Fantasy Baseball Today - Ronald Acuña's Knee Injury, Matt Chapman to the Giants & LABR Expert Draft Recaps! (3/4 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 4, 2024

Ronald Acuña has irritation in his right meniscus (3:15). Does his value change at all? ... Matt Chapman signed with the Giants (18:27). ... News (21:51): Eury Perez broke his fingernail and David Bednar is dealing with a lat injury. ... Wyatt Langford and Bailey Ober's ADPs are on the rise (28:51)! ... What did we see at the two spring training games we watched (42:50)? ... Chris spent up for Aaron Judge and Tarik Skubal in his AL-only LABR draft (48:45). ... Frank spent up for Freddie Freeman and Logan Webb in NL-only LABR (1:00:12). How did the rest of their teams turn out? Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 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 on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your lead. Well, fantasy! Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Oh boy, what a weekend. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Monday, March 4th.

Frank Stamphill joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, we'll recap our weekend in Clearwater, Florida. We got out to two spring training games and both participated in industry auctions known as Labor, the League of Alternative Baseball Reality and both of us being Chris and myself. Chris was in the AL only and I was in the NL only. We'll break those down a little bit later on

and a bunch of news to talk about. It was an awesome weekend at First Pitch, Florida. Big thanks to those at Baseball H.Q. Brent Hershey and Ray Murphy. They always put on a great event. Always fun to hang out with others in the industry, meet new faces, do live drafts. Also shout out to Steve Gardner for having us in those labor drafts.

Nothing like a live auction. Scott and I spoke about that last week. It is just so, so incredibly fun, especially when you have Ariel Cohen yelling across the room. So always a great time. Also shout out to publics, Chris, because we ate way too many chicken tenders. Incredible. Incredible. Oh, my gosh. I was recapping.

I was talking to my wife and I realized I think I had fried chicken for literally every meal while in Florida. That's probably not great. But, you know, when in Rome? Yeah, my wife texted me on Sunday. She's like, you know, what do you, what do you thinking for dinner? Vegetables. Let's have some vegetables.

We should do that. All right, first and foremost, let's start with this Ronald Acuna news because obviously it's a big one. So we'll go through the timeline first, right? So scratched with knee soreness on Friday, underwent an MRI which showed irritation in the right meniscus. This is in the same knee that Acuna had. on back in 2021. And now Ronald Acuna will fly to Los Angeles to get that knee examined by Dr. Neil Eletrage, the doctor who performed Acuna's ACL surgery a couple of years ago.

What happens now, right? Does the valuation change on Ronald Acuna? So there are two auctions where Acuna was part of the player pool this weekend, these industry expert leagues, whatever you want to call them. He went for $49 in the Labor 12th team mixed auction. He went for $40. in the NL only, which I was in, and maybe Scott's mad at me for not being involved in that. I'm mad at all of you. Like, my goodness. Like, okay, let's say horrible scenario, he misses the season,

and you lose because of that. You know, you're probably going to lose anyway. You know, the odds are against you winning. This is your chance to get by far the best player in fantasy for an amount that, you know, would be reasonable for the distant second best player in fantasy, you know, like in the mixed ones before this issue with Ronald Acuna's knee came up, he was going for over 60. And in fact, actually, the NL only, the CBS in a house NL only rhodo auction, Ronald Ocunia went for 62 and you could have had him for 41. And like that is the more likely scenario based on what we know now, the brave stance on this, you know, they've had their own medical people examine him. And they're the ones who, after the MRI results, they ruled

the irritation and the meniscus. And they still expect him to be ready for opening day. And in fact, Alex Anthopoulos said just today that he's fully expecting him to be in the opening day lineup. And part of the reason he's saying that is because Neil Atroche, it's a trache, not a trash? Al Atroche. El Atroch. Sorry, Neil El Atroch. One man's a trosh is another man's a trash. a trache.

He's already reviewed the MRI results, and he, he, he concurs, but they're sending, you know, they want him to look physically at Acuna anyway and just make extra sure. So, you know, all signs point to this being a not serious issue. Just rest them for a couple weeks and he'll be ready to go on opening day. Fortunately, it's not something I think people are going to be having to rack. their brains over for a long time. I mean, the examination is happening Monday, literally today. It's on West Coast, so it'll probably be later in the day when we hear about it. But if it's something worse, we'll know then, and by the time most people are actually drafting, they can draft

with confidence knowing what to expect from Acuna. The other scenarios that could potentially play out here, Dr. Jesse Morse, on Twitter did a good job of breaking this down. is, okay, let's say it's not just irritation. It's damage to the meniscus, but not so severe that anything surgical is required. Well, then they're going to have to shut him down for longer. Maybe he misses four to six weeks, so he'd return at some point in April, Wittacuna in that scenario. Another scenario, maybe it is actual damage that needs to be cut out,

but we're not talking a full repair of the meniscus. we're just talking trimming it a little bit, then you're still looking at a four to six week timetable. Acuna is probably back at some point in April. The fourth scenario is the really bad one where the damage is so significant that it's more like a four to six month recovery because they actually have to repair the meniscus.

And that means Acuna is missing anywhere from half the season to more likely more and potentially even the full season. And so that would be a disaster and I assume the risk aversion in that draft room that caused Acuna to go for $40 this weekend was in response to that. But that does seem like, I mean, based on what's been multiple doctors reviewing the MRI at this point, that does seem like the least likely of the scenarios. The most likely scenario is no time at all for Acuna. You know, there are a couple other scenarios, again, where he's returning at some point in April,

still probably getting number one overall value from him. And then there's the one horrible scenario where he needs a more significant procedure. And yeah, that would be that would be the disaster. But as things stand right now, I'm disinclined to move down at Kunyani. And hopefully, hopefully we have the full story later today. I do think it is worth noting there's one other scenario that you didn't mention, which is some combination of those first. three. He doesn't need surgery. They do PRP injections, whatever it ends up being. But he's just

not the same guy. That that's the, I think actually probably maybe not the worst case scenario, because a full repair where he misses the entire season, that's the worst case scenario. I think the scenario where Acuna plays, but he just isn't himself in a way that not just like in, 2022 where the hitting wasn't as good as we're used to, but he still, you know, stole what, 29 bases and 130 games like 119 games. Yeah. It was like a 40 steel pace, basically. I would, I would take that. Right. I would take a repeat of 22 at this point, but. Well, I think the other, well, I want to take. I wouldn't. I wouldn't be happy with my first round with my first round, with my number one overall pick being that. But like, I could live with that. You can build your team.

you can make up. I think the worst case scenario is he just, he can't run like he normally does. He steals like 17 bases. He's not right. He's taking days off regularly. Here's why I don't think that's a really realistic scenario. I think that's a less realistic than the scenario than the disaster scenario because that

first year back from a torn ACL, his knee was bothering him all year. He was needing to take a. occasional days for maintenance. And he's still performed at a 40 steel pace. And that was before all the rule changes designed to promote more base stealing, which he more than any other player seemed to relish last year, really seemed to make it a cat and mouse game between him and the pitcher. Obviously, he ended up with 73 steals.

