Fantasy Baseball Today - Opening Weekend Recap! Rookies Dominating & Bullpen Madness! (3/30 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 30, 2026

The rookie bats keep mashing (2:48)! ... Emerson Hancock looked very different on Sunday Night Baseball (18:52). ... Dylan Cease dominated in his Blue Jays debut (23:24). ... News (25:40): Jacob deGrom was scratched on Saturday with neck stiffness. ... We had some interesting lineups this weekend (39:27). ... How do we rank these waiver wire pitchers (44:01)? ... Who are the top Andrew Vaughn replacements (50:13)? ... We're learning about bullpens (55:45). ... We have old faces in new places and players who might be breaking out (1:05:52). ... What went wrong with these starting pitchers (1:11:38)? ... We wrap up with leftovers, bullpen updates and streamers (1:19:53). 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. And first pitch, watching. 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. Hey there, opening weekend was awesome.

Let's talk about it. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Monday, March 30th. I am Frank Sample, joined by Scott White, Chris Towers. Today on the show, we'll recap everything that went down this weekend. The rookies are mashing, destroying baseballs. Dylan Seas looked awesome in his Blue Jays debut. Lots of bullpen happenings and things there. So we will jump all around and let's get right into it with our players of the weekend. And for those new to the in-season podcast, if you hear an awesome sound drop or see it while you're watching a game or something like that, try to send me a highlight of

and I'll kind of work it into our rotation for Player of the Night. Scott, why don't we start with you? Player or players of the weekend. All right. I am going to talk about Munataka Murakami. Let's do that guy. And I don't know whether to take credit or take blame here because I was talking him down all preseason,

had no interest in drafting him. And yet when the week one sleeper hitters came out, he was the cover photo for it. Because obviously that's a different calculation. you're making. You're addressing his prospects in the immediate term as opposed to full season. And hey, had a great weekend.

Homered in all three games. And in fact, it was historic because he is now tied for second all time in most consecutive regular season home runs. Most consecutive regular season games with a home run to begin his career. And we have to specify regular season because he's tied with Chase DeLotter, who I'm sure we'll talk about later, also has also homered in three consecutive regular season games to begin his career. Obviously played in the playoffs. Some DeLotter did.

But anyway, Bericami, he, those were his only three hits of the weekend. He did strike out four times in a total of 13 played appearances. So, you know, it wasn't an absurd strikeout rate. I still think it probably will be just looking at his history of Japan and understanding that the level of pitching overall is much higher here. But it was an encouraging start.

I think, and this was part of my reasoning for recommending him in a week one, partly I like the matchups, but part of the reason was I don't know that there's much of a book out on them yet. And this isn't something we talk about a lot, but a book does get out on hitters. their vulnerabilities are exposed.

And obviously it becomes incumbent on the hitter at that point to adjust back. And I think that's mainly what we saw from Matt McLean last year and what we saw from James Wood in the second half. Matt McLean struggling with sliders away. I believe it was James Wood. He was having trouble on inside pitches. Less sure on that. But I know there was something on him that pitchers were exploiting.

And so I think for now, Murakami has an advantage over the rest of the league, even as vulnerable as he's going to be two strikeouts. So for now, I think it's fine. Obviously, he's on a heater. He has a lot of power, stardom, enjoy it, particularly if the matchups are right. But I do think there will be a time, a point when the pendulum swings back the other way, and he will have times when he struggles as a rookie. this season.

On that topic, I believe, I believe I did the math right on this, 77% of the pitches Minnetonaka Murakami faced in his first three games were fastballs of some sort. Four Seamer, Sinker, and Cutter, which you can argue a lot of pitchers use. Cutter's kind of an in-between, right? Some guy, Cam Schlitler kind of uses his as a breaking ball more than a fastball. But that's how baseball savant tracks them. Those are all fastballs. That's usually around 50%, maybe 55% for most hitters.

So I think the book on Murakami was he struggles with MLB-Heat. That was the-elicity was part of the one that we saw, right? There was that stat that, you know, he had a 098 batting average against fastballs more than 94 miles per hour, whatever it was. And like it was like a sample size of 20 at bats or something. It was a pretty small. Yeah. But that makes sense, right? He's new to the majors.

Pitchers on the hole in Japan don't throw as hard as in the majors. So it makes sense that they'd want to test him. And, you know, for the most part, he's looked great so far. But it's a tiny sample size. You know, when he saw, the one thing that I think was underrated is this is a guy who's going to walk a lot. You know, I think he's going to be a patient hitter. And so, you know, the concerns that he would be like unplayably bad, I think it was always, you know, Likeliest outcome was Joey Gallo or something like that where low batting average

You really need to hit for that skill set, but I think he's gonna walk a lot and that that you know that there was I think the big takeaway for me is just There were there were some voices who were very very convinced that this guy just had no chance to hit and I think a lot of those voices scared people off and I think the way Scott you talked about it and I think the way I talked about it. I think the all of us he was yeah, there are real concerns here, and I think they still are. But he wouldn't have, he would have gotten a much bigger deal if there weren't concerned. Right. And there were. And there were also, you know, defensive concerns.

And, you know, and like that, the reason he got, he still had $17 million per for two years. Like, it wasn't, it wasn't nothing, you know, the MLB did not value this guy as if he was just a, a AAA type hitter. And that, I think is what I want to say is that there were people who were talking. about him as if he was just not a major league caliber talent. And there are going to be rougher times ahead, for sure. There are going to be stretches where he looks lost and then struggles and gets buried under mountains of strikeouts. And I think that, you know, I would still take, you know, you set that over under at 29.5% for the strikeout rate, I'm not sure which way I'd go. And so he's really going to have to hit for power. But the power here is special.

And it might be enough to overcome the hit tool. turns here. Again, that was Morikami that we were talking about. I want to see how he fares against left-handed pitching as well. None of the starters he faced this weekend were lefty, so another thing we have to watch out with him. But obviously off to a great start there. Morikami, up to 84% rostered on CBS, 88% on Yahoo. Want to tie this back into Chase DeLauder as well, who we spoke about on opening night when he hit two home runs, but he added a home run in each game since, not on Sunday, but in the two following games. So Homer in his first three, he had four home runs total in those games.

Homer off of Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, and Andres Munoz. That is a pretty good trio of pitchers to homer off. Did you see the Homer off Munoz? Yeah, it was the opposite field. It was like opposite field out of the strike zone. It looked like a defensive swing and he poked it out over the left field fence. It was pretty impressive. Yeah, so I think the point that I want to make with both of these guys is like,

I don't want to get over my skis on either of them. them, but it feels like they just need to be rostered in all leagues just in case this breakout is actually happening for each of them. Do you disagree? A hundred percent. Yeah, I think, like, I haven't written the newsletter for Monday, but my intro is planning to be about them. And I'm planning to throw a little cold water, maybe look at some other recent hot starts that proved unsustainable. I mean, look, Joey Weamer right now is batting 1,000 with two home runs. I don't think any of us think. Two runs in a triple. I don't think any of us think Joey Weamer needs to be rostered outside of NL only leagues.

I don't want to speak for you guys, but I think that feels pretty safe. So yeah, there will be high starts that prove to be nothing. There will be guys who are hitless right now who go on to be MVP candidates. It's three games. We cannot draw any strong conclusions about three games. But DeLotter and Murakami specifically are young and talented. enough that any signs of life should make them 100% roster just in case. I will.

You don't think they're superstars. I will create a distinction between the two, recognizing that we know nothing at this point. I mean, that really is the theme of the show. We saw a lot of cool stuff this weekend, but we didn't learn much of anything, except maybe some bullpen rolls and that Carlos Estabez. really is broken. But other than that, we didn't learn much of anything.

But I think between Murakami and De Lauder, I personally have a lot more confidence in DeLotter because I think contact is not going to be an issue with him the way it is for Murakami. And the raw power might not be that much different. I think in five outfielder leagues, there's a greater need for another outfielder like that. And even in points leagues,

because the strike rate will be low for DeLotter, much lower anyway. I think there's a better chance he'll matter there. But he has an extensive injury history. So that's my main concern with the latter when Murakami, it's still more long-term viability.

Yeah, let's just run through the rookies right now like we did on opening day. I mean, they all had, not all of them, but most of them had great weekends continuing on from opening day. Sal Stewart off to a great start, had the three hits on Thursday, two for four with a homer on Saturday.

Two for two with two walks on Sunday. He started all three games, hit cleanup in all three games. J.J. Weatherholt, first player ever to hit his first career home run in his Major League debut, and then a walk-off hit in his second game ever. He went two for five with a steel and two RBI on Saturday. Cosimo, two hits on Friday, and then hit a home run here on Sunday to right center field. You know, we heard a lot about the pull side power, but one 10.4 exit velocity, 420 feet to right center field.

I think that's really, really encouraging stuff there from Okamoto. And Chris, from your Marlins. Yeah, baby. Owen Casey, man. Impressive debut weekend. He was thrown into the lineup on Friday against a lefty because Christopher Morel got hurt with the oblique and placing the IL out of nowhere.

