Fantasy Baseball Today - Sleepers 2.0! Undervalued Targets in 2026 Drafts! (3/3 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 3, 2026

Let's get into our Sleepers 2.0, starting with Daylen Lile (3:55). ... Jac Caglianone is hitting the cover off the ball so far (9:10). ... Trevor Rogers is reassuring us of his 2025 (13:46). ... Chris explains why he's in on Grayson Rodriguez, Bryan Abreu and JJ Wetherholt (25:35). ... Scott likes Sean Manaea, Mick Abel, Isaac Paredes and Alec Bohm (34:15). ... And Frank talks about Shota Imanaga, Joe Musgrove, Caleb Durbin and Andrew Vaughn (41:00). ... What did Frank learn while out in the Arizona (50:45)? ... We wrap up by circling back to our Sleepers 1.0 from back in January (1:01:27). Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CBSScottWhite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Roto_Frank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Hey there, welcome into fantasy baseball today, and welcome to March. It is Crunch Time.

I am Frank Stample, joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, we have Sleepers 2.0. We'll break down our latest list of undervalued players. We'll take a look back at Sleepers 1.0 as well. We'll see what has changed, probably some ADPs, some different situations there, and whether our opinions have changed on any of those players. I also went to three games when I was out in Arizona this past weekend,

got to watch baseball with my own eyes. It was fantastic. And it was so warm. It was so... I'm not trying to brag, but I'm just... Like getting away from the northeast and into 90 degree weather was just amazing. Hey, it's going to be, hold on, let it load. It's going to be 69 degrees on Sunday.

I saw that. New York City, baby. I saw that. Let's go, Chris. Get hyped. I've actually really bummed about that because I work all day on Sundays. Oh, yeah. And so I'm just going to like be looking outside, watching everybody have fun.

Like, oh, that's nice. Let me out. How's 69 degrees going to feel after all that cold weather? I have become the guy that like that first day, it's like 57 degrees. I break out the shorts. 100%. Yeah. I was looking for a one word answer.

You didn't give it to me, but that's okay. Nice. There you go. Well, thanks to you guys for- Pass me. Thanks for holding it down yesterday. You guys did a great job. And since you hosted Chris, you get to go first today.

You know, I realized I didn't hit the button at the beginning of the show. That was something was wrong. I didn't hit the little bun-a-ba-b-b-b-b-b-b-pun. I did that was that. I knew I messed something up. Other than that, it was a perfect show. Perfect show. So I will forgive you.

Give me your favorite name from Sleepers 2.0. We've talked a little about him recently, but I think there's so much to like about Dalyle. and I'm surprised that there isn't more excitement about him. I think part of that is just we have kind of been burned by the out of nowhere Washington Nationals breakout in recent years. Joey Menesis, I think, was one. There was another guy a couple years ago who was a similar one. And I think people are just kind of in some ways throwing down Lyle in that pile. he's a 201.51.80p so far.

The thing that I think more people should know about Dale and Lyle is he just turned 23 on November 30th. He has only been 23 for a couple of months. It definitely feels like one of those situations where the guy comes out of nowhere, but he's like 27, and that's why you'd never heard of him before. And he's just organizational depth. and he just ran a high babbip and there's no way it's going to work, right? Like that's, I think, the assumption a lot of people are making about Dail and Lyle. But I kind of think he just took a big step forward in 2025 in a way that might be for real.

He dealt with a lot of injuries before this, had always been a very good athlete with very good contact skills, but hadn't had any ability to hit the ball with power until last season when he put up an 89 point one mile per hour average exit velocity at AAA, 88.9 at the major league level, max EV 110 at both levels. None of that is elite. But when you make as much contact as Dalyle does and you run as fast as he does and you hit as many line drives as he does, just average power. Raw power could be really, really valuable. And I think that might be the situation we're dealing with where there was a really good piece. on fan graphs from last September about Dalaile and Lyle. And one of the comps it made, it was by Ben Clemens, who's always very good. And one of the things it talks about is how often Dan Lyle hits line drives.

He's got like the really high launch angle sweet spot, line drive rate, however you want to define it, launch angle consistency, all that stuff. It's very reminiscent of Luis Arias, except he can drive the ball a little bit. He doesn't quite have the superlative contact skills, but there's more pop here and significantly more athleticism, 92nd percentile sprint speed. I think there's a decent chance. Dalyle and Lyle is just like a 285-15 homer, 20 to 25 stolen base guy. And I think there's no risk of playing time because he's a pretty – he was a bad defender last year, but I think there's defensive upside at least.

I think he's going to play every day for Washington. I think he's a really, really nice pick as long as he's going around 200. Yeah, his overall fantasy pros ADP is 216, but over the past two weeks at the NFBC, it's 200. So it does seem like he's rising up a little bit here, going right next to another interesting name who is hitting the ball really hard so far in spring training. That's Jack Caglione. Yeah. Who would you guys rather have between Dale and Lyle and Cags? I think it's probably Caglione.

I think the upside is, I think the upside for Daly and Lyle is like Michael Brantley. Remember Michael Brantley? He was a quality of your kids out there. I haven't forgotten about Michael Brantley. I think Jack Caglione's upside is Pete Alonzo. Yeah.

I don't know if that's, you know, maybe there's a little more athleticism there, but like a really, really legit power hitter. So I think the ceiling is probably a little higher for Caglione, but I think Daila Lyle could be a top 100 player this year. I mean, I was faced with this exact choice, Caglione or Dailan Lyle for my third outfield spot in an head-to-head points auction. So shallow end, obviously going real thrifty with that third outfield spot. But I felt like there was enough upside that I could afford to. And I preferred Caglione.

