Fantasy Baseball Today - Players We Draft: East Edition; 50-Game Mock Draft (06/05 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 5, 2020

Today on the show we're revealing players we like to draft from the AL and NL East teams but first, do we have any other teams we root for outside of our favorites? We still don't know how many games will be played this season but earlier today we did a 50-game mock draft just in case (4:26). How does that change drafting pitchers? Can we see four-man rotations in a 50-game season? ... If there is a 50-game season, why should we be higher on elite closers (14:18)? If that's the case, why is Frank devaluing Josh Hader? ... Who are our favorite players to draft in the AL and NL east, starting with the Boston Red Sox (16:55)? ... Did Adam talk Frank into James Paxton (20:19)? ... How undervalued is Lourdes Gurriel (24:00)? ... Is Nick Anderson a poor man's Josh Hader (28:10)? ... Do we really have to talk about the Orioles (32:55)? ... Why is everybody so excited about J.D. Davis (37:07)? ... Patrick Corbin is quite the safe pick where he's being drafted (41:40). ... Can Max Fried maintain his gains in control (44:55)? ... Chris is expecting bounce-back seasons from both Jean Segura and Andrew McCutchen (50:30). ... Is Jonathan Villar the safer Adalberto Mondesi (53:00)? ... We finally evaluate Royals prospect Daniel Lynch (56:30)! ... Email us at [e-mail]. '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 everybody to fantasy baseball today. We could all use a Kokomo Friday here. June 5th, Frank Stamphle, joined by Chris Towers and Scotty Dubbs, Scott White. How's it going, gentlemen? How you doing? Doing good, Frank. I see you wearing a Diamondbacks cap today. A red one.

The red-colored diamond-backs cap. What color red would you call that? It's not burgundy. It's not dark enough to be burgundy. It's like right before Burgundy. Like is that the Stanford Cardinal color? Is that what color red they wear? That.

I feel like the Diamondbacks probably have some kind of like dumb name, like sandstone red or something because that's like every sports team can't just call things red. It's always it's always some specific thing that they have to call it. Is it more like South Carolina Gamecox for? red or maybe like yeah it looks like the I don't think it's that dark guys it's Sedona

red Sedona red that's what we're going with the and the gold is Sonoran sand yeah I told you it was going to be something stupid that sounds like a Game of Thrones name if there were ever words used to describe colors on an Arizona

Diamondbacks hat I think those words were the perfect combination to describe the colors that I'm currently wearing on my head. Before we started, Scott, you pointed out that I was wearing this Diamondbacks hat, and I told you that they're my National League team. It comes down to Justin Upton, was one of my favorite players when he was being called up. Do you guys have a prospective team in opposite league?

Chris, do you have like an AL team that you root for when the Marlins are out of it on, you know, May 5th? I barely root for the Marlins as is. So, you know, no, I think, I don't know, I'm kind of, you know, there was this, there's this basketball website that maybe like three people listening might have heard of ever called Free Darko back in like the early 2010s. And they coined the concept of liberated fandom. And that's largely how I view sports. I mostly root for like players that I like or like narratives that I appreciate. And I can't think of any narratives in the AL that I like at this point.

So yeah, I get, well, no, I'm not going to say that. That would make everyone mad at me. So we'll just say no. I can't think of a better way for Chris Towers to describe his fandom than liberated fandom. That just makes so much sense. I almost said I was going to root for the Astros this year because I like Dusty Baker. You should just to troll everybody. Don't worry everybody.

Nobody respond. I'm kind of, I'm not how I feel for the Astros this year. I don't have like a perma secondary team or anything. There are teams I've gravitated toward in different years until basically until I get tired of them. I have never gotten tired of the Rays or the A's. I always have a soft spot for them when they're in the playoffs. Fair enough.

Yeah, I've got my Diamondbacks. Of course, I got the Yankees, but we do not talk about the Yankees here on the show, except for today, because we're talking about players we like to draft from the AL and the NL East. We've already gone over to the Central Divisions. We've gone over to the West divisions.

So today we will be talking about the Eastern teams, and we will also do a prospect evaluation on Daniel Lynch, starting pitcher for the Kansas City Royals. This one came in from our Apple podcast reviews. Been meaning to get to it, and we will do that here today. Before all that, we had a lot of conversations

before we started the podcast today, and one of them was we did a roto mock draft earlier today before the show, and the results will be out on CBSports.com, probably once you are listening to this later on today, here Friday, June 5th, and we started talking about how to approach pitching in a supposed 50 game season.

We don't know if there's going to be a 50 game season, but we figured why not do a mock draft in case there is? So you can see how he would draft. And I thought some really interesting conversations came up regarding how he would handle starting pitchers and a Josh Hader conversation. We didn't record them then. We should have, right?

I should have just... Now we're just going to have to fake it. Yeah, I know. I'm just going to record as soon as you guys join the room from now on. And we'll just kind of put everything together on the podcast. Chris, you mentioned you didn't, draft a starting pitcher until the 14th round in this mock. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was like that late. I think I filled out almost all of my starting lineup. I think except my utility spot before

I drafted a starting pitcher. And that was basically, given how much more uncertainty there is about how starting pitchers or pitchers in general will be used this year, what their workloads will be like, the kind of differences, how much, how much more. more variance is going to be at play. I just figured, why not load up at hitter and then take some chances at starting pitcher on talented guys who I like? I don't love my team. I don't hate it.

