Fantasy Baseball Today - Our FINAL 12-Team Roto Mock Draft Part 2! Rounds 14-23 Picks & Team Recaps (3/19 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

We're into the second half of our final 12-team Roto mock draft! We're breaking down rounds 14-23, highlighting picks, strategy and roster construction. How early did Red Sox prospect Kristian Campbell go in this draft? 🏀 Join our Fantasy Baseball Today Bracket Game: https://shorturl.at/zezZC Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CPTowers @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Welcome back into our two, part two of our live 12-team Rotow Mott draft. We are into round 14. And the latest picks, Spencer Steer, Byron Buxton, Royce Lewis, and Alec Bome. So definitely some picks to talk about here. Spencer Steer hurt with the shoulder. Sounds like he's going to start on the IL, so he makes it to 157. I feel like he's been falling further than that in other drafts we've done recently.

Royce Lewis also going to start on the IL with that hamstring strain. He falls to 159. I think I moved him into the 150-ish range in my rankings. I guess you could argue you could be lower than that, but always also going to start on the IL, and then Scott you selected Alec Bohm. Was Bowman the plan, or were you maybe eyeing a Royce Lewis injury status to start the season?

No, I wasn't considering Lewis. I have him at the end of the same tier as Bone, but behind Bone. and yeah, I don't know. I've been kind of unsure of myself the last couple picks here. This is such an unfamiliar draft for me. The vibes are weird, right? Yeah, well, the facts like the closer pool has already been decimated in round 14 is also kind of throwing me. So I went with, I ultimately decided to go with Bone because I feel like my first two picks in the draft,

which were Kyle Tucker and Julio Rodriguez, not as firm of a batting average base as maybe others with their first couple picks. Remember, I passed on Vladimir Guerrero in round two. And so I'm thinking from that corner infield spot, I'm going to appreciate the batting average that Bone will provide rather than power that I could get from, let's say, a Ryan Mount Castle or a Reese Hoskins,

somebody like that later on. And partly, I just didn't see a pick workmate, work a pick worth making in any of the other spots I had. So there hasn't been a pick that's really screamed to me. You got to take this guy in the last couple rounds. So I'm trying to meet a category that's difficult to meet at that stage of the draft. At this stage of the draft, I mean with the with the bone pick there. All right.

After bone, we got Kevin Gosman, Colton Couser, Louisa Rice, Carlos Correa, Zander Bogartz, Tyler O'Neill, and I selected Carlos Rodon. Chris, we both selected players named Carlos. Is this where you have Correa or was it kind of a needs-based thing? 164. Obviously, that's ahead of ADP, but you're all right with him here in this range, round 14. Pretty much why I have him. I just think he's being way overlooked.

His ADP in NFBC leagues is still 224.6, which is actually up a couple of rounds over the last few. And that's one where I get why he goes later in FBC drafts, but part of the influence of that league has caused him to be really overlooked in, like your 12-team league with IL spots. If Carlos Carrillo only plays 90 games, the 170th pick is probably worth it because whatever he gives you, if he can be as good as he was last year and in 2022,

plus whatever you get from a replacement shortstop, he's going to be an awesome player and I think a good pick here. All right, after we got the Correa pick, there was Bogart's Tyler O'Neill, Rodon, as I mentioned. Brandon Lau is the last pick of round 14.

Wanted to go back to Royce Lewis for a second. Have you guys lowered him in the rankings yet? We still don't really have a timetable. Like I mentioned, I moved him down to 150th. Originally I had him, I think, like around 105. So let's say like a three, four round drop

for Royce Lewis. I moved him down to like 175, which I think was like, I think it only ended up being like the 13th or 14th third baseman. So not as big of a fall within that rank as you might think. But yeah, I would be a little surprised if we saw him in April just because it's Royce Lewis and they have to be extra careful with him.

But it's part, like if you look at the median time, missed for a hamstring strain and they said moderate so that sounds like somewhere in the middle of the range of outcomes the average is about 26 days missed and the median is like 21 or something so it's possible he's back relatively soon i just do think you probably have to air on the side of caution with rossilis we're into around i'm he's just he's like right around 200 for me Okay, so I probably need to move him down a little bit lower there with Royce Lewis. Into round 15, Cedric Mullins.

I selected Mason Wynn, who was scratched from the lineup on Tuesday due to a sore wrist. And he's had a pretty brutal spring. I wonder if, you know, maybe he's been dealing with this wrist for a little bit here. But it doesn't sound too serious right now. They said it was precautionary. And I like him as a breakout candidate this year. says he wants to steal more bases. So I'm not completely backing off

unless we hear a report that it's a more serious injury or maybe starting on the IL. But Mason Wynn is a name to monitor. After I selected him, there was Spencer Arrogetti, Nick Castiano, Christian Campbell and Clay Holmes. Chris.

Yeah. Christian Campbell, 15th round. That's where I moved him, more or less in the rankings. It'll either be the right, spot or way too high, depending on if he actually does make the Red Sox. But I don't know, man, everything, like his numbers in spring aren't good. It's like a 500 OPS. But every indication is that they're still very happy with what he's done.

He was good in the breakout game, which doesn't count reports on like the off fields are very good. The backfields, I guess. Let's take this report at its word That he's going to be on the On the opening day roster Let's see Where would you guys rank him if he was 100% certain to be in the everyday

The opening day lineup Who are we talking about? Christian Campbell Oh I think top 200 pick Yeah I think it has to be Probably behind Shaw though

Who hasn't been drafted Yeah that's fair And I don't know. I think I have Shaw around 200. You would have him behind Shaw if we knew for sure he was going to, Campbell was going to be in the effort day lineup. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. I have Shaw a spot ahead in my prospect rankings and I feel more comfortable with the way he's performed the spring that he's going to hit the ground running. Like I know there's this narrative among those in the Ridd sucks beat that that Campbell's look better. Well, the performance really hasn't been better. He stopped striking out so much, I guess, but he's still not actually getting hits. After Campbell, we got Clay Holmes, Pete Fairbanks, Ezekiel Tovar, Bryson Stott to Scott.

Bryson Stott to Scott, that's fun. Ronaldo Lopez. Scott, how you doing, man? Because I heard a few gags in there and gasps and saw you, saw you furiously. I mean, a lot of it's just the draft is moving so fast. And I can't. I look at my sheet here. see, oh, this guy's available, but I don't really think he's available, you know, so I have to go in and check. Is he really available?

And so, uh, just, you know, I kind of feel like I'm struggling to keep my head above water here. Um, and then the other aspect is this, man, he ends up taking Jackson Holiday. I thought, see, I thought I had to take Bryson Stott now and I could pair him with Jackson Holiday later. I may be paying a little too much attention to ADP is the other thing, because, uh, this draft isn't following ADP that closely. We're in the, we're in the throw ADP out of the window. I was just going to say, the phase of the process.

Once we get to have all these discussions. The whole draft, but, well, you're right, but that's, no, that's what I'm saying is that,

like, what ends up inevitably happening every year. And it's true in football. It's true in basketball. It's true in every sport in fantasy is, we have all these discussions for months and months and months and months about, this is what ADP says. And that's a reach and that's a steal.