It did not get Caglione. I had to settle for Dalyam Lyle. But yeah, I have them both. I don't know if we want to transition to Caglione now, because I have both of these guys as Sleepers. I mean, if he's your favorite name from Sleepers 2.0, just go for it. Well, first of all, let me finish with Dalyam Lyle. I think Dalymeil might actually be better for points leagues

because you look at how many extra base hits he gets apart from home runs. You know, he had the seven triples in September. Just in September, seven triples. and it's a low strikeout rate he's running. It's 16-17%. So both of those, I think, Lind Lyle's skill set even more to points leagues. You don't have to go as deep into the outfield in that format,

so he may not be as draftable, but I think in the long run we'll view Dailen Lyle if he ends up being good as more of a points league specialist. As for Cagliome, the way he's been impacting the ball this spring is what everybody dreams. of when the Royals selected him in the first round of the draft two years ago when he was killing it in the miners. He had a performance in the miners last year, about like the one that that launched Nick Kurtz to the majors and then to start him.

When Caglione got to the majors, Caggleyon got to the majors. Caggs was actually a little better. Yeah, in the miners. 170 WRC plus, 148 for Nick Kurtz. Caglione didn't quite stick the landing, though, once he got to the majors. but he was, the data showed he deserved much, much better than he actually fared. The high end exit velocities were very good, like an elite power hitter. For somebody who hits the ball as hard as that, struck out just 22% of the time.

I mean, as a rookie. And that goes back for Caglione, too. His strikeout rate in the miners ran even lower. But really, this spring is where we're seeing him put it all together. We talked Chris and I on Monday. show about how over the weekend he hit a ball over 120 miles per hour, which only a handful of players have ever done in the history of stat cast. And, you know, he's also over the weekend, a double hit 116.5 miles per hour.

His first home run of the spring was nearly 116 miles per hour. I mean, he is throttling the ball. Again, in a way, his history, going back to college, shows he's capable of. So you take that kind of impact potential with those kind of bat to ball. skills, clear path to playing time in Kansas City, moved in the fences even there this year. That's just kind of the icing on the cake because even without that, I think Caglione is trending toward being a nice post-type sleeper here. And because he only went for a dollar in this head-to-head points auction I did, I think I can

still get away with calling him a sleeper. I do think if he continues to perform this way this spring, it won't be long before he becomes such a gna-d-d-d-a kind of pick that I can't call him a sleeper anymore. Yeah, I think we probably already should be there based just on what we've seen so far and the prospect pedigree, but ADP is what it is. It's around 200 right now.

And like you said, you got him for, or someone got him for $2. A dollar. A dollar. In the draft we had. You would have gone to if you had. at it. Always got to keep that extra dollar around. So yeah, that, um, Caglione, just a reminder for people don't know.

He was the number six overall pick in the 2024 draft. And what makes everything that he's doing even more impressive is he was a pitcher as well in college. Like he was not specifically focused just on hitting. He was a, I think a relief pitcher for, for the University of Florida. Um, he hasn't thrown. own, I think, at all as a professional and there's no expectation that he will, but he was not focusing full time on hitting. So there could also be some accelerated progression that we're seeing

here. So I think he is one of the absolute best post-hyped sleepers until he turns it into a hyped sleeper, which I think is going to happen in the final three weeks or so of spring training. Yeah, I mean, it hasn't gotten out of control yet. As I mentioned, the ADP over the past two weeks at NFBC is 198 for Caglio, but I'm sure that's going to continue to rise here with him. Scott, he's going right next to another player that I know you like quite a bit is Daltz and Varsho. So who would you rather have between those two, Cags or Varsho? And you are muted before you try and answer. I think I would rather have, I think I would rather have, I I know I still have Varsho ahead in my rankings as much as I move Caglione up.

And I'm going to stick with Varsho for now. I mean, I think he has a very strong breakout case. He was in my breakouts 1.0. Yep. And carried over to 2.0. And it's power mostly that I'm looking at with him, but the big Exit Velo jump and the 46 homer pace, that's what you pro-rate it to last year over 162 games.

So, yeah, there's a lot to like there for Varsho, too. I still going to give him the edge over Cags, but the way things are evolving here, that could change. All right, my favorite sleeper from Sleeper 2.0, which is actually not out yet for either me or Scott, but we are currently working on those articles, and they'll be out soon. But I'm going with Trevor Rogers.

So you guys have been all over this one. I know, Scott, especially you, you had them ranked as a top 30 starting pitcher all offseason. I am late to the party on this one. I was a little unsure entering the offseason, and I am not overreacting to spring training. think that I am just reacting to what we have seen so far. And he has maintained the velocity increase that made him so good last year.

He has looked just as sharp, albeit a very small sample size. But I think it's just reassuring to see that everything we saw from Trevor Rogers last year we have seen thus far through two starts. So last year, some of the changes that he made, a reminder on these, he used his fastball and change up more. He introduced a new sweeper and he threw that 7% of the time. His fastball velocity was up from 91.9 miles per hour in 24, up to 93.1 miles per hour. His fastball was great, had a 24% whiff rate.

The slider and sweeper were both filthy. The changeup was solid. I do think some things will regress here. 84% left on base percentage and a 226 bad, those things are just not sustainable long time, long term. But, I mean, he had a sub 2 ERA. So even if he regresses and doubles that. If he has a mid-3 ZRA and a 115 whip, I think he's still a great value where he's going.

