Fantasy Baseball Today - Roto Draft Strategy; In-Season Management with Vlad Sedler! (2/5 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: February 5, 2021

It's our first Kokomo Friday of 2021! To commemorate the occasion, we have Vlad Sedler join us on the podcast. We start off with a little rapid-fire for Vlad (3:07). ... We don't have much news but Trevor Bauer is apparently down to two teams while Dexter Fowler was traded to the Angels (8:38). ... What is your general strategy in Roto leagues (12:20)? Do you have any rules to follow while drafting? Do you ever punt categories? Why does Vlad like Juan Soto over Ronald Acuña? ... Now we move on to starting pitcher strategy for 2021 (20:45). Attack pitching early in drafts? ... Seeing as how Vlad is a Dodger fan, he sees them up close. Is he worried about Buehler or Kershaw (20:45)? Who is his favorite Dodger SP to draft? ... How should one attack closers in Roto drafts (34:31)? Should you draft them early and often or go with quantity over quality? ... What's the best way to manage your FAAB in-season (40:20)? Are two-start pitchers dead? How should you bid on prospects and stream hitters? ... Vlad explains his love for Vlad Jr. (51:07). ... We play a little game for Guess Who to find the next Christian Yelich (54:52)? ... We wrap up with some Super Bowl predictions. ... Email us at [e-mail]. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday '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: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank, @AdamAizer 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/ 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 into fantasy baseball today, February 5th on our first official Kokomo Friday here in 2021. I've been putting the Kokomo theme on our Thursday pods, but this is the first actual Friday one. So let's do it. Get pumped, Scott. I said right before we started, I have a nice little surprise for you. What'd you think? I like. You know what the thing is, even though you've been putting it at the start of Thursday episodes, we don't.

The way we recorded the podcast, I didn't get to hear. it myself. The way we record them now, though, I got to hear it. It's the first time I'd heard it in a long time because I don't go listen to our podcast, obviously. But the number of outdated references, including who actually hosts the show. I think if Doc Kroitzer is listening, we're due for a renewal there. Yeah, Adam, always here in spirit, no longer hosting the podcast. But yeah, look, every time I throw that in at the top of the podcast, I edit all the podcast, just gets me so pumped. While it's playing here, I'm dancing around,

having a good time. So, yeah, the new streaming service that we have for video allows us to actually hear the intro when it plays. So get pumped up. Scott, we had a nice little Bob Nightingale slip up. We're actually recording this Thursday night, but you're hearing it on Friday. He jumped the gun.

He reported that the Mets signed Trevor Bauer, but it doesn't seem like it's done yet. So nice little classic Bob Nightingale slip up there. Classic Bob. Classic Bob. We are not alone, Scott and myself. No Chris Towers here on the podcast again. Chris has off all week. He's on vacation. He's enjoying himself. Rightfully so, he deserves it. But in his place, when it comes to fantasy baseball, you name it, this guest has done it. He is a great high stakes player, 35-time winner over at the NFBC. Also a Tout Wars champ.

Him and Scott White, Tout Wars champs, I guess I have to join the club. I've got some work to do. You can find his work over at Elite Fantasy and Fantasy Guru. Make sure to give him a follow on Twitter. At Rodo Gut, it's Vlad Sedler. What's going on, Vlad? Frank, Scott, thank you so much for having me, guys. It's an absolute pleasure. Just getting ready, just counting things down and doing all my draft prep and ready for opening day.

Can't come soon enough. Yeah, that's right. Hopefully we don't get a delay. We were talking before we started recording. Hopefully things are in the clear. It seems like it's probably too late in the process now for them to actually. delay the start of the baseball season. So as long as things can get done efficiently and safely, then yes, let's move forward with the normal opening day of April 1st. Before we actually jump

into things, Vlad, I wanted to just get a few rapid fire questions at the start. Things that I've always wanted to ask you that I've never actually asked you. So what is the origin of the name Roto Gut? You know, this was maybe five years into playing. I mean, I started playing in the late 90s in, you know, kind of the end of a high school beginning of college and just a few years in, I just spent a lot of time on my research, but at the end of the day, a lot of my lineup decisions, my on-the-spot draft decisions I really felt came from like a deep instinct. And so just kind of went with the name Rhodo gut and, you know, I've just been going with it ever since. My friends make fun of me and tell me that it's not actually the gut that is making decisions.

It's the research built into it. but hey, I'm going with it now for 15 years. As someone who is named Roto Frank on Twitter, not very creative, I can appreciate the Roto in front of your name. So Roto Gut, I'm all for it. Maybe we can start a petition to get Scott to become Roto Scott, if it's not taken. I actually have no idea.

But we'll lobby for it. We'll see what we can do. Which Towers League did you take down? It was my first one, actually. It was 2017, and it was the H-H-H-H-H-H-H-Had auction. And I just remember it very clearly because I just, you know, it was all all the guys and gals sitting around the room drafting and everyone was just kind of messing around, having fun. And I was using a draft software at the time. And one of my

first times using it. So I was just like laser focus on, you know, making sure players were getting in there and just keeping up with everything. So I think it ended up helping me. Because I remember that was the year with John Carlos Stanton's, probably his last big year, the James Paxton and Robbie Ray breakout. So, yeah, 2017, but having won one since. So that was head-to-head points when you say head-to-head? Head-to-head points, yeah. Okay, because I'm in head-to-head points now. So I think I've got to get some tips from you again to try and.

Look, Ian Conn, man, Ian Conn and Ariel Cohen are in that league, and they are just, they are fantastic players, man. So it is definitely some tough competition. Vlad, I know you're a big Dodgers fan, so congratulations on the World Series win. But does the World Series actually count in a 60-game season? Let's be honest. I mean, honestly, it does because it's in the books. It's in there.

You know, I would love to have them do it again this year in a full season, hopefully 162 games. That would be fantastic. But, you know, my greatest moment as a child was the 88 Kirk Gibson home run. I still remember so vividly. And, you know, I've just been waiting for so long for this. And, you know, Giants fans and other fans make fun of me. But, I mean, it was 30 years in the making. So I'm going to go ahead and take it.

Yeah, I'm definitely just being a salty Yankee fan. So you should enjoy it. And if the Yankees won, I would enjoy it. I would enjoy it as well. So the last one I'll ask you, I saw you retweeted my poll last night on Twitter. Which UTIL only player do you target most at their current cost? So not which one would you take first,

but which one do you target most at their current ADPs? Man, to be honest, I know there's only a handful of them, but I really like them all. I do, I am particularly partial to Jordan Alvarez, just because he still feels a little underpriced. People don't know how things are going to look for him in spring training. is he's going to be resting frequently, how the knees are holding up.

