Fantasy Baseball Today - Our First 2026 H2H Points Mock Draft & A Bunch Of Moves! (12/23 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: December 23, 2025

Link to the draft results- https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/news/fantasy-baseball-first-h2h-points-mock-draft-for-2026/ Before we get to the mock draft, let's talk Shane Baz to the Orioles (5:37). ... The Rays made a different three-team trade where Brandon Lowe was moved to the Pirates (11:42). ... Munetaka Murakami is headed to the White Sox (19:50). ... The Red Sox traded for Willson Contreras (25:51). ... The Padres are bringing back Michael King (30:35). ... Let's get into our first H2H points mock draft for 2026 (39:55). ... No surprise but Aaron Judge went first overall (41:28). ... Kyle Schwarber went at the 1-2 turn (45:00). ... Jacob deGrom was drafted as the SP4 in the third round (51:06). ... Cristopher Sanchez over Yoshinobu Yamamoto (55:05)? ... Chris was able to land Logan Gilbert in the fifth round (1:04:16). ... We wrap up by recapping our teams (1:10:38). Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CBSScottWhite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Roto_Frank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. Hey there. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Tuesday, December 23rd. I am Frank Sample, joined by Chris Towers.

Today we're going to split the show in half. first half we have lots of moves to talk about mostly trades from the weekend second half we'll recap our head-to-head points mock draft that we did a few weeks ago it was our first head-to-head points mock draft so we'll break that down but chris it is christmas week any big plans what do we have uh uh my mom and sister are going to come visit all right um they both get in on christmas day and uh yeah we're going to do traditional Puerto Rican Christmas dinner on Saturday. I'm going to go see Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves in waiting for Godot,

Bill and Ted themselves live on Broadway. Very excited for that. I'm going to go see Fish the band again with my mom who she claims she has seen them 191 times. That is almost certainly in exaggeration. That number seems to get bigger every time I ask. And I know she's not seeing them that often, but she's seen them a lot.

They're fine. I go because I love my mother. And because like the lights and stuff are cool. That's that's pretty much the entire. That is everything that I'm going to do over the next week or so. What about you? Uh, you know, we do one day at one.

had one family one day at the other. So Christmas Eve is the in-laws. Lots of soup in a Polish Christmas. So, uh, okay, which is good for me. I love soup. So it's totally fine. Is Christmas Eve bigger with the Polish family? Because I remember going to your wedding. And it's a Polish wedding from what I remember. It was largely influenced by the Polish culture. And what I was astounded by, how much overlap there was between like Latin American weddings and Polish weddings. Like the vibes were very similar. Like you go hard at the Polish wedding. I like the, uh, the, the bottles of liquor at every table during dinner. It was, I, I felt like there, there must be some, I don't know where it comes from, but some kinship with the, uh, because like in, in Latin American culture, Christmas

Eve is the big night. We don't really, I never really, like Christmas day was just like you, you veg out and watch TV. Christmas night, Christmas Eve is when we, you know, nocee Buena. We get the, we get the, we the pig roast and everything going on. So there seems to be some overlap there culturally. I find that fascinating. I see it. I mean, for most of my life, I don't know if it's just like, you know, traditional American.

I would always just celebrate on Christmas with the family. So I think that's the traditional American is Christmas Day is the big day. It works out for me, though. You get the in-laws one day. You get your family the other day. So I'm going to be busy all week, but it's going to be fun. It's going to be fun. You know what else was fun? The raise. They had a very busy weekend. Let's get into all these trades that they made. First up, they traded Shane Bosz over to the Orioles for a boatload of prospects. Outfielder Slater to Brun, catcher Cadent Bodine, right-handed pitcher Michael Ferrette, and outfielder Austin Overn, as well as the 33rd overall pick in the 2026 draft. So really a volume approach here of prospects getting in return for Shane Boz. He's 26 years old.

Had a weird season, Chris. You know, he showed us flashes. He had three starts with double-digit strikeouts, but by the end of the season, it was a 487 ERA, 133 whip. I'm excited about Ray's pitchers going back into the TROP this upcoming season because we know that strikeouts and stuff metrics play up in Tropicana Field. So if I'm being honest, I think I'm a little less excited about Shane Boss and the Orioles.

What do you think? I think there's something to that. but I do also think there's a, we don't usually think about leaving the raise as being a good thing for a pitcher's development. And I'm not necessarily saying that like the rays were holding Shane Boss back or anything. I think that would be silly.

But a lot of pitchers have talked about, this was something when Tyler Glass now got traded to the raise, he talked about. I found an article with, gosh, let me see if I can, Fine. The name, uh, it was a reliever Ryan Thompson when he got traded to the raise. He, uh, had a quote from an SI piece a couple years ago. When I came over here, they were like, look, these are your best pitches, throw these more often. We talk about that a lot with the raise.

And then there's also this part. And that really helped me to have confidence. Whatever I throw, just throw it in the zone. And this was something Tyler Glass now talked about where the raise kind of just told him, just aim for the middle of the zone. And your stuff will, you're not going to hit the middle of the zone. zone, your curveball is going to dive down, your slider's going to go out, your fastball is going to rise. But they said, aim for the middle of the zone. And then that helped him get the control

problems that he had early on in his career under control. And I do wonder if that's possibly an explanation for why Shane Boss has just been a little disappointing over the past couple years, because he throws a lot of pitches in the strike zone. 52.3% of his pitches last season were in the strike zone, 52.6% for his career. For MLB, it's 48.9%. And Shanebos actually doesn't miss very many bats in the strike zone. His whiff rate on pitches in the strike zone was a little higher than MLB average last season, but it was within a half a percentage point for his career.

It's kind of the opposite. It's been a little worse than Major League average, but right around a half a percentage point, right around average. He does a good job missing bats when he gets chased, but he just doesn't get chase a lot and he pitches in the zone. So I do think this inconsistency with his strikeout rate could potentially be magnified by how much he pitches in the zone. Maybe just a change of scenery, you know, different voices in his ear

could help him, you know, find a different approach that works a little better for his arsenal because you could see, you know, Shane Boz fastballs up, curveballs down. You could see that working really well, but he throws a lot of curveballs in the middle of the zone. He throws a lot of fastballs in the zone. So I just do think there's a chance that just getting a different approach could help Boz, even if I don't necessarily think the Rays are a worse pitching organization than the Orioles. I definitely don't think that.

I think the Rays are a better pitching development organization. But I just maybe it's just a change a scenery thing for Baws. That's the best I can come up with. I didn't move Baws up in my rankings as a result of this trade necessarily. I'm interested to see if he can unlock a different level. I don't know that this matters at all, but I'll bring it up just because I looked up his three career starts in Camden Yards. Shane Boz, 16 innings, one run allowed, 15 strikeouts to six walks.

I'll take that. He has performed very well in Camden Yards, a really small sample size. The early ADP is 209, going just ahead of Chris Bubich, McKenzie Gore, Aaron Nola, Connolly Early, Andrew Abbott. I haven't made it that far in my starting pitcher rankings yet but I think I would take at least Boobich and Gore ahead of Boz

and maybe I think Boobich is way too low that one really stands out I would take Mackenzie Gore over I think I actually know yeah I have McKenzie Gore ranked ahead of him so I would take him that's another one I'm hoping for a change of scenery

but I just I still really believe in the stuff with McKenzie Gore and I just, I think at some point it's going to click for a whole season. We've seen these half season stretches from him where he's really, really good, and then it kind of falls apart. I still have more faith in McKenzie Gore's stuff. Everyone else, that sounds like the right range, and that is right around. I have Boz 200th overall.

