Fantasy Baseball Today - Players We Keep Drafting; Sleepers Who Could be #1 (03/12 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 12, 2020

First, we give our thoughts on how the coronavirus could affect MLB, which of course is all speculative at this point. Then, let's get into the show with an email about reaching for SPs (5:25). If you have a Top 4 pick and you know there will be an early pitching run, should you take a SP like Gerrit Cole in Round 1? Within this discussion, we talk extensively about Mookie Betts and Cody Bellinger (8:40) ... Injury updates (13:55) on Max Scherzer, Carlos Carrasco and Michael Conforto. Then we revisit the H2H Categories mock draft that was discussed on yesterday's show (22:00). Adam has some tips for that format which might be his favorite of all the formats! ... Players we keep drafting (28:24)! Plus some Spring Training standouts (40:00) and sleepers at C, 1B, 2B and 3B that could become elite by the end of the season (43:30). Keep an eye on Danny Jansen, Garrett Hampson, Miguel Sano and Luke Voit ... Your emails at [e-mail] Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @CBSFantasyBB, @AdamAizer, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite Join our March Madness Bracket Challenge at http://2020podcast.mayhem.cbssports.com/e/d7feed30238637cc2387331ab3061dc1fb5219555f0e9a8b?ttag=BPM20_cpy_invite_new Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Download our printable Draft Kit from CBSSports.com/draftkit! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the fantasy baseball today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email fantasy baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath and Chris. It is Thursday. It is March 12th. What's going on?

Welcome to fantasy baseball today. We have been getting your podcast league submissions. I'm going to tear through them this weekend. If you want to join the podcast league, which we still don't have a date for. Let's see. Today's the 12th, the 19th. Let's do it on March 22nd, guys.

What do you think? Sure. That is a, what is that? A Wednesday? It's a Sunday. Oh, then no, let's not do it then. Let's do it on Monday night, the 23rd. The 23rd, Monday night.

Yeah. Okay. Let me check. Let me check my Palm Pilot here. I think that's okay. Okay. March 23rd is going to be the date for the podcast league at 8 p.m. Eastern. So please submit your entries, be creative, give us a fun recording,

or just anything you want, a poem or I Love Your Show. You guys are great, and I will pick some winners. So you've got a little bit of time to get those in. Send an email to Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com with the subject line podcast League. Today on the show, we're going to read an email about what to do if you think that pitching is just going to go super duper early in your leagues and you're debating between an elite hitter and not missing out on a pitching run. We're going to talk about some of the injuries.

I want to talk about the head-to-head categories league. I'll only briefly because Chris and Scott talk extensively about it, but I just want to add some more points on head-to-head categories, the Yahoo format with daily transactions. Players we continue to draft, spring training storylines, Danny Jansons continuing to have a good spring, and Chris has written a piece about players at each position that could become elite. So we'll talk about that and we'll try to read some of your emails.

I think we have to start the show, though, with the coronavirus in light of what the NBA has done and what the Mariners have already said, they're not going to play any home games in the month of March. And they have like seven of them scheduled. So people want to know what we think right now. And we don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if the season got postponed in some fashion. but Scott, what's your take on this? Yeah, I have no idea.

I think it's probably a little easier for the NBA to postpone things for a while, just given where they are in their season, then it would be for MLB wrapping up spring training and all the prep that goes into that. But they're like, at the very least, they're going to have to find different locations. I know for the teams that play in California,

I don't know if they just stay in their spring training sites. I know that's been brought up as a possibility, but this is, I'm sure by the time people are listening to this podcast, there will be more information because this is fast-moving. The developments here in the sports world. Right. One of thought I had was, like, from a fantasy perspective,

if you want to get into that, I think people do. Players who are injured, I think they probably have a better outlook now. I just can't see the season going on uninterrupted personally. But it could happen. I mean, they could play games in empty stadiums, I suppose. But, I mean, I just feel like... It's so hard to say right now.

We're just... We just don't know. But no, I agree with you, Adam. I think it's more likely than not that the season gets postponed. And that's going to cause all kinds of, you know, all kinds of headaches. But, you know, in the grand scheme of things, it's a pretty small concern. Sure, of course, of course. And let me just say, a quick little PSA from your friend Adam Azer here.

I'm not going to tell you to wash your hands or anything like that about the virus. But I do live in the, I live in Westchester County. And New Rochelle is a half hour from me. And they have that containment area. and I think Westchester County is the single county most affected right now or with the most cases. It's worse in Seattle with what's happened there. But I just want everybody to be prepared because I'm sort of seeing what happens in a town that there are issues in or a county anyway. And the shelves are emptying up at the grocery store.

And Walgreens didn't have any toilet paper or paper towels. So I had to go to a different store for that and get your medicine. and that's all I'm not going to like I'm not going to give you any diagnosis. I'm like what's going to happen with the virus or anything. I'm just saying people are going to react strongly and you don't want to be the last one to do it. So please be prepared and just stock up on supplies. While at the same time, not hoarding it from everybody else. So, but you know, just just my two cents.

All right. Email of the day comes from Grant and Long Island. He says, Dear Daniel, H.W. and Eli. Who is that a. Eli, my boy. Is that there will be blood? Yes, it is. If you hadn't said that, I drink your milkshakes, Scott White.

Yeah. HW is an interesting, I always thought that was, if you're going to resort to calling somebody by initials, I thought that that was HW. I never heard that before. Okay, so there will be real quick, there will be blood or no country for old men. No country for old men. No country for old men, no contest. I'm in agreement. No country for old men might be the best movie ever made.

It's so good. And I really did not like there will be blood. Oh, God, Adam. It was just like a, oh, here's Daniel Day Lewis doing a one-man show. It was not a good movie. It was just good acting. Okay. I have the fourth pick.