He had an RBI single in that game, three for four with his deal on Saturday, and then on Sunday, a walk-off two-run Homer in the ninth inning off of Victor Vodnick. Owen Casey up to 50, 8% rostered. Do you think he's a, yeah, he's probably not like a three outfielder head to head league, right?

I feel like it's only five outfieler leagues for now. I mean, if you have a roster spot to play with and DeLotter's not there, I think Casey's a perfectly fine player to throw a target at because you're just, I think you're still at this point in the season trying to stack upside. And Owen Casey clearly has a lot of it. So yes, there will be strikeouts and there could be some concerns about how he handles lefties, but he's a seriously talented young player who's going to play pretty much every day. So I think in any league, any of these guys, if they're available, should have been rostered

just on the chance that they figure out. And I think Casey, you know, Scott, I think this was something you said you wanted to talk about, but like, I think people just forgot about this, dude. I'm not, I'm not exactly sure. Like, this is, we talk a lot about prospect fatigue. And I think, oh, and Casey is, like, one of the better. examples right now of prospect fatigue where he just had been around he got like over a thousand plate appearances at AAA that never happens with top prospects these days and so I think

people just kind of soured on him forgot about him assumed he wasn't really all that talented but I've always been a big fan I think the power is legit I think it was just kind of oversaturation with prospects in general this spring there were so like we've talked about how it looks like a banner year for prospects and there were so many to target at all phases of the draft And then Owen Casey, he was away with Team Canada for a big part of the spring. He hit 133 during his time with the Marlins. So it was just kind of easy to push him to the back of the line. I have a ton of Casey because I kept drafting him as a bench guy in those five outfielder leagues.

And so I would say, obviously Murakami and DeLauder were putting themselves in the record books. But it was actually Casey, I think, who impressed me the most this weekend of the rookies because he did hit the ground running like he did. He was out of the lineup for one game, and so we'll have to watch that with him left-handed batter, but he came off the bench, obviously had a very clutch hit. And apart from that home run,

that three-for-four performance on Saturday, two of his batted balls were over 11-hmm. I mean, that's legit power for Owen Casey. And I think if he is a platoon player, if that continues, it'll be a stretch that he'll matter in three hours. outfielder leagues, but certainly five outfielders is available. You gotta, you gotta pick

them up in all those. Also, Chris, those jerseys, just top notch, man. 80 grade, awesome Marlins jerseys here on Sunday. Just wear them all the time. They're great. The gap between that hideous black city connect with like the horizontal

gradient lines and their Sunday, I think that's going to be their Sunday home jersey now. The teal opening season is it is a chasm. The difference between them and that should just be their full-time look. Yeah, they should have never gotten rid of their original color scheme and logo. I mean, the Rockies have stuck with theirs from the beginning.

I think it might be looking a little dated at this point, though I don't mind the purple and black, but the Marlins, the Marlins like were an instant classic with that teal. Yeah. And I do want to point out the other big rookie, we didn't talk about Kevin McGonagall. He didn't have quite as big of a weekend as some of these other guys. He did get robbed of a home run by Jackson Merrill on Friday, I believe. Would have been his first career homer. So very nearly had a nice weekend for himself as well.

All right. Let's take a quick break when we return. We'll get into Chris and my players of the night. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today, recapping the first weekend of the baseball season. And Chris, who was your player of the weekend? Yeah, I think Emerson Hancock.

late emergence as arguably one of our first Olive Garden Breadsticks of the season because he came out Sunday night baseball on Peacock I don't know if you guys watched it I thought it was pretty good broadcast I think they did pretty well I like Adamadovino the way they use them yeah I liked Jason Benetti's great

and bringing in the two local color commentators how that was a nice ring Emerson Hancock though that's the guy we're talking about he had six no-hit innings with nine strikeouts and one walk. And Emerson Hancock's a guy who's been around for a while. He was at one point a top prospect. But entering this start, I believe he had a 481 career ERA across parts of three seasons.

Last year, he saw 90 innings of 490 ERA. Little to get excited about, which is why I don't think anybody has mentioned Emerson Hancock on this podcast in like two years probably, including when he made the Mariners rotation this spring when Bryce Miller got hurt. But this was a different version of Emerson Hancock than the one we have seen before. He threw his four seamer and sweeper a combined 79% of the time in this start. Last season he combined to use those pitches 30% of the time. He threw 25 sweepers in this one. Last season he threw 46 total in 90 innings.

That basically is a brand new pitch for him. His velocity was down, but he got a little more induced vertical break on the four seamer. The sweeper generated some really ugly swings. I don't know. I'm kind of viewing this as a, yeah, let's add him just in case kind of situation. Because I don't think there were a ton of pitching performances this weekend that I thought were like, we got to run out and add this guy right now. And partially that's because for the most.

most part, everybody threw their one through three starters. The Mariners got to their number four because they were one of, I think, four teams that played four games this weekend. So, like, we did see Mick Abel. He looked okay. We saw Diddy or Fuentes. He pitched great, but we don't know about the role. We saw, I don't know, Tosh Bradley, but I'm just kind of tired of Tash Bradley at this point. He had a ton of whiffs, but only got through four and a third innings. Yeah. Rinaldo Lopez, I thought, you know, looked better than I expected, certainly, but not. His Like was a lot better when than we were seeing this spring. But not to the point where I'm like, yes, we have to add Rinaldo Lopez,

Randy Vasquez, I thought was impressive, but I don't know if there's a ton of upside. So I just, it wasn't the best weekend for, oh my God, we have to run out and add this guy right now. I think Emerson Hancock is not quite at that level, but I'm adding him, or at least I'm putting in bids in a few leagues just to see. And I saw some discussion that like, yeah, but even if he's good, Bryce Miller will be back. and the Mariners don't have room for him as rotate. Like, life finds a way. Like, if you're argument.

I get that now. I saw, I watched Jurassic Park to see. Oh my God. Yeah, you finally get it. You finally understand what I've been saying. I've got to talk to you about this. Well, we'll talk about it later on. My favorite movies.

We'll talk about it later on. But yes, continue on with Hancock. A perfect movie. But look, if your argument against a pitcher is, well, I just don't know if there's going to be a spot for him, there will be a spot for him. It's just that that is not my concern. concern is that Amherston Hancock might not be that good and that's a fair concern. But what he showed on Sunday was a new look.

He was pretty impressive against a bad lineup. But I'm willing to, you know, throw a six or seven dollar bid out on him just to see if it was real. You know, we'll get a couple more turns and see if this new look version of Emerson Hancock can be useful. I'm open to it if not expecting it, not expecting it. And he is widely available. He's only 7% rostered on CBS. Definitely in the deeper leagues.

I was looking to add him this weekend, Emerson Hancock, and just see where this goes. It's also, I think, a good matchup this week. He's at the Angels. The Angels had a good offensive weekend this weekend, but they also led the majors and strikeouts last year. So it's like, all right, how much do we trust from the Angels in this small sample size?

I still do think they're going to be a team that strikes out quite a bit. So in a deeper league, I would be interested in like even streaming. Hancock this upcoming week. Not a 12 teamer, but anything deeper than that. I'm interested to see what he can do there. My player of the weekend is Dylan Sees, who looked awesome in his Blue Jays debut against the athletics. Speaking of strikeouts, they have a 47% strikeout rate as a team so far. Five and a third innings, one run aloud, 12 strikeouts to one walk, 24 swinging strikes on 90 pitches here for Dylan Seas. 15 of those came on his slider, which was ridiculous. His fastball velocity was up 1.6 miles per hour.

He averaged 98.7. And he mixed in other pitches, too. He wasn't as fastball slider reliant as we have seen in years past. He mixed in a few more curves, sinkers, change-ups, sweepers. A real change-up. Yeah. And that change-up was different this spring, too. I think I mentioned how I think the velocity was up a lot for it

and had a lot more movement. And he only allowed one hard hit in this one through 68% of his pitches for strikes. So it's one start. I feel like we're going to say that for everything this weekend, and especially the first month of the season. But we know Dillon C's is talented, man. And maybe the Blue Jays are about to help him, you know, kind of unlock what we've always seen is there

and make him a consistent ace. That would be very welcome for Dillan C's. They gave him a ton of money this offseason. And he comes out with a revamped arsenal here that seems to make his pitches that were already. his best even better. And so, I mean, time will tell how much of this was on the athletics and how much of it was on cease.

But it was a very good first indicator in his new environment that this might be the best version of cease yet. Again, we know nothing. It was a good first indicator, though. In fairness, the A's did get better at making contact as the weekend went on. they struck out 12 times against cease. They only struck out 11 times against Kevin Gosman. And then it was only nine against Eric Lauer.