So I think I needed a little bit more reassurance, and so far I've got that. And his NFBC ADP over the last two weeks is 160. He is climbing up a little bit. It's still nowhere near where you've ranked him all offseason, Scott, but still going behind names like Nathan Avaldi, Sandy Alcantara, Trey Yassavage. Yassavage, I'm a little bit worried about, like,

hasn't pitched so far in spring, and they're talking about slow playing him and they want more innings for later in the season. I still like him, but I think maybe back off a little bit on Yassavage. Drew Raspison and Bubba Chandler. I would take Trevor Rogers ahead of all those names that I just mentioned. Avaldi, Sandy, Yassavage, Raspic, Rasperson, Bubba Chandler.

Yeah, so Rogers is on my list for Sleepers 2.0 as well. I think it's the truest form of sleeper where people just aren't appreciating how good he could be, which is bananas because we just like. how good he could be last year. And this is kind of the modern version of a sleeper, I feel like. We saw it with Jerks and ProFar last year, where it's not so much that people don't recognize truly how good he is.

It's just people are overcorrecting for the regression that they think is coming. Nobody thinks Trevor Rogers is going to have a ERA below two. next year, even though he did it for what, 18 starts. But no, it's not going to happen again. It might not even be within a run of that. It would be a great year if he did, but it probably won't be within a run even of the ERA Trevor Rogers just had. So it's more, how do you value that?

And I don't think anybody knows. We're all just kind of deciding where within the starting pitcher ranks, that risk, that clear risk is, where the, where the rewards worth that risk. And for me, the point in the starting picture rankings where I start to see similar risk for everybody there is closer to 30 than 45. It's closer to where like Brandon Woodruff is going. Of course, there's tons of risk there for Woodruff, but the upside is also obvious. Chase Burns.

Tyler Glass Now. I mean, honestly, Glass Now seems riskier. So I don't really understand why Trevor Rogers belongs closer to where like Louise Castillo and Ryan Pepeio are going. I know you guys like Pepeio. Whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't view him in particularly high upside. Come on, Scott.

McKenzie Gore. I mean, geez, McKenzie Gore, do it, do it once before we say you have the same upside as Trevor Rogers. So I think he's a sweeper. All right. Do it once. McKinsey Gore has had 18 good starts before. Okay. Not the results were not as good as Trevor Rogers 18 starts last year, obviously a 180 ERA, but you don't think Trevor Rogers is actually that good.

I would guess McKenzie Gore's peripherals were pretty close in his first 18 starts last year. It's just we saw what the regression looked like for McKenzie. He had a 311 ERA through his first 18 starts last year. Let's let's show a little bit of respect. 311 ERA, 306 FIP, 131 strikeouts, and 104 innings for McKenzie Goreness first 18 starts last year. So he is capable of that kind of pitch. Your reaction there is telling, and both your reactions to me saying Pepio, too. Like, what are you willing to apologize for when you're assessing pitchers?

And you have... I will never apologize for anything. But you get what I'm saying. Like, there's more speculation required to see the glass half full for a lot of the ones. I just listed off. And, you know, nobody knows what the future holds, obviously, but I think it's getting a little too clever. You're wanting to show off how well you can read the, how well you can decipher the advanced stats that everybody else is deciphering anyway. So, like, how are you getting an edge there?

I don't know. I feel like I'm rambling at this point, but I made my point on why. I think it's going too late. I have Pepio two spots ahead of Rogers, but they're both inside the top 40. I've got Gore behind Rogers. I don't disagree with what you're saying. I think Rogers is being overlooked in drafts. And, you know, Woodruff's a good comp because I'm not, I'm not comfortable with any ranking for Brandon Woodruff.

Like, I looked at my rankings and I have him 30th, which is 10 spots ahead of Trevor Rogers. And I'm like, well, I don't know. if that makes sense. So I just dragged him behind Trevor Rogers. And then I was like, well, I don't know if that makes sense either. I really just don't know what to do with Brandon Woodruff in particular. I moved them just behind Rogers. They're back to back for me.

Yeah. But I think your point is that Rogers is being undervalued. It is an extremely fair one. I think he's like, yes, this is one of those ones where yes, there will be regression. Yes, he should also. still be really good, I think. You know, it might, it'll probably be more like a 350 ERA, a 1-13 whip or something, but that should be really helpful and there's room to grow from there. And that's, that is the modern sleeper. Yes, there is regression. We can all see the regression coming. But do you think it

was just completely fake and totally bury him have, have, whatever he gained last year is, is not, there's no way that can even stick 80% of the way. That's what I think everybody struggles with, is how much one of these surprise emergent players is going to give back. Geraldo Perdomo, the same thing. And I know Chris, you and I are Charlotte, Dalaile. Yeah, absolutely. Before we hit the first break,

we do have some programming updates here for the week. It is March, so that means we have six full episodes per week now at this point. Most weeks, it'll be four different kind of normal episodes for us. We'll do one live mock draft and then a mailbag that will come out every Saturday. In addition, we will have three FBT Express episodes per week in the FBT feed. So be sure to check those out as well. Tomorrow or today when you are listening to this on Tuesday, March 3rd, I will be doing a bonus episode going live on YouTube at 2.30 p.m.

