Fantasy Baseball Today - Players We Keep Drafting! Players We're Scared Of! (3/25 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 25, 2021

Before we get to those players, let's hit the news at the top (2:52). The MLB is planning to be stricter on substances pitchers are using plus an update on Andrew Vaughn and an Eloy Jimenez injury. ... FIND OUT WHO'S IN OUR PODCAST LISTENER LEAGUES HERE (19:05)! ... Which catchers do we keep drafting (22:14)? The catcher Frank keeps drafting is also the one he's most scared of. ... Who knew Eric Hosmer was this popular (26:29)? ... Could Ketel Marte be the number one second baseman (33:20)? ... Is Corey Seager now the best hitting shortstop in baseball (38:17)? ... KE'BRYAN HAYES TIME (44:00)! ... What should you expect from Byron Buxton (47:02)? ... We wrap with the pitchers we've drafted most and those we're scared of (53:41). ... Email us at [e-mail]. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank, @AdamAizer 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/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. I drive, center field, and swing. This is magnificent. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, Chris, and Adam.

Which players do we keep drafting and which ones are we scared of? Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today. Frank Sample joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. We are now just one week out from opening day. You guys hyped? Scott's hyped. I see it. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Just had my home draft tonight. It did not go well. It did not go. I don't know why. I underestimate the people in my home league. Every year. Scott, I've got a song about that.

Yeah, you do. You do. We will debut that on tomorrow's podcast when Adam Azer is here because Adam is. an alternative rock kind of guy. I feel like Adam will appreciate it. But Scott, you would think that we're professionals, right? Like we've been talking about fantasy baseball for the past, I don't know,

four, five, six months, whatever it is. Well, really... I wouldn't even dare estimate how many mocks and or real drafts I've done up to this point, March 24th. So, you know, I feel like I have a major advantage over these people who, I think some of them is probably their only fantasy baseball league. I guess 25 you've probably done at least more. Because that's just mock drafts, I would think.

There's a major scoring quirk in this league. It's the league I played in for like 20 years. It's a 10-teamer, but there's a major scoring quirk, a points league. Strikeouts for hitters are full minus one instead of minus half a point. And you wouldn't think that would have as big of an impact as it does, but it really shrinks the usable hitting pool, especially at a time when hitters don't really care how much they strike out. There are very few hitters that can deliver a near one-to-one strike-out-to-walk ratio anymore.

And they all got pulled up as they should have, but more dramatically than I expected. So I really, you know, Austin Meadows I took in like round 10, but I was disappointed I didn't get Anthony Rizzo instead, you know, because I'm just not sure. Unless Meadows is as good as he was two years ago, he might not. be startable in this league. Oh, I mean, come on, Scott. You know the deal when it comes to Austin Meadows. So we're going to talk about Austin Meadows a little bit later on. Players we keep drafting. Of course, players that scare us. We're going to run through each position. I did a 15-team salary cap draft right before we started. That's actually why we started a little bit later here

tonight on YouTube. And I wound up with Trevor Bauer. Should you be scared of Trevor Bauer? Let's hit these news and notes first before we get into some of those players that we love. Just knocked this out right at the top. The MOB is saying that they're going to crack down on pitchers using foreign substances. So good luck because, I mean, as we've read in articles, it's probably over 95% of pitchers that are using something. I mean, Chris, is there any impact to this? Like, are you actually scared to draft someone like Trevor Bauer who you yourself have questioned using substances or even like someone like Garrett Cole who kind of seems like...

I have no idea what you're talking about. Oh, all right. Well, does this worry you at all? This idea that the MLB is going to crack down on pitchers using stuff? No. No, I would imagine my guess, and obviously this is just a guess,

but my guess is we're going to see like two or three token ejections early on in the season, maybe like a fine for a high profile player, and then it'll be nothing. And I'm not going to say, whether that means people will stop doing it, but I would expect that it's going to be pretty inconsistently adjudicated,

and it's not going to make a significant impact. So, like, there are a handful of players who have seen, let's say, suspicious increases in their spin rates in a way that you typically don't expect without the use of foreign substances. Garrett Cole is one of them, Tyler Malley's one of them, Trevor Bowers, one of them. A handful of guys on the Cincinnati Reds. T.J. Antone is one of them.

If you want to downgrade them, fine. But my guess is there are more pitchers who are using some sort of thing than are not. And we don't know for sure who is and we don't know for sure who isn't. We don't know how much of an impact it makes and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So we don't even really know how they're going to pick out those players. Like, is it because I know. because I know they're tying it to stat cast. Are they talking about increases from last year?

And Cage, you know, Bauer's off free because he already made that jump last year, you know? It was very funny to see Trevor Bauer's agent asking Jeff Passon whether players who used before this year will be grandfathered in. Yeah, it's quite ironic. That was the term she used. Look, I have a hard time believing that they would take the two,

because I mean, really the two most high profile people involved in this that we talk about and know of our Garicol and Trevor Bauer, they're in a strictly link. They pitched together at UCLA. They apparently don't like each other. Trevor Bauer accused Garrett-Cole of doing this. Trevor Bauer then apparently seemed to do the same thing. I have a hard time believing that Major League Baseball is going to take the guy who signed the largest contract in major league history for a pitcher and the guy who signed the largest

annual contract in major league history for a pitcher and um suspend them for any significant amount of time or do anything that would make it uh so that they're not going to pitch at a high level so i don't know from like a moral and ethical standpoint like they should just let them all use it it's good when pitchers have better grip yep yeah wasn't wasn't there's some talk in the offseason that MLB was like developing its own substance for them to use so that it would at least be uniform. Yeah. Look, if anyone's going to let you get Trevor Bauer or Garicol at a discount, sure, take it. That would be my advice to you. How about, let's talk about another player that I won tonight in my salary cap draft. It's all about me, apparently. White Sox

Vice President Ken Williams apparently has indicated. That was a bad pick, man. What? Ken Williams? Ken Williams? Yeah, I took him on my team. Yeah, I don't think he's going to do much. It's a really... Let's set the over under at 0.5 steals and I'll take the under. It's a really unique format, Chris. I mean, let me tell you about it. The player I won was actually Andrew Vaughn,

but White House Vice President Ken Williams apparently has indicated to Bob Nightingale that Andrew Vaughn will not be kept down in the minors for service time reasons. He had this to say, we understand the service time issues that play here, but our feeling is that when you're ready to help the Major League Club,

there's a spot for you. We're trying to put the best, team out there. We have proven that over and over again. Scott, I don't know if this changes anything, but would you like to react? Yeah, I mean, it kind of confirms what people throughout the organization have been saying all along. Of course, there's no way Ken Williams would say, we are going to send him down for service time reasons. That's not something he would be allowed to say. But, you know, he's had a great spring. Vaughn has Tony LaRouza's raved about him in every opportunity really likes the quality of

his at-bats, et cetera, et cetera. To me, it's immaterial at this point. You know, you'd rather get the two extra weeks from Vaughn, of course. But two weeks is just a drop in the bucket in the course of a baseball season.

