Fantasy Baseball Today - Ranking Closers By Job Security; Kyle Schwarber Deep Dive (04/08 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 8, 2020

Instead of just ranking closers like we always do, today we're ranking them based on job security. But first, we take a deeper look at Kyle Schwarber (5:35). Is Schwarber undervalued and how much different is he than Franmil Reyes? ... We're ranking the top closers in Fantasy Baseball by job security, starting off with the top tier, "The Strongest" (21:35). Only two names made it into this tier but which two? ... Next, we have tier two in terms of job security, "Very Strong But" (24:00). How many closers should make it into this tier? Does Ken Giles make the cut? ... Tiers three and four include players who have been named closer but have a few more warts (33:20). Adam makes the case for Archie Bradley plus how far down is Edwin Diaz? ... Fantasy owners are very excited about Nick Anderson and Giovanny Gallegos but neither has been named the closer for their respective team (42.25). ... Email us at [e-mail]. 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @CBSFantasyBB, @AdamAizer, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Download our printable Draft Kit from CBSSports.com/draftkit! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. One, one pitch, basketball pulled and fast. Alvarez and twilight. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Adam, Scott Heath, and Chris.

Hello, and welcome into fantasy baseball today on Wednesday, April 8th. Frank here, joined once again by Adam, Scott, and Chris. Scott, today is the first time we're starting the show without a new rumor on when baseball is starting, and it feels kind of weird. The first time, has there been a new rumor every day? This week. This week. Oh, this week. Yeah, that's probably true.

It's probably true. Everybody's still stewing over the old rumor. Yeah. We'll see. We shall see. Completely random, guys. But I just saw on Twitter that a parasite, the movie that basically won all of the Oscars is now streaming on Hulu. So if you want a trippy movie to watch, there you go, Chris.

Incredible movie. I love that movie. Adam, with his horrible, horrible opinions about everything. Adam. I didn't say it was bad. Just incredible. Adam, Azer and the no good horrible opinion having. She didn't like it. I thought it was an absolutely incredible movie. I really, really enjoyed it. And I expect I will enjoy it on a second watch as well. Yeah, that I don't see. I feel like once you've seen it, you don't need to see it again,

which is probably one of the true measures of the greatness of a movie. But it is amazing how much movies have changed, where a movie like Parasite is now considered great. It's just the budgets are so much smaller. And people, I guess they like different things. But that's just not my idea of a great movie. It was fine. It was fine.

Like I said, Uncut Jem is much better. It's been a long time since I've seen a best picture winner, which is kind of to your point, Adam. You know, I don't have as much time to watch movies as I used to. I used to prioritize watching the best picture winner, once it won best picture. But I'm trying to think of what the last one I've actually seen was. Did you see Moonlight?

I'm sure it had to have been since Whiplash. Whiplash is the one that's coming to mind. Whiplash is a fantastic movie. But I'm not sure what I've seen since then. Whiplash is a very good movie, but another example of how movies have changed. The best movie that I have seen in the last five years that feels like a 90s, early 2000 movie, before we got like so indie, basically, was three billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri. That was the best movie I've seen in a very, very long time.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Parasite was a surprise because it's sort of a thriller slash horror, Those don't typically win. I think the difference is we're just widening our scope for what a great movie can be. It's not like it doesn't all just have to be like great men on horses. You know, there's like a wider range of what movies can be. And I don't know, I looking at the Parasites so was so average.

It was Birdman. Birdman was the last one I've seen before Parasite actually. That's a little embarrassing. I go back further 12 years of slave oh no I saw spotlight you never saw spotlight I know it was very good apparently whiplash didn't win best picture yeah I didn't think it won best picture but it was really good

spotlight was great admittedly I've not watched a lot of the movies that are Oscar nominated or award winning so I thought that Adam and I were going to fall into the same category here but Adam you clearly have seen way more of these movies than I have I have actually watched Parasite because I felt like all right like

everyone's hyping this up and it's winning everything so I had to watch it I really did enjoy it um Adam is it a Christmas movie look I don't think so I but it's it's was there Christmas in it then if there was then sure I guess it would I don't think so is ridiculous there are strong themes of family Adam more so than die hard I agree today in the show we're going to deep dive Kyle Swarver we're also going to rank closers by job security something that I know Adam likes to do when it comes to relievers, and it makes sense, specifically in roto leagues, I think, more than anything, where we are trying to find closers who can specifically help us out with saves.

Obviously, more job security will help us attain those saves. And then later on in the show, your listener questions, I promise that I will try my best to get to those. Kyle Swarber, last season, and this came from one of our Apple podcast reviews, continue to leave us some of your players that you want us to deep dive, and we'll jump into those players here on the show. And someone asked about Kyle Schwaber. Last season, average 2.9 fantasy points per game that was tied with Eloy Jimenez,

finally broke out, hit 250, 38 home runs, 92 RBI, and 871 OPS, still struggles against lefties quite a bit, a 756 OPS versus lefties versus a 900 OPS against right-handed pitching. But that number against lefties actually was better, last year than it has been in years past for Kyle Schwerber. I think the biggest takeaway for me when it comes to him, what he did last year was in the second half, he lowered his strikeout rate by about 7 percent, wound up hitting 280 with a 997 OPS in the second half alone. Kind of changed up where he started hitting the ball, spraying the ball more to opposite field and hitting the ball up the

middle as well. So, Scott, I mean, how much do you believe in the adjustments that Kyle Schwerber made last year because it seems like we were always kind of waiting for him to have this breakout season. And honestly, it did come to fruition last year in 2019. Yeah, I think it was clearly his best season. And if the full season line repeats, he's going to be worth his ADP, the sort of what changed from first half to second half, it's basically the same argument I've been making for Jorge Saler, right? He had a better

Bad a ball profile. He struck out less. He hit for a really good batting average, not something we expect from Kyle Schwerber. Obviously, you're talking about a difference in ceiling there, right? Like Jorge Soler doesn't necessarily have to continue those second half trends to be a good value still in drafts. Schwerber, for him to be a good discounted player,

would have to continue at least some degree of what he did in the second half. Plus, Schwerber has a history of really struggling against left-handed pitcher. He's always a platoon risk because of that. It was better last year, but again, that's something he would have to sustain. My optimism for Schwerber is the highest that's been probably since he was first breaking into this league, into the league is a tip-top prospect, maybe since, you know, that year, the first week of the season, right? He collided with, he had a collision in the outfield. remember if it was another player or the outfield fence.

Yeah, in Torres-A-Nee. And basically enthusiasm has been tempered since then. But it's the highest it's been since then. I actually have some shares in him this year and would like to see how those play out. Kyle Swarber's ADP right now is 144. He is the 42nd outfielder off the board, according to fantasy pros.