You know, there are a few places where I'm probably lacking. I could use more RBI. I could use more home runs, which is weird, but I kind of focused more on average, I guess. That seems like a bad way to go about it. Yeah, there were like I should have got, there was a point where I was going to take Donaldson and then I didn't. There was a point where I was going to take Sunno and I didn't. There was a point where I was going to take metal. And it's just, it was like I probably should have pulled the trigger on those guys and I would like my team more because then I would be dominant. Like I'm, I'm projected for

something like 53 or 55 points just from my hitting. based on the in-league projections, which I mean, you know, out of five categories, I think it's 53 out of five categories that's pretty good. The best you can do is 60. And so I don't hate it, but, you know, it will require if we were playing this out, pitching to go right pretty much across the board.

And I wish I had focused more, the early pitchers that I took taking relievers. You know, there were still Craig Kimberl, I think, at the point that I started taking pitchers. It was, there was still Sean Doolittle, you know, guys that I like and I just went for starters before. And I probably should have gone the other way. If you're going to go hit or heavy this year in a shortened season, which I think is a viable strategy, I probably, you should probably invest more at reliever than starter. So here's the thing about a 50.

game season. Beyond the point where we were already preparing for an 82 game season, and by the way, none of these, we still don't know exactly how many games it's going to be. It's just looking more and more likely that it's going to be extra short like this. But beyond the preparations, the adjustments we've already made for that, I'm not sure what more we can actually predict would change in a 50 game season. a lot would change,

but I'm not sure the extent to which we can predict what will change. The main thing that would change is how pitching staffs are handled. You know, 50 games, and actually Jeff Passon was talking about how it might be more like 48 games. You're talking about half the length of a playoff run, a playoff run where every series is extended to the maximum number of games would be 22. And you look at the way teams manage their pitching staffs in the playoffs.

They do all kinds of crazy things, four-man rotations, quick hooks for starting pitchers, bringing starting pitchers back on short rest to close out games, having closers work multiple innings, not necessarily in save situations. I just think in a season that short, any and all of that is on the table. And the teams that choose to partake in any or all of that,

it's going to depend on their personnel. It's going to depend on the creative energy of their manager. And I just think there's really no predicting it right now. But it could be a mess. It could be totally wild. Yeah. It could be so many starting pitchers put in positions where they're just really no chance of them getting wins. And so I think pitching relative to hitting, you have to downgrade it based on that.

but on the other hand, I am still of the mindset that if you have bad pitching, you just have no chance. So I'm not sure how to reconcile those two ideas. In this mock draft, I'm more or less approached it

the same way. I would have for an 82 game season. You know, I ended up with Rich Hill. I prioritized starting pitchers who could have a high impact inning for inning as opposed to, you know, leaning so much on high volume guys.

But that was a change I had already made. I think maybe the biggest thing I changed was going, making a point to get more closers who I actually feel semi-confident will stick in the role because being able to lean on the waiver wire for incoming saves sources, obviously you can't count on that in a season so short. There just isn't enough time for them to emerge. but beyond that if a team

really considers its closer to be its best pitcher inning for inning how many innings are they going are they going to be willing to give their closer in a season that's this short might somebody like Josh Hayter

for instance pitch three out of every four days if he does that he might end up with half as many innings or 60% as many innings as a starting pitcher. And so obviously his relative value goes up. The one thing I would say is,

you know, as for the comparison between how teams use their guys in the postseason, a big part of that is there are more days off in the post season. And so that aspect can't be ignored. However, another thing we don't know is what the schedule is going to look like. Let's say we have a 48 game season, which like sidebar, if you're the type of person who typically sides with ownership and you're upset about baseball not being announced yet, the players want more games and the owners want fewer games. So just keep that in mind before you send angry tweets of people. But the real point is, let's say we have a 48 game season.

And it starts on July 1st or around there. Are we going to just, just play July, play August with 48 games, and then have this playoff start in September? Maybe. I mean, that wouldn't be a bad idea for Major League Baseball because they're worried about losing the postseason in the fall. So that could be an option. On the other hand, you're going up against the first few weeks of college football

and the NFL. So you're going to be competing for attention more than you would be in like weeks six through nine. So if they decide to start the postseason in October and they play 50 games, are we going to be looking at a situation where every team plays four times a week? In which case, I mean, a closer could work pretty much every game in that scenario. And you could have four man rotations. You might be able to get away with three man rotations depending on how they parse out the days off.

So it really, it just depends entirely on what the 50-ish game season ends up looking like. But, I mean, yeah, like Scott said, we can imagine, like it could be wild. It could be absolutely unlike anything we've ever seen. And it probably will be in many regards. But we're still trying, we're still waiting to find out exactly how, what the shape of that difference is going to look like. I'm assuming 48, you know, that works out to six, eight game weeks, one off day a week. It just seems to work out nicely.

And that I think it would be a little more rest than teams get during the season. You know, obviously there are some seven game weeks during the regular season. But we don't really know. We don't really know. So that is something that has to be seen. But that's what I'm envisioning is an eight-week season where every team play six games a week. and so, you know, that gets into the whole idea of how do you, if you're in a head-to-head league, how do you make out your schedule,

you know, building in a couple of those eight weeks, I would think at least for playoffs. That's going to be its own challenge. Good luck. That's what I have to say to everyone out there. I think we're moving a little bit too far into the speculation as of now, but just to put a bow on this conversation of pitching in a potential 50-game season.

I kind of just want to take the ideas that both of you guys made and kind of marry them together. Chris said that he thinks you should boost high-end relievers up the board, and I typically feel the same way if you're playing in a Roto League in a 50-game season. And Scott, I like what you said regarding how are teams going to use their best relievers. So I think you should kind of target high-end relievers that are closers, but also have other talented relievers on their team.

