Fantasy Baseball Today - Our First 2021 Mock Draft! Mailbag Questions (09/08 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: September 8, 2020

Get pumped! We're finally doing our first two-round Roto mock draft for the 2021 Fantasy Baseball season! But first, how much should 2020 production matter for 2021 drafts (1:55)? ... With that, Scott White is on the clock with the first overall pick (4:21)? Should it be Mike Trout? How about Fernando Tatis? Somebody else? ... Speaking of Tatis, he went where (8:52)!? ... Shane Bieber or Jacob deGrom in 2021 (10:59)? Scott and Frank seem to disagree. ... Recapping the first round, where did names like Christian Yelich and Cody Bellinger fall to (19:53)? Is Trea Turner still a first-round pick? ... Would you rather have Clayton Kershaw or Max Scherzer (26:55)? Did Scherzer go too late? ... Let's take a final look at our first two-round mock draft for 2021 (36:29). Which players did we miss and who were the honorable mentions? ... We're answering your mailbag questions (41:34)! ... Email us at [e-mail]. Subscribe to our new YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @CBSFantasyBB, @AdamAizer, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday 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/ Download our printable Draft Kit from CBSSports.com/draftkit! 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. I drive, center field, and swing. This is magnificent. 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, Chris, and Adam.

Oh, hey there. Welcome to Fantasy Baseball today. You are listening and watching this on Tuesday, September 8th. Hope you had a fantastic Labor Day weekend. Frank Stanful joined, as always, by Scott White. And this is going to be a fun one because we've talked a little about 2021 drafts. But today on the show, we're doing our first two-round mock draft for 2021. Get excited, Scott. How you doing? Woo! I am excited. I'm ready to do this. I've put together a little list.

It's going to be kind of off the cuff. We didn't talk about it beforehand. And, you know, we didn't confer with who the other was over who the other was going to take. But yeah, we might catch you each other by surprise. We'll see. Yeah, admittedly, off the cuff. And I think that's going to make for a fantastic draft. Again, this is the first time that we're doing this. So, you know, things might look a little bit crazy.

And we'll talk through some things and see what's going on. And I'm sure by the time we're actually drafting in 2021, things will look entirely different. fun to do that at this point. And a reminder, look, it's the first week of September. Things still can change over the course of the final couple of weeks here throughout the fantasy baseball season, along with the two-round 20-21 mock draft. We'll answer your mailbag questions, fantasy baseball at CBSI.com. And it's team name Tuesday. So we've got a few of those.

And I am looking forward to it. Scott, before we jump into the draft, I do just want to ask you a bit of a fantasy philosophy question. how much will 2020 production or lack thereof factor into player evaluation for 2021? Because I think that's what's going to make next year so crazy because you don't want to just completely dismiss things that happened in 2021. I think some people should gain value for what they did. You know, Manny Machado is a name.

Maybe we'll talk about here in the first two rounds. But at the same time, I feel like there are players that were just going to be like, All right, we're just going to sweep 2020 under the rug and act like it never happened. So how do we marry those two things together for next season? I think my hunch just seeing some of the things being tweeted by people around the fantasy baseball community is that too much emphasis is going to be put on 2020 for my liking. I mean, even the fact that we're doing this basically six weeks into the season,

Is that about where we're at now? Yeah, six, seven weeks. Six, seven weeks, yeah. Yeah, it's, it's kind of ridiculous to think that much would change during that time. And yet, I mean, my list here, it's not exactly the same as the first two rounds from this year. So I've certainly changed some things, too. But guys like Christian Yelich, Cody Bellinger, I mean, they still strike me as first rounders, even though they obviously haven't performed like first rounders to this point.

And it's because I have faith that over a full-length season, they would get back to that level of production or we're just not going to have a chance to see it play out this year because it's in the end, you know, adding three weeks that we don't even know about from today, it's still only going to be slightly more than a third of a full-length season. And that's just not enough of a sample to, to really know exactly what's going on for any of these guys.

Honestly, when you said in the end, I thought you were going to say it doesn't even matter. And I thought we were just going to break out into like Lincoln Park. And we were just going to... It doesn't even matter. Yeah, we could have done that. We could have. I wish I had now.

Do you like Lincoln Park, Scott? That's the only song I know. That's the one. That's a pretty good one to know. and I think most people know it as well. All right, so let's get things started. The way that this is going to work is, we're not really doing this with any type of league format in mind.

It's not necessarily for auction or for head to, not auction, Roto, or for head-to-head points leagues. And we're going to alternate picks. So Scott, the gentleman that you are, I will give you first pick overall. Oh. Who are you going to take? That makes you the gentleman, not me.

Well, Frank, if you must ask, my first, keeping with what I just said about not wanting to overreact to seven weeks, six, seven weeks, whatever it's been. My first pick for a roto draft for 2021, if we had to do it today, would be this guy right here, Ronald Acuna. Yeah. Pick number one. He's missed a lot of time this year. And so it's not totally fair to assess him based on his numbers. but they're skewed by a typical Ronald de Cunia's low start

and in between his injuries he's just, he's maintained an even higher level of fire than we've seen from him in the past. I believe coming into Sunday's action, he actually had a higher OPS than Fernando Tatis, for all the attention Fernando Tatis has gotten. He hasn't run much and obviously stolen bases was a big part of why he became the number one overall pick

heading into 2020. But it's just, particularly with the time he's missed and just given the nature of stolen bases and how they come together. I think it would be foolish to think, like that's just not a part of his skill set anymore. And just seems to get better and better every year. So I'm confident still going with Ronald Lucuna number one overall.

All right, Scott. So you do want to do this from a roto perspective because when I introduced it right now, I said with no league format in mind. Oh, you did? No, but it's fine. No, if you want to do it, like, would it change your pick honestly?

I think it's really hard to do with no format in mind thing, because stolen bases, like they're of such inflated value in Roto that's difficult to do. Ocunia probably wouldn't be the number one overall pick in a points league. All right, so let's do it from a Roto perspective.