And then the last. week before the season, that stuff just kind of gets thrown out of the window and people just go get their guys. And this has been a go get your guy draft. Yeah, certainly has. After Scott selected, Bryson Stott, Rodolo Lopez, Jackson Holiday, Jackson Joe, back-to-back Jackson's nice. And into round 16, the first pick was Austin Wells, who sounds like he will lead off against right-handed pitching for the New York Yankees. and the next pick was Logan O Hoppe. Might have been an auto pick. I don't know if you want to check in on that one, Scott.

Yeah, I'll check on that. See if he wants to stick with that pick here. But Chris, we are seeing some pitching risers here, the previous round or so. Clay Holmes and Jackson Joe both going in round 15. Yeah, Holmes, I think this is a little bit earlier than he's going to go, but not far off, right? Like, I think this is where we have mostly moved him in our ranking.

his ADP is still outside of the top 200, but it's very close. And yeah, once you're in this part of the draft, the error bars on ADP are like 30 or 40 picks wide. You know, like if you take someone 40 picks ahead of their ADP with the 170th pick, depending on what you needed and who you like, that might be fine. Yeah. I will say Jackson Job. I don't know.

I don't care for Joe. I don't know how I feel about him. And I wrote about this in my rankings risers piece earlier this week. I wrote about five or 10 players who are rising in the rankings, five who are dropping. And Job was the one who I can't figure out what I want to do with because every time I watch him, the stuff looks awesome. And every time TJ's stats or,

Lance Brasdowski or any of those super smart guys post about him. It's like this looks like one of the most talented pitchers in the league. And there have not been any strikeouts. And he's given up three home runs. And there's been walks. And he's getting no whiffs. And so it's just like clearly the talent is there. And then he's talked about this.

There was a piece in fan graphs earlier this or on Sunday, I think, where he talked about like the stuff he believes in his stuff. He thinks like there was a quote when he faced Vladimir. McGarer, where he said, here's my stuff. If you can hit it, great, but I don't think you can. But he was also like, now it's about learning the sequencing and when to throw certain pitches. And like, maybe that's just what it is.

Maybe that's why the numbers this spring aren't what they should be. But I'm also not 100% certain that Jackson Job is going to be in the rotation at this point. I actually think it's less likely he will be than that. How do I want to? I think he's probably not going to be in the rotation at this point. Yeah. Because he just hasn't gotten it done.

And he himself expressed concerns about his ability to put away batters. Like that was the reason he brought up the sinker and curveball that he hasn't really featured so much this spring. So yeah, I think I think he needs some more time to bake down. But it is worth noting that the guy that Ross to research. source has in the rotation ahead of him is Kenta Maeda. Right. I think Cater Montero is the one not getting enough attention here. But I will just because Kentomaius had an awesome spring.

He's looked really good. I also think it's entirely possible. Kenta Maeda makes one start and it's so disastrous that he's done. And Jackson Jobjets get called up, gets called up a week into the season. The way they've been talking about Cater Montero this spring makes me think the world at large is sleeping on his chances of making the rotation. And he's looked good too. I've heard some smart people and seen some things just talking about Kate Aramontero and how good he's looked so far this spring. And I saw a news item earlier today and some people might scoff at this. But

Alex Cobb is through a bullpen session on Saturday. And he's resumed mound work. They gave him a big one-year deal. When he's healthy, he's going to pitch. They're going to put him back in the rotation. So that does add another name to the mix here for the tiger's rotation. Catching people up on picks after Austin Wells, there was Paul Goldschmidt, Trevor Story, Anthony Volpey. All right, a couple of Yankees here. Lane Thomas, Tommy Edmund, Sean Maniah, and Chris you selected Zach Eflin. I'm building the just most boring pitching staff of all time. So I made the Volpe pick.

Scott, I feel like this has turned into a bizarreo draft for you. you. It really had. I mean, just the fact that I started with all those outfielders, it made it inevitable. I figured, okay, I was going to pair here at the round 14, 15 turn. I was going to pair Bryson Stott with Jackson Holiday, second base, middle infield. And then if that didn't work out, Bryce and Stott and Andres Jimenez. But then I saw Volpe was still out there. And I was like, you know, Volpe always goes so early. And it doesn't make any sense. but he was 40 picks behind ADP here. And I compared him and I was comparing him and Jimenez side by side. And I was like, you know, I might just prefer Volpe to Jimenez straight up. I was going to say, I thought it was surprising you took Volpe with Tommy Edmund on the board. But you don't have an outfielder or utility. Right.

Yeah. That would you have, if they were eligible at the same position, would you have taken admin over Volpey? I wonder how I rank them relative to each other. He only needs four more appearances to be second base eligible. I don't know if you notice that. It's not an issue in a mock like this. That is a good point though, Chris.

And he started a second base today that I don't, I think that's just because Mookie was out, but it was worth noting. When we only draft starting lineups, which is often what we do in these moks. It's not something I think about. I do have Volpe quite a bit ahead of Edmund in my rankings, but I'm not sure I should. He has a shortstop, and Edmund would be second base in addition to outfield.

So that that factors into the ranking. But of course, I already had a short stop. Yeah, I don't know. That's a good, good thought. I've got to be honest, guys. Read this draft, I am straight up not having a good time. I don't know where it feels I felt like it went sideways on me early and I just I have been fighting for air the whole time. I am not super thrilled with like I've got my two outfield and utility spot left and I it is bleak out there in these outfield slash utility streets but you have I have outfielders yeah you have outfield and utility both filled you're good I I wish I had Marcelo Zuna.

Yeah I'm not I'm not super cam smith just goes inside the. top 200. Yeah, he probably should if he's going to be on the team. Lots of picks have happened dating back to round 16, so let's catch people up. When Chris selected Zach Eflin, there was Shane Boz, Ryan Pepeyo. I'm going to pause it just for a second because I think this is getting away from

us. I took Kenley Jansen and then the last pick of round 16 was Grayson Rodriguez, 190 2nd who threw off flat ground from 75 feet here on Tuesday. That is the restart of his pitching progression. And then into round 17, Justin

Martinez. I took Nathan Avaldi. He was looking for a little bit of whip help. Carrie Carpenter, Cam Smith, 196th overall, and then Yvonne Herrera went to Chris. I think for sure two names we're talking about, Grayson Rodriguez, who I mentioned already, and then Cam Smith, who we let off yesterday's Deep Sleepers podcast talking about, you know, the biggest riser this spring. There was a report on Tuesday. Chandler Rome of the Athletic wrote that it still seems far-fetched, Cam Smith break camp as Houston's everyday right fielder. So what do we do now? We just don't know.

But here's the thing. We know Matt Shaw is the Cubs third basements. So why would you take Cam Smith ahead of Matt? Why does everybody hate Matt Shaw? What did he do? What did he do that Christian, that a maybe Christian Campbell and a maybe Cam Smith deserve preferential treatment to him? What did he do?

He went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts, Scott. So it looked pretty overmatched. I don't know if you saw. Watch the game, Scott. No, he just. But I do agree with you. Yeah, I think Cam Smith, who we don't know will be on the roster versus Matt Scholl who is betting fifth for the Cubs.