So they don't have to be put in that predicament if that makes sense. So guys like Chapman, guys like Roberto Osuna, guys like Kirby Gates, they also have other talented relievers on their team so they don't have to be used in that fireman type role. But for me, Josh Hader, I've got to start to think about moving him down because I really think that in a short and season,

a very skeptical pitching staff for the Milwaukee Brewers outside of Brandon Woodruff, they're going to need as much Hader as they could possibly get. And I think that we're going to see more Corey Canable than we're actually thinking right now. So that's kind of just how I'm handling it. I think I'm going to move him down, move some of those other elite closers up the board that I know will not be used in the seventh or eighth endings for their respective teams. Well, it's, and I don't mean to start an argument necessarily,

but it's interesting that you say that. I think it's possible Josh Hater could have a lower percentage of save chances than we were thinking originally, and yet gain value in fantasy just because he's pitching that much. His number of innings relative to starting pitcher is that much higher than we'd see in 162 game season, and obviously the ratios would be phenomenal, and he would still probably get some saves. So I'm not sure I'm with you there, even recognizing the interference Corey Kenebill could present. Yeah, I guess it comes down to how much do you weigh what he'll give you terms of ratios and strikeouts versus saves because saves are hard enough to predict in a 50 game

season it's probably going to be even harder so I mean you got to be able to nail down those saves and you know I think guys that have long leashes like the Chapmans the Osunas the Kirby Yates I just feel more comfortable that those guys are are not only going to give you more saves than Hater but also pretty good ratios and pretty good strikeouts so just kind of put a bow on it there Let's jump into the players that we are drafting most in the AL and NL East. We've already talked about the Central and the West. Let's get things started with the Boston Red Sox. Scott, kick us off with the Bow Sox.

So I'm not drafting a lot of Red Sox. I guess the one I'm drafting the most often is probably Brandon Workman, which isn't exciting. and in fact I have some concerns about about him taking a step back this year because the walk rate was high and the main reason he was so dominant is because his batting average against was so low.

It was either the lowest or the second lowest for a full-time reliever in history. And that's just not something you can count on sustaining from year to year. But he's the declared closer for the Red Sox and he has a lot of strikeout potential. And it's not like control problems prior to last year were a given for him.

So I think maybe he could improve in other ways, and I think he has job security, and it just seems like relative to other declared closers, he goes really late. So he's pretty easy to draft, and I find he, as somebody who doesn't like investing a lot and saves, he tends to be my number one closer in a lot of leagues. Chris, I think I have an idea of where you're going

when it comes to the Boston Red Sox. They have a lot of high-end bats, not really many interesting pitchers. Where do you go when it comes to the Boston Red Sox? It's probably Alex Verdugo. That's what I thought. You know, I'm hoping that with the later start to the season, he'll be healthy and ready to play.

There have been somewhat conflicting reports, but generally speaking, last time I saw at least, it did sound like he was making progress to the point where it's not unreasonable to assume he will play on opening day. And so I love the contact profile. I think he's someone you can almost pencil in to hit 300 if he's playing half his games at Fenway Park. Power might be a little hard to come by, but maybe you're looking at, you know, full season, 20 homer pace, 10 steals, 300 average, pretty similar to what you're thing you're thinking you might get from Michael Brandy. I think that's actually the best comp for

Alex Verdugo. Yeah, so I've talked a lot about Rafael Deversy, someone I like to target in the early rounds, that third round range, if he is available. But I'm going to stay away from some of the early round players here. Nathan Avaldi is a player that I keep coming back to. His ADP is 327.6. So you could draft him as one of the last players on your bench, dealt with loose body, in his elbow last season, 2019. And he was terrible, 599 ERA in just 67.2 innings pitched. But I think if he can get back to that form that we saw back in 2018, mixing in the cutter, the slider, the splitter,

showed tremendous control that season as well. That was really the first time Avaldi looked like a pitcher to me and not just a thrower. So I think if he can get back to that form, he could have some value here for the Boston Red Sox. The New York Yankees. Chris, the Bronx Bombers. Nobody, they stink. They're cheaters.

Should I just let you talk Stanton for the rest of the show? Yeah, I mean, it's John Carlos Stanton. I know we've tried to avoid talking about early round guys. I don't know if John Carlos Stanton counts as an early round guy anymore. Where did he go in today's draft? I think it was the fourth or fifth round? Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, the fourth.

Yeah, Giancarlo Stanton's really good. And that's earlier than usual. That's earlier than what you see him. Yeah, that's earlier than usual. I feel like I've seen him more in the 6th round range. Yeah. But maybe getting away from those injuries, he's finally maybe going to be valued like he should be,

which is as a potentially elite bat with a high, healthy floor. If we're talking about someone who's not in the top four round range, Luke Voigt. I really like Luke Voight. I think the injury is why he struggled last season, and I think it's a pretty good reason to believe that, you know, before the injury, he was on pace for 30 plus homers, like a 280 average, 100 plus runs, 100 plus RBI.

I think Louvois is just a good player. I think he's just a good hitter. So I like him later on as well. Scott, when it comes to the Yankees, I know you're a big fan of Gio Orshella. Is that the one? Yeah, I feel like I have to go with him. him here. I just feel like he's such a safe source of batting average, low strikeout rate,

uh, elite line drive rate hits the ball to all fields. It's like the perfect profile for hitting for average. And then, you know, he showed he could be a power hitter last year too, made a change to his stance incorporated his lower body and more got to got to driving the ball better. And, uh, looks like he's a fixture at third base now, even with Miguel Andouhar coming back. And Duhar wasn't playing much third base and the initial spring training was actually playing to outfield more and he's terrible at third base anyway. Andrew Har is.

So Urshela appears to have that job on lockdown. Based on how much he's going to put the ball in play and where he's probably going to bat in the lineup, seems like a really safe source for RBI too. You know, home run's probably going to be more like more kind of average in this environment. But batting average and RBI. The amount I expect he'll give you of both is going to be well worth the late round investment.