Easter time, recapping the AL-only and NL-only labor drafts that from this past, weekend with James Anderson of RotoWire. For those who don't know, Labor stands for the League of Alternative Baseball Reality, and it is the original fantasy baseball industry league. It was founded in 1994. It's almost as old as me. So we don't talk a lot about AL and NO only here, but if you are looking for that type of content, we'll do a bonus episode tomorrow. You can find it in written form too. We just had our CBS annual AL and NL only RotoR and the results and the summation of my thoughts are are available online. And a few other things to quickly promote here, the mock draft mega stream is back this year,

and it looks like it will be back on Thursday, March 12th, starting at 3.30 p.m. Eastern Time. The plan for that will be an all-day live stream where we do four different drafts in a row, one on CBS, one on Yahoo, ESPN, and then the NFBC. The NFBC draft, We'll start at 8 p.m. Eastern Time, and that is a league that we are actually playing out. So it is a beat FBT online championship, 12-team roto, $350 buy-in. And so if you want to compete against us, the link for that is my PIN tweet on X. So if you want to compete against us, you can join there. Let's take our first break when we return.

Back into Sleepers 2.0. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today, and let's continue on with our Sleepers 2.0. to move, I don't know, infinitely quicker if we want to get through these names. So Chris, why don't you rattle off a few additions to your sleepers 2.0? Yeah, so I, when I do my sleepers, I try to keep it to ADP 200 or later. Everybody has a different definition, but I just find it, it helps me to narrow it down. And so a couple of guys were taken out, a couple of guys no longer qualify.

And these were the names I added to my sleepers, Grayson Rodriguez, Brian and Brayu, J.J. Weatherholt, Marcus Simeon, Carter Jensen. And then I had a couple of deep sleepers that I threw in there, Kobe Mayo and Edward Julian. Which ones do you want me to focus on? I think Grayson Rodriguez has looked pretty good this spring. Yeah, I would say for sure. The first three that you mentioned for sure, Grayson, Brian Abraeu, and JJ Weatherholt, so I think are all worth talking about for sure. Grace Rodriguez, his velocity mostly looks fine. It's been down maybe a half-tick. so far in the spring he's made two starts including one on monday uh but i think the stuff has overall looked quite good he is working on his command and he talked about that after the start i think

he he hit someone in the head i can't remember who it was but that was a pretty scary moment uh that person was fine the hitter um but yeah the command is a work in progress which makes sense he hasn't pitched in in games in over a year but grace rundriguez you know he's missed a lot of time with injuries, but they're not really the kind of injuries we think of as like wrecking a player's career. It was two lat injuries. And then he had bone spurs removed from his elbow. Apparently, had been a lingering issue that he finally got fixed last year. I don't know. He's got the full arsenal. He's throwing a more sweepery version of his slider. The velocity's been down a little bit on that, a little more break, which is getting back to the slider that he

through when he was a prospect. I think Grayson Rodriguez is someone who, even in a 12-team league, deserves to be drafted just based on upside. You know, we're going to see a lot of pitchers in that, yeah, they deserve to be drafted, but not everybody can be drafted. I think Grayson Rodriguez,

you should try very hard to draft him even in your 12-team leagues with one of your last picks because I think there is still some upside here. Grace and I'm adding to my 2.02, and I find, like, I'm clearly ahead of the consensus on him. And for me, it's forget anything he's done this spring. Yeah, there's reason to be encouraged from that. I didn't even need to see that to think of Grace and Rodriguez as a sleeper, just along the lines of like Joe Musgrove, who was in my first round of sleepers, have you guys forgotten who this guy could be?

He was the top pitching prospect in baseball recently as 2023. and had such a good first year that I think we're drafting him among the top 30 pitchers the next year. There's been nothing but injury since then, but like you said, nothing that you would expect to have career altering effects. I'll go ahead. Continue.

And he's going after like Casey Mize. Yeah, like just guys who are even like, I think you can make, obviously you can make the upside case for Shane McLeanhan. The last time he was healthy, he was one of the best pitchers in baseball. Okay, maybe the upside tire for Shane McClain-Han. I genuinely don't know.

I'll let you know on Tuesday when I see what he looks like on the mound. He's certainly not a better bet than Grayson Rodriguez to make an impact this year, given that he's lost two years with significantly more serious injuries than Grayson Rodriguez. So I have those guys back to back. I am equally willing to take the flyer on Grayson Rodriguez or Shane McClain-Anne. I'd rather have both than like Shane Bieber who's going ahead of Grace and, at this point. Certainly you look at like,

who was I going to? Kodi Sengai I'd rather take the chance on Grayson. Bryce Miller, I'd rather take the chance on Grayson. There's, I'm, I'm getting moderately excited about Grayson Rodriguez. And then Brian O'Brien, Abrae, just, he's still outside of the top 200, despite the concerns about Josh Hader's biceps injury

and whether he'll be ready for opening day. I think at the very least, you can draft Brian Abrayu as one of those really good non-closing relievers. And maybe you get five saves at the beginning of the season. If Hater is slow, maybe you get 30. You know, like maybe it just never comes together for Hater. Brian Abrae is just the closer all season. He's a top 10 guy.

