Fantasy Baseball Today - Roto Auction Recap; Latest COVID News (07/13 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: July 13, 2020

Today on the show we're recapping a 12-team Roto auction we did on Friday but first, we have lots of news and notes (2:32)! Yordan Alvarez and Jose Urquidy have been placed on the 10-day IL. Is it Kyle Tucker time again? Also, with Buster Posey opting out will we see Joey Bart? ... Aroldis Chapman has tested positive for COVID-19, which means Zach Britton will fill in as closer to start the season (10:51). Terry Francona is also toying with the idea of batting Francisco Lindor third and having Cesar Hernandez bat leadoff. The Orioles have interest in Yasiel Puig (13:25) and Cole Hamels is dealing with triceps inflammation, opening up the door for some of their younger options. We knew it would happen eventually but Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is moving over to first base (16:33). That helps the shallow first base position for Fantasy! ... Onto our 12-team Roto auction, what was the general strategy going on (21:51)? How did Scott and Chris plan to use their budget? Why did Scott regret winning Jose Berrios? ... Were there any specific players we wanted heading in (28:49)? ... Frank knew he was getting one of Trea Turner or Adalberto Mondesi while Scott wanted Jonathan Villar. ... How much did the highest-priced players go for (31:30)? Christian Yelich went for how much!? .. Which players were discounted for COVID concerns (40:05) and how much did they go for? ... Who did Scott wind up with on his team (42:37)? ... Email us at [e-mail]. Subscribe to our new YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyCfkdUcqL9UnNpGfkF039Q '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. I drive, center field, and swing. This is magnificent. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, Chris, and Adam.

Happy Monday, everybody. We are now just 10 days out from opening day. Welcome to Fantasy Baseball today, July 13th. Frank Stanfield, alongside Scott White and Chris Towers. How was the weekend, fellas? It was solid. Same as always, Frank.

Answer's going to be the same every weekend. I'm just waiting for one of these days where you guys are just going to tell me something crazy. Scott, you went to a virtual wedding. That's kind of crazy. Not really. Yeah, it was crazy. It's kind of awkward.

I've done quite a few of these Zoom chats with people I know, such as you guys, but also people, you know, in my personal life. And they've been fine. But this, you know, at least three quarters of them are complete strangers. And you could tell a lot of them had never used Zoom before in their life. So, you know, there was a lot of, there was a learning curve there. Yeah, it was, it was interesting.

I'm glad, you know, I'm glad they still found a way to have their wedding during this, but probably not the way they imagined it. Chris, no virtual weddings this weekend, huh? no virtual weddings biggest i guess if i had any big news this weekend it's just the puppy seems to have had a breakthrough he's been so well behaved over the last like two days three days really at this point ever since saturday something something seemed to click on saturday and he's been such a good boy and i'm very proud of him i do enjoy when we get the towers household pet updates that seems to be we haven't seen david bow in a while uh no she

she hasn't been coming into the office with me lately. She's been liking to stay under the bed. So, yeah, that's fine. That's her choice. Yeah, she doesn't, the dog and the cats, they're still not. Yeah. Still not on speaking terms yet. Well, one day, one day we'll get there. Guys, today on the show, we have a lot of news to go over.

Oh my gosh. There was so much that happened this weekend. We'll jump right into that. We had a 12-team roto auction on Friday, so we're going to recap that, and then we will answer some of your questions. Fantasy baseball. at cbsi.com. Some of these news and notes from the weekend.

Yeah, let's just jump right in. The Houston Astros, this was earlier today. They placed Yerdon Alvarez and Jose Orkidi on the 10-day IEL, and Dusty Baker said they were dealing with, quote, a condition that prevents them from reporting to the field. So they legally cannot say whether or not it was a positive COVID test, but it kind of sounds like either one of them tested positive or both, or they have had contact with somebody. Scott, are you, moving Yerdon Alvarez or Jose Orchidi down yet?

So we're like, what, 10 days out from opening day? 10 days, something like that, a week and a half. I don't know. This has been something that's going on a while for both of them. They haven't reported yet. I think at this point with Orkidi,

it's fair to assume he's not going to be ready to start, even if he's activated from the IL. So that's easier to do than maybe Alvarez. You know, we've seen very quick turnarounds on some of these IL stents where they're activated like two days later. So I'm a little reluctant to make a big move there yet. But I think by by this weekend, I'm expecting this will be the biggest draft weekend

upcoming, the last weekend before the season starts. And so, you know, probably by going to spend some time Friday, you know, anybody who still we don't have a timetable or any inkling when they're going to return. I'll probably be making some moves then. Chris, does this mean Kyle Tucker is back in the lineup? It's a roller coaster with Kyle Tucker because every time we talk about him, it's, you know, Dusty Baker saying Josh Redick is going to start. And now it seems like if Yerdon Alvarez is not ready to go,

then Kyle Tucker could be back in the lineup. And for what it's worth, roster resource has Austin Pruitt and Framber Valdez in the Astros rotation, not Josh James. James. Yeah, that's weird. But, you know, at this point, that's still a lot of guesswork going into that. Josh James has reported, right? He was delayed at first. He was delayed for personal reasons, too. It wasn't anything COVID-19 related. Yeah, I mean, look, it definitely makes the back end of the Astros rotation look a little worse, and it definitely creates, you know, a scenario.

where some of those late-round targets that we liked, Arkidi and James primarily among them, you know, it makes it a lot less likely that they're going to be in the rotation at the start of the season. And given that it's the Astros and given that they've shown a willingness to not force guys into the lineup if they don't have to,

it's entirely possible that they just never really get the chance. And they just view James especially as a bullpen weapon. As far as Kyle Tucker, I think this absolutely helps him. He's the, you know, I don't think he's the ninth best hitter on that team. I think he's probably, you know, closer to the fifth or sixth best hitter, although, frankly, with that team, it's pretty stacked team. It might be like seven. But either way, yeah, I think it gives them an opportunity to keep Redick in the lineup, which it sounds like they wanted that that's the direction they were leaning in recent days.