I wouldn't make that move. I think if we knew Christian Campbell and Cam Smith were on their respective rosters, I think you make a case for them ahead of Mass Shaw. You know, there could be more upside with both. I mean, nobody's called Cam Smith a better prospect. That's, yeah, I think Cam Smith versus Matt Shaw, I would definitely lean Shaw. Campbell, I just think Campbell's a better prospect. From the prospect people that I trust, I think he has a stronger skill set.

He was as good as Matt Shaw was. Christian Campbell was arguably the most productive hitter in the minors last season. I think he was the minor league player of the year for baseball America. And now it's a one-year sample size. He was not a first round pick like Matt Shaw was. It was, you know, only 130 games or 120 games, whatever it was, unproven above AAA or above double A really. So I can see right now in this world where Matt Shaw is on the team and Christian Campbell is not.

I can see also giving Shaw the edge. But if Campbell, if we're stipulating Camble, if we're stipulating Campbell's on the roster, I'd take him over, Shaw. All right. I did like my most recent pick, finally. That was Yvonne Herrera, followed by Ryan Malkasel, Logan O'Hoppe, Glaver Torres, Nick Povetta to Scott, and Gabriel Moreno. Chris, do you actually rank Yvonne Herrera ahead of O'Hopi and Moreno?

Because that seems high to go about those guys. I believe I do have him ahead of Moreno. I don't think I do on O'Hopi, but I'm so bleh on O'Hopi that it's, yeah, I might as well. I don't know. I think Logan O'Hoppy is not going to have the playing time edge that people think he did or that he did last year and people are assuming he will. And Travis Arno is going to play a lot. And I have questions about this job.

This is moving too fast. It's driving me crazy. Slow down, everybody. We're not in a rush to end this. Not a cool cucumber. I know. From a content perspective, I do like watching. I want to say all the stuff I want to say.

I wanted to say that Grayson Rodriguez at 192 would seem to reflect a new reassurance that he's going to be okay and not miss much time because his ADP over the weekend was 257. So that's going back like a round at this point, I understand, but it did seem worth noting. All right, catching people up here after Scott selected Nick Povetta, Gabriel Moreno, Andres Jimenez, Yusei, Kikuchi, and then Michael Garcia. And you say Kukuchi fell way too far. I don't know what that was. 204th overall and the ADP over the past week at the NFBC. By 175.

175. So yeah. But a about a. And I think that 175 value is pretty good for you sake of Kukuchi. I know. They're not going to slow it down. There's not. There are some concerns about.

See my tears here? Can't keep up. It's useless. It's hopeless. Yeah. No point. Scott, your rankings are in the draft room. I don't know if you're aware.

Tears. Yeah, but they should just be ingrained in your mind by now. Come on, Scott. There is a top. You just choose top in the draft room. It'll give you the top players at each position. After Michael Garcia, we get bowed in Francis, Michael Kidfordo. Scott, you're on the clock.

Did want to talk about Michael Kinforto because before Freddie Freeman was scratched in the lineup, he was not in there against the lefty, Shota Imanaga. which don't love to see that. What was, I didn't see the lineup. I did actually wake up in time for the game, which caused like a minor fight with my wife. She was not happy that my alarm went off at 4, 545 in the morning.

But I did not see what the original lineup was. It was Kike Hernandez in left field. I, okay, that. I love Kikea, but I don't really think that makes a lot of sense. I mean, I hope that doesn't remain, but Dave Roberts also loves Kike Hernandez. I do think you often see at the start of seasons managers be a little more aggressive with subbing players in and out. And in that case, it's the first game after they won the World Series. Kike was a huge part of that.

He had a great playoff. So, you know, it could just be as simple as we'll give our guy. you know, we love our guy Kike, we'll give him this moment. It could be that. I'm speculating. I don't know. After Conforto, Alexis Diaz and then Jose Barrios, Scott, who paid you to draft Alexis Diaz? I mean, I didn't have any saves yet.

So far. I just threw my tear sheet away that shows all the potential save candidate. I know there aren't many left. So it was him or David Bednar, and I decided Alexis Diaz worries me slightly less at this particular point in time. Flip a coin, I guess. Alexis Diaz versus David Bednar. Who will be the closer and who will last is the closer? The answer might be neither.

After Barrios, we got Christian Incanaccio and Shran, T.J. Friedel and Chris, you are back up. And we're back to hating everything. Really? I think I'm going to take a player I literally have not drafted this year one of those just eat your oatmeal picks it's Taylor Ward but I need an outfielder

I still had two outfield spots left to fill and Taylor Ward will be a starting caliber outfielder by the end of the season the ride tends to be pretty bumpy he was pretty bad in the first half of last season if I remember correctly and then I had a huge second half

at the end of the year though he was like a top 24 outfielder, which I don't think that accurately reflects how valuable he was, but it did happen, I guess. This won't surprise anybody, but I don't think I've ever had oatmeal. Is it good? What? I don't think so. I bet this will surprise nobody. That is the most shocking part of the statement.

Have you had like grits? You've never had oatmeal? I've had a lot of stuff. cereal in my life. Have you ever had lettuce? I don't think they're the same things. I mean, lettuce is on everything. Oatmeal is on nothing. Have you had polenta? It's a major grain. What are you talking about? I don't think I've never had a bowl of oatmeal in my life. I just don't think I have. Look, oatmeal is like the oatmeal of breakfast, you know?

Like nobody's ever excited. Whatever that means, you guys are not helping. Oh, man. Here's some, here's some. I used to love some instant oatmeal as a kid. Here's some warm. and mushy oats. Like, it's, it's not great. But with the instant stuff, it's so sugared up, you know. Yeah, it does taste great. You put out of sugar in anything. Shout out to Raymond Atherton in the chat, who has never had oatmeal either.

Let's go. Wow. Yeah, Scott, maybe you're on an island here. Did you ever think about that? Oh, come on. Someone in the- half an aisle in the grocery store devoted to oatmeal. Someone in the chat said they've never had oatmeal either.

So there you go. This is a generational thing. You know, I did get oatmeal about a year ago, like an eight pack of oatmeal. And I think there's still seven of them in there. Yeah, exactly. It was one of those ones where I was like, oh, look at me. I'm going to eat breakfast. No, you're not.

Come on, Chris. Grow up. Whenever I wake up, I either eat cereal or, I mean, most of the times it's lunchtime, but the time I wake up. Yeah, I have my diet Coke and then I eat around three. I think cereal or I usually make an egg sandwich or something like, I don't know. It's just oatmeal never came to mind. It was just the last thing I was thinking about.

I'm just surprised because it's such an easy thing for a parent to give a kid. You didn't need it growing up. No, it was mostly cereal growing up. Yeah, mostly cereal, but change it up every now. I like the, I guess we should talk about the draft. Yeah, we probably should. I'm tired of the draft. After Chris selected Taylor Ward.

Scott, this was your idea, by the way. So after Taylor Ward, McKenzie Gore, Alec Berlison, I selected Jorge Saler, and I needed power. So I thank you everybody for letting Jorge Saler make it back to me. On the clock, by the way,

Evan Carter and Josh Young, back-to-back Rangers. I like that turn. This late, that's a big upside turn. I like that. Oh, you know what? I'll go ahead and,

well, do I want to do that? Well, yeah, he's falling so far. Like, we keep talking about him and no one wants him. I'll go ahead and take match. I don't have a corner infielder yet. You know, hoping 15-15, 20-20. Great pick, Frank.