So I do think of those four scenarios I laid out, again, which were not really any damage, just a couple weeks of rest, a little bit of damage, but no surgery required. damage but enough that could be cut out easily enough or damage so bad it needs to be repaired. Of those four scenarios, the second one I think is the one that would still make us a little uneasy, which is there is damage,

but they're not going to intervene with surgery because then he could play with it and decide it's just not good enough and he ends up needing to have something done to it. But that's the only one. Like if it's not really any damage, it's just flared up. Okay, he'll be fine by opening day. And if it's damage that's been cut away, I mean, the whole point of that surgery is to get him back to feeling comfortable. He would be playing without pain at that point in theory.

And so I don't think that would be a lingering concern either. Of course, I can't predict the future. I mean, you're talking about how somebody's responding to somebody. to something going on in his body, and that's very person-to-person kind of deal. But the only scenario where I see moving him out of the number one spot is the fourth scenario where he's missing. A full repair.

I agree with that. And if it's the first scenario, if it's what the Braves are saying, just irritation still ready for opening day, no real damage. And again, Dr. Neil L.itrage has concurred just looking at the MRI results. then I don't see much reason to even adjust down his salary cab value where I have him going $15 to $20 more than everybody else.

If it's the second or third scenario where he's missing part of April, I'm probably thinking more like $50 range for a CUNYA rather than the $60 range. But that would be the extent of the change. I would still keep him in the number one spot. All right, we got to keep things moving here. Just want to quickly wrap things up with Ronald Lucuna. There were 12 NFBC drafts on Saturday and Sunday after this. news was announced and Acuna's ADP was 1.17.

So he typically was the first overall player. There was at least one draft where he went third overall. I don't think that's going to be the case. Like these guys said, they're not moving them down yet. Let's wait and see what the news looks like here on Ronald Acuna. If he does miss any time, Michael Harris was leading off on Sunday, and I think that's probably what would happen again if Acuna does miss any time in the regular season. Let's quickly promote a few things.

The FBT newsletter, CBSports.com, slash newsletters. If you're watching us on YouTube, you can scan that QR code. It'll take you right to the website. You click on that at BT logo, punch in your email address. It's easy as that. Chris, what do you have coming out on the newsletter on Monday? Well, we're going to be talking about the Ronucon. Cunia, Andrea. Obviously, Scott wrote about it for the site. I'll be linking to that with some of my own thoughts. And I'm also talking about the players who aren't first rounders this year or second rounders, but who could be first rounders next year. And it's inspired by a lot of the hype that I've seen around Wyatt Langford over the past couple of days. He's had some really big

performances in the spring. And I've seen a couple people say, this might be your last chance to draft Wyatt Langford outside of the first round. I think it's unlikely he ends up in the first round next year. But I decided to do the exercise. So I've picked 12 players who have varying degrees of possibility to be first round caliber players in 2024 and be drafted that way in 2025. And it's time for our podcast listener leagues. There are two leagues. First, a 12 team head-to-head points league. The draft will be Tuesday, March 19th. And then the other is the for the people league, which is a 16 team weekly head-to-head categories league. The draft will be on Tuesday, March 26th. How can you be picked for these leagues? You need to email us, something

and creative, a song, a Photoshop, a poem, a haiku, a music video. I don't know, have fun with it. Or just let us know why you deserve to be in the league. I will choose a couple of people where maybe you don't have the creative juices or the capabilities to make something. And again, I will choose a few of those people to be in these leagues and we'll play them out together this upcoming season. You can email your submission to Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com.

That's the letter I. write FBT Listener League as the subject of the email and make sure to let us know which league you want to be in. You have to be available for the days that I mentioned. And I want to make one clear call. Okay. If you send in a song parody and it is in my vocal range, I will make sure Frank picks you and I will record the song parody.

Let's do it. Wow. So let's see what you guys are capable of. okay now now everybody's going to do that and you're not going to be able to do them all no i'm i'm just picking the the one that the one touches my heart most so that's not the way you put it just now so i just right no i'm saying clarity in terms i will pick my favorite one that is within my vocal range but you might have some competition so a lot yes there will be lots of submissions, I can guarantee you that.

Again, send them in fantasy baseball at cvysi.com. The head-to-head points league. The draft is Tuesday, March 19th. The For the People League, 16-team head-tad categories. The draft will be Tuesday, March 26th. I will announce the winners on Monday, March 18th. So you have exactly two weeks to get those submissions in, and I've got a lot of work ahead of myself looking through all those.

Let's take our first break when we return. The rest of the news from the weekend, we've got to pick it up. Let's do it right after this. Welcome back in. Let's talk about the rest of the news from the weekend. The Giants signed Matt Chapman to a one-year, $18 million contract with player options for 2025, 2025, and 277. Last year hit 240 with 17 home runs and a 755 OPS in 140 games. He ranked 98th percentile in both average exit velocity and barrel rate, yet he hit just 17 home runs. Why?

The pull rate was down. He needs to pull the ball more. That's what we need out of Matt. Chapman, he hit 27 home runs in each of 2021 and 2022. I think he has the talent to get back to that level. San Francisco, obviously not the greatest place to hit. Chris, your thoughts, Matt Chapman to the Giants. Uh, um, I think it's pretty close to a worst case scenario landing spot for him.

If he doesn't fix his swing. Oh yeah. Because Matt Chapman, when he hits for power and he didn't do very much of it last season, but when he did, a lot of it was to the power alleys, especially out to right center. And this is the worst park in baseball for that. So he's got to fix his swing. And the thing about Matt Chapman is, when he's right, he has the raw power to play up anywhere. I mean, you're looking at max or average ex veloes of 92 miles per hour or better in five of the past six seasons. So if he's optimizing his launch angle and he's optimizing his spray angle and he's, you know, hitting the ball to the

pull side, Matt Chapman can be a 30 homer hitter in any park. But the skill set that he showed last year and the skill set that skill set that he showed the last three years in particular, this is the worst possible place for him to play. If he doesn't fix it now, that being said, the giants over the past couple of seasons under this new regime have, you know, been on the the cutting edge of swing changes. And they've done this weird thing where they platoon players, not just based on left versus right, but based on how their specific swing matches up to the pitcher that they're facing.

And so, you know, this is a fairly smart organization who might be able to get the most out of Matt Chapman, but it's it's the worst possible home park for his skill set. really almost any hitter. It's a really hard place to hit. And, I mean, we've talked about how a spray angle limits his power production, despite having Primo exit velocities, Matt Chapman. You know, even if he gets back to being the 25 homer guy he was in 21 and 22,

it's actually 27 home runs in both seasons, but you get what I'm saying. Even if he gets back to that, his batting average over the last three years is 226. Yep. So I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm not thinking there's much to salvage here with Matt Chapman at this point beyond just like a low end corner infield option of fantasy. I kind of feel like he is who he is. A cheap 25 homers potentially, but there are downsides even to that.