In my rankings, Gore and Boobitch are about 40 spots ahead, so I like them considerably more. But everyone else, I would imagine, if Early was definitely in the rotation, I would take him, but there are some questions about. about that. Abbott, I like, but I don't love. I don't think there's as much upside, so he's in the same range. So that all sounds right for Shane Baws. I will say, man, the, the race did very well to get the prospects that they did. It was basically, I think, three of the four are in MLB pipelines, top 10 for the Orioles. A bunch of guys who were recently drafted as like either late first or what do you? call them supplemental round. So, I mean, plus they got the 30th overall pick in next year's draft. I think they did very, very well, even if you really like Shane Boss.

I think it was a very good return for the raise. The Rays made another big deal, a three-team deal where they sent Brandon Lowe, Jake Mangum, and reliever Mason Montgomery to the Pirates. Starting pitcher Mike Burroughs went from the Pirates to the Astros, and then the Rays received outfielder Jacob Milton. and right-handed pitcher Anderson Brito. So finally, some bats here for the Pirates. Brandon Loud just had a great season.

He hit 31 homers over 134 games. Definitely a downgrade in terms of ballpark, at least going from Steinbrenner field that he played in the last year to PNC. It's also a worst lineup for him as well. So, Chris, I don't know if you're planning to move Brandon Loud down. The early ADP is 175 just ahead of Xavier Edwards and 23 picks ahead of Bryson Stott. What do you think about Brandon Lowe?

Part of the problem is I just think his price is way too low already. So I don't really see much reason to move him down. It's a park downgrade. I think if you look at his expected home runs by Park, I think if he played his whole career at Tropicana, it would have been like 12 more home runs over the course of his career than Pittsburgh or something. So it's it's not nothing, but it's not as significant a change.

Pittsburgh is much harder for right-handed power hitters than left-handed power hitters. It's not a great place for left-handed power hitters, but it's about average. So I don't have too much concern here about Brandon Lau. It's also worth noting that he actually didn't hit well at home last year, which is shocking. He had the big season we were kind of hoping for. but when you actually look at the splits, it was 735 OPS at home 837 on the road. It was mostly a lower babbip. He hit 15 homers at home versus 16 on the road.

I think you still expect him to hit 25 to 30 homers, miss some time. He's going to be in probably a worse lineup, although I do expect the Pirates to make at least another couple of moves to fill this roster out. I do expect Connor Griffin to be a big part of their plans. Brandon Lau was on the No What's the Ken Rosenthal? It's not effectively wild

Is it fair Territory? Fowel territory? One of those Some kind of territory Either foul or fair And he was talking about Connor Griffin And how he's really excited to To see what he can do And he's heard a lot about him

So the fact that he's already talking about that I think it's a good sign for Connor Griffin even though Brandon Lau probably doesn't have anything to do with that decision. Just wanted to throw that out there. Mild downgrade, but he's going cheap enough where I don't see much reason to, like, Brandon Lau or Jorge Polanco, you know, I think I'd still take Lao, similar injury concerns. Lau, I think is a better hitter. Bolt seem undervalued, so it's...

Yeah, no, I like the value on both of them. Like, I think they're both going well behind Sidon Raphaela. I know we like stolen bases in these early drafts, but I'd rather have Lau or, Jorge Polanco, I think they're much stronger hitters. So I think Lowe's still a nice value if his price drops, love it even more. Polanco's going 60 picks behind

Brandon Liao too. That's wild. I would guess that moves up now that he's signed and we expect him to, I don't know, is he going to hit third for the Mets? He might. I hope they have a 110 runs. I hope they have another move in them because, yeah, I don't know

that you want Hori Polanco protecting Juan Soto in that lineup. Have any hitters left the Yankees? in the last off season that they could sign. Did anybody... Oh, I mean, Bellinger's still out there. They didn't lose anybody. They could... Yeah, there you go. Yeah. That very much, though, could happen, by the way.

He probably hits clean up, right? Yeah, that's the way that it looks right now. Brandon Lau, I guess one thing that could be a positive is, you know, he has sat against some lefties throughout his career in Tampa Bay. I feel like the pirates are just going to let him go. Like, they're just going to let him play. So, you know, obviously there's injury concerns with Brandon Lau, but I think they're going to play him against both lefties and righties.

So perhaps we do see an... uptick and playing time there for Brandon Lau. Any deep league interest in a Jake Mangum who roster resource has as the leadoff hitter for the pirates. Again, that could still change. Or Mike Burroughs, who goes over to the Astros, seems like he will be in their rotation. And, you know, he did some interesting things this past season. Any deep league interest in a Jake Mangum or Mike Burroughs? I don't think Mike Burroughs is totally without interest, but I do think he's, you know, maybe a better version of a lot of the guys that the Astros ran through last season. You know, the Jason Alexander and Brandon Walter and all those guys who were kind of useful at times for fantasy.

I think that's what Mike Burroughs is probably. It's just a guy who's probably useful against the right matchups, but not necessarily someone who needs to be drafted in most leagues. And Jacob Melton is just a name to know, I think, for the future. the race said that they view him as their center fielder of the future. And he has provided power and speed in the minor. So could be an interesting roto category league play at some point down the line. Again, that's Jacob Melton now on the Tampa Bay race. I do have some questions about the future because I think Jacob Melton's already like 25. Yeah. He's been 25 for three months.

So future's got to start soon if that's going to happen. He's an interesting player. There's a lot of raw power. There's a lot of speed, but I'm not much of a believer in Jacob Melton from what I've looked into, but he'll get a chance because right now it's Cedric Mullins and Johnny DeLuca

in center field for the race. There should be an opportunity at some point this season for him. All right, let's take a quick break. When we return, we have a bunch of other moves to talk about right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today, running through a bunch of moves from the weekend. And

Next up, Japanese slugger Munataka Morikami has signed with the White Sox. Two years, $34 million here. Pretty surprising deal. Murakami is just 25 years old, but clearly teams had concerns about the swing and miss in his game. I think it's a nice upside shot for the White Sox to take here. Murakami can hit free agency again in two years when he's 27 years old. I am pretty shocked at it, the deal wound up being this low. and there were this many teams scared off of him.

I think the power absolutely is legit, Chris, but the strikeout rate has been up over 28% each of the past three years in Japan. So what is that going to look like in the majors? We're going to find out very soon. What do you think about Morikami with the White Sox? I was willing to give Marikami the benefit of the doubt when teams were pursuing him.

There's been a lot of criticism and skepticism about him on baseball Twitter and there's been some stats that I people have thrown out some like really ugly stats for him that I wasn't sure how reliable they were there was one that he had hit like 100 against fastballs that were 93 miles an hour above last year I've seen other stats that it was not nearly that dire

it was more like an 800 OPS but he did struggle relative to his overall numbers this is bad though just because like when it comes to I am assuming MLB teams can have access to whatever data they want from Japan. Like that, the stat cast stuff is out there. It's just not as readily available for the NPB metrics.