And you're going to come to know him as a must-start player for your team. Yeah, I typically don't target early-round Yankees. I'm not in on Judge, not in on Stanton, Glaibor-Torres. Love the player, but I just feel like he's a little bit overpriced. I liked Anduhar a lot, but in a shortened season, now that everyone's getting healthy, I don't know how much he's going to play. And I feel like that's exacerbated in a short and season. You need volume there.

So I'm going to go with James Paxton. I feel like Adam has kind of talked me back into him a little bit here. The further we go along, the healthier he gets. And since May 1st, James Paxton's NFBC ADP is 117. So I think that's still a little bit too low based on the strikeouts that he can provide 11.4K per 9 over the past two seasons. That's fifth best among starting pitchers. Should be in line with wins, obviously, with the Yankees' run support.

and last year, once he started using that curveball more, the final 11 starts, Adam references this a lot. I know he's probably got his azer senses going off right now. 2.51 ERA over the final 11 starts for James Paxson. So I think that's where I'm leaning when it comes to the Yankees. The Toronto Blue Jays. Scott, when it comes to the Blue Jays, where do you usually go?

Where do you find yourself going with the Blue Jays? Well, I don't feel like this is necessarily by design. But a Blue Jay, I find myself drafting a lot as Jun Ryu. And I think it's even more defensible, the shorter the season gets. Because his durability concerns, you know, when there's less time to get hurt, they become less of an issue. And, yeah, the Blue Jays were talking about limiting his innings anyway. And obviously in a short season, that's going to be less of a thing.

He seems like he has a profile for a low. ERA. I mean, it's been low over the past 44 starts. It's like 220 his ERA. I don't think it'll be quite that good. But as often as he puts the ball on ground is on the ground as good as his control is, I think he will. He's a very safe source of ERA. And I think in a short, like the way he's he's a safe source for ERA too is going to be especially bankable in a short season. He's just not home run prone enough to get. get off to this kind of slow start that he's not going to have time to recover from the way even a higher end pitcher might. So it just seems like a really stable rotation option at a time when there are a few stable rotation options and he's nobody seems to put a high priority on him. So I tend to get him a lot as my fourth or fifth starter. Chris, the Blue Jays.

Where do you find yourself going? Lord of Scuriel. He's going to hit third for what should be. be a very good or at least pretty good top of the lineup for the Blue Jays. And he's played 149 games in his major league career. He has 31 home runs, 82 runs, 82 RBI, and seven steals while hitting 279. If that's all, he's a steal at his current price. I think Lordus Greal is a very good, not great hitter, but there's also room for improvement.

You know, he is 26, but in the minors, he pretty consistently had lower strikeout rates than what he's shown in the majors. He actually took a little bit of a step back in that regard in 2019. If he can cut his strikeout rate to be more like league average, you know, he was at 25% last season. If he can get to 22%, you know, it's not out of the question that he could hit 290 and look sort of like a poor man's Ctele Marte. the only problem is, at least in CBS leagues, he's not second base eligible, and it doesn't look like he will gain that at any point this season, barring an injury to Kevin Vigio. But even as like a fourth or fifth outfielder, I think there's a lot to like about Lardis Griehl.

You mentioned the price. His ADP is 150.4, so you're getting him in the 12th, 13th round range as, you know, third or fourth outfielder usually. Yeah, that's a pretty fair price when it comes to Guriel. I do want some shares of Vlad, but I draft a lot of Ken Giles. His ADP is 127.8 RP 14 off the board. He's my sixth rank relief pitcher, so the stuff is there. I mean, a 39.9% strikeout rate, 18.8% swinging strike rate.

Those were both fourth among qualified relievers last season. I guess the biggest risk is just, is he going to get traded? But I don't think nobody even knows if there's going to be a trade deadline or what that's going to look like for this season. Also, the Blue Jays could very easily make the playoffs this year. With the young guys taking a step forward and with the additions of Junjun Riu and the return of Matt Shoemaker,

it's entirely possible that this is a 500 or better team. If there's expanded playoffs. Yeah, if there's seven teams making the playoffs, Blue Jays absolutely could be the sixth or seventh seed. Let's go, Jays. go Ken Giles. But next we have the Tampa Bay Rays. Let's go right back to you here, Chris. When it comes to the Rays, who do you find yourself drafting most? Not really any of their hitters at all. I don't mind Austin Meadows, but I don't grab him all that often,

maybe one out of every five drafts or something. So is Charlie Morton too high end to say? I think that's the obvious answer for all of us. I said Shane Bieber for the Indian. Yeah, it's Charlie Morton. I think he's just flat out the most undervalued pitcher in fantasy baseball this year. I think he is the single best value at the position. You're going to get ace level production from him. And if anything, like really the only knock on him at this point is age and the associated injury risk. And I think the injury risk is a little overstated.

I think people kind of remember him being more injury prone than he has been with the last three seasons. I think he's had like one trip to the IL and it was for maybe one month. So I just think Charlie Morton, like he's going to give you like Steven Strasbourg level production at a three-round discount. Charlie Morton is so undervalued. Chris, I've got to call you out real quick though. Sorry, Scott. Didn't you say the other day David Price was the most undervalued pitcher in fantasy? Next question.

I have it in my notes. Look, look, look, okay. So I've been getting called out for this a lot on the Zoom hangouts that I'm doing with my friends. Look, sometimes I speak hyperbolic language. Sometimes, you know, there are like 25 greatest TV shows and albums of all time, in my opinion. And so, you know, there are tears. And Charlie Morton and David Price are both the single most undervalued pitchers in fantasy baseball. I can appreciate that.