Yeah, and that's exactly where he's being drafted. The ADP is 297.8, so that is the range of a draft where if you're playing in a roto league, you're probably going to wind up with Matt Chapman as a corner infielder if you choose to wait on some power. Yuri Perez was removed from Saturday start due to a broken nail on his right middle finger afterwards he said he was fine and that it shouldn't be an issue moving forward Are you kidding me?

David Bednar is dealing with right lat soreness and is now being monitored by the training staff Why do I care so much? Well, I paid $20 for him in NL labor this weekend I read it on the plane and I, you know, just, you serious man? You paid half of what a coon you went for. For a one category specialist, Frank.

That's completely untrue because actually in a league this deep, his ERA and strikeout contributions actually matter a lot, Scott. Don't you knock my David Bednarre. I understand it, and he's in L&A on Lonely leagues. You have stretches where you have to start middle relievers just because there aren't enough starting pitchers to go around. But that's not the ideal, right? It's not.

Yeah, it's not. And I'll talk about that. I'll talk about Y a little bit later on. But I did not get a roll of Chapman. It's something to monitor, obviously, with David Beddard. Do you guys plan to move him down at all? Because, I mean, lat soreness? I mean...

It doesn't sound great. No, but unless they're really calling his opening day status into question, you know, we're still a month away. And if it's just mild soreness, he's a reliever, obviously. It's not like he has a big buildup to follow him. I might move him down a smidge, but not like bare. marrying him or anything. The

maybe second or third tier, I don't know how you define where Bednar is, second tier relievers. They're separated by a fairly slim margins.

So like, I could move Jordan or David Bednar down seven spots in my relief pitcher rankings and it's only like 30 spots in the old. Yeah.

So. But behind like the Paul C. Wald's in and yeah, like I, looking at it, I think I'd probably at knowing

what we know now, which is that he's just dealing with Latsornis, if I was drafting today, I think I'd rather have Andres Munoz, Alexis Diaz, and Paul Seawald than him. Where it gets trickier is with Ryan Helsley and Pete Fairbanks who are currently healthy. They have that on David Bednar, but obviously

remaining healthy has been a significant concern for both of them. So that's the range that I'm struggling with a little bit more. I think they're healthy Ryan Helsley and Peter Fambanks are better pitchers than David Bednar, but he's really good in his own right. So I think I'm going to drop him to 13

at relief pitcher, but I think it comes out to about an 18 spot drop in my overall rankings. Josh Young has resumed baseball activities. He suffered a left calf strain back in mid-February, so some encouraging news for him. Encouraging news for Nelvi Marte, who made his spring debut on Saturday. He's been working his way back from a hamstring injury he suffered while playing in the Dominican Winter League. Alec Manoa is dealing with right shoulder Soreness and he underwent an MRI that did not reveal any structural damage. And normally this would be good news for whoever's the replacement, right? All of those players are also dealing with injuries.

So Yariol Rodriguez is dealing with a back issue. Ricky Teeteman, who's one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball, is dealing with a hamstring as well. But if one of those guys kind of makes it back, they could have a leg up on this fifth starter competition. So I think especially with Ricky Teetamon, if we see him get into spring, game soon. He might have a real shot to be the fifth starter for the Toronto Blue Jays. And he's been facing live batters for the last like four or five days. So I think he's probably

pretty close to getting into real games. Yeah, it could happen. Tiedman that is. Yep. Von Gristam is in jeopardy of missing opening day due to a groin strain and I wrote him up in Sleepers 1.0. I still like him as a sleeper. I think you'd have to drop them down a little bit now. And you could probably draft him with one of your last picks in a draft. But he's someone that, I would look to take and probably going to have to stash on your IL. That's what it sounds like. Von Grissom is going to start the year. My concern with Von Grissom,

and I could have had him here in TGFBI at a nice discount as somebody who went pretty light on middle infield especially. And I was liking the dual eligibility potential there, obviously shortstop from last year, second base this year, eventually for Von Grissom. But I don't know, you know, he kind of had to win the second base job this spring. It's not like I mean, they were

expecting him to win it, but he did actually have to go through and win it. And so I don't know that when he's healthy, he's just automatically like, okay, here's second base. I'm worried it might be a longer wait than that for Von Grissom now that he's being held up by this groin issue. And in a league without

I al spots, I decided to pass him up. Alex Cobb, who's working his way back from offseason hip surgery, is due back quote, relatively soon into the season, and the Giants need it because they've had a lot of injuries to the back end of their pitching staff. Cobb, I think, is a decent late-round stash for those who play in leagues with IL spots. Nick Ladolo will visit a specialist on Monday to undergo additional testing on his left tibia. Pretty bad news since that's the same

injury he dealt with last year and still dealing with it here, you know, five, six months later starting up the next season. So not great for Nicolodolo. concern, but it was weird because he also was like they announced that on, I think it's Saturday, they said he's going to go see a specialist. They also announced that he was going to throw a bullpen session or BP one of those on Sunday. So it didn't sound like they were too concerned, even though I think the quote was something like, you know, he's not bouncing back the way we hoped or something like that. So I don't know. I'm not sure exactly how to feel about it.

I think they're really trying hard to tow the line right now with Lodolo, where there were quotes earlier in spring that say, he's throwing, but he doesn't feel 100%, which is just a weird thing to hear. He's pain free, but he's not 100%. Yeah, like, but he threw a bullpen session on Sunday.

So weird. Maybe it's just a scenario where he goes, gets checked out on Monday, and they're like, okay, you're all clear. You know, maybe that's what we're dealing with. And I still think, you know, obviously there's a ton of talent there. So keeping them on my late round draft.

Actually, I do think I saw that. Now that you say that, Chris, I do think. Like, they're saying he might still be on the opening day roster. Right. I think it's just he's going to see a specialist to get the all clear. Hopefully. Let me check my notes here. If he's not ready to go, by the way, it sounds like Nick Martinez would be the fifth starter

in the Reds rotation, joining Hunter Green, Graham Ashcraft, Frankie Montas, and Andrew Abbott. anything, Scott, or we keep moving? You can keep going. I'll follow up in a minute. All right, some notable performances from the weekend. Chris, you mentioned Wyatt Langford, what he's been up to. He crushed a homer on Friday and then hit two more home runs on Saturday. There were 19 NFBC drafts this weekend.

Langford's ADP, 116.4, the 29th outfielder off the board, going just ahead of George Springer, Evan Carter, and Jackson Cheerio. So Chris, eerily similar timing last year, Jordan Walker had his multi-home run game in spring, shot up draft boards. It feels like the same exact thing is happening for White Langford. I think we're going to see Wyatt Langford, Jackson Cherio, and Evan Carter. I think they're going to be top 100 picks by the time we get to the last couple of weeks of drafts. And Jackson Holiday may get there too if it really looks like he's going to break camp with the team.