I think that's a realistic outcome now. And then JJ Weatherholt, he had a 430-foot projected non-home run on Monday. Frank, you pointed this one out. brushed a ball, but it just got caught up in the wind out in Arizona. He's having a really nice spring. There is zero concern about whether JJ Weatherholt will be the opening day second basement for the Cardinals. It is,

I think he would have to get hurt to not be in the opening day lineup as a second basement. He might hit high in the lineup. Certainly it wouldn't take long. J.J. Weatherholt is a top 10 to 15 prospect in baseball. There is 2020 potential here with a good batting average. I think there is a ton to line. like about J.J. Weatherholt and the price has not gotten unreasonable. He's 232.8 in the month

of February or in the last two weeks. Excuse me. I was sorting by that. So that's that's an easy click every single time. I think J.J. Weatherholt should be a top 200 pick. And if you look at just comparatively, I understand Connor Griffin as a prospect is on a different level than J.J. Weatherholt. but Connor Griffin over the past week his ADP is 143 with a min pick of 84 JJ Weatherholt during that same time is still at 229

and JJ Weatherholt is significantly more proven at the highest levels of the miners Griffin's ceiling is way higher yeah but especially because I think he'll be a 40 steel guy if he's in the majors but I don't want to undersell Weatherholt's upside oh yeah no because I think his upside looks a lot like

what Heraldo Pardomo did last year sure and that was second round caliber production itself. That's the upside case, and I'm not necessarily expecting him to do that as a rookie. But, you know, he's coming to a shortstop eligibility. We think he's for sure going to pick up second. Could pick up third as well.

That would be a very handy player on top of the production. I have, I don't have weather holding my sleeper's 2.0, but he's in breakouts 2.0 for me. So, like, I don't know what's left between the three of it. Like, I don't think anybody said a name yet that I haven't added to one of my 2.0s. Can I also just add one more name? Yeah. Just because he's kind of the forgotten guy, even though Kevin McGonigal, up until about August of last year,

looked like he was going to be the number one prospect in baseball. And then Connor Griffin just dominated double in a way that made it. You had to put him at number one. I think that's every prospect list. McGonigal is two everywhere. He is still very much alive for a. spot in the Tigers opening day lineup. And he's even cheaper

than JJ Weatherholt. And he's probably a better player than JJ Weatherhold. At least if you ask the people who really know about prospects, they think he is. So that's another one. Just do not forget about Kevin McGonagall because he had a bonker. He had a

15% walk rate and 11% strikeout rate last year as a 20 year old who played more than half his season at double A. And he went out and won the AFL MVP on top of that. Yeah, and he's off to a good start this spring. They do not forget about the literal number two prospect in baseball because he's kind of being forgotten among the other really interesting young short stops.

And one of the things I like to look for in a young prospect hitter who has showed a good eye and on base skills in the minors is, you know, early on in spring, do they show us that against, you know, major league level pitching? And they're not always facing major league pitchers. You know there's minor leaguers mix in there, but JJ Weatherholds so far, six walks to two strikeouts in 10 games and the minors. Like he is just picking up where he left off last season.

So, and he just really good eye and likely good OBP player and even a name you can look at in a Head Ted Points League as well. Scott, how about you? Let's go over here and rattle off a few names in Sleepers 2.0. Yeah, like I said, what's left? Okay. If there's anything. There is some.

So Sean Manaya, I'm going to go back to that well. I think there's enough just looking at what happened to him statistically last year. Obviously, the results were terrible. He missed, you know, early on, missed time with injury, came back, had an ERA of 564. But that was with 11.1K per 9 and 1.8 walks per 9. It was about as good of a strikeout to walk ratio as you'll ever see. his ex-fip was 330 the other ones weren't as favorable

but there were better than 564 so already it's like okay something's got to give there for Sean Mania and then there was a report early this spring that he took it a little too far last year the drop in arm slot emulating Chris Sale that caused him to take that huge leap forward in 2024 with the strikeout numbers especially

that made me so excited about him last year the arm ankle dropped further last year And so he spent time regaining that arm slot, that perfect, happy medium that he found in 2024 that allowed him to take that leap. So I think, you know, there's plenty of light there already with Sean Manaya, but that additional nugget about the arm slot being messed up last year, I'm back in on Sean Mania for a late round pick. A big spring riser here, Mick Abel. I'm to the point where I'm ready to call him a sleeper. So far this spring, six shutout innings, no walks. 11 strikeouts getting a ton of whiffs on his fastball in particular,

which that is a, like if you can miss bats with your fastball, you're going to be good. That more than anything else, I think, points to a high ceiling for a pitcher. So don't know that McAble's making the rotation. And that's why I think he's going to remain a sleeper. But we're to the point now where I think you have to consider him, at least as a draft and stash, and maybe he'll stick around. Isak Perides, I think it's time to call him a sleeper.

People are rightfully avoiding him, understandably, let's say, avoiding him in drafts because he doesn't have a spot to call his own. Astros weren't able to trade Christian Walker like they wanted to, so it seems like Peretti's out of luck, but they talked about playing Jordan Alvarez in left field some. Al-Tu-Ju-Ve in left field. And, yeah, Al-Tu-Vey and left. I think they've said they don't want to do that as much this year, but they have been using ESOc Paredes at second base some, which he's done earlier in his career.

I don't know that he's appeared in the game there this spring, but they have been working him out at second base. And just look at the players who block him. Carlos Correa, extensive injury history. Jordan Alvarez, it's got a fair amount of an injury history there himself. Christian Walker, he's old and he's not that good anymore. So, like, is he going to block him all season long? Jeremy Payne him this time with injury last year.

Altuvae's pretty darn old. I think life will find a way here for Parades. And if that happens, I mean, it played out perfectly with the Astros last year. He missed time with injury himself, Parades. But look at his numbers per game basis. He was basically who Alex Bregman was, his past couple, his final couple years in Houston, and would be a must-start player. at that week third base position.