And so I assume that every MLB team had access to the full suite of statistics for Murakami. You know, we've talked a lot about the in-zone contact rate being, I think, 73%, which is lower than all but one qualified hitter at the major league level last season. that was Rafael Devers, which is a sign that it's not impossible to thrive. And I actually think Rafael Devers is like a pretty decent stylistic and baseball comp for Murakami, third baseman who's probably going to play first base. There's a lot of swing and miss there, but a lot of pop. I mean, this is legit like 70 great power, 117 mile per hour, max exit velocity last season. by all accounts, the average exit velocity and 90th percentile ex of velocities were right in line with like a top 15 or top 10 mark amongst major leaguers.

He legitimately crushes the ball. And so look, Rafael Devers can make it work. The problem is when you have one comp and that comp isn't a huge outlier, you probably don't want to bet on that. That's within the realm of possibilities, within the range of outcomes for Marikami. But it's not something that you want to bet on. the fact that the contract comes in less than Jorge Polanco just got tells me that MLB teams view him as a 26-year-old as a worse bet than Jorge Polanco. That's pretty scary because Horat Polanco is older, has a lot of injury problems,

and got $3 million over the next two years more than Murakami. That doesn't really scream we think this guy is a superstar. It kind of screams we think this guy might not be able to hang. So I think I slotted him 14th among third baseman right behind Royce Lewis. For me, it's right ahead of Lenin Sosa. I think Sosa is a similar comp where you might be able to get 30 cheap home runs out of it, but there might be a lot of drawbacks along the way. I think Murakami has more upside.

There's more just natural raw pop there for him than when Lenny and Sosa. But he's ranked right around 200 for me, number 13, fourth, third baseman. assuming we list him as a third baseman, I'm actually not sure if that decision has been made yet. Yeah, I was, I was just because I don't know what he's going to be on CBS yet. This is a perfect Scott White question. In fact, Scott might actually have... He is listed as a first baseman, so that does change things.

And I do think the White Sox are expected to play on my first base as well. So at first base, he's right around 18 for me. So that tells you the difference between those two. positions. He is behind Kyle Manzardo and Spencer Torkelson, who I'm a Torkelson lower than the consensus. He is ahead of Christian Walker, but that might not be a bad comp as far as 2026 expectations for Murakami. Bad batting average, but maybe some cheap pop and run production. I think he's worth drafting in all leagues, but certainly not someone you need to target as a starter. Yeah. The early ADP on Murakami is 235. And if you're

If we compare that to other first baseman, that's just ahead of Spencer Steer, Kyle Manzardo, Lenin Sosa, I think that makes sense. Again, it's a lot of names that you just mentioned as well. We had last month, we had Yak-you Cosmopolitan join us on the show,

and he just kind of reiterated a lot of what you just said, is that there's a lot of volatility in the profile here. The power absolutely is legit. The swing and miss also is probably going to be a big problem, especially early on in Moracami's career. The only other comp I wanted to also mention Nick Kurtz, which again, these are like the high-end comps, but Kurtz had a 72.5% zone contact rate. That was really bad, but also transcendent power. So that's another example of it working out, but there are other names like Christopher Morell, Matt Walner. Yeah, where it's not so great. So, again, this is kind of like the high-end versus the low-end spectrum for Morricani. So the contract should be a strong prior here. And that should strongly tilt you towards the low end of expectations, unfortunately. The Red Sox acquired Wilson Contreras from the Cardinals for Hunter Dobbins,

22-year-old pitcher Blake Aita and 19-year-old pitcher Yoiker Fahardo. Contreras is turning 34 in May, but he could still hit. The plan is for him to play first base NDH. This past season, he hit 20 homers, 80 RBI, 791 OPS, still gets on base. At a good rate, he hits the ball hard. and now he goes into Fenway, which is a great park for right-handed batting average. So, I mean, perhaps we see that tick up here for Wilson-Gatreras.

The early ADP is 210. I think that probably goes up a little bit. This feels like a very good move for Wilson-Kutreras. Yeah, it's a nice landing spot. I don't necessarily think it's like a sea change in how you view him because, one, it's only half the games. And two, you know, he hits the ball hard enough that home park shouldn't matter too much

in terms of the number of home runs. And actually, based on stat cast data, he's actually, Fenway would not be a good home park for him. Based on their expected numbers, it would be 160 career home runs at Bush Stadium 2, 144 at Fenway. That is surprising for a guy who does hit the ball in the air to the pull side or at least did well last season.

But he's just a rock solid hitter. I think as a first baseman, he's a little fringy, but park upgrade, lineup upgrade, maybe he hits third or fourth for the Red Sox. Could be a ton of RBI opportunities in that lineup. But I do think that, you know, push, he keeps him right around 200. I think I had him 210 before the trade. Maybe I bump him up. You know, Munitaka Murakami versus Wilson Contreras.

I think that's an interesting question. Wilson Contreras probably safer. Yeah. And maybe the upside's not that different. You know, maybe Contreras doesn't have 35 homer upside, but, you know, 28 to 30 in a best case scenario, I could see that. Yeah, I definitely think we're going to get a better batting average from Wilson Contreras.

Maybe he, you know, takes up to about 270 now, you know, 20 to 25 home runs. Good counting stats in that ballpark as well in that lineup. So head to head, I'll take Contreras over Morikami. The ADP is 210. He's going right around Alec, Burleson and Sal Stewart, I like that range a lot at first base. I mean, more so as a corner infielder than you're starting first baseman, but I would be happy to have any of those guys.

This is my corner in fantasy of the upcoming season. So I like it quite a bit. Sounds like Tristan Kossis could start the season in the minors. He's still recovering from knee surgery. He could factor into the DH mix as well. The Red Sox just have so many bats still in their outfield. They still have Masataka Yoshita. they're not done making moves.

I think to have at least, you know, one or two more moves in them this offseason. Yeah, they're still on Brighman by reports. Yeah, so we have to see, you know, the way everything plays out here. But as of now, they do have too many mouths to feed in this Red Sox lineup. Wilson Gutreras is one that you shouldn't worry about.

He's likely going to see everyday playing time at both first base NDAH. As for the Cardinals, no surprise. Their new president, Hein Bloom, is acquiring a bunch of Red Sox players. He used to run things in Boston. So I guess that makes sense. Apparently they're talking about a Brendan Donovan trade too now.

So that would be what, like the third trade between the Red Sox and Cardinals this off season. It does look like the top four in the Cardinals rotation right now will be Matthew Liberator, Dustin May, Andre Palante, and Michael McGreevy. So a battle for the last spot between Richard Fitz, Hunter Dobbins, Tink Hens, Quinn Matthews. I don't know that we're terribly excited about any of those. maybe the prospect guys, like Hens or Matthews, if they can make it. Yeah, but I'd think they're long shots, given how their 20, 25 seasons both went. Matthews had dealt with a shoulder injury. It was really bad for most of the season.

Hence, I can't remember. Did he get hurt again? I believe he did, yeah. It was like a, it wasn't like an arm injury. I don't think anyway. I don't know what. He only threw 21 innings. Yeah.

So I don't know exactly what it was, but. I know that he was. It was a, something with his right ribcage strain. Okay, yeah. Yeah, I didn't think it was like an arm injury. Yeah. All right. Alec Berlinson apparently will shift to full-time first base, by the way.