Yeah, that's true. Although, you know, you start to do the conversion rate on Lauer to cease, and that's kind of like a 17th strikeout game for Dillon Cs probably. So, yeah. So good, great first game there for Dylan Cese, and we'll see where he goes from there. Want to just get to the news and notes real quick because there was a lot that happened this weekend.

and cue the Grand Theft Auto San Andreas meme. Here we go again, Jacob de Grom. He was scratched from his start on Saturday with neck stiffness. He said Sunday that it was feeling much better, and he remains optimistic that he'll start Tuesday or Wednesday in Baltimore. Look, it's not arm-related, so that's the good news, obviously, here. Do you guys start or sit de Grom this week? Again, SETI thinks he's going to start on Tuesday or Wednesday,

but we just don't know for sure. Yeah, I think I'd have to start him if, if he's putting specific days out there when he thinks he's going to start either one of those two days, it's probably true. I mean, it doesn't sound like a serious injury. And I'm the biggest de Grom skeptic because of his injury history,

but I think you got to start him this week. There was one league where I was considering benching him, but I think it was 4A2 start option. So, you know, I don't actually think you should bench Jacob de Grom absent. Really good option. Carlos Estevez. Ah, the experience.

He was seen wearing a boot on Sunday after taking a line drive off of his left ankle on Saturday. Let's talk about that outing on Saturday. He blew his first save, allowing six earned runs on a walk-off grand slam to Dominic Smith. He averaged just 91.2 miles per hour on his fastball. On Saturday leading up to Estevez,

it was matched from him in the seventh inning. It was Lucas Ersig in the eighth. then on Sunday, of course, there would be a save opportunity with Carlos Estevez in a boot. And so Strom got two outs in the seventh. Lucas Ersig eventually came on in the ninth inning with a three-run lead. He allowed a hit but picked up his first save.

So, it's not looking good for Carlos Estevez. No. And Matt Quattrero, the Royals manager, said, even apart from the walking boot stuff, he's not averse to putting Estabez in a lower leverage situation. So he's already talking that way. And frankly, I think it's overdue.

I guess they were just hoping he'd magically lock back in once the season started. And hey, his velocity was up a little from spring training. It was only down five miles per hour. It was last year. Yeah, still down five from last year. And it was a...

Look, I think that that thought process is fine. Right? Like, oh, he wasn't there in the spring, but give him a chance. Let's see if the adrenaline can get going and, you know, it didn't. He only blew one game. I think that's fine. I think it's totally fine to give him one chance.

I don't think he's going to get another chance. I think Lucas Ersig is going to have to flop to get to. And Estes is going to have to look like himself for a while before I think he gets another chance. But it is notable that it does seem like it's estimate. Erseg, excuse me, who, you know, wasn't great last season. I know the ERA was sub three, but the strikeout rate collapsed from the year before. Stuff still looks really good. Still looks closer caliber.

So we'll see if he can, you know, run away with this role. But he did get the first chance and was used as the primary setup guy before Estevez. And I hate that I was prophetic in this way because I think at the end of last week I talked about how I was thinking about just straight up sitting Estevez and Tau Wars and decided to run him out there just because I had no other pitcher to fill that spot. But I actually said, like it seems like a situation where he could just have a six-run inning. And that's exactly what happened. Six-run in one-third of an inning with a walk-off grand slam for Dominic Smith,

which was a very nice moment for him. He said after the game that he had lost his mom to cancel. or just less than two weeks ago, which I think was not something anyone knew about until then. So it was nice that he got to have that moment. It was his first walk-off home run of his career, too. Interesting. How would you rank the three relievers that I think were most added

or are going to be most added this weekend being Jordan Romano, Lucas Erseg, and Cole Sands, who picked up a save for the Twilis. wins this weekend. I think I would go Ursaq, Romano, and Sands. I think so, too. The one hesitation is with those last two, because it doesn't sound like Yates is going to be out for long. Not that he would immediately overtake Romano. It's not clear that he had the job in the first place, but that does seem like the clearest interference from the three. I actually think

Cole Sands is pretty clearly the twins best reliever. I wasn't targeting him this spring because they didn't care to use them in safe situations at all last year. Maybe that's changing, and if it does, I think he could be decent. Twins aren't very good. Yeah. So that's part of the issue. But, yeah, I guess Eileen Romano over Sands also. But Sands is, and leagues where saves are scarce, he's worth thinking of.

And Sands ahead of Beter, right? Because Beter got to say, Clayton Beter for the Nationals got to save on Sunday, I believe. but yeah I would put him behind the rest of those guys yeah I mean the nationals are probably gonna be the probably worse than the twins I would imagine hey hey I don't know they won a series against the Cubs they did that they did would you guys just go ahead and drop Carlos Estefez already like for any of these relievers we're talking about maybe not in a 15 team league yeah I was gonna say the same thing and 15 team leagues like the saved market is so thin that I think you hold on for just a little longer to see if maybe he figures something out mechanically

recaptures the velocity but otherwise you can let Estevez go. All right, continuing on with the news. Zach Wheeler made his first rehab start Saturday at AAA three shutout innings, two hits, one walk, three strikeouts, had seven whiffs on 38 pitches, but all of his pitches were down two to three miles per hour. Granted, this is his first start, first time pitching in a game in a long time. that number could build up. But it was 93.3 miles per hour on the fastball compared to 96.1 miles per hour last year.

What were your guys' takeaways from Zach Wheeler's first rehab outing? Yeah, I know the Phillies have been unconcerned about it. You know, there was a quote from Rob Thompson where he said something like he's right where he is usually at at this point in spring training.

I looked last year at his first spring training start. He averaged 95.9 miles per hour with his foreseamer. The year before it was, around 94 so it was a little more true in 2024 but I just um I don't know if we had seen this before we were drafting he's probably not a top 120 pick like he was an ADP right I think people probably start to panic at least a little bit we saw you know striders price drop from around 120 to around 160 actually in the final week of drafts at NFBC I think we might have seen something

similar for Wheeler. So I don't feel more optimistic about him now that I've seen it. But look, it was cold in Lehigh Valley where they were pitching. And, you know, it's possible he wasn't focusing on his velocity. He was focusing on command and movement or whatever. Like, it's entirely possible that this ends up being nothing or that he's just like Brandon Woodruff. And he loses three miles per hour on his fastball and doesn't lose anything in terms of production.

But I don't think you should bet on that. That is not usually how we think about pitchers. So I moved Wheeler down to about 150 in my rankings over the final two weeks of spring training just because we never saw him pitch. 150 overall, obviously. 150 overall. Now that we have seen him, if we were drafting again, I wouldn't move him up based on what we saw. That's not to say I think it'll be a disaster, but it's just he was not himself in this start. Maybe he will get there, but this is not a surgery where we assume guys come back to be themselves.

and now we have seen some evidence that he is not himself. So I do think you have to lower your expectations a bit. Chris, when you said that he was distracted and maybe working on other things and working on his command and things, I thought you're going to say he was distracted by the fact that they had an all-you-can-eat-ribs promotion at Lehigh Valley that day

because they removed one of his ribs. Yeah, yeah. I think they also, for one night, called themselves the rehab pigs, I think is what I saw. That is too much. The Ham A Bowen strikes again. This time it's Andrew Vaughn. He is expected to miss four to six weeks,

and Jake Bowers and Gary Sanchez look like they will form a platoon at first base. The Brewers also promoted catcher prospect Jefferson Caro, who made his debut on Sunday. Caro has dealt with a lot of injuries the past couple of years. Last season in 69 games in the minors, hit 271 with 11 home runs and 839 OPS. Scott, once upon a time, Jefferson Carroll was a highly regarded prospect

Do you have any interest in him in deeper two catcher leagues? That would be deeper two catcher leagues. That's it, yeah. 15. What about 12 team, two catcher leagues? No. No. No, I think there are 24 that you could feel.

Like, it's not even clear how much caro is going to play, right? So that's on top of his performance, which I think is very much in question. There's talent there. There's some pop. But it used to be partly a defensive-minded profile. I think all the injuries have sapped him of someone. of that though. So yeah, this is far from a can't miss kind of guy and we don't even know how much he's playing. So it would be it would be just in leagues, two catcher leagues so deep that you're

having to dip into like the Freddie Vermean class of catchers. That would be the only interest I'd have in Jefferson Carroll. Okay. I'm going to try and zoom through the rest of this news. If there's anything that stands out, just stop me and we'll talk. Josh Hayter threw a bullpen on Friday is still expected to face hitters in mid-April. Tanner, Bybee, who left his first start with shoulder inflammation, said he felt good after completing a 26-pitch bullpen on Saturday. The guardians have yet to decide if Bieber. Beiber. Bibi will start on Tuesday against the Dodgers.

I mean, either way, if you can get him out of your lineup against the Dodgers, I think you probably should do that. Nick Ladolo threw a bullpen on Sunday. He got up to 20 pitches. He mixed in a few sliders. He'll throw again on Wednesday. And then the hope is that he will have a rehab start on Friday. Lodolo believes that he will only need one rehab outing before returning.

Joe Musgrove has resumed playing catch but doesn't have a definitive timeline to rejoin the Padres. The Orioles signed Shane Baz to a five-year $68 million extension on Friday. He made his debut on Sunday. It was not great. It was a mixed outing there against the twins. Quinn Priester threw a pain-free bullpen session on Saturday. He is expected to miss the first month due to symptoms related to throttes. classic outlet syndrome. The way that they have

kind of worded and talked about this injury has been very weird. The Marlins placed Christopher Morel on the aisle with a left oblique strain and promoted prospect Davidson de los Santos. He started Sunday against lefty Jose Kentana. Two years ago in the minors, he had 40 home runs.