But it opens up an opportunity for Kyle Tucker. and, you know, ultimately, I think Tucker just needs a chance. And even if Jordan Alvarez does return to the team, you know, early in the season, you know, if he does miss the start of the regular season, I just think it's a great opportunity for Kyle Tucker to prove, you know, that he has the chops and they've worked him out of first base. They can play him at DH. They can play him in the outfield.

I just, there's a lot to like about him once he gets the chance. and so hopefully that's what this is. I looked up Josh James. He hasn't reported yet. They're expecting him back within the next couple days. Okay. But yeah, I think it's like he hadn't officially won the fifth spot. And yeah, I know.

I think it'll, I think it'll be harder for him too now. I've actually, like, I haven't, I haven't like made a big move with him in my rankings, but certainly, like, mentally, I think about it as where, like, when we do. did this auction on Friday, and I wasn't willing to go the extra dollar for Josh James like I would have been in the past. You know, the name we have to bring up here. Maybe this opens up an opportunity for Forrest Whitley. Astros top pitching prospect. They've been talking about in summer camp. Yeah, struggled last year in the miners, dealt with a, had a suspension, I think the year before. So hasn't quite developed the way we had

hoped, but still widely viewed as one of the best pitching prospects in baseball. Maybe this is an opportunity for him. Two more players are opting out White Sox prospects, speaking of prospects, Michael Kopeck and then Buster Posey, who of course is the Giants veteran catcher, kind of caught some people by surprise there. But, you know, it kind of begs the question here, Scott, about Joey Bart. I don't know that it's going to happen because they've come out and already said that he needs more development, but of course he is also a top prospect. Last year hit 278 with 16 home runs and then 824 OPS. Are you expecting this to be Joey Bart's job?

Or do you think we'll see him at some point this season? What do you think of it with Joey Bart? I think there's a decent chance we see him at some point. They have nobody else. Every catcher is a non-raster. Rob Brantley is now the starter. Yeah. It's a bad situation.

So we already know that a player stays down a week. The team can then call them up and get an extra year of service. surface time that way. So it's possible they're just using the development as, you know, code for that. It's possible, you know, if they're terrible right out of the gate, they don't even bother. But, you know, they're a team, the Giants, where there seems to be a little buzz about them maybe being able to sneak their way in in a 60 game season, even though, you know, to me, it looks like they're one of the seven teams with no chance. but they don't seem to be being treated that way by the national media. So, you know, if they get off to a hot start, then I think there is a good chance Bart is up. And, you know, I don't know that it would be an automatic pickup in a one-catcher league.

But certainly he has the kind of upside to make a splash and, you know, enter the equation there. Obviously not the best park for it. But yeah, definitely a situation to keep an eye on. Yeah, Joey Bart went for $2 in this auction that we're going to. to talk about that we did on Friday. So the news kind of broke. And then I think it was you who threw him out there, Scott. I think you nominated Joey Bart and then he went for two bucks. So, you know, more than your, more than your typical $1 catcher there in a two-catcher league. And two-catcher league, like you said, and I threw them out very early where people, you know, people tend to spend more on

anybody you throw out there early just because there's so much money and they're used to bidding each other up. And only one guy jumped in. So that, that tells you. among the industry, enthusiasm is low, even with this posy opt-out. With the White Sox, no Michael Kopeck means that Gio Gonzalez should be safe in the rotation, as well as Dylan Cs and Rinaldo Lopez to round it out their rotation. Speaking of the White Sox, Yuan Moncada was placed on the 10-day IL

for an undisclosed reason his status for opening day is, quote, uncertain. So, Chris, someone that you and I were excited about, Yual Moncada, seems like he could have, a delayed start to the season. Yeah, and that could be the kind of thing that maybe opens up an opportunity for Nick Magrigal on the opening day roster. I'm not sure exactly if Nick Madrigal has the arm to play third base. That I don't know.

He can play second, though, and they can slide Lauri Garcia over to third. Yeah, has he played third base much? That's the only question I have. I mean, you figure a guy who can handle second base should be able to handle third base, but you never know. That was the move Y'allin Makata made. Arolda Chapman tested positive for COVID-19 and is actually displaying mild symptoms over the weekend.

So Zach Britton will close in the meantime. This is another one, Scott. Have you done anything in the rankings yet regarding a roll of this Chapman? I haven't yet, but I need to. And I need to move Britain up, obviously, especially. I mean, testing positive, this close to the start of things and having symptoms, you know, I think it's reasonable to assume he's going to miss a couple weeks of the season at least

and potentially more. And the Yankees actually made a point to say who was going to replace him, which was refreshing. So you know you can go after Britain if you want to handcuff those two or just if you need a cheap, safe source at the start of the season. And he's got value on his own. Zach Britton has standalone value. Aaron Judge did not participate in summer camp workouts on Saturday or Sunday after coming down with a stiff neck. There's always something with this guy. I don't think that it's related somehow

to the rib, but it just seems like there is always something with Aaron Judge. Yeah, I don't think this is a big deal. It's supposed to be back Tuesday, just a stiff neck. We shall see. Cleveland manager, Terry Francona suggested Sunday that Francisco Lindor might bet third this season. Cesar Hernandez is a candidate to lead off, which would be tremendous for his value, especially in a Points League, he would get the volume. He has good plate discipline typically, solid walk rates consistently for Cesar Hernandez. So yeah, we could see him near the top there. I would imagine some combination of Carlos Santana, Jose Ramirez, Lindor, 234. I think the person it hurts most is Oscar Mercado, who has mentioned could be dropped to seventh in the lineup. Yeah, yeah, that makes

him a lot more interesting, I think, kind of by default. Hernandez, you mean? No, no, Mercado. Oh, okay. Makes Mercado less interesting. Less interesting. Less interesting. Okay. Okay.

I was confused. No, Hernandez, yeah, I mean, there's, the player he is isn't terribly exciting. You're hoping for a 15-home or 15 steel pace with a good average. But, you know, at the top of that lineup, all of a sudden, you know, it could be like an Adam Eaton kind of situation. Yeah, you could be looking at a 90-plus run scored pace for Cesar Hernandez. It's something he has done before. Back in 2018, he had 91 runs scored. So something to monitor there and obviously could help the RBI output for Francisco Lindor

batting in the middle of the lineup. The Orioles apparently are interested in signing Yassiel Pueig. They've made at least one offer per Mark Feintan of MLB.com. Scott, you picked up Yassiel Pueig in the reserve rounds of this roto auction we're going to talk about. And look, Baltimore would be a fantastic place for him to land. Well, you know he'd play. Yeah. and it's a good venue.