And so kind of where he's going in the 80-ish-80p range, I feel is still pretty much a value. I do like J.D. Martinez as well, probably going around or two later, but Jordan for me. I like that you're a Jordan-truther there calling him Jordan. Or is it a Jordan-truther? I don't know. We had a debate over that. I guess it was 2019. We just couldn't decide what his name.

I think we finally settled on Jordan. And that's what I thought it was. And then I think someone corrected me on a pod and I've just been going with Jordan ever since. It's, it's, uh, yeah, it's not entirely clear what he actually goes by. This is, we got to, we got to figure this out because it's like, Uron versus Jordan. It's, uh, Robert versus Robare for, uh, for Luis, whatever his last name is. I, I've heard it, it's, it's Robert. So I keep going back and forth on this. I watched some highlights recently of Yerdon Alvarez. And they were calling him, you're on, like the Astros broadcaster. So it's like, all right, I'm going to go with that, but I still don't think that we know for sure. So clear that up for us. Come on, guys. Some news and notes, there's not really much going on. Well, first of all, I should probably tell you what we got going on the show today. Obviously, Vlad's here. We gave you a little

bit of a sneak peek, some rapid fire there. The guy knows his stuff. So I wanted to just kind of let everyone know first and foremost. But the crux of today's podcast, some people have been emailing in and on the Facebook group page you've been asking for, we need more strategy. So we're really going to focus on strategy today, specifically for Roto, because obviously a lot of the high stakes that you play Vlad over at the NFBC, I know is traditionally five by five. And then some in-season management, because you have been dubbed the Fab Whisperer, and I know that you've been very successful when it comes to placing bids throughout the course of the season. So we're going to pick your brain on some Roto, some in-season management. And then we do have some player discussions later on in the podcast. Vlad, to no one's surprise, is a huge fan of Vlad, Guerrera.

Jr. So we're going to find out why. And I know that you successfully called the Christian Yellich breakout season. You actually predicted his MVP and he went on to win the MVP. So who is this year's Christian Yellich? I don't know if Ladd will actually let us know, but I have a game of guess who for who I think will be this year's Yelich that's coming later on in the podcast. There's not a lot of news going on. I mentioned Bob Nightingale incorrectly reporting. By the time you're listening to this, it's going to be Friday morning or watching this. He might actually, Trevor Bauer might be a New York Met. Apparently it's down to two teams.

It's the Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers. So we'll see ultimately which team he goes to. Hopefully either one of them has a bunch of sticky stuff because the spin rate was very helpful for one. Trevor Bauer last season. The only other thing I saw right before we hopped on this podcast, Scott, I'll throw this one your way. The Angels are on the verge of acquiring.

It might have even went through. Dexter Fowler. So I'm not sure if this really does anything for his value, but I think more so than anything, it probably just creates this. glut of options in the Angels outfield and it might open up some playing time for the

real deal Tyler O'Neill for the Cardinals outfield. So any takeaways? Yeah, I mean, that was my initial reaction is, okay, maybe they're finally going to give Tyler O'Neill an honest chance. They've kind of been flirting with that idea for several years now and faking out everybody

who plays fantasy baseball wanting that big power threat in the lineup. I don't know. can't get excited about Tyler O'Neill anymore. I don't know if that makes him the ultimate post-type sleeper. Like, I can still muster for somebody like Brendan Rogers, you know, but Tyler O'Neill, you know, especially since he was, I think he hit like 176 or something last year,

just not much of anything. And I don't think it's entire, like, they're still, they could still go out and get somebody else. Like, they've decided they're done with Dexter Fowler, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're moving forward with Tyler O'Neill. so I'm not actually like Tyler O'Neill isn't soaring up my rankings or anything but that's that was my initial reaction to that

I don't know that the impact on the Angels lineup will be that significant really because they already had kind of an opening there right yeah yeah I think there's already room for Dexter Fowler you assume Jared Walsh is at first base Fowler and right upton and left Trout and center I don't think there's anybody I'm missing there

unless you were all over like Tyler Ward or something. No, I mean, Scott, the legend, Albert Pujols, man. Right before this trade went down, he was pencilled in still as, I believe the starting first baseman with Jared Walsh in the outfield, but that probably was not going to remain. Who's penciling him in is that?

I'm a roster. Can Jared Walsh play the outfield? I'm a roster resource truzer, Scott. So that's usually my go-to. I think people rely a little too much on roster resources. wild guessing at this stage of the year when the offseason is less than complete. It is a fair point.

I mean, whoever runs this, I forgot the gentleman's name. I should give him the proper credit. But, you know, he's just making educated just guesses like we are right now. So, yeah, that's worth mentioning. Vlad, anything to see here, Dexter Valor, to the Angels. I did notice him on the roster research page.

So I guess that it is official now. Yeah, I mean, and, you know, they've got Poo-Hulls on the bench happening. and I mean, yeah, I mean, it just kind of feels like a perfect fit for the angels. Just kind of, you know, one of those older guys. I mean, he's turning 35 this year. I don't think he has a lot left in the tank. But as Scott mentioned, I'm most excited for finally, hopefully some Tyler O'Neill action.

Just been waiting for it. Maybe this is the year. Maybe this is here. Jason Martinez, by the way, is the roster resource guy. Jason Martinez. Yes. Jason Martinez. Yes.

God bless his soul. everything that he does with Rasta Resource, constantly updating things. I mean, this rate just went down. It's already on Rostor resource. So shout out to him. Let's get into some of the strategy discussion. And of course, we'll start off with Roto here for 2021. And, you know, things are ever changing in the fantasy baseball landscape. But Vlad, I just wanted to start with this. Any general rules or strategies that you've followed in Roto over the years, because some people have set things that they do, right? We've heard about pocket aces for some people. targeting catchers early, making sure you get one or two elite relief pitchers early on, targeting certain categories early. So obviously you have had a lot of success in this space,

mentioned with the high stakes, what you do over at the NFBC. So, you know, some of your strategies, some things that you find yourself consistently doing in the rota format. So I try not to lock myself up too much in, you know, specific types of strategies or, you know, really, It's a mix of sort of going for my targets, having contingency plans at each sort of positional tier and for categories and also partially scooping up a good fall in value, a player that I like is fallen around or two in average draft position. That might be somebody that might scoop up. And I really try to make sure that I have a strong pitching staff.