Then last year hit just 240 with 12 home runs and a 672 OPS. Chris, do you have any deep league interest in Davidson de los Santos? Worth a look. You know, I think there's some like Jake burger potential there in like a empty 25 homer upside kind of way. Just a heads up that Mick Abel pitch out of the bullpen on Sunday.

I saw a lot of people freaking out on Twitter. It's because the Twins' early season schedule, they don't need an SP5 right away, but the plan is still for him to be in the rotation. I hope because he was terrible in this relief outing. So hopefully they keep him as a starter. It was three and a third innings, eight hits, five runs, four walks, four strikeouts. There was some bad luck here. if you looked into it.

I think of the, oh, let me see if I can find. I think he had like eight batted balls and six of them were hit 85 miles an hour or below. It was only a couple of hard hit balls. So there was some, I'm not to say, that's not to say he was great, but the stuff looked still really good.

Seven widths just on his fastball. Yeah, let me, yeah. 14 total. He had one, two, yeah. Okay, so of the eight hits he gave up, Six were hit 83.5 miles per hour or softer. So, yeah, I don't think the box score necessarily. But look, the command was not good,

and that was a problem for him throughout his minor league career. So, yeah, McAble, not a can't miss pitcher, as it turns out, which I don't think anybody was saying he was, so it's fine. We had some small trades this weekend. The Nationals acquired Curtis Mead from the White Sox, and as a result, they optioned Andres Chaparro to AAA on Sunday. The Marlins acquired Leo Jimenez from the Blue Jays in exchange for infielder Dubbleed.

What a name. Dub gleed. That is the most Star Wars coded name I've seen in baseball on a long time. Dubbleed and $250,000 in international bonus pool money going to the Blue Jays in that one. The Orioles acquired outfielder Jonathan Rodriguez from the Guardians for right-handed pitcher Carter Rustad. And also to the aisle this weekend, Mickey Moniac with a sprained right ring finger. Just wanted to quickly point out some lineup stuff that I noticed on Friday, Ben Rice, Trenkrichisham, Ryan McMahon, all out of the lineup for the Yankees

against the lefty. I hope this Ben Rice out against lefties is not a consistent thing. I'd mostly be willing to dismiss it, except Goldschmidt hit leadoff against the lefties. Well, he crushed lefties last year. If you'll remember what, because when Paul Goldschmidt signed, there was a couple days of freak out from fantasy baseballers. I moved Rice down. I figured, okay, that's it for him playing against left-handers.

But then Aaron Boone actually came out and said, not that they weren't going to play Goldschmidt against left-handers, but that when they did that, they'd probably play Ben Rice a catcher because they won him playing every day. Didn't happen the first left-hander they faced? That doesn't mean it won't happen against most of the left-handers they face. But it's back to being a question because Boone didn't do the thing he said.

Didn't it? The way he said he was going to, yeah. Someone pointed out to me that this is the only lefty the Yankees' face until like April 6th, so maybe they just wanted to get Goldschmidt a game early in the season. It's possible.

Most teams give a lot of their guys a day off. The first weekend of the season. Yeah, so. They don't want anybody to get too stale on the bench. They want to kind of work them in. Yep. Jack Caglione was out of the line of Friday against the lefty.

Carter Jensen was in. It was Lane Thomas in centerfield, Starling Marte in Wright Field, and Carter Jensen at DH. Lawrence Butler played on opening day, but then sat out Saturday against Dillen Seas and Sunday against Eric Lauer. I think they might just be easing him in since he didn't play much this spring.

There's also a chance that he just sits against lefties, so we'll have to watch that with Lawrence Butler. O'Neill Cruz did not start against the lefty on Saturday. I don't know if that was just, okay, you're really bad against lefties, or, and or, man, you were so bad defensively. on Thursday. We're just going to give you a day off. So maybe a combination of those things.

Esoc Paredes started all four games for the Astros and hit third in each of them. He got one start at second base. Chris, I believe you said he got a start at first base too. Is that true? I believe so. No. No, it was two at third one at D.H. 1 at second. But the second was the more notable one that they... I mean, if we get four more, we've got a second base eligibility for Paredes. Yorda on Alvarez, by the way. Already two games in the outfield.

So love to see that. Cole Young started against a lefty on Saturday, so might just be an everyday player for the Mariners. Kevin McGonigle got a start at shortstop on Saturday. It's been two at third base, one at shortstop so far. And then Colson Montgomery got a start at third base on Saturday. Pradesh did come in to play first base. So he has one appearance at first base.

He appeared there. He didn't start there. So that's all that counts for CBS in terms of gaining eligibility is appearance, it's not starts. All right. Let's take our final break. When are your return, we'll talk about a bunch of waiver wire standouts from the first weekend right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today.

Let's take a look at some Waver Wire pitchers from opening weekend. This first group here, mostly boring guys. I think they're mostly just guys that you would use in the right matchup, but they are between 50 and 70% on CBS, and each of them pitched well. Seth Lugo, Michael Waka, Ronaldo Lopez, Mitch Keller. If you're looking at the matchups for this week, it's Keller against the Orioles, Ronaldo Lopez at the D-backs,

Waka against the Brewers, and Lugo is also against the Brewers. Scott, how would you rank those four? Lugo, Waka, Lopez, Keller. I think they're going to be streamers. They're all low-ceiling pitchers. I guess I'd put Lopez first. Now, his velocity was a lot better

than we were seeing this spring. It was still down a little more than a mile. per hour from when we last saw him healthy. So I'm not saying he's out of the woods there. But, you know, the last time we saw him, he was better than any of these guys. So I'll put Lopez number one. And then I'll go Waka 2. I think he's the most stable for ERA and WIP.

And then I'll probably give the edge to Lugo over Keller, but it's a close call between those two. Oh, Waka, by the way, 17 whiffs on 80 pitches. It's not something we're used to seeing, and it's not like his pitch mix or velocity was drastically different. So it's not something I would expect from Waka, but it was encouraging to see a really good first start from him. Who pitched today for the Royals?

Was that Lugo? It was. Okay. I'm going to go ahead and say he got super lucky in this one, because I don't know what was, Scott. Did you watch that game? Was it just like the windiest day? in Atlanta history.

Yes, there were a lot of deep fly balls that that appeared to be home runs off the bat and then weren't. Acuna and Harris, I believe, almost had home runs. Yeah, Acuna hit 1, 106, Harris hit 1,109 that were both hit at the proper angles that they should have been home runs and just kind of died on the warning track. Matt Olson also had one. It was less than 100, but it would have been out in some parks. All three of them definitely looked out off the bat.

I think Lugo got pretty lucky not to have a crooked line in this one. Waver Wire Pitchers Part 2. I think some of these are more interesting than the names we just talked about. Rhett Louder was solid against the Red Sox. Five innings, two runs, five strikeouts. He had 14 whiffs on 86 pitches. At the Rangers this week, it's a good place to pitch. Eric Lauer looked good against the athletics,

but as we talked about, they strike out a lot. five and a third innings, two runs, nine strikeouts, had 17 whiffs on 87 pitches. Joe Boyle looked good at the Cardinals, six innings, two runs, four strikeouts. Big key for him, zero walks through 69% of his pitches for strikes. And he is at the Twins this week, so good matchup for him. And Michael McGruevy had a great outing against Tampa Bay, six no-hit innings with five strikeouts. When you dig in, I didn't really see too much under the hood.

He only had six whiffs on 96 pitches. He throws a bunch of different pitches, and his velocity was actually down like two miles per hour on his fastball and sinker at the Tigers this week. Chris, how would you rank those four? Rhett Louder, Eric Lauer. Ret Lauer, Eric Lauer. That's very similar. Joe Boyle and Michael McGreevy. I could probably go louder, Boyle, Lauer, McGreevy.

But I don't find any of these guys too interesting. I don't know. I like a lot of the matchups here. Like if you're just in a deeper league and need a. matchup play this week. Louder at the Rangers, lower at the White Sox, Boyle at the Twins.

I like all three of those quite a bit. Boyle's the one I want to take advantage of this week. He got through his first star with no walks. Boyle, ran it was just one start, and we saw instances of him doing similar things control-wise last year, and then the control still became an issue.

But if he's a guy who is limiting the walks, he's going to be really good, and he's going against really bad. twins lineup next week and what may be his final term before Ryan Pepeo returns. So that's my main hesitation with picking up boils. It's a short-term play, but it's a very good short-term play, I think. Yeah. Eric Lauer, by the way, also just want to point out that he is RP eligible on CBS. So if you play in a points league, good matchup like that, obviously pitches for a good team would be very interested in Eric Lauer this upcoming week.

deeper starting pitchers Randy Vasquez was great against the Tigers six shutout innings with eight strikeouts 13 whiffs on 91 pitches we talked about this during spring training his velocity was up and it was up here in this first start his fastball looked really good velocity was up 1.5

miles per hour he got six of his 13 swinging strikes on that fastball we spoke about Emerson Hancock earlier the other deep league name I had here was Carmen Maginsky who looked solid at the Mets four and a third innings two runs had eight strikeouts to zero walks.