And, you know, if you have to wait two weeks longer for contributions from Vaughn, that two-week difference doesn't make, it doesn't change where I'm drafting them, you know? It'd be the same point. whether I knew he was going to be up for the first two weeks or not. Let's stick with the White Sox.

Eloy Jimenez left with a shoulder injury on Wednesday during a spring game that he apparently was trying to rob a home run. And, Scott, I think you were researching this from some kind of doctor talking about it. What'd you find? On Twitter, Dr. Jesse Morse. That's his Twitter handle. Oh, I've seen him on Twitter.

Yeah, he does a lot of stuff for fantasy football too, yeah. Right. He brands himself one of the fantasy doctors. And he was suggesting that what he sees in the video from Elohimenez reaching over the fence and kind of hanging by his arm and then the way his shoulder responds. Dr. Jesse Morse was speculating that he dislocated his shoulder and tore his labrum, which would obviously. be bad bad news I don't think it would be a season end there but it would he would miss significant time and there would be some questions about how he performed when he returned um you know at least it's his left arm

better than his right but still it's not good you know that's that's going on the interpretation of dr jesse morse from a camera angle that isn't particularly close and and you know it's it's obviously not definitive, but I feel like it's a better speculation than I can offer myself. So let's wait and see, but I would be very cautious in my approach to Oloi Jimenez until we hear something more definitive. Because right now, the team's just calling it shoulder soreness. So, you know, that's a big difference between that and a torn labor. Yeah, and I hope we know more by the

weekend because it's obviously a very big weekend for drafts, you know, the weekend. You know, the weekend before opening day. So hopefully we find out more on Eloy Jimenez. He went for $26 in this 15 team salary cap draft that I did on Wednesday night. So that's still, it's still a good amount of money. Too much. Yep. Quite a bit there. Nick Anderson, reliever for the Tampa Bay raise has elbow tightness. So, I mean, they're still probably going to mix and match, but this might mean more goes to Diego Castillo. We know Diego Castillo is a really talented reliever. So, um, Chris, you think, like, are you going to be making any adjustments to rankings as a result of this Nick Anderson injury? I'll move Nick Anderson down, but...

Does it give you more optimism in Diego Castillo? Yeah, I think so, but, you know, it's not necessarily a guarantee that he's going to be the guy. This is a team that... What was the number? They had eight different people have a save last season? 12. 12 different people have a save last. 60 game season.

Sorry, I think the Cubs had eight last year. So I think there was a stretch where they had five. saves by different guys like in a row, a stretch of five saves from completely different guys. I would be surprised if they just went, all right. Now it's Diego Castillo. He's the closer. There's no question about it. We're going to use them every day. But, you know, that's one fewer person. So you figure maybe they get 25 saves and, you know, or 45 saves over the course of the season. Maybe Anderson's limited for a month and Castillo gets two extra saves. I don't No, it's possible there's a big impact, but I don't think you can count on anyone being the closer for the race.

Dalton Varshow catcher slash outfielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks has been optioned to their alternate training site. So I assume that means Carson Kelly will continue to get the bulk of starts at catcher. They do have Stephen Vote as the backup there. It's quite old. But it seems like their starting outfield will be David Peralta, Catelle Marte, and I guess Tim Lacastro. Rostal resource has Pavin Smith in there, but Pavan Smith's in the running. Yeah, he is.

Tim LaCastro, is he playing? I think he's dealing with something, right? I saw his name recently. I think he had COVID. He had COVID. I know he came back from that. I don't know how he's been performing or, I think he has been playing.

If they have Catele and Center Field, I'd be kind of surprised that they, for them to put LeCastro in the lineup. But, you know, it's, um... Say this about him. he'll get on base and he'll still bases. He's got a decent walk rate, but in particular,

this is a man after my own heart. He gets hit by pitches all the time. He just loves getting hit by a pitch. He had 482 played appearances last year, 22 in 250 the year before. So limited sample size, but 365 on base, 256, batting average and 26 stolen bases

without a cot stealing so far. If he is playing regularly, he could be a useful roto option. It's kind of a mild straw situation all over again. Yep. Except, you know, a little more competition for the playing time there with LaCastro. A couple things. Not a good sign that Dalton Varsha couldn't win a job with Cole. Cole Cahoon out.

Obviously, you know, there's a chance he figure some things out in the minors and comes roaring back later in the year. But I'm not particularly inclined to stats. unless it's a very deep league or a two-catcher league. Two, good news for Josh Rojas, right? Sounds like second base job is his. Yeah, no, that's great. Josh Rojas has been awesome in the spring,

and we spoke about him the other day as one of Chris's favorite deep sleepers. So, yeah, definitely helps his playing time as well. Harrison, go ahead. Go ahead. I just want to point out, Tim LaCastro in his minor league career, 5.9% walk rate, which is pretty bad. 6.3% hit by pitch rate. I never knew that.

You looked at hit by pitch as... You love to see that. Oh, yeah, I'm a big Derek Dietrich fan. Hit by pitch is like just as good as a walk except sometimes you get hurt. Who was that guy for the raise a few years ago? I remember you liked him for the same reason. Right-handed batter.

Yeah, I can't remember what his name was. But yeah, I remember who you... He played for the Cubs too. I can't remember. Yeah, was he on Cleveland as well at one point? Yeah. I'm going to see if I can find him. Yeah, I know who you're talking about.

Yeah, I love a guy who gets hit by a pitch. He'll have to do anything to get on base. Harrison Bader, outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, will miss four weeks at a minimum. So it seems like Lane Thomas, Austin Dean, or a gentleman named Justin Williams is going to get the opportunity to start in right field for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Stephen Brault, who was supposed to be the opening day starter for the Pittsburgh Pirates, has been shut down at least a month with a lat train. Tyler Anderson looks like he's going to be their opening day starter. Good luck Pirates fans, but if you play in an NL only league, sure, Tyler Anderson. Kyle Wright was optioned. Scott, any optimism for Bryce Wilson? Not really. He's not a big strikeout guy.

He doesn't have a very diverse arsenal. I don't think he's a particularly good ground ball guy. wrong about that, but I'll think he is. Throw strikes. Yeah, I mean, to me, he profiles as a back-end guy and I doubt he'll have a spot for long because Mike Soroka is well into his recovery.

By the way, I looked it up. Brandon Geier. Brandon Guyre, people in the comments section beat me to it. Yeah, you had a 2015 Brandon Geier hit by pitch 24 times, 2016, 31 times. Yeah, but only a 5.7% hit by pitch rate.