I can, that's how it works. I can appreciate that because that's literally in my notes because I wrote, Charlie Morton is the most undervalued pitcher in fantasy this year, but Chris said David Price is the most undervalued pitcher, so I had to call you out for it. Look,

maybe there's only one podcast where you'll get a Walt Whitman quote this week. Do I contradict myself? Very well, I contradict myself. Perenthees. I am large. I contain multitudes. Close parentheses.

That's your boy, Walt Whitman, leaves of green or something. I can't remember what the poem's called. I don't know. Was it in Breaking Bad? I don't think so. That was my next question. That's where Alamandias comes from, right?

No, I don't know. I've never seen Breaking Bad. You've never seen, oh my God. We've gone over this. Let's just end the podcast forever. It's entire existence. We're just stopping here. And we're not starting it back up

until Chris watches Breaking Bad. He's never allowed to talk about TV again. It's from Song of Myself, from Leaves of Grass, excuse me. All right, Scott, who do you draft from the Tampa Bay Rays? My whole mood has just been thrown off because Chris hasn't seen Breaking Bad. I want to echo Chris sentiments about the lineup, especially if we're talking a micro-sized season, just with expanded rosters, the amount of platooning they're going to do.

Gosh, Meadows is the only one who I have any hope of playing every day. but the player I think I draft most often here it's close call between Tyler Glassnow who for some reason doesn't seem to be getting upgraded the way I feel like he should with the short in season I don't see why his scenario would be so different from like Jesus Lazzardo's or Nick Anderson who

you know after joining the raise last year was the best reliever in baseball his strike out to walk rate was just absurd they got him throwing his fastball more, I want to say. They did their usual race tricks, figuring out how to get the most out of pitchers, and it went so well for Anderson. I don't know that he's going to be the full-time closer. I'm sure he'll be part of a saves mix if he isn't.

And I think the ratios could stand out in the same way Josh Haters do. So, yeah, he comes at a much lower cost than Hater. already pointed out this show, Frank. Yeah, I echoed the same sentiments as Chris when it comes to Charlie Morton. His Morton, his ADP is 50. He's the 15th starting pitcher off the board. I have him as my SP10, just behind Jack Flaherty. So once Flaherty is gone, Charlie Morton is the pitcher that I do want to draft the most.

Scott, we've talked about some bad teams recently, which means we've got to include the Baltimore Orioles here. who do you find yourself drafting from Baltimore, if anybody? You got to include them, huh? The only Oriole I think I've drafted in any league this year is, oh, you know what, I've drafted some Hunter Harpy. But no, the one I was going to say is Ryan Mountcastle in those deeper 15-team Roto leagues just to put a high-upside guy on my bench,

a player who, when we were talking about a full season, it didn't seem like they'd have an excuse to keep them down that long. He was the MVP of the International League last year. numbers at AAA if they weren't rebuilding. He surely already would have come up. I'm not sure how much that changes in an 82 game or a 50 game season. In a 50 game season, I'd really worry about him not coming up at all because I don't think the Orioles would have any illusions of making the playoffs no matter how short the

season is. In an 82 game season, maybe, you know, there's enough games there that it's worth it to them. But, yeah, I'm not as enthusiastic about drive. drafting Mountcastle as I once was, and yet he's still probably the Orioles player. I'm most enthusiastic about drafting. Chris, I believe you drafted Hunter Harvey in our mock draft today. Is he the player from Baltimore you draft the most? Which team? Baltimore. You know, the- Which team? The Orioles? Double-stuffed. Next question.

I am going out of my way to pronounce the L because I know that you could. call me out for it. Well, that's also, I'm not just making fun of you, though I am a big jerk. It's also just that, like, I've taken Hunter Harvey like three times in the last month or so. And I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that he's the only Orioles player that I've drafted all year. Because I haven't, I didn't do any AL-only mocks.

So, yeah, I think Hunter Harvey. is literally the only Orioles player that I've drafted. Oh, I did get Chris Davis in a 2014 league. Just in case. I might have drafted Chris Davis late in like a 15 team league when he was hitting well in spring training just to see. But not, no. Not really.

Yeah, I like Austin Hayes. His ADP is very late, 295.8. Like grabbing him as my fifth outfielder. in a roto league or a bench bat. Very small sample size last year, but four homers, two steals, a 309, 373, 574, triple slash, had that monster 2017 in the minors.

Has not been good since. I acknowledge that he's dealt with some injuries, but should play every single day for Baltimore, and it's a really good ballpark to hit in Camden. So I do have some faith when it comes to Austin Hayes. Let's take a break right there, and we'll come back with the National League East give you our favorite players to draft there. We'll do that right here on Fantasy

Baseball today. All right, we're back here, Fantasy Baseball today, talking about the players we like to draft most from the National League East, the New York Mets. Let's go, Mets. That's a little WFAN for you guys. Lots of interesting names on this team. Scott, where do you go with the New York Mets? Do you even have to ask, Frank? The player I go with is obviously J.D. Davis. who I think could be a total stud this year, especially with the universal DH, whatever questions remained about his playing time are eliminated with that.

He's a bad defender of both left field and third base, but it doesn't have to defend if he's playing DH. And last year, he had a 307 batting average at 895 OPS. The expected stats said he deserved even better than that, he's a right-handed hitter who seemed like he might get stuck in a platoon role but he actually had numbers

just as good that maybe have actually even been a little better against right-handers I think it was basically even against righties and lefties so it's not like that's a concern for him he just looks like a really good worry-free hitter

to me and now we'll have playing time that he didn't have last year and dual eligible available, you know, usually in like round 13 or later. He is a fixture on basically all my teams, especially 5x5 categories teams. You actually influenced me to move J.D. Davis up the ranks. I moved them all the way up to my 41st outfielder. So there you go.