I don't want to come on. You just had the whole deal with your shirt. I mean, you're so excited about Ronald Le Cune. We can't change things now. So yeah, Ronald LeCune, I don't have a problem with him going first overall in a rhodo draft heading into 2021. And with that, I am going to select old reliable. Mookie Betts, second overall in a roto league,

who is currently at this point batting 316 with 13 home runs, 32 runs, 31 RBI, and six steals. So if we had any concern over the steals going down in 2019 when they went down to 16, it seems like so far those have bounced back in the first 39 games that he has played with the Dodgers. Might be a bit of a surprise that neither of us have said Mike Trout to this point, but in a rotodra, I don't know if Trout's going to run much anymore. So with that, the first two picks, I think Ronald Le Cunia and Mookie bits make a ton of sense. when you said old reliable

I thought you were going with Trout Oh no no no So to go ahead and speed this along I will make Trout the number three pick I would have gone with them at number two He'd probably be number one in a points league And you know I think there's this impression that he's having a down year

He entered Sunday leading the majors in home runs And certainly the bat at ball stats Look as strong as ever for Mike Trout So yeah I agree it's getting to be more concerning what's happening with the steels. I'll say what I did for Acuna too. I mean, just, they tend to come in bunches.

So it's, it's, I'm not sure we can really, I'm not sure this real, this season's going to offer much clarity at all on that matter. But like you know, the other four categories are going to be there for trout. And although bets in a year like this, I mean, he's shown it before, he's capable of performing like Trout as a hitter. It's not as bankable as Trout. So I'll make Trout number three afterbats. I would have gone with them number two. But it's not entirely my draft rank and you are entitled to make your own decisions. Fair enough. All right. Look, I don't want to throw things off too much here and I'm not trying to make like the shock jock picks. But in a roto draft, fourth overall, I don't think

it's crazy to take Fernando Tatsis. And that is who I am going to be selecting. So Ronald Lecuna first overall, Mookie Betts, Mike Trout, and then Fernando Tatis. Reminder that we are recording this on Sunday. Well, now it's Monday. It's past midnight on September 7th. But at this point, Fernando Tatease is batting 307 on the season with 14 home runs and seven seals. And he is just awesome in every way. A ton of runs scored. RBI as well. Looks like a legitimate five category contributor. Fernando Tatees is the fourth overall pick from you. Scott. Yeah, this is where I slotted him as well, but if Chris Towers could make, you know, to have his input on this draft, he tweeted this out today, or Sunday, I should say. Gosh, he tweets so much. I can't find the tweet. He tweeted out, Tatez is definitely going to be the number one pick next season. It was part of a larger tweet, but that was a statement.

within the tweet. Tatis is definitely going to be the number one picnic season. I thought, definitely. That seems a little strong. But I, maybe he's right. Maybe this is an instance where I, the rest of the fantasy community is going to

lean heavier on just the 20, 20 numbers than I will. And, you know, if we're, if we're drafting based on 2020 production alone, Tatis number one would make perfect sense. his strikeout rate is way down too.

That's something we haven't talked about with him. So if that continues, it's just, let's give it the last three weeks. Let's see where things stand then. Certainly, if he keeps everything up to the extent he has so far, I think Tate's number one overall is something we'd have to consider. But as of today, I'm with you. I have him slotted fourth here.

Fifth, I'm going to go with the first pitcher off the board. I think people in general are going to go even heavier after high in starting pitching, and I'm going to be among them. And the number one pitcher to take IMHO is Shane Bieber. Frank doesn't like it. Frank doesn't like it. I love Beaver, man. But I still think Jacob de Grom, as of now, is the number one pitcher.

Just because we've seen him do it for longer, the arguments there, I would go with Jacob deGrom over Shane Bieber as of now. I mean, Jacob de Grom's been his best self in 2020. He's been better than ever. It's 32 now. That's probably the biggest drawback is he's 32. And just, Bieber, nobody eats innings like Shane Bieber does.

He gobbles him up. He has an appetite for innings. And he's proven it now twice over, I think, as much as the 2020 season counts for. Yeah, I think it's definitely a conversation. I think it's a debate that we will have probably, you know, at the top. It's preference. Shane Bieber versus Jacob de Grom.

You mentioned the age, of course. But you also mentioned Jacob de Grom being the best version of himself, consistently throwing 99, 100 miles per hour. I was watching his start over the weekend. And it was like the fifth or sixth inning, and he's just pumping 100 miles per hour in there. Like, it's crazy. And he's throwing 93 mile per hour sliders.

And he's been nicked up here and there. but yeah, I prefer Jacob de Grom is the first starting pitcher off the board and I will take him sixth overall. So Acuna, Betts, Trout, Fernando Tatees, Shane Bieber, and Jacob de Grom in a rotodraft heading into 2021. You have the seventh pick, Scott.

I slotted DeGrom six to. It's amazing how on the same page we are here. Well, we do the show together, you know. I will go, this is where it gets tougher. Yelich is still out there, Bellinger's still out there, of course, I feel like he's part of a stud SP trifecta.

But I think I'm ready to go Juan Soto as the next hitter off the board. And the next hitter right now still remains. I think it's still an open question how much he's going to help in the steals category, but he doesn't appear to be in nothing there. And kind of like a cunia. As a hitter, he just gets better every year. And he's already basically like one. He's already basically like Alper Pooholson is.

prime as a hitter. And he's 21. My gosh, he's 21. His XPA right now is 356. His ex-slug is 764. He's striking out 13.7% of the time. Yeah.

Yeah, I'm going with Juan Soto's 7th. Yeah, I have absolutely no problem with it. I was considering taking him over some of the starting pitchers that we took in this. But Wonsoto 7th overall, I think makes a lot of sense. See where the Steel's kind of but gosh, batting average.

It's quality of contact. Strikeouts going down. You're right. It just continues to get better. Juan Soto has been fantastic thus far. You're right. This is where things get a little interesting. It's now the time to take the struggling superstars of 2020.

I'm going to say no. And this might be a little bit of a surprise, but I'm going to go with Trevor's story, who at this point is batting 294 on the season, nine homers, nine steals. And we talk about steals, being so scarce in Roto formats. And I think Yelich and Bellinger definitely could chip in there.