So Jordan Walker could be back in the outfield. There were also some reports that the Cardinals are looking to add a right-handed outfielder. So we'll see how committed they are to giving Jordan Walker playing time. They probably should. The Padres are bringing back Michael King on a three-year-old. $75 million deal that includes opt-outs after the first and second years of the deal. So essentially it's three one-year deals. If Michael King has an awesome season, he's going to opt-out.

But this is to re-establish himself after an injury-riddled season. If you look at the numbers before he got hurt, Chris, they were actually really good for Michael King. It was a 259 ERA, 102-whip, over 10K per 9. The underlying numbers all looked really good as well. He has been a tough one for me to rank so far. His early ADP is 141. He's going just ahead of Robbie Ray, Gavin Williams, Ryan Pepio.

I have him, I think, just behind all those names, just because I'm kind of scared about the shoulder thing that he dealt with, but I still do think he's talented. What do you think about Michael King? Yeah, he's 52nd for me. I have him 164th overall in my roto rankings. So he is behind, I think all of those guys. That sounds right.

I think Michael King's got a fall for me to draft him. He's got to fall behind that age. EPI. I don't think there's any way I'm going to reach for him. I could be entirely wrong. I was skeptical about his transition to the rotation. Obviously, it went incredibly well. But the injury, the age, the injury history, the fact that he's only done really one full season as a starter. It's just there's a lot working against him to make it work, unfortunately. The Padres stayed busy. They also signed Korean infielder Sun Moon Song to a four-year deal worth $15 million. And the Padre have had success with Korean players,

originally signed Hassan Kim when he came over. He played very well in San Diego. Song is 29 years old. He's coming off a season where he hit 315 with 26 homers, 25 steals, a 917 OPS. Chris, we were talking before, and such an interesting player because he's had these two massive seasons in a row in the KBO.

But before that, he was awful. So it's just like this breakout the past few years came out of nowhere. So I don't know exactly what to think. Sounds like he could start at either second or first base for the Padres. Any deep league interest in Sung Moon's song? It's got to be really, really deep. I don't think.

Given the contract, given the lack of track record, I think you can't expect anything from him. They're not paying him like a starter anyway, right? Like this is a four-year commitment. That's more than bench players get. But the amount of money is less than $4 million. So the Padres are not expecting him to be a starter, I don't think. So, you know, 15-team league with deep benches, sure, throw a flyer on him instead of someone boring in the last round.

But I don't think he's on the 12-league roster, 12-team league roster or Raider. Yeah. All right. Let's blast through the rest of these. Let's trade to Jeff McNeil over to the athletics for 17-year-old pitcher Yordaun Rodriguez. Rasta Resource has McNeil starting at second base. It's a big upgrade in terms of park going from City Field to Sacramento. Any deep league interest in Jeff McNeil?

I think McNeil's not bad. He had a swing change in the second half in 2024. He's been hitting for more power since then. It's been very bad for the Babbitt. He's 256, 253 over the past two seasons. but if he gets that, even like 275 wouldn't be terrible. And obviously it's a huge upgrade. The big thing is just he's coming off thoracic outlet surgery.

So I have no idea what to expect for McNeil. I can see a world where he hits 260 with 20 homers in that lineup in that park and is a useful fantasy option. But I think there's also a world given his age and the injury that he's just completely done. The Mets, apparently there were reports that they're now turning their attention to Kattel Marte. So that certainly makes sense. They need to replace a lot of production that's no longer in the lineup. We'll see what the Mets do. Positionally, it doesn't make sense.

They just traded for Marcus Simeon, but maybe Marte can play third or left field or D.H. I guess he did play outfield somewhat recently, right? I don't know how recent that was. I got three, four years ago. maybe for Marte. So might be able to throw them in an outfield spot. Maybe they just make Polanco the DH and I don't know.

It was Catelle Marte playing first base? I don't know what that would do, but. He played 71 games in the outfield in 2021. He played two games there in 2023. It's been a while. Yeah, that has been a while. Chris, pour one out for your Marlins. Reliever Ronnie Enriquez had internal brace surgery

on his right elbow. Will miss the 2026 season. as I said all season, the Marlins do not have a closer and they never will ever again. He definitely won't be. But they really could use Pete Fairbanks and they have been linked to him this offseason. So we'll see. If they don't, it's probably Calvin Foshe and Company again, I guess. Nobody you want to draft with anything more than a reserve pick, I think.

The Royals acquired Matt Strom from the Phillies for Jonathan Bolin. Strom should set up for Carlos Estevez. be one of the better holds relievers in baseball. The Mariner signed Rob Rest Snyder to a one-year $6.25 million deal. He'll likely be a short-side platoon with Dominic Canzon at DH. The Cubs signed Tyler Austin to a one-year deal. This is the former Yankees prospect from a decade ago. He got called up at the same time as Aaron Judge.

They hit back-to-back home runs, I believe, for both of their first career homers. Obviously, one of those guys worked out and the other one didn't. But Tyler, Tyler Austin, to his credit, he has played in Japan the past six seasons, and he's done some nice things there. So it sounds like he will earn himself a bench, short side platoon role here with the Chicago Cubs. And maybe the biggest news of all, our buddy, Nick Pollack. Nick Pollack got married this weekend. Congrats to Nick. Chris, we were there.

How about that? It was lovely. A ton of fun. Yes. Frank, Frank dancing is, he really, like, have you taken lessons? You are really good. dancer. No, it's just I've been to a lot of, a lot of Polish weddings with my life. Because I'm just like, I'm just doing this. Like every, no matter what the song is, I'm just

side to side, just shuffling, just trying not to get embarrassed. And you're out there, like, you got moves. You're like, choreographed. It's very impressive. I try, man. Plus, the, the liquid courage helps a little bit too. That'll always help. Yeah, that will help. For those watching, make sure to drop a like on this video. Subscribe if you haven't already. We have a ton of fun stuff coming up in January. We're going to up the frequency of this podcast. We think we're going to have team previews that are coming out throughout the month of January as well. So, uh, it hopefully we can get that together. And yeah, lots of fun things coming up. January, February,

March, the biggest time for fantasy baseball draft season. So make sure to subscribe if you haven't already. Let's take that final break. When we return, dive into our first head to head points mock draft. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Let's dive into our first head-to-head points mock draft. We did this one a few weeks back and it was our first mock draft since October 29th. So a lot has changed since then. Chris was drafting fourth. Scott was 10th. I was 11th in this draft and we were using the standard CBS head-to-head points lineups and scoring system. I will very quickly run through that. Give you a reminder. This is one of each infield position, three outfielder's, one utility, then five starting pitchers and two relief

pitchers. The scoring system, you get one point for each of a single walk, hit by pitch, and run scored, as well as RBI. Two points for a double or stolen base, three points for a triple, four points for a homer, minus one for caught stealing and minus half a point for hitter strikeouts. On the pitching side, one point per out recorded, half a point for a strikeout, three points for a quality start, seven for a win or save, minus one for each of a walk, earned run, hit or hit by pitch aloud, minus five for a loss. So I know that was a lot. It probably was not the best podcasting experience,