It was like a 32 homer, 90 run, 90 RBI pace. It was exactly what we hoped he would be. Yep. So the value is looking good there for parades at this point. Sorry, Chris, you wanted to interject. Oh, no, do you have any more? I think I had one more I wanted to mention. Yes, Alec Bohm.

Alec Boe is going about 250th this year. Philly's cleanup hitter, Alec Boem, 250th pick. Exactly. A bunch of great hitters ahead of him. And look, his totals were down last year because he missed time with injury, but there's nothing that suggests in the underlying numbers

he became a different player. And this is somebody who we were drafting 140th last year. He's going 100 picks later than we're used to drafting Alec Bohm at a position that I think everybody acknowledges as the weakest in fantasy. And yet,

everybody's forgetting about him because he missed some time last year. It's an everyday player still, great lineup spot. great batting average and RBI source at a weak position. Deep leagues, I'm thrilled to take him as my corner infielder. If not,

third base itself, if I happen to miss out at that weak position. It's really hard to find an RBI specialist. I think Alec Bohm's an RBI specialist. If he's... The batting average specialist, it's hard to find those late. Yeah.

Before last year, back-to-back seasons of 97 RBI for Alec Bohm. Frank, you did ask me to keep an eye on the chat. because we're trying a new thing where we're putting the chat questions on the board here and someone said Frank give us the

really off the beaten path sleepers and I'm looking at your list they're off the beaten path a bit but can I can I give some deep ones I've got a deep sleeper for every position I'm just going to run through them real quick not going to give a big explanation Harry Ford at catcher Kobe Mayo at first base

he's your everyday third baseman for the Orioles for at least the first month. Sink your swim, buddy. Let's see it. Edward Julian, there's power, there's on base skills, there's course field. You can do worse in a deep league. Jordan Lawler still have faith in.

Colt Emerson, still a chance. He is the starting second basement for the Mariners. Not super likely chance, but it's there. Carson Benj, his price just still has not really risen, and I still think he's the likeliest starting right fielder for the Mets. Robbie Snelling, I think you still have to stash him, but still a very, very promising young pitcher. So those are some deep sleepers.

Yeah, I've got some names here. I'm going to rattle off in a bit, but I did see some names pop up in the chat that I thought were interesting. Uncle Ted through T.J. Rumfield out there. And I'll just, look, man, he is. He is a... He is raking for the Rockies.

I believe he was a... I think either Rule 5 or they traded for him. And he has a chance to be their opening day first basement. So I mean, that used to be on the Yankees. That's a real deep league. That's like an only stuff right there. But yeah, that is a very deep one. Also on the Rockies, Jake McCarthy, I think is pretty interesting.

That's a very good one. In deeper leagues, I've been picking him up for some late batting average and, you know, maybe 25 steals this season. But the names that are actually on my sleepers 2.0 here, Shoti Imanaga last year took a step back, but maintained that great control. He also dealt with a hamstring injury that I think might have affected him more than he actually let on.

He showed up this spring. All of his pitches are up two to three miles per hour across the board. Closer to where they were two years ago, in fact, even a little bit ahead of where they were at two years ago. He did allow three solo home runs in that second spring outing,

but you know that comes with the territory with I'maaga. I just really like the discount. The ADP last year was 83, and over the past two weeks, it's 175. And I also really like the whip. I mean, in his career so far, 101 whip is incredible.

You know, his bad bit was super low last year. So even if that comes up to like 110, that's still a really good whip to get from a, you know, pick 175 around that range of the draft. Joe Musgrove, you guys have talked a lot about, like you have convinced me of Joe Musgrove. He was just, he's just going way too late. He had Tommy John surgery back in October of 2024.

He's making his spring debut, I believe, on Wednesday of this week. he is 17 months removed from TJ surgery, so more than enough time. And his four years prior to the injury after joining the Padres, a 320 ERA 111-11 whip 9.4K per 9. And last two weeks, the ADP is 228 for Joe Musgrove. So I like that a lot. And then two hitters, I wanted to mention Caleb Durbin. I really love the swing in Fenway, 20% pulled air rate last season.

That will work as a right-handed bat in Boston. makes a ton of contact, just a 10% strikeout rate, 91% zone contact. He didn't walk much, but he wasn't really that aggressive. If you look at his swing percentages and stuff, and he walked a lot more in the minor. So I think the batting average comes up in Fenway. I think he walks more. I think the OBP will be good.

Not crazy upside, but 275, 10 homer, 20 to 25 steel guy. I like that at third base, again, for Caleb Durbin. And Andrew Vaughn. I know Chris, you brought this name up before as well, but in 64 games with the Brewers, he looked great, hit 308, 9 homers, 46 RBI, 869 OPS, made a lot of contact, hit the ball hard, lots of line drives, and he's going to bat somewhere in the middle of that Brewer's lineup, which, you know, tons of RBI opportunity for him on that team. I know he struggled in August, bounced back in September, had some big left-right splits,

but that hasn't been as much of a problem for him in his career. I mean, he's a little bit better against lefties, but not as big of a disparity as we saw last season. And low-key, his expected stats are really good for Andrew Vaughn. So last two weeks, the ADP is 283. So I do like him as corner infielder, you know, deep league utility bat, like whatever you want to use, RBI and, you know, 20-ish home runs. Yeah, I think that's all pretty doable there for Andrew Vaughn.