I've got a lot of a couple of closers. I don't necessarily want to spend a lot of my free agent bidding dollars over the courses. the season on super expensive closers or streaming very dangerous volatile starting pitchers who aren't going to end up hurting the ratios. And so I really like the balanced approach. And I try not to punt any specific positions also. Like catcher, for example, I'm okay with that usually. You'll probably never catch me just, I don't know if it's out of principle or just

out of the way things work out for me is I'll never really go for the early catcher. I'm not a big believer in position positional scarcity. And there are always some guys that I'm able to target that when I, after I do my own projections, I kind of recognize, this guy is basically a market inefficiency. Somebody that might, you know, to me, pops in in the top 150 overall that's going 300. So there's an opportunity to take someone like that. And with catchers, for example, I remember, you know, Yesmani Grandal and his breakout year popped out to me as a top 10 catcher when he was going 20th.

I think it was four or five years ago. And same thing with Wilson Romo. So the one not fun part of that is nobody wants to stream, you know, the Chris cyanides of the world. I'm sure he's not even playing anymore. But you know what I mean? So with the catchers, I'm fine with just kind of waiting on them and just looking for my targets along the way and really not trying to force anything too much.

So you're probably not going to wind up with the Roberto Perez, Jacob Stallings duo to start the season. That's probably not what we're going for with catchers in 2021. Some people do it, especially once you get into, you know, 15 team roto leagues. I mean, there's only so many starting catchers. That means, you know, people are drafting 30 catchers to be started in that type of format. So some people are not going to have great ones. Scott, I don't know that I've ever asked you this, but, you know, obviously you are targeting pitching very heavily early on in drafts, but do you target specific categories? Because obviously we know steals are very scarce

and I think ideally you know with the hitters that I like to target early you'd want to hit both batting average and steals where you can because again those are probably the two hardest hitting categories to find yeah yeah I mean steals is the the category I'm most concerned

about early in a roto league because there are so few players that contribute to the category at all and then the only ones you know pretty much beyond the early rounds the steals contributors you're going to find are pretty much just steel specialist who are going to drag you down and everything else.

So I do consider it important to lock up steals early. I don't put as much priority on it as I do getting the starting pitcher volume I'm looking for. So, you know, it's not uncommon for me to come out of rotodraft, feeling like I short change stolen bases a little bit.

But the goal is to not do that. The goal is to get a couple of high-end hitters who also steal bases or maybe even come away with Adalberto Monde to see if he's around and if he's available toward the end of round three or maybe even in round four so that you can compete in that category as well. Glad, you mentioned that you don't punt a certain category, like any categories when it comes to Roto. I mean, I will say this. It is doable, but it makes life a lot easier, especially in a standalone league, a redraft league. You can finish in the last place in a category, but you actually, you need to, and this is a fact, you need to finish in the top three in basically every other category to win your league if you punt a category. So it's doable, but it just makes the margin for error that much slimmer. So you mentioned you don't do it in the draft, but what happens, say, you know, you're two months into the season and you just see, like, it's not going to turn around. Say you don't have trading in your league.

Like at that point, would you look to punt a category in season and then just go all in on other categories, or? Or, you know, what would you do in a situation like that? I think it really depends on the format that you're playing because a lot of folks are playing in in standalone leagues. It's, you know, there is no overall component like we have in the NFBC. And primarily, most of my leagues are several entries into something that has an overall competition with a few thousand people. And you really can't compete for that, for that prize, for the top prizes, if you don't

have the balance. So I try to address that as much as I can in the draft. I never really want to put myself too much in a hole, really in anything. And it's something I want to be mindful of sort of early on in the season. Like, you know, kind of see the writing on the wall. Like, okay, I have a team, you know, an offense with a bunch of players that are really, they're hitting near the top of the lineup. They're scoring a lot of runs.

But I'm kind of light on power. Okay. Let me see what's available on the waiver wire, you know, who's playing, you know, who's going into some nice ballparks that we could take advantage of, what type of players are, you know, that started the season hitting lower in the lineup, are moving up and are going to have more run producing opportunities, you know,

who's hitting the ball harder. All these things I'm sort of looking at as I go. And I really don't want to ever put myself in that position because I, you know, leaving the draft is, you know, going into a draft and not, and having to,

you know, start that way and then go that way for six months. I think this is very difficult to do. But midway through the season, I think you just kind of have to anticipate it and adjust as you go. Vlad, something I admire about you is that you have your guys

and you stick to your guns and you are loyal to a T. But I know that you're a Juan Soto guy, and I saw this on Twitter the other day. In a roto draft, you took Soto ahead of Ronald Acuna. So tell me why you're going Juan Soto over Ronald de Kuna for this season.

I mean, it's really just splitting hairs. It's because I'm going to be having multiple contests in this thing. And so, really, I would rather have Soto at pick three or four and then an earlier second round pick than Acuna and a later second round. I think both are phenomenal talents. I just think Soto has much higher upside with batting average. And I do think that balances out a little bit with the extra steals that you'll get from Acuna. So, I mean, these two are going to be tremendous talents for several years. Fantastic fantasy. assets. So I really don't think people can go either way. You're just hoping that whoever you pick

plays the full gamut of games and just doesn't miss any time. Yeah, I know Scott and I have Ronald Coonja ranked as our number one players in Roto. And I know many people do, but I think you're right, man. Like, you can make the argument very easily for Soto. He can hit 300 plus. I mean, he can honestly compete for a batting title as early as this season. So that wouldn't really surprise anyone. You're really just trading off that advantage and batting average for an advantage. manage and steals. So you got to have to pick and choose which one do you want. If you prefer batting average, then Juan Soto's probably for you. If you prefer the steals, then Ronald de Cunia is probably your guy. Let's move on to pitching here and pitching strategy specifically in 2021, which is just,

this is the question that everyone has is how are you attacking pitching? Are you fading it? Are you moving away from the volatility of pitching or are you leaning into it a little bit more and trying to grab pitchers even more frequently early in your drafts because almost as like insurance policies? to hedge your bet. So, Scott, why don't you remind the people, obviously you are the advocate. This is how you took home Tout Wars last year. You started your draft with Garrickole and Shane Bieber.