Chris, I know that you like Friend Mill Reyes a lot. of Fran Moraes this year, but should there be that big of it? It's not a huge difference. It's like a 15 pick difference right now, but I've seen it actually be further in actual drafts that I've done. Should there be that big of a difference between Kyle Schwerber and Fran Mulreras? Because it seems like the best outcome for both of those guys is pretty similar. No? Yeah, I think what Schwerber and Reyes really highlight for me is I think there's just not very much need to reach for the no speed, bad batting average power guys. You know, the, you know, like I'm not saying Kyle Schwerber will be better than Matt Olson or as good as Matt Olson, but I don't know, if you run the season a thousand times, I bet 25% of the time Kyle Schwabers as good as Matt Olson.

It's not out of the realm of possibility. And so at some point, it's just that kind of player, you know, throw in Pete a Loneman. on the really high end, but also Matt Olson, John Carlos Stanton. I'm sure there are other guys that I'm forgetting, Miguel Suno. It's just, it's a profile that is really easy to find in today's game. And so you're paying for certainty with some of those guys, but I don't know, it just highlights how much I like to wait for that specific profile if I'm going to target it. Chris Davis going even later with a K.

Yeah, and that's a really good point from a roto perspective. I found myself consistently drafting guys like Friend Mil Reyes, Kyle Schwerber, and Chris Davis targeting power in those middle to late rounds because in my drafts, in my roto drafts, I've been really targeting stolen bases, batting average early, and putting an emphasis on that. And if you want to keep pace in the power category, it's an easy way to do that, is to grab guys like Fran Milraeis, Schwerber, and Chris Davis in those. double-digit rounds.

So that's something that I think is viable if you're looking for power in that area. But Adam, in a head-to-head points league, rank these three outfielders. Kyle Swarber, David Dahl, and Andrew Benintendi. Benintendi, Dahl, Schwerber, or Dahl Benintendi, that's really close. I'll go Dahl, Benintendi, Schwerber.

And Schwerber is not even close. I have no interest in Kyle Schwerber. I am definitely the low guy on Kyle Schwerber. For him to go ahead of a guy like Kyle Tucker is a joke to me. And I don't really agree with Chris's assessment of saying, you know, Kyle Schwaber should be even mentioned in the same breath as John Carlos Stanton or Matt Olson,

because he hit 250 last year, Kyle Schwaburber, but his batting average in his last three seasons is 21, 238, and 250. So look, maybe he continues to get better. He's cut his K-rate two straight years. There are encouraging signs with Schwabber, but what I would say is he's streaky as hell. He sometimes sits against lefties, not always, but enough. and he's had good half seasons before.

In this case, it was the last two months of the season when he had a 1043 OPS and he batted 304 with a 349 Babbitt. I'm not buying it with Kyle Schwerber. I don't really understand why he's a top 50 outfielder. 38 home runs is nice, but there were 58 players who had 30 home runs last year. So if he just hits 30 home runs, that's just not good enough. The encouraging signs for Schwerber are this.

He improved his doubles. which is important. He had 29 doubles. The previous two years combined, he had 30. So he basically doubled his doubles. Like I said, the K-rates dropped. Like Frank said, the hitting profile looked a little bit better. The Cubs don't face a lot of lefties. The last two seasons, they've had the second few as the bats

and the third few is the bats against lefties. And if you go on roster resource and look at the rest of the division, there are only four projected starting pitchers that are left-handed right now. There's actually five, but one of them is replacing Miles Michaelis, so that doesn't actually count. So the Cubs probably will face a lot of Ritey, so that's good. But I just don't buy Schwerber. He's had good half seasons before, and he's just not for me, especially since he won't play every day.

The last thing I want to say, Frank, is your points per game stat just want to say with a guy like Schwerber, he's actually better than his fantasy points per game because he pinch hit 14 times. So that lowers his points per game, but still, he's just not even worth having in that format. One other thing, oh, go ahead, Chris. One other thing I do want to point out is if he does sustain the gains against lefties last year, like, if he can put up a 750 OPS against lefties, there's really no reason he shouldn't play every day. And at this point in Kyle Schwerber's career, I don't know if it's gotten enough attention, but there's really not any reason for him to come out of games late because he's actually developed into basically a neutral defender over the last couple of years. And so... But why would you have a neutral defender in there if you could bring in Albert Almora

or something like that? Because he's a really, really good hitter. Like if he's not going to hit again, sure, take him out for Albert Amora. But if it's like the seventh inning, there's no reason he's not going to lose plate appearances because of his defense, basically. Yeah, maybe not.

I think I just don't, I don't see him playing every day against lefties. You know, like last year, I was probably half and half sitting. Yeah, so I was looking at the breakdown over the course of the season. And his, his production, if he can continue what he did last year, That's from a left-handed bat, you don't expect much better than that.

Obviously, there are some total freaks who hit lefties just as well as they hit righties. But from the normal left-handed hitter who has some struggles against lefties, Schwerber was pretty much right on par with that last year. But they didn't really start playing him against lefties until September. And they, well, you know what? They only faced two left-handed starters in September. So that's- No, Scott, when he-

He was two-for-two and starting against them. When he went on his tear, the last two months of the season, they faced, in 54 games, they faced 10 left-handed starters. So, you know, I just, I guess you just have to buy into the fact that the Cubs don't face a lot of lefties. If that happens again, he might have a good year. But if it does happen again, if he doesn't happen again, if they do face more lefties, Schwerver's going to probably just be useless and you're going to drop them. That's, that's my take. And it's worth mentioning that they have a new manager in David Ross. So we know that Joe Madden for

whatever reason, it seems like throughout the years, he's kind of, you know, he's done a little bit more in terms of platooning. And, you know, it took him a while to make Javier Baez and everyday player. So we had that always kind of in the back of our mind. So David Ross coming in there and being the manager, maybe that's something that can actually help the case of someone like Kyle Schorber. I mean, they've played together. So they have a relationship from when David Ross was on the Cubs. So I think that's worth mentioning as well. I seem to be on the higher end.

I'm probably closer to where Scott lies. someone like Kyle Swarber in my rankings, which should be out soon, are Kyle Swarber is pretty close to Fran Milraeus. So I love, I love Fran Milraeus, and I think Kyle Swarber is not really dissimilar. I don't know if ADP-wise, like I might be lower compared to it. I just know Adam mentioned Kyle Tucker's behind Schwerber and specifically no, if we're talking about Tucker versus Schwerber, I would take Tucker. seeing J.D. Davis is behind Schwerber. You know, I like Davis. That's a close one. I'll have to consult my own rankings to see if, so he's 42nd overall according to ADP. We don't need to slow down the show for this. I'm going to check, though, to see where I have Schwerber actually in my outfielders.

Because it's one thing to talk about him in this nebulous sense. I mean, it's easy to make the case. duh, this guy's good, sure. But then when you get into that relative discussion, sometimes maybe the opinion changes. I have Schwerver 36th, so apparently I'm high compared to consensus. However, among the players I have behind him, are J.D. Davis, are Mark Kana. Those are clearly higher priorities for me in drafts. I'm just, that's a situation where I'm ranking partially because I know I'm going to have to pay more to get him.

every now and then, Frank, you can bully Scott into changing his rankings on the air. I'm going to let him off. I don't think he wants to do that. It is ridiculous. Ridiculous that you have Kyle Schwerber ahead of J.D. Davis and Marcana. It makes me not trust anything you say ever. It's not keeping me from getting J.D. Davis and Markana, clearly. If it was, I'd probably change it up.