He's got any deep league interest in Randy Vasquez. He gets the Red Sox this week. Don't love that. And Maginsky, home against the Orioles. Not from me. I understand they got good results this timeout, but I did not see enough under the hood to convince me, given their extensive track records of mediocrity,

that there was much to sink my teeth into here. Unlike, for instance, Emerson Hancock, who showed up with this entirely new arsenal. I think Vasquez and Misenkiewski are going to be our best left-on waivers in most leagues. I was willing to put in like some 4% bids for Vasquez across my league. So not zero interest, but not someone. Like I said earlier, there weren't really anyone who I saw this weekend and said, man, I have to have that guy on my team.

Let's talk Waverwire hitters from the weekend and might be looking for an Andrew Vaughn replacement whether it's at first base or as a corner infielder in fantasy Nolan Shaniel was off to a nice start with the Angels he had five hits, two homers, five RBI, hit third in all four games for the Angels. Jake Berger, so far so good, maybe just finally healthy again

coming back from that wrist injury last year. He has homered in two of three games and he has hit cleanup in each game regardless of facing a righty or a lefty. And Ryan O'Hern, off to a nice start with the Pirates. Two for four with the homer on opening day, three for five with two RBI on Sunday. Chris, how would you rank those three as Andrew Vaughn replacements,

or even if you just need a corner infielder? Shanuel, Jake Berger, and Ryan O'Hern. Berger, Shanuel, and O'Hern, but I do want to point out with... So, Berger, he played through a wrist injury for most of last season. He had surgery at the end of the season to repair it. Might just be health. he was a 30 homer guy, I think one of the seasons he might have had in 29, but he was basically a 30 homer guy 8 in 2023 and 2024.

Shanuel, I do want to highlight because he was someone who talked about bat speed training this offseason. And small sample size, but bat speed is something that tends to stabilize pretty early. We saw it last year, Bryce Terang, you could notice it the first week of the season. His bat speed was up significantly. Nolan Shanuel's bat speed is up from 67.5 miles per hour last year on average to 71. So a three and a half mile per hour jump. That's about the same as Bryce Terrang's jump. Last season, it takes him from well below average to about average.

And like we know Nolan Chanuel's got great plate discipline. We know he's got a phenomenal eye at the plate. He's very patient. He could stand to trade contact for damage. And we'll see if it works. You know, I'm not necessarily saying Nolan Shanuel's suddenly a power hitter, but I'm open to the possibility. You know, what we saw with Bryce Trang? What do you go from like five homers to 18, I think it was, something like that?

Yep. You know, if Shanuel goes from 12 to 20, he's probably a pretty useful player. If it's also, you know, 265 batting average and he's hitting third and he still has the good plate discipline. So I'm intrigued by Nolan Shaniel. It's too early to say anything definitively, but I think this is a good sign for him. Not a first baseman, but man, just stay healthy, please. Royce Lewis off to a nice start. One for three with a sock in the shoe on Saturday.

He homered again on Sunday. He is 71% rostered on CBS. Some deeper names, Max Muncie with the athletics. One for five with a steel on Saturday. Then he hit a home run on Sunday. He's 27% rostered. has second and third base eligibility. Luke Raleigh homered three games in a row to start the season for the Mariners,

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Probably not going to play against any lefties, but he was actually pretty productive in 2023 and 2024, so maybe he can get back to those levels. And David Hamilton already has three steals in only two games played. Looks like he'll start against right-handed pitching at third base, but not going to play against lefties, but he is really fast and could provide some speed.

Scott, were you looking to add any of these names in any of your leagues this weekend? Max Muncie with the A's, Luke Rayleigh, or David Hamilton? I took a look at Luke Rayleigh and some of the deeper road of leagues to 15 teamers with the five outfield spots. I never pulled the trigger on making that move because, you know, he's been around for a while. He was productive in 2023, 2024. but because he sits so often still pretty borderline even in those deeper roto leagues. So yeah, I just didn't think. I wasn't convinced there was enough upside at this point in this season,

the caliber of players I'd have to drop for him to pull the trigger. I had been picking up Max Muncie already, even prior to this week. I was actually a little discouraged by the way the first week. I know he had the home run and the stolen base, but six strikeouts and 12 plate appearances. was not what we were seeing from the spring, and it is reminiscent of what we saw from him as a rookie last year. So I came close to dropping him in one roto league, Max Muncie.

Who is I going to drop him for? Like Max Scherzer or somebody like that, I needed a pitcher more, and he's scheduled to face the Rockies next week in Toronto. So I think I ended up dropping somebody else instead, but that's more where I'm at with Max Muncie. And, you know, obviously, I'd love to hold on to him if I could,

but I think he's on the fringes of rosterability in standard-sized Roto Leagues. And a name for those in NL-only leagues, we mentioned it earlier, but Joey Weamer off to a blistering start with the Nationals, three-for-three with a triple and his second home run on Sunday. He went three-for-three with a home-run on opening day. Looks like he's only going to play against lefties,

but if he keeps mashing, you know, maybe he earns himself some more playing time. He's only 2% rostered. Once upon a time was a prospect of note there, Joey Weamer, but his numbers in the minors last year were pretty bad. So the jury remains out. Very skeptical there on Joey Wemer. We are learning about bullpens, kind of.

For the Angels on Friday, Jordan Romano did close out the ninth inning with a four-run lead. He struck out two. We know that he got a save on opening day. Just wanted to ask how much did you guys see Romano going for in your leagues where Fab already ran, right? So tout wars or any NFBC leagues, he went for 132 in my Tout Wars League. This is out of a $1,000 budget.

That's 15-team Roto, and then 189 in our beat FBT 12-team Roto League on NFBC. So some big bids on Jordan Romano. Yeah. And the beat FBT League is only a 12-team league. So there's not nearly as much scarcity for safes there as the 15-teamers. It only ran for me and 15-teamers, and he didn't even go for 100. there and mine. I think it was more like 80 to 90.

And that's, you know, no telling how good he is, no telling how long he has the job. So to me, that's a little aggressive. And maybe it just depends how you did with closers coming out of your draft. Maybe you're the guy who drafted Carlos Estevez. And you're like, ah, I need to replace these saves suddenly. And maybe it'll work out. I know Emilio Pagan was an early season pickup with a lot of skepticism last year. obviously it worked out, but that was a bit too aggressive for me.

I was bidding more like half that. Yeah, I did end up going 117 in my TGFBI League, which is a 15-team Roto. That is also a league where I had drafted Kirby Yates. My only other closer was Kenley Chanson. Did you get him? Yeah, I did get him for 117. The second bid was 78, so I could have gone cheaper. I was thinking more like 70 and then talking to you guys about what you saw in your other leagues.

Like, I'll bump it up a little bit. And it turns out I wouldn't have gotten him if I had bumped it up. So I guess it's probably fine. It's probably worth it. It is wild how much it can vary from league to league. I mean, even in your league, Chris, 80 would have gotten him, except if somebody was bidding 80 and they were going against you. You know?

All it takes is one person to blow up the bid. And in a 15-team league, you have to be a little more aggressive because there are only at most. most 30 closers and usually less than that. So it's hard to have a second closer unless you really invest and I did not. Yes, as we're about to find out, there are not 30 closers in Major League Baseball right now. For the athletics on Friday, Justin Sterner came on in the ninth inning with the game tied. He allowed a run on three hits. He took the loss. Then on Saturday, Michael Kelly came on to get the final out of the eighth inning with the bases loaded. He did get

Vlad Jr. to line out. He stayed out there for the ninth inning, Michael Kelly. gave up a game-tying home run to Alejandro Kirk, took the blown save. Then in the 10th inning, the A's took the lead. Scott Barlow came on for the save. He blew the save, and eventually the A's lost in the 11th inning. So A, I don't know who it is here. B, it might not matter.

I don't think, I don't know if anyone is good in this whole time. Maybe they're going to back end to giving him a chance, but it was. Who is that? Whose name did you say? Hogan Harris. Okay, yeah. But I was fine dropping Harris and Towat Wars for Scherzer. Yeah, it just, I don't know if any of these guys are good enough is the big problem. That's a situation.

I will sort itself out. For the Cardinals on Saturday, Riley O'Brien came on in the seventh inning with a two-run lead facing the heart of the race lineup. He allowed two hits but got out of it. Jojo Romero pitched a clean eighth inning. Matt Svonson came on in the ninth with a four-run lead. He recorded two outs. he was charged with three runs.

Ryan Stannick came on. He allowed back-to-back hits to tie the game. Stannick came out for the 10th inning. He allowed an RBI single, but wound up with the win because the Cardinals walked it off. I do not think Ryan Stannick is good. Matt Fonson has looked bad in two appearances so far.