You were talking about a lot last year, and obviously you've carried that over to this year. So remind everyone why you are going as hard after pitching as you are. Well, it's just kind of the way that the game has evolved in terms of power being so prevalent. And in a way that's not, you know, it's not like there's a handful of guys hitting 60 home runs like we saw in the late 90s, early 2000s,

and then you still had the guys hitting single-digit home runs. Kind of the expectation for everybody roughly is somewhere between 20 and 35 home runs. So it's just power is spread so evenly that I think there's less differentiation in the hitter class in general. And meanwhile, you've got specialization taking over at starting pitcher. more careful management of pitching innings than ever. And it's created this disparity in the pitching ranks where the really dominant pitchers who are also really experienced

and maybe even grandfathered in from a previous era, they are so far ahead both in terms of ability and how much length do they give you. And then you got on the other end of the spectrum, either guys who go four, maybe five innings sometimes or just aren't very good. good because of all the prevalence of home runs. They're not good enough

at missing bats in an environment that's so dangerous for pitchers. So there's not really a middle class at pitching anymore. The few high-end guys are really the only difference makers at the position and it's the biggest advantage I think you can

get in fantasy. To the point that I don't think you can compete unless you have several of those guys. If you end up with none of them, it's over. It doesn't matter how good you're hitting is. But I think the main, if I had to condense it just to one point,

it would be that you can, you get a bigger advantage from, okay, I'm not condensing it very well, but basically, you can find hitting late or even in season better than you can pitching. Yeah, I think that that is very well said. I mean, the final point right there, it's easier, you know, maybe not in like a 15 team league to find waiver wire hitters. But, you know, in your 12 team, your points leagues, your 12 team,

roto leagues, I do think it is easier to find pitching and stream pitching, stream hitting, find hitting and stream hitting than it is to do that with pitching in season. So, Vlad, to you, many questions regarding the volatility of pitching year over year, but especially in 2021, because now we've always had these injury risks and just, you know, these concerns in general. but now we have to worry about workload too because we're coming off a year where like Lance Lynn

just led baseball with 84 innings pitch so trying to figure out is anyone going to go 200 endings? How many people are going to get close to that threshold? Like are we going to see how many people are going to give us 180? Given all these question marks, are you leaning into that more or

are you kind of shying away from it? Well, in high stakes you absolutely have to be. I mean, what ends up happening is the aces, maybe the secondary aces, the, you know, the Scherzer's, Kershaw's, Flaherty's, Zach Galens of the world, who are going at Woodruff, guys going in the 25 to 35 overall range, by the time we're getting to that final week before the season starts, where we're all, you know, jumping into the main

event drafts and leagues, those guys are getting bumped up even more. So these aces are becoming a really scarce commodity. Nobody wants to have to go after the Michael Walkers of the world mid-season, you know, because he's got a two-start week and you need some strikeouts and you end up getting 12 earned runs hung on you. So it's a really difficult place to be in. And so I'm very much with Scott in the thinking that, you know, you don't necessarily have to go over the top, but you need to have that established base for your ratios, for example, so that you can, you can absorb some hits so that you are getting some strikeouts, you know, and adding some wins as well. And we look back to Blake Snell's

Syung Year. I mean, he was an 18th round pick that year. It was three years ago. I mean, you look at the best teams in these high stakes, these overall competitions. They not only had Snell, but they also had a nice solid base as well. They had a Verlander or Scherzer or somebody else.

So they had a nice solid base of those pitching stats. And then really anyone else who they got, who helped them later was really just, you know, icing on the cake. speak. So pitching I think is very important. In a standalone league, you can maybe get away with it. There are a lot of guys in those mid-range, in that mid-range that you can be comfortable with. But like myself, like I love guys like Six-Dose-Sanchez, Lance McCullors, Kevin Gosman, but I would never put myself in a position where these guys, I'm going to wait 10 rounds,

punt pitching, and those guys are my ace. I'm more with Scott. Give me a Bieber or a Cole or a secondary guy to start and then go from there. So if you're in a 12-team league, some of those names that you brought up right there, 6-0, McCullors. Ideally, what would you want those guys as? Your SP3. SP3 or later? Yeah. Okay. Cool. Yeah. And I think what's so unique about this season, and I've preached this a lot and why I'd be willing, I am willing, to take pitching early and go as far as pocket aces and take starting pitchers in the first two rounds, even in a 12-team league, is because I think because of the season we're coming off of, you are getting proven hitters at a discount entering this season for reasons that I can't really explain. I mean, people that have

proven track records, guys like Ante Randonne is a third round pick. Nolan Aronado, I know he just got traded, but he's a fourth round pick. If you don't like him, you can get Raphael Devers in the fourth round. But Javier Baez, Carlos Correa, Glauber Torres, John Carlos Stanton, you're getting like the 9th round, all those util only bats. It just seems like there's so many bats being pushed down the board, and maybe that's a result of people taking pitching early, but for whatever reason, I love hammering hitters in like that round three through 10 range, which means, you know, if I have those pitchers early on, it gives me the luxury to do that. So that's something that I've just noticed with myself and my drafting early on here. Vlad, your thoughts on this, I know Nick Pollock

from Pitcher List has termed this Dodger Ritis. Maybe he wasn't the one who termed it. Maybe it was someone else. I don't know. But I've heard him use the term more than anyone else. And do you have any concern? Speaking of pitchers early, Scott and I are kind of worried about Walker Bueller, and it has nothing to do with the talent, because I think we can all agree, like, when he's on, he's probably a top five talent in baseball.

But I just kind of worry about the way the daughters use him, blisters from last year, ennings concerns for Bueller, and the same thing for Kershaw. He's getting up there. You know, he has the back injuries. So regarding those two specifically, would you be willing to take them inside the top 30 picks?

So I recently did a draft where Bueller, was my second round pick. And for whatever reason, I kind of had this weird feeling afterwards. I regretted it just a little bit. And that's partially because, you know, Nick did mention this in this article. And it was something I was thinking about, too, about how this rotation is going to be utilized. And I can definitely see a six-man scenario happening, whether they add a bow or not. I mean, they have six legit arms. And if they're healthy, you know, can really be spread out. And so in a year like this coming off, the short season and everything. I can really see them continuing to baby a guy like Julio Urius, who I absolutely love, really building up Tony Gonselin, Dustin May and all these guys. So I like all of these guys,

and I think you'll get a lot of quality innings, but I am, you know, especially with Bueller not being a top-notch strikeout guy like a Kohler or a Bieber, I do have a little bit of concern. The one good thing here is that the Dodgers, I was just kind of looking at this because I know that Dodgers,

Stational starters are always a cheat code. Like, remember two years ago, a Hunjin Ryu was like 200th overall pick and had like a 213. ERA. He just had an insane year when he was finally healthy. Since 2015, the Dodgers rotation starting pitching ERA is 336. The next closest team in the National League are the Cardinals at 375. Wow.

The average in the National League is 420, basically. So, I mean, they're a cheat code. That is a great stat there. Outside of Bueller and Kershow, who is your favorite Dodgers starting to pitcher to target? Man, I want to say Urius, but he is starting to get fully priced. Everybody loves him. I think he built some good confidence there in the playoffs, and he's now three years removed from the shoulder surgery. So I like him, but I'd like to say Tony Gonsland because I think he has really amazing, nasty stuff.