but not everybody out there plays with the same scoring system. So I just wanted to kind of reiterate what we play with, and so you can get an idea of why players were getting drafted where they were. So for those watching, we're going to pull up a draft board here, and you can follow along. It's in list form, but you can still kind of follow along and see who was drafted here. and Chris, we'll run through the first, I don't know, six, eight rounds or whatever,

and then kind of recap our teams at the end. But the first round, first six picks here, we had Aaron Judge, Shohei Otani, Juan Soto, Jose Ramirez went to you, then Bobby Witt Jr. and Corbyn Carroll. It all seems pretty standard. Soto moves up a little bit in this format. Bobby Witt moves down a touch,

but it seems pretty standard to me, right? Yeah, I think, at least in Roto, there is some, debate over the first overall pick show head otani is the the consensus right now erin judge will go first occasionally bobby whit less so he's a clear third i do think erin judge should be the first pick in all formats personally i i think it's more clear in points but i think in any format he's just such a difference maker um and the fact that at least in rhodo otani we haven't talked about this as much. I'm sure we'll talk about the number one pick moving forward,

but Otani's not going to run as much. So like what we saw in the second half last year, I think that's going to be more likely than what we saw before. So I just, I think Judge is the number one pick in all formats. Ramirez, you know, he was the number six player, Kyle Raleigh and Kyle Schorber outperformed him last season. That is a situation where like other guys' career best seasons can outperform Jose Ramirez. But there aren't a lot of guys who get to 600 points in this format as consistently as he does. He is arguably the safest first round player of anybody. Just if you look at the past five years, he's consistently a top six player regardless of format.

Jose Ramirez. So like the floor is just so incredibly high for Jose Ramirez. I think it's totally fine. And if you want to use position eligibility to kind of split hairs, third base falls off a cliff. Yes. So if you just want to. wanted to say, hey, I don't want to worry about their base. Give me Jose Ramirez, you know, after the top two or three, totally fine with that, uh, this upcoming season. Seven through 12 in the first round.

We had Terrick Scouble, Ronald de Cunia, Gunner Henderson, Kyle Tucker went to Scott, Francisco Lindor to me, and then Garrick Crochet, the last pick of round one. Gunner, Kyle Tucker, and Lindor, all a little bit early compared to ADP. I think Gunner is probably the one that stands out most, Chris. Ninth overall is probably the highest I've seen anywhere so far. Yeah, and he was not great in this format last season. He doesn't walk as much as some of the other high-end hitters. Strikeout rates, not super high, but it's not low either. I do expect him to hit better than he did last season, but yeah, that's maybe a little bit too early for Gunner Henderson. I'd rather have Kyle Tucker. I'd rather have the three high-end starting pitchers, one of whom didn't go in the first

round. But I think you look at the way the draft went and, you know, the person picking ninth, if they took him with the fourth pick of the second round instead, it doesn't change things that much, but it probably looks a little better. Yeah, I wanted to get one of the big three starting pitchers in hindsight. I probably should have just took the pitcher first to make sure I get that player and then whatever hitter was available because there were going to be great hitters available no matter what in the early second round but it worked out for me. I took Lindor at Pick 11 and then wound up getting Paul Skeens here in the beginning of that worked out. So yeah let's get into round two picks 13 through 18 Kyle Schwabber Paul Skeens to me Cal Raleigh went to Scott

Nick Kurtz Vlad Jr. and Julio Rodriguez so people listening you might think Kyle Swarber too high But he's actually better in this format. He is better in a head-ed-point-point-point-point-eight fantasy points per game. He walks a ton, huge volume of played appearances leading off for the Phillies as well. I have no problem with him being a one-two-turn pick in a head-ted points league. Yeah, I mean, you look at like the bar for like first-round caliber players in this scoring format is like 550 points, I would say, over the course of a season is probably first-round caliber. Last season that meant you go down the rankings down to Corbyn Carroll he got there. I think he was 11th.

Well, Shorebert was 621. Yeah. That was a clear step down from the Judge Otani Soto group, but he actually was half a point behind Cal Rally and about 15 points ahead of Jose Ramirez last season. I expect Kyle Shorebert would be worse in 2026 than he wasn't 2025. But I think a first round pick is perfectly reasonable for him. him. And hey, passing on the pitcher worked out for you. Assuming Paul Skeens gets a lot more wins next season because he actually was not even close to the number three starting pitcher last season.

Scoobo and Crochet were the only two pitchers with more than 567 points. They were at 603, 637. Skeens was behind Carlos Rodon and Brian Wu as the number seven pitcher in this format, at 526. 10 wins, 10 losses, explains almost all of that. Yeah, he was the SP 14 in fantasy points per game.

Paul Skeens was last year. So missing out on wins, obviously, and I spoke to Scott about this, the pirates still kind of handled him a little bit weird. Yeah. There were games where they pulled him after five innings,

even though he was only at, you know, 70 or 80 pitches. So my hope is that year three, the gloves are completely off, let this guy go. reason he shouldn't be able to get to 200. Like six plus innings consistently. Any pitcher can get

hurt as we've seen time after time. But I'll bet on the 23 year old who's won a rookie of the year followed by a Cy Young and he's a massive human being. I'm not saying it was the wrong pick. No, no, no. Yeah. Look, there's a clear like top three. So I would have taken any of them

that fell. If it was crochet, I would have taken him too. So I would have been totally fine with that. Cal Raleigh went to Scott at Pick 15. Chris, are you more or less likely to take Raleigh this early in a one catcher league? Because he very clearly gives you the biggest advantage at that position. So there are multiple schools of thought about this. I think the way Scott tends to view it is in a one catcher league and just in the shallower format that head to head points represents, you need impact at every position possible.

and Cow Raleigh outscored the number two catcher in this format by 196 points last season. That is a bonkers number. He had 622, William Contreras had 426. So as good as catcher was last season, for head to head points, it actually was not nearly as good as it seemed for Rodo. Hunter Goodman, very bad plate discipline, mediocre counting stats, a lot of these guys mediocre counting stats.

Langalears for as good as he was, only 145 combined runs in RBI. So I think it's defensible. I'm not going to be the one that takes Cal Raleigh that high, but I think it makes sense. All right, picks 19 through 24. We saw Freddie Freeman, Ellie Dela Cruz, Catele-Martay went to you, Pete Alonzo, Fernando Tatez Jr., and Junior Caminero. I thought Freddie Freeman went too high at Pick 19. He typically does perform very well in a points league.

His ADP is 65. Even with that, he will go higher than his actual ADP, but maybe it's more like a third or fourth round pick in this format for Freeman. And then Ellie Dela Cruz, I thought he slipped a little bit too far. I know that he gets downgraded a little bit. But at pick 20, that seems too far. I feel like Ellie should be closer to the one-two turn in a points league, and in Roto, he's probably anywhere from like 7 to 10.

Does that make sense? just for some context, I think we kind of all agree, or at least I will speak for everyone. I will speak for everyone when I say, I expect L.A. Dela Cruz to be better in 2026 than he was in 2025, just because he clearly took a leap in the first four months of the season and then clearly was playing at much less than 100%. We learned a couple weeks ago, it was a quad strain, sounded like it was a grade two strain that was severely limiting him. So, and I point that out to say that Ellie Dela Cruz actually outscored Vladimir Guerrera Jr. in this format, which you wouldn't necessarily expect because Vlad is a good play discipline guy and Ellie Dela Cruz is not. But that is how valuable stolen bases still are, all the counting stats that Ellie gets. I think he's a borderline first rounder in this format.