So our guide, Tim LaCastro, still the reigning champion. Derek Dietrich was 4.9%. Wow, the YouTube chat is crushing it. They were right on top of that. We got some real baseball nerds here, and I love it. That is great, man. Getting some Brandon Geyerloved. Did not expect that today.

Last thing I'll mention, unfortunately, my guy, T.J. Anton, will open the season in the bullpen for the Reds. I think it makes sense. He's dealing with an injury, so he hasn't really had the opportunity to get stretch. out. So love it. Love it for his.

I mean, I still think he could be valuable. If people are going to move him down draft boards, like he's going to be in the rotation at some point. If he's not, he's going to pitch multiple innings at a time. I agree. Strikeouts. Yep.

This is a kind of pitcher who I'm drafting a lot of. And I have a decent amount of T.J. Anton. Alex Reyes is another guy. Tony Gonsolin and then Dustin May. Freddie Peralta. Freddie Peralta. Yeah, guys who can be in the rotation or guys.

guys who can throw two to three innings at a time and get five or six strikeouts. Like I think this year, if you can get, you know, three of those guys on your team and they throw 100 innings with really good ratios, that's going to be really, really valuable as someone to either just start every week or, you know, slot in when you don't like your matchups. At least in a categories league, they're probably be worthless in a points league, but in a category's league. Yeah, unless they're starting.

For a bad starter, starting pitcher cloud. They may be sparks. Yeah, but even so, unless they're getting wins for a safe. But that's what I mean, when they get the chance to start. Yeah. Okay. I think Freddie Peralta, though, like, T.J. Anton's been getting hyped in the fantasy community for, like, months and whatever. Everybody really likes him for some.

I think Freddie Peralta is going to be more what they want Anton to be. I think he's going to be in the rotation sooner and maybe staying longer and be... I think that makes sense. Why can't they just both be awesome, Scott? Why can't they just both be awesome? Well, that could be. I just, I think Peralta should be getting the hype that Anton's been getting is what I'm saying. It's like, what is it, a GIF or a meme?

Why not both? Yeah. Get both of them. T.J. Anton and Freddie Peralta. Quickly promote a few things before we get to the players we keep drafting and players that scare us. But you have drafts this weekend, of course. Just a reminder that you can download our fantasy baseball today draft prep guide for free over on the website. The link for that is CBSports.com

slash FBB draft kit. It has all of our rankings in there for heads head points, Roto, there are salary cap values. There's a tracker for your draft. If you want to just mark down everyone that's on your team throughout points, there's different kind of strategies and tiers.

There's everything basically that you need to dominate your draft. And it's for free, so why not get it? It's CBSports.com slash FBBDraft kit. And the moment you've all been waiting for, The announcement, right? I probably should have led with this, but whatever. Missed opportunity.

Listener League winners. I've conjured everything up. I got it. And this is what we are going to be doing. I think that I, yep, I did this backwards. But for the 16th team for the people, head-to-head categories draft, this Sunday, which will be held at 6 p.m. Eastern Time, the winners. Of course, joining Frank, me, Scott, and Chris.

I made it. That's right. You did. Mark Clements. Woo! Stephen Lipp. Mel Sanchez. Brian Mayer. Antoine,

Jr. Matt Angelo. John Meyer. Eric Hall. Corey Barite. Hope I got that. Barrett. Jason Redford.

Christopher Ruehohon. Charles Barr and Paul McGowan. If I just called your name, you are in. the 16 team for the people heads head to categories league. No, Heath Cummings isn't in it anymore. I asked him if you want it to be. No, I'm out.

I'm done. He doesn't listen to the podcast anymore. He missed the submission deadline. He's out. Let's change all his garbage rules then. We certainly can. Or maybe we should leave it up too. We leave it. It's the Heath Cummings Memorial Garbage Rules League. That's the new rule.

That's the new name. I'm down with that. For the 12 team head-to-head points, listener league that we will be doing, that will be, that draft will take place the next night this upcoming Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern time. Adam and myself are actually going to be sharing a team, so that should be a lot of fun. I'm pretty sure it's just going to be him saying, draft whoever you want, Frank, but we'll make sure that we get James Paxton.

Scott and Chris, you guys both made it again. Congrats. Sean Millerick made it for making this awesome piece of work. Joel Massey, Jake Goudoo, Gooddo. That makes me laugh. Sean Wempey. Wemp, Jason Kring, I'm sorry if I'm messing up your names, Brian Fink, Tyler Wilhite, Will Hittie, Willhite, we'll go with Willhite, we'll go with Willhite, Gabriel Molina, who's actually leading

our bracket challenge right now, and I realize it's kind of weird because the March Madness bracket is not over right now, but we've got to go with who's in first place right now. Whoever actually wins the bracket, you're the one who's going to get the $100 Paramount Plus gift card, so we're definitely going to follow through on that. But Gabriel, Molina, you are leading right now. You are in the 12-team points league. And last but not least, Aaron Holcomb. The submissions for this were awesome. Once again, last year we had the songs, the creativity, the thoughtfulness, and people who didn't send in Photoshop things. I mean, there was a few people that sent in, like, poems and song lyrics and just like awesome reasons why you should be part

of the league. Some of the people who made it into this league are servicemen and workers. I chose someone that was in the army. There's another teacher in here. So all different kinds of people. We're looking forward to playing with you. It's going to be a lot of fun. Again, those drafts are coming this weekend, and congratulations to everybody who is going to be a part of it. All right, the players that we keep drafting and the players that we are scared of, what we're going to do is go position by position. And guys, we need to be brief. Rapid fire. I say this all the time, and it never actually works. So maybe today's the day. Scott, why don't you get us started with the catcher that you keep drafting?

Ah, well, see, I thought I was going to be ahead of the curve. here since I just wrote the article the players I keep drafting but I didn't include a catcher in it so this was actually very hard for me to do I will admit it's like I'm trying to look through all my teams and I'm like I don't even know who do I keep drafting

yeah I'm sure the catchers I'm most invested in are like Francisco Mejia and Dom Nunez but you have to play in a pretty deep league for for them to be of relevant so I'm going to say it's probably Mitch Garver for the majority of the audience because he's basically free in a one-catcher league and there's good reports out of spring training.

The numbers aren't good. He hasn't played that much. But it sounds like the twins are pretty confident. He has a swing back after an injury-plagued year. And he was far and away, far and away, the best catcher on a per-game basis in 2019. So I'll take a shot on the upside, especially in a one-catcher league

where if it doesn't work out, you know there are going to be options on the waiver wire to fall back on. Chris, the catcher you keep drafting. I was trying to do some quick research, but I guess I'll... I mean, I can... I have been keeping track

of my most drafted players. I just don't have a catcher in that list yet, so... I can go if you want to keep researching. Yeah, I could use... Well, actually, the player that I keep drafting most of the catcher is actually the catcher that scares me most, and it's Gary Sanchez.