Shut up, Chris, in my 12-team points league. Fourth pick in a points league. Usually in my league, pitching goes early to begin with. So with how pitching is prioritized now, I'm nervous about which pitchers will be available at 21 overall. Should I grab Cole or to Grom at four or wait and hope to get a guy like Corbyn or Castillo as my first pitcher? I mean, I know Scott and I are both okay with Corbin as our number one because I think we've done it in very recent drafts. But, you know, you're going to have worse pitching if you do that versus taking the Grom or Cole. So it's just a question of in this instance, I think that.

the hitting, like these are the truly elite hitters available at number three. This isn't like, there is that kind of flattening of the hitter tiers, but those guys available at the top, Yelich, Trout, the other three, Bellinger Betts and Acuna. Not that, not that, like, I'd probably put Bregman ahead of Acunae at a points league, but yeah. But either way, in this scenario, you're going to have your choice of Trout, Yelich, Betts or Bellinger. And I would think, in a point, so it's probably Trout, Yellard and Betts, for me at least. Those guys should be so much better than everyone else.

And you can throw Bregman in there and a couple other guys. But I think it is worth going with the hitter and taking the Corbyn. It is what I would do. There's almost a temptation if you take like a Garrett Cole to go one less arm. I feel like to make up for that passed up hitter pick, and I'd rather have the extra high-end arm than necessarily the best one. But I don't think it'd be wrong to take Cole. I do think it'd be kind of wrong to take DeGrom at fourth overall.

Cole already goes. I would only consider Cole, but I probably would go with the hitter. I have the fourth pick in a points league in a draft that we're doing right now. Now it's a 14-team league. But I took Mookiee bets, and then in the second round I took Patrick Quartz. And then in the third round, I took Charlie Morton. So, and then in the fourth round, I took Chris Bryant. This is a 14-team league, but I'm very happy with that start.

And I agree with them. I do want to bring up, I agree with Scott and Chris, you know, you take that hitter. I do want to bring up something like mooky bets, because I've found on the clock, in a roto league, I think I really want a top three pick. And in a points league, I kind of want a top two pick between Trout and Yelich. am I being crazy? Like Bellinger, I like him a lot, but he's played three seasons.

He had a great rookie season. He was a huge disappointment as a sophomore. He had an amazing third year. But, you know, we all know the batting average wasn't that great after like mid-May. And then bets, I am a little worried about him going to the Dodgers. And we haven't talked about this really since the trade,

just kind of, you know, approached him as moogie bets. But let's be clear, like, Betts, two of his last, what, three seasons, two of his last four seasons have been, like, kind of disappointing, didn't really run much last year, probably won't get the same amount of plate appearance as he did, just because while the Dodgers may have the best lineup in the National League, they won't have as good of a lineup as the Red Sox have had in the past.

I'm not unconcerned about Lucky Betts, and he, I think he benefits from Fenway Park. So, you know, it felt like, damn, I really wish I had Trowder Yellich. not like, oh, Betts is in the same tier. I think he's in a tier just slightly below those guys.

Yeah, I would agree. The Bellinger and Betts are a half step back from the top three, if you're talking to Rotel League or top two. Yeah. If you're talking to points league, excluding Acuna. Right.

So all of that makes sense, but it should be noted that over the last three years, Lukie Betz has scored the most points among all hitters. he's averaging 607 fantasy points over the last three seasons Christian Yelts is averaging 576 as the number two player That doesn't matter

Not in C... It doesn't matter about the last two seasons Chris Yeah Yelich has been better and Yelich got hurt last year The last two seasons Jelz has been much better Not getting hurt is a pretty important skill It is but that's not part of Yelich's history Mookie Betts has had a disappointing season where he was the number four hitter in points leagues last year. Yeah, I do think that there's a downgrade going to the Dodgers.

Like if he were on the Red Sox, I'd probably be completely fine with it. Do you agree with that? He had a disappointing 2017 when he was the number four hitter. Do you agree with that? I think you can downgrade him a little bit from what you should have expected with the Red Sox, but last year isn't necessarily what I would expect from the week. He was not the number four hitter last year. I have him as the number seven hitter last year.

He's saying in 2017. The four outfielder, sorry. Oh, number four outfielder, number seven hitter in points leagues last year. He was the number 13 hitter in Roto leagues. In 2017, he was the number 10 hitter in points leagues and the number 17 hitter in Roto leagues. So that's two of the last three years where he's been either the number seven or the number 10 hitter in points leagues. It's excellent. but it's not third, it's not fourth.

And now, of course, in 2018, it was the best hitter. It was number two in points, number one Roto. One of the biggest underperformers by Ex-Woba in baseball last year. All right. All right, let's move on. Get to our next topic here. Oh, the promotions. Those are easy.

Newsletters, CBSports.com slash newsletters. There is a fantasy baseball today newsletter. It's awesome. Chris, you manage that thing? Is that your puppy? Oh, yeah. He crushes it, man. I have a great Chris Tower's story coming up, by the way. Great, like, not that great, but I'm going to make it out to be better than it was.

No idea what you could be referring to. CBS Sports.com slash newsletters. Join the podcast league. You know that. Join the Facebook group. Scott White did a little Q&A in the Facebook group last night. How'd that go, Scott? Fine. Good. Good. Good questions. Yeah. It's good group.

Good, good conversations. The link is in the description, or you can go to Facebook.com. just search for fantasy baseball today or go to Facebook.com slash groups slash fantasy baseball today. And Chris, would you like to tell us about the draft kit? Yeah, the fantasy baseball today draft kit. It's available on CBSSports.com slash draft kit.

And it's got sleepers breakouts and busts from Scott and I. It's got positional tiers from Scott. Scott's top 300 and auction values for Roto and head-to-head leagues. It's got a multi-position cheat sheet and all of that. for free. You just have to sign up. Put your email address in at cbsports.com slash draft kit and we'll send it right into your inbox, download it, print it. It's like having Scott and Chris in your draft room with you. That's how I'm trying to sell it. That's my one liner. If you, uh, when you said CBSports.com slash draft kit, like for a half a second, I was thinking,

like, is that one word or two words? Then I was like, wait a second. It's a URL. Don't ask that question. Don't say that out loud. Did you... And you did. And I did. Because I'm friends with all the listeners. We're all friends here. We're all friends here. Max Scherzer is a side issue. Did you guys cover that yesterday? We did not.