I just, you know, I don't know how that's going to work out with those back-end guys, but the price right now is decent, somewhere around 200 overall. Yeah, and we had Ariel Cohen on earlier in the week, and his ATC projections are very high on Tony Gonslyn. So he talked about how ATC bakes in players who might not have a legitimate role yet, a cemented role, but because of their skills and their talent, the ATC projections kind of project them a little bit better. So definitely a name to pay attention to there, Tony Gonson,

someone that I'm interested in as well. Quickly promote a few things. things. I'm sure you know by now, but we have a great football props contest for the big game this Sunday that you can play for free at CBS Sports, but wait, there's more. You can actually come hang out with the football crew on Super Bowl Sunday. Join me, that's right. I'll be there. Me, Adam Azer, and others from FFT, Pick Six, and Sportsline on Sunday at 4.30 p.m. Eastern Time for a two-hour pregame show on Twitch. We'll have the best DFS plays and a top 55 Props Countdown, handicapping everything from Travis Kelsey's receptions to the length of the

National Anthem. Then we'll have a second half watch party from halftime until the final whistle so you can sweat those bets live with us on air. It's truly going to be insane. Adam has this wings eating contest planned where he better have to do it because he already told me I have to buy wings and I'm like, dude, I need to sign a waiver. I don't want to like choke on some chicken bones while I'm on the air. Like, we're trying to, I don't know. It's going to get messy, but you should come join us. It's going to be fun.

It's going to be wild. This Sunday at Twitch.com slash CBS slash CBS Sports HQ. Speaking of streaming, starting next week, better late than never. We might as well let you guys know that you will be able to watch fantasy baseball today, this very podcast, live on YouTube, and on Twitch every night when we record.

So typically we record at 10, 10.30 p.m. Eastern Time. So we figured why not go live, let people watch us, join in, see all the things that we mess up and we edit out afterwards. And you could do that, you could join the chat and you could ask us a bunch of questions. So it's going to be very fun. You can find us on YouTube, subscribe there, hit the little alarm bell so you'll get a notification every time we go live. Same thing with our CBS Sports HQ Twitch channel. And last but not least, thanks to everyone who has been dropping a five-star Apple podcast rating, but I noticed a three-star review in there,

and we are a podcast of the people. This gentleman, or woman, Bump 06 wrote, quote, the podcast gives lots of good information, but unless you are an expert, you need to know every player's team. The podcast would be much more user-friendly

if the host would mention their team when reviewing players. A fair criticism. Let's make a deal. Now, I won't do it for, I'm not going to do it for bigger name players, I mean, you should know who those guys are. But for some of the middle-link players and lower-end guys,

I will mention the player and the team that they're on. So over the next couple of weeks, if I do a better job, you bump that up to a five-star review. Deal, deal. Closers. We already spoke about starting pitching for Roto leagues. And we did head-to-categories yesterday, just a completely different beast than Roto.

But for closers, there seems to be multiple ways to attack this. Early and often, or quantity over quality. and I was looking through every team's bullpen earlier and there was legitimately only 11 or 12 teams that I said, okay, 100% this guy is the closer. So it is as messy as ever. I usually leave the draft with like three to four options myself, a lower end RP1, someone like a Kenley Jansen,

a Craig Kimbril, maybe a Kirby Yates, a decent secondary option, maybe like a Raphael Montero or Jake Deekman, and I'll take a few shots later on in drafts. So, Scott, you first. What is your approach when it comes to attacking closers and saves in the roto format? Well, I kind of take the traditional approach of not really paying for saves. I want to come out of a draft with three guys who I think are more or less the closer for their team.

But far from the highest end version of that. So, you know, Brandon Kensler was a guy I was really into going into last year. Markle Malanson of the Braves, now a free agent. Both of those guys are free agents, actually. So we don't know if they're going to be in the closer mix. But I guess comparable names for this year would be like Rafael Montero of the Mariners or Richard Rodriguez of the Pirates. We'll see how that situation shakes out.

But I think he's the leading candidate there. But three. Three is what I'm looking to get. and we'll see how it goes. We'll see how it goes. It's a position where regardless of how deep your league is, if it's 12 teams, 15 teams, to a certain extent, even if it's a league-specific format,

you know there are going to be alternative save sources emerging on waivers all year, just because there's so much turnover in that role. So even in the 60-game season last year, I think the closers I drafted in Tau Wars, which is a 15-teamer, It was like Kinsler and Wade Davis, maybe Hunter Harvey, like really, like even worse than I wanted it to turn out,

but three guys who I thought were going to be their leading save sources for their bullpins. The only one that I really stuck with all year was Kinsler. But there was enough Stefan Kreitens, Wade Davis having a couple chances in the closer role, Trevor Rosenthal, enough of those guys to pick up over the course of the year that I think I ended up winning the saves category, even though Kinsler was like the only safe source I drafted.

So it's just, it's, it's, it's, it's a category that you don't need to invest much in to do well in. You just need to have a quick trigger finger and, and pay close attention to what's going on there. Yeah, I think Wade Davis got you like two or three saves in the first week of the season. Same thing with Joe Jimenez. I remember, I think it was like the first four games, the Tigers all won, and he had a save in each one of them. I was like, yeah, man, like Joe Jimenez, this is working out great. And then it didn't for Joe Jimenez. Vlad, your approach to closers, are you going a similar route as me and Scott,

or do you like to invest in some of those elite names earlier? It really depends year to year. Obviously, the situation has changed a lot. I mean, there are a lot of teams that are employing committees and that are going to start employing them even more so than ever. Even, you know, their fourth, fifth relievers are going to come in situationally and come in and grab saves. And so when you mentioned 10 or 11, like, I'm looking and I'm seeing even less than that,

to be honest, you know, I mean, even with the twins adding Colomé, and, you know, that is going to be a mess all season with him and Taylor Rogers. And, you know, like the Cardinals, for example, like that's probably a situation. I don't want to stay away from all together. They've got like four or five guys that can close. Nick Anderson isn't even really a closer for Tampa Bay. that there's a committee there as well. And so looking at it, at the, you know, the group of players there, there's really kind of like a big five, you could say, with Josh Hader, Hendricks, Eraldus Chapman, Iglesias on the Angels now, and Edwin Diaz, or so we hope.