So I'm just going to include those together. I think that his upside is massive. I also think his floor is terrible. And I understand why people are scared of Gary Sanchez. Chances are you're probably someone who has had him in the past and you've been burned by him. And, you know, he has a few seasons here hitting a round or under 200. I get that. But I still think his upside is, I don't think he's ever going to have a great batting average.

But can he hit 240, 250 with 30 plus home runs in that Yankees lineup? Sure, I think so. I will also point out that since I was hyping him up earlier in the spring, when he hit a bunch of long home runs, he has not been as great since, and he's still striking out a lot. So there is a ton of risk. I get that,

but Sanchez is going later than he's ever gone before. ADP is right around 150. At that point, I'm just trying to find a catcher who has upside, and Gary Sanchez is that guy. So he is both the catcher I'm drafting most and the one that I'm scared of most as well.

Chris, was that enough time for you? I need like 12 more seconds. Scott, your 10 seconds thought on Gary Sanchez. Yeah, it's similar to, it's similar to Garver. Just Garver goes even later. Sanchez, I think, Sanchez, I think is, has a higher floor. I'd be surprised if you dropped Sanchez this year.

So, you know, in some ways you could say he's a better pick. But I'd rather just wait and draft Garver. All right, Chris, that was more than 12 seconds. So you should be good to go. Yeah, it's probably Buster Posey. It would have been Will Smith. and it actually may be Will Smith, but given the news recently, I'll just try to make it Buster Posey instead.

And it mostly just comes down to, I think he's a good bounceback bet. I think he was really hampered by a hip injury in 2018 and 2019. He had surgery after 2019, sat out the 2020 season. I think if he can just get back to hitting 280 with 10 home runs, which is what he was doing before that. And really, that was just before 2019. I think he's going to be a must-start catcher. Yeah, and I don't want him as my catcher

in a head-to-head points league or just a league where you start only one catcher. But in a two-catcher league, you're going to go pretty deep into the player pool. All you need is a catcher that doesn't hurt you. And I think Buster Posey can be that. So I actually don't mind getting him as my second catcher in those two-catcher leagues.

Chris, we'll go right back to you, the first baseman that you keep drafting. Yeah, the first basement I have drafted the most is Eric Cosmer. I've drafted him four times out of 15 leagues so far. I have three more drafts left and maybe someone else can top him, but that's the guy I've drafted the most. I am a little bit concerned because so far in the spring, he has not been hitting the ball in the air.

Last spring, he was right around like one ground ball for every fly ball so far. this spring it's about three ground balls per fly ball which is where he was pre-2020 so that definitely makes me nervous because you know we were dealing with a small sample size with his improvement in 2020 and you know he made conscious decisions to do that so it wasn't like it was just a a fluke he didn't quite sustain it all season but he was consistently above where he was in previous years he hasn't been that so far. But even if he's not that, I think he's probably going to hit 270

and drive in a ton of runs in that lineup. Chris, did we just become best friends? Is Eric Cosmer also your guy? Eric Hosmer is the first baseman that I've drafted the most. And I do play in a lot of 15 team leagues over on the NFBC and those are Roto. And I don't mind waiting

and grabbing someone like Josh Bell a little bit later or Eric Hosmer or even Reese Hoskins as a fullback option in a league that deep. And in Tout Wars, the other day, that was a 12 team, heads head-to-point salary cap draft. I think I got him for $6 or $7. And he's not exciting. I understand that. But his lineup context alone is just fantastic.

I mean, he's going to hit in the middle of one of the best lineups in all of baseball. And, you know, as the season went on last year, the final month of the season from, I think it was, well, from August 1st on. So it was really the first couple of games from August 1st on. he had a 50% ground ball rate. But I will point out that in the four seasons prior, that's been 55% or more. Right, that's a thing. If it's 50%,

I think he's going to be a 25 homer guy who hits 275 at least. Exactly, yeah. So I'm with you there. Like, he's boring. I get that. I've really been kind of just spreading out who I've been drafting at first base.

I've been getting a lot of Josh Bell as well. But yeah, Eric Hosmer is the guy for me. Scott, the first baseman you draft most. Well, I don't think I've even, thought about drafting Hosmer this year. Oh, well. I don't like him. I don't like him at all. But I think the first base,

people probably associate me with the most, and I associate myself with the most, is Matt Olson, but it must be a bunch of mocks where I took them, because I don't actually add them. I was thinking it was Josh Bell. Well, I am invested in Luke Voight in a few leagues, as though I think it was a situation where

Luke Void is still there in round 6 for some reason. Why pass up Voight in round 6 to take Olson in round 6 to take Olson in round seven. That's kind of been the thought process there. I'm going to say Andrew Vaughn is probably the one I'm most invested in because there are some leagues where I'm counting on him as my actual first baseman and there are some leagues where he's like a corner infielder or even a bench bat. Getting a lot of Vaughn.

Yeah, I've been getting him too. Just got him tonight again. And I have a few deeper leagues where I wind up with him as my corner. And I know you've made the comp before, Scott, of Pete Alonzo. I don't, no one's saying that Andrew Vaughn's going to go out and hit 50 home runs but can he have a significant fantasy impact in his first season? Yeah, I do think that's possible.

Scott will go right back to you. The first basement that scares you most. Oh, did we do that a catcher? I don't think we did that a catcher. All of them, all of them. Did we do that? Oh yeah, I think I only spoke about my Gary Sanchez. Yeah, double down. Give me the catcher in first basement you're scared of.

Okay, so the first baseman, I am scared. of the most is I'm going to say that it's kind of Cody Pellinger, I think. I think that's the obvious answer, yeah. Yeah. For the cost,

I mean, obviously if he's there in round three, I might hesitate, depending who else is there. If he somehow makes it to round four, then obviously you take Cody Pellinger. But that's never going to happen. The catcher I'm scared of the most is, I guess, Gary Sanchez, but I'm not really that scared because it's not a huge investment.

I don't know. Nobody's that. They're all kind of the same level of scary in a way. Maybe Will Smith, I guess. It seems like his value slipping based on the reports he's only going to start 90 games, which I think it'll be closer to 110. But the point is there is going to be

a playing time concern there that his ADP hasn't, you know, the overall ADP hasn't accounted for. Chris, the first basement and catcher, since I somehow skipped you for that one as well, that you are scared of most. I think at catcher, like Scott said, I think it's kind of all of them. Like, except for J.T. Romito,

I think things can go very wrong for any of them. I think that they all have a relatively low floor. Just give me a name that you see in the draft room and you just skip over. Gary Sanchez. Okay. I mean, Salvador Perez is another one who I've just had no interest in drafting this year.