Yeah, so he's got like a... His side's not as strong as the rest of his body or something like that. What's going on there, Chris Towers, Dr. Towers? He apparently changed his his mechanics a little bit this offseason in response to the back issues that derailed his season in 2019. And now he is dealing with some side discomfort. And I believe he said that this is something that he has dealt with in the past in spring

training. It's not necessarily a big deal. But, you know, 36-year-old starting pitcher coming off a season with injuries, changed his mechanics, dealing with soreness as a result of that change of mechanics. And it's, your alarm bells have to be going off, at least to some extent, right? Like, this is, that, that's certainly a red flag, if nothing else. I'm not saying you should necessarily drop him in your rankings, but it's not what you want to see, as the kids say. No, it's not.

So he had a, it was a back or a hip issue last year? Back in neck. Back and neck. He said, both of those popped up. He said, Scherzor, we're talking about here. He said that it was caused by mechanics, not overuse, which I guess had been asked a lot. Well, I don't know. Maybe Max Scherzer has some mechanics issues.

Scott, are you downgrading Scher at all with this recent news? No, though I had been nervous about drafting Scherzer. He was the one of the big four. Now obviously, Justin Berlander has dropped behind him, that I was most concerned about drafting. and I haven't had an occasion to draft him yet fortunately. I'm curious now if Cole and DeGrom go early mid first round, and I have one of those late first round picks. Do I pass up a pitcher twice if Scherzer's there and just trust in whoever's left

at me left for me at the end of round three? I mean, I'd obviously have to go pitcher pitcher at that. point. I would be worried about your mental health, I think, if you did that. I mean, there are some really good hitters available early in round two, and of course, late in round one. I think that might be, I'm not going to say the only scenario, but one of the few scenarios now, Colin de Grom being already gone, that I'd go hitter, hitter at the start of a draft, but then it would be, like, heavy on the pitching thereafter. I think, it might be hard to pass up a guy like

Nolan Aeronado who is basically as safe as they come unless he gets traded for Max Scherzer at this point and they're often going very, very close to each other in draft. So, all right, you're on the clock. You got Scherzer and you got Matt, what's his name? No one Aronado.

Who are you taking? So in round three at this point, I'm probably taking. Shurzer Aronado or round two. Best pitcher available. That's the thing. If I give it and take shirt. I'm sorry. You're choosing between Scherzer and Aronado. Oh. Who'd take that?

Yeah, Aronado is what I was saying. Okay, okay. Chris? Aronado? Scherzer? Hmm. Yeah, Aronado. Okay.

Johnny Quedo will start the season opener for the Giants. Is it too much of a stretch to read that sentence and go, wow, the Giants are terrible? Well, who else would be? Name another Giants pitcher. Oh. Logan Webb. Barry Zino?

I want to be him. Jeff Simarja had a break in. Samarja, yes. Not that he's good. Yeah, no, I mean, Quoido makes sense, but no, the Giants aren't good at him. What's, this is, I didn't need to know their opening day started to know that. Is he a top 300 player, Johnny Quato? I don't believe he is for me.

Now, there would be some who call him a sleeper, and I don't know that they're necessarily wrong. He has a very steady track record. And normally we don't discount pictures coming back from Tommy John surgery too much. He is 94 and was showing some signs of decline before then. He's 94. He's 34 and was showing signs of decline before then. He's not 94. That would be amazing.

Wow. He looks great. Yeah, he's a good shape. Best shape of his life. That butt waggle looks great for a 94-year-old. Would you draft Johnny Quedo over any of the Marlins' stallions? No, probably not. Maybe Yamamoto?

I didn't even know he was a stallion. I was trying to remember who the stallions were. Caleb Smith, Pablo Lopez. Trembal Rogers is gone. Ocantara. Yeah, I would definitely draft him over Yamamoto. I would draft him probably over whoever there. The number four is, let me pull up the depth chart.

Sandy Alcantara, no, isn't he the number three? Okay, so Caleb Smith, Sandy Alcantara, and Pablo Lopez, I would take ahead of Johnny Quedo, but no other Marlins pitchers. All right, I'm bored with this conversation. Let's move on. News and notes, I hate. So Carlos Carrasco does not have structural damage, but he is unlikely to be ready for opening day. What is the latest here on Carasco and when you feel like he should be drafted? I don't really think I'm going to change him.

He was already pretty low among that group of pitchers for me, which has now been reduced to 33. 32 now. No, I would still keep him among them, I'm saying, because I think it's just a, that he needs to rest for a little, so it pushes back the timetable. I don't think he's a long-term resting situation,

like with Verlander sale. Is Carrasco still your number one relief pitcher in points leagues? Yeah. Okay. Michael Conforto says he feels good. He's optimistic. Paul Goldschmidt's going to miss some games with elbow soreness. This is a big red flag for you guys, Goldschmidt Elbow Soreness.

It's a minor red flag. And another reason not to want him. Yadia Molina and the Cardinals are working on a contract extension, according to the athletic. Which is interesting because, you know, I thought maybe it would be his last year and maybe they would just continue to play him nine out of every ten games. That's not an exaggeration. and that makes him a starter in points leagues. Do you think this in any way,

if they're working on an extension with Yadda or Molina, reduces his playing time? It's impossible to say. Maybe. Just try. Maybe. Okay.

Yes or no. Okay. Well, it's something to keep an eye on. Like, if you draft Molina, if you're waiting and waiting on catcher in a points league and you take Molina and he's like the last pick of the draft, basically because nobody wants them,

you might be just fine with that. He's good because he plays all the time. If that is not happening, then you might have to jump ship. Going back to Conforto, we talk about it, that it's an oblique injury, right? I don't know what you guys said yesterday, but... It's... Yeah. I don't think we talked about it yesterday.

So, yeah, he's dealing with an oblique injury. That's certainly a concern. You know, we've seen oblique injuries linger for hitters. I wasn't a huge fan of drafting Michael Conforta this year. Anyway, but I think you do have to drop him in your rankings now. It's a grade one one, a grade one strain. You know what, Chris, we talked about it on Tuesday when you weren't on this show, I believe. Whatever you were, I don't know.