And really, it opens up a lot after that. Like the next guy's on the ADP there, like Ryan Presley, for example, I think he'll be fantastic, but there's no guarantees. What if they end up, you know, adding a Rosenthal or somebody who knows, Malonson even? And then James Curincheck, who's one of the most dynamite pitchers in the game, but he's got walk issues. What if he struggles early on after being named the closer and like Nick Widgren comes in and take saves? So it's really tough. I think it depends on what type of format you play. If you're playing in a draft and hold scenario, you need to load up on as many of those relievers or guys who you think could get saves or run into save opportunities as you play.

can and you need to spend more early on these closers in in most standard leagues where you can pick guys up and their free agent bidding you just really need to sort of stay ahead of the curve because you don't want to be the person spending 20 30 40 percent of your budget for the guy who just got named the closer you sort of want to stay a week ahead of that try to grab perspective guys that might be coming up who you think might walk into a role because the primary closer are struggling and those types of situations. So it's a category. You've got to be mindful of it,

but I think there's a lot of different ways to approach it. In-season management, I did want to get to this as well with you. Vlad, you spoke a little bit about how you want to get ahead of the pack in terms of spending for relievers and closers in Fab and having to use your money on that. And a wise man, Matt Modica,

who we've had on this podcast at CTM Baseball on Twitter, he has repeatedly said, you are going to pay for saves. One way or another, you will pay for them either in the draft or you will pay for them with your FAB dollars. You're going to pay.

No matter what you're like, you need to pay for the, for saves. So regarding relievers, I mean, just an all encompassing, however you want to attack this. Your approach to FAB. Mike Curlin on Twitter actually asked

in the years you've been playing, how has in-season management changed? Are people more aggressive? Are you better, are you better holding off or being quick to spend your fab? So really just like how you've become so good at it and kind of how things have changed over the years with FAB. On a total side note, you mentioned Matt Modica.

Him and I have shared three, I'm sorry, four NFBC teams together. The three 12 teamers, we've all come in first place in those and then the 15 team where it came in third. So him and I make a pretty solid partnership. He's a little stronger in the draft end, me on the FAB end, so it balances out. But I mean, with Fab, I mean, these days, I think folks are more aggressive early on.

Really, for myself, I don't want to be in a position where I'm having to spend 40, 50 percent of my budget on a single asset. I really want to sort of spread it out. I want to make sure that I save some money for the stretch run when rosters expand and when I need to chase specific categories. So I think for me, if I'm going to spend on a, on. on a big target early on. I want to make sure that it's somebody that I see staying power with. You know, is it a hitter that is just like the flavor of the week because they moved up into the lineup because someone else was injured and that injured person's going to come off

the aisle soon or, you know, so those type of situations. But in general, for me with Fab, I like to be as prepared as possible. I like to kind of have a good idea of the schedule for all these teams and the pitchers that are facing, you know, what offenses pitchers are facing. as well. And I want to make sure that I have some guys at the end of my roster that I'm comfortable burning and shurning. So I think that's important. A lot of times people get stuck to, you know, to certain players like, oh, I drafted this guy. He owes me. And you keep waiting and waiting. Or some rookie like, you know, Michael Kopeck a couple years ago, like waiting five months for him to come.

And then he comes and gets hurt. And you basically wasted a valuable bench spot all year. So I want to be able to burn and churn those guys, be able to utilize upcoming sketch. for two-star pitchers, maybe hitters that are going to cores or, you know, facing some Baltimore pitching and things like that. And then as we talked about before, trying not to overpay, maybe speculating on a closer a week ahead of time and things like that. Specifically, you mentioned Michael Kopeck. And I remember I competed in the main event at the NFBC two years ago for the first time. And I spent over 30% of my budget on Carter Keeboom. And it did not work out well. And like, man, I have, I've held a grudge against Carter Keyboom ever since.

But, like, specifically with targeting prospects, how aggressive do you, like, how do you know how aggressive to be on some of these guys? Like, is it different for everyone? Like, do you have to really have a certain level of confidence to go that hard after a prospect? I mean, how do you approach a situation like that? I think for me, it's partially it's their pedigree. It's also team contacts. Like, are they somebody that's just coming up for a cup of coffee? Are they going to stay a while and be around?

And then the third factor, I think, is market value. If, you know, it's somebody that you just know everybody's going to spend on, it's good to maybe have some guys underneath that that you can sneak in for a cheaper bid. If, you know, you think back to two years ago, you know, Fabapalooza, Fabageddon, whatever you want to call it, when, you know, it was Keston Hira, you know, Nikki Lopez, all these guys. Austin Riley was a really big guy. And I think a lot of us, sharp analysts, were like, okay, well, he's crushing all these homers and maybe start off hot.

But at some point, this guy has to cool down. He just has to regress. And it just doesn't make sense. And so it didn't make sense to spend 30% of your budget on a guy that you know is going to come back down to earth. And people, I think that, you know, I forgot who it was, but there was some guy that maybe like Oscar Mercado, I think, went for like, you know, 5% of what Riley was. was going for and he ended up paying, you know, fantastic dividend. So I think, um, you know, those three factors, I think are really important. I'm so happy you brought that up too,

because I remember it like it was yesterday, man, Fabapalooza, Fabageddon, no matter what you want to call it. We had like five prospects get called up all at the same time. And it was just absolutely wild trying to figure out amongst that those names like Kesson, Hira, Riley. Mercado's a really good call because he went for cheaper than everyone else. And he actually worked out pretty damn well. Scott, I want to ask you a little bit more about like the pitching side of things. you do the hitting and pitching planner every week for us here in season for CBS Sports and

for the head to head points league's like okay you could take some risk when it comes to two star pitchers because whatever if a guy stinks it's not going to really mess you up all that much but specifically in rhodo or head to head categories like are two star pitchers dead because like these guys can completely destroy your ratios

like you're throwing in I don't know insert name of a really bad pitcher like some kind of Orioles pitcher or something that you're just picking up and it just it can go so wrong so like are two-star pitchers dead like what's going on yeah yeah i don't i don't think it was ever a great strategy in a categories league a rhodo league versus a points league and i don't even love it in points leagues to be honest for as much time as i spend uh writing and talking about two-star pitchers i've never

been a big proponent of the strategy of streaming them and i think it's because of that enormous gap in pitcher output right now. For Roto League's Categories, leagues, especially, you know, the kind of guy you're going to be able to pick up for a two-star week.

I mean, he's just, he's liable to destroy your ratios. It's, the only time it's worth doing, I think, is you're late in the season, really getting down to it.

You feel comfortable with your place in ERA and WIP. You're trying to make up grounded wins and strikeouts. And it's just a total desperation move, hoping you get lucky with the, with that particular two-star week. That's really the only time I put any emphasis on it in Roto. Yeah. I do want to bring up a point about the prospects, though, if you don't mind.

The time, and I assume this is an option in the NFBC leagues, but I know this has been an approach that's worked well for me in TOW Wars. The time to pick up the prospect off the free agent list is, before he gets called up, before it's announced he's getting called up. Like, he's on a tear in the miners. You know, you got somebody like me writing a prospects report where I got my finger on the pulse of who's doing what in the miners and how likely they are to get called up.