If things work out, at 218th overall, I'll do that every time. I should have taken something other than Alec Boehm, when I took Alec Boeum. All right, well, after Matt Shaw, I selected Yandy Diaz. Luis Renhifo, that's the other player I was thinking about taking there. He lasted way too long, too. 220th overall for Renhifo in a 12-team-roto league, second base and third base, where... Still not sure he's going to be ready for opening day, right?

I guess we're not sure, but I feel like the news has been positive. My mouse will start working here. So I'll look up the latest news on Luis Renhifo, but it does feel like he slipped a little bit too far. And then Chris, you selected Lucas Erseg. Are you still feeling good about him over Carlos Estevez for now? I know there's been some antsiness over the last maybe 24 hours about Erseg. I guess did Carlos Estabez

get a save in today's spring game? Was that why people were starting to get a little, a little itchy? Just the fact that Estevez is back in pitching and he's not going to begin the year on the IL. Presumably he has enough time to be ready. So do the Royals go back to the original plan, which I think officially the plan is to have the two split save chances.

We know that doesn't usually last very long. And I think RSEG is the better pitcher. I think RSEG is the better pitcher. but obviously they're paying Estevez like a closer and he has more closing experience. Yeah, so it's possible. I get it. Look, at 221 overall,

I think it's fine to just take the better pitcher in a split bullpen. Luis Renhifo, by the way, was back in the lineup on Friday, last Friday. Okay. So he's good. Yeah, there's probably enough time. There's enough time to prep and be ready for opening day.

So 220th overall for Renhifo, who can give you, you know, 15 homers, 25 steals. He's got that. I mean, he was on like a 40 steel pace last year. He doesn't have the foot speed to make you think he can do that, but the Angels were very aggressive on the base pass last year. Pretty much everybody had career highs who stayed healthy. So, yeah, I think that's a good pick.

I probably just need to give Luis Renhifo a longer look here. After Erseg, we got Calvin Foshe, Zach Loff, Max Muncie, David Bednar, Victor Scott. I want to talk about both of those picks. Scott, you were the one who selected David Bednar. So you were debating him and Diaz. You got both? Got both.

Why not both? Yeah. I think I'm going to be okay for saves. I worried I waited too long, but I think I'm going to pull it out here. And hopefully have two guys at least who begin the year as the lead, saved guy in their bullpen. But like a non-zero chance. that one of the big headlines on that first Thursday night podcast next week is the Pirates and Reds have new closers.

Oh, yeah. I guess that assumes they both win on opening day, which. Oh, they're scary. Well, the Pirates are playing the Marlins. So they're scary. Probably have a save chance. Yeah. But they are still considered the favorites for saves in those respect.

I would think so. And there's a chance they both hold on. There's a chance. There's an even better chance one of them holds on. There's a chance neither of them are the closer from the get-go, but I think that's a pretty small percentage chance. So the fact I'm kind of hedging my bet with the two of them in rounds 19 and 20, I don't think that's such a bad outcome.

It helps that the other options in those bullpens are extremely uninspiring, for the most part, especially Pittsburgh. After Victor Scott, we got Jesus Lazzardo, Ryan McMahon, Ranger Suarez, Zach Netto, and Reese Hoskins. Scott, your backup. I just wanted to go back to Victor Scott for a second, who we talked about yesterday, Deep Sleeper, having a big spring. I looked at the Cardinals roster resource page today.

There's just a lot of names. They're not all amazing names, but they have a lot of names. And the fact that they didn't trade Aeronado, it kind of creates a little bit of a crunch here where does Victor Scott play in center field and then Newpar is in one of the corners and Burleson's at DH, that would have Nolan Gorman on the bench, but they want to play Gorman too. So I just, how does it all fit, you know? There's been some reporting on this this spring. And it seems like they want a true center fielder.

They don't want to force Newt Bar there. So they talked about having Newt Bar as the center fielder, and it just sounds like that experiment didn't work. And they may do it on occasion. Yeah. But it does seem like they would prefer to have Victor Scott or Mike Siani. I hope it's Victor Scott, obviously. be the primary center fielder.

And the, at bats, the guy who stands to lose the most at bats in this scenario, according to Cardinals Beatwriters, or at least one of them, is Alec Berluson. Yep. Which, someone I liked heading into the offseason,

but yeah, with all the reporting and the way things have gone this off season, maybe they trade Aeronado at some point, but I think they will. I don't know where, but I think an opportunity will arise and they will get him out of there.

At some point, it's just, it might not be until two thirds of the season are done. Yep. Two closers back to back, Kyle Finnegan and Aroldis Chapman. So I didn't want to tip my hands there, but that's, I was planning on taking Finnegan next. And that's why I said, I think I'm going to be okay for saves between Diaz, Bednar, and Finnegan. I feel like I'll have two guys at least who are the closer to start out. And all bets are off at that point. that goes for most any closer.

You just manage, just navigate the waiver wire continuing to fill the saves need from that point. Does it make sense for Chapman to go right in this range between Finnegan and Chris Martin given the report that, well, not a report, it's, you know, beat writers speculating that Chapman seems like the in-house favorite

for Red Sox saves. Now, I will say the report that said Chapman is the favor for saves is also the report that said, Christian Campbell is the favorite at second base still. And I'm skeptical of the Christian Campbell part, to be honest. So does that mean I should be just as skeptical of the Chapman part? Well, I do think Chapman is their best reliever.

And Liam Hendricks certainly hasn't reassured anybody with his performance this spring. There are other options there, of course, Justin Slayton and Garrett Whitlock. But yeah, I think Chapman here is fine. Once Finnegan's on, I think Chapman is one of the top relievers to consider. And one thing about Chapman is relative to a lot of the closers in this range, there's some upside here. Like his ERAs have not been what they used to be, but the strikeout numbers are still really, really strong with the role as Chapman.

So he is by far the last drafted closer with a legitimate chance at 100 strikeouts. you know, Kyle Finnegan certainly doesn't have 100 strikeout upside. So I, that's one thing to keep in mind. If you do think that a role as Chapman is going to be the closer, 98 and 103 saves the past two years. It's just really bad whip for a closer. And I had to check to make sure Kyle Figgins strikeout numbers were as low as I thought they were. They're like in the 60s. that's appropriate.

But yeah, look, he's going to probably hurt you in the ratios relative to other closers, but not so much at this range. I would guess Kyle Fennington's ratios weren't that much better if they were at all last year. So if Chapman is the closer for the Red Sox, I think he's a better bet than Kyle Finningin for sure. All right. After the Chris Martin pick, there was Vernal Blanco.

Chris, you selected Jonathan India, then Tyler Stevenson, 2.37, so knowing he's going to start on the IL with that oblique injury. Then Matt Walner, I selected Brandon Fott. Sorry, guys. No, you probably hate that pick. Last pick of round 20 is Grant Holmes. And then into 21, Reese Olson, I took Jeremy Pena. And then Walker Bueller. Walker Bueller, by the way, on Tuesday.

Five innings, two runs, one of those earned four strikeouts. We finally got stat cast data for Walker Bueller. And it was... Man. It was weird. It looked exactly like last year, I thought. Well, so the big change in the playoffs when he dominated was his sweeper had like four to six extra inches of horizontal brig.