We did talk about it. Ghiadeo Molina was the number 10 catcher in points leagues last year, and that was only in 113 games. And he was the number three catcher in points leagues in 2018. It was also number two in Roto that year. All righty. I want to get back to that head-to-head categories, draft. Quick thoughts. First of all,

great Chris Towers moment. Chris mentioned that he missed the start of the draft and got auto picked, and then Scott gave him Acuna. Yeah. So Chris comes running into the draft room.

And he types in the chat. Hold on. I'll see if I could bring it up. Like all caps. Like, sorry, sorry, sorry. I was getting lunch. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I was having Ludge, I'm sorry. In the meantime, I just referenced that other draft, that 14 team points league I'm doing.

Yeah. And Chris is in that league, and I'm in that league. And in the chat room, Chris, in an untimed draft, by the way. We have three hours on the clock in between picks. And I was not on the clock. You were not on the clock. Chris says, sorry, sorry, sorry, I was having lunch. I'm sorry.

And then he wrote, wrong league. I went into the editorial league first. Because I was in a panic. I couldn't find you. I didn't know where Chris was. I texted you. I chatted you. He was in the wrong league.

I was nowhere to be found. You were eating lunch. Having a turkey bird. Oh. Wasn't even a good lunch. All right. So in this weekly head-to-head categories league with daily transaction. So weekly matchups, but daily roster moves.

I like having foreclosers. I don't necessarily have to draft foreclosers. I did in this draft. I took four starting pitchers very early and loaded up with some good relievers. I actually really liked my team. And I wanted to talk about this, not because I want to hog the spotlight here,

but because I think I like this format more than you guys do. I like the way Yahoo does it where you have to start at least two starting pitchers. And I like the way my league does it where we have a limit of seven transactions per week and something like 80 for the year, so you really can't make that many transactions. You can't just pick up pitchers and stream them.

You have to guard your transactions a little bit. And we have an innings limit. I think what was the innings limit in this one, Scott, 25 or something? Not a limit. It's a minimum. Minimum, sorry. So that you can't just only start relievers. Whereas I hate the Wild Wild West format.

I do like this format a lot. And I usually do fairly well. I didn't last year, but I typically do in this league that I'm referring to. So anyway, I drafted Morton, Paddock, Burrios, and Clevenger. Not in that order. And I have a lot of saves. And that's the way I like to do it. If you are trying to stream pitchers, just be aware the waiver wire might be pretty bad.

So it's not the easiest thing to do. It's not as easy as you think. Adding a category, make steals worth punting. I want to talk about that. If you go from 5 by 5 to 6 by 6, you can punt steals. It's, I think, easier to do that guys, in a weekly league, rather than a season-long roto league because you're not getting a full zero for the season. You're not getting going last place and getting only one point.

You know, that could be a killer that you could lose like that. But in a 6x-by-6 league where steals are only one category, and it's not like punting saves where you punt saves will now, like, your ERA and your whip could be hurt. Steels is just an independent category. So we do get asked that a lot. Can I punt steals in six by six? I think the answer is definitively yes. This league, Scott had an extra utility spot, as the Yahoo format typically does.

And you did touch on that. You said it makes it easier to draft a guy like Chris Davis, Jordan Alvarez, and Olson Cruz. I also think it makes it easier to draft outfielders early. You don't have to worry about filling up outfield so quickly or third base or whatever. That extra utility spot made a huge difference for me when I was drafting. I want to know your thoughts on that. I think it helps not having to worry about filling up your outfield too early in particular. It wasn't a consideration for me, but I see your point.

I don't disagree with it. I actually do think there was a point where I was debating an outfielder versus an infielder and ended up going with the infielder. I don't remember when that was. But if anything, I didn't consider it. But yeah, you're right. Both of my utility spots are actually filled by an outfielder. Oh, there you go.

Two more points. Your bench, I think in this format, remember daily transactions, your bench should be more pitchers than hitters. Usually I have one or two hitters on the bench and the rest. I'm just streaming pitchers or streaming relievers. There are times that I'm just hoarding the closers, and I might have five or six of them, or I might have a Seth Lugo or one of those,

Drew Pomerant's high-end reliever. And you throw your starting pitchers out there on their days that they start, and when they don't start, you go with your relievers and you load your lineup up. And then balance your categories. I drafted Edwin and Carnaccio and Miguel Sino and Chris Davis. Those are three guys who could hit 240 to 250, but also hit 40 home runs. And I can't draft them unless I have good batting average guys. I have mooky bets, Michael Brantley, and David Dahl.

Because I had Brantley and Dahl and bets at that point, I was able to grab in Carnacion and take a late pick on Chris Davis. So keep your categories balanced. You cannot load up on category killers in this format. There aren't enough bats. Like Malick Smith, did you touch on this? I'm sorry, I didn't. I didn't only listen about half of your categories.

I didn't give specific examples, but yeah, the idea that with fewer hitter spots available to you going for a total category specialist like a Malik Smith, does even more damage in the other categories. There's less opportunities to mitigate the damage they're done by a specialist like that. All right. So that's my point. Thank you for listening.

And that concludes my discussion of head-to-head categories leagues. Players, we keep on drafting. Scott White, you've done a lot of mock drafts. You've done a lot of real drafts. Who ends up on your teams often and why? Mark Kana. No. Let's get the quota out of the way there.

All right. Barkana, J.D. Davis. Kana, J.D. Davis, and especially G.O. Rochelle. I think G. O'R. Shell is the single player. I've drafted more than any others. Those are sleeper picks I'm actually ending up with often. They seem to be ones I'm genuinely higher on than everybody else. I have a lot of other players that I'd like to draft a lot, but it just hasn't happened. I don't have a single share of Max Freed yet, for instance.