And, you know, I'm sure there are others around the industry who write similar things. And you go for that guy then when you can get him for a dollar. Like, I got one Soto that way two years ago. I've gotten Reese Hoskins that way before. I think maybe even Jordan Alvarez. there's no there comes up it's it's one of those situations where there's no competition for him one day and then there's enormous competition for him the next day and it's it's if you're willing to

sit on him for a while i'm not saying months and months but maybe a couple weeks it could be really really beneficial for you yeah it's kind of similar to the closer situation and kind of speculating on closers you know the first time a reliever blows a save don't wait for like a second or third time. The first time you see someone fault, maybe, all right, like in a deeper league, you especially if you own, you have that reliever on your team,

you want to make sure that you have his handcuff per se, right? It's more so a term that we use in fantasy football, but I think it could make sense sometimes in these deeper roto leagues as well. Last thing I'll hit on for in-season management, Vlad, you mentioned picking up hitters to stream in certain spots.

Yankee Stadium, playing in Camden, and Corse Field. Are you someone who's looking to do that a couple of weeks in advance? Is that how far out you're going looking at the schedules so that other people don't even have the opportunity to do that to do that? Or are you doing it just like the week before? You almost have to do it in advance. If you're in a league with competitive people that you know are going to be doing the same thing. I see it all the time now. Somebody's going to play a four game series in course field, not this upcoming week, but the week after. And those guys are already getting bid on. especially in 15 teamers where there isn't a lot of depth and options that you can pick up. So, yeah, I mean, absolutely.

I think it was a lot easier last year specifically because of the schedules and the way that it was lined up where these teams were playing just essentially within their own division and then with their, you know, NL or AL counterparts. And that was really easy to do for me all season just picking on AL East pitching. I mean, outside of the Rays who have a pretty solid rotation, the rest of the, you know, you could see the writing on the wall prior to the season how bad the Red Sox roster or pitching staff was and even the bullpen and that that was just a fantastic team to pick on. So Fenway a nice place to hit as is. And then you get those bad options in there.

And that ended up becoming something to take advantage of. And so that's something we should look into for this year, just looking at the landscape of what pitchers have changed teams, maybe some bullpens have gotten worse. Like where can we take advantage of? Because everybody knows about Coors Field. Everyone knows to pick on the Orioles. Like who is this next group of deadweight, you know, pitchers that we can target our haters against? The team that first came to mind was just the Cubs because it seems like they're in cell mode

right now and they got rid of Darvish. And, you know, Kyle Hendricks is still really good. But outside of him, it's like they have some pitchers out that pitch to Conn Sack, Zach Davies. So especially with the wind blowing out in Wrigley, that's one that might make us sense there as well, but just the first one that came to mind. We'll wrap up here with some player discussion, Vlad, and teased it at the top, but Vlad Jr., you are a fan of him, and I kind of feel like, I fall prisoner for this at times because...

You like guys named Frank? Now I'm trying to think, like, is there anyone good in MLB named Frank? A lot of Frank Thomas guy, right? Yeah, the big hurt. I was a big fan of Frank Thomas when I was younger just because we had the same name, so good times there. But no, that's the not what I fall victim to, Scott. I fall victim to Vlad is so young and it kind of seems like we're not writing him off, but we don't want to buy him at what we're saying is his perceived ceiling, right? So like, oh, I don't want to draft him at his ceiling, which, you know, right now, according to, we'll use fantasy pros, ADP, Vladimir Guerrero is 56.8. So if you play in a 12-team league, he's going in the fifth round. If you play in a 15 team or he's going in the fourth

round. Now, like most people are making the mistake of saying you're drafting him at his ceiling. But Vlad, if he hits a ceiling, we could be looking at like a 300 plus 30 plus home run, 100 plus RBI. So like, I think that's what people are still looking at when they're drafting him where they are. And I think it's something that I've actually, it's a fault of my own as well. I mentioned on Twitter, I'm taking names of people that are badmouthing Guerrero. And honestly, And I take emotion out of the equation and anything personal, really. It's not like, you know, I like the guy because he's got my name. It's like, no, I think he's a really good hitter.

I feel like he's somebody that has always just everything has come naturally to him, his hitting, you know, I watched him personally at the Arizona Fall League. Like, he's just been really lazy. Like just things of, you know, growing up in a Hall of Fame family with, you know, with his dad, one of the best hitters of all time. I don't think he's ever really tried. And on top of that, never really took care of himself either. Like his mom has just been cooking him the best fried goodness and all this stuff.

And he hasn't really put it all into his craft. And I've read some quotes over the offseason, in addition to the weight loss, which I think is helpful, about he wants to be like a cunia and Soto. He wants to be a true difference maker. And I think if he's got that fire within him, he can really get it done. And people are like, oh, the ground ball raid and oh, we're worried about, you know, the people that don't like them, it's because. they've already been burned on him or, you know, he's one of those super polarizing guys and either love him or hate him. There's really no in between.

But the same thing with Christian Yellich a couple years ago. That was the argument that I was getting. It's like, oh, you know, all the ground balls, all the ground balls. At some point, people with the skill levels, those natural talents, they make those adjustments. And then you add to it, look at the team that is being built around him. I, for example, I don't see Teoska Hernandez hitting ahead of him in the lineup for too long. Teasker's fantastic, great hitter, but also, very sort of up and down, very volatile guy with batting average, for example.

He's going to hit some slumps harder, I think, than Guerrero. So I'm a fan. I'm hoping people in my leagues don't draft them. I think he might even steal a few bases. I understand I'm being super bullish on him, but I like them. And so if I'm able to get him in the fourth and fifth, I'm going to take it all day. I think it's a good point that you bring up is looking at more so the human element and reading the quotes and things like that because there are times.

And again, I fall victim to this too. All right, we pull up the fan graphs, we pull up the stat cast. All right, let's look at what his skills said last year. Let's look at what his batter ball metrics were. But there are times where we just don't look at the human side of things enough and him putting in the work to cut down weight and pulling up these quotes and seeing what people are saying. So that is something that I would like to work into my analysis more. And hopefully we could do that here in 2021 for everybody as well.

You mentioned Yelich. And there are some obviously similarities here. people worried about the ground ball rate for Vlad. They used to say the same thing about Yelich. And I know that usually, I don't know if you're doing it this year, I guess we'll find out right now. But you have an article series where you talk about who is this year's Christian Yelich. So will you be doing that this year? And is there any chance that you can give us a little peek behind the curtain?

So if I knew who he was right now, I probably still wouldn't say. But I usually write this article in early March. And just as what happened with Yelich, where I was always a fan of his, but then for whatever reason it just hit me at some point in the preseason and I just started kind of drafting the heck out of him at where he was going at the time. When I wrote this column two years ago, I didn't try to force it. I'm not, you know, trying to market it. It's my column, but I also want to be real.