But I trust Trevor's story at this point. Not worried about the splits, you know, especially in Roto. Like he's going to get his numbers over the course of a full season. I think he's just steady and consistent. And I think he is worthy of a mid-first round pick in Roto heading into next year. So Acuna, Bess, Trout, Tatis, Bieber, de Grom, Soto, Trevor's story, eighth overall. And Scott, you have the ninth pick. I'm going Yelich. I'm going Yelich. I would have gone Yelich with your pick, and I'm going Yelich now. What number is this? What pick are we on?

That was ninth. Okay. Yelich, yeah, that seems like great value to me if that ends up happening. I have faith. I mean, he basically was Mike Trout the previous two seasons. I have faith that if he had enough time to catch up to Trout this season, he would. They expected numbers look a lot better than the actual numbers. The strikeouts have been coming down, the quality of contact has been just as good as ever in terms of how hard he's hitting the ball. So I really don't have any concerns about Yelich. She's been running

even after the knee injury last year. Yeah, boy. But as I'm taking a hard look at the numbers now, I'm wondering if I should have put Yelich even higher. But for this exercise, he's going to be nice. Yes, fair enough. And I think it is, you know, should he go over

Trevor's story? I think it's definitely a fair question to have. And again, these are conversations that we are going to have. And I'll go with the other struggling superstar. I'll take Cody Bellinger here 10th overall. Speaking of the expected stats, as of September 7th, Cody Bellinger is batting 217 with a 447 slug. His expected batting average is 285.

His expected slug is 500. And he still has 10 home runs and four steals. And he's young. Still makes a lot of contact. not striking out much this year. Plays in one of the best lineups with Mookie Betts. I think this is a good spot to get Cody Bellinger. What do you think, Scott?

Should he go higher than this? Is this a fair spot for Cody Bellinger? I have one person on my list ahead of him, so that's why I was clapping, because you left the other person before me. But I do have Yelich as a, I'm sorry, I do have Bellinger as a first rounder, which maybe not everybody would.

Can you go ahead and run through the 10 names again, just to help people out at home? We have Ronald LeCunea, Mookiee Betts, Mike Trout, Fernando Tatis, Shane Bieber, Jacob de Grom, Juan Soto, Trevor Story, Christian Yelich, and Cody Bellinger. For all of that talk about starting pitchers, Scott,

we only have two in the first 10 picks. Now we have three, because this is where Garrett Cole is going. Pick number 11 for me, Garrett Cole, third pitcher off the board in the first round. I mean, come on, for the history of Roto, how many times of three pitchers

gone off the board in the first round? Even this past year, it was basically just Colin DeGrom, right? Do we ever see Scherzer? Maybe Scherzer crept into the first round in some drafts. But I think definitely those three, Bieber, DeGrom, Cole in some order. I have Cole third at 11th overall. And by the way, like, I think, I think Bieber, de Grom and Cole would probably all go in the top five in a points league

if we were doing. And that's why I think we kind of, it would be especially difficult, given the current environment to just kind of, just kind of do a one-size-fits-all list. But for Rodol, I'll go Cole 11th. Any pause or concern over what we've seen from Gar-Cole so far in 2020? Did it ever cross your mind to potentially take someone like U. Darvish or Aaron Nola ahead of Gary Cole?

No, I think it's a clear top three. I think Cole's been mostly great. He's had some home-run issues at Yankee Stadium, which was fairly predictable. I think the level of concern I have for Cole is enough to drop. from one to three in the SP rankings, and I would be thrilled to take him at the end of round one. All right, I'm going to go back to a hitter here

to round out the first round. You just took Garrett Cole, of course, 11th overall, and I am going to Trey Turner, who, as of now, is batting 368. He has nine home runs, a power spike from Trey Turner that we're not used to seeing. Nine home runs, 32 runs scored, five steals, four caught stealing.

I still like the fact that he has been attempting steals this year, nine combined at this point, and I think that we can see that rate of, that success rate continue to improve as the season goes along here, and I think heading into next year, even at the age of 27, not overly concerned about that age. I still think that we can depend on him for close to 30 steals

over the course of a full season, maybe even more than that. I think he's certainly fast enough to do so. I will take great turn. Well, this is what I mean by steals coming in bunches, because remember it wasn't that long ago. we were freaking out because he still didn't have one yet. And he's gotten his five in his last 20 games. So that's five for six in his last 20 games.

Do you have a problem with Tray Turner going 12th? Oh, no. We had the exact same 12. I mean, we were a little different on the order, but the exact same 12. We didn't plan this out either. It's pretty crazy. No.

So go through that order again while I pick out my number 13 here. All right. So the first round that we have here, Mookie Betts, Mike Trout, Mookie Betz was not the first overall pick. It was Ronald Acuna. Mookiee Betz. Mike Trout, Fernando Tatis,

Shane Bieber, Jacob de Grom, Juan Soto, Trevor Story, Christian Yelich, Cody Bellinger, Garrett Cole, and Trey Turner.

You now have pick 13, Scott. What do you think? All right, this is definitely a rhodos-specific pick. Roto-specific pick. Got to meet that steals need early. And I think

after a... Curious 2019, this guy has emphatically stated that he is still one of the more reliable power speed threats, and it's Jose Ramirez. Nine for nine and nine is what he has in the home run and steals category. I do think we're at a point now with Jose Ramirez where we got a question whether he'll be much help in batting average. But, yeah, I think he's worth taking here. Yeah, Jose Ramirez, as of now, batting 250. but nine homers, nine steals, walking a ton again this season. But yeah, probably in like that 250 to 260.

But imagine that. If you're at the turn and you start Trey Turner and Jose Ramirez, you're looking pretty good in steals for the rest of your draft. And then obviously you could focus on some pitching throughout the middle rounds there heading into next season. All right, so where do I want to go from here? I am thinking and I believe that I am going to take

should I take one of these guys that are also still struggling I'm gonna go with I'm gonna go with a pitcher here double down on pitching I think that's a good call but which pitcher though that's that's

I haven't know I could tell you who I think but it's like it's not obvious yeah no I think that there is a conversation for, I have three, actually there's, I think there's four names in this conversation. I'm going to go with you, Darvish. And I don't know if that's reactionary, but I think we have enough of a sample size now, dating back to last season where it wasn't just the second half. It was like the final 22 or 23 starts of 2019. And now the first eight or nine starts

of 2020, where that's basically a full season now, where you Darvish has been fantastic. The walks are down. The strikeouts are up. I think he's in the conversation for NL. with Jacob de Grom. Yes, you can make the argument probably for Max Scherzer. But Scherzer's getting up there in age. Has it really looked the same? I'm going to take you, Darvish. Okay, I'm going to take the one that I was thinking.