I think Riley O'Brien and Jojo Romero are probably their most reliable relievers, and that was the case last year. But that's not how they've been used so far. So I don't know. Yeah. I would not disinvest from Ryan. Riley O'Brien, if I had him already, because I think his time is coming.

I had no interest in Stanik, even though he got the first two save chances. I think he's not even one of their best three relievers, and he looks bad. So I just had no interest in investing in Stanik whatsoever. Sponson's velocity was down, and maybe he'll come around still, but I don't know that he's getting the next chance. Yep. For the raise on Saturday, Griffin Jacks got the 10th inning. with a one-run lead, he allowed a walk, then a sackbunt, then a two-run single.

He took the loss and is off to a disastrous start so far. Then on Sunday, Brian Baker came on in the ninth inning with a four-run lead. He pitched a clean inning to close that game out. But the raise tacked on two in the ninth. So it looked like he was going to get the save if it was a save opportunity. And in some of those deeper category leagues, I actually won Brian Baker in a few spots. I don't know that it's going to work out, but if they're going to use Griffin, Jack's kind of all over the place.

I could see Brian Baker maybe getting a few saves there. Yeah. I mean, that was the expectation. It wasn't necessarily, you know, would it be Baker? Would it be Garrett Clevenger? Would it be you say it if he was healthy? I think all of the above is likely to be the answer. Jack's likely to get most of the saves because that's, you know, what I was going to say about the Cardinals bullpen, you know, it seems messy right now.

When you have one pitcher who seems to be the best pitcher and is like the fireman or highest leverage guy, that guy usually ends up closing more often than not. It's not 100% of the time, but that's usually the way it shakes out in the end. All right, continuing on for the Twins on Saturday. They had a three-run lead. Justin Topa pitched a clean eighth inning. Cole Sands was using the ninth.

He walked one, struck out two for his first save. Taylor Rogers pitched on Thursday, but he was not using that game at all on Saturday. So kind of just feels like Cole Sands will start in that role, we think, and we'll see where it goes from there. For the Rangers on Saturday, Robert Garcia started the ninth inning with a three-run lead. He got two quick outs and then gave up a single and a walk. He was relieved by Chris Martin, who gave up back-to-back hits.

The game was tied, and then lefty Tyler Alexander picked up the save in the 10th inning. Do you guys have a feel for the Rangers right now? It kind of feels mixed and matchy, I guess. Yeah, I think Robert Garcia followed by Chris Martin. And just as we said going in, those are still my top two choices. I don't think we learned much, but they remain my top two choices. For the Iraqis on Sunday, Victor Vodnik entered with two outs in the eighth inning, a one-run lead, runners on first and second.

He hit a batter with a pitch and then had a couple strikeouts there. Victor Vodnick came back out for the ninth. He gave up a single, double play, then a double, then a walk-off two-run homer. He took the blown save and the loss. I don't think Vonnik is very good I don't think the Rockies are very good For the Nationals on Sunday Cione L Perez got the eighth inning with a four-run lead

He gave up a solo homer Clayton Beater got the ninth inning with a three-run lead Pitch a clean inning for the save On opening day They used Beater in the eighth inning And then I believe it was a four-run lead in the ninth And Cionel Perez pitched a ninth So they might mix and match

But I'm still leaning towards Clayton Beater Being the main option there for the Nationals. For the Astros on Sunday, Brian Abraeu got the ninth inning with a three-run lead. Walk, hit by pitch, fly-out, walk. And he was replaced by lefty Brian King,

who did get the final two outs for his first save. Were you guys... You dropped this King. Yeah. Are you guys looking to add Brian King at all anywhere? So Brian and Brady's velocity was down quite a bit. It was down three miles per hour in this one. It's not good.

He averaged 96 last year. He was down to 93 in this one. I don't think it was down quite as much in the previous outings. So maybe it's just, you know, probably his first time pitching on back-to-back days since last season. Maybe he just wasn't quite up to it yet. Yeah, his velocity was fine in the first outing. So I don't know. Oh, it was actually down four miles per hour from last year.

Excuse me. So, oh, geez. Yeah, that's concerned. In the first outing or in the second outing? In the second outing. The first outing was down about a mile per hour. Okay. I'm inclined to just chalk that.

Brian Bray is a guy who's got a pretty long track record of being an elite reliever. So I'm willing to give him the benefit of that out and chalked that up to just not having it that day. But it's worth noting. And then for the Brewers on Sunday, Trevor McGill got the first save opportunity here, a two-run lead. He allowed a hit, but struck out two for his first save. Abner Arebe pitched on Saturday. And I mean, this Brewers game was a little bit weird because they took the lead late. but I guess my lean is that McGill as the closer, I guess,

because he got the first safe. Yep. I mean, in Abner's appearance, Sunday was in the eighth, right? No, he didn't pitch on Sunday. He pitched Saturday. Saturday. Yeah. I think in the eighth or ninth inning, yeah.

Let me double check that. Yeah, that was my feel for it coming in, just because McGill never lost the job, you know? Yeah. He just got it. So Abner Uribe in on Saturday, pitched the eighth with a five-run lead, and he was followed by D.L. Hall, who closed out the game in a non-save situation.

But if they were, obviously, if they were planning on reserving Abner, Arribay for saves, I don't think we would have seen that usage on Saturday. So I think early signs strongly point to Miguel being just the closer. Doesn't mean Arribay couldn't overtake him at some point, but for now I'd say Miguel. All right, I've got a whole bunch of other leftover stuff from the weekend. So let's do a little rapid fire, get through the rest of this. Old faces in new places. Mackenzie Gore took a no-hitter into the sixth inning in his Rangers debut at the Phillies.

He likes pitching against the Phillies early on in the season. Remember that crazy game he had on opening day last year. Five and a third innings, two runs, seven strikeouts here, 15 whiffs on 90 pitches. Frammer Valdez, solid in his Tigers debut at the Padres. Six innings, two runs, one of those earned with five strikeouts to one walk. Chris, anything stand out here for you, Mackenzie Gore, Framber Valdez, on their new teams, their debut. Some mild changes to McKenzie Gore's approach.

He basically swapped out some four seamers for some sinkers. I think that was pretty much the biggest difference. I think it's too early to say, but I think it was on the whole somewhat encouraging. It wasn't like, oh my God, it's a brand new McKenzie Gore, but it was fine. Welcome to the Rangers, Brandon Nimmo, two for five with a steel on Saturday. Then he hit a home run on Sunday. Welcome to Chicago, Alex Brigham and two for four with a double dong on Sunday. And then Luis Robert, he continues to look like a different player so far.

Small sample, I get it. He had that great game on opening day, had that 10-pitch walk against Paul Skeens, had a walk-off three-run Homer on Saturday, then two-for-three with a run score on Sunday. It's been a very nice, encouraging start here for Luis Robert. Early signs looking good for a breakout here. Cam Schlittler, awesome, at the Giants. Five-and-a-third shot-out innings, one hit, eight strikeouts to zero walks.

that cutter velocity, 95 miles per hour. That was just like we saw in the spring, it was pretty crazy. And then Kate Horton, solid outing here against the Nationals, six and a third, two runs allowed, four strikeouts to one walk. Only one start, Scott, but the early returns looking pretty good here on Cam, Schlittler, and Kate Horton. Yeah, Schlittler especially, I feel great about him. Horton?

This was a start a lot like what we saw down the stretch from him last. year when he had that absurdly low ERA that was hard to understand. He actually had just, he threw his changeup a good amount as supposed to be his best pitch. Only got one whiff on it, which was a little surprising. I don't know. It was a good start. I wish we saw a little more from the change up, but I'm not going to harp on that after one start. I do want to just point out with Schlitler.

He's basically going like, I don't know, 90%? four seamer sinker and cutter and it's all 95 to 99 miles an hour and it all like the sinker or the the cutter gets about 11 inches of glove side movement relative to the four seamer and then the sinker gets about five inches relative to the four seamer and then the four seamer gets the rise and it's like that just sounds like a nightmare to try to hit just three different pitches all upper 90s all with different movement profiles it's it's it's it's You don't really, it's like a souped up version of Lance Lynn. And you don't really see anybody pitch like that anymore. But yeah, he might just be a superstar. It's very impressive what he's doing. Some of those sinkers, man, that he throws like 99 miles per hour in on a righty. They were just brutal.

I don't know how you can do. I don't know how you can do anything with those pitches. Yeah, he looked great in that first one. Could these three hitters be taking another step forward? Shea Bangaliers. Double Dong on Friday. Another Homer on Saturday. He has gotten better.

Basically each year he's been in the majors. Drake Baldwin, two homers this weekend. One against Cole Reagan's. The only area that he really could have improved as a hitter is the launch angle. And if he does that, I mean, we could get a pretty impressive power season here from Drake Baldwin.

And Willier or Abraeu just picking up right where he left off in the World Baseball Classic. Homer on both Friday and Saturday, started all three games, one against the lefty, two against the righty. Chris, what do you think about these three potentially taking another step forward? Bangaliers, Drake Baldwin, Willier-A-Brayu. Yeah, I think Abraeu looks very interesting just because we saw in the World Baseball Classic. We saw a little bit of in-spring training.