That's the biggest thing for me. I worry that Pueg would just latch on to whatever contender made a play for him and then basically serve as a high-profile reserve. But, O'Ores would be a good destination for him. I don't think we can count on much. Like, just the Orioles are interested in a made-up an offer. Okay, how long have we heard that the Giants are interested? You know, like, I don't know that it's imminent his signing.

Hopefully it is because there's not much time left, but I'm not at a point where I would invest much in Pueg based on this news. Yeah, it's so weird. We're 10 days out and Yassiel Puege does not have a job. I get it. He's a hot head. He probably thinks he's worth more than he actually is, but come on.

I mean, someone can use Yassio Pueg. Both Scott Kingery and Tommy Fam were clear to join their respective teams as they return from the COVID-IL. Cole Hamill skipped a side session on Saturday due to triceps tendonitis. Braves manager Brian Snicker had this to say, I think we're probably a week away from seeing where he's going to be. I would probably start to doubt the availability of Cole Hamels early in the season, Scott. I've got a doubting the piggyback plan for the Braves too.

Yeah. Lost Hamels and Hernandez opted out. Yeah, they're at least can't do that with all five spots of their rotation. They've got... Tuki Tucson. They don't have Tuki Tucson either. He's been... He tested positive

and I don't think he's reported yet. This is a team that does have a lot of options, though, and some of them are really interesting. I think the assumption would be that Colby Allard would be the... The next guy. No, he's not in the organization. He's with the Rangers. Who am I thinking of that?

Sean Nguer. It wasn't Ian Hernandez. Sean Nucon. I'm a mess right now. Ian Anderson is the most interesting. of the Braves prospects. He got to AAA last year. Struggled a bit, but he is the top pitching prospect

in the organization. But there was someone else who wasn't Sean Nukin that I was thinking of. Kyle Wright? That's the one. Thank you, Scott. Yeah, I would assume Sean Nukum takes Hernandez's spot. Kyle Wright takes Hamill's spot. They do still have Bryce Wilson.

They have Josh Tomlin, of course, the former Cleveland Indian starter. Ian Anderson isn't on the 40-man roster, so I'd be surprised if he was playing a role from the beginning. But, yeah, I mean, I think stock up is up here for right. He's the second best pitching prospect in the organization and finished the year at AAA strong. And, you know, he could end up keeping that spot

if he performs well at the start. The last piece of news that we actually received on Friday, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is going. going to focus on first base and designated hitter throughout summer camp. And Scott, this is actually pretty significant. I probably figured it was going to happen eventually for Vlad. I didn't think it was going to happen this soon. But first base is kind of a shallow position.

So if we can get Vlad in there and then early on in the season, Miguel Seno should have first base eligibility, all right, maybe first base isn't looking as bad as we thought originally. Yeah, and that tends to be what happens. I don't know, you know, if you're counting on, if it's going to take five games still in your league. I mean, I guess it's a week either way, if it's a weekly lineup lock,

whether it's five games to gain eligibility or fewer. But, you know, Vladimir's going to split his time at D.H. in first base. So it's possible he doesn't pick up first base eligibility that first week. And, you know, there's only so many weeks you're working with. So bottom line is I'm not sure it really changes his value. that much in the short term. But it was a surprise that they're already doing this because there was not

a whisper about it before then. Chris, where would you slot Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in first base ranks? Would you, is he behind Josh Bell, Matt Olson, that group? Jose Ibrahim. Is he around that range? Yeah, I think I would

draft him in the Jose Abreu range. And that's not far from where he's being drafted. You know, I think his ADP is, what, 58, something like that. So yeah, like I would rather have Josh Bell. Josh Bell has already, you know, taken that leap, whereas Vladimir Guerrero, you're hoping he takes that leave. But, you know, I wrote about Vladimir Guerrero at the beginning of the last spring training that, you know, you're kind of fading him at your own peril here because, like, I think it makes sense to fade

him. I think it's a logical position to take. And he can make you look really, really dumb for doing it because the talent is immense. We've talked about that all the time. Lead baseball and number of badded balls hit over 115 miles per hour, which is a really good indicator of raw power. You know, you're talking about the kind of stuff that Aaron Judge and Joey Gallo and, you know, John Carlos Stanton usually do. And so he has that kind of raw power. It's about finding a way to tap into that and, you know, elevate the ball more especially. Yeah, elevating the ball would be huge for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Just hit too many ground balls last season,

but based on how hard he hits the ball, there is upside there. And I think in that range makes sense amidst those first basemen. So he will have dual eligibility, third base and first base this season. What do you got, Chris? We didn't mention the name,

but Travis Shaw is likely to be the everyday third baseman for the Blue Jays. And he was one of the worst hitters in baseball last season, and it was pretty much a disaster from the start of spring training when I think he had like 25 strikeouts to no walks in like 50 plate appearances or something ridiculous like that. Not great.

It was a lost season, but Travis Shaw had two consecutive 30 homer seasons the two years before that. This is a good lineup and a good park. I'm excited to see Travis Shaw in the lineup every day. Definitely late round sleep or definitely someone to target with one of your last few picks. Before we get into this 12 team, Roto auction that we did on. Friday, I do want to promote some things quickly. The CBS Sports Fantasy Baseball Commissioner product is free for this season. That's normally a $180 value that you are getting for free,

fully customizable, roto, head-to-head points, head-to-head categories, auction, Dynasty. Scott plays his Dynasty League with the CBS Fantasy Baseball Commissioner product. And you can set it up basically however you want. People have asked, how do I play double-headers and head-to-head? How do I play triple headers? Well, you can do that with the Commissioner. our product. So look, try it out for a season or just continue to play on CBS. If you've been here before, why not? It's free. You might as well. And subscribe to our YouTube channel while you're at it. Fantasy Baseball today. We just broke 500 subscribers. So thank you for that. But let's continue to grow. The next milestone, 1,000. Let's get there. Fantasy Baseball today, the YouTube channel.