Thank you, Scott. Do you have them higher than I do now? No, I don't. I do somehow have Mark Kana higher than you, which just doesn't even make sense in my mind. but that's a conversation for another day. Chris, the New York Mets, who do you draft most from this team? Wilson Ramos. He was arguably the best catcher in fantasy on a per game basis in 2018.

2019 still managed to hit like 285. The power was not there, especially the doubles power. I think he still hit like 14 home runs, but he had very few doubles. He hits the ball hard. He was six amongst catchers and average acts of four. philosophy last season, fourth and hard hit rate. The problem was, especially last year, he really did not hit the ball in the air at all. He had a zero launch angle. It was the lowest among all qualified players. And he spent the offseason working on that. He spent the off

season on getting under the ball more to hit more line drives. And I think if he can do that, you're looking at one of the best sources for batting average at the position with better power than he's given you the last couple of seasons. It would not surprise me if Wilson Ramos hits 300 this year. I don't know there are maybe two, three catchers who you could realistically say that about this season. Chris, you've got a real eye for catchers with terrible launch angles, I've noticed. Well, yeah, I mean, that's one of the things, you know,

as I'm sorting, hard hit rate, exit velocity, you know, you've got my boy Jorge Alfaro right there with all of them, you know, right at the top, if not at the top. Just a 4.7 degree launch angle. But, you know, I have more faith in Wilson Ramas improving that. You know, he has the track record of being a very good fantasy performer. Al Faro, it's just a wish at this point. Yeah, I think there are a lot of interesting names on the Mets.

and for me it comes down to Jeff McNeil and Marcus Stroman, but I'll just talk about Jeff McNeil very briefly. His ADP is 84.6. I feel like you can get him later than that, usually. He has three position eligibility, second base, third base outfield. I view him as a poor man's DJ LaMayhew. He goes after LaMayhew.

Hit 16 of his 23 home runs in the second half last year, started pulling and lifting the ball more during that second half. He averaged 3.4 fantasy points per game last season. McNeil, and that was the same amount as Max Muncie and Ozzie Albies, and that was actually more than Glaber Torres. And then even in Roto, career 311 hitter in the minors, I think he'll be a plus contributor in batting average. So I'm interested, regardless of format in Jeff McNeil. The Washington Nationals, Chris, when it comes to our World Series champion Nationals, who do you draft most?

Washington Nationals, honestly, it's probably past. Patrick Corbyn, but if we want to go lower end, then it's Adam Eaton. I like, you know, I think what Adam Eaton did last season, you know, he was healthy. And he had pretty much an Adam Eaton season. He hit for average. He scored a bunch of runs, gave you a little bit of pop, a little bit of speed. That's what I think Adam Eaton is. You know, I think he's someone who can hit 280, 290 over a full season, 15 steals, 15

homers, and he's going to hit at the top of a very good lineup. I think Adam Eaton is definitely being overlooked right now in all formats, but I think especially in head-to-head points. Can he stay healthy for 50 games? That's the biggest question. I mean, you know, you look at the track record, and it was basically like he never missed time with the White Sox really, blew out his knee after the first month of the season in 2017,

had a torn ACL, came back and had another injury, but, you know, played 95 games the next year and then played 151 last year. It kind of sounds like it was just the knee, and then I think he might have had hamstring issues in 2018. I'm not really that worried about him staying healthy. Scott, when it comes to the Nationals, who do you draft most from this team? It's Corbyn. If Chris isn't going to take it, I'm going to take it, and I think it's absolutely true. He often ends up my number one starter, actually, as much as much, emphasis as I've put on starting pitching.

I often wait until the Corbin range of the draft, which you know is usually like round three to take a pitcher and he often ends up my first one. I don't know I'm not sure why there isn't more enthusiasm for him

and back to back years his numbers have been unquestionably ace-like and since it's consecutive years of doing that, I think it should be relatively worry-free too. He's not especially old. He's only 30. and he just seems like he seems like the last of the high-in starting pitchers

who really don't have any any grave concerns. After him in my rankings is Lucas G. Alito, Luis Castillo, Clayton Kershaw, Aaron Nola. I could find a good reason to get worried about all of them. I can't really, Corbyn. So if ever he's there in round three, I pretty much always take him.

Yeah, it's Carter Keyboom for me, just going very late in drafts, 328.880P, has the prospect pedigree. It seems like he has the starting third base job, locked down for the Washington Nationals. Came up last year, was terrible, it was a very small sample size. I spent a ton of fab on this guy too. In my NFBC main event league last year, I'm talking like 350 out of $1,000 so that absolutely sunk me, but I have forgiven you, Carter Keyboom. And I'm looking to buy back in. Look at a buy low on Carter Keyboom. The Atlanta Braves. We've got to start with Scotty Dubbs when it comes to the Braves. Scott, who do you draft from your favorite team? So I don't hide my fandom for the Braves, obviously, but I very rarely find myself drafting a lot of

brave. Like, I think I'm not someone who suffers much from Homerism as a fantasy analyst. I really like Max Fried. Everybody seems to like Max Fried, so I never end up getting him. Probably the brave I draft most often is Mark Malanson, honestly, just because I have more confidence in his ability to hold off Will Smith and retain the closer role than it seems like the fantasy community in general does. I do think Will Smith is a better pitcher, and generally, the better pitcher eventually takes over. But Mark Malanson, after having him, after having him, he's a better pitcher, uh, after having some arm problems with the giants, he seemed to recapture his form in the second half last year, elite ground ball pitcher, elite control pitcher, and started getting more strikeouts again.