And that's Aaron Nola, who has been fantastic. I think even better than his numbers, and his numbers are pretty dang good. So there are definitely hitters, You can make a case for instead. I don't know when push comes to shove, Darvish and Nola, if they're distant enough from kind of the next group of starting pitchers that they'll really go this early in round to, at least in a Roto League.

But I'm kind of following your lead here. Don't want to get left out of the pitching run. Don't know where you're going to go next. So I'll go ahead and take Nola here at, what is this? 15th overall. That was 12. 13, 14. That was 15th overall. So the first three picks of the second round, Jose Ramirez.

you Darvish and Aaron Nola. Did you have a problem with Darvish, by the way, Scott? Or do you think he should go in this range? I think Nola and there's one other picture that I take ahead of Darvish for sure. But there's certainly an argument. I mean, he might be the NL. Sa Young winner. There's definitely an argument to be made.

And I think it would definitely go at some point in round two, at least between us. Fair enough. 13, 14, 15th, 16th overall, Scott, I'm doing it. I'm doing it. I'm taking my boy. I'm taking Manny Machado. I don't know if it's too early.

This is factoring 2020 too much into 2021, but with the combination of Alex Breggman not really looking great so far in 2020, he's been banged up. Francisco Lindor hasn't really looked like himself. What's going to happen in the offseason? Is he going to be traded? Is he going to wind up somewhere else?

I think there are other pretty safe options here. I think Manny Machado's just back. I think he's back. I think the Padres lineup is awesome. I think Tatis has helped him a lot. Hasmer has been great. Jay Cronoworth has been there. So far, Mani Machado has 12 homers.

He's chipped in a couple of steals. He has three steals. He's betting over 300. Counting stats are there. I'm taking Mani Machado, Scott. It's really been a different Mani Machado than we've ever seen before because he's always sold out pretty hard for home runs,

hitting a lot of fly balls, and the line drive rate is by far the best of his career. And that certainly explains his production so far. I'm just not sure how sustainable it is, given his profile, given his history. So I probably wouldn't even have him on my second round, to be honest. But we know we're in different places with Manny Machado. You know, I still see so many hitters I can go with here and be equally satisfied that I think I want to keep hammering home the pitcher point. I really want.

I don't have a problem with that. have a problem with it. Yeah. I really want it to be abundantly clear that this is the direction fantasy baseball is headed. If it wasn't already clear heading into 2020, should be even clearer now. And I think the next pitcher off the board, oh, I forgot about him. There's actually two pretty good candidates, but I'm going to go with Lucas Gialito as the next one. Wow, that wasn't even one of the names that I had in mind. Interesting. Okay. Now, obviously the last, he's really taken off with his last four starts. Yes, including a no-hitter.

Yeah, yeah. But, I mean, everything's been up. He's been doing DeGrom-like things with the swinging strike rate. And I don't know if he's worked with James McCann for all those starts, but they really seem to have a good thing going together. And hopefully that's something that can continue into next year. Yeah, but he looks better than he did during a breakout 2019, and is certainly backing up that break out.

So you went Lucas Geolito, that was 13, 14, 15, 16. That was 17th overall. So so far in the second round, Jose Ramirez, Udarvish, Arindola, Mani Machado, and Lucas Gialito. And 18th overall, I'm also going to take a pitcher. Is it time? No, it's not time. I'm going with the other old man.

I'm going to take Clayton Kershaw over Max Scher. Whoa. I forgot about Max Scherzer. Maybe he should have already gone. Should he? Like, I think it's a conversation. Like, Scherzer so far in 2020 hasn't necessarily been himself. I don't know if I'm overreacting. I just think Clayton Kershaw, like we have enough now. I think we have enough of him. He's moved away from the back injury. I'm not really worried about it. Yes, he's a little bit older. Same thing with Max Scherzer, but so far in 2020 through his first six starts,

Clayton Kirshy has a 1.50 ERA and a 2.60 X-Fit. He has a 0.7-2 whip. He's averaging 10Ks per 9. His fastball velocity is actually up in 2020. It's the highest it's been since 2017. I don't think Clayton... Like, this isn't the Clayton-Kershaw, you know, sub-2s ERA. I don't think he's going to...

That's going to remain, but can he pitch to a mid-2s ERA or the course of a full season, if he could say healthy? 10 strikeouts per 9? Really low whip? I think it's doable. I like Clayton Kershaw. Scott. Okay.

Okay. Okay. You're allowed. You're allowed. Scott doesn't like my pigs. Well, I'm disappointed that I left out Max Schroes because I feel like he needs to go earlier. But I guess that means I need to take him here. Because I don't think there's anything wrong with him whatsoever.

I guess I guess I overlooked him. because he's pushed down far enough in the two-date production, you know? Because the ERA, the whip, where's the whip? They're not so great. They're obviously not up to usual. It's at 1.38 through Max Scherzer's first eight starts of 2020.

Yeah, but like he started slowly last year too. And that's really all this is so far as a slow start. The strike, the K per 9, same as always. The swinging strike rate down just a tiny, tiny bit. The velocity pretty much the same as always. Like I don't see anything skill-wise that's really changed for Max Scherzer. He's just, you know, hasn't gone on the sort of run that would repair his numbers to this point. He will be turning 37 midway through next season.

So that's getting into some worrisome territory. But as the. first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, starting pitcher off the board. I don't think you can really go wrong with that. Yeah, we're already up to eight starting pitchers now. What, 19 picks into the draft? We got five left in the second rounds.