It's keeping our listeners from getting the J.D. Davis. Markana. I mean, this gets into a discussion of what people use rankings for. Because there are all these ranking contests out there. And Frank has placed very high in them before in the past, I think. Right, Frank? Where they're like, judge your rankings in the preseason based on how the players actually finish in the off season. I don't know.

Like, that's just not how I do my rankings. I don't do them. This is my projected order of finish for these players. think of them as like a draft guide because that's how I think most people use them. I want to target these players in this order. So ADP is baked in to an extent. Obviously there are times when I'm going to go against ADP because I'm particularly high on a player and want to make sure I don't miss out on him.

But for the most part, I don't want to go the other way and my rankings cause somebody to reach for a player that they could have had four rounds later, you know? Well, thank you, Scott. And I have ranked top 10, according to the fantasy pros accuracy the past two years. And that's based on photo rankings. Uh-oh. What I do? I was just making funny of you for bragging about yourself. Oh, no. I was just, it's a great accomplishment. I was just confirming what Scott brought up, so I didn't want to leave the listeners in the dark. Like, what the heck is Scott talking about?

But he's right. And typically I rank my players based on how I would draft them, just in a vacuum. So, like, if I'm on the board and I would rather have friend Melreis than Schwerber, then I'm going to rank him ahead. And I think, look, everyone's different. But if you wanted to take that approach, Scott, that's completely up to you.

But I think how I would do it is if you like J.D. Davis and Markana more than Kyle Schorber, then I would probably rank them ahead. But that's just me. I'll just, I'll throw that out there. But we got to move on to ranking bullpins and relievers based on job security. And this was actually an email that we got a couple of weeks ago, Adam, and you sent this one over to me. And you liked it as a show idea because you said, this is how you like to draft relievers is based on job security. And I think it's a really good point that at times we don't necessarily do that because if you look at Scott's rankings, you look at my rankings.

Nick Anderson, we have ranked very high. but what is Nick Anderson's job security right now? So that's something that we can talk about here, Adam. But if you want to kind of just expand a little bit more on why you like kind of drafting relievers based off of job security, you can do so now. Yeah, well, I don't think it's the only thing I look at. But for example, I think Ken Giles has more job security than, let's say, not Liam Hendricks, but let's say it probably does have more job security than Liam Hendricks.

He has more than Edwin Diaz. I'll say that. But I wouldn't draft him ahead of Edwin Diaz because I think he's got a good chance to get traded. Otherwise, I might draft him ahead of Edwin-D-S. But you know relievers are going to struggle, right? At some point in the season, they're going to have a little blip. Which of these relievers are going to have their trust from their manager to be able to work through that? Or if they're going to be demoted, be demoted for like a week and then get the job back.

Which of these got, like, you had to separate them into categories. And you might be surprised the way I categorize them because I don't think there are that many relievers that have just absolute job security where it would take something catastrophic and unforeseen basically in their performance for them to lose it. But yeah, it's important to me

because it's not that important to me in a head-to-head points league where you're starting sparps, you only need two reliever spots, whatever. Shoot for the moon there. But in a roto league, I don't want to draft someone that's going to be a bus because I can't just go to the waiver wire and replace that person. So anyone I feel like has a good choice,

chance to lose his job, I'm probably going to stay away from unless I can get a really good value. So job security. Job security is very important to me. I've created seven categories, and we can argue whether or not this is too many, but these are kind of categories of job security. And I've ranked them the strongest, very strong, but he's the guy, but even more concerns. Closer, but don't feel good about it. Haven't been named Closer, but we're hopeful. committee slash position battle, and then seven is, I don't really care,

and that was a writing category from Adam Azer. So let's start off with the strongest. And for me, and feel free to add players to this if you want, but I had just two players in the strongest off security. Me too.

And that was Catee and Roberto O'Soole. 100%. That was the only two that I put in the strongest. Yep. Does anyone disagree? Does anyone feel that Kirby,

Josh Hater, should be in the strongest category? No, Josh Hader should not be. I had immediately put a role as Chapman in there. I was just jotting down some names now. So, I mean, my initial reaction seeing this is, wow, that's a lot of tears for a role of 30. You know, only 30 people have this role. At most, we don't even know who all the 30 are.

So, yeah, maybe I should be more stringent than that. But I guess, I guess Chapman, you're just saying because there are a lot of closer capable relievers in that bullpen? Is that why you're leaving him out? Yeah, and he gets hurt. I mean, he's pretty close to the strongest. I mean, he goes into the season as the guy without question, but I don't think they'd have a problem with giving it to Britain if Chapman

struggled, and, you know, he's getting older. So honestly, he could have been the third one in that group for sure, but he's the first one I have in the second tier. Why isn't Brad Handen that group? the Indians have not been a team that has changed their closer very much really over the last the time that Terry Francona has been there I can't really remember he really he was a mess in the second half a lot of it seemed health related and there was some buzz when they first acquired a manual class A that he was the guy who was going to bump hand from the role there's also

been a lot of talk that hand gets traded midseason maybe out of the closer role so yeah I don't I don't think Han deserves to be in the top tier. You know, I don't get why everyone's so excited about Emmanuel Class A. I think Emmanuel AAA is way better. Wait. Also, James Carinjack. Can we just, you're doing these tiers, Scott. This is based on job security, right?

Not based on how good you think they are. Right. Right. Right. Otherwise, Hater would be in the strongest. Right. No, I agree. I agree haters should not be in the strongest. Yeah.

And that's worth reiterating, Adam, that, again, we're not ranking them based on just who we think is going to be the best. for fantasy, it's ranking these relievers based on job security. And the next category, the second tier, you could call it, is the very strong butt. Whether there's a history of injuries or a history of blown saves or, you know, there's really good options on the team behind them. I had Josh Hader as the next one up and then a roll his Chapman, followed by Brad Hand. And for the reasons that Scott mentioned with Brad Hand, just second half struggles, 5.4 ERA and the second have four blown saves. The velocity was down. Could be due to injuries. But Karen Chack is

someone that I'm very high on as well. In the minors, he had 22 saves. He had 186 strikeouts in 102 and a third innings pitched. That is somebody who can take over the closer's role if Brad Hand were to struggle. Yeah. Why did we not go with Hater, by the way? Are those the same for you, Adam? What are you? Oh, I have 16. closers in this tier. 16. Okay. I have the Yankees, Brewers,

twins, A's, Dodgers, Mets, Cubs, Indians, Phillies, Nationals, Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, pirates, royals, white socks, and the Rangers. Oh, Adam. No, no, no, no.