And I did this research about a month ago probably, maybe a little less. And I can't remember if we talked about it on the podcast, but over the past 10 years, there have been, I think, 10 rookie top prospects who were drafted inside the top 180P. Between 50 and 100 specifically, they have averaged $18.4 in value as rookies.

and all but one of them, Vladimir Guerrera, the highest drafted of them, returned double digit dollars in value. The average player picked between 50 and 100, returned $7.3. So this has kind of changed how I view these high-end prospects where once the industry coalesces on them as like legitimate top 100 type fantasy picks,

recent history at least suggests that those are very, very good bets to be making in your draft. So I'm definitely going to make sure I have Lankford, Churio, and Carter and Holiday on at least one team. And I think I have a couple of them on one already. So yeah. So you're good with it. You agree with the move with the rise. I think so. Yeah.

All right. Scott. On Langford, I'm still guessing he doesn't make the team just because I don't think they have a spot for him. They have the DH bot. And maybe they could rotate their outfielders through that enough that they feel like he's continuing his development defensively.

But they wouldn't want to confine Wyatt Langford to DH because obviously that stunts his development. And apparently he still has some work to do defensively. I don't know. I can't speak to that myself, but that is what the reports have said. I think the bigger thing that I'll be watching is, one,

you mentioned Josh Young, I think earlier, right? He's been cleared to begin baseball activities. If he's ready to play the field without limitations by opening day, I think that definitely helps White Langford's chances. And then we'll see Corey Seeger.

Yep. Because if he's ready to hit, but not ready to play the field, and I don't know if that's a likely outcome, but that's one thing that I'm worrying about is if he can get back as a hitter but isn't ready to play in the field every day, maybe they keep the DH spot just for him for a couple of weeks. And that could push Langford down. So there are a lot of moving parts there.

And, you know, maybe 120 is the right spot for Langford. Given that uncertainty, he was so dominant last season at every level getting to AAA. I can't imagine it's going to take too long either way. probably not but but yeah it's it's because they have three outfielders who they want in the outfield every day right they just they don't have anybody flaky out there

and that's what's that's what makes it difficult I mean there might like I'm always prioritizing Jackson Chorio over White Langford because I feel like his chances of winning the job are clearer and so you know

it's kind of like they go in the same range. And if you're going to take one, you're not going to take the other. So I'm sticking with that for now. But, you know, we've got three more weeks of spring training left and we'll see how things play out

and if it changes my mind. How do you rank them right now? Evan Carter, Churio, Langford. Oh, I have Churio, and I think Langford both ahead of Carter. Yeah. So Carter's third for me, even though he's, you know,

gotten time in the majors before and he has a job. He doesn't have to go out. there and win a job. But I just have, I'm not as certain what his upside is if it's decidedly second tier upside or if he has superstar potential the way I think both

Chorrio and Langford do. Some more prospect love want to point out Orioles outfielder Colton Couser launched another home run on Sunday. He now has three homers this spring, two coming off of a lefty as a left-handed bat. So really like to see that from Colton Couser. where to see fit into the equation.

I mean, I know Ryan O'Hern was good last year, but like, do we need to do the Ryan O'Hern thing? I don't know. They're going to do with the Ryan O'Hern thing. They probably are. So it's frustrating.

But Colton Couser is like the definition of post-hype sleeper. It's kind of messed up that the Orioles traded for Corbyn Burns and didn't clear up any of the log jams that they have. Yeah, that is. Yeah. Only Joey Ortiz.

We were thinking maybe Heston Kirstad, but no. I mean, Heston Kirstad is part of this same logjam that impacts Colton Kouser. I mean, again, the issue there is there's not really an opening in the outfield for the Orioles. And so they

do, they are having an battle for an outfield bench bat. Kyle Stowers has three home runs this spring to. Remember, he made the opening day roster last year. And I would think he'd have the leg up over Kouser just because I mean, Kouser,

You want him getting regular bats, and there may not be an opportunity with the big club for that right now. But he's certainly making his case this spring. Just trade Ryan Mountcastle to a park where he can actually hit. Yeah, that'd be great. Then that solves multiple problems. I keep bringing up the White Sox, but that probably doesn't make sense because they have Andrew Vaughn and Eloy Jimenez.

So I don't think that's going to happen. A couple other prospects want to mention Giants outfielder Luis Matos hit two home runs on Friday. He's up to three home runs so far this spring. And he's another kind of post-hyped guy. I feel like people are sleeping on for very deep leagues. I think, you know, 15-team mixed with five outfielders and only leagues. And Nationals' Outfield prospect, one of the top prospects in the game, James Wood

continues to hit well. He stole a base over the weekend. He's eight for 16. He's got three homers. He's only 21 years old. Has not played above AA. Look, he's not going to be up on opening day, Scott. But like, this is a guy that needs to be on our radar because if for some reason,

James Wood is called up mid-season, he could have a huge impact for fantasy. Yeah, though, as we were talking about last week, for non-contenders especially, there's not much incentive to promote prospects before September, really late August, technically. The time when Mason Win came up last year because you want to preserve their rookie status

for the following year to have a shot at draft picks, yada, yada. But yeah, James Woods look great. I mean, massive power potential, very fast for a big guy. It's just, can he keep the strikeouts under control? And he's had a very disciplined start to spring training.

And I saw like someone was trying to push the brakes and say, well, baseball reference has a average quality of competition thing on their site for spring training. And his average quality of competition has been like double A. Well, you would hope that a guy who's on the cusp of getting promoted to the majors, like James Wood is, would dominate AA level competition,

especially after spending last season at AA. So, yeah, I don't think you should take it as, hey, James Wood's going to make the team out of training care, spring training and be a superstar. But this is absolutely where you want him to be on his development curve to potentially make an impact in the second half of the season. I do want to mention some pitching performances from the weekend. Bailey Ober struck out seven over three innings on Saturday.

His fastball was up 2.3 miles per hour compared to last year. He threw a new cutter seven times, and there's been lots of talk this weekend that Bailey Ober could be this year's big riser in ADP, like a Jurassic Santa Jeffrey Springs. Those guys jumped multiple rounds as we got closer to real drafts at the end of March last year. Some people think Bailey Oberg could do that this year. J.P. Sears for the Oakland A's threw three shutout innings with seven strikeouts on Sunday. He has integrated a new sinker and has been working on improving his sweeper. really just a late round option for now, but I think there could be something

it's a good ballpark to pitch in, if nothing else. And the Tigers pitchers, all of their velocities remain up. Matt Manning through three innings with four strikeouts. His velocity was of two plus miles per hour on all of his pitches. Casey Mize threw two more innings on Sunday. His velocity, fastball was

95.4 miles per hour. It was 93.9 back in 2021. Chris, any thoughts on, there's a lot here. Ober, J.P. Sears, the Tigers pitchers. Yeah, Ober. I think his value is definitely going to rise as a result of this. And the thing that's tough is, you know, we talk about him as like a safe pitcher, but maybe one who doesn't have a ton of upside.