He's going to fall way too far. We have seen this Trey Turner's entire career, where he should probably be a second round pick every single season. he is always a third round pick or he should be a late first and he's always a late second. Like people overcompensate for the stolen base guys thinking, well, they're not as valuable in this format. It's like, yeah, but you still get two points for them. You know, like that stolen base guys, especially if they can hit a little bit and Ellie Dealer Cruz can hit a lot as we saw in the first four months. I love getting Ellie DeLacruz in the second round and even in a points league. Let's move on to the third round picks 25 through 30. We saw William Contreras, Jacob de Grom,

was the SP4 in this draft. Then Trey Turner, Rafael Devers, went to you, Matt Olson, and Mani Machado. So, pick 25 on Contreras. Seems like you are paying a big price for that bounce back here. Are you okay with DeGrom as your SP4? I don't think you rank it that way, but is it viewed as egregious to take DeGrom as the SP4?

No, he's into the conversation. I think there are, I don't know, eight to ten guys in that conversation. Jacob de Grom's one of them. He wouldn't be my pick, but I think it's fine. I think the problem is not Jacob de Grom as the SP4. It's no SPs should go in the third round, is the way I'm viewing. And I think there's a clear enough drop-off between that top three and the rest of the position that, you know, we saw Chris Sale go in the, Chris Sale, Christopher Sanchez, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, go in the first five picks of the fourth round.

I think that's if you want to take Jacob de Grom as the number four SP, I wouldn't do it, but it's defensible. And I think it's just a round too early for it. A consistent theme I'll point out is it felt like there were great starting pitcher values in each of rounds four, five, six, seven. So again, it's unless you just really love DeGrom and you think, okay, second year back from the Tommy John, like he's going to be even better, then, okay, you have conviction on the pick, make it. but if you view him within that same tier, then you probably should just take the elite hitter and then whichever starting pitcher falls back to you in rounds four and five.

You could even double tap that position if you wanted to do that. Picks 31 through 36. We saw Yorda Aalvarez, Jazz Chisholm, James Wood, Jackson Trio went to Scott, Bryce Harper to me, and then Mookie Betts. So I thought Turyo slipped too far in this draft as well. I wanted him, and of course, Scott took him.

but 3.3 fantasy points per game for Truroo last year, that probably should have been a two three turn player, in my opinion. But Chris, you passed on Trio, so maybe you don't feel that way. I think he's like a borderline, like late second, early third round pick in this format. What do you think? I think it's fine. You know, it's not the best format for him. You know, last season, where did he finish?

It looks like it's around 15, maybe 20. among outfielders. He missed some time with that hamstring injury. So you can bump him up. But it's not the best format for him unless the plate discipline takes a step forward. He really does not walk very much at all. He's a very aggressive hitter. I don't think expecting improvement is a bad idea there. But, you know, looking at, I took Raphael Devers there. And for all the concerns about his plate discipline and I think they are reasonable enough, this guy who walked 112 times last season.

Did you realize that, Rafael Devers? His walk rate actually bumped up a lot last year. Yeah, he finished with 522 points. He was the number two second or first baseman. Yeah. In head-to-head points last season. I expect Vlad and Nick Kurtz to be better than him. I do think Rafael Devers probably will be a little worse next season.

We saw that after the trade to San Francisco especially. But that's just to say that Devers is a 500 point player in this league. and Truroo hasn't shown that ability yet. So I would, I'm okay with where Chirio went. Maybe it's a little low, but I think it's fine. Yeah. And I mentioned I took Bryce Harper here.

We saw a lot of first baseman go in rounds two and three, but they are all names that excel in the head to head points format. So Harper, despite missing time last year, he averaged 3.2 fantasy points per game. That was the same amount as Devers, who you took earlier in the round. So I'm totally fine with Bryce Harper, you know, going at this point in a head-dead points league.

Let's move into the fourth round of this draft, and we'll take a look at picks 37 to 42, Wyatt Langford, Christopher Sanchez, to me, Chris Hill went to Scott, Pete Crow Armstrong, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Brent Rooker. So I took a lot of time with this pick. I would have taken Langford, but he went at the turn. I didn't love any of the other hitters here,

so I opted to go starting pick. pitcher heavy. So two SPs in my first four picks. I've already said this offseason that Yamamoto is my SP4. That's in Roto. I do downgrade him a little bit in points league just because the lack of volume, Dodgers will have a six-man rotation. He won't get two start weeks. And Sanchez is kind of the opposite of that. He gives you a lot of volume. He's on a great team as well with the Phillies, so the win should be there. I think you're splitting Harris here, Chris, but if I opting for a starting pitcher here, I went with Christopher Sanchez over someone like Yamamoto. I think it's totally reasonable.

Sanchez actually outscored Yamamoto by almost 70 points in this format. Actually over 70 points. So that is, I think, perfectly reasonable just because there's probably going to be, all goes right for both, probably a 25 to 30 inning gap between the two of them. Especially Yamamoto threw a ton of innings last season once you add it. Yeah, the postseason. Yeah, the postseason. Like, what, 45, 50 innings in the post season, something like that?

So, you know, I don't think they're going to push him especially hard. And this is kind of just a drawback with every Dodgers player where, at least the pitchers, they have so many guys that, one, like, I, sorry. I was trying to think of like Emmett Shee in this week. You know, I was writing something last week and I wasn't sure if I should include him in like a bad 80p values piece that I wrote. I don't think I ended up doing it. But part of it is just I'm not 100% sure I'm at. she ends in the rotation. I think he is, and I think he should be,

but he's the number six starting pitcher. That's a precarious spot to be in. I totally hear what you're saying. No, I don't want it to be true. Yes. But I'm just... It makes sense, but it's just... I think he's like infinitely better than Roki Sasaki right now at this moment.

I think it should be 100%, but it might be 95%, you know? And at the round... So that's just to say that, look, he's going to make a bunch of starts no matter what because they're going to skip guys and they're going to have to and but it's also to say that if yoshinaubi yamamoto throws 110 innings in the regular season last next year but then has the same postseason run he just had dodgers are thrilled that is they they would take that a hundred times out of a hundred and so i just think the ceiling's a little lower for yamamoto i think that's true for all their pitchers than other

similarly talented pitchers. And I think there's some floor concern with all of them just because they're not going to take any chances with any of these pitchers that they won't be available in October. They're going to do, their number one priority is get to October.

And so if that means, hey, tweak to groin, shut them down for a month, they're going to do it and they're not going to worry about it. Outside of Yamamoto, all of their pitchers missed extended time last year. Blake's Stell, Glass Now, Otani, Emichiyan, Roki Sasaki, they all missed a lot of time.

So I totally agree. If any little thing pops up, they might just say, you know what, man, take an extra month. You know, just on vacation. Make sure that you're completely fine once you get back. So, yeah, that is something, unfortunately, you do have to factor in. Especially because, like, for Dodgers. Nobody's taking that division from them this off season. No, no, I don't, I don't think Adrian Houser puts the Giants over the top.