A big change in the sweeper movement. The sweeper movement was way different in this one from last year too, but it was also different from the postseason. So it was more of a vertical, the vertical movement on the sweeper change. There was some horizontal change too. but we saw more vertical movement change on the sweeper for for Bueller. So it is different from the one he used most of last season, but not the same as the one that looks so effective in the postseason.

So I don't know. I mean, the results have been there this spring. There's obviously a good foundation of talent with Bueller. My take is what it's been all along, which is I see the upside. I just think it's clearer. The upside is clearer and more palpable, I guess, for so many pitchers who go.

in the same range and even beyond Bueller and drafts. After Walker Bueller, there was Jason Foley, Nicodolo to Chris, and Edwin Useta. I was looking at Lodolo. All right. Yeah, I like that pick. There's a lot of whip risk there for sure. But if he pitches like he did before that finger injury last year,

he might just be the Red's best pitcher. So I still think there's plenty of upside for him to go this late. And control's never really been... So last two years, it's been less than three walks per night. He actually had a 1.20 whip last year, even with all the struggles. Oh, did it? Really? Yeah. For some reason in my head, it was like 1.4.

Okay. That's interesting. Next pick up is George Springer, and then Nolan Aronado, Scott. You are up. No tears in hand, but maybe tears in eyes. Oh, yeah. Getting real misty around here. Let's do.

Nope, he's gone. Let's do. Okay, he's still there. I'm going to take a catcher instead. I'm going to take my top catcher. I got two catcher opening still. I'm doing the classic. The classic wait until the very end of a two-catcher league draft

to take your two catchers. And I'm going to take Joey Bart. Joey Bart, who's having a big, spring, all the Pirates catchers are having big springs, but obviously he is their expected starter. So it's nice to see after a kind of a resurgent season for him last year, you know, we didn't know what to expect. Was that going to carry over? Small sample size, but so far so good. Mm-hmm. Yep. And like if you just pace out his numbers last year, big power hitter at the position. I think there's a chance if he gets a big enough share of the

of bats there. I think there's a chance that like a Shea Langalear's season for Bart. So when I go the super discount route at catcher, he's often somebody I take. And you started a closer run, Scott, because the next two picks were Alejandro Kirk and Sean Murphy, followed by Eric Faddy. That is the last pick of round 21. Those would be catchers, not closers, but yes, I started a run for sure. We'll start with C right. So close enough. You're right. It's, uh, it was a catcher run, not a close of run. We will catch you up on the picks after this quick commercial break.

Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. Live 12-team Roto mock draft. The Bizarro draft. Everything has gone crazy. The final week heading into draft season, heading into the final draft weekend, and ADP has been thrown out the window. Scott's tiers have been thrown out the window,

yet we draft on. And we are in round 22. Brendan Donovan followed by Jung Hu Lee. Jung-Hul-Lee, by the way, had an MRI done on his back, and the imaging came back negative. Yep. So that's some good news. We'll wait to learn more, see if he's ready for opening day.

Followed by Tyler Fitzgerald and Scott, you're back up. Let's take a look at your team. What positions are we in need of? Catcher and a pitcher. And there are a lot of pitchers I'm having trouble deciding between here. If Grant Holmes was still available, I'd go with him. if Nick Lodolo, who Chris took last round, had slid to me, I would have gone ahead and taken him.

But since I don't see a lot of distinction, there are several I like, but there's just not clear distinction between them. I'm going to go ahead and take my other catcher here, which is Ryan Jeffers. All right. Ryan Jeffers, who should hit for power,

is expected to split catcher duties with... Who is Christian Vasquez. I was trying to remember who their backup was at the time. So, you know, obviously you're not. not going to get that playing time advantage, but when Jeffers plays, the power should be good. And it's whatever, he's your second catcher. And the next pick, another catcher,

Francisco Alvarez, who has the broken hamate bone and will start on the IL. Not expected back until mid to late May, sometime, around then. And Chris, we are two picks away from you. Let's see what positions you're in need of.

That would be... Pitcher and outfield. Outfielder and a pitcher. And I do, I guess we should mention we haven't, but the Padres lied about you Darvish. Oh, that never, yes. A couple days ago, they were like, oh, he's, it was just fatigue. He's just sleepy. And then today we find out, no, he has elbow inflammation and is questionable for the start of the season. He did throw, yeah, I think today, but.

Yeah. So he hasn't, he hasn't stopped his, he hasn't been shut down from throwing, which would lead. in and of itself would lead you to believe it's minor. But anytime you tug, anytime you tug on the thread there of the arm, the pitching arm, it could all unravel. So you've got to be a little wary.

He's a late rounder, you Darvish in most cases this year anyway. And I would say in most leagues, you can take some off. Yeah. At least. I'll opt for another upside play. I do think there's something to just like,

you can add him. if you have IL spots knowing that it gives you a free waiver wire ad. But I, because the idea being there that if you add him and put him in an IL spot, the roster space opens up. If you don't add him, your league rules might allow you to go over your roster limit to add one. But if you, if they don't, you then can't add, you say, or, well, you Darvish. The possibility that would concern me the most isn't that he goes on the IL to begin the year. it's that he doesn't go on the IAL to begin the year

and just doesn't look right and eventually it winds up on the IEL anyway. Yeah. I will say Tanner Halk fell way too far. And I was right there with everyone. I ended up taking him. He's my last pitcher and I was right there with everyone. It's just nothing exciting about him at all.

He did have a 312 ERA and a 332 FIPP last year. Getting him at the 250th pick is probably fine. It's just boring. Yeah. He's not, if this is the get your guys portion of draft season, Tarnahawk is nobody's guy.

Right. And like there are a lot of starting pitchers I like. That's part of it. If you're doing a roto draft without a bench, you're not going to go that deep into the starting pitcher pool. And he's nobody's guy, like you say. And part of the reason for that is it's not just that he was worse in the second half. It's that, you know, first half, strikeouts were way up, walks were way down,

second half, strikeouts and walks kind of normalized. So is the good version even one that we'll ever see again? Was that just a three-month fluke? Because, yeah, he didn't just have some ugly starts. The whole skill output changed for Tanner Halk. Catching people up on picks. The last one I mentioned was Francisco Alvarez, followed by AJ Puck, Laura S. Guriel, Chris took Tanner Halk,

Seidon, Raphaela, Connor Wong, I took Cabert Ruiz, Zach Veen. All right. I feel like we don't normally see him in these drafts, but if he makes the opening day roster, definitely could be worth that. And into the final round, Danny Jansen, I took Carlos Estevez, followed by Nick Martinez and Dustin May. Chris, your backup. I took Carlos Estevez. Everything we talked about with Lucas Herceg, I totally get.

that but on the off chance he still does get saves as my third closer sure yeah i'll take that shot yeah i think it's fine uh nick martinez who went right after estavis was one of the handful of pitchers i was considering for my last pitcher spot so that helps reduce the number a little bit um zach vene yeah that was 264 he has not really moved up that much in the 15 team drafts over the weekend he's still he's i think he's still going outside the top 500. He's 528 among players drafted. So he's just not getting much attention at all.