And so I didn't have a true candidate. So I had guys that would mean maybe like a Yelich light. And I think some of those guys were like Meadows and Tommy Pham and Pueig. You know, those just didn't really pan out. Maybe Meadows did to a degree. Last year, I had Boba Schett as that candidate, and I had Kyle Tucker as an honorable mention. And the real, the preface of it is, or how you judge who this Nick Selech is, it's somebody going, let's say, fourth to, you know, beyond that round, who could potentially earn first round value, like literally be a first rounder. And the way that that comes is, you know, obviously good all around production, but also includes a little bit of stolen bases.

And so that's why this year, I'm looking at the player pool. looking, you know, nothing's coming to me yet. I hopefully will not force it, but, you know, right now there isn't really that guy that sticks out to me like, wow, this guy's absolutely going to be a first-arm value. I got to take him in the fifth all day, you know? All right. Well, I have a guess as to who I think can be this year's Christian Yellich. So I look back, Christian Yelich's NFBC ADP back in 2018 was 44.6.

Now, I'm going to give you a few clues here. We're going to play a game of Guess Who. Some of these games have gone very well, Vlad. Some of them have gone very poorly. So it's completely up to you and Scott to see how this works out. So I'm going to give you clues. There's really no rules. I mean, just blurt out as many answers as you want.

Like when you think you have the answer, just say names. And if you get it right, you win. That's it. That's really the whole game. And each clue that I give you will subsequently make it easier, hopefully, for you to figure out who it is. Are you guys ready? Let's do it. Yes.

Number one, I am a former first round pick from 2013. Kyle Lewis. Incorrect. Oh, we have to guess after each of your questions. You can guess whenever you want, Vlad. Was he the first overall pick, Carlos Correa? He was not. I don't know what pick he was, but he was the first round pick.

It's not Carlos Correa. Next clue. I have a season with 40 plus steals in the minors. Hmm. Hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay. All right. We'll move on. No worries.

Like Yelich, I have a career ground ball rate over 50%. 40 steel miners, 2013 first rounder. Mm-hmm. All right. We'll move on. I had 10 home runs and five steals in 49 games last season, which means I was on pace for 30 homers and 15 steals over 140. 50 games. I'm going to say Tim Anderson. Mr. Anderson, you got it correct, Scott.

That is the right answer. The final two clues that I had since the start of 2019, my 331 batting average is second to only DJ LaMayhew. That would have been the giveaway. The final clue is throughout the movie The Matrix, Agent Smith kept saying my last name. Mr. Anderson. Yeah, so, Vlad, for me,

when it comes to Tim Anderson, I feel like people are still kind of hesitant. Like, they're not buying it even with the 331 batting average over the past couple of seasons. And I feel like given his power speed combination, the lineup that he's in, you know, maybe he's a little light on RBI because he's going to lead off. But I still think that we can get like this 300 plus batting average, 30 homer, 20 steel, 110 run scored type of season out of Anderson. And if he does that, he's a first round pick. I have come a long way on him from absolutely avoiding him in drafts altogether to having a newfound respect for him. I've watched him a lot, especially the last couple of seasons. He's just a fantastic player is coming into a zone over the last few years.

And I mean, I could see it. I mean, there's a very good case to be made that somebody like him going like 40-ish right now where Yelich went that year could earn first round value. What do you think, Scott? You in Tim Anderson? Yeah. I used to be a Tim Anderson hater. It was really skeptical of him going into last year. I mean, the Babbib, so much of his production depends on a bloated Babbat,

but he was able to sustain it from one year to the next. So now I have, you know, I still think people expect him to steal more bases than he does. I don't know if it'll change with Tony Larusa managing. I think he's fast enough to steal more bases. but, you know, where does it go on average? Like the fifth round, I'm fine with that. Yes, for Tim Anderson, the ADP is at, there's a lot of people named Anderson, apparently,

when I control F. That's not great. 46, so in a 12-team league, the end of the fourth round, in a 15-teamor, that 3-4 turn. I've had, I think, 2-15-team drafts where I've taken him in the third round so far. And, yeah, he's someone I like to target in that range. average speed, things that I like to hit on early on in the draft. We will wrap with this gentleman,

the big game this Sunday, the Super Bowl. Scott, do you know who's playing? I do know who's playing. Yeah, Tom Brady's there again. The chiefs are there again. That's right. Looking forward to it. First NFL game I've watched all year. All right. What's your prediction? I mean, you've got to go against Tom Brady, right? I mean, he, you know, he broke your heart. That's true. He's a big reason why I haven't been watching much NFL. I'm kind of thinking this is the first year I'll ever root for Tom Brady, just because the Chiefs won last year, you know?

And I have a new respect for Tom Brady because I kind of thought he was just a manifestation of Bill Belichick. And then, you know, Bruce Ariens is obviously a great coach? But is he? I don't know. Really good track. Like I know right now. watch the NFL all season. But my

perception of him is a consistent track record from organization to organization and a good coach. So yeah, like, I don't know, Tom Brady wins the Super Bowl. I think he clearly solidifies himself as the best

quarterback ever, right? Yeah, I mean, he probably has already done that already until, you know, Patrick Mahomes breaks all of his records, but yeah, I would say that's probably accurate. Vlad, a prediction for the Super Bowl. I mean, I would not be surprised if either team won. I think it's going to be an exceptionally close game.

I think it's going to go down to the wire. But I think at the end, if I was a betting man, and sometimes I am, I would go with the Kansas City Chiefs in this one. Yeah, I'm going to go with the Chiefs as well. I mean, I don't know, man. I'm a Jet fan. I watch Brady dominate the division for so long. Yeah, whatever, man.

He's had enough. Let's go with the baby goat I've been calling him. Patrick Mahomes. Again, Vlad Sedler, thank you so much for joining us here. You can find his work over at Elite Fantasy and Fantasy Guru. Why did I say it like that? Guru. That's a very nondo pronunciation.

Why did I do that? Make sure to follow him on Twitter at Roto Gut. Vlad, thanks so much. Anything else that you'd like to promote while you're here? No, that's really about it. Also, our partner, I'm sorry, one of our other websites, elit sports betting.com. We have a new newsletter that's out,

the Daily Dime newsletter. You could follow them at the Daily Dime, get some really cool and entertaining content and giving out free uh free picks every day as well so thank you guys very much for having me it's a lot of fun and uh hopefully helping me back some time yeah for sure he is glad and he is scott i am frank the girl for listening and watching fantasy baseball today we'll be back again on monday bye