Well, if he's throwing 2.3 miles per hour harder, he's already, I think has the, the furthest extension of any pitcher in terms of how far he releases the ball from home plate. He releases it closer to home plate, I believe, than any other pitcher in baseball. And if he's all of a sudden throwing 93, 94, instead of 991, that that, that, that might be there might be a path to some upside. Now you mentioned Springs and Rasserson. And when you see a guy get, you know, two and a half miles an hour added to their fastball, I think the obvious question is can they do that in a way that's sustainable without getting hurt? And then that's always a concern. But yeah, I think Bailey Ober probably is going to get pushed towards the top 100.

I don't know if I'd go inside the top 100 for him, but he's going to be in that discussion for sure. So fastball, this is the average for Ober. His average fastball velocity was up over two miles per hour. Yes, compared to last year. Yeah, I read a story on the Twins official website saying he peaked at 94.8 in that start, but he also peaked at 94.1 and 94.2 last spring. and still ended up averaging closer to 91 during the regular season. So he was trying that the Twins Beat writer was trying to temper down expectations a little bit based on the velocity readings for Oper.

But he was talking in terms of peak velocities, not average. So that might make a difference. And then Matt Manning and Casey Myers, I mean, those were, I could be wrong, Scott. You can correct me if I'm wrong. but I think they were considered better prospects than Terrick Scouble when they were all the all three of them were coming up. I mean, Mize was the number one pick in the draft. So it's interesting.

Scoopal, like Mize and Manning were huge prospects the day they were drafted and Scoople kind of developed into one after that. So he wasn't a big prospect for as long. But they were considered like one of those vaunted pitching prospect trias that various organizations have had over the years. Yeah. All right.

Well, let's take our final break. When we return, we will talk about the weekend down in Florida, the spring games that we went to and talk about each of our drafts. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in. Let's talk about the spring training games that we went to when we were down in Florida this weekend. Obviously, there's not much you could take away from one game.

But we did go to the Marlins and Phillies game on Friday. We saw Aranola get hit incredibly hard. He gave up seven hits. four earned runs, nine hard hits allowed in that game. The average exit velocity against was 94.6 miles per hour, and his fastball velocity was down nearly two miles per hour. So as somebody who was already off Aranola, I wrote him up in Bus 1.0,

kind of feel a little validated, but it's only one start, of course. So he did not look great. And Chris, your boy, you were hyped about Griff McGarry. He's a... I love having a boy. Pitching prospect for the Phillies, who has struggled mightily with control. He struck out the side in the game that we saw.

So that was pretty fun. Yeah, I think he's a bullpen sleeper for them who could really play up in a relief role. So that was fun to see. Nola, I'm not concerned about. We're talking about a, what, 32-year-old who's pitched a thousand plus innings in the majors. I don't think he really cares about the results in spring training. So I'm not going to worry too much about it now. Did I have a chance to share the explanation for what went wrong with Arenola last year?

that the film yeah you talked about it I'm not sure if I did on the podcast or not but basically it had to do with the pitch clock and he was looking at the pitch clock to his right instead of to his left and it was causing him to turn his shoulder in which was causing him to leave pitches over the fat part of the plate

and once he fixed that that's when he went on a run at the end of the season and into the playoffs so hopefully hopefully he can continue with that and yeah this is probably just a build-up blip, I would say, which are pretty common during spring training,

especially from pitches as established as him. Chris, if you really like Griff Magari that much, he's available in the minor league draft in the Scott White Dynasty League because I didn't keep him. I had Griff McGarry on my team at one point. I know, you could have him again. Like three years ago, so I might have to take him in round five or whatever. I traded Kenley Jansen for him last year

because I was out of contention. And I wish I hadn't done that because I didn't end up keeping him. On Saturday we saw the Blue Jays take on the Braves and Ronaldo Lopez looked pretty good. His velocity is down this spring compared to last year. But I think that's probably a result of him starting now. So he threw three shutout innings with three strikeouts. He averaged nearly 96 miles per hour on the fastball. Last year that was 98.2.

Obviously it's a lot easier to just empty the tank when you're throwing one inning at a time versus, you know, 3, 4, 5, 6. that kind of like, Rinaldo Lopez has never really been all that good, except when he was averaging 98 miles per hour with his fastball as a reliever. So like, I don't know. My, my sleeper case for Rinaldo Lopez was maybe he can take what he did in the bullpen

and transition it to a starting role. And if he's averaging 95.7 with his fastball, and obviously it's one spring start. Maybe he gets up to 97, you know, by the time the spring ends and it's a little closer. But I would say, this version of Rinaldo Lopez

is probably not that dissimilar from the one who wasn't a very good starter for a long time for the White Sox So my sleeper interest in him is definitely lower seeing these velocity readings. I will say though that if we're just talking

will he win the job or not Rinaldo Lopez his main competition, Bryce Elder, who was an all star last year you may remember but terrible in the second half Yeah, he hasn't had a good outing yet this spring.

So I would think, if it's going to be at all results-based this decision, Rinaldo Lopez has a clear advantage. As I know at least one Braves beat writer thought going in. And it's, I think Renel Lopez is only really interesting as a SPARP anyway. So like, yeah, I think he saw him. I'm stacking him. Yeah. If he has a 4ERA and almost a strikeout per inning, he'll have value.

Exactly. I know AJ Smith-Shawver's velocity is up this spring, but the results haven't been there yet. So he's another name to just pay attention to in that fifth starter battle. We also got to see Braves' first round pick from last year, Hurston Waldrop, who I'm sure people have heard

if you play in Dynasty Leagues at this point. Obviously, he's going to be a top pick in first year player drafts. He was as advertised. He throws hard with a nasty splitter, has some violent mechanics. He only threw half of his pitches for strikes. Again, this was, I think, two innings of work.

So it was a small sample. The people that we were with who are very much like into deep pitching analytics, we're kind of scared about Hurston Waldrop. So that was the funniest thing to me was like being at the game with a bunch of baseball nerds. And we're all talking and like everybody's excited to see Hurston Waldrop pitch. And then he goes out there. He throws like 34 pitches and 17 of them are balls and 17 of those strikes.

And he's got this like violent head jerk as he's throwing. And everyone was kind of like, well, that was fun. but there are real red flags. And I log on Twitter in the car on the way back from the game. And it's just every single post is, did you see Hurston Wallstrip Splitter? And it was like, yeah, it looks like a really good splitter. He didn't actually catch that well.