All right, 12 team, Roto auction, recap. Standard Roto, two catchers, five outfielders, corner infielder, middle infielder, utility, and nine pitcher spots. Scott, I think everyone got that. Your overall strategy heading in, did you have any rules that you were following? Did you have specific players that you wanted to wind up with? Did you have a plan? Did you have a, you know,

I basically mapped out what I wanted to do beforehand. And I knew I was going to not spend more than $10 on my combined catchers. I was not going to spend more than $20 on three combined closers. So those were just things that I had in my mind. Did you have any set plans, rules, or strategy heading into this thing? Well, people who have listened to for a long time probably know I make out of budget beforehand

that I can keep flexible, but I input a certain amount at each position that depending on the caliber of player I want at that position and obviously make sure it adds up to 260. So, of course, I did that. But more specifically, I did do this a little differently than I normally do an auction. My thinking going in was that

the season's going to be over so fast. I have to make sure, I have to make sure that I have players who I can count on from the beginning. And also, a lot of players are going to drop out at a moment's notice, whether because they test positive or whatever else. Like, you're just going to be losing players all the time.

So I didn't want to put too many eggs in one basket, I didn't want to go out all out for Ronald Acuna or Christian Yellich and depend on them for such a high percentage of my production that if ever they were lost, which seems more likely for everybody you could draft this year than ever, I would have, you know, I would just be sunk without them. So I didn't want to do that. So I want to distribute my dollars a little more evenly. And I think I did do that. I did make the mistake, though, of looking back at the auction we did in March. And some of the players I like seeing what amount they went for in that auction and then just assuming I was going to get them for that same amount in this auction,

which is, of course, not at all the way an auction works. So I was complaining to you guys before the show saying, you know, maybe I made my plan too loose. I think it's actually the opposite. I think I made my plan too specific. I assumed I was going to get this player for this spot at this amount, this player at this spot for this amount. And it left me with more holes coming out of an auction than I normally have.

Chris, how about for you? Did you have a plan? Did you write down players you wanted? Or do you just kind of price and force for guys that you think are going too cheap? What was the overall strategy heading into this? I am not a man with a plan like Scott. I have a general sense of what I want to do, but it doesn't really change all that much in an auction.

You know, I knew I wanted to get too high-level starting pitchers. I knew I wanted to, you know, last time we, the last couple times we've done auctions, you've been able to get some pretty decent values on like third to seventh round hitters. And so I generally like to live in that area as well. but yeah I mean a little bit of it is you know try to price and force you identify players you like and you know I did end up with two first rounders a second rounder and you know probably two third rounders

so I'm pretty happy with the way that went and that happened without having to spend you know multiple $40 players only $3 30 players so you know I'm pretty happy with the way that worked out. And that's why I like to stay flexible and just kind of take what the auction gives me. You can go too far in that, obviously. But you can also go too far in having a plan. Yeah, Chris wound up with six players that were worth $20 or more. You got Mookie Betz for 42. You got Jose Ramirez for $32. You have Alex Breggman for 33. You got Mike Clevenger for $29, $19, Patrick Corbin for 27, and then Ozzie Albies for $24. Scott had also had six players of $20 or more.

Francisco Lindor, who you got for $34. You got Shane Bieber for 30. You got Anthony Rendon for 28. Yoron Alvarez for 24. Catelle Marte for 23, Austin Meadows for 21. And if you just want to lower it down to $19, that threshold, you got U. Darvish for 19. You did wind up with four of your top 30, Scott, starting

pitchers. You got Bieber, Darvish, Berrios, Soroka. But as soon as you won Berrios, you wrote in the chat, I instantly regret this. Why was that? Yeah. Barrios is somebody I never, this is the first time I've gotten him in any league, I think. He's not, he's not a favorite of mine. He's not a big bat misser. He's, you know, he doesn't really stand out in anything. He's kind of just an accumulator. And that's, you know, you have to make split-decent decisions in an auction. And that is actually, it was a couple things. Relative to the pitchers going in his same vicinity, $15 seems like a good price for him, which I fell into the trap of doing a lot in this auction.

Oh, I'm used to seeing these really good players go for this amount and this really good player is going for this amount. So I have to have them. But of course, you can only do that so many times. and I did it for Berrios, who's not somebody I'm particularly fond of. But I also, what also contributed to the decision was, okay, like he seems not volatile. And like I saw that as an asset because the season's so short.

Like I didn't feel like Jose Barrios was the kind of pitcher. I had to worry about having a 6ERA in April. And I don't know that that's especially scientific, but that's what my split second brain decided to do. See, I could make the argument that it's the opposite, that the stable lower upside guy might be less valuable in the 60 game season because what you're paying for is that stability over 200 innings. And so that nobody's going to be stable in 60.

Or people will be, but it will be unpredictable to tell who it would be beforehand. And so, you know, that is a big argument for him is that he's an innings eater who's reliable, which kind of slips away in a 60-game season, at least a little bit. Yeah. You know, I actually let you guys get in my head because you guys know that I like Ozzy Albies a lot,

and we spoke about this in the second base preview, that Ozzy Albies is someone who, okay, I mean, he'll chip in something in steals throughout the course of the season. Normally, it's like a 15 steel pace, maybe a 20 steel pace if you're lucky. But... I thought about that, and I wanted to get steals.

I knew going in that I wanted to get one of Trey Turner or Adelberto Mottesey. I told myself I had it written down for shortstop that I was going to get one of those two players. Monassie last year in his first 60 games hit 280 with 22 steals. He led Major League Baseball in Trey Turner's first 60 games. He had 20 steals. So I wanted a difference maker there. Were there any specific players, guys, or situations like that, where you knew you had to get someone because of either a position scarcity,

or a category scarcity. For me, it was one of Turner or Monashy. I wound up with Turner for $42. The only player I specifically targeted, because, you know, if anything, I made my plan too specific, like I said. The only one I specifically targeted that I got was, uh, no, I'm blanking on who it was,

Cattel Marte for $23. I wanted him because, you know, in an auction, I look for the players who are, the players where you devote your money, it's going to make the most impact. And second base being a thin position, Cotel Marte, in my mind being the clear stand out there, I wanted him.