Yeah, like, I just, like, you know, they didn't run away with the division last year either. but I don't think there's a lot of concern that they're gonna lose the NL West. Continuing on with the fourth round, picks 43 to 48. We saw Logan Webb, Freddie Peralta. Roman Anthony went to you,

Hunter Brown, Cole Regens, and Geraldo Perdomo. So when I took Sanchez, the hitter I was debating, was Roman Anthony. I think he's going to excel in this format, Chris.

I know he strikes out quite a bit. I think the strikeouts actually get better here in year two. Great eye at the plate. going to walk a bunch. And even if the power doesn't come right away in year two, I think a lot of those will be doubles and extra base hits. So I think Roman Anthony's just set up to be a monster in Head Dead Points Leagues.

It's a park that might limit his home run ceiling, especially because he does hit the ball on the ground a lot, or at least he did as a rookie. I don't want to, when you're talking about a 21-year-old wonderkind like Roman Anthony, I don't think you ever want to talk in present tense because he's going to be a different player next season and I think a lot better,

which is scary because he was already pretty good as a rookie putting up an 859 OPS as a 21-year-old. I think Roman Anthony could be a first-round type of player in this format. I think it would be mildly disappointing if he wasn't like a top 25 hitter in a head-to-head points league next season. So, like, just how patient he is at the plate, what a good eye he has, how hard he hits the ball are at 94.5 mile per hour average Jackson velocity. That's a 21-year-old. That's almost Aaron Judge level.

That's crazy. I mean, yeah, like, I feel like we maybe haven't hyped Roman Anthony enough, actually. I like them a lot, but specifically for this format, I don't know if it happens right away in Roto League. Just because I don't know if the home run output's going to be there right away. He still hits too many ground balls. I don't know that he's going to steal all that many bases either. Sure. Maybe it's 15 steals this season.

You know, 20 homers. He might only be what Riley Green was last season. 20 homers, 15. Well, Riley Green had like, 35 homers or whatever. Trading some batting average for power, I guess. But he might be, Roman Anthony might be a 20 homer 15 steel guy, but he might do it with a 360 on base percentage and 40 doubles. And those are just, those are so valuable.

in Points League. So yeah, I think he's actually better in this format than he is in Roto Leagues heading into year two. Again, that's Roman Anthony. Did want to point out this four or five turn here for Raymond Aderton. Heraldo Pardomo and Alex Bregman, two players who do excel in this format quite a bit. Perdomo was great everywhere last year, but he barely strikes out. He was like a top eight hitter in the whole league, I think, and had to have him. Yeah. I think he was also in Roto as well. He had an awesome season. He was the highest scoring shortstop in points leagues last year, Geraldo Prudomo. The one I do want to circle

It's way too early for Freddie Peralta He just doesn't give you volume in points leagues He doesn't give you the volume in points leagues I think he's going way too high in Roto leagues actually He's like in the 60 range Yeah I want to say in Roto leagues and You know we can say like the royal we We can say oh we don't care about ERA

We're too smart to care about ERA We know ERA doesn't matter FIP or Sierra or Sierra or XERA or whatever your, you know, X stat de Jure is, all the skill indicators for Freddie Peralta were basically the same as they were the year before. Not identical, but very, very close.

And the big difference is his ERA dropped a run. And we're pushing him 60 spots up, I think, in ADP? His value was incredibly boosted by 17 wins as well. Yeah. And for a guy who doesn't pitch particularly deep into games all that often, I think Freddie Peralta is one of the more obviously overpriced players in fantasy right now in every format. And I think that's true in this draft. I think it's true in the early drafts.

I think he should be going about honestly like 25 to 30 picks later than he is. I think I could still get behind it in a roto league just because he gives you so many strikeouts. and he does pitch for a good team. Granted, he'll probably get traded, but he'll get traded to another good team. So, 63, yeah, it's like a sixth round pick in a 12-team league. I think that's probably okay in a Roto League.

In a points league, you're right, this is too early. He made 33 starts last year. How many times do you think he went six-plus innings? I'm going to say 14. 13 times, which is not good. That's... I mean, it's not good enough for a round-four pick in a point-old. 17 wins, 270 ERA, 204 strikeouts.

He was the number 11 SP last season. That's probably what he got drafted at as in this draft, I would guess. And you just can't rely on the 270 ERA or the 17 wins. And that's a big part of his success. So I just wanted to flag that one as just a player who feels very obviously overvalued in drafts right now. Let's wrap up here with the fifth round of this draft picks 49 through 54, Alex Breggman, Michael Garcia, Bryce Terang, Logan Gilbert went to you, Jared Duran, and Cody Bellinger. So even though this was a head-to-points mock draft, some waited on starting pitcher. And that that allowed you to land Logan Gilbert in the fifth round, which just feels like great value, right?

I think we both have Logan Gilbert ranked ahead of Jacob de Grom for this season, and he went two full rounds later. Yeah, I mean, he was a top 10 starting pitcher 2023 and 2024. It was 490 points in 2020, 2023, 24, 541. He was the number 4. SP, obviously, he dealt with the forearm injury last season. That's a concern moving forward. But I have Logan Gilbert as my number six, number five SP. Sorry, I'm looking at my overall ranks and I have Shoahe Otani in there because I rank it overall and then I got to fix it afterwards.

it's annoying, stupid show, Oh, Tani. But, yeah, I think he's a great value. I'm happy to get him as my, he's my SP1, right? Yeah. Yes, yeah. And again, in the fifth round, I think that's pretty awesome value there on Logan Gilbert.

Might seem early for Cody Bellinger, but he rarely strikes out. He averaged 3.3 fantasy points per game in this format, which is elite. I think it also was a little bit early for Michael Garcia. somebody I like a lot, but even last year, he only averaged three fantasy points per game. So I think it's a little bit early the fifth round to take Michael Garcia.

But again, if you're scared of third base and that position is just falling off, I get why you might push some of those players up. Picks 55 through 60. We saw Brian Wu, Max Freed, Riley Green, Josh Niller went to Scott, Austin Riley to me, and then Hunter Green. So again, lots of value at starting pitcher here. Woo, Freed, Hunter Green, all goes. going in the mid to late fifth round.

Again, these are names that we all have in that tier, that SP4 through 14 range of the rankings for next season. And this is where I kind of regretted taking Christopher Sanchez, because again, Green was available. Framber Valdez went in the middle of round six. He's great in a points league, right? He always gives you lots of innings as well. So I did regret it a little bit.

I wound up taking Austin Riley here. This is not his better format. But again, I'm expecting somewhat of a bounce back. and third base is pretty bad. There was a cliff coming at that position. So one of the better hitters available left for me was Austin Riley at that point. Yeah, I think the way this draft approach starting pitcher is probably pretty close to the way I think the position should be approached where we didn't have a pitcher taken until the third

round. It was only one. It was Jacob de Grom after the big three. I mean, it was the big three in the first 14 picks. I think if the three. of those guys going the first round, I won't complain. I really don't think another starting pitcher should go off the board until the fourth round.

I think that's kind of true in all formats, but especially in head-to-head points leagues with the shallower lineups. I think waiting and then a bunch go off in the fourth and fifth rounds, that's probably pretty close to the ideal approach

in approaching starting pitchers. I did just want to point out the first two picks of round six here, Chris. Byron Buxton and George Springer I was the one to take George Springer. And elite outfielder is, it kind of dries up quickly here. So I kind of felt like, all right, this position is kind of dwindling a little bit. I do expect George Springer to take at least a little bit of a step back.