Man, there's some big hitters we haven't taken yet. Big hitters. Yeah, there is. The first 19 picks. So if you had to redo this, Scott, where do you think Max Schurz actually should go? So did he be the fourth starting pitcher off the board after Garikov? Yeah, yeah.

it's look it's not obvious it's not obvious i don't think it's embarrassing that we left him out until now uh the only one that's gone that i can say for sure i want sherser more than is is kershaw not that kershaw hasn't been very good this year so i get why you took him um i think you can make an argument for sherser as early as fourth still and i definitely wouldn't take in later than eighth at the position but last three weeks weeks is going to say a lot, I think, as far as that goes, both how he performs and how guys like Gialito, Nola, Darvish, perform. All right, 20th overall, I am going to take one of those hitters,

another struggling hitter in 2020, but someone who has been pretty consistent to this point, and I think that he will bounce back, and I will take Francisco Lindor. 20th overall. I think that the speed, power combination that he's displayed in the past is legitimate and I think that this is a good spot to get him

whereas normally in a rhododraft in 2020 he was a mid first rounder, late first rounder, now you're getting him in the mid-second round I think that's good value there Scott. So 20th overall Lindorr, you're up 21st. 21st, 22nd, 23rd.

So I got two picks left. Got to make it count. Oh, man. Oh man, there's too many good players left. it's what happens when you stack all these pitchers in. And by the way, I think there's one more pitcher that still needs to go here. I think so, too. I don't know.

I hope it's the same name. I hope so. But I think I would be remiss to leave out Freddie Freeman. Going to go Freddie Freeman here, especially given first base is, you know, shakier than we've seen in years past. and he's just so bankable. There's really nothing bad you can say about Freddie Freeman.

Yes, that was Freddie Freeman 21st overall. Updating you on the second round, Jose Ramirez, Udarvish, Aranola, Mani Machado, Lucas Gialito, Clayton Kirschaw, Max Scher, Francisco Lindor, and Freddie Freeman. With the 22nd overall pick, there are a lot of names left. You know, I probably pulled Mani Machado up the board, but whatever. It's fun. I love them.

I'm going to take the starting pitcher, I believe that we are referring to. And I am going to go with Walker Bueller. Yeah, that's the one. That's the one. Does he still deserve to be a second round pick, Scott? I think so. Yeah, I mean, it's really,

the disappointment from Bueller this year has really been into Dodgers handling of him. and maybe they'll treat him with kid gloves at the start of next year too. But in a full-length season, you know he's going to have time to make up for it. He is definitely somebody who I think is going to be in the top five at this position for a long time. So to slot him down 10th, where we have him the 10th pitcher off the board. How about that? 10 pitchers through two rounds in a roto league. he would have been he's the other pitcher

that I felt like we needed to see I'm glad we got all 10 of the men I don't feel like we really need to see any others in the first two rounds because the next name should start considering you're like Jack Flaherty okay hasn't really seen much of him this year Sunny Gray

Luis Castillo I mean guys who you just don't feel the same level of confidence in them I don't think that's probably the next wave at the position maybe Zach Allen enters that group, I don't know. So I think we got the right 10 names represented at this position. I don't know.

I might leave Clayton Kershaw out of my second round, but it makes sense. It makes sense why he'd be ranked among this group. 23rd overall, Scott. My last pick. Got to go with my boy Bregman. I think it's a good. I think this is a good spot for him to go.

Yeah. Yep. could end up performing like a top five player next year. Could end up performing like a top five player from today on. There's one other underachieving third baseman that I'd like to be able to pick here, but Bregman's the priority. And now you put the pressure on me, Scott, because I'm trying to think. There's also an outfielder, right?

There's a lot of names. And we'll go over a few of the names that just missed a cut. And we'll have a long time to talk about this in the off-season. I am going to go with 24th overall in our 2021. This is the first mock draft we're doing. First two rounds. I will say that it should be, I will go with Anthony Rendon 24th overall.

And is that who you were thinking, Scott? It was not. No. Were you trying to pick who I was thinking? Maybe. It would have been Aeronado who really I don't have any concerns about. Rendon, probably a top two rounder at a points league,

since he's walking more than he strikes out. Other name I was thinking really should be in the top two rounds is Bryce Harper. Yeah, me too. But there's just not room for him. So somebody has to be left out. Well, I guess in this case it ended up being Aeronado and Bryce Harper. Yeah. You know.

I think all those hitters will go in a similar range, though. I think mid-to-late second rounders, potential early third round picks, Harper, Rendon, Aronado, looking at the numbers now for Rendon. I mean, they're not amazing. 288, 7 homers, 946 OPS,

definitely better in a points league. But I was considering Bryce Harper. That was one of the names. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's possible we could have left some of these names out

to get Aronado and Harper in. But we probably disagree over which names. But now, that's fine. That's fine. I think it's pretty good, actually. I feel great about the first round. I feel a little less confident in the second round,

but that's the way it should be. So do you want to run through the two rounds again? Yeah, let's do this. So our first round, 2021 mock draft, Ronald O'Kunya, this is for a roto draft. Ronald O'Kunya, Mookie Betts, Mike Trout, Fernando Tatisse, Shane Bieber, Jacob de Grom, Juan Soto,

Trevor Story, Christian Yelich, Cody Bellinger, Garrett Cole, Trey Turner. That was the first round. And then the second round, we had Jose Ramirez, U. Darvish,

Aaron Nola, Mani Machado, Lucas Gialito, Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Francisco Lindor, Freddie Freeman, Walker Bueller,

Alex Bregman, and Anthony Rendon. Nolan Aronado just missed the cut. Definitely could make the argument he should be there, Bryce Harper. I thought about Luis Robert,

too, in a roto draft. I don't think it's crazy. The batting average is not fantastic, but legit, at least four category of production so far that we've seen, batting average might fluctuate a little bit because he does strike out around 30% of the time, but he makes such hard contact, Scott. It's kind of similar to Aaron Judge in that way, where

Judge can maintain a 270 to 280 batting average just because he impacts the ball so hard when he does make contact. I think that might be a similar case for Luis Robert. anybody who's going to be a viable steel source who contributes something else probably deserves to go as early as round three in a roto league and in Luis Roberts case it looks like that something else is going to be lots and lots of power um Tim Anderson I think we might have to start thinking about him at this range in a roto league I'm I have faith in the batting average I know he's going to be

somewhat useful in its deals I'm still questioning the power production that he's performed at so far and not ready to jump on him quite this high yet but he was he did uh he did uh he was part of my thoughts Kyle Tucker is another one now it's interesting because Chris Chris Dowers especially he talked about before the season how as much as Robert was being hyped Kyle Tucker of flying under the radar could end up having an even better season and sneakily very stealth-like Kyle Tucker has outperformed Robert

to this point in both points and Roto leagues so that's actually come to fruition now I think if you went out and pulled 100 fantasy baseball experts who would they rather have in a standard Roto next year

almost all of them would say Robert but Tucker's actually been better and Tucker hasn't struck out much especially as the season's gone on His strikeout rate's gotten to be pretty low, and he's running. So I think it seems premature to say he's second, third round range yet, but three weeks from now, we may see him that way if things continue to trend as they have so far. Fair enough, the last name that I'll mention, probably can be like a third round pick.