They're giving him that chance against lefties, at least early on. So it's interesting. This is the one of these three, because I drafted Langalears and Baldwin in a few leagues. I don't have any Williour Abraeu. I'm feeling us a mild tinge of FOMO so far about Williur Abrae. More so than like Saddam Rafael, another Red Sox outfit or I didn't draft at all. I feel more FOMO about Williour Abrae. He was in Cincinnati.

Mm-hmm. And normally he's going to be in Boston, which is a tough place for a left-hander whose power plays to his bullside mostly. I remains, I mean, obviously he's a fine fourth outfielder in fantasy, well, you're brave. But beyond that, the idea of him taking a big step forward, I remain skeptical of that. It's hard to see Langalear's getting much better than he was last year because he was already so good.

Isn't he going to be the number one catcher? I think Baldwin's the one I'm looking at here. The playing time we think is going to be close to every day, now that they have pretty much an open D.H spot, he D-Hed against the lefty on opening day. Cole Reagan's a really good lefty. And did his home run come off, Regens? Yeah, I can't remember.

Yeah, he homered off the lefty. So, yeah, I think Baldwin is such a good hitter, apart from just the fact he plays catcher. What happened with these starting pitchers that had some rough outings this weekend? We just mentioned Cole Regans. He was just bad at the Braves. Four innings, four runs allowed, four walks,

three homers allowed in this one. Scott, what did you see here from Cole Reagan's? Any concern at all? No, not really. The velocity was down a little bit. He just didn't seem as sharp as he usually is. I was seeing no reason for panic here. All right.

Next up, Kyle Braddish, not at his best against the twins, four and two thirds, three runs, two earned, three walks to four strikeouts. Velocity down a little bit. It was colder here in the northeastern. Chris, anything that you saw here from Kyle Braddish? I want to say, was he scoreless through four and then kind of ran into some trouble?

I think that was how that game went. So you're not going to get me to say much of anything negative about any of these guys, I think. Sorry. He allowed one run through four and then gave up two more in the fifth. Is that what the people want? They want you to say something negative. I mean, judging by the chat,

the chat's just been crapping on everyone. one today. So I think they want us to really overreact. We're not going to do it. There's a lot of that happening. I was talking to you guys beforehand where it's like, why can't we just be happy for baseball to be back? It's like, anything that I tweet is just met with like skepticism or snark and it's like, do we have to do this? Come on, man. Let's just have fun and be happy that baseball's back.

Come on, guys. Jesus Lazzardo had a rough one against the Rangers. Six inning, six runs, seven strikeouts, two homers allowed in this one. Scott, anything here for Lazzardo? I mean, unless the homers become chronic, it's going to be hard to succeed with you give up two homers in the game. So he gave up two homers in this game. But unless that becomes like something he's doing every game, I think he's going to be fine.

15 whiffs on 99 pitches, 7 base runners in six innings. It was a good start, except he gave up two home runs. Plus the bad starts don't count for Hazel. Well, when he's tipping his pitches. Yep. You're in agreement with that. Don't try and make this the Scotts a dummy thing. Oh, it wasn't a specifically you thing.

Okay. I'm making fun of everyone. Fair enough. Actually, okay. Okay. I do want to... There is one pitcher on this list. I'm actually a little bit concerned about.

Is it? Continue. All right. Emmett Sheen. His velocity remained down against the debacks, three in a third innings, four runs, six strikeouts to two walks here.

The velocity was down in spring. His velocity, he dropped down in his final inning of work. I actually had a buddy texting me today. Michael Waterloo, we've had him on the podcast before. And he was talking to me about how worried he is about Sheehan and how he has him in a Dynasty League and how he's looking to trade him

because he's pretty worried about what's happening here with Sheehan. So what do you guys think? I mean, there have been like several 91 mile an hour fastballs from MS. Sheen late in his starts, both in spring and now in the regular season. And, you know, for me it's just there there's been this weird disconnect. And I've commented on a few times between the way the fantasy baseball community looks at Emmett Sheehan, which is this is one of the most talented young pitchers in baseball.

And this is a burgeoning ace. And the way the Dodgers look at him, which is he's fine. He's useful to have around. But the Dodgers have not really prioritized Amishian in any way over the past, you know, eight months specifically in the way that. we have all been expecting them to, right? Like last year down the stretch, when it came time to skip a start, it was always Sheehan. And when it came time to move someone to the bullpen,

it was Sheen who got moved to the bullpen. And the way we talk about Sheehan is this is like a top 30 starting pitcher in baseball. That's what he was being drafted as for fantasy. Talent-wise, it feels like he should be. If the velocity is there, of course. Yeah, but I'm just wondering if maybe this is what the Dodgers are seeing that we're not. that there's just some limitations or something in his skill set that's not quite what it appears in, you know, a lot of shorter outings last season. You didn't have a few seven inning outings, too, that were really good.

Yeah, there were. But was he like throwing 100 pitches? I would guess not. I would guess he was, you know, just unusually efficient in those outings. But it's worth noting that this was not what we were seeing last year, right? We're seeing three mile per hour drops over the course of a game. so far in spring and then in this first start, that was unusual for him last year.

So this is just me spitballing ideas of like, what could possibly explain that disconnect because that's been the only thing for Sheehan, whereas when I look at the skill set and I look at what he, you know, the pitch mix and everything, it's like, man, this guy's awesome. Why don't the Dodgers seem to view him that way?

You know, even this spring, when they talked about we have our guys. Sheen was never like one of the core rotation. rotation guys. It was always like Sasaki's in the rotation and then it's open after that. And it's like, well, Sheehan got in. He was the number two starting pitcher at the end of the day, but it was like it just never quite seems like they are as on board as we think they should be. And that's just the one thing because the Dodgers are smarter than me. I don't know about you guys, but I feel confident that people running the Dodgers.

The people running the Dodgers are definitely smarter than me. And so that has been my disconnect. That's what I've been trying to figure out. Maybe there's just something that they've been seeing that we haven't seen. I'm not panicking about Sheehan. I'm not dropping him certainly. I'm probably not trading him. But this is concerning for sure.

Would you start him this week if you have him at the Nationals? I would, yeah. The Nationals, yeah. Yep. I don't think this Joey Weamer thing is going to last very long. Tatuya I. had a rough debut against the Angels, two and two thirds, innings, four runs, four walks, four strikeouts,

49% of his pitches for strikes. Scott, obviously, look, the strike throwing stands out here. Do you use him this week at the athletics, which is a very tough environment to pitch in? Yeah, but it's also a very strikeout prone lineup, as we were just talking about, with the three Blue Jays pitchers who face him. I'm not unconcerned starting in.

am I, but I think it's too early to pull the plug. I mean, 49% strike rate is beyond awful, but it was also his first time making a major league start. And, you know, I know he had all spring to get used to the new ball and everything, but this was obviously on a different level from that. And I think, I think we can give him a little grace for this. If it continues much longer, then we have a problem. But I think against the athletics with a matchup that favorable,

I would run Am I out there again. Mike Burroughs, Rough Astros debut here against the Angels, five and two thirds innings, five runs, two homers allowed in this one. Did change up the pitch mix quite a bit. He gets the Red Sox this week. Chris, A, are you holding Mike Burroughs? Are you benching him against the Red Sox? I probably wouldn't start him against the Red Sox,

but I wouldn't drop him either. I wasn't quite as excited about Burroughs as you guys were, but I still think you need more than one or two, one start, certainly. Yep. And oh my gosh, Brandon Sprote, I am, I'm sorry if you streamed him and you listen to me, I apologize. He got destroyed by the White Sox, three innings, seven runs allowed, four walks, three home runs allowed in this one. I mean, he did some interesting things under the hood, but, I mean, it didn't matter.

He got crushed, obviously. L'Loste was way up from when we saw him in the majors. He had this new cutter. that the brewers introduced to be at it. Like, it's not even worth bringing that up when it starts so bad for a guy who was barely rosterable in the first place. So I think most people are going to drop Brandon Spro.

I think that's fine. It wouldn't surprise me if he has value again at some point this season, but obviously you can go ahead and drop Brandon Sprook. Some hitting leftovers from the weekend. Big G. John Carlos Stan off to a nice start. Started in all three games, multiple hits in all three.

He homered on Friday, 108, velocity 414 feet 88% rostered on CBS that kind of surprised me for John Carlos Stanton Mike Trout especially with how many points there are yeah right yeah as in it surprised you how high it is yes yes yes

John Carlo to me feels like five outfielder roto league nothing more than like no league shallower than that I would roster him in 55 to 65% rostered rather than 88 something like that Mike Trout Chris, so far so good. Followed up his opening day, sock and his shoe with another home run on Friday.