Because the price is up. Yeah, but like he's, probably going to hit 25 homers. You know, there's only so little Zalvar Perez can do. The first basin I'm most worried about, it's Cody Bellinger. It has to be, I think, given the shoulder,

given the fact that we haven't seen him play much in the spring, we're not 100% sure how ready he is. Shoulder injuries can have a lingering effect. So if he was healthy, I think I'd feel pretty good about him. But right now, I have some skepticism. I am with you guys 100% on Cody Bellen. worried about him and I've, you know, I've been that way, I don't have a single share of him.

So I think I've done, I don't know, 15, 20 drafts. I don't have any Cody Bellinger at this point. The only other name I will point out is Luke Voight for just the possibility of this plantar fasciitis foot injury, just kind of like turning back up again because it kind of hampered him a little bit towards the end of last season and the postseason. There was talk of him in the offseason. He got a, he got a platelet-rich plasma injection in his foot to, to, to, to, to, treat this and he has orthotics in his cleats. So, I mean, it's enough of a deal where, like,

he had to have special cleats made for him. So it's just something that's my mind. That's a great man, though. I speak from personal experience. Life changing. I can actually continue to walk around pain free after a visit to the grocery store, which used to be an issue. Well, I hope it's the same for Luke Void and anyone else who has drafted him to this point. Scott, at second base, who do you find yourself drafting most? The second base, I have a lot of second baseman that I draft a lot. But the one I draft the most of all. Well, I know it's technically Brendan Rogers, but again, that's really deep.

And I'm in enough 15 team leagues that it's just easy to take them at the very end of it. So I don't know how helpful that is. He's not a second base eligible yet. I was going to say Tommy Edmund. I want it to be time france. He's not there yet. I've got a lot of Jorge Polanco. Like these are, I know, it's a lot of low-end guys.

but I kind of end up with too many second basement on my bench at the end of every draft because there's some really late options that I like. And then, you know, earlier I'm just taken whoever falls to me. So I don't think I'm especially invested in any one of the high-end options. That's, I think that's the best answer you're going to get. Chris, the second baseman you find yourself drafting most? Katel Marte. That's an easy call for me.

I've drafted him in seven of my 15 leagues, him and Byron Buxton are my most drafted players so far. And, uh, yeah, I pick him on average 61st overall. His ADP is 84th. So I am very happy to reach under Catell Marte. I think he's going to be a stud. I think he's got a pretty good chance to be the best player at the position. Yeah, I like Cotel Marte. I mean, the price is rising. He went for, I want to say it was like $22 or $23 in this 15 team salary cap draft that I did on Wednesday night. So the price is climbing. I think he's almost back to basically where he was being valued at last year. Maybe rightfully so, we'll see. But I do like Catele myself. Jeff McNeil is actually the one that I find

myself drafting most. And I think regardless of format, he'll be able, he'll be a very solid contributor. He's one of those guys in the middle rounds of a roto or heads head categories draft where he's going to help your batting average. And that's, you know, not necessarily the easiest thing to find. So maybe it's 20 home runs. Going to be near the top. of the Mets lineup and you know I think the counting stats should be solid because that lineup is very good and then in a points league he just he makes a lot of contact it's kind of like a DJ Lemayhew light and I like the eligibility as well with Jeff McNeil Scott a second baseman that you are scared of this might be the same answer for all of us oh no it's not okay

I got the first syllable out Keston here I have passed over in so many drafts when my rankings tell me I'm supposed to take him I'm just like it's too early to take that kind of risk. I know the upside is huge. The upside hasn't changed since this time a year ago when everybody was in on him. But he just, the strikeout rate is awful.

It's awful and it's been terrible again this spring. And I just think there's too much downside. He was basically unusable last year and I think there's a chance he is again. So very that's for points leagues though.

No, either way. Either way. I'd rather just wait and take Dylan Moore if I need a If I need that power speed combo And I'm taking a risk anyway No I mean the unusable comment Yeah no No he was

He won't be unusable in a Roto league Yeah he had 13 homers and 32 RBI and three steals Like you wish the steals were higher But they were the year before I don't think that was more home runs than I thought he hit But 212 batting Like, that's still pretty good. Yeah.

Yeah. But like Dillimore hit 206 in 2019, you know, much larger sample. Sure. But the cost is way different. Yeah. Kesson Hira did hit a pair of ding-dongs off of Walker Bueller on Tuesday. So that was nice to see him get going there. But 13 strikeouts and 34 at bats in the spring.

Strikeouts continue to be a big issue for Kessin-Hira. I'm scared of him quite a bit myself. Kevin Bizio is the other one that I think we're all kind of worried about. And he's dealing with a pinky injury, which might actually be a friend. fractures. So we'll have to pay attention to what's going on with Cabin Bizio.

Chris, do you have another answer outside of Bizio or was he the one that you're scared of as well? Yeah, I think the thing with Bizio is he's probably going to steal enough bases that he'll still be useful.

I'm, I think given the price, I'm probably more concerned about Brandon Lowe. Because if he doesn't hit, and we've really only seen him hit, I think he has three months in the majors with an OPS over 900. He's got a handful with an OPS around 800,

but where we're taking him. You know, it's kind of betting that he's going to be, you know, a lot closer to what he was last season. And as we know with the race, they're willing to stick a guy in a platoon if he's not producing the way they need him to. So I think there's ways that it can go wrong for Brandon Lowe. The players were scared of again at second base. That was Kesson Hira for Scott, Brandon Lough for Chris and Kevin Bidio for myself

at Shortstop. Chris, who is the shortstop? you keep drafting. Adelberto Mondesie. I have six shares of Adelberto Montersy. One of them is even in a head-to-head points league because if you look what he's done between

2018 and 2019, it's like 161 games and he's right around 500 fantasy points. That'll play. Even at shortstop. So in Roto, it's just really easy. If he's there in the middle half of the second round,

I'm probably going to take him. It's so nice not to have to worry about stolen bases after that. I know there's risk if he gets hurt, but if he stays healthy, you're not going to finish lower than half in stolen bases, no matter what else your team looks like. Go bigger, go home. Chris is drafting Adelberto Mondesie and Byron Buckson on the same team.

As we've said, he's either going to be in first place by July or he's going to be doing really good in his fantasy football prep. Scott, the shortstop that you keep drafting. It's Corey Seeger. He's my ideal choice in round three, but it's to the point where if it's late in round two and all the starting pitchers I want are gone, I'll reach into round two to take him.

I think if you're looking at best pure hitters in baseball, it's a foursome right now. It's Mike Trout, it's Juan Soto, it's Freddie Freeman, and it's Corey Seeger. If you look at their expected stats last year, for those four, very comparable. Corey Seeger was arguably the best hitter in the postseason. He's been arguably the best hitter this spring,

and he might be the best hitter in the world when we look back on 2021. For me, it's Tim Anderson. Look, if Tim Anderson has a bad season, that is maybe the player that I have the most riding on this year. If he's awesome, I'm going to have a pretty good season. If not, better luck next year, because I do have a lot of him.