Can I just ask the question? Yeah, yeah, but I'll tell you my approach and then you can ask. I just feel like these guys, we're pretty much going to know who the person's going to be. And I like a lot of these pitchers, but some of them could get traded. Some of them are like Cody Allen. Some of them are like Sean Doolittle and have some really good competition now with Will Harris coming in. Or the guy Doolittle was splitting saves with down the stretch just last year, Daniel Hudson.

I don't really buy Hudson. Like Hudson hasn't been that good. Will Harris is better than Hudson. I mean, that's fine, but you're going. out on kind of like but here's the problem like not to not to be too critical of Frank I I didn't know what other cat what other

like where would you put where would you put Sean Doolittle and the named closer but don't feel good about it he would be near the bottom of the tears for me and and it's reflected in his ADP nobody wants he's underrated I want a lot of Sean Doolittle he's underrated yeah but do you want

do little just because of his price Chris like like it doesn't seem like a lot of people have a lot of faith and do little keeping that role. Yeah. At least solely. I only want closers because of their price, and I only don't want closers because of their price.

I'm not, I don't care that much about how good a closer appears to be. Like I think, like, Liam Hendrix is being viewed as an elite closer because he had one good season where he threw 80-in. It's like that. I'm just not going to pay for that. I'll pay for the guys who are cheaper.

But the one question I do have, why isn't Taylor Rogers in the top tier? He has no job secure. Well, why not? I love Taylor Rogers. I don't think he's going to be a full-time closer. Who's going to take the job from him? They have a lot of closer capable relievers in the bullpen.

That's a very strong bullpen. Sergio Romo, before he got hurt, was taking some saves from Rogers immediately after he was acquired. And, like, Romo is probably the sixth best reliever in that. bullpen. They do have, yeah. There's Tyler Clipper, Tyler Duffy, Trevor May. I mean, Sergei-R-R-R-A had three saves and 27 appearances.

Right. But that's, that's, I'm not exactly sure how that was distributed pre-injury and post-injury. And over the short time he was with them, two months, the backup clothes are getting three saves is a lot. Um, he had a 444 ERA in his last 24 appearances, Taylor Rogers. But I've more or less decided that he's awesome because he's done it two years in a row. I mean, awesome. Oh, he's good.

And I like him. So he's the only left-hander in that bullpen. Yeah, I mean, that's a good point. Trevor May, Tyler Duffy, Tyler Clippard, Zach Lattel. I'm not sure I'm pronouncing that right, but he showed a, he had a great second half. I happen to know how strong the twins bullpen is because in my sim leagues where middle relievers, you know, you have to build a full bullpen basically. I've been targeting a lot of these guys. But I would put Taylor Rogers below even this tier.

Definitely not in the strongest, not even in this very strong butt tier. I would probably put him in the next tier. He's the guy. But even more concerns. Some I would consider for this tier that Frank doesn't have. I assume Adam has them all because he has half the line. League, would be, you know, if we're just talking jobs security, Ken Giles, Hector Nairus.

Oh, yeah. Giles has great job security, but he's going to get traded. That might be it. That might be the only two I add on top of who Frank has. Maybe Liam Hendricks, but just for the reasons Chris brought up earlier that the athletics are constantly changing outclosers, so kind of a team history argument. against him. Yeah, they've had a different saves leader in six straight seasons.

I believe technically it was five different pitchers over six straight seasons. Sean Doolittle was their saves leader twice, but yeah, this is not a team that historically goes out of a season with the same guy they went into the season as the closer.

Yeah, by the way, Sean Doolittle, first 49 appearances, 281 ERA. Next, five appearances. 2250 ERA, five home runs allowed. in five appearances, last nine appearances of the season, 225 ERA, postseason, one walk, eight strikeouts, in 10 and a third, a 174 ERA.

The guy had five bad appearances all year. I'm not saying he's bad. He's just not durable. And if you've already opened the door to playing matchups in the ninth inning, it's easy to fall back into that. Yeah, I just think he lost his job at the bad, at the wrong time.

He struggled at the wrong time of the year, and they couldn't trust him, I guess. but that's why I like him at a discount. Daniel Hudson is someone who they relied on in the postseason. I believe he had four saves to just two for Doolittle in the postseason. He closed out the final game of the World Series in the 6 to 2 win there. And he had some saves down the stretch while Sean Doolittle was hurt. So in that very strong butt tier, I mentioned my top three.

I did have some other names in there. Ken Giles to me is someone who I'm very excited about this year. I mean, there's injury concerns. You worry about, I guess, mental toughness. but just from pure stuff, I mean, ERA, whip, strikeouts last year, Ken Giles was among the best and I don't really see much competition there in Toronto.

And then I also had Liam Hendricks, Kenley Jansen, and Craig Kimbril in the second category, in very strong butt. Where do you guys have Alex Colomey? He just seems to get the job done. Yeah, he's a tweener for me, the second and third tier, because I know Aaron Bummer's name has been brought up a lot

as somebody who could replace him if he's traded. He doesn't miss bats at near the level a closer does. Near the level, even really a good reliever does. And so that's always concerning, but he does have a track record of succeeding in spite of that. Colomé does. And Steve Seishak is there too, and he's had a very good career. Yeah.

He would probably be third tier for me. I'm not sure if people are keeping up with these names of the tiers at home. So I'm just going to say third tier for Colomé. And, but I would probably drop like Kenley Jansen into that tier two, considering it seemed like Dave Roberts had lost a lot of, a lot of faith in him in the postseason. And I know he worked out with drivelin baseball.

This off season was looking better in the preseason. Maybe he takes off again. I don't know. But just the way he's been trending, Kenley Janssen, I think is kind of walking a tightrope right now in terms of being the guy for the Dodgers. and I don't know that there would be a singular guy to replace them if you were to lose that job.

It might be a committee situation. But I don't see Kenley Jansen as somebody who has a great deal of job security right now. Okay, so I'm sorry. I probably could take like five or six of these players and put them in the named closer, but don't feel good about it category. But it just, yeah, I guess.

I guess. I feel like that tier, name closer, but don't feel good about it, should be ahead of no official confirmation, but he's the guy. I'll stop confusing everybody. Go ahead, Frank. What I wanted to do was actually come to like a consensus that we all kind of figure it out together, but I don't know if that's going to happen based on...

We can. We can. Adam having, you know, 15 people in the second tier. It's helpful to talk through it, even if we don't. even if there's not total clarity on where these guys landed within these tiers, I think. It sounds like we've all kind of agreed that, outside of Adam, that Liam Hendricks, Kenley Jansen, and Craig Kimberl should probably be in at least the third tier. He's the guy, but more concerns. Is that fair to say?

It seems like the locks for the second tier, your very strong job security, but they might have a concern. Josh Hater, Chapman, Brad Hand, and Ken Giles were all. in that tier for sure. But it sounds like at least one of us have some kind of concerns over Hendricks, Jansen, and Kimbrose. Yes.

