give these players before deciding if we should drop them two weeks a month? At what point do we decide it's time to move on? If you want an answer like this, I would say six weeks gives us a pretty good indication of how things are going to play out.

last year obviously was a little different because April and basically six weeks into the season was so cold. So we had to hold on a little longer. But I don't think it's one of those one size fits all things. I think you have to, I think the key is knowing if dropping this guy now will leave you, like if he's going to get scooped up right away, or if you'll have another chance if you drop him right now. That's how I tend to play it. Even if I generally believe in the player, unless it's somebody I have a ton of faith in, If it's a fringy roster guy who I generally believe in,

even though he's off to a slow start, I'll think, okay, I have a shot at this other guy on waivers instead, though, who I know everybody's looking at right now, would exchanging this guy who I believed in in the first place for that guy leave me without a chance of getting the original guy again? And if the answer is, yes, he's probably going to get scooped up right away, then I'll just hold on. But usually the answer is no.

I mean, it also depends on the person, the player it is, and what they're struggling with. If Jordan Walker comes out and hits the ball really hard and strikes out 24% of the time and just has a low babbip and doesn't play well, I'm probably going to give him a while. If Josiah Gray comes out, he's throwing his fastball 50% of the time

and it's getting hit. If he's giving up two home runs to start like he was last year, I'll pull the plug pretty quickly. You know, it depends on the situation. It depends on what's going wrong. with them. We're not doing this quickly. I'm sorry. No, no. We are pacing very terribly at five minutes,

five questions in five minutes. This one's from David, dear Thomas, Roland, and Carpenter. I mean, two of them are Cardinals great. It's like I can't figure out what Thomas is, though. Yeah, I couldn't, I don't know. Happy opening week. A few player comp questions. Is Hayden Wisniewski this year's Spencer Strider or this year's Matt Brash? Oh, neither. No.

I mean, if I have to pick one, Matt Brass. It's much more likely he's this, he'll, he's Matt Brash than Spencer Strider. Spencer Strider had one of the greatest rookie seasons ever on a perning basis. If we're not doing a rookie to rookie thing, Hayden Wisniewski is this year's Merrill Kelly. Okay. Is Jackson Trio Ronald de Cunia or Lewis Brinson? Smart money is on Lewis Brinson.

So he's, he's making a whole thing out of this. Yeah, I mean, why? Why are we going to pick the superstar caliber? The odds are he's not going to be a first round pick. We love Corbyn Carroll. We're all really excited about Corbyn Carroll. I don't think any of us. I think each of us would say Corbyn Carroll is more likely to be Lewis Brinson than Ronald Rukunya.

Ronald Acuna is probably a once in a generation prospect for a team. Not for the world, but like if your team generates two Ronald Acunias in a decade, you're probably winning a world. series. And so just the exercise is making it sound like we don't like Jack Centurio. So that's not the message to take away here. David is giving us a very unfair exercise. I think this one might be a little bit more fair. And we'll wrap here. We'll do three questions in five minutes. Is Taylor Ward Jesse Winker on the Reds or Jesse Winker on the Mariners? Jesse Winker on the Reds. Yeah, I can say that. I think Chris will I say Mariners, but I would say somewhere in the

middle, but I know that's not the actual exercise we're doing. So I'll say Mariners if a, you know, gun to my head. But why would you put a gun to my head over that? Right. I mean, just seems like an overreaction. The stakes aren't that high. Aside from that one year where he was must start, he wasn't must start. And I think we'd all say Taylor Ward's must start right now. So Winker was, he was actually always a good hitter. If you look at his, even before that breakout season, I'm not, okay, I'm doing fantasy value, though. When you factor in the time missed with injury, He's the time of his little tunes. He was...

2020 and 2021. We'll give him 2021. All right. He missed some time. All right. Well, we're going to wrap there. We're really bad at this. Three questions in six minutes and 12 seconds.

We're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for watching and listening. Fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.