The thing is, it's a pretty good park. It's a good lineup. if all he is is what he was in Chicago, when he, you know, for his career in Chicago, he hit 250. He averaged right around 20 homers.

If he's just a 250 hitter with 20 homers, that's boring. That's not super useful. But in that lineup hitting fifth, that might be 85 RBI. Like, that's a pretty useful player, especially in your like 15 teen leaves.

I am surprised. Andrew Vaughn is so cheap, given the floor is useful the floor is useful corner infielder in a 15 team league and if what we saw with the brewers was real at all he's a legit impact bet he was really good with them and i think a lot of people are stuck on the struggles in august we saw this big breakout and then it seemed to fizzle out he was good in september though and there is no playing time concerns for andrew vaughan right now like there's just who would they even bend to you him for yeah uh that was like jake bowers that was kind of they were kind of

bowers was interfering some with vaughn's playing time down the stretch last year so that's part of the hesitance with me i thought i would end up liking vaughn more than i have uh because it's you know it's kind of the it's kind of the lawrence butler thing all over again except the breakout wasn't even as loud as butlers was last year where it's like you know Okay, there was a couple months that were good and a month that wasn't so good. To go with a track record of mediocrity for Andrew Fawn. And then they kept messing with his playing time. Let me see if I can find out exactly how much they were messing with his playing time.

Because they may be. He did sit against some Ritees in September, for sure. I don't remember looking that up. Yeah, Bauer started almost half the time in September. Okay. Was that always for Vaughn, though? So that is a risk factor for Andrew Vaughn. But again, his splits in his career,

he's like a 240 hitter, 700 OPS against Ritees, and like 280 and with a 785 OPS against Lefties. So it's not a huge disparity. I think he could still be, you know, serviceable against Ritees. If he really struggles against Ritees, then he could start to lose playing time. But I think they'll at least let him start as an everyday player and see what he does with it.

So again, that's Andrew Vaughn. If I could mention one more because it's also theoretically a first baseman who's going much later than Vaughn even, which is Bryce Eldridge. I mean, I shouldn't even have to get into it much. Look at where he ranks as a prospect. Look at what his power grades are.

I'm kind of a skeptic just within the prospect world about Eldridge, but I mean, he's a top 20 prospect for me, too. and there's strikeout concerns there, sure. I think the biggest reason he's slide so far is he's not actually first base eligible, he's util only. But any league where you have a bench, which is most every league, right? We do a lot of mocks without a bench just to be efficient about it.

But if you have a bench, you don't even really have to worry about, I got to keep my utility spot open for him because I think it's very likely before the end of April. He has first base eligibility. trading off there with Raphael Devers for the Giants. So it's the value for Eldridge, given the certainty of him making the team and the upside he possesses,

is just stupid to me. It's really stupid. He may be a bust, but I guess in the fantasy sense, he can't be a bust at that price. It may not work out with the strikeout concerns, but there's no risk to taking him there. The reward is enormous.

There's names like, Josh Bell and Hazu Sanchez. Yeah. And like, hey, I know the dream never dies for Hazus Sanchez. And like,

I know there are people who like Dominant Canzone. Yeah. I think Frank, you're a Dominic Canzone guy, but like, oh yeah, I like,

I like Canzone in theory. I just don't think he's going to play. That's not an everyday player. Like, that's just, it's just not going to happen. He's not going to play every day. And so,

I don't know, mate, look, I can't say never, but like he's, what, 27, 28, years old, it's probably not going to suddenly become everyday dominant Canzon.

Bryce Eldridge is going to play every day, at least until he fails. I'd much rather take that chance. So, yeah, I think Bryce Eldridge is woefully undervalued. I think Owen Casey is also woefully undervalued for the likelihood of him being in the opening day line for the Marlins as a another guy who's been a top 50-ish prospect for a pretty long while. All right. One more deep league name.

I'll just mention, no analysis. Simian Woods Richardson. Keep him on your radar for this upcoming season. Let's take our final break and we'll return right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. We will get back into our sleepers 1.0 in just a second and what has changed since writing those articles back in January. But quick talk about Arizona.

I went to three different games while I was out there. Two in one day. That was a really long day. But again, it was great. No complaints about being in the sun. You don't look too sunburned. No, no, no. I actually kind of lucked out.

I didn't really plan it this way, but all the games I went to, I was sitting on the shade side of the ballpark. Smart. And it just worked out fantastically. So I went to see the Padres v. Rockies, Mariners, D-backs, and Brewers Reds while it was out there. And so a couple things I saw. Randy Vasquez, two and two-thirds, no-hit innings,

two-warks-four strikeouts. His velocity has been way up this spring, like two to three miles per hour, across the board. And that was in his first start. And then everything in his second start was like one to two miles per hour. So we'll see if he can maintain that velocity

like further into starts. Right now, I think it's just an NL only name. I just like the deepest of leagues. Kind of throw them on your scout team. I don't think there's anything actionable for like 12 or 15 teamers. Maybe like a 24 team dynasty league. Yeah, you have them, right?

I have had Randy Vasquez for a while in that league. There you go. Just holding on to him like a life preserver. How about this? I left in the seventh inning of this game because I had to get over to the next one. And Zach Veen hit a walk-off homer. I was so upset that I missed it. I mean, Scott, you're muted.

We didn't mention Zach Veen. That's another, that's another super I'm written for. He's a two walk-off homers this spring, hasn't he? Yeah. Yeah, one of them, this home run was a 108.7 EV 447 feet homer. The first one he hit earlier in the week was 113, 468 feet, off of a lefty. Yeah.