Yeah. And Diaz, right? Because I would put even lower. Where do you have Diaz, Frank? I have him in the third category, but look, if you wanted to make the argument for him in the fourth, I don't have a problem with it. Yeah, I, I, I, like, it, obviously,

so I'm trying to remove where I actually have them ranked among, relief pitchers because that's taking into account upside and all of that. Like Diaz, he could lose his job within the first week, I feel like. If he gives up a couple of home runs that loses the Mets games, he's probably out of there, unless they're just so convinced that his slider is back that they're going to stick it out a little longer. But Seth Lugo seems like a perfectly competent closer. I think he's too valuable.

He has lost his job down the stretch last year. Well, I think he's too valuable, though, Lugo as a multiple-inning guy. So I don't know. Did we ever answer this question, by the way, of why we don't have Josh Hater in the first category? It's because it doesn't seem like the Brewers really want him closing. They were kind of backed into a corner last year because everybody else got hurt. Corey Kenebill's probably going to be back for the start of the season now whenever that is and was a dominant closer back when he was healthy.

So, yeah, I don't think, I don't think Hater's role is totally secure. Okay, I'm on the same page. I just wanted to throw that out there because people might be like, what are you talking about, bro? That's what I'd say, Brian Neville was the main reason for me as well. I mean, last time we saw him, he led the team with saves with 16th back in 2018 and generates a ton of strikeouts. So that's why just the concern of him returning.

And Scott's right. Look, the Brewers like to use Josh Hater in that role where, you know, he can come in the biggest moment, seventh inning, eighth inning. They want to use them for multiple innings. They can do that. But in the third tier, he's the guy, but more concerns. We've had, I'll put Hendricks in that list, Kenley Jansen. Kenley Jansen led the National League in Blone Saves last year with eight. Edwin Diaz had seven of those. I have him in this category. Taylor Rogers. And then also Brandon Workman, Rysselle Iglesias, Hector Nerris, Hansel Robles, and Archie Bradley. Is that too many?

names for the he's the guy but there are even more concerns in this scene. Let's hear him again. The distribution should probably look like a bell curve in this exercise. Like you should expect fewer guys at the top, more guys in the middle and then fewer guys

at the bottom. Yeah. Well, wait, let's hear those names again. I didn't catch all of them. So, Liam Hendricks, Kenley Jansen, Craig Kimbril, Taylor Rogers, Edwin Diaz, Brandon Workman, Reisel Iglesias, Hector Naris, Hansel Robles and Archie Bradley. Those were my, he's the guy,

but we have even more concerns than the tier two guys. I will say that I think Archie Bradley is the one player I'm going to really fight for to be in the second tier. He's been arguably my favorite reliever to draft. I think he is by far the best reliever in that bullpen. He's been streaky in his career. He's had, if you, you know, he's played like three seasons, basically, Bradley.

and if you separate them into half seasons, he's had four good half seasons and two really bad half seasons. So I'm hopeful that he'll just figure it out and be awesome. But I think he'll be able to hold off his competition. I think the Diamondbacks are going to be good. So Bradley is my favorite, and I think he's got some job security, and that's why I've been targeting him.

If we're just looking at full season statistics, though, actually Bradley does not look like a closer caliber reliever. No, a 1437 whip from a closer. That is like, you're not our closer. Okay, but look at his career. I mean, his walk rate went way up last year, but before that it was weird. I mean, 2.6, 2.5 walks per nine.

That's great for a reliever. And then it was 4.5 last year. So I would imagine it comes back down. His strikeout rate was a career. Even looking at 2018, he had a 364. ERA with a 375th. I understand. 2017, he was one of the best relievers in baseball.

2018. That is the outlier. Before the All-Star break, he had a 197 ERA. It's 2018 after the All-Star break, and 2019, before the All-Star break, basically one horrible year of Archie Bradley. But after the All-Star break in 2019, 171. He finished with a 171 ERA, 18 saves in his last 19 chances, one-e-old. 107 whip opponents hit 191.

I remember reading an article about what changed for him and I don't remember what it was, but I would try to find it. But there's nobody there. Who's going to take his job? That's the thing with Bradley. The thing is there was nobody there before and they kept finding excuses not to use RG Bradford. They didn't have lead closers.

He's the best one. Yeah. Yeah, man. Kevin Ginkle. This is a job security question. I don't think we can put a guy who has saved three and 18 games in the last two seasons with a mid-3s ERA

in the second highest tier of job security. Like, you have to be, like, yes, you don't want competition, but you also have to be established as someone that your team trusts as a closure. And you have to be good. And I think he's good. Archie Bradley's that good. I think he's better than his numbers. I think, like, just horrible for that 2018 post-all-star break to 2019 pre-all-star break year.

just awful. Other than that, he's been really good. So I'm hopeful for him. But fine, I'll be on Archie Bradley Island. His swinging strike rate leaves a lot to be desired. Last year, 9.6%, the year before for Archie Bradley, 9%. To put that in perspective,

Ken Giles was around 18% swinging strike rate. So nearly double the swings and misses. So Archie Bradley doesn't really profile in terms of the swings and misses to be an elite closer either. So I had him towards the bottom. of this third tier and I honestly thought about putting him in the fourth tier. Yeah, I'd probably split who you have in the third.

I'd probably put like half of them in the fourth. I don't know if it's worth getting into who exactly. I don't even remember your whole list. Who are the ones that you have the most concerns about? Adam, stop trying to make Arch happen. Well, certainly Archie Bradley. What? I'd have to hear all the names again if we're...

I'll just work backwards. What about Hansel Robles? I feel like his job security is pretty, pretty good. I just don't think he's that good, is my issue with him. That's the thing. And a new manager's coming in who kind of Joe Madden's stance, I'm certainly paraphrasing here, but like he sees no reason to make a change there.

I could certainly see Ron don't giving him a reason to. And you know who's waiting in the wings. Oh, boy, butchery. So yeah, that's, and that's not the only alternative in the Angels. pin. I would put him, I mean, we got seven tiers to work with here. I think I think I would be a little more discerning and probably put Robles lower. Yeah. Okay. Although I think Robles deserves to be higher than Bradley. So why? Is it a lower ERA last year? It's worth remembering throughout this

entire exercise that half at least of opening day closers are going to lose their jobs. So we should probably be less confident in the guys who have the jobs now than I think we often are. I don't think we're that confident at all. I mean, we had two guys in the top tier, maybe three. We had maybe like four that we agreed on in the second tier. So I think, I don't know who you're talking to, Guy, because I don't think we're very confident at all. I mean, these are top 15 closers we're talking about in Scott's rankings, and nobody has any faith in Craig Kimball or like,

Edwin Diaz, we know what the upside is, but my gosh, we're afraid to draft him. I think it's totally reflected in the way we're having this conversation. So we're debating between Tier 3 and Tier 4 right now, and I'm looking at the names of the tiers again. So Tier 5 immediately after this is haven't been named closer, but we're hopeful. So that's very specific. Six is committee or position battle. Seven is I don't really care. So I don't know if those deserve to be three separate tiers,

and maybe that's why I'm struggling to get on the same page as you. But it sounds like tier four is the end of the declared closers. So in that case, maybe Robles does deserve to be in tier three. Yeah, maybe just working backwards quickly because it seems like these are a little bit obvious. Tier five haven't been named closer, but we're hopeful. Though for me, it's Nick Anderson and Giovanni Gallegos. Like those are players that we would love for them to be the closer, but we don't have any confirmation. We're just kind of hoping that skills went out.