But let me think here. Josh James I've been getting a lot Alex Wood I've been getting a lot Are we just talking about sleepers Or we're talking about later No um like for me Charlie Morton was the first name that came to mind I seem to be higher on Morton than everybody else's

Uh so yeah it could be anyone If you want some time to think I'll throw it over to Chris Lucas Gialito Yeah you do take him a lot And just I don't feel like I'm especially high on him I feel like that's just I guess maybe I'm a couple spots higher than the consent

And it just so happens that I'm always taking a picture at that point. So it ends up being Lucas Gialito. Clearly I'm not afraid of him. No. Mitch Garver. Okay. Gialito Garver. When he's the fifth catcher off the board, you know, sometimes somebody jumps in and takes him as the third or fourth catcher.

And then obviously I don't get him. But when he's the fifth catcher, I usually end up taking him. Marcus Simeon, DJ LaMayhew, Josh Bell. those breakouts that people are kind of skeptical of I find myself taking advantage of a lot

although not Jorge Salare and hasn't happened much I'd like to but it hasn't taken him before you're ready to take them I think I think what ends up happening is I always prioritize

Marcus Simeon or Josh Bell over him if they're there and then he goes right after before I have a chance to pick again I think that's I think that's how it's playing out Chris, how about you? Who do you keep drafting? At the high end, I've got a lot of Freddie Freeman.

I've got a lot of Patrick Corbyn. I've got a lot of, you know, a Cindergarde. And then a little later, Giancarlo Stanton, obviously. I've drafted a lot of Kyle Tucker lately. Yeah, I've got a surprising amount of him too. Yeah, me too, actually. Me too. I think, you know, especially if you're looking for steals late and you're hoping. You know, that can't be true.

All three of us. We do most of our drafts together. I know I have them in Tout Wars and I have them in TGFBI. So both of the... Actually, did I get him in Telt Wars? I think I did. And I have them in the Memorial Magazine, Roto League and one of the mocks we did last week. Yeah, he, um... Kyle Tucker.

Tucker may not play every day to start, but Josh Redick has had an awful spring, so it's possible. And if you look at what Cal Tucker's done at AAA, it's not that different than what Luis Robert did last year. I feel like I asked on Twitter whether people think... think Luis Robert or Kyle Tucker has more upside and pretty much unanimously it was Luis Robert. But yeah, that's largely the result of Kyle Tucker having a little bit of prospect fatigue. He's like eight months older than Luis Robert. He's been at AAA for two years. He's averaged 30 homers and 30 steals per 150 games. Like he could be a first round pick this time

next year and people aren't really talking about him that way. I've also got a lot of Luke Voight. Kelly, Jordan Montgomery. Find myself taking Alex Verdugo in the reserve rounds a lot. I know he's currently not swinging a bat and hasn't since last August, which is a bad sign. But if I can stash him on my IL, I still believe he's going to be a very good player once he's on the field. Okay. Some good names there. Scott's Gialito is my Charlie Borden. I just love him.

I mean, I think he was a top eight pitcher last year. to actually seventh in both formats had his best season. He is 36, but I don't know that he's going to pitch super deep into games, but they have a really good bullpen, the raise, and they're going to win a lot. So he had 16 wins last year. I think as long as Morton stays healthy, I think he'll get to that

number again. I'm getting Miguel Sano a lot, and I think it's because there are probably three breakouts that I want the most, a breakout candidates, and they are Vladimir Guerrero, Kestan Hira, and Miguel Sano. And obviously Sineau goes a lot later,

I think whenever you don't draft Sano, I draft Sano. Yeah, I really want to get one of those three players, and Sino's just the cheapest. I know he's not, I'm almost certain he's not going to give me a good batting average, but he's obviously one of the best power hitters. So I want to make sure I get him. I'm the only person who likes Edwin Encarnacion. He has hit 32 or more home runs in eight straight seasons.

He hit 34 home runs in 109 games last year. He was the third best first baseman in points leagues on a per game basis. I think he's a perfectly fine fallback option if you wait and wait at first base. I don't really, like I get it. I understand why people are hesitant to draft him, but it's like, I, it's going, it's just, it's gone too far. So I'm fine. I like Encarnacion. I think.

Yeah, I was actually looking at that recently to just how few games he played. and why he played so few games, he was done by like mid-August, right? Yeah, and then he came back for the playoffs. So he played two-thirds of a season and hit as many home runs as he hit. That's crazy. It is. Yeah, I'm wondering if I'm under value.

He's 37, and my impression is that he's not going to play as much this year, but I don't even know where I'm getting that impression from. Yeah, I mean, it would be like they'd have to put Grandal at DH or something like, that. Yeah, which they talked about doing when they signed him because since they still have James McCann who was an all-star last year. And James McCann obviously isn't as good as Edwin Incarnacion as a hitter. And when they signed Grandal, they didn't have Encarnacion, right? I think that's right. Yes. So, right, I think, I just read that, you know, he's going to be anchored in the middle of their lineup, but that's not, that's more of like writer speculation.

But I would expect Incarnation to be in there most days. I'm drafting Chris Davis a lot. I guess I just like older sluggers who hit 240. Which Chris Davis. Oh, sorry, K-Riss Davis with the A's. Yes, the hype over C-Ris has slowed here. I wonder what does spring stats look like now. Why do you think K-Riss Davis is almost an afterthought? It's really weird.

I mean, we're talking like one of the last picks of a standard draft here, like a 21 round draft. It's crazy. The same reason Matt Carpenter's an afterthought. No, the Carpenter, it's been a longer, longer stretch. You know what? Not really, I guess, right? It's a season in 2018.

And we've just, like, completely decided that he's done. And maybe he is. Maybe Chris Davis is done. But, yeah, it's, I think there's more bounce back potential in both of them than their prices would indicate. I think part of it's utility only. Yeah, that's a tough. way to use that spot, a guy who, like, he's only power.

But you can get him on your bench. Yeah, it's a tough way, not when it's like the 18th round. I don't think it's that tough of a way to use that spot. The thing is, like, you draft Nelson Cruz or Jordan Alvarez, you're committed to starting them at utility. If you draft Chris Davis, you don't have to. I mean, you might have better options. You see what happens.

If he's, if he's as good as he has been, the previous, like, three seasons, basically, then totally fine starting at a utility. Yeah, I think he was still on pace for 40 homers before the hip injury. And then after the hip injury, he was on like an 18 homer pace or something. It's pretty clear what happened there. To me, it is a C-Riss Davis, by the way. You want to know how many times he's walked in 26 plate appearances? 25.