Way it turned out, he's starting in my outfield, not second base. So I'm not even sure what that was about. But then the one thing I wanted to target specifically most of all was stolen bases like you. I wanted one of those really high impact base deal. those high volume base Steelers, ones where you don't have to worry so much about what stretch of the season they're in, how many steals they contribute. Like you know they're going to run throughout a season. So even in 60 games, you can count on them giving you a lot. And the one I specifically targeted was Jonathan VR, actually, because he's kind of the less exciting version of Mondesie, right? I told myself I was going to spend $20 on him. He went for 22. So I backed off. So instead, I have a few, I have a few like, you know, 15 to 20 steel guys over a full season, guys who could

maybe pitch in there. But my big steals guy is Colton Wong, who I have starting at second base. And of course, I didn't pay much for him. I paid $1. Yeah. And so it may work out. But that's, you know, I feel vulnerable in stolen bases because of that. We're going to get back to your guys' teams. But I want to look at some of the top price players and how much they went for, you know, at the very top, Christian Yellich went for. $56. There was like a... And it's worth pointing out.

Were you part of that bidding war? You were, were you in that? Yeah. So, yeah, we had, uh, last time we did this draft, donkey teeth, uh, did he end up with four $50 players? He wound up, I don't know about the last time, but in this one, he wound up with Yellich for 56, Ronald LeCunia for 49, and Cody Bellinger for 44. And that was the strategy for him. You know, the last time it was his strategy.

this time it was his strategy. He was going to try to get multiple, at least three of that top five. And I think last time he might have even gotten four. And so once I realized that was happening, you know, you just start pushing Christian Yelich up. That's the thing is once you know someone has made up their mind that they have to get a player, and especially if it's a really good player like Christian Yelich, where like if I had gotten him for $55, okay, great, awesome.

I have Christian Yelich on my team. But once you realize that's happening, you kind of owe it to yourself to see how far that person is willing to go. Oh, man. But you don't want to get, I mean, as great as Yelich is, Chris, you don't want to get stuck with him at $55. Why not? I mean, if you're, if, but then you're not price enforcing. If you're, if you're happy to get him with $55 yourself, that's not really your motivation. It's both.

My primary motivation was to knowing that he was going to, invest so much of his salary in a handful of players. It's about taking away those opportunities to buy better players on the low end of his roster. But you did it. No,

you had a hunch. Based on the way he did the auction, this is donkey teeth from Roder. I don't know if he did the March auction. And I think it was like, I went, I think I jumped in at like 48, 49. He immediately went and bid.

I bid again. he immediately, once that happened, it was like, okay, well, we're going to see how long I can stretch this out. But you didn't want Yelich at 57, Chris. Stop there. Yeah, you know, those $2. That makes all the difference. Yeah. I just think of the infamous Jed Jerko story with me and Nando.

I thought I couldn't have pegged anyone harder than I pegged Nando for Jed Jerko that year. Well, that's why it has to be a player you actually want. You know, I want to read off donkey teeth. team real quick and you guys tell me what you think of it because it's it's very stars and scrubsy so you know he did wind up with akunia yelich and cody bellinger his catchers are tucker barnhart and jacob stollings second baseman brandon low third base juan montata who might need to replace now uh paul de yong rudnett odora at middle infield reese hoskins at corner infield not bad for i believe he got him for eight dollars shinsu chu dylan carlson joe adele rounded out the outfield with a kunia and yel

and then he has Alex Verdugo at his utility. What do you think about that, Scott? Nah. I mean, I've won leagues doing ultra-stars and scrubs like this, like just bidding on as many first-rounders as I could get, basically. But I don't think the player pool is set up that way this year. There's just too many mid-round-type hitters who could compete with the early round-type hitters in production.

And even then, even acknowledging, that, I thought it could work over a full-length season where you have the benefit of time to sort out the scrubs. I mean, if you're really settling for scrubs, it's not going to work. You have to trust yourself

to find breakouts among those scrubs and to play the waiver wire aggressively and, you know, find actually suitable players to position around the scrubs. But you have the benefit of time over a full season to make it work that you don't in this season. You know, I look at like Joe Adele

just a bunch of guys that either definitely aren't going to contribute anything from the start or you're not going to be able to give them the patience to figure out whether or not they're real contributors for you this year. Chris's pitchers wound up, Trevor Bauer, Julio Arias, A.J. Puck, Mackenzie Gore, Dustin May, Josh Hader, Kirby Yates, Delham Batanzas, and James Karencheck. I'm wondering, he clearly has maybe five starters, and Gore might not even be in the rotation to start the season. Will he meet the 350 innings pitched minimum for the season?

I mean, I guess if he thinks he can get there, drafting elite closers like Yates and Hayter makes sense. But what do you think of this strategy with the paying up for the three hitters and then kind of winding up with this group of pitchers? So that comes out to about 40 innings per week. for the full season. And you figure if you've got five starters, maybe they get seven to eight starts per week between them.

So you're probably looking at close to 35 innings at least there. Yeah, I think you can probably get there. The problem is specifically with like McKenzie Gore, Julio Reis, AJ puck, Dustin May. How many endings are they going to give you? less likely to give you five innings consistently, especially early on in the season. Obviously, you know, Dustin May, McKenzie Gore, and even puck to a certain extent are not guaranteed to be in the rotation to start the season.

And so that's one where if all of a sudden May and Gore aren't in the rotation until, you know, the third week of August or something, it's going to be really tough and you're going to have to start picking up two-star streamers. And look, it's, there's no perfect strategy to build a team. And I don't want to come off as if I'm down on this approach or this team. What I like about it is it is a high variance play. And in this kind of season, you know, high variance play could work out really well. It might be the ideal way to go because everything's high variance this year.