It was just kind of a microcosm of the baseball Twitter jiffification of pitching analysis. But also, if you're analyzing anybody based on an inning or was it too many. Two innings. I mean, two innings is a lot more than one inning. It's twice as much. I've often said maybe not often enough, but I've sometimes said baseball is a sport best analyzed from a 30,000 foot view.

Because when you start looking that closely at individual performances, yeah, it's obviously going to skew your perception of things. All right, well, let's get into our labor drafts. We have like 15 minutes left to talk about two drafts. So that's obviously not ideal. deal, but we'll talk about Chris's draft first. He was in the AL-only labor draft,

and I'm going to pull up the draft board for those watching on YouTube. It might be a little tough to see because there's lots of names and lots of numbers here, auction values, all that stuff. And I will say this, Scott had an influence on both of our teams. You'll see why in just a second. First and foremost, this is a unique lineup setting. You cannot remove a player from your starting lineup unless they go on the IL or sent to the minors, or you drop them.

So those are the only ways you can get somebody out of your lineup. So the team that you draft, they're pretty much just staying there unless you drop a player and guess what? There's not really much on a waiver wire in an AL or NL only league.

So that kind of makes this format unique. And Chris, looking at your team, the hitter pitcher split you wound up with, I don't know if you plan on this, but on the nose, $180 on hitting, $80 on pitching, a 6931% split. Was that part of the plan?

No, I mean, we've talked about this a lot. Compared to you two, especially, I don't go into the draft with a plan. Like, I have my values and I know who I like and who I don't like, but I tend to not worry about the particulars of it so much because the thing about a salary cap slash auction draft is so much of it is about the psychology of how you're drafting. And I know myself and I know that if I have a plan, I tend to try to follow it too stridently. And I think you can go sideways that way. And I also know about myself that if someone does the last second going going up, it drives me crazy. And I will immediately rebid. And so like you have to, and I'm offering that as an anecdote to.

to say that you have to know your weaknesses and strengths when you're going into an auction and what you do and don't do well. And so, no, I don't ever go in and say, I want 30% of my budget to be starting pitcher. Like, that's not how I, that's not how I operate. Let's talk about some of the big names that you spend up for, spends up for. You had five with 20 plus dollars. And Aaron Judge for 39, that was the prized possession here. Riley Green, obviously, for the brand, $21. Jaron Duran for 20.

Feels like you're kind of the Jaron Duran guy this year as well. Terrick Scoobel, that's part of the Scott, White Effect, I think, here. $23 for Scoobel and then $20 for Zach Eflin. So that pretty much makes up the core of your team. And for those who don't play in AL or NL only when I read off this team, you're going to think, wow, that is a terrible team. But, I mean, this format goes pretty deep. So just keep that of mind.

Just for some context for me, this is my first month. league, I think in three seasons. It just had been too much to try to keep up with an AL or NL only league while I was also doing football. So now that I'm not doing football anymore, I was willing to dive back in. So it was also my first in person salary cap draft in, I don't know, pre-pandemic probably. So those were two factors that definitely were on my mind as I was going in. But all in all, I'm actually thrilled with how.

my team came together. I don't know if it's the favorite to win the championship, but I'm really happy with the squad that I have. Well, let's read off some of that squad, and we'll first take a look at the hitters. You had at catcher. Yes, we start two catchers in an AL or an only league, which is kind of crazy.

But Christian Vasquez for three bucks. You got Freddie Fermin for $1.1. You got Thai France for 11, Davis Schneider for six. Jackson Holiday for 15. Chast to Scott? Yeah, Jackson Holiday for 15. Yoam Moncada for 11. Brian Rokio is your middle infielder for $5 as your corner.

And then the outfield is pretty stacked. Aaron, Judge, for 39, Riley Green for 21. Jaron Duran for 20. Lioti Tavares for 14. Max Kepler for 13. Absolutely love the outfield. And then you have Eloy Jimenez for $15. And Scott, you can kind of see some of the scottification here.

I know you love Jackson Holiday, the Davis Schneider. And when we get to the pitchers, you'll see one to Eric Fetty for five bucks as well. Yeah, some players that I was not able to get in my own AL only. I want to see what Jackson Holiday went for in mine. He went relatively early and I got him for 15. I was really happy with that because like you look at somebody like Luis Renhifa, I think was 16 and he went later. He was kind of the last like player in his tier. So I was really happy to get holiday for 15. I think I was hoping to get him for about 15 and he went for 19 so it was you know I got priced out there one thing I wonder about here is power obviously judge he's healthy he's going to provide a lot and he was your your

big purchase there at 39 dollars eloy Jimenez should provide it you know 25 at least if he's healthy big if there but apart from those two I don't see somebody who I feel like I can pencil in for even 20 homers. I'm viewing Kepler as a 25 homer guy at least. I think so. But that's kind of, I'm kind of higher on him for sure than most people are. And then the one other one that I was really trying to figure out, and maybe this would have worked out better,

but I was down to, I think, my last three roster spots. I had like $12 left. And I knew I wanted either Brian Rochia for my middle infielder spot, Guardians shortstop prospect, or Jake Rogers from the Tigers catcher who hit 21 homers last season.

And I think Rogers ended up getting to seven or six, and I passed on pushing him to seven because I wanted Rochio. I ended up getting Rochio for six. I guess you could look at it and say, would it be better with Jake Rogers instead of Freddie Fermin and, you know,

having a bit more power projection. I mean, I like Fermine more than Rogers in a vacuum if we're not drafting for need. So there you go. I think he's going to play a lot. He played a lot last year as they begin to face Salvador Perez out of a full-time catcher role in Kansas City. Yeah, I don't know. That would be my biggest concern probably is power there. Yeah, no, I think that's fair.

Yeah. On the pitching side, Chris, you got Terrick Scuble for 23, as we mentioned, Zach Eflin for 20. So again, seeing that's kind of in your strategy in Mixed Leaks to get those two aces and then kind of, I guess, wait a little bit and then pick up some upside later. And I've got them both as top 10 starters in AL only. I don't know about you guys, but that's where they both. Oh, yeah.

No, that's a good top two. That's what's my top two? I'll look into that. You got Carlos Estevez for $6, which I thought was a great buy. I mean, there were other kind of like these fringe closers going for $10, $12, $14. So I know we have questions about Estevez, but like Robert Stevenson isn't healthy right now. I thought Stevenson for six was great. You got Jason Adam for $8 who Fairbanks does have an injury history.

And even if he's not getting saved, he's going to give you good ratios and strikeouts as well. You got Logan Allen for five, Eric Fetty for five, Chris Paddock for four, Cole Irvin for three, Tyler Wells for three. So you got those aces up top and then you did take some upside shots later on. Yeah. And I think the Orioles rotation is a great place to shop in an only, an AL only league because, you know, like, I don't think Cole Irvin, even with this velocity jump in spring training. I don't think he's likely to be a great pitcher. But like, we saw a 4.0 ERA and a 1.15 whip from him in 2021, I believe, or 2022 when he was with Oakland. I think that's a reasonable expectation for him in Baltimore, really good team behind him.

