Fantasy Baseball Today - Prospects Traded at the Deadline! Stash Ken Waldichuk & Spencer Steer (8/6 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: August 7, 2022

Download and follow Fantasy Baseball Today in 5! You can find FBT in 5 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else podcasts are found. CJ Abrams headlines the prospects moved at the trade deadline. What's the outlook for Noelvi Marte and James Wood? Can Ken Waldichuk, Enmanuel Valdez and Spencer Steer make an impact down the stretch? 'Fantasy Baseball Today in 5' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Get 20% off Fantasy Baseball Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-baseball-today?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-baseball-collection Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today in 5 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

Let's talk about the biggest prospects who were dealt at the trade deadline up next on fantasy baseball today in five. Welcome into FBT and 5 as always. Make sure to follow and stream us on Spotify. Today is Saturday, August 6th. I am Frank Stanfield joined by Scott White and let's rank. Well, I didn't rank these. Scott ranked them, but I will reveal his ranking of the top five prospects who were dealt at the trade deadline. CJ Abrams, the shortstop now with the Washington Nationals.

Robert Hassel, now an outfielder with the Washington Nationals. Nelvie Marte shortstop with the Reds. James Wood, outfielder with the Nationals. Edwin Arroyo, shortstop with the Reds. Scott, there's a lot of nationals and a lot of Reds on this list. Well, yeah, what's interesting, and I'm just noticing this now with you reading off those names, is that the top five prospects dealt at the deadline

were involved in two different deals. Three, going to the Nationals in the Juan Soto deal, and two going to the Reds in the Luis Castillo deal, So, you know, C.J. Abrams, we know a lot about him. He's five at bats away from losing prospect eligibility, but he has gotten sent down. It's probably for the best. It's clearly rushed in San Diego. He needs to improve his approach.

He's still underdeveloped physically, I would say, but the upside remains very high. His hit tool and speed tool, both at the top of the scales. Robert Hassel, the number two prospect here, is a lot of, already a consensus top 25 guy, very safe hitter profile, and somebody who stands to play center field, which also makes him safe. Still developing power. It's not totally clear that's going to be a big part of his game, but he'll have for average, he'll steal some bases.

And he may turn into a good power source too. The two short stops who went from the Mariners to the Reds, Noel V. Marte and Edwin Arroyo. Marte is kind of a stock down guy. He's where Arroyo was a couple years ago, the teenage phenom, they're expecting to rise the ranks quickly. Marte has, you know, he's kind of had some conditioning issues. It's pretty clear now he's not going to stay at shortstop,

and he was struggling in every facet of the game early this year. The bat came around in July, and I still think he's going to turn into a regular player for the Reds, a good source of offense, but it won't be at shortstop in all likelihood. Edwin O'Royle, much better defender, likely to stick at shortstop. Very young, still low down in the minors. But is surprised with the offense this year, and that, of course, gives him a bright future, potentially. And then the final one to talk about here, James Wood, he might be my favorite of this group.

He is 6'7, and we've seen a lot of 6'7-7 guys lately. Of course, Aaron Judge, O'Neill Cruz, Elie De La Cruz, if you know prospects, you're familiar with him, also in the Reds organization. Well, Wood's in the national organization, but Elie DeL Cruz is in the Reds. What do those three have in common? Big Power.

Wood is able to leverage his big size for big power as well, except the big difference for him is he's made a lot of contact. Now, he's only in low A ball, the pitching isn't great down there, and maybe they find holes to exploit as he moves up the ladder. But I think the upside is very high for James Wood. And I think it'd probably be a consensus top 50 guy if we're re-ranking a top 100 right now. What about the prospects who can make an impact down the stretch?

Now, I do think C.J. Abrams is in that conversation as well, but we've already talked about him. A few pitchers here. Ken Walde-Chuck and J.P. Sears going over to the Oakland A's in the Frankie Montas trade. And then a few infielders. And Manuel Valdez, he goes to the Red Sox, and Spencer Steer goes over to the Cincinnati Reds.

So I do think we see Ken Waldichuk soon. He's already 24. He's been dominating between AA and AAA this year. Last two years, 13.5K per 9 for Waldichuk. He doesn't earn especially high marks as a prospect because there's this feeling it's more about deception than stuff for him. But the stuff has been ticking up.

And I think he's starting to get a little more love from the evaluators. He's kind of the oddball sort of prospect that the athletics gravitate toward. And they have holes in their rotation, so I think he'll be upsuit. You mentioned J.P. Sears, who also came over in that same deal for Frankie Montas. Good minor league numbers. I don't think he has nearly as much upside. I think he's probably going to profile as a reliever in the long run,

but they might need some innings from him now, even in the minors, putting up those good numbers. He wasn't pitching all that deep into games. The infielders, you mentioned, Spencer Stier has. shown good power this year and not a big strikeout rate considering. He kind of reminds me of Jonathan India and that he doesn't have like that big raw power, but his swing is just geared to maximize what he has. And we've seen that play well in Cincinnati, a small park, the best park for home runs, in fact. I'm not sure there's much incentive for the Reds to call him up down the stretch,

but I guess it's possible we could see Spencer Steer. I think it's more likely N Manuel Valdez comes up for the Red Sox. He has mostly played second. Obviously, Trevor's story is out with an injury right now. His numbers between double and AAA have just been ridiculous this year. But he's sort of an oddball prospect, like I was saying, for Waldichuk. Valdez only 5 foot 9 producing big power in spite of it.

And doesn't, like I say he's been playing mostly second base. He doesn't really have a position. He's not that good anywhere. And that's always makes for a difficult pass. for a prospect. But I think the bat is so good that the Red Sox are going to have to give him a chance sooner than later. You know who we used to say that about Scott? Good bat. Don't know where he's going to play? A lot, but Jose Miranda. Jose Miranda. That's exactly right. And look, every prospect is different, obviously, but look, Jose Miranda's having a pretty awesome year with the Minnesota

Twins. For more extensive fantasy baseball coverage, listen to the fantasy baseball today podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Stitcher, your smart speakers, or anywhere else podcasts are found. And thanks for listening to Fantasy Baseball today in five. We'll be back again on Monday morning. Bye-bye.