But there are definitely ways it can go wrong. Yeah, I mean, so many players who aren't even going to make the team from the start. I just don't know that you have time to climb out of that hole in this season. I'll be more critical of it than you, Chris. I don't think, I think, like I said, I think I could buy into this approach

going after those high upside guys who you expect to make a big contribution down the line and just filling in in the meantime. I think it makes sense over a six-month season. It could work. For a two-month season, I don't think so. The other players that were at the top in terms of price,

Yelich, we mentioned, 56. Ronald Acuna, $49. Cody Bellinger, $44. Mookie Betts, $42. Tray Turner, who I wound up with, $42. Mike Trout went for $39. Trout was tied for the sixth most expensive player with Garrett Cole. Scott, I mean, I think we all kind of figured Trout would go for a bit of a discount

just because of the situation with his wife being pregnant, and, you know, he hasn't completely ruled out opting out of the season. I don't think it's going to happen, but he hasn't ruled it out. $39. You're getting him at a discount. Yeah. I mean, I didn't go to 40. I probably went to 30.

I may have been the one who went to 38, and then somebody else went to 39. This, what he ended up going for was just what we were talking about moving him down to, the middle of the first round. That's what the price tag ended up being for Trout. And, you know, how long it's taking for these tests to turn. around and knowing he'll need to have a negative test before he rejoins the team, I think it's, I'm to the point where I'm assuming he's going to miss about a week for his kid being

born. And there's a way he could miss even and longer for that. So, you know, but even if we're just assuming a week in a nine week season, like assuming he's everything Trout's supposed to be otherwise, that's still probably not going to be the best player in fantasy. So, yeah, I think it makes sense. of the other players that we saw kind of discounted for different reasons, more so for COVID reasons. We saw Freddie Freeman went for $27. Scott, you have him priced for $34 in a 12 team auction. So some value there, $7 potentially of value. Charlie Blackman went for 20. Scott, you have him for 25. DJ LaMahue went for 17. You have him for 20 bucks. Miguel Seno went for $8. You have him for $14. And Salvador Perez went for $6. You have him for $7. And Eduardo Rodriguez went for

five bucks where you have him for $8. So outside of Lazardo who went for 11 and Scott Kingery, who went for $6, Scott, we did see these players get discounted because of COVID concerns. And nobody on this podcast wound up with any of these players. So I think that's notable that we were, I don't know if it was conscious, but we were avoiding them to some extent. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know.

It's probably just a coincidence that none of us ended up with them. it's obvious from what the final bids were that everybody was downgrading them. It's worth noting Joey Gallo and Tommy Fam weren't cleared yet. They've since been cleared and rejoined their teams, but Gallo didn't really go for a discount. Fam did go for a slight discount.

Yeah, so it was, you know, it was kind of random who got discounted and who didn't. Luzardo especially, like considering he's a starting pitcher and we'll need time to build up. I'm surprised he didn't go for more of a discount. I think it's just a name. As soon as he came up, I just kind of I turned away from the computer.

I didn't need to be involved in that one. I just given the workload concerns we already had, given the fact that now he's sick and has to come back from that, or now he's tested positive and has to come back from that. It just seems like a situation where he might not be a full-time starter until four weeks into the season. Kingery has rejoined the team too, but he hadn't at the point we did.

this and went for $6, which is about what I had him for. I think it makes sense on the lower end like that when you're looking for a player who's just a unique kind of player who fills a specific need of a specific price and it's not that big of a price. He probably shouldn't be discounted that much because there's only so much he can be discounted. But like I thought it was totally appropriate in all those cases how much they were discounted. and obviously, I mean, I wasn't the one willing to go the extra dollar. Scott, let's take a closer look at your team.

You got Christian Vasquez and Travis Darno as your two catchers for a combined $3. Edwin and Carnacione for $5. Colton Wong for $1. Anthony Rendon for $28. Francisco Lindor for $34. You got Marcus Semyon as your middle infielder for $14. Tommy Lestella as your corner infielder for $2. And then your outfield is Cate 23, Austin Meadows, 21,

Eddie Rosario, $8, Brian Reynolds, $4, Mike Yostramski for a buck, and Yerdon Alvarez as their utility bat for $24. You spent $168 on your hitting, which is 64.5% of your budget. What do you think of your lineup here? Well, it sounds bad when you first start reading it off,

and I have In Carnaccio at first base and Colton Wong at second. It gets better after that. it didn't go, it didn't go according to plan. Like I said, I wanted to really distribute my dollars a little more evenly. That meant at catcher. I came in with a plan of getting both Real Muto and Garver at Catcher. I ended up with Vasquez and Darno. So clearly that did not go as planned.

And like I said, it was just, it was counting too much on the prices we saw with, you know, about half this same group in March. I think I need more steals. Wong is my biggest source there. I have Lindor, Simeon, Marte, and Meadows who should chip in. But I'm not sure it's enough.

I do have Puega on my bench from the reserve round, so hopefully he can sign quickly enough to make a contribution in the Steels category two. I think I'm really solid in batting average. I think I should be fine in power as long as Alvarez doesn't miss too much time. but yeah batting average looks like my best offensive category and like runs runs should be pretty good too

Eddie Rosario at $8 was probably my best bang for the buck by and he's not a particularly particularly excited player but like he should be really really strong in batting average and solid in three other categories and you know obviously would be must start player for whatever team in a five outfielder league so that was probably my best one my worst I regretted getting, I don't know that it's my worst, but Incarnacion at $5 as my starting first baseman, that was with Carlos Santana still on the board. And I targeted Josh Bell for about 15. That's who I hope to get as my first basement. He went for 16. I don't know. I maybe should have gone the extra dollar there. Incarna for five, Carlos Santana was still out there. And I just

knew Carlos Santana would go for five later on. And he did. And that's exactly what he did. Yeah, he went for exactly five bucks. I would have rather had Santana than in Carnano. Aconasione there. But, you know, incarnation should be good for power and he keeps me, you know, without him there, without a power hitter at first base, I probably would have been in trouble with that category too. Scott, your pitchers were Shane Bieber for 30 bucks. You Darvish at 19, Jose Barrios 15, Mike Soroka 14, Madison Bumgarner, $6, Alex Wood, $3, Marcus Stroman, $2, $4, Corey Kinebel for $2,000, and in your reserves, you wound up with Wade Davis, Ryan Helsley, Jordan Hicks, and Tyler Rogers, who has a name that has been thrown around with

the Giants that could potentially be used at the back end of their bullpen. By Gabe Kapler himself. Yeah, it's not a total shot in the dark hour there. But yeah, I was clearly trying to corner saves whatever way I could, because I basically punted on saves in the auction. Just about every closer went for $5 or more. the ones who didn't I had already filled

like all but one of my pitcher spots at that point like those nine pitcher spots they get they get filled up so fast in an auction a roto auction I feel like and like if I hadn't gotten a closer with my first eight why am I going to spend up for just one closer you know I ended up getting Kenebel for one right hoping he would

hoping he would find his way into at least half the safe chances for Milwaukee and then yeah Wade Davis is supposed to open as the Rockies closer Helsley has been talked about maybe closing for the Cardinals, Jordan Hicks when he comes back from the I.L and hopefully Rogers for the Giants will have a role there.