But I think where he goes specifically in Roto or head's head categories, someone that can contribute both batting average and a good amount of steals. You know, we think that he is the talent to steal maybe 30 plus. We wouldn't project that. He's probably going to get you 20, but could also give you 20 home runs.

Going to lead off for one of the best lineups in the American League. And even in a points league, I know he does not walk, which is typically what we want to see in that format. I think he gets pushed down a little bit too far. He is going to get a lot of volume, a lot of plate appearances, again, hitting at the top of that lineup. So Tim Anderson,

someone I just continuously find myself drafting. Chris, the shortstop that you are scared of most. The shortstop I am scared of most is probably I guess it's Bo Bichette just based on ADP. I don't think he's going to be bad. And picking a bust at shortstop when I've had to do that for various pieces has been incredibly difficult to do because I don't think there's really anybody who's an actively bad value. But, you know, people are drafting Bichette as a second round pick based on

half of one season the total plate appearances I just think that's we're falling into the trap of well he's played two seasons but it was like 50 and 1 and 30 in the other so it's still a small sample size it's just too early for that

and he's a guy who doesn't have like amazing tools he has good tools across the board that we're hoping combined to make a really good player but like the same was said of Dansby Swanson and he's turned into an okay player, but he doesn't have that one standout carrying tool.

So I think something similar could happen to Bichette. Yep, Blue Jays are going to come for us again because we're talking down their players, but it's Marcus Semyon for me, and we just did our bus 3.0 yesterday, and Scott, you added him to the list recently, and I agree with you. I think he's still kind of overvalued

going in that 130 to 150 range. He's had one massive season, and outside of that, I don't think that Marcus Semyon has done all that much. So you can either use Simeon as the player you're scared of Scott or another shortstop that you're worried of, worried about. I was actually kind of thinking, I could have gone Simeon, but I was thinking Mondecy actually,

just the other side of the coin. I mean, I understand the allure of drafting him. Your stolen base needs are kind of met once you do that. But, you know, injury prone, obviously wild fluctuations in his performance as a hitter. You don't really know what you're getting there. and round three always seems too early for me to take him and he never lasts beyond there in a five-by-five league. If you were watching on the video side, don't go anywhere.

If you were listening to the podcast, we're going to take a quick break. But when we return, third base is up next. Here, Fantasy Baseball today. Scott, I want to get us started here at Third Base with the player that you were drafting most at the position. It's Cabrion Hayes. Thank goodness.

Thank goodness. It's Cabrion Hayes. be Alex Bregman actually. It might be Alex Bregman. Breggman's kind of my ideal fourth round pick and I have a lot of a lot of him. I still think he has at least second round upside. But Cobrain Hayes was my player I love on Valentine's Day and sometimes when I make that pitch that early in draft prep season, I kind of price the player out of my range and

don't end up with that much of him. But I've been happy to climb up a couple rounds with everybody else to to secure Hayes because I feel like the bad scenario for Hayes, obviously not the worst case, but kind of the bad, maybe default scenario for Hayes, is Geo or Schella with some speed. And I think his ADP certainly gives him that. And then if it turns out he's more of a 30-Homer guy than a 20-homer guy, he showed some signs of being last year and a lot of high-ex-velocity readings this spring too.

then, you know, it could be a total stud. So, Hayes is the one I draft the most. Scott, did we just become best friends? I don't know. Did we? I find myself drafting a lot of Cabrion Hayes recently as well. And I think I'm someone that just reacts too much to spring training, which is definitely a fault as a fantasy player.

But, I mean, gosh, how can you ignore what he's doing, right? Like, after what he did last year, he is now 18 for 40 in the spring, six doubles, two triples, a home run, eight RBI, two steals. He's batting 450. I've made this comp before. I think the high end, the high end projection for Cobrian Hayes this season is something like what Anthony Rendon did in his second year, where across 153 games, he hit 287, 21 home runs, 11 run score that's definitely optimistic in the Pirates lineup, and 17 steals. It's high end, but I think Brian Hayes might be that type of player, so I'm pretty excited about it. I forgot

had a 17th steel season. It's crazy. Did I say Rizzo or Rendo? No, Rendoon. Yeah, it's Rendon. Oh, you said Rizzo. Okay. Chris, the third baseman you draft most,

I have a feeling it's not, Cabrian Hayes. No, no. So I don't have anything against him. He's had a really good 24 games, plus a spring. Mani Machado slash Raphael Devers. I have them both in four of my 15 leagues.

And so it's basically, if Manny Machado is there in the third round, I will take him. Rafael Devers is there in the fifth round, I will take him. Both of them have to slip. It happens sometimes. My average pick on Manny Machado is 28. My average pick on Devers is 41.

So I think they're both going to be phenomenal. I think they're both, you know, borderline first round caliber hitters. And if I take Shane Bieber, Derek, Jacob de Grom, or Garrett Cole in the first round, I'm glad to end up with one of those two as one of my first three hitters. Scott, the third baseman, your skisker. of most? Oh, and Jose Ramirez, I also have four. So just, I'm going to have one of those three on my team, I guess.

Nice. You know, I added Nolan Aeronata to my bus, but the one I'm actually scared of the most, and I know Chris doesn't like this. And I don't know that I have rational reasons for it, but I just, I'm treating, maybe I have confirmation bias over Chris Bryant's 2020, because I already saw him as a player in decline in a way the numbers hadn't deflected yet. And so then he drops off last year and there it is. It's happening. I just, I haven't had any interest in drafting Chris Bryant at all this year.

Same Z's. Chris, Chris, the third baseman? That's probably Aronado. Maybe, like, I haven't drafted LaMayhew at all, but I'm not really worried about him. So it's probably Arnato. Let's move over to the outfield. And we'll go right back to you here, Chris. Which outfielder do you find yourself drafting? Whether it's early or middle rounds, who you got? You know who it is. It's Byron Buxton. I haven't on seven of my 15 teams so far.

I've got three more drafts. I think there's a decent chance to end up with him in 10 of my 18 total. The funny thing is my average Byron Buxton pick is 120.3, and his ADP is 113.4. So as much as I like Byron Buxton, I've only taken him ahead of his ADP one time out of the seven times I've drafted him. So just keep letting him fall, folks, because I am glad I will be there

when Byron Buxton falls after running into the outfield wall or one of his teammates or biting into a stake. I will catch him. Yeah, just like a guy with legitimate 30-20 potential all day after pick 100. Chris, I'm sure you didn't listen to the mailbag that Scott and I did alone, but I actually started it with the reason you weren't there

was because you cracked your tooth eating steak. Look, man, not with steak, but that happened to me once. It's not fun. I had to get a root canal. Root canals are the worst. So, you know, I can also empathize with Byron Buxton. Fair enough. Scott, the outfielder, you keep drafting?