His numbers down the stretch were great. I think he can be a stable enough ninth inning option that the Braves never really have a reason to make a change there, especially since Will Smith is, you know, he might be their only lefty in the bullpen. It's better to keep him versatile. and the shorter you make the season, the fewer chances Mark Melanson has to lose the role also. So that actually bolsters his stock. Chris, there's no shortage of interesting options when it comes to the Atlanta Braves in their lineup,

in their rotation, in their bullpen. Where do you find yourself going with the Braves? Marcelo Zuna. He is someone who, the last couple of seasons have been a little bit disappointing from Marcelo Zuna. Although last season he did make up for it a little bit by stealing, I believe, a career high 12 bases. And so he's got that in his pocket.

But the thing about Marcelo Zuna, he hits the ball incredibly well. He was one of last year's most impressive hitters by stat cast. And the problem is he has underperformed his expected Wobah, I think, every season but one that they have tracked since 2015. And so that's not a great sign. You know, there seems to be something about Marcelo Zuna that just doesn't meet his potential. On the other hand, if he does, we've seen what the upside is here.

We've seen Marcelo Zuna finish as a top 10 outfielder. And it's a great lineup. He's going to have a ton of RBI opportunities. I think it's worth about, you know, betting on him, you know, around that 90 to 100 pick range. He's someone who I like as a fallback if I can't grab Nicholas Castiano. Scott, you mentioned Max Fried. I'm one of those players who are drafting Max Fried before you can get your hands on him. And I lump him in the mix with guys like Zach Gallen and Frankie Montas.

Big second half, 363 ERA, over 10 case per nine gets a ton of ground balls. The one thing that I do want to ask you, Scott, because I feel like you might have more of a, your finger on the pulse of the Atlanta Braves than I do. Can he maintain the gains in control? Because throughout his minor league career and his brief major league career before last season, he really struggled with command. He was like consistently over three,

sometimes over four walks per nine. Last year it was like two and a half walks per nine. Can he maintain that? I think he could. It's not unusual for young hard throwers, and especially lefties, it seemed like to really struggle with control as they're working their way up the ladder

and only find it at the major league level. I mean, Clayton Kirshaw himself is a great example of that. So, you know, it's possible he regresses some in that area, but I don't think the right response is to look at that game and say, well, that obviously won't last because look at his track record. I think it's just part of development for a young pitcher. You heard it from Scott. Max Fried is the next Clayton Kirshall.

I am just, I will say I'm a little concerned about his splits versus righties. Strikeout rate fell, falls from 29% against lefties to 23.5% against righties. FIPP rises, you know, nearly three cores of run. So, yeah. I am concerned that like if he slips a little bit, there is some, some, some, bus potential there. Some good news there though. And you know that it's not solved

until it's solved of course but it's the talk in spring training was that his priority was to improve his change up, to develop a change up. Yeah he basically actual third pitch. Yeah he basically stopped using the change up last year was basically

fastball, curveball slider. Yeah and he talked about working with Cole Hamels on that. Cole Hamill's has a legendary for a left-handed pitcher, one of the legendary change-ups Cole Hamill's has. So that, you know,

I don't know exactly how that's going to play out, but they're at least saying the right things. They're aware of the problem against opposite-handed hitters, and they think that a change-up could be a remedy for that. Let's make it happen, Max Fried. The Philadelphia Phillies. Chris, who do you find yourself drafting from the Phillies? Uh, I guess it's either,

Andrew McCutcheon or Gene Seguerah. You know, McCutcheon more so in points leagues, but, you know, I think there's significant bounce back potential for both of those guys. Obviously, McCutcheon, it's really just stay healthy. He pretty much lived up to what we were hoping for last year. But Seguer,

you know, I think there is batting average improvement coming. I would expect he'll run more with Gabe Kapler out of the picture at manager. And if he can get back to being a guy who hits 300 like he did for three straight years and steals, you know, on pace for 20 plus bags,

like he did again for, you know, that was for five straight years. All of a sudden, I think you're looking at a really, really solid player, not a superstar, but someone who, if he's in your minor, your middle infield spot and he's hitting at the top of that Phillies lineup could be very good in four categories. Scott, the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia Phillies. Who do you draft from here? Scott Kingery is who I draft most often. I like the versatility.

I think he's being undervalued as a power speed threat. He's really the last of what in my mind, what I consider to be a likely 2020 guy. He's the last to go off the board. And by a considerable margin after Danny Santana, who's the second to last of the likely 2020 guys to go off the board. and, you know, it may not actually be 20-20 in a short season, but that kind of pace. So, you know, 50-game season, he'll be a 6-6 guy, you know.

That's the threshold we're going to have to get used to there, 6-6 guy. Oh, man, it's a stud. But yeah, no, I like to draft Sky Kingery a lot for that steals help late in Roto leagues. I find myself drafting a decent amount of Phillies, but probably Reese Hoskins is the one that I draft the most. I drafted him in that mock draft we did today. he was a third or fourth round pick last year. Now he's being drafted outside the top 100.

It has to lower the launch angle a little bit. I think if he gets back to the player he was in the first half of last season, then we can have a pretty big value on our hands where he's being drafted. Let's quickly run through the Miami Marlins so we can get to this prospect evaluation for Daniel Lynch. Scott, no, we've got to go with Chris. I mean, this is the Miami Marlins. What do you draft, Chris? Yeah.

And it is the Miami Marlins. That is technically my favorite team. They don't have a lot of good players. They have some interesting guys. I think all five of the pitchers in their rotation could be useful. But I guess if I have to pick one, I guess it's Jonathan V.R. You know, you're looking at he's, this is a weird way to phrase it about Jonathan V.R., but I think he's a safer version of Adelbrato Mondesie.

doesn't have quite as much upside in either power or stolen bases, but also much less likely to busts out, which for those of you who have had Jonathan V.R. on your teams, like three out of the last six seasons, you might laugh that he's less likely to bust than anyone. But yeah, I think he's going to steal bases. He's going to have some pop. And I think he's hit like 265 or better three out of the last four seasons.