I'm not sure any of them are really going to end up starting for me. I have a ton of starting pitcher depth. I have eight starting pitchers. My worst is either Marcus Stroman, Jayhap or Alex Wood, none of whom I think is bad. You know, I could afford to lose all three of those

and I'd still have a really strong starting group with Beaver, Darvish, Soroka, who am I missing, Bereos and Bumgarner. Bumgarner, I, you know, I talk about him as a bust a lot, but he went for $6, so it was like, I don't know,

I just, it just seemed like a no downside buy at that point. And my starting pitching should be strong, but since I basically punted on saves here to start the year after already having a stolen base shortage, I mean, I got an uphill battle here. I'm going to have to figure out how to be strong in one of those categories, I think,

to have a shot at winning this league. And, you know, presuming a trade is always dicey. So I'm not sure that's going to be the way to do it. Chris, your team, you wound up with Sean Murphy and Roberto Perez, a catcher $3 combined, Luke Voight for $6. Ozzie Albi's 24. Jose Ramirez, 32, Alex Bregman, 33. Dansby Swanson, the cheat code for a buck.

I actually had him written down as my middle infielder, but then I got Elvis Andrews for three. So I was like, all right, I'm okay with that. C.J. Cron for a dollar. Your outfield, Mookie Betts for 42. Eloy Jimenez, 16. Mark Kana, five bucks. Austin Riley, $3.

$3. And your utility bat is Howie Kendrick. Let's just read off your pitchers too quickly. Mike Clevenger, 29. Patrick Corbin, 27. Matthew Boyd, $10. Joe Musgrove. How dare you, you sneaky Chris Towers. Carlos Martinez, five bucks.

Dylan C's $2, Dylan Bundy, $2, Sean Doolittle, $5, and Tony Watson for $2. Chris, was this like bizarro, Chris? Because you wound up with Eloy Jimenez and Mike Clevenger. It's just two players. And, look, Eloy is one that looking at guys who went after him for similar prices, you know, I would have preferred, like Nick Castiana.

you put that in the notes, he went for a dollar more. Well, yeah, he went 60 picks later also. And so, you know, if Castellanos had been put up for auction at the 48 spot, I think, is where Eloy went, he probably goes for 20. And I probably would have preferred him. But unfortunately, that's the thing about auction drafts. That's what makes them so tough is you never know who's going to go later. There's always going to be discounts. You never know who those discounts are going to be.

are going to be or what position they're going to be at. You know, I think part of it, you know, maybe making the mistake of saying, well, Elo Jimenez, that's a guy with upside. I'd like to have some exposure to him and making that my thought process, rather than doing what I normally doing what I think you should do in auctions, which is identify the likely production, divorce it from the name, and just pay for the production. And I think that's a situation where I probably didn't do that. Yeah, you bring up, you know, a lot of pricing throughout the course of an auction is just when a player is thrown out, when a player is nominated. And, you know, Scott wound up with Eddie Rosario for $8. And we all kind of have Rosario ranked similarly. I mean, he's a little

bit behind Eloy Jimenez, but not far off. Nick Castellanos went for $17. We have Eddie Rosario in a similar range. But Rosario went so much later in terms of the nomination process that they're really was not a lot of money to go around at that point. And there was just not really much excitement for him in the bidding process. So that's how Scott wound out with him for $8. And those things are going to happen in auctions. It was a range where a bunch of players went for similar discounts like that. Rosario was eight.

You had Whitmerfield to go for 15. I have him like 23 or something. Marcus Simeon for 14. Jorge Salare for 13. Jeff McNeil, 11. Wilson Catreras 10. Paul Goldschmidt 10. Tommy fam nine.

Yeah, you can dominate that mid-tier if you wait and you just have the money left. Yeah, one thing I've noticed consistently in the auctions we've done with other people around the industry, and I mentioned it earlier. Like how early a play... Anybody who's nominated early. Like, obviously the studs because, you know,

they're one of a kind. You're not going to be able to replace their production, so people tend to spend a little extra to get them. but I don't know what it is. It's if they're just, everybody gets used to bidding back and forth on the studs that when a non-stud is thrown out, they're just,

or they just see that the price tag is really low by comparison and they want in. Like it just seems like anybody who gets thrown out early gets bid on. And that makes it so there's really not enough dollars to spend in that middle range. You know, like if one of these players was thrown out early,

like you're saying, Like if one of them, you know, I'm sure Marcus Simeon could have gone for like $22 if he had been thrown out, you know, as the 19th overall player nominated, you know. You know, there are also times you can sneak guys through early in the draft process too. Like that, like, I guess this draft didn't really have many examples of that, you know. Corey Seeger for 13 is actually pretty rich and he was like the 13th player three. grown out there. I guess you can maybe make an argument lately. I haven't.

You can maybe Blake Snell at 22, but that's as much about injury concerns. So yeah, this was one draft where that didn't really come to fruition, but it certainly can. Yeah, I've seen it before. I've been a part of it before, but, you know, it's just,

it's just so much about knowing who you're drafting with and their tendencies and getting a feel for it early in the auction itself. Like if all the elite players are going for $10 more or more than what they were projected to go for, then maybe you should not go as aggressively after those players as you thought because you know the next tier, there's just not going to be enough dollars to distribute between them. if you see somebody else throw out a guy early like that and get him for a dollar or two just because he's not the big name people are keying in on then maybe you could try to do that

yourself but it's risky it's risky I think I'm at the point now where it's better to wait it's better for the players you want like the lower end players that you want the most the sleeper types it's better for them to stay available as long as possible That's obviously not universally true, but I'm finding it tends to be true. Yeah, for example, I knew that I wanted Fran Mill Reyes. He's someone I talk about a lot and a breakout candidate. I got him for $10. I was very happy with that price.