He's still having a good spring though. Yeah, no. I'm, he's getting attention from this podcast. So it's definitely a get your guys kind of pick, but you're right, Frank. If it works out, Veen certainly makes sense as a fifth outfielder,

even in a 12 teamer. I think even if he makes the roster, he should probably be a reserve round pick. But there's, there's enough upside there that if you want to make him your last outfielder, I think that's reasonable too, because there should be standout speed at the very least.

He stole 21 bases in 65 games last year. He stole 22 and 46 games the year before. He has dealt with a ton of injuries over the past few years, but the standout speed remains. And yeah, he has a 317 average, a thousand OPS with a manageable 25% strikeout rate this spring. There is raw power. There are hit tool questions, but if you're going to have raw power and hit tool questions,

course, fields the place to do it. It's the case for why I like Michael Tollia so much is, yeah, anywhere else, he might be a 220 hitter. He could hit 260 at course field, and I wouldn't really blink. After Dustin May, Chris, you selected Parker Meadows, who's expected to start the year on the IEL, but still does have a little power speed upside there. Boehler, Tage Bradley, U. Darvish, Chris Bubich, and, Tyro Estrada.

Taz Bradley, I know this podcast is lower on him, but I feel like he usually goes much higher than this. 271 is pretty late in the draft. And Scott, you get one of your favorite deep sleepers in Chris Bubich. Yep. I would have been fine with Max Scherzer also.

Apparently, his thumb is to a point where he's ready to start throwing again. He faced minor leaguers in recent days, right? I don't know if I saw that, but... Face them yet, but there's a plan, I think, this weekend for him too.

Yeah, the Blue Jays manager, John Schneider, said he's hopeful Max Scherzer can pitch in a game this weekend, so that, if that does happen, obviously we see how it turns out, and then we find out if he's ready for opening day or not, or if he

gets scratched or delayed again, it probably will mean he is not ready for opening day. That's Max Scherzer. Last two picks of the draft, Miguel Amaya, And J.J. Bleday. Amaya becomes almost Mr. Relevant, but not quite. He did have a double today, an RBI double, I believe. So he's my number.

Maya on pace for 162 RBI. He's my number one catcher Amaya and TGFBI with my second to last pick. Oh, because you have Sean Murphy, right? No, I didn't get Murphy. My last two picks were catchers. Amaya and Mitch Garver. Okay. That's the Scott Whiteway.

Got that right. Is Mitch Garver doing anything this spring? He's been okay. He hasn't gotten many at bats. I think he is, it's between him and Mitch Hanager who gets the majority of the DH at bats. He's been very good, actually.

Garver, yeah, not with many at bats, but he's been fine. Yep. Garver would also be backup catcher. So I think, you know, it's always the question of health with Garver, but there's a path for him getting close to 400 at bats. Yeah.

And again, that was CGFB Island. Let's wrap up with this draft and recap our team, see how it turned out, because I'm interested to see how all of our teams did because I'm interested in your thoughts on my team. Yeah, I'm interested in all of our thoughts on all of our teams because it was kind of a haywire one and things were flying off the board. Let's start with Scott's team. He was drafting ninth overall on this one, the catchers, Ryan Jeffers, and Joey Bart. In the infield, Tristan Kossis, Bryson Stott, Jr. Cameraro, Boba, and, Anthony Volpe, Alec Bome, and in the outfield, we got.

So that let's stop there for a second. All right. That's a fine infield, right, for not taking one until round, when did they take Bichette, round eight? I think it's fine. Yeah. It's pretty bad, but the rest of your team should. Like you have a top 10 first baseman and a top 10 third baseman.

We think you have a top 10 shortstop, but. Casas Comanero and Bichette you're talking about. The wisdom of the crowds does not necessarily agree with us on Bichet being a top 10 shortstop. So yeah. There's a lot of upside between those three, Cases, Cominero, and Bichet. It's a weakness, but it's an overcomable weakness. Yeah, it's not like. I would guess it's the weakest infield in the league, but that's saying that would have to be if you don't take one until round eight.

But I'm saying. you're inevitable be going to go weak somewhere. Yeah. I think I like it overall more than Chris it does. Like 12 team, Myrtle League, we're drafting as many players as we are. Like,

you're not going to be good everywhere. And if Bryce and Stodd and Anthony Volpe are two of your weaker players for your hitters, I think both are fine. Yeah, like, you know, they're okay stars.

Yeah, there's a chance everybody's going to, everybody's middle infielder is probably going to be somebody like that. I have two of them. Staten Volpe, but they meet a speed need for me. And yeah, I think it's okay. I don't hate the way it came out, considering I didn't take an infielder until round

eight when I usually have like five by round eight. Well, the outfield better be good because I think four of your first, what was it, seven or eight picks were all outfielers. It might be more like four by round eight. Yeah. Kyle Tucker, Ian Hap, Ronald Acuna, Julio Rodriguez, Lawrence Butler, and Marcel Ozuna. I mean, it's amazing. Pat falling as far as he did.

You got him around the 130th pick. That's a very good value. That works out really well. And it really ties the whole room together. I think so. That Ian Hap pick. And you know, I could have been stubborn and said,

I already have so many outfielders. I'm glad I didn't because I never once, there never came a point after the Ian Hap pick where I was like, oh, I wish I had an open outfield spot for that guy. Yeah. A lot of my outfielers that I like, around 200 seemed to get pushed up

much higher than that in this draft. On the pitching side, you've got Nick Povetta, Seth Lugo, Kyle Finningin, David Bednar, Corbyn, Chris Bubich, Joe Ryan, Hunter Brown, and Alexis Diaz. So three closers-ish. You got

your ace with Corbyn Burns. Three closers for now. Yeah. You've got your ace with Burns. You got a good SP2 and three, and Joe Ryan and Hunter Brown, four and five, look Seth Lugo and Nick Povetta, you're, you know, six is someone you're probably going to be streaming in and out.

It's Chris Bubich and then the three closers. I think it looks like a pretty good pitching staff. I think this is, I think this is what suffers more than my infield. And maybe it's just because it's a lot of pitchers I'm not used to drafting. But I don't feel like I have a, I laid a great whip foundation with this group, which I like to do.

and strike this could be a problem I think the whip could be okay Scott because Corbin Burns he's not a he's good at it I'm not gonna say he's not as great as like some of the other aces

but Joe Ryan should be great at whip Nick Pavetta should be good at whip Seth Lugo is okay at whip so I don't think it's so bad at WIP well Seth Lugo has more downside and whip and Hunter Brown has a lot of downside and whip he could be fine

And he had like a 1-10 whip from the time he got good last year. But, you know, a ground ball pitcher, the walk rate sometimes runs kind of hot for Brown. Chris is right. Strikeouts could be a problem. It's just, it's just, I'm asking a lot of pitchers to deliver on their upside. And I feel like, you know, it's funny that I'm saying this because Corbyn Burns, when did they take them round three? Yeah, three or four.

Very rare I take a pitcher that early. but in spite of that, in spite of me taking a pitcher that early, this is a pitching staff I feel less comfortable with than the pitching staffs I usually put together in these drafts. And I think a big reason for that is because I had to spend so much of my mid-round capital on infielders, just filling all those infield openings I left myself with. And it caused me to ignore starting pitcher for longer than I normally would. So long story short, I would not recommend what I did here drafting so many outfielders right at the top and leaving all those infield spots.