It was really 260 or better. better four out of the last five. He had that one year we hit 21. Yeah, I think he's good enough with the stolen bases that you won't regret drafting him probably. Yeah, it definitely doesn't have as much upside as Monashie in steals. But in terms of power, VR actually might have more than Monashie. Scott, the Miami Marlins, round us out here. I mean, it's probably VR for me too. Obviously, this is another bad team with few options.

I guess if it's not him, John Birdie, I like only in Roto Leagues, of course, is a cheap source of steals. And I truly just Roto League, because head-to-head categories, leagues the lineups are probably too small for you to fit in a no-power bat like Bertie. But I think he'll play enough as a super utility guy

and could give you, you know, 30 steals pace. based on what he's done the minors and what he did last year in the majors. I also tend to get Brad Kinsler a lot as my third closer in those 15 team leagues just because, like anybody who's in line for saves, deserves a spot in a league that big, a roto league especially. And people just kind of forget about him.

He's not officially the closer, but he seems like the heavy favorite there to close games, at least to start out the year. And if the seasons, you know, eight weeks long. There's not going to be much time for him to lose the job. Yeah, I'm slightly interested in Brian Anderson, who has slowly raised his launch angle,

and I mentioned this many times, but James Rousin came over from the Twins. He was there hitting coach to past couple seasons and has helped them raise their launch angles and pull the ball more. And he is now the, this is a real thing, the offensive coordinator for the Miami Marlin. So I'm hoping that he can help someone like Brian Anderson

make that change. as well. The question is, is he or the head coach going to call the plays? That's what really matters. Remains to be seen. We're going to have to dig deep on some beat reporter insight there, Chris, to find out who's

calling the plays for the Marlins. But there you go. AL and NL East, we wrapped up all the players that we like to draft most from each team over the past couple of days. Do want to just round it out with a prospect evaluation on Daniel Lynch. This came in from our Apple podcast.

podcast reviews. Continue to send those in. Send in a five-star review. Let us know a prospect you want us to talk about, and we will surely do so. Daniel Lynch, the Kansas City Royals, first round pick in 2018. He is 23 years old, which is kind of old for the levels he's pitched at so far. He advanced to high A last season, a 299 ERA-129 whip with 92 strikeouts in 96.1 innings pitched. sits 94 to 96 miles per hour with the fastball can reach upper 90s at times. He has a plus slider. He gets a good amount of ground balls.

Scott, I'm kind of interested in Daniel Lynch. Yeah, he's not in my top 100 prospects, but he very easily could have been. There are four pitchers that the Royals took in the first round of the draft two years ago. And they're all kind of in the same range of pitcher prospect, in addition to Daniel Lynch, there's Brady Singer.

Yep. Chris Bubbik, Bubich. And Jackson Koher. Yep. They're all a little different, but a lot alike, too. Daniel Lynch is kind of, is kind of in the middle of all of them. Boobich is like the deceptive

guy with a really good secondary pitch who has great minor league numbers but you're not really sure how it's going to translate Singer who was the highest of the picks is the ground ball specialist but you're not sure how much of a bat misser he's going to be Kawar looks like the best natural

bat misser and then Lynch is kind of in between Singer and Kawar I feel like which could mean he has the highest upside of all it's just really hard to say right now but he seems to be a lot of prospect evaluators favorite of the four you get a different answer no matter who you ask.

I have trouble telling them apart. And the one I put in was Singer, but I kind of put him in there to represent all four because I have a hard time telling them apart. Chris, you got anything to add when it comes to Daniel Lynch? Scott, did you mention the Arsenal that it's kind of fastball heavy right now? And the question is whether he'll be able to develop,

you know, a consistent third pitch. He was the highest drafted of that group. And from what I've read... Singer was the highest drafted. Oh, sorry. Lynch, on the other hand, from what I've read, he had a pretty significant velocity jump

upon making it to the pros. And so, you know, that's the kind of thing where you've got a tall lefty, throws 94, 96. That's a pretty good starting point. And then it's a question of whether, you know, he can develop that secondary, pitch. The fact that he saw that big velocity jump, it does make me think that we probably

shouldn't just write off the chance that he does develop those pitches. But there are definitely prospect evaluators who think he's a long-term bullpen arm. Yeah, definitely fair. The slider is something that is graded out as a plus pitch. But if he doesn't develop that third pitch, whether it's the change up or the curveball, then you could be looking at just a power fastball and a slider, which could make for a very intriguing arm out of the pen, as Chris mentioned. All right, that'll do it, guys, here today on the show. Any big plans for the weekend, Chris? Nah.

It's going to be one of those things where I ask you on Monday. Hey, guys, how is your weekend? And, well, you know, it was fine. Why are you asking us? We'll go to the park. We're boring people, Frank. You've got to figure this out. You know, we got a puppy.

We're going on lots of walks. We'll probably take him down to the river. I took him down to the East River, jumped in the first time we went there. Oh my God. Probably go, probably go do that. All righty. I won't jump in the East River.

He will. Scott, I'm going to assume you're not jumping into any rivers this weekend. I am not jumping into any rivers. No, no. Can't think of a good joke for that. Go jump in a lake, Frank. Go jump in a lake. If I can find one, there's not really any around me. I don't think there's any around Chris either.

So it's going to take some searching there. That'll do it for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thank you all for listening. Have a fantastic weekend. We'll talk to you again on Monday. Bye-bye.