Corey Seeger. Corey Seeger has been fantastic, and someone that we did really like, he's betting over 300. Really not going to give you steals, but I think in terms of like a, a Freddie Freeman type profile from the shortstop position. I think that's something that you can expect out of Corey Seeger. All right. Take a quick break and quickly remind you that you can listen to Fantasy Baseball today on your smart speakers.

That in addition to all the normal places you consume this podcast, we are also available on the smart speakers. All you have to say is, Hey, Alexa, play full name podcast, Fantasy Baseball today. Or, okay, Google, play. Fantasy Baseball Today, podcast to hear us when it's most convenient for you. And also, if you are a fan of this podcast, obviously you are. That's why you're listening or you're watching.

We're asking you to just tell one person. You don't have to tell the entire world, but tell one person about fantasy baseball today. We appreciate it. All right, when we come back, we're going to answer your questions, a mailbag here on fantasy baseball today. Mailbag, answering your questions, fantasy baseball at CBSI.com. This first one comes from Jason. I know these could change because of injury or something, but 12-team, 8-by-8 categories league,

with six keepers that we keep around earlier each year. I'm definitely keeping Jacob de Grom in the 6th and Walker Bueller in the 8th. So I have to keep four of these options. You ready, Scott? Sure. Charlie Morton in the 5th. Fran Mil Reyes in the 7th.

Junjun Riu in the 14th. Kyle Tucker in the 15th. Kentimaj in the 16th. Marcus Semyon in the 20th, Dylan Severeux in the 22nd, and Luis Severino in the 24th. What do you think, Scott? I think Riu in the 14th...

This is not order of priority. I'll go order a priority. Tucker in the 15th, based on what we just talked about, Kintamai'a in the 16th. Probably Ryu and the 14th would be next in priority, but I think Severino in the 24th is pretty high priority,

given the keeper structure, like how many years is Severino going to be a stud for you if you're starting at round 24 and just moving up around every year. So I think it's, I think that's a pretty, I feel pretty confident saying those are the four,

Tucker, Maeda, Ryu, and Severino. I agree, 100%. Those are the four that I was thinking as well. So, yeah, your pitching's going to be stacked next year too because you already have DeGrom and Bueller. You have five fantastic pitchers, and you have Kyle Tucker who, top 15

outfielder upside to be even better than that based on how he's performed so far. So yeah, it's a nice little start there that you have Jason. This one's from Matt. Can you talk about your expectations for these five pitchers

for the 2021 season and beyond? I need to keep three of them for my 12-team five-keeper roto league. My other keepers will be Betts and Raphael Devers. Blake Snell, Tyler Glassnow, Mike Clevenger, Steven Strasberg, and Chris Sale. So maybe just give a quick thought on each one of them, Scott, heading into next year,

and which three of those would you keep? Of course, we don't know the context, but let's just say all of the same value. Blake Snell, Tyler Glassnow, Mike Clevenger, Steven Strassberg, and Chris Sale. My confidence is lower in all of these guys than it was coming into this year. Glass now probably has held the value the best So he would be the easiest to keep I think you have to keep Snell I wish

I wish his workload wasn't a constant concern But he's really good And keep one more right between Clevenger Strasbourg and Sale I mean I'm inclined to say Clevenger as of now But if he's if he kind of staggers to the finish line It might be Strasbourg I think sale is just kind of too

risky by comparison. I mean, I know Strausberg's having basically a season-endig injury too, but not the same, not to the same extent of sale. So right now I'd be inclined to say Snell, Glass now, and Clevenger, it may end up Strasbourg instead of Clevenger, though. And we've mentioned this on the podcast before. Stephen Trasberg's value is like a roller coaster year in and year out. One year he performs awesome, we take him in the second or third round. And he gets hurt, and then we get him in the fifth and the sixth round the next year. So as of now, that's just what I'm thinking, where thinking Shrosberg is going to wind up next year, Scott? I think he probably winds up back in like that fifth,

six-round range. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yep. Cool. This one's from Jason. Would you drop Shohei Otani, the hitter, for Garrett Hampson in a 6x-by-6-6-O-B-P Dynasty League, daily lineups? OBP Dynasty, Otani, or Garrett-Hampson?

No, I mean, I assume you're just talking about the hitter version of Otani. It's on a platform that splits them up. Even so. especially since it's a daily league and especially I mean there's a chance Otani has to give up pitching there's a chance and that might mean we see the

that might get the best value out of him Scott if we can get Otani who just bats every single day who only focuses on hitting I think that he is a talented hitter I think at times when he's trying to split his focus between two different things that's where he kind of gets himself in trouble

I think based on the way these different platforms score Otani, I think the best version of him would be one or the other. If he devoted all his focus, like as a baseball fan, I don't want to see him do that. And it doesn't sound like that's on the table really yet. But it could become that if the angels don't feel like they're getting full value on their investment because of the two-way thing. This next one's from Brooks.

Four years ago, I won my biggest league, a five-by-five-five, OBP, head-to-head league, 10 teams. The past three years, I have either finished the regular season in first or second while dominating my league, but I have ended up choking in the playoffs. I am currently in first place this season. Are there any general tips to reverse my recent playoff curse? My league does not have a trade deadline this season. Oh!

I scoff at that, but that's okay. Interesting. My pictures include Garrett Cole, Sunny Gray, Lance Lynn, Alex Colomay, Ryan Presley, Tristan McKenzie, Charlie Morton, Lucas Gielito, Framber Valdez, and Kentamaida. Pretty good, I like that. My batters, Carlos Santana, Jose Abraeu, who he picked up off waivers because the league mate, Rage dropped him, L.O.L.