I mean, part of it's just what I was given. Again, this wasn't an intentional strategy I had going in. It's just early on all the right picks seem to be outfielders. But maybe this kind of goes without saying, but you, as is true with balancing the categories, you also kind of want to balance the position. distribution to the extent that makes sense. Like you don't want to make that your top priority, but you don't want to completely ignore it either. Yeah, I did want to ask you, you know,

you usually seem to be less outfield heavy than me early on a draft. You and I kind of flip-flopped in that way in this one. And I wanted to get your just general thoughts on how that worked out. Well, I think I just gave my general thoughts on how that worked out. I am curious, do you guys think I have enough batting average? I think so, right? Bobesette is good. I mean, a lot hinges on that, of course.

I think there is a lot of batting average upside. But Tucker, Acuna, Rodriguez, Osuna. You need Acuna to be not what he was. The last time Ronald Acuna came back from a torn ACL, he had like, what, 2604, something like that. So you need him to be much better than that. Yeah. And you probably do need Junior Caminara to hit a higher end outcome. Because I do think the median for him is probably like 255, 260.

And if he does that, it could be a problem. Yeah. But I got Bome. I got Bichet. I got a lot of, I got people who dragged down batting average like Volpe and my two catchers. And I don't know what cost is going to give me. That could go either way.

I think it will probably be middle of the pack, I think. I think home runs, they're probably the bigger concern than batting average, right? I don't know. So much depends. There's a lot of volatility here, right? Yeah. I think it's a super volatile profile because like Butler, Acunao, Camerro,

Bichette, there's not a lot of projectability on those. And costs as well. Yeah. That's fair. Let's go over to Chris's team who is drafting fifth overall in this one. Chris, you want me to read off

the entire offense or just stop at the infield and recap that? Well, yeah, do... I thought you were taking a shot at my week outfield. No. No, no, no.

If it's that bad, I could stop there. It's got Scott, yeah. All right, so you're infield, you've got Yvonne Herrera and Adley Ruchman, Freddie Freeman, Christian Campbell, Jose Ramirez, Willie Adamas,

Carlos Correa, and Michael Tolia. Pause. Really good infield. You know, I think especially Christian Campbell is on the roster. I think it's really good. Yeah. I guess you're, I think you're more confident in Campbell than I am.

To me, it's not just a question of whether Campbell makes the roster. I'm, I think if he makes the roster, it's because he was, they forced him onto the roster. And I'm not, like, he just has not looked comfortable at the plate this spring. If I had Jackson Holiday there, would you feel better about it? Well, Jackson Holidays looked a lot more comfortable this spring and has some more exposure to the major, major league pitching. So I think I would. I wouldn't feel super comfortable with it. I don't think holidays a lot to break through.

but I like his breakthrough chances more. I'm ranking them basically the same at this point. With the knowledge that that's sort of assuming Campbell makes the roster and maybe putting too much stock into that report and we'll see how the next couple of days go. But yeah, I could have a AAA player at second base, but I also do have Jonathan India who I can slide up to second base as my utility if I need to,

we didn't draft benches. So, you know, I guess there would be a hole at utility after that. But you figure that's probably the easiest toll to fill. So yeah, maybe I jumped the gun on, on Campbell, but I'm very happy with that infield. My one thought looking at the infield, and obviously we'll see if you get speed in the outfield,

but outside of Jose Ramirez, there's not much speed here. And that's a bit of the danger with taking Correa as your middle, just because you know you're not going to get any speed from him. So yeah, you're usually hoping for like a Stod or an Adjus Jimenez, one of those guys who's going to give you stolen bases. Yeah. Part of that also does come down to if Christian Campbell's on the roster. I do think he can be a 20 steel guy.

He stole 24 and like 120 games last year. So. Adamas could be. He stole 20. Well, yeah, that's less likely, but he was last year. I'm assuming like 10 for him, 10 for Toglia, but knowing that Toglias pace was more like 15 last year. and Adamas obviously stole 21. But I think part of me liking it

is I'm just much higher on Michael Tolia than you guys are. Let's take a look at the outfield and you've got Taylor Ward, Anthony Santander, Parker Meadows, Michael Harris, Jackson Churio, and Jonathan India. You do have speed in the outfield though.

I mean, you've got, you're hoping for, what, 25, 30 plus from Churio, 20, 25 plus from Michael Harris, Taylor Ward will chip in like 6 to 8, nothing crazy. Meadows, if you're hoping. If he gets back healthy, maybe he's 20 plus.

So, yeah, no, I think your outfield is okay. I mean, the way that you were talking about it, I thought it was going to be a lot worse. Speed was the real question that I had about this team as I was going through it. So that's what I wanted to get your guys' thoughts on. I think you may be a little light on speed, but it's not a disaster. It's kind of a middle of the pack outcome. But I think your outfield just speaking generally, I mean,

Churio, Harris, Santanderas, a one, two, three. I'll take that in any league. I wish you had a slightly better number four. Yeah. You know, if Parker Meadows was healthy to begin the season, I think he would suffice as a better number four, I guess. But I think it's fine. I don't think outfield is a problem.

Are you used to having a better outfield? Oh, yeah. I'm usually much heavier on the outfield than this squad. So would you have a high, would you have somebody a second outfielder from that Santander range, I guess? Yeah, I think that'd probably be. It would probably be an upgrade on the four with the Ward Meadows group. That one, Meadows, we didn't draft a bench, but he would be a bench player, obviously,

because he's not going to be ready for the start of the season. But that was one just knowing I thought I needed a little bit of speed, he should provide that if he's able to get over this. So this, yeah. Top outfielders that went undrafted for me, Nolan Jones, who's actually been hitting the ball really hard this spring. Yeah, I think there's some upside there. Luz Lars Neupar.

Yeah. Yeah, that would be fine. I think your top four is like, if Taylor Ward is my outfielder four in a 12-team Roto, I think I'm okay with that. So, yeah, just would have to fill in Parker Meadows. On the pitching side, you got Max Fried, Zach Eflin,

Jack Flaherty, Reisel Elysio, Luis Castillo, Lucas Erseg, Tanner Hauk, Zach Gallen, and Nick Ladolo. So you have only two closers here with an assuming. One and a half, really. Ersig is the closer. But what, you waited until round seven to take your first starting pitcher. And I mean, you wound up with names that are ranked, you know. I think this is actually a good pitching staff. It's not going to be a standout pitching staff.

Um, but it should be able to volume its way to competitive strikeout numbers. That's what I was worried about. I'm not sure there's enough, like he said, for my pitching staff, your top, you know, you got freed there who's kind of below average for strikeouts and in the range he goes. Uh, Eflin is not much of a strikeout pitcher at all. Castillo's been regressing as far as that goes. Yeah, like I said, you're hoping all of those guys like, freed Eflin, Castillo, Gallin, the hope there is they all kind of, they average 175 strikeouts.

It's probably eight and a half Ks per nine overall. And certainly we're aiming much higher than that. But this is a pitching staff that could have five guys who throw 180 innings this season. There aren't a lot of those. So it makes up for, in person. running upside what it's lacking with projectable volume, I would say. It's a very boring pitching staff,

but I think it can get there at the end. In hindsight, Chris, I took Carlos Estevez, I think with my last round pick. I don't know how you feel about handcuffing relievers, but maybe instead of taking like a Tanner Howe just handcuffing the Royals, what do you think about that as a strategy?