It's actually Will Myers, who I don't feel like we've talked about much. But when I was initially making out my rankings in October, I looked at Will Myers, I looked at Tey Oscar Hernandez, and I said, okay, there are a lot more reasons to believe in what Will Myers did than what Teasca Hernandez did. So I put Will Myers ahead of Teasca Hernandez. Little did I know, Myers was going to go 40 picks after Hernandez on average. And I just, I don't understand it at all because there's a better track record. He actually made improvements with his play discipline in the short season. Who knows if they'll last, but at least they were there, unlike Hernandez.

and he has a better track record as a base stealer. Previous four years, 21 steals per 155 games for Will Myers. So, like, if he sustains last year's games, he could be like a 35-15 guy, maybe even more steals than that. And I just, I always love getting him as like, I don't know, an 11th round outfielder in a Roto league.

It's just, to me, that's easy money. Yeah. And he was such easy profit. last year. I remember he was going probably outside the top, definitely outside the top 250, maybe outside the top 300. And it's crazy how much, you know, this is me speaking out against Trent Grisham, but

how much Trent Grisham has risen, whereas Will Myers, who is more of a proven player, has not risen as much. So it's just kind of interesting to compare the rise for both of those guys. For me, it's Austin Meadows. I've talked about him, you know, basically all offseason. I'm giving him a pass for last year. Dealt with COVID

right before the season started. Got a late start. I think he came back two weeks in and then he strained his oblique, and it was really just a mess of a season for him. I'm not completely sure that he gets back to the top 15 outfielder that he was back in 2019, but I think 25 plus home runs, double-digit steals in a pesky raise lineup is the term that I'll use. I think that's definitely possible for Austin Meadows. I really like his price tag this year.

Scott, the outfielder that you are scared of most. Yeah, that's a good question. I probably should have been thinking about it. No, it's probably the other side of the core in Teasca Hernandez, who I've talked about how he's the bust I'm most confident in, and I kind of laid out the case form when describing Will Myers. So let's go with Teasca Hernandez. Yeah, whenever I see the name,

I don't really have a good reason to believe that this guy is done outside of just he's getting older and was not good in September. But Charlie Blackman, it's just, it doesn't seem exciting. Nolan Aronado is not on the team anymore, so the lineup context is clearly lessened. That's going to bring the counting stats. down for Charlie Blackman. Maybe he still hits 280 and

you know, 25-ish home runs. And that would be a fine season for him. But that September was really bad. I kind of just think he's on the decline. I'm not very excited about Charlie Blackman. Chris, the outfielder you're scared of most. Yeah, unless they like dig a tunnel about 5,000 feet down and move the stadium,

I'm happy to take Charlie Blackman and like that. I've gotten him in like the eighth or ninth round. Sure. He falls way too much. I think he went in the 11th, round of my main event draft over the weekend. That's a 15 team. Yeah, like, that's just...

I was going to take him that round if he fell to me. I was all the way... I think I had picked 14 in the 11th round. I would have taken him, but he didn't... Like, he's never hit 280. Yeah. Except for 102 plate appearances in 2011. He's been a higher than 280 every single season.

So I just... Like, I don't care if he's not good anymore. He plays a course field. Sure. Guy I'm most concerned about is probably, and this, you know, is more true now. I maybe wouldn't have picked him before the injury tonight,

but Elo Jimenez, I definitely had some questions about his ability to live up to his lofty draft status just because he is so dependent on being an outlier in Babbip and homerun the fly ball rate. Because he strikes out too much, because he hits the ball on the ground, a relatively high amount, not quite a 2019-era-Kosmer level,

but maybe a post-August 2020-era-Kosmer level. So there's just a chance he's like a 275 hitter with 28 homers and that's good. But like he could be Michael Conforto, who's a lot cheaper. Chris, the starting pitcher that you find yourself drafting most, I think I can guess this one. I'm going to take a shot. Is that all right? Yes, there are three answers that would be correct.

Well, one of them has to be Ian Anderson. That is the first one. The other one is Zach Rinkie? No. Oh, Mac Scherzer? Max Scherzer also no. I have Scherzer and Granky four times out of 15. Oh, all right, well, then I give up.

Ramon, Marquez, and Sandy Alcantara. Okay, yeah, well, all the Marlins, duh. I mean, only one plus a brave. No, he, yeah, Anderson, he's the one I reach on. I take him 82nd on average compared to a 10380P. Marquez and Alcantara are both, you know, in the 100. Alcantara's 111, 118 by my picks, 173 for Hermann Marquez.

Alcantar's a little higher than 80P, but he seems to be getting pushed up to that place. Anyway, and I think in Marquez and Alcantara's cases, I just think they're solid, reliable innings-eaters that I'm not going to have to worry too much about. Marquez, obviously, I can sit him on the road or at home if I don't feel good about it. But, yeah, those three guys, totally unsexy picks.

No, I'm with you with the unsexy picks, because I was surprised to see this myself when I looked up my player shares and Zach Wheeler is the starting pitcher that I draft. I have a lot of Wheeler too, yeah. A lot of Wheeler. I didn't think we were going to get to this point, but just a couple of years ago,

he felt injury prone. Now of a sudden he's someone that we depend on for innings and volume. And look at what he did last year. He went at least five and two-thirds in all 11 of his starts. He went six plus in eight out of 11 starts last year. He went seven.

one, two, three, four, five times seven ennings for Zach Wheeler last season. So I do think the strikeouts are going to bounce back. I know some people might look at the strikeouts and the K per nine was below seven. That's gross. I mean, I can't defend that. But his swinging strike rate was actually better last year

than it's ever been. So maybe he's not a strikeout per inning, but eight Ks per nine, a Kyle Hendricks type. He's going, I think, a little bit later than Kyle Hendricks. Sure, give me all the Zach Wheeler. Scott, who you got? Well, I thought about mentioning him.

Obviously, there's a lot of pitchers I'm heavily invested in, Kintamai, uh, Shane Bieber for that matter. If I'm picking between five and nine, I'm getting Shane Bieber most likely. But I guess the one I'll highlight here is Dylan Bundy because I originally had him as a bust, but then it seemed like everybody else wanted them less than I did. So I just started drafting him as my fifth starter a lot. And now I'm kind of like, I'm okay with it because,

his home run rate got cut in half moving from the most hitter-friendly the division with the most hitter-friendly venues to the division with the most pitcher-friendly venues. It got cut in half. And, you know, maybe it won't be that low again this year. But you'd look at the X-FIP, which measures fly-ball rate as opposed to home-run rate,

and it was still 375-ish. You know, it's not like it was a scary X-FIP for our Bundy. I expect him to pitch deep into games. You know he's going to have more than a strikeout per inning. I wouldn't want him as my number three, but as my number five, that sounds like a guy who's just going to bolster the rest, the already strong staff you've put together and will be ready to slot in as your number four or number three if injuries set in. Because, you know, obviously still most of it starts this year are going to become in the AL West, those big parks there, including his own home park. Chris, you're right there? You having some lighting issues?