He's Orioles Chris Davis. 25. Nine times. Nine times. Nine times. at times in 26. So it's only three strikeouts. They're scared of them.

They're pitching around them. He doesn't get a chance to hit any more home runs because they keep walking up. You don't want to, you don't want to risk losing a cactus league game by pitching to, so we all know that. The worst titter in baseball the past three years. Ian Hap is another guy. I keep drafting late late.

Maybe my last pick could be starting center field. Do you think Ian Hap is going to be an everyday player for the Cups? That's, I feel like, how he's being targeted in fantasy right now. He's got a lot of helium. I don't really know. I don't share in that enthusiasm. I'll just say that. There would come a point where I'd be excited to take him,

but there's usually somebody else I'm more excited to take. I took him in round 23 out of 23. So in the head-to-head categories. It's fine. I just, there's usually somebody else I'd rather take in round 23. I suppose I could have taken Justin Upton. I mean, that probably... I would have taken Justin Huffington.

Yeah, I think that's fair. It only took me 11 seconds to draft the in-hap. I was very excited about that. I love that feature, by the way, when you look at the draft results. And I often draft Jose Alvarado, because I think he could be the raised closer or at least get like 15 saves and be a great reliever. I don't love that feature because with the last pick,

it not only shows you how long you took to make that pick, but the cumulative, how long it took you to pick. and I'm always, always, always last. You were last in this draft, but surprisingly, I was second to last. I don't know why that is. I thought I was pretty decisive. Yeah, Scott was dead last.

He took 10 minutes and 59 seconds with one minute on the clock for each pick in 23 rounds. I took 9 minutes and 40 seconds. I don't know what's wrong with me. I do everything slowly. That's what's wrong with me. Chris was fifth slowest. All right.

Good job. I didn't factor in all those resets while he was eating a sandwich. It was a turkey burger. Burgers are not sandwiches. We all know that. Well, was it originally called a hamburger sandwich? It's a turkey burger sandwich.

Right. A hot dog sandwich, pizza sandwich. Derivative, Chris. If you go to a sandwich shop, you don't expect to get a burger. Well, no, but we're living in modern times, Adam. Maybe you did in 1930. So that just helps my argument.

A nutrime bar is a sandwich. A nutrigram. I have a little historic perspective. The earth didn't start moving with us. Lazzania is a sandwich. Ravioli is definitely a sandwich. Oh, I had ravioli last night. I guess I had sandwich for dinner.

A lot of sandwiches out there. Any spring training notes you guys want to talk about? We talked about a lot of them yesterday. I'm aware. You talked about Dylan Bundy? We did not talk about. Dylan Bundy because that is mostly just he's pitching better

and it doesn't quite fit in the parameters of what I decided matters in spring training Adam. Scott likes Dylan Bundy though which also matters in spring training. Yeah, I can't help but be enthusiastic about his performance probably because it fits the narrative I had already put out there of the change of scenery and

he's working with Jason Castro now and I know he's had some interesting quotes about that about how they're sequencing hitters. I I think Dylan Bundy has all the stuff to succeed and he just needs a different game plan so if being careful not to read into that too much

and overdraft him, I am excited about that but the name that's top of mind right now and the one who I moved up most aggressively, most recently is Danny Jansen who looks like he might now be a viable starting catcher even in a one catcher league.

He obviously, he was a guy we were very excited about last year. Great minor league numbers. And, you know, makes a lot of contact for a catcher, good plate discipline, all of that. But he just fell flat on his face. And he has talked about having a new hitting routine now when he really seems to believe in. I've seen so many articles written about his new hitting routine. He's enthusiastic about talking about it. He didn't really have one before.

He had a pregame routine for catching, but not really for hitting. He also changed his stance to, he realized he wasn't using his lower body enough. And, you know, he's up to, what, four or five home runs this spring? I think four. And I do point out, you know, he was awful to start the season. Had a 247 OPS on May 16th. homered on May 17th and 19th, and over his next 74 games, he had 11 more. So 13 homers in the final 76 games of the season.

He only hit 225 in that stretch, which is really bad. But it came with a 233 Babbitt. He still struck out at a below average rate, 18.4% of the time after the final 76 games. I think he mostly, I think he mostly should. showed that he can do it last season once he got going. And so it's just for me a question of picking up where he left off and maybe having a little bit better luck. Danny Jansen. All right.

Rank these three. Danny Janssen, Yadir Malina, Francisco Mejia. I put him just behind Mejia, but I'm already not loving that. So I'm going to go according to my rankings and say Mahia, Jansen, Molina. Jansen, Mahina. We haven't done our catcher preview in a long time, but Francisco Mejia, last 60 games after he got recalled, June 18th, the day before my birthday, he had an 844 OPS.

He really broke out, just hoping for the playing time, hoping the breakout was legit, I guess. So, you know, it's just like a lot of stuff that we've discussed. A guy like Francisco Mejia just never gets brought up again, so I want to make sure we did. All right, Chris, I'm sorry if I cut into your time to talk about the players that could get become elite. The floor is yours for the rest of the show.

For the rest of the show. You got it. Can I talk at all? Five minutes. Can I get some tea? Is Chris? I'm drinking tea. I'm working on a series for CBSports.com

slash fantasy slash baseball. That's number one contenders. And I'm going through each position and trying to identify five guys being drafted outside of the top 12 or top 15 or at outfield top 25 who, you know, you can at least squint and see a cat. a path for them to getting to the number one spot or more generally join the elite tier. And I'll just give one for each position, I guess. And so for Catcher, I really like Danny Jansen.

Don't know if you guys have heard of him. I don't know if I talked about him much on this podcast, but I think there is a ton of potential for Danny Janssen. Why don't you give more, give at least three, and then we'll just let Scott say agree or disagree. No, I'm just kidding. Yeah, no, I get that. Danny Jansen.