But this is still a really good format for him. So I think I was okay with it. But, man, sixth round for both of those guys. It just feels weird seeing them this high after years of being drafted much later. Yeah, and in this instance, Springer went way ahead of where he's going in most drafts. And I think that's something you have to keep in mind is that it only takes one other person to like George Springer a lot to screw up that plan. But if you want him, the way things are going right now, you do not need to reach for George Springer. For Buxton, less so.

He's 74th in Rhodo ADP in these NFBC drafts. I think that's too early. I think we tend to overreact to injuries when they have happened and then underreact once they stop happening. And I think that's probably what's happening with Buxton, but there's clearly a ton of upside there. I can't argue with that. So it's probably fine.

Yeah, I think in hindsight, if I could change what I did in this draft, I would take Roman Antony over Christopher Sanchez. And then in the sixth round, when I kind of reached on Springer to get an outfielder, I would take Framber Valdez as my SP2 and I would like that a lot more. Yeah, I think that, you know,

Framber Valdez is an SP2. Obviously, we don't know where he's going to sign and that's probably going to impact how we value him. I have some concerns just about the age and the inconsistency and how much I want to invest in him as a result of those things. But if he gets the contract we expect him to, you're probably fine making him your SP2.

Now, if Framber signs for like two years, years 65 million or something, I'd be a little concerned about how teams view him. I heard today that his market is kind of dwindling a little bit here on Valdez. I'm a little worried about how I think some of that is probably the, I don't want to say off-field issues because that implies something that is not the case for Frember Valdez, but he's just a, there have been some difficulties in the locker room, I guess. the way to put it for him. Not that he's a bad guy or anything,

just there's just been some stuff that they've had to manage with him. We saw it with the backup catcher situation this summer. Pegged the dude in the chest with a fastball. Yeah, I think that's probably that has to have hurt his standing among other players

in the league, I would guess. Yeah. All right, so we only got through five rounds here. I will put a link to the draft results in the YouTube in the podcast description so you could check out all the rounds. Again, the article is on the site with all the draft results. But we will wrap up here, Chris, just by taking a look at each of our teams. And I'll just give a few thoughts on how we think it turned out here.

So taking a look at yours, in the infield, you had Ben Rice, Rafael Devers, Citelle Marte, Jose Ramirez, and Trevor Story. That feels amazing. I mean, Ben Rice is kind of a cheat code in any league this year. but if he gets truly full-time at bats as a first baseman, the volume that he gives you there in a points league, it's going to be awesome. Yeah, and Trevor Story's the weak point.

He was really good in this format last year. It's surprisingly. It's not a good format for his skill set, but it turns out if you play well and play a full season, you're going to have a good year, even in a less than ideal format. So, yeah, 465 points last year. In the outfield, you had Roman Anthony, Kyle Stowers,

and Taylor Ward with Kevin McGonigle as your utility bat here. So not as strong, but I think it could be totally fine at outfield. I really like Roman Anthony and Kyle Stowers. I think more than the consensus for Stowers. Stowers gives me a lot of Brent Rucker vibes, where there was just a lot of skepticism, even though the underlying numbers really do back it up. I think a step back this year is not unreasonable,

but I think he's a good value in basically all. ass. I, yeah. The pitching staff for you, you had Logan Gilbert, Dylan Sees, Kevin Gosman, Ryan Pepio,

and Zach Wheeler, the relievers, Carlos Estevez, and Cody Ponce. On the bench, you have a bunch of starters as well, Tanner Bybee,

Logan Henderson, Aaronnola, Grant Holmes. So this is a, for someone who didn't take a pitcher in the first five rounds, this looks like a great pitching staff. Look,

I need Dylan Seas to bounce back. The volume will be there. It's just, he's been more like a sub-400 point guy in recent years but man kemigism was awesome in the second half last season in a way that I did not necessarily think he was still capable of and has me a little more interested in him as a

low upside but solid like stabilizer like at nick pollock's wedding on on Saturday I'm in the middle of a gladiator draft and my pick came up and I'm talking to you and enoseres and i've got chase burns and hunter green as my top two starting pitchers. You guys started making me feel real worried about that. So I was like, you know what? I'm going to take Kevin Gosman like 110th overall or whatever

and get a little stability for my rotation. I did suggest that you just go full on Reds rotation and take Nicola Dolo, who as the season, as the off season has gone on, I really, really like Nicolodolo, but the prudent move was probably to take Gosman because Green and Burns do have some injury risk there. So I think that makes sense,

the route that you went. Let's take a look at my team real quick here and in the infield, Augustine Ramirez, Bryce Harper, Ozzy Albies, Austin Riley, Lindor it's okay. Again, I think taking the pitchers early like I did, you know, you kind of, my offense just took an overall hit here.

So I think Augustine Ramirez is going to play a lot at DH too. So he kind of has a bit of that Ben Rice cheat code, getting a bunch of plate appearances. But also banking on Albies and Austin Riley to bull. stay healthy and actually bounce back. So not a guarantee that that happens. East Coast bias right there. The entire NL East is your infield.

I did not realize that, but yes, let's go NL. East. In the outfield, George Springer, Sayas Suzuki, Mike Trout, Sal Stewart as my utility bat. Again, it's... I know you love South Stewart, though. I do love South Stewart, so that is totally fine with that. Mike Trout...

A lot of outside on your bench, too. I am willing to take more injury risks in a league like this, too, just because the replacement value so much better. So I, in a five-off fielder league, I don't think I will ever draft Mike Trout, but in a league like this, I actually think it's fine.

Yeah, absolutely. You should get high-level production when he's on the field. I expect him to hit better than he did this year. On my pitching staff, I wound up with Paul Skeens, Christopher Sanchez, Jesus Lozardo,

Cam Schlittler and Nick Ladolo. The pitching staff is amazing. Like, I love it. But again, I did sacrifice, you know, some hitters there, some high-end hitters, in order to get a pitching staff like that. Relievers, I have Cade Smith and Ian Seymour as a SPARP, someone I also like quite a bit this season.

And on the bench, I have Edward Cabrera, Zebby Matthews, Parker Messick, Connor Griffin of the Pirates, and Kazuma Okamoto, who remains a free agent, but will sign before January. So, yeah, I like the pitching a lot, but I think I kind of sacrifice some on the hitting side. There's plenty of upside, though, with the hitting side.

I mean, it's, you know, Albies and Austin Riley definitely a little shaky, given how the last year and a half has gone for both of them, really. But we were already, I think, to rank Ozzy Albies as a top five second baseman in 2026 before he broke the hamate bone at the end of the season,

which is a, obviously, given that he's dealt with the wrist injuries over the past couple of years and was dealing with the wrist. injury last season before the second half. That's scary. But if it's a non-issue and he hits like he did after he got healthy last season, Ozzy Albies was a third round player in this format for a long time.

He's got multiple 500-point seasons. So I think he's done it three times in his career. So him and Austin Riley both have tons of upside. And Okamoto could be a great pick for this format with his plate discipline. Connor Griffin could be an absolute. superstar. There's a lot to like about this team, I think. All right. We're going to wrap there for Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today.

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