I can see why you're first or second every year. Josea Brayu? Oh my gosh, this hurts my soul. Eh, E. Hennio Suarez, Starling Marte, Nicholas Castellanos, Nelson Cruz, Alex Bregman. Any tips here, Scott? I mean, this team is, it is a 10-team league, so keep that in mind.

But this team is stacked in OVP. I would say don't get too cute. That is, particularly if you have a history of losing in the playoffs, there's a tendency to do that. Just start your best lineup like you would during the regular season. And trust. trust that your talent's going to put you ahead. It doesn't always, as a Braves fan, you should know it doesn't always in the playoffs.

But if you stick to your approach, eventually it will. And I will say in any type of head-to-head scoring format, in fantasy anything, it doesn't matter. And you see this a lot in fantasy football, but in fantasy baseball, fantasy basketball, in a head-to-head scoring context, the best. team does not always win in that fantasy season. There is a luck factor involved. Once you get to that point, it's a matter of who is hot at that point. You have a fantastic team.

All it takes is one week, and that one week being the playoffs for all of those players to slump at the same time, and boom, you lose. So there is a luck factor, and sometimes, you know, there's not really anything that you can do to change that. I think I agree with Scott. I think you just kind of don't overthink things, play the best plays, and you should be in pretty good shape, but I like that team a lot. So good luck, Brooks, and his final note, P.S. Go Braves!

I thought you already read that one, yeah. That's why I mentioned he was a Braves fan. You should know, you should know, Brooks, how this works with the playoffs. This next one's from Rich, dear Carlos, Gio, Kyle, and Sixto. Ah, what are those? Sixto, Sixto, Sancho, obviously.

What's the connection here? Oh, man, I don't know. I'm trying to figure this. out right now. I'll read off the question. I'll try and figure it out while you're answering the question. I'm a 12-team six-by-six daily roto league with OPS and quality starts and playing this format for the first time after deciding to freeze our normal keeper rosters in a six-by-six head-to-head categories league. So normally plays head-to-head categories. This year they're playing head-to-head, no, they're playing a daily roto league. I got to say, I'm loving it. And with the help of the

FBT crew. I'm comfortably in first place by 21 and a half points with a couple weeks ago. Congrats, let's go. The issue here is, since this is a daily Roto League, the players behind me are chasing the counting stats for pitchers with daily pickups, wins, K's, and quality starts, albeit most have not

thrived with the ratios with that strategy. Is there any way to combat that to hold on without falling too far down in those counting stats? Hence, bringing me closer to the rest of the pack. I currently lead in ERA, whip, and quality starts, but have fallen to sixth in wins and third in

strikeouts. And tied for first and saves, my pitchers are, Bieber, Sunny Gray, Zach Gallen, Chris Paddock, Tristan McKenzie, Pablo Lopez, Corbyn, Danne Dunning, Ryan Presley, Zach Britton, and Devin Williams. Is my staff good enough to hold on for the rest of the year, or is there someone that is expandable and can use as a that I can use as a streaming slot in my staff. What do you think, Scott? First of all, this is the big problem with daily lineup leagues that people can do this, because this is really not the point of playing fantasy baseball. It shouldn't it just be plugging in the person who's playing that day to put you ahead.

But that being said, I don't think you want to play their game because what has you ahead is dominating those ratio stats that they're going to keep tripping over themselves in because they're doing this. You have to keep those locked up. I think you look at where else you can gain ground, maybe in the hitter categories. Maybe it's save. Saves is an easy category to gain ground. Stolen Bays is an easy category to gain grounds. I don't know how easily you can come by a base dealer at this point.

But if you have ground to make up, it saves, like pay really close attention to the closer turnover and go heavily after those guys because even if they don't work out, they're not going to hurt your ratios too much because they're so low volume. But yeah, look at the hitter categories, power guys, you may be able to make up ground

in those categories just by, you know, changing the type of hitters you start. And that would be how I approached it. I want to try and join in chasing the counting stats for pitchers. And I will add that in a daily lineup league, I think, you know, to combat this, you can either set like a weekly limit on how many starts you can have or just a yearly limit. And obviously, that changes things because then you're not just going to pick up everyone

and just start a bunch of players. You need to do something like that. Like, I would definitely, I don't know if you're the commissioner or not, but I would definitely look into the structure of the league. I mean, nobody likes when I say this, but I think an elegant solution if you want daily lineups is to just have weekly waivers.

And then you have your player allotment for the week and you can rearrange your lineup as much as you want. Not for everybody, I guess, but you need to, your solutions could work too. All right, next up we have, this one's from Mark. I'm in a 16-team league, five keepers every year.

Head to head. Today I got an offer of Walker Bueller and Luis Robert for Wander Franco and Zach Gallen. I got Gallen for free as a throw-in in an earlier trade this year, so in my eyes, it's basically Bueller and Robert for Franco. My other keepers are Nolan Aronado, Nate Pearson, Jesus Lozardo, and Bobauchette. I have kept Franco the past two years already, just knowing how much hype he has.

Would it be silly to trade him now, potentially the year before he plays in the bigs? is a 16 team head to head. Just says head to head. Oh, man. What do you think, Frank? Yeah, so this is the age-old question of trading away, especially in a dynasty or keeper context, a top-flight prospect

for players who are already proven commodities. And, I mean, was just a top-flight prospect himself. So it's not like there's an age discrepancy, really, between him and Robert. Yeah. And we already revealed our two-round mock. We took Walker Bueller ahead of Zach Gowan, and Walker Bueller is either younger or the same age as Gowan. So that's close.

You're kind of hoping that Wander Franco like performs as well as Luis Robert has already this season, right? I would want Walker Bueller and Robert. I understand the hype behind Franco. Maybe he turns out to be like the next Juan Soto. but I've seen enough from Robert. But they only get five keepers every year. And it sounds like you have Bichette locked up in one of those spots, right?

Would you want to keep two short stops? Also a good point. Yeah, I think I lean very slightly toward Bueller and Robert, but it's hard. It is, and Gowland's great too. And if that's the case, you're probably not keeping Pearson.