So both him and Tyler Wells, I'm really happy that I got them for, you know, $3 each. And then, you know, got some upside shots in Logan Allen and Chris Paddock also for $5 or less. So I, the way this draft ended up going was I spent like $145 within the first, maybe 60 players who were nominated with like Judge and Duran, Jackson Holiday, Tariq Skoobo and Zach Eflin, I had those guys all fairly early. And then I just stopped bidding for like 60 or 70 nominations, which was tough for me. I want to be in the action.

But I got to a point we were about halfway through the player pool. And I had $117 left. I had like $40 more than everyone else. And so that allowed me to go get you on Moncada for $11, which I thought was a pretty nice value. And even like Riley Green, I pushed up because he's my guy. had the flexibility to go the extra dollar or two on guys that I liked.

And so that was where I ended up being really happy with the team because I got some high-end star power. And then I was able to kind of pick and choose from the second half of the player pool who I wanted and who I didn't. And I'm really happy with the way it turned out for the most part. I think your pitching staff is especially strong for an AL-only league. You might very well win whip. especially.

You know, you mentioned the Orioles pitchers at the back in there, Tyler Wells and Cole Irvin. They are filling in for injured pitchers in John Means and Kyle Bradish. So there's a chance, you know, obviously a lot of attrition at pitcher maybe they find a way to stay in the rotation regardless, but there is a chance they lose their spot.

Is Carlos Estevez your only safe source? I mean, Jason Adams going to sneak away with some. Yeah, he's my only closer. Okay. So that's a weakness for sure. Yeah. But otherwise, the pitching staff looks strong. Chris, any regrets throughout the draft?

I know you left with $3 on the board, which ideally you want to spend everything that you got. Were there any regrets throughout, or a player you missed out on that you really wanted? Gosh, yeah. I think there were definitely some. Let me see if I can kind of peruse the board. I got Thai France for 11.

Anthony Rizzo went for 11. I think I'd rather have Anthony Rizzo, but Thai France might be a little safer. So that's one that stands out to me. Yeah, I don't know. I guess I have to go through it a little later and have a better answer when I actually write about it. All right.

Well, let's- Oh, Buxton. Buckston ended up going for 12. And I had already filled in my utility spot with Eloy. That's one that like, if I could run that one back, I would definitely rather have Byron Buxton for 12 than Eloy for 15. Yeah.

Um, you might be, Bxton's, Bxton's my D.H and RAL only Chris, you're right there. So I got him. And he would, like, he's definitely going to get outfield eligibility unless he gets hurt before five games. Eloy, I don't know if he's going to get outfield eligibility. So yeah, you know, losing a little flexibility there. All right. Let's wrap up talking about my and only labor draft from the weekend. And again, for those watching on YouTube, you could see the draft board.

I'm somewhere a little bit off to the right. If you look at the logos, it's, it's the logo for the podcast. if you want to follow down the team. The hitter-pitcher split that I wound up with was $177 on hitting, $83 on pitching. So 68% versus 32%. The plan going in was about 70-30, so I'm totally fine with how it wound up.

And the plan entering this draft was to build the offense around one of Freddie Freeman or Bryce Harper, build the pitching around one of Zach Wheeler or Logan Webb, get one reliable closer, $20 or less on both catchers, but I did want one time

option like a Wilson Contreras or a Sean Murphy wound up with Wilson Contreras. No $1 players. That was part of the plan. I did break it with Andrew McCutcheon, who I got as my utility bat, but I had him valued at $5. I just happened to get him for a buck. Yeah, you also got Tyler Kenley for a dollar, but that's... But I didn't want any $1 hitters. Yeah. I did want to get... I wanted two $1 relievers to go along with whoever I got. I actually wanted like Evan Phillips or Paul Seawald, but those guys just went for... I think I had... budgeted 13 to 15 and they went for I think both $16 each so yeah all the closers in mind were going like

the real closers were going like 18 that was why I I skipped that tier yeah so other players I really wanted in this draft Jake burger Bryson Stott Jackson Merrill show to I monaga Christopher Sanchez Robbie ray how many of those that I actually get only two so I did have to change the plan up a little bit based on what I wanted to get in this draft and I'll quickly read off my lineup and and Scott I want I want you to give me your judge Let me know what I did without Ronald Cunia for $40. My catchers, I got Wilson Contreras for 16, Jan Gooms for four. I got Freddie Freeman for 35.

Jeff McNeil for 10, Zander Bogart's for 18. Max Muncie for 19. I got Geraldo Pardomo as my middle infielder for two. Eleharis Montero as my corner for six. In the outfield, Seus Suzuki for 20. Jackson Churio for 15. Not part of the plan. That is the Scott whitification of this team here.

Brian Dela-Crues for 13 Brenton Doyle for 10 Jack Peterson for 8 and Andrew McCutcheon for one buck And Chorio went for 25 in-house in-l-only So 15 there Again, another case where I would have liked to win him

I think I had him budgeted 20 budgeted for Jackson Chorio but he just blew it out The higher-end players went for more in our CBS NL and AL-only leagues Which is not the way it should go money should be concentrated more toward the middle in these extremely deep roto leagues

because the dollar player that you were talking about avoiding Frank is of such a low caliber and there's no waiver wire to fall back on. So a big part of the challenge in these leagues is just having a spot filled with full-time production, every spot filled with that, all 23 spots. And so I generally make a rule for myself. I don't want to spend more than $30 on any player

which means I'm not getting a stud. But since I've followed that rule in these A-L-N-N-L-O-L-Lie leagues, I've consistently done better. So I think it's basically the right way to go. You did spend $35 on Freeman, and that's somebody I probably would have spent $35 on, too, if he went for that. He went for $40 in ours.

I like your hitting. I think it's well-balanced here. You're depending a lot on Chorio, winning a job, and performing well for your stolen bases. He's clearly your big stolen base source there, and that might not pan out. And if not, then you have real problems in that category.

But I think power and batting average should work out well. And let's see, not everybody's a full-timer here. I'm looking at Elehires Montero. Yep. Six dollars, really? Man. Is that good or bad?

He went in the reserve rounds of RNL. He wasn't even part of the. I think I had them priced at $9 based on the ATC projections. So, but I did, he wasn't part of the plan either. I wanted either Michael Bush. I wanted Rowdy-Tiles, Bush, or Brett Beatty as my corner. And they all went for like eight to 10.