In terms of job security, there's none. I mean, they're just, we don't know if they're the closers. So, yeah, I mean, I would throw in Tony Watson for the Giants. I put in that E tier. I put him in the six because I just think with, um, he's not nearly on the skill level of those two. From what I've, I put him in the I don't really care tier.

Yeah, from what I've heard, if he's healthy, he's the closed. And I don't really care. Well, that's, we're talking. curious where you found that because I feel like Gabe Cap' what I've seen from Gabe Capler is basically what he's always said. Just we'll, we'll figure it out. Tony Watson's a lot better than you guys are giving him credit for. Like Adam, Adam, you're singing the praises of Archie freaking Brad. You're seeing the praises of Archie freaking Bradley and you're crapping on Tony Watson.

If Archie Bradley and Tony Watson are both the closers for their respective team, I would think Bradley gets at least 10 more saves than Watson. Provided he keeps the job all year. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. But what it ultimately comes down to for Watson for me is... I'm not confident anybody in San Francisco is going to get more than like 10 saves this year, just because of Gabe Kapler. That's why I don't really care.

That's why I put them in that tier. And like you look at the way things broke down for like the Orioles last year. Not that I expect the Giants to be quite that bad, but I expect them to be bad. Yeah, plus Watson's kind of old, isn't he? He's up there. He's 34. He's going to be 35 by the time the season starts. We also haven't mentioned the Braves closers, right?

No. We have not. No, the Braves and the Rockies are in their name closer, but don't feel good about it, right? Yes, that's where I have both of those guys. Let's just kind of wrap up where Taylor Rogers, third tier. Is that okay? He's the guy but more concerns? Yes.

Edwin Diaz, third or fourth tier? In terms of jobs. Fourth tier, closer, but don't feel good about it, I would say. Okay. So I'll lower him. Brandon Workman. He's the guy, but even more concerns. Okay, so that's 13th.

Ryssel Iglesias. He's the guy, but even more. I don't feel great about Ryssela Glacius, but I think I'm alone in this. Why is that? Why do you worry about Reisel Eglacios so much? He's just so home run prone, and the Reds have,

the Reds backup closer has been, I think the last two years, gotten a surprisingly high save total for a bad closer. I mean, for a backup closer. They don't use a Glacius. 11 appearances of more than one inning last year, which is unusual for a closer.

And he was really bad in non-save situations, and that was 24 and a third innings of non-save situations for Iglesias, which again is pretty high. So that's why I couldn't really give him that job security boost because he struggled last year and they didn't really use him as a conventional closer. Yeah, I like Rice Hilleglacias quite a bit. Three straight seasons of 28 or more saves. Last year seems like the outlier with a 416 ERA,

the three seasons before that he was a 253 ERA or better. And his underlying numbers last year, actually say that he was a little bit unlucky with the home run. So I actually trust Ryssela Iglesias quite a bit this year. And he's been a target of mine because it seems like people have concerns. It's really a two-year trend with the home run spiking for Iglesias. Maybe he did have bad luck. But it's two years where it's been a one and a half per nine, basically.

And you look at the fifth those two years. 416 ERA versus a 392 fifth this past year. Okay. In 2018, it was a 2380 IRA. Oh, look, he's great. but with a 423 FIP, even a worse FIPP than this past year when he wasn't so great. So I don't like the way he's trending there specifically with the long ball. And he's not a great control pitcher either.

Okay. So it seems like our third tier is wrapped up with Hendricks, Kenley Jansen, Craig Kimbril, Taylor Rogers, Brandon Workman, Ryssela Iglesias, Hector Neres. What is the name of this tier? He's the guy, but we have even more concerns. in tier two. Okay. Tier four is this,

these are the closers for their respective teams, but we don't feel good about it. And as of now, based on the players we don't have in tier five and don't have in tier six, that would leave Edwin Diaz,

Hansel Robles, Archie Bradley, Alex Columet, Jose LeClerc, Sean Doolittle, Keonee Keller, Mark Balanson, Joe Jimenez,

Wade Davis, Brandon Kinsler, Ian Kennedy. I want to move some of those guys up. Yep. I mean, I feel great about Keone Kele's job security. Me too. I just think it's pretty clear he's going to get traded.

That's why I had him in the second tier. What's that? So I'll move Keone Keone Kele up to three or you want to move on to two? In terms of just job security, I don't see. Keone Kele is a pretty good pitcher. He's on the Pirates. He's going to be their closer. You know, it would surprise me if he lost that job.

So that's why I had him in tier two. It's just I think he's going to get traded. So I don't know. I don't know what's due about that situation. I would put him in three because he does have health concerns. And there's a trade concern. Yeah. So those both factor in.

Okay. So I think that, I think we're all kind of falling in place here of the tier four name. Robles and Colamine, I think I would move up based on. And Colome, you would move them up to back up to Tier 3. Yeah.

Now having a better understand of how these tiers are names. I worry a little bit more about Colomé just because I think with Cichick there does have some closing experience. The reasons you mentioned, Scott, that Colomé struggles with walks. He doesn't get as many strikeouts. Aaron Bummer was really good at neutralizing both lefties and righties last year. He did a good enough job to earn a contract extension throughout spring training. So me personally, I worry about Colomé a little bit more. I would, I think that, you know, I worry about just the players that are around him and him potentially.

potentially being ineffective. We've seen that happen before when he was with Tampa Bay. Yeah, I think Seashchak is a really good addition to that bullpen and could certainly fill that role, if not Aaron Bummer. Yeah, I, it's just there's enough of a track record there. I mean, there was that one year split between Tampa Bay and Seattle where he functioned as more of a setup man, but did so well. And so even counting that year three,

of the past four years, Colomé's gotten 30 saves plus. His highest ERA during that entire four-year stretch is 324. So skills-wise, if we're just assessing him on skills, I'd say watch out for this guy, but he's defied expectations for so long that I think he's pretty secure in the role. Is Chris okay? I think most people would want Edwin Diaz out of this group just in terms of his upside. so I'll exclude him. And we know Adam likes Archie Bradley,

but between let's go LeClerc, Doolittle, Melanson, Joe Jimenez, Wade Davis, Kinsler, and Ian Kennedy, that group of studs. So I think that Kennedy and Jimenez have the most job security. Kennedy actually has been denied the closer. Like Mike Methini said,

specifically said he's not naming a closer. So Kennedy, technically hasn't been named the closer. I don't know who else it would be, but it's worth pointing out. Mathini has a history with Trevor Rosenthal, and Rosenthal was pitching well in spring training. It's like the ghost of Trevor Rosenthal.

I never thought he would be fantasy relevant again, but it just would not surprise me if he somehow snuck into the closers role because he's like Mike Mathini's, guy. Is Greg Holland there too? Greg Holland as well, yep. That's a guy.