You're probably at that point then going Bueller, Luis Robert, Aronado, Lazzardo, and Bichette, right, Scott? Yep. It's close. That's the way that I lean. Yeah. Is it points or roto too?

That might make a difference. If it was head-to-head. I think I'd go to with Franco. Yeah, so he doesn't say head-to-head categories or head-thead points just says head-ed. Yeah, points are categories. So points, I would say Franco, because Robert looks like very much more of a categories-type player. This was from Mike. What are you doing with Joey Gallo?

I know he has a volatile profile, but he's been horrendous. especially recently. Will you hold on to him or drop him for someone like Ryan Mountcastle or Austin Riley? It's a volatile profile. He could hit five home runs next week. I don't think you can drop him for those two.

I know I sat him in a league this past week, but I felt uncomfortable with it. I think you just hold on. Joey Gallo is batting 176 with seven home runs and 17 RBI. I remember, it feels like just yesterday the season started, We were talking about how he wasn't striking out,

and this might be the year of Joey Gallo. And then he just, gosh, plummeted. So that is the type of volatility that we're dealing with. I probably would not do it either. This one's from Ashton. I'm in a 10-te-team league. 10-te-to-head points league. Keep three.

One pitcher, one infieler, one outfielder. I punted this year after losing a few weeks and traded most of my team for next year's picks. Should I keep Yuron-Alvarez or Austin Mellera's? Meadows. I traded Christian Yellich for a first and two fourth round picks next season. So, you're on Alvarez. I think Alvarez, the fact he ended up having knee surgery, I think that's actually a good sign because it takes away that uncertainty.

Certainly, we liked him more than Meadows coming into this season. Meadows has been bad. He's been kind of in and out of the lineup, too. Just the rays have liked to mix and match so much. I'm not saying he won't be a full-timer going forward. but I feel like he's lost more value this year than Alvarez has, even though Alvarez hasn't played at all. Yeah, yeah, that's fair.

I'm going to buy the dip, though, on Austin Meadows. I don't think that he is any less of a talented player, but I think he is going to fall down draft boards. I think he will be someone who suffers from what he's done so far in 2020. So I'm going to be interested heading into next season, but if you're on Alvarez is healthy, I think his upside is probably higher than Austin Meadows. Some team name Tuesday, Scott.

This one's from Sam. Cool Dunnings. Oh, with cool, like Chad Cool. Chad Cool. That is the rare case of cramming into player names and it working. I like that. You also put in parentheses, please tell me you get this one, Frank.

And I do. I watch a lot of cool runnings growing up. You're good with the kids movies, it seems like. Movies geared toward children. Yeah. I had a great childhood. And then after that, just, you know,

once I discovered fantasy sports, every type of outside source of life pretty much went downhill for me. Scott, do you understand how to say this next one? Is it supposed to be said a certain phrase? Because I'm not understanding it. The one from Barron.

Do you see it? Eliezer. Eliezer, this he does is magic. And that sounds like, Yasmani, Yasmani, money, Tomas problems to me. That doesn't make a lot of sense. Apologies, Baron.

If you want to explain it, please email me and tell me how I got it wrong because I'm sure there's something that I'm missing here. This was from Robert on Twitter. Harold and Kumar go to Mountcastle. Mmm, yummy. Yeah, that's good. All right, some final APR, Apple Podcasts review questions.

This one's from Jay Brandelis. It really does sound like Adam and Scott are singing the Beach Boy slash Domingo Santana song. I know it's someone else, but would they ever consider doing a rendition themselves? Scott, I know you like to sing. I don't like to sing as much as Adam likes to sing. That is something we definitely could think about doing. And probably not do.

I'll hit up Adam and see if he's down for that. This was from MN Critter. Hey guys, I'm in a 10-team head-to-head, not head-tete. 10-te-tete-total points league with Unlimited. limited daily moves. I need more bench space for pitching. Please pick two of the following players to drop. Ramon Laureano, Reese Hoskins, Jonathan VR, and Glaber Torres. Oh, man, two to drop, two to drop in a points league. VR's easy then in a points league. Get him out of there. Luriano. I think that's pretty easy. Those two. I agree. This one's from J. Hendrix T. In a head-to-head

category, Dynasty League. How would you feel about a Patrick Corbyn and Travis for Whitmerryfield trade, long-term and playoff implications. So I'm a little scared of some of the trends we're seeing from Patrick Corbyn this season, as I pointed out on the Monday podcast. But I'm not so scared that I'm ready to give up the potential high-end pitcher without getting one in return. I mean, Corbin is only 31. You could spend that negatively or positively. but I think there's a good chance he has four, five strong years left. And Whitmeryfield's not a young guy either. So I'd rather hold on to Corbyn in a dynasty context especially.

Yeah, Corbyn's getting up there. He's not young either. I think this is close. Yeah, 31. He's 31, and I think Maryfield's 31 also, right? Yeah. That might be right. It might be wrong.

Well, let's find out. Whitmerfield is 31 years old. There you go. And did you know Patrick Corbyn's AIDS for sure, or did you just make up? I know for sure, because I mentioned it on the Monday podcast. 31 years old, they are both 31 years old. I will agree with you. We'll go with Patrick Corbyn.

All right, Scottie. Did you ever disagree with me, Frank? Does it ever happen? Yeah, I'm sure it has. I know it's happened at least once before. I recall one time when it happened. Yeah. Maybe we need to start disagreeing more.

I'll start to think of some things that we can just, You love Seinfeld. Apparently, you know, I... Not really for me, but there you go. You haven't given it a chance, Frank. Yeah, I guess. There's not enough magical forest creatures in it for you, I guess. There's not enough hours in the day, Scott,

to watch all these shows, watch all these movies, and continue to keep up with all of our fantasy baseball knowledge. All right, please, let us know. What did you think of our two-round mock? Our first for 2021. Leave us a comment on YouTube. Hit us up on Twitter at Roto underscore Frank at CBS Scott White on Twitter.

Send us in some emails. What did you think of our first two-round mock draft? I'm sure we left some players out. Of course, we had some omissions, but it was fun. I'm sure it's going to change throughout the course of the off season. He is Scott White. I am Frank Sample. Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today on our YouTube channel.

We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.