It just keeps turning off, but it's... your cat is just up there, like turning it off. Nothing's near it. That's what's weird. It's a light that you turn on just by touching. And then I move away and nothing's touching it. And it'll probably turn off fairly soon. So, sorry. Those are got distracted there. I heard nothing of what Scott said because of the ghost turning my light off. He likes Dylan Bundy. That would be the opening day starter for the Los Angeles Angels. I wrote a song about that. That's in the song.

Scott, the starting picture that you are scared. of most? Well, I mean, I would have said to Nelson Lamed if we did this a week ago, but he's kind of fallen to a point that I'm okay with it. I'm probably going to say Sunny Gray. I can't see myself investing in Sunny Gray. I just think, I think it's a mid-range outcome is the hopeful outcome for him this year if this back issue still hasn't gone away dating back to last season. And obviously, there's more downside from there. I would have said Max Scherzer, but I'm a fraud, and I got him on one of my teams over the weekend. So the other one there that going inside those top two to three rounds for me that I'm scared of is Walker Bueller.

So nothing about the talent of Walker Bueller. No, I'm not worried about him giving up nine earned runs in a spring training game. But between the blisters last year, the fact that we do have workload concerns, the Dodgers have a lot of depth, and they need Walker Bueller for the postseason. They don't, they kind of care about the regular season, but they care about the regular season. but they care about the postseason. They want to go out and they win World Series. So I think Bueller can give you 170, maybe,

160 innings that are probably really good, but there's not much margin for error there when it comes to Walker. I don't know why I didn't say him. That was my take first, Frank. He stole my take.

I mean, my Walker Bueller take. What have you called it the homogenization of our rankings? We're all just coming together. We're blending. Yeah, it's true. And the mind melt is happening.

Except for the guys I like. Yeah, I mean, well, when Scott you know, boast about Cabrion Hayes for six months straight, of course, I got to draft him, right? You know, Scott, I'm going to talk you into moving Byron Bucks and inside your top 300 yet. Three hundred.

Maybe. Chris, give us the starting picture that you're scared of most. We didn't mention Stephen Strausberger early in the show, right? No. Nope. I think it's kind of got to be him tonight. and maybe this is just an overreaction, but he made his first start since suffering that calf injury

and walked five batters and struck out one and gave up four runs. And he said it was, oh, my mechanics were bad and I was flying open. And that's why I was pitching poorly, which is not really what you want to hear in the penultimate start before opening day. But the more concerning thing I think would be that

after the game, he revealed that he ruptured the plantaris tendon in his calf, apparently that is worse than it sounds. I'm reading the MLB.com story, which sounds alarming, but luckily for the Nats, it was not the case. Quote, I guess you don't really need it, Strausberg said. It was just one of those lucky things where it went away and it wasn't a big issue. The doctor was pretty adamant about it saying you don't really need it. Apparently, he also went on to say that if we walked on all four legs, on all four limbs, it would be an issue. So it sounds like it's like a vestigial tendon that doesn't really have much function in human

development at this point. Medical students in their first year often mistake it for a nerve when they're looking inside of the leg. I've learned all these fun facts. You didn't even consult Dr. Jesse Morse on this. All of that would make me feel better if he hadn't just had the start that he had. And look, maybe it's nothing. It's one spring start. Guys are working on things. He'll fix his mechanics. But like, I can't feel good about him after watching that. I sort of like just panic

dropped him in my rankings and then realize like I dropped him to 27 behind Charlie Morton that was probably

an overreaction but I kind of just want to move into a point where I'm not not interested in taking him and so maybe

that would be like 23rd behind Kyle Hendricks that would be in the 95 range and I feel like a total hypocrite

because I think like three days ago I was talking about how I wouldn't be that worried about Stephen Strausberg. He doesn't have a history of lower body injuries and this sounds like a non-issue. I will point out that a lot of really good pitchers had a really bad start last time out. Ian Kennedy struck out only one. Walker Bueller allowed four home runs. Trevor Bauer allowed four home runs. How do Ian Kennedy get in there? He struck out one. Yeah, I think you mean someone else. Oh, I'm sorry. Ian Anderson. I was like, wait a second. Ian Anderson. My bad. I was like,

one strikeout for you, Kennedy. That sounds like a pretty good out. That's pretty good. We're not used to going this late at night, so we're a little wonky right now. Yeah, so I'm not sure. Like, my, I feel like I should drop him, but I don't know. I'm waffling on it. Do it, man.

They're your rankings. Be aggressive. Just in front of Tyler Glass now. So he's going to be 80th overall. Fair enough. Let's pair the relief pitchers together. Sure, you could just say that you're scared of all of them if you want to, but come on, what's the fun in that? Scott, give me the relief pitcher you're drafting most and the one that you were scared of. I could say Will Smith, but I think it's technically Amir Garrett.

They're kind of my hope for my first reliever and my second reliever there. I've talked about them a lot. The reliever I'm most scared of is Craig Kimball. Hopefully his last couple outings shows he fixed the delivery issue, but I'm skeptical. Fair enough. Chris, the relief pitcher you draft most and the one that you're scared of. It appears the relief pitcher at draft most is Emmanuel Clase. With a Chris Towers ADP of 300th overall. So that tells you about my approach to relief pitcher. You can read more about that on CBSSports.com today.

I wrote my grand unified theory of drafting in 2021 and avoiding relief pitcher as part of that. And, yeah, which relief pitcher I'm most afraid of. I don't know, James Carinjack, I guess, if I can't say all of them. If, man, there's a lot, though. Like Trevor Rosenthal through like, what, 16 innings last season? Devin Williams through like 20. Rafael Montero wasn't throwing his slider for most of. There's a lot of people to be scared of at relief pitcher.

So, yeah, I just, I don't really draft them. For me, you know, when I'm drafting a second or third closer, it's been Daniel Bard, who's already been named the Rockies closer. I know it's kind of scary to draft any pitcher that pitches in Corse Field, but he was really good last year. He was out of baseball for, I don't know, seven or eight years, and he just came back and he was great. So I think he's going to be the guy for the Rockies.

I feel pretty confident there. And Brad Hand is the one that, you know, usually I shy, away from. And I know his velocity has been up in the spring, but he has allowed runs in five of his six spring appearances, including on Wednesday night. So I was reading about him earlier. The Nationals want to get at least one more relief appearance in for him before opening day where he actually looks good. So I think a capable backup there and Tanner Rainey just follow that situation. Brad Hand to someone, I am a little bit worried about myself. There you go. Everyone that we are drafting and we are scared of. For Scott, Chris, I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and

watching Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again tomorrow with Adam Azer. Bye-bye.