Willie Calhoun, another outfielder I talk about a lot, knew I wanted him. He got thrown out a little bit later on. I got him for $8. So I think there is something to that. I typically, I knew I wanted one of Turner-Omandacy. I knew that I wanted one elite starting pitcher, so I wound up with DeGrom for $37. But then after that, I knew I was going to live in the mid-tier.

I got Abraeu for $12, McNeil at second base for 11, Donaldson for 15, Elvis Andrews for 3, Michael Brantley for $10. I got Will Myers for $4. So I knew that I was going to live in that range, and that's typically how I do attack auctions. I will probably spend up for one or two players. I actually usually don't even go into the $40 range,

but I made an exception here for, Trey Turner. You can find the rest of these results over at cbsports.com. You can see my team. You can see Chris's team as well and how much we spent for each of those players. I want to answer some questions here, some Apple podcast questions that we received with a five-star rating and review. And let's jump right in. This one's from Team Fax. Frank, Adam, Chris Towers, Scott, although I don't know where Adam is nowadays. I know Frank brought up Zach Granky briefly during pitcher preview Part 1, but both he and Scott have

him outside their top 15 starting pitchers in Roto specifically. Granky is on a run-producing team and annually seems to perform like a top 10, top 5 last year, starting pitcher. He's had a sub 3.30 ERA in all but one year since 2013.

He might not have the strikeout upside others have, but this consistency seems valuable enough to be top 10. I know he's old, but so are Charlie Morton, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlender, etc. So why are we down slash what is your biggest concern with Zach Ranky, Scott? I don't think I've down on him. I've been I've been one of the highest guys on Zach Grinky over the years in fantasy. I think I haven't ranked where I do is largely a testament to how deep the high end crop of starting pitchers is this year.

I think, you know, why I rank him where I do relative to that group, like, first of all, sure, you could easily talk me into moving them in the top ten. It's a big tier where it's difficult to exactly sort out who belongs where. But ultimately, why I put Granky where I do is because of that lack of strikeout upside. And, you know, if you're going to spend up for a starting pitcher, you want to make sure that he is actually an asset in his many categories. as he can be. And, you know, as somebody who invested heavily in Granky last year, often as my two or even number one starting pitcher, I sometimes had trouble competing in strikeouts.

So that's why I rank him where I do. He only went for $18 in this auction. I think it was the best value at starting pitcher period. So, you know, certainly, certainly it's not uncommon to overlook Granky. But I don't think. I am by putting him where I do. You also, you didn't mention a key factor that may not be a factor for you, but certainly is a factor in how he's viewed by the industry and by fantasy players.

And that's just, he's old. Yeah. And, you know, people have been waiting for Zach Granky to fall off for a long time. And 2016 was when it looked like it was happening. And there were a lot of, I told you so's. And then he's bounced back with a 321 ERA or lower in three straight years. the peripherals never quite match with what he does, but he's always really good. And at some point, like, I don't know, he's going to fall off eventually. It hasn't happened yet.

I think the biggest difference between him and Morton and Verlander and Scherzer are all the strikeouts. And, you know, that's enough to rank him, you know, not even significantly, but six, five, six spots behind Morton. I mean, Morton's going to give you. over 10Ks per 9. Last year, Granky was 8.07. Great control. He's going to give you a really good whip, really good ERA, should win games. But, I mean, if you do draft Granky, you have to make sure that you have at least one high upside strikeout pitcher, maybe even two, just because he's not

going to help you much in that category. This next question's from Kidder, 31. What do you guys think about this strategy in head-to-head categories leagues, going all pitchers rounds one to six locking up the pitching categories, then in round 7 through 15, going for batters with high average and high stolen bases, and win 7 to 3 or 6 to 4 every week. If you could lock up pitching by drafting nothing but pitchers in the first six rounds, it would be a great strategy. The problem is, given the way pitching usually works, even high-end pitching,

you're probably going to get three really good pitchers out of that, and maybe one good one. And then probably two guys would give you nothing, either because of injuries or underperformance. And that's just the volatile, combustible nature of guys

who throw baseballs at 95 miles per hour. Plus, round seven through 15, like high average, high stolen base guys. What, who is there at that stage of the draft? Like, those are the guys who go early.

Right. The high batting average high steals guys who, you know, some of them contribute some amount of power too, but among the power hitters, the ones getting pushed up are the ones who contribute in batting average and or steals. Yeah, it would be a lot of

trying to think, around 7 through 15, it's like Tommy Edmund, I guess, but yeah, like, you're talking about Tommy Edmund, Tommy Fam. Like Malick Smith doesn't really, he's not a guarantee to help you in batting average. He certainly did last year. You can find one of the other. Like, I think you can grabbed the Jeff McNeils, the Michael Brantleys,

but those guys are not going to give you steals. They'll give you good batting average, but then trying to find those steals. I mean, Malick Smith, you mentioned the name, but... You could look at like a guy like Adam Eaton or Oscar Mercado who should be helpful in both, although, you know, probably won't be elite and still. Like, it's just...

Not such a standout in batting average that you're going to win the category. Yeah, it's a really... It's a really hard needle to thread. I think you'd have a better chance going, all hitter, no pitcher, and dominating the hitting categories, then I think you would starting pitcher,

especially because just pitching is less predictable on a start-by-start, week-by-week, month-by-month, year-by-year basis. Yeah, and that's the Mar-Mole strategy, if you want to do it in a head-to-head categories league, where you basically just draft hitters for the first nine or ten rounds, and then from rounds 11 on, you just draft closers that have decent job security and relievers that will give you elite ratio.

So that's something that you can look into. But it comes down to what your innings pitched minimum is on a weekly basis if you do have one. So just keep that in mind. We're going to wrap it up there here for today. For Scott and Chris, I am praying. Thank you all for listening and watching a fantasy baseball today YouTube channel. We'll be back again tomorrow. Bye-bye.