Carson Kelly, who had a very similar season, has a very similar pedigree, very similar skill set. It doesn't strike out a lot, could hit for some power, and that's enough at catcher to make you a potential elite option. Then I'm going to go with Wilson Ramos, who I know Scott isn't quite as hyped about, we talked about his swing change yesterday, but for me, he's a guy who has always hit the ball hard. last season his swing just got out of whack. He still hit the ball really hard, but he hit it on the ground too much, had the lowest average launch angle in baseball. And, you know, he was arguably the number one catcher on a per game basis in 2018. So it's not that much of a stretch.

Who are you talking about here? Wilson Ramos. Wilson Ramos. Okay. Sorry. What is that sound effect? Yeah, what is that sound? It's so familiar, like some kind of chat room sound. Slack.

Yeah. Oh, it's slack. I'm slacking. You're slacking. All right, so Scott, your thoughts on those catchers? Danny Jansen is the one I can most get behind. I was pretty excited about Carson Kelly to start out, and I haven't moved him down,

but he was so bad against Ritey's last year, and the guy he's sharing the catcher spot with is a left-handed hitter, Stephen Boat. I just wonder if the playing time is going to be there for Carson Kelly. That's fair. That's fair. Stephen Vode has had a lot of trouble

staying healthy in his career, but he's off to a really good start in spring training himself. So, you know, Stephen Votes someone in the two-catcher league I've targeted as my second catcher a few times. But, you know,

this is another one where Kelly had a 520 OPS through the first 32 games of the season. From that point on, he hit 259 with an 890. OPS. He was really good for most of the season. But yeah, I mean, I certainly rank him higher than

Jansen. I'm just wondering if I should kind of actually. I'm sure about that. All right, let's move to first base. I think I'm ready for first base here. How's that sound? I love first base, Adam, because my favorite one, well, Miguel Seno, who's not first base eligible yet, but

will be by the first five games of the season, whenever those games occur. And there are you know, five or six guys in the majors who have the skills to hit 40 homers and he is absolutely one of them. I'm also going to throw out Luke Voight. If you look at what he's done since he got to the Yankees, if you take out the games that he played after coming back from the IL last year, because he was clearly playing through that sport tournier, you take those games out and just

look at what he's done with the Yankees otherwise. He's hit 297 with a 400 on base and a 547 slugging percentage would have been the 11th best OPS in baseball among qualifiers. So if you believe that, you know, his struggles were largely the result of the injury, there's the potential that he could be a truly elite bat. Yeah. Boyd is. How much did I talk up Luke Void last year? And everybody was like, no, Scott.

Come on. Well, he wasn't nearly as good. Mostly lived up to the hype, though. The thing is, did he, though, because a lot of his OPS was OBP? He... What? He was, before the injury, he was on pace, I believe, for... It was 35 homers, 95 RBI, 100 runs.

I think the slug was below 500. It was, which is really weird. His slash line in 95 games before the injury, 278, 392, 493. It's strange, but that's an 885 OPS. He was on pace. I had it for 33 home runs, 94 RBIs, 104 runs. He'll obviously take 33 home runs. He is more of a line drive hitter than a fly ball hitter than a pure power hitter,

which you could look at as a positive or a negative. I've certainly pitching it as a positive last year. And what it means is there's the potential for a good batting average, too. so I'm not, I agree he could be a stud again this year. And while I was pretty concerned about the playing time to start out, the injuries have made it so that he's obviously going to be the everyday player to begin the year. And then it's just a matter of how he performs as to whether or not that lasts. Yeah, I think they have scrapped the And Duhar at first base experiment.

So it's probably just Mike Ford. And I've heard almost nothing about Mike Ford. spring. Yeah, well, LeMayhew could always play first base if they, if they need to, because Glabertores has apparently been horrible at shortstop. Okay, so anything else at first base? And, you know, we talked about it yesterday a little bit, but Eric Cosmer with this swing change, the potential, it's a bit of a long shot, but if he really is hitting the ball in the air more, he hits the ball really hard. There's a quote from him in an athletic story

recently. I hit the ball really hard. I just always hit it on the ground. This is the first time he's ever really expressed frustration with his approach. You know, anytime he's been asked about it in the past, he's really been like, well, I had 90 plus RBI last year. Why would I change anything? This is the first time where he's looked at it and said, you know, he did have 92 RBI last year. But the overall line just wasn't what he needs to do. And so he's making changes.

We're seeing signs of it in spring training where he's hitting the ball in the air more. If he does that, it's a long. shot, but there's no doubting that the skills are there for him to be an elite first baseball. Okay, that's Eric Hosmer. So let's go to second base. Give us your top three that could be number one.

Yeah, Kevin Bissio. I think his upside looks something like the good Matt Carpenter seasons plus 20 steals. So I think that kind of... I mean, it kind of speaks for itself, but you look at what he did last season, the batted ball profile,

the walk profile, it all looked a lot like what we would usually see from Mac Carpenter the batting average is really low struck out too much. I think the case with him is he probably needs to be a bit more aggressive

at the plate a little like Yohan Moncada was last season where there's a difference between passivity and patience and I think those two guys probably teetered towards the worse end but if he does steal 20 bases and if he does hit a little better,

it's really easy to see him in the elite tier at second base. Who else? Kevin Bigio and? Gary Hampson. I just, what's that? I just said, uh, yes. And so the case for him is basically,

I'm not sure if he's a good hitter, but that doesn't really matter at course field. If he gets an everyday role, I think he can hit 290. I think he could hit 13 to 15 homers, and I think he could steal 40 bases playing half his game. of course field. That's basically a poor man's Trey Turner.

So, you know, again, another one that kind of goes without much explanation. If that happens, and I think it's realistic, if he gets the role, you know, you're probably talking about a second round pick next year, or at least a second round finish.

Okay, that's Garrett Hampson with Kevin Bissio, who's the last one at second base? Now, we haven't talked a lot about, I'm not sure if he's going to get that second base job in Chicago, but Nick Magigal. He's not just an outlier for today's professional baseball environment. His 2.8% strikeout rate last season would have been the third best in the majors since 1994. You're talking like peak Tony Gwynne type contact numbers.