And I had budgeted like four to eight. So I was just, I was pretty strict with my values. And so after they were gone, I was like, all right, who's another corner that could realistically give me a little pop? And that's why I went with Montero. I mean, he's got to find a way into the, lineup for that to work out, which could happen, but

that's not, that's not the, like he's not, he's not projected to be part of the Rocky's opening day lineup. But, you know, for the most part, I think that's the only, like everyone else should have a full-time job or close to it. Peterson probably, Jack Peterson, probably

a platoon player, but on the best of time. Yeah, Peterson and McCutcheon aren't full-time guys, but they're close enough and for that they're starters for sure in an out only. And the reason why, targeted those two is because they're cheap sources that are going to hit in the middle of their respective lineup. So, Jack Peterson, I think he's probably going to bat somewhere like four through six in that lineup, at least against right-handed pitching. So I kind of like that for his RBI production.

And McCutcheon, same thing. Like, you know, and he could chip in 10 steals too. I mean, he still ran a little bit last year. I think he's going to bat in the middle of the Pirates lineup. So, yeah, Peterson is somebody I targeted for some cheap power in, in R&L only. I did not end up getting him, but yeah, I think that's fine. As a fifth outfielder, for sure. As a fourth outfielder in an NL only. On the pitching side, I got Logan Webb for $26. David Bednar for 20.

More on that in a second. Shota Imanaga for 13. He was the guy. I was like, I'm not leaving this draft without Shote Imanaga. And he actually made his debut this weekend. Of course, as advertised, he had four strikeouts and gave up a three-run homer to Andy Paix, a prospect with the Dodgers. So home runs could be an issue, but I do think the strikeouts and the whip are both going to be very good for Imanaga.

Charlie Morton, not really part of the plan, but I did want a third pitcher with like some strikeout upside. So he was kind of the last one that was available at that point. James Paxton, I did kind of want one of these injury risk guys that can pitch well when they're on the field. So like a James Paxton or I had like Frankie Montas budgeted for like three to five bucks, someone like that. So a little bit of upside there. Kyle Hendricks, I wanted one of him or Jose Cantana, just kind of boring innings eater type. I think that's a great pick for $2 in an L only.

Kyle Hendricks, like, I guarantee there's going to be a point mid-April where we're hyping up Kyle Hendricks as a waiver wire ad for mixed. He's not being drafted at all. He had like a 370 ERA and a 1-15 whip or whatever it was last season. He was good. Those innings-eaters that you can count on to have a stable ERA and whip

you know, nothing that's going to lead the league, but just solid mid-range ERA and whip and eat a lot of endings. Those are who you build your pitching staff around in L.A. only, I feel like. Yep. So I got Kyle Hendricks and got Robbie Ray for $5. And that might surprise some people. Again, this format, what affords you flexibility

is actually paying for an injured player in the auction because as soon as the draft ends, the season starts, they go on the I.L. You can take one of your reserve pitch. and you can put them into your starting lineup. So it just affords you that flexibility. And that's just a weird rule for labor. That's not a normal ALNL only thing.

I wanted to clarify. Because it sounds horrible. It adds an element because some people walk away from the draft with prospects in their lineup or players that are hurt. I don't have anybody that I'll be able to bench right away. So like my reserves are my reserves. Yeah. And I told Chris before,

I'm like, dude, I'm getting an injured pitcher. I don't know which one. I wanted Robbie Ray or Cobb or, but even that, like I spent $5 on Robbie Ray. Kodi Sena went for six. Yeah. I don't love that.

Like, if I knew, like, I could have got Sena for... Senga for sure. If I could have got Senga for seven, I would have much... I got Senga for 10 in ours.

Yeah, and that's good. I did, I thought I got some interesting pictures in the reserve rounds, too. I got Tyler McGill with the Mets, Mason Black with the Giants, might have a rotation spot early on.

Jake Irvin with the Nationals and Ryan Weathers, who looked really good. in his previous outing against the Yankees. Big beefy baseball boy. I did want to point out with David Bednar, right? So timing is everything within auctions. There was a run of relievers early on.

Everyone was nominating closers early, and I kept missing out on, okay, I wanted Evan Phillips. I wanted Paul Seawald. And then there was like two more. And then David Bednar came out. I said, look, I got to get this guy because closers are flying, and I wound up spending too much

because right after Bednar went, I got him for 20 bucks, there was a lull. Nobody called out or nominated any closers for a while. And then later on, Rice-Leglacius went for 16. Camila Duval went for 16. I was physically ill sitting at this table. I hated myself, but I had to move on it and focus on the rest of the draft.

I was so upset about that. It's, yeah, I get frustrated about things like that in auctions too, and you have to regain your composure quickly. It's really like a good exercise in, managing emotions, right? Like self-control because, like, you just have to compartmentalize or the whole thing's going to pass you by.

That was why, like, when I said, like, I was really active early and then I just had to stop myself. And that was hard. But I'm glad I did. I should mention my other two relievers in the starting lineup were Woo Suck Go for a dollar and Tyler Kinley for a dollar.

And that was part of the plan. Get one lockdown closer and then two $1 just spec guys later on. All right, let me just you know, as a matter of because this is how I chose to build my saves core

in NL only. You spent $20 on Bednar which is one way to do it. Spend a lot on a, like a safe closer because they're all going to go between 15 and 20, maybe 25 for the really high end guys.

I spent a combined 21, one more than you spent on Bednar. I spent a combined 21 on Jose Alvarado, Kyle Finnegan, and Yuki Matsui. And I feel like, I mean, obviously, Bednar's hurt now, and we think I'll be ready, but, you know, that's kind of the downside to putting all your eggs in one basket is if that guy gets hurt, you're screwed. Yeah.

Alvarado, Finnegan, Matsui. Like, I'm hopeful at most points of the year, two of them are getting saves. Obviously, there's a chance zero of them are getting saves, but I think it's pretty low probability that zero of them would. And there's a chance all three do, and I just run away with the category for a fairly minor. investment. So that's the way I prefer to do it, but it's, it's, you know, you have to be, you can't, you can't be sure that they're all going to go for a price where you end up getting all of them, you know. And it's a good juxtaposition between the way you approach it and the way I did. And I just looked up the values of those guys in this draft. And they equal $23.

$2. Yuki Matsui, Kyle Finnegan, and Jose Alvarado. So not far off. You know, you said you spent $21, So $23 in this draft. So that certainly is a different route to go. The reason I don't mind doing it this way is, okay, yeah, if the main guy gets hurt, I might be screwed with David Bednar. But with the $1 guys, those are ones that you could cycle through. I don't mind dropping those guys. Like early on in the season, if it looks like,

okay, Tyler, Kinley, Wusuk, go are not going to get any saves. I'll just start cycling through either middle relievers off the waiver wire or, you know, whatever kind of saves sources emerge, if any do. So I don't mind kind of cycling through those last two. pitcher spots in this format. But there you go, some ALN-only talk. I know some people have asked us to do that before, so maybe seeing us talk about it,

what we did, our strategies, and what our teams look like can help anyone else who plays in that format. Or if you just play in a deeper league and you wanted some names that we were targeting, those are them. We're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify,

and we'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.