That's a ghost. Closer ghost. I didn't realize how good Kennedy really was because he just had such a high babb. But his ratios, walked a strikeout ratio, was terrific. He had a good year. Unfortunately, pitches for the Royals for who knows how long. Not many wins expected there for the Kansas City Royals this season. So the fourth tier is pretty much wrapped up.

The fifth tier, two specific names, Nick Anderson, Giovanni Gallegos. And then the sixth tier, which is, you know, committee position battles. For me, I had, you know, Baltimore as Hunter Harvey and Michael Givens, Seattle, Matt McGill, Yoshihara, and the Giants, Tony Watson, Trevor Gott, whoever you want to throw in that mix for the Giants. But maybe those are in the I Don't Care category. But is anyone interested in any of the committee relievers here that we have? Yeah, Hunter Harvey a little bit. I mean, more for the strikeouts and hopefully,

really good ERA, but for Baltimore, Hunter Harvey, he only pitched six in a third, but he struck out 11. And they, you know, they did say he has a chance to be the closer. So that's pretty much the only one. He's been a not good pitcher for, like, he's dealt with a lot of injuries, which also is not an argument in his favor. He's been, like, deeply mediocre in the minors. starter, right?

I mean, he had a 432 ERA in AAA and 12 appearances as a reliever last year. So, like, like, he did a decent job with strikeouts and walks, but not incredibly good for someone who's 24 years old and who we think can be a closer. I just, like, it's possible he could be good. I think it's pretty likely he has a 4ERA. That might be enough. Part of the reason I think. things went never went like we thought they would with Baltimore last year,

where Michael Givens couldn't get a hold on that role. And really, that was true from the start of the season, is because kind of like the brewers with Hader, they just really didn't want to confine Michael Givens to that role. And it became easier when he didn't end up having such a great year. But I think Hunter Harvey presents the clearest alternative they've had so far. over the past two years. So he makes me...

It makes me pretty hopeful. I mean, I remember him... I remember loving him as a pitching prospect way back before the injuries started when he was a starting pitcher that was his projected path. So that's probably factoring in here as well. Yeah, we're five years removed

from him being ranked on any prospect list. But look, between AAA and the majors, he had a really good strikeout rate. We're only... We're talking about someone with like our last... That we are just hoping. But I'm saying I don't really care. Yeah, I don't I guess.

That's one of the categories. Okay, that's fair. Yeah. So who would be the one guy between the Giants, Mariners, and Orioles bullpins, who I do care about. I guess Chris is saying Tony Watson would be that guy for him. Yeah, I don't quite get why we'd be interested in Hunter Harvey and not Tony Watson, but I guess I'm alone on that.

I like Tony Watson. I just don't like Gabe Kapler. I have a very frustrating relationship with Gabe Kapler as someone who, has owned Hector Nairus a ton over the past couple of seasons and just seeing the way he's been used and deployed. I remember it was like opening day two years ago where I thought Hector Narris was for sure the closer.

It's like someone else completely different got the first save. I'm like, what are you doing, Gabe Kappler? You're ruining everything. You're ruining all of my Hector Nairus shares. Welcome to Philadelphia. Yes, yeah, yeah, when he was with Philadelphia. But I made a promise that I would try my best and I want to get

to these emails. So I'm going to wrap up the conversation there. And Chris, if it's all right with you, I'll kind of put this all in an article together and, you know, make it easier for people to read in terms of job security for relievers. So I'll make that- That's perfectly all right with me. Okay. Perfectly all right. I am actually. I'm going to announce this on the podcast. I'm taking off because I'm going to go on our good friend Jake Seeley's podcast and talk about video games. So I have to leave early. I apologize. I thought we'd be done by now. Boo. No, that's all right, Chris. Enjoy it. Goodbye, everybody. Goodbye. I love you all.

Bye. Bye, bye, Chris. Bye, bye, questions. Send them in. Fantasy Baseball at cbsi.com. This one comes from Colin. Dear Walker, Jones, and Bird. Greg. Greg.

Greg. Greg, there you go. That's for you, Adam. I play in a 7 by 7 categories league, 12 teams with the two extra categories being K-to-walk percentage and losses for pitching. There are four pitcher spots

and three relief pitcher spots. there has been talk about how the shortened season or lack thereof could boost starting pitchers with limited innings just a tad in my four keeper dynasty league i drafted clevenger gallon lazardo urias boyd heaney alex wood and michael coppec i know i only have one maybe two with gallon and clevenger of scott's top 37 now at top 35 but with side and versatility i thought i could cover strikeouts with the extra starting pitchers and I took good control guys as well to help with whip and walks. Would you approve of this strategy to stack up on offense while getting these guys? My worst projected offensive player is J.D. Davis. So there you go, Scott. He uses your rankings.

Yeah, I would say that it wouldn't be what I'd want to do. So approval, it's, it's not what I would do. However, I think this is the best format to do it in. A head-to-head categories format. And I do think the shortened season and kind of the reduced concerns for pitchers like Luzardo and Arias. And those are the main two I'm looking at in terms of how it benefiting from maybe not having as hard of an innings cap now. I think you targeted precisely the right pitchers to make this work and precisely the right format is how I would put it. But it still would not be my preference.

This next one's from Jake, dear Michael, Sean Chitty, And Jason, I don't know if I said the name right. Cheaty, Chitty. Cheaty is right. Yeah, that's the good place. The Good Place, which I have not watched. Is it good? No pun intended.

It is good. It's very, there's really nothing else like it. But I like all the Mike Shur comedies. And, you know, I wouldn't rank it at the top of that list, but it's, it's interesting. It's a more serialized story. And especially the first two seasons, I think. are well worth watching. What do you guys think about using net stolen bases as a category

rather than just stolen bases? Love it. Love it. Tell us why, Adam. Net stolen base instead of stolen bases, we should be doing that. In fact, in a head-to-head points league, why is a stolen base worth two points, but caught stealing is only minus one?

It makes a lot of sense. It's still going to have... You're still going to have base steelers be propped up, but they should be penalized for when they get caught stealing, man? And it would make it a little bit easier because the net difference between the guys who steal 30 bases or so, it's not going to, when you factor in there caught stealing, it's not going to be as big of a gap. So, you know, it's going to make it a little bit easier, I think, on draft day for steals. But it's just a concept that makes sense to me.

We should penalize people for being caught stealing if we're going to reward them for being successful. Scott, are you in agreement with that on net-soulin basis? I don't have a strong opinion on this one way or another. I do wonder how it would affect the distribution of who is. Because already there's an insane stolen base scarcity, right, that is causing players who we really shouldn't be putting that much faith into. We're having to invest in them like their studs, just because it's so hard to find base dealers.