35 steals in just 110 games in his first full season of professional ball. It would be hard for him not to hit 300 with the strikeout rate that he has. if he hits 300 and steals 35 to 40 bases, you're probably looking at an elite second baseman. Scott, Biggio, Hamson, Madrigal, could you see them having massive seasons? I am not sure I agree with Madrigal having a massive season. I see him more as a useful player at a weak position

who thrives at some of the scarcer categories. But I just, a total zero for power in today's environment, I think would have a hard time measuring up with the tip-top players. But where did Dee Gordon used to go? I mean, he doesn't have the speed D. Gordon does, although he's been at a 50 steel pace in the minors. Right, that's the question, too, how much, it's always a question of how much player runs in the majors.

Though I like that he's not a middle of the order bad. I think that improves his chances of continuing to run. But no, I look, Kevin Vigio is on my breakout list. I love the upside there. Hampson, I think, is on my sleeper's list. I do like the upside there too. Yeah, and I'm not saying Nick Madrigal is like a bad option. I top 10 prospects to stash was an article that came out yesterday.

that I wrote, and I believe I had him fourth on that list. So I have some enthusiasm for him. It just doesn't sound like I agree in terms of the overall upside. So, all right, we'll move on to third base here. Did want to mention Dee Gordon, though, is having a nice spring. Stealing some bases. Yeah, I'm not sure he's even in contention for an everyday role. It sounds like they just want him as a utility guy, but, you know,

Shed Long has struggled in spring. So, you know, maybe they reach a point where Shed Long... D. Gordon's a guy I've drafted in a handful of leagues where I kind of just want to get someone who can steal some bases. I think I got him in the auction league last week. And I've taken him in a couple of my deeper league. So I'm hoping he steals 30 bases is basically it. D. Gordon.

Third base, Chris. We'll finish with this. then maybe we'll read some emails. Miguel Snow, again. I just, I think the upside there is so massive, but I'll give three players besides him. How about Hunter Dozier? Did you know he was in the 80th percent on sprint speed? According to Stackass last year,

he, you know, led the American League at Steele and triples with 10, and he has talked about wanting to run more this season. And, you know, if he does that and hits like he did last season, when, you know, he had 26 homers, hit 280. If he steals 10 to 12 bases in a roto league, that doesn't look that dissimilar from what Marcus Simeon did last year. And he was a top 20 player. So he has to sustain the games that he made and he has to start running. But the fact that he's talking about it certainly has the skill set to do it. So, you know, it's hard to know how much an injury impacts a season, but oblique injuries

can really derail your season. And Hunter Dozier, 52 games before he missed three weeks within oblique strain. He had a 987 OPS. He batted 314 with 11 home runs, 12 doubles, 3 triples. Pretty, very good plate discipline. 26 walks, 41 strikeouts. 987 Ops for Dozier in 52 games. Then he goes on the IL, he misses three weeks, he comes back 87 games. He still was okay. He had an 804 OPS. He batted 260 with 15 homers, 17 doubles and seven triples. But Hunter Dozier was one of the talks of fantasy baseball last year before he went on the IL should not be overlooked I guess

who else Miguel and Duhar you know we've seen him be a top 40 player and that was in his rookie season now there was a lot of skepticism about whether he would sustain that and you know given the price that he was going at this time last year

I was pretty much out on him but now you know if he's back from from the shoulder injury without issue which it seems like he is so far in spring training it does sound like at this point he's going to play every day at least to start the season and then you know as long as he hits the way he can i think we're going to see him in the lineup pretty much every day playing in a great lineup great park uh there's a lot to like about a guy who makes that much contact and does have some pop i

i wish and du har ran a little that would make it easier to make the case but even so works for me sky and australi i want to make uh i want to make both of you guys happy so austin wall is another guy we saw the good and the bad with him last year. You know, first 34 games, hit 12 home runs. I think he was, like, very close to or at the Major League record for most home runs in X number of games. I don't know what the exact number was to start his season. But then he hit 164 with a 41.4% strikeout rate in his next 46 games.

So we really saw both sides of him. But his strike out rate was 25.8% in AAA. If he can get to that level in the majors, There's not, it's not impossible that he could have something like Pete Alonzo, we would expect from him this year. Riley had a top 25 barrel per bat at ball rate last season. He had a higher hard hit rate than Pete Alonzo last year. He needs to win the third base job out of spring training, but, you know, I think that's certainly doable. And if he can just manage the contact, if he can get the contact rate down to just,

just, or the strikeout rate down to just a bad level rather than, you know, dangerous like he was last year. He's got 40 homer potential. Austin Riley for the brace. I got to say, the Yankees have had the worst offseason probably since, yeah, I don't know. Well, the Astros have had the worst off season of any team. But in terms of injuries, like the Yankees are definitely the leaders there. But you guys really, I think you know how to pick me up what I'm feeling. down because every day

it's just Luke Boyt and Gio Rochella, Miguel and Duhar not even the good players on the Yankees you guys love. I appreciate it. It's not intentional. I don't know. I don't think we've talked about J.Hap. Jay Hap was about the change that

he's made this spring. Jay Hap is, I have Jhab in that Roto League. It was one of the reserve round picks. I am comforted. I have a warmth in my heart that I have J.Hap right now. It's going to be all right. You know.

don't like that. Not a terrible late round flyer, J. Hab. All right. And Jordan Montgomery. Who I think Chris does like. Who do we like better? Montgomery or Hap?

Oh, Montgomery for sure. I think I rank hap higher. Oh, sorry. What a joke. I remember how good he was two years ago. Scott. Jordan Montgomery would kill for those numbers.

He probably wouldn't actually kill. I don't think of a story. substitute, but it didn't come to me. Don't you talk about the Yankees that way. Okay. That's it for today's show. Tomorrow we'll look into Scott's Sleepers, Breakouts, and Busts, give you some ADP tips as you get ready possibly for a weekend of fantasy baseball drafts. Tomorrow is also Friday the 13th, so perhaps we'll talk about the scariest players in fantasy baseball, or maybe we will just rank everybody whose first name is Jason or last name is Borges.

For Scott and Chris, I'm Adam. Talk to tomorrow.