Yeah, I thought Halk just fell too far. and so I was willing to just make him the pick. But yeah, I thought about grabbing Estevez there as well. There aren't really any other like the, did the Diamondbacks guys get picked? I believe. Justin Martinez.

Yeah, both. Yes, Martinez got picked pretty early, in fact. So, like, if we were doing a reserve round, Mike Clevenger probably would have been a pretty high priority for me and I probably would have targeted. someone like Jose Alvarado or Ryan Kirkering who I can see getting into a closer role. But yeah, it's, I prefer, like I like

RSEG as my number two closer, but I usually pair him with a third that I feel a little better about. And I didn't do that this time. All right. Well, we'll wrap up with my team. I was drafting second overall in this one. My infield, I've got Caber Ruiz, Che Lang Lears, Vinnie P., Vinnie P., Vinnie P.,

Vinny Pass Quantino, Marcus Semyon, Austin Riley, Mason Wynne, Jeremy Pena, and Matt Shaw. What do you guys think? You know, every time I see a team with Marcus Simeon, I purportedly like Marcus Simeon, but every time I see him slotted there at second base, I'm like, oh, this team's going to have batting average problems. Add him to that article, Scott.

Players I don't want to draft. I mean, at one point, he seemed like such a great value, but he's, he's, he's, more in like the 70 to 80 range when he was closer to 100 early on. Yeah, I know I ranked a way higher than that. Especially when we draft, he usually goes maybe closer to 60. I think I took him 50th overall. So yeah, so it was higher.

And yeah, look, I still think there's a chance he gets back to 2023 where he hit 276 and had 222 combined runs in RBI. And if he does that, if he gets 270, then it's great. It's awesome. But yeah, I can see it's a solid infield, but it's not great. I would agree with that. I think that's totally fair. I think there will be some batting average risk on this team.

Maybe it's middle of the pack. We'll see if it gets better with the out. Especially when you get to the outfield. Let's see what, oh, the outfield's worse for average. Well, this is, okay, this is one of those teams. Read the outfield utility. And it's like, oh, that's right. Of course.

That's what happened. I was going to mention that up top, but I was like, let me wait to mention my outfield. I've got Jorge Salare, Josh Lowe, Brenton Doyle, James Wood, Sayas Suzuki, and Shohei Otani at you too. Right. It's the jiff of that lady, like drinking a drink.

And then she's like, ugh. Hmm. It's that. Once you get to the Otani part, it's like, right, there were 50 homers missing from this lineup. You're right, yeah. But then what does she do after that? She goes, no, no.

Oh, and that's exactly what Scott's about to say about our team. You know, I was going to say before we read your team, I was like, man, I hope Frank's team is good. It's sort of like my team with batting average in that you don't really know what Matt Shaw's batting average is going to be. You don't really know what Josh Lowe's is going to be or Brenton Doyles or James Woods. Like there's such a wide range of outcomes for batting average specifically that it's hard to say if you have enough or not. But that, I don't know. Is there enough? Is there enough of everything here?

I think batting average is my biggest concern. Power a little bit too. Salar definitely helped. I needed Salar in a big way to help with the power. Yeah. Yeah, that's, it's always tough when you need batting average and power. Because you just can't do both once the last,

the first few rounds are off the board. So yeah, that's tough. I think Saler was probably a good pick. I'd rather all other things being equal, you would rather be weak in batting. average than home runs. Historically speaking, home runs have a higher correlation with winning a roto league than batting average does.

And that makes perfect sense because a lot of batting average help is not going to help you very much in runs in RBI. You get a lot of empty singles that help your batting average, but don't help you there. Every single home run helps you and runs an RBI. So if you do have to sacrifice hitting categories, it should be batting average. more than home runs. And this was a team where you'll find out in a second. I took Zach Wheeler in round three.

So, you know, maybe taking a Freddie Freeman, who I passed on on purpose to see how long he would last. But that would help the batting average, obviously. Or a Matt Olson, which would have helped for the power. Or maybe a Corey Seeger, which helps with a little bit of bolt. So. I will say I really like your pitching staff. Yeah. Well, let's look at that pitching staff.

I've got Kenley Jansen, Zach Wheeler, Nathan Avaldi, Sunny Gray, Carlos Rodan, Carlos Estevez, Pablo Lopez, Juan Duran, and Brandon Fott. So I got the ace with Wheeler, the SP2 with Lopez, the three is gray, the four is Rodan, the five is Avaldi, the six is Brandon Fott, and then I've got two closers and a half, I guess you could say, with Duran,

Kenley Jansen, and Carlos Sestavis. Well, you have the fewest strikeout concerns of the three of us. You have the few as saved concerns of the three of us. You may have the few as win concerns of the three of us. A lot of pitchers here, the ERA runs hot. Yeah. So that's, that would, other than Wheeler. But that's also the toughest thing to predict.

But having Wheeler as that 200 inning base or what, 180 is the expectation. 200, yeah. Yeah, I was going to say, that's a little high. No, I think that the expectation, like it, if Zach Wheeler doesn't get at least 190, I think it's a big disappointment. Yeah. But I hear you're saying, Scott, there is a little, ratio risk here with like Rodon could very easily have an ERA over four.

We'll give a lot of strikeouts. You know, Sunny Gray, the underlying stats were good last year, but the ERA was a little bit higher. Same thing with Pablo Lopez. So I could totally see that being a concern. I'm just going to say, I hope none of us have the best team in this draft because I don't, I don't think either any of us. Who got all the good players?

Yeah, I don't think any of us knocked it out of the park in this one. And look, we were talking about it as the draft was going on. You know, as soon as we got to about 100, it felt like things just got weird. And it was difficult to navigate in the moment. And that's what happens when you get, when you get to this part of the preseason. And, you know, we said it many times during the draft, but it's always going to be true. It's just you get used to a rhythm of what a draft is supposed to look like. And we do, we have, I don't know, what do you think, 25 drafts so far dating back to January?

Probably, yeah. And you get a feel for what that's supposed to look like. And then the last eight days, seven days, whatever it is, it just gets thrown out of the window. And it can be tough to react to. And I think, I don't want to speak for you guys, but I think all three of us, certainly myself, I had a little, a bit of a hard time pivoting to the reality of the draft. Well, it's when you're trying to broadcast too, that makes it especially hard to kind of, you know, flip over your mind while things are happening. So I feel I don't hate my team as much as it felt when it was happening, but I wouldn't say this is one of the favorite teams I've drafted by any stretch. I'm glad we're not playing this league out, I would say, for sure.

Yeah. And yeah, yeah, I just drafted a lot of players. I don't normally draft in this one too, which kind of made it feel a little bit weird for me. Taking Zach Wheeler in round three, it's just I really like the way the team turns out better when I start with maybe four or five hitters in a row and then just kind of pound pitching after that.

And there were so many good pitchers that went in that, you know, round five through 10 range. And that's basically what we've been talking about all off-season. So Scott, I'm sure you'll have an article up on the say, right? If people want to check out all the results. Yeah, absolutely. All right. So we do this.

Go find the, team you like and let us know who knocked it out of the park with this draft. We are going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.

Mount Podcasts.