109.7, exit velocity, 403 feet on that one. Zach Netto, Han looks okay. He's off to a nice start, homered on both Friday and Sunday. He had a stolen base on Saturday. Christian Yelich off to a nice start as well, two for four, with two runs on opening day. He had a steal on Saturday, came off the bench with a go-ahead three-run homer here on Sunday. And Yandi Diaz, racking up the head.

hits early on. He had three hits on opening day that a five hit game with four RBI on Sunday. He is batting a cool 563 through his first three games. Pitching leftovers. Aces being aces. I'll just read off the names here. If you guys have anything, go for it. Chris Sale, Brian, who, Kevin Gosman, and George Kirby. Anything on those four that you guys saw? Kirby, Gosman, Brian Wu, Chris Sale. I still had to see arm angle data on George Kirby. I didn't see it either. Yeah. That's annoying because that's what I'm waiting to see if he recaptured at the 2024 angle. Yeah, it's not out there. That's weird. Yeah. They're hiding it. They don't want us to know. They don't want us to know. Mm-hmm. Anything on those four or just kind of status quo?

Yeah, I mean, I think the fact that he's still not throwing the change-up slash splitter seems, would seem to indicate that he's not the guy he was in 2024. Again, as I have, I've said all spring. That doesn't necessarily mean he's worse or bad. He's just different. That's George Kirby we're talking about. George Kirby. But I think George Kirby will be good. It's just a question of how good will he be?

Four other starting pitcher leftovers here. Sandy Alcansara looked great against the Rockies. Seven innings, one unearned run with five strikeouts. Yuri Perez, mixed start against the Rockies. Two homers loud. Don't love that. But seven innings, eight strikeouts. Obviously, that's great.

Connolly Early looked pretty. good at the Reds, five and a third, one run, six strikeouts, and Nolan McLean racked up the whiffs against the Pirates, five innings, two runs, eight strikeouts. Chris, anything that stood out here, Noah McLean, Connolly Early, Yuri Perez, and Sandy. Sandy. I think McLean was pretty ify early on in this one. I think he had two walks in the first inning from remembering correctly and then settled down. So look, the stuff is clearly awesome. And it's just a question of how good the command can be. And I think it's just a... question of can he be a top 25 starting pitcher or can he be a top 15 starting pitcher?

I think he has that kind of upside. Just has to consistently throw strikes, but I think he's going to miss a lot of bats. So very excited about Nolan McLean, Yuri Perez. It's just two bad pitches, which that's all it was. He's going to be awesome. And it's just kind of similar to Nolan McLean. Can he be a top 25 starting pitcher if he, if it's like 1.2 home runs per nine, he's a top 25 pitcher.

If it's 0.8 home runs per 9, he's probably a top 15 starting bench. I'm wondering if Frank has any FOMO, seeing Yuri Perez go seven innings in its very first start of the year. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Ten hard hits allowed 94.3 average EV. I was seven innings. I thought your contention was that, oh, they won't give him enough innings to let him be an ace.

Yeah, I mean, I was worried about the home runs, too. He gave up two home runs to the Rockies, you know. So we'll see. We'll see. Jury's still out. Call to the bullpen here. Some other... What? What's up?

The Yuri. Oh, yes. That was right there for me. After years of not having a closer, the Marlins finally have a closer. And his name is Pete Fairbanks. He had saves on both Friday and Saturday. For the Yankees, David Bednar, saves on both Friday and Saturday. For the Dodgers.

Edwin Diaz, sound the trumpets. Picked up saves on both Friday and Saturday as well. For the Padres on Saturday, Mason Miller. Ninth inning with a three-run lead. walked one, struck out two. Did you guys see Mason Miller's entrance? I did the...

It was amazing. There's a Twitter account called Great Moments in New Metal History that tweeted out the highlight package. Yeah, I mean I don't know if it will matter as much to you, Scott, because he walks out to the song called Blind by the band Corn, but it was

pretty epic, too. That was pretty cool. I mean, I love the Dodgers. They've got a live trumpeteer for the Timmy trumpet song now for Edwin's outcomes yeah yeah that was awesome I love it man like let's let's uh see I don't know I don't know what the the verb word version of theatricalize or I don't know what whatever that word is we need more theater for closers I would absolutely love that yes let's do it for the Orioles on Sunday Ryan Helsley picked up his second save for the Tigers on Friday Kenley Jansen struck out the side for his first save

For the Blue Jays on Friday, Jeff Hoffman just picking up right where he left off, game-tying home run. But then he did get the save on Sunday. He looked much better in that second outing. For the Reds on Saturday, Pagan gave up a solo home run in the ninth inning, took the blown save. Then on Sunday, he wiggled out of it for his first save. For the White Sox, Sir Anthony Dominguez, not a great first outing here. came on in the eighth inning. Bases, juice, three-run lead.

He got William Contreras to pop out. Then he gave up a two-run single to Luis Renhifo, followed by a three-run homer to Christian Yellich. And the final line here, point one inning, two hits, two runs, one walk, blown, save, and loss for Sir Anthony Dominguez. Not great. It'll get better. It'll get better.

The only place we could go is up, Scott, for Dominguez. To stream or not to stream on Monday. names that stood out to me here we have Chris Bassett against the Rangers Cody Ponce against the Rockies is like number one with a bullet Jacob Lopez at the Braves

Kyle Harrison against the Rays Braxton Ashcraft at the Reds Simeon Woods Richardson at the Royals what are guessing my top three would probably be Cody Ponce I think Jacob Lopez

chasing the strikeouts there And number three Harrison You would I think Bassett I kind of think Ashcraft I like Ashcraft too But in Cincinnati it scares me a little bit

He does get a lot of ground balls Yeah Yeah I probably like that I would probably go Ponce Ashcraft Bassett As my three there On Tuesday I like Jacob Lopez but at the Braves

Kind of scary first start On Tuesday we have Efflin against the Rangers Brandon Williams Sitting against the Pirates Max Scherzer against the Rockies in Toronto. Jose Soriano, good for a start, but at the Cubs, don't love the matchup. Yeah, I'm actually streaming Scherzer in some leagues as a guy who doesn't enjoy streaming,

getting the Road Rockies. That's the cushiest matchup of all. Yep. Goose Scher. Don't love any of these others on Tuesday. I'm very interested to seem Hermann-Marquez pitch, but I'm not ready to stream him. If you're forcing me to pick two more,

I'd probably go, Jansen Junk and Brandon Williams and honestly. That's not a ringing endorsement. Eflin had a good spring. I don't think the Rangers lineup is very good. It's okay. So Eflin could work, but I kind of want to see what he does

in his first start before I go out there and use him. The biggest news of all this weekend. We'll just wrap up. I mentioned it earlier. Guys, I finally did it. I watched Jurassic Park, tweeted it out. I had people responding like, what does this mean for baseball?

Because they just didn't. They're like, what's the context? Why do you care about Jurassic Park? All you're supposed to do is watch baseball, Frank. Come on. I did watch a lot of baseball. It's a perfect movie. It was, it was good.

It was enjoyable. I can understand why for the time period that it came out, like, being the preeminent dinosaur movie. Like, I totally get it. Oh, there's been, it's been out, out shown by all these dinosaur movies since then. Is that what you're saying? Honestly, I haven't seen many dinosaur movies at all, Scott. So it's a... Jurassic Park just kind of, I guess, stands at the top.

It's the best one. My favorite part is, honestly, and I tweeted this at you Scott, like seeing Jeff Goldblum's character, and he's just like they're shirtless in like a provocative way, coming off a scene where like a lot of very serious things were happening was just mind-blowing and hilarious to me. I don't know why, but it just... It was so funny.

The choices Jeff Goldblum makes in this movie are baffling. And that's usually true. Jeff Goldblum's kind of a baffling actor. That's part of what we love about Jeff Goldblum. But like, just the line readings and the like the way he speaks, it just nothing really makes sense about it. Oh, like he's like, he's like, lounging back. Goldblum. Like shirtless lounging in the back of the Jeep.

It was so funny. It's real weird. A phenomenal movie. Yes. It's, and I, I mentioned this to you, you to, I mentioned this to you over Twitter, Frank, but the, the, the, the, the initial T-Rex attack on the jeeps in the rain is probably my favorite movie sequence of all time. When the dinosaur looks into the window and they shine the flashlight, oh, there are so many great. The guy runs to the bathroom.

Yeah. I mean, there's so many, like, it's, there's so much to. comment on like i can write a book just on that scene everything from like you know grant waving the flare and trying to get the terex's attention and then it looks at him and just the way his whole body buckles in that moment i love that i love the the tension cutting of the jeff goldblum wiping the the windshield clean you know like it just the tension of it is amazing um yeah that's spillberg guy Good at making movies. This is best one, I think, honestly.

It's the one I enjoyed the most. Mm-hmm. That was good. I'm a Lincoln Head, personally. You guys crushed me last year for never seeing Jurassic Park. I don't know. I don't know what I was doing in my childhood. It was a lot of like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-O and like Dragon Ball Z and anime stuff.

And just watching the same Adam Sandler movies over and over again and just never getting to Jurassic Park. But I finally did. And it was fun. So we watched Jurassic Park over and over here. It might be the movie I've seen them. honestly. We are going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into 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. Bye-bye. Paramount Podcasts.