I'm not sure if this would alleviate that or if this would make it worse. And if it would make it worse, I wouldn't want that. Because I already don't like the way stolen bases are valued in traditional five-by-five. Who do you think lead baseball had caught stealing? Was it Ahmed Rosario? It was. He was tied with Whitmerryfield. And if you had factored in caught stealing,

Whitmerfield would have had a plus 10 in steals. So there's one guy down right there. Ahmed Rzario would have been plus nine. Jonathan V.R. though, would have been plus 31. Malik Smith would have been plus 57. Ronald Acuna would have been plus 26, 28. It would be a fun category. I've actually played in a league like this.

I don't remember. I thought it was the Four of the People League. I thought one of the leagues we did had a net steals instead of just steals. Poor Whitmerfield. This next one from Tony and Indy, dear Dale, Jeff, Richard, and Kyle. Sounds like famous race, like NASCAR drivers, right?

That's where my mind goes. Yeah. We seem to be down on Rugnett Odor. One of the arguments on the show was that he had a good July and September, but what did he do in the middle month of August? Well, in July, he hit 264. In August, he hit 144. In September, he hit 261.

Why are we feeling the exact same way about Miguel Sino? Last year, he had a similar situation, more specifically in batting average. In July, he hit 300. In August, he hit 218. In September, he hit 288. both are 26 and have a similar career batting average, home runs, and RBIs, but Odor provides the steals. Plus, Odor is at a weaker position at second base.

Guys, what I was trying to get into when I told you, Routonet Odor is undervalue. No, I don't see it because Suno has so much more upside. He's got 50 homer upside. And plus, look at Odora's August, 144 with three home runs. Sino's August was 218 with eight home runs. No, that's a big difference. So much better.

I understand 218 batting average in a vacuum is not good, but for a guy who we're expecting a 230 to 240 batting average, of course he's going to have months like that. But to still have eight home runs and for it to be a 200-ish batting average as opposed to 144. And plus, I feel like Rognette O'Dore, his job, like, he's hanging by a threat as far as that job goes. He very nearly lost it to Nick Solek last year and just has no benefit of the doubt anymore. The expectation for him is a 200 batting average and maybe 30 home runs versus Suno who it could be like 230 and 50 home runs. Even year, guys, even year for Rudnett Odores batting average. I'm just telling you, look into it. I think that his upside is 240, 250 with 30 home runs, 10 stolen bases.

I do love Miguel Sineau also. So I'm not going to try and, you know, paint the picture for one, not paint the picture for the other. Because I think Sino can hit 250 with 45, 50 home run. So I agree with, I actually like both of these guys. Obviously, Odor going way later. So in terms of a value, would not take them in a points league. But Roto, if you need a middle infielder, very late, deeper leagues.

I don't have a problem with Odor. This next one from James, hey guys, I've been offered there, Kluber and Michael Kopec for my Lucas Gialito. They also offered the same, but instead of Kopeck, it is Joe Adele. Which one, if any, should I accept? 14-team Roto. The player I would be dropping is Miles Straw. Is this a Dynasty League?

Didn't say anything about Keeper or Dynasty. Just said 14-Team Roto. So Kluber and Michael Kopeck or Joe Adel for his Lucas Gialito. I would probably keep Gialito if it's just me. Yeah, this doesn't sound like a deep enough league that Kopeck is of... I'm counting on him being a difference maker. Like there's a good chance somebody's going to drop him, whether it's you or the guy you trade him to for the flavor of the week,

you know, whenever the season starts when we're waiting for Kopec to come up. So, I mean, I wonder what else is going on because straw is so low end. I can't imagine, I play in a couple 15-team Roto leagues. Yeah, that's why I'm thinking there's got to be. Never seen anybody draft straw.

I would keep Giulia, though. Yeah. Yeah, I think we're all in agreement there. This final one comes from Ed Stevens in Jacksonville. Before the big question wanted to mention how great it is to have, Frank. Oh, well, I thank you, Ed. Because this allows Adam to display his true wit while sparring with Chris and Scott. No more politically correct host, so I guess, what does that say about me?

Now he can truly express his views and not keep peace. Welcome to the podcast, Adam. It's good to be here. fearing the worst, I'm beginning to believe there will be no 2020 season in that instance. Who are the most likely players to call it quits? Just curious from a Keeper League perspective. Would anybody actually retire because this season doesn't happen? I can't imagine that happening.

I've wondered that too. And look, hopefully it doesn't come to pass. Hopefully we have some version of a 2020 season here. But, you know, you obviously have to consider the possibility we won't. Charlie Morton was somebody who was talking about retiring after this season, but it seemed like it was kind of up in the air, and I assume he wouldn't want what he thought was going to be his last season to just not even exist.

I assume it would make players who were thinking about retirement more likely to come back for one more year. But maybe not. Maybe it could be the opposite effect. Maybe they spend a lot more time with their family and realize, hey, this is pretty good. I don't miss baseball that much. and I'll go ahead and hang it up.

I don't know. It's not a question I feel like I can answer with a great amount of certainty. He wrote this email, like last week, before the reports came out of the possibly starting in May. But I told this story on the football podcast. For those of you listening at the hour and six minute mark or whatever,

yeah, I drove by a golf course the other day. Why was I out? I was just dropping something off in a mailbox. So I was social distancing. We don't have to shame you. No, I wouldn't do that. The golf course looked like it was pretty crowded. Saw some people on the course or saw some people in the parking lot.

Parking lot was full of cars. I was pretty pissed off. And I called the golf course this morning to voice my complaint. And then the guy, first I said, hey, I'm just curious like what you're doing, you know, in terms of like safety measures. He's like, what do you mean? I'm like, well, you know, just with social distancing and whatever, it's like, well, we're sanitizing our golf carts. It's only one rider per cart. You got to, you know, we're doing social distancing.

blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, well, listen, I don't really think it's right that you guys are open right now. The rest of us are quarantining and trying to stay alive. And I think it's very selfish. And I told the guy that, he's like, yeah, you know what, it's not a conversation for me. Talk to the county executive. So I did. Call the county executive office. Talk to not him, but someone who worked for him. And I voiced my complaint. And those selfish people are the reason why we might not have baseball this year. Because it's very obvious that what we're doing is working. But I'm really pissed off that not everybody's buying in. This is not the time to be. golfing. It really upset me. And I understand that you could go on a golf course and keep your distance and whatever. But like, no, that you can't, that that is not social distancing. It just isn't. It's not what you should be doing right now. You selfish jerks, especially in New York.

So I am not hopeful that America is going to be able to keep this up because we have too many selfish people out there where freaking kids can't go to school and get their meals, but these people have to go work on their puts. I'm so angry about this. Hope you're not a golfer, Ed Stevens, because you may not like animals dad at him anymore. Don't be a golfer right now. Like, get off the course and keep your ass home.

It's ridiculous. I'm very, very angry about it. Definitely a fair concern. No arguments there for Adam Azer. But we're going to wrap it up for today. For Adam, Scott and Chris, I am Frank tomorrow on the show. We're going to run through some of Scott's favorite targets

at each position in Dynasty leagues, and a little bit of, let's be frank. What does that mean? Well, you'll have to find out tomorrow here on Fantasy Baseball today.