I mean, his power looks legit. And that was thought to be his carrying tool when he was first drafted. Like, he was getting compared to Cody Bellinger. He has huge speed, too. Yeah.

Yeah. And, you know, reports came out when, when, you know, at the start of spring training that apparently Veen had been dealing

with some substance issues. He put on a lot of weight this off season, right? He put it on or he took it off. I think he put it on 40 pounds. Yeah. No, it's not all months.

but it might be good weight that he needed, you know? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you can put on 40 pounds in it off. You can't put on 40 pounds of muscle, but you can put on 40 pounds, and a lot of it can be muscle. And like when you're an athlete, it's not like it has to be on muscle.

You know, like there's just value to having more heft to you. Mass is mass. Yeah. I just don't trust the Rockies to really make a way for him. And that's why I don't really consider Vien to be much of a draft target. I took him in my five outfielders. in a lonely league for a buck. But from and and virtually any other scenario, I don't consider Zach Vina draft target right now,

but definitely somebody to keep an eye on how he's performing at AAA. The second game I went to was the D-backs and Mariners. Luis Castillo kind of looked like old and crappy, but I mean, it's spring training. So he probably doesn't really care too much about it. He'll be fine. And then Ryan Nelson looked great actually, two perfect innings with three strikeouts. He had five whiffs on 25 pitches. He was still throwing his.

fastball a bunch. He threw it 60% of the time, but he threw his cutter more in this one, and it looked really good. It had three whiffs, 43% CSW rate. That cutter hasn't been great so far in his career, but I mean, he's throwing it more right now, and maybe that can be a secondary offering that he needs. You know, like he's usually just really fastball reliant. The ADP the past two weeks for Ryan Nelson is 268. Any interest in him as a sleeper? I mean, I guess in a points league as a spark, but What about in a non-points league? I think he needs to be drafted in most every league.

You know, mid-3 ZRA, whip below 1.2, kind of a floor option, but he's done it for a year and a half now. And I think, I actually think Ryan Nelson is a little undervalued for that. Not undervalued in points leagues because the relief pitcher eligibility,

but just in a general fantasy context, I think Ryan Nelson's a little undervalued. All right. And I also got to look at Jordan Lawler. He struck out twice. He took some really bad swings. And it's been a mixed bag for him so far this spring. He has two homers. Six walks to five strikeouts.

So, I mean, that ratio is not bad, but 28% strikeout rate early on. And Chris, a lot of what we talked about when evaluating him this offseason is that he, his numbers in the minors against non-fastballs are just really, really bad. Yeah, it might be untenable. He might just have too big of a hole in his swing or an inability to read spin. that's certainly possible. It's not clear he's going to be in the everyday lineup, but right now, I think he's got to still has a chance.

So Jordan Lawler, I think it's a long shot, but he's been so productive in the miners. We're talking like close to a thousand OPS across his time at AAA. Yes, it's Reno, so it's inflated, but he's been super, super productive. In 63 games there last year,

11 homers, 20 steals, 313 batting average. lifts the ball, super athletic. I still think Jordan Lawler is worth a look, especially if he makes the opening day roster. If not him, who would you think is the frontrunner in left field? I know Ryan Waldschmidt is making a competition of it. He had a huge game.

Oh, my gosh. On Sunday. Yeah, he had like, do you have like four padded balls over 100 miles per hour in that game or something? Three for three with two doubles. The three hits were, 107, 111 and 112. Crazy.

Crazy. So Lardis Griel could be back shortly after opening day, but probably not by opening day. He's coming back from Torn ACL. Yeah, I guess it might be him. Alec Thomas can play center field. There's some defensive option that I know. I can't even think of his name because he's just not that interesting of a player for our purposes. Is it Jorge Barrosa?

I think it's them, yeah. We'll see with Jordan Law, though. I mean, they still just need to give him an opportunity so we can just see what he can do, but it remains kind of a mixed bag here. Then the last game I saw on Saturday was, again, the Reds, the Brewers, and my guy, Sal Stewart started at third base. He went one for three with a steel.

I saw Hunter Green pitch. He was pretty bad. I don't think it really matters much, but he could not locate his pitches. And when he threw them in the zone, the Brewers, to their credit, they were ready, man. They hit him hard. They had five hard hits against it.

him and I did get to see some big name prospects in this game. Jesus Made, Luis Pena, and Andrew Fisher with the Brewers. Made and Pena each had a really bad strikeout, but then Made also had a single that was like 111 miles per hour, and Andrew Fisher blasted a home run 110 miles per hour. So if you're in Dynasty and you just wrapped up your FYPD draft and, you know, somebody in your league has Andrew Fisher, I'm sure. Last thing I wanted to mention, Matt McLean.

He went two for three with a homer, hit it to right center fields, like, you know, impressive power up the middle. And then here on Monday, massive game. I mean, he reached base four times, two homers, six RBI. He's eight for 14. So far, he has three walks, only one strikeout. This is the type of thing that I told myself on the New Year's Resolution episode, like, don't overreact to things in spring training. But, I mean, we probably should react, right? Does this matter? I don't know. You tell me, like, Matt McLean's off to an amazing start.

The problem with Matt McLean is like he's hitting the ball hard. I think he today was like a 107 and a 110 mile per hour, eggs of velocity on his two hardest hit balls. He has hit a max EV of 110 each of his first two seasons. So there's, I think the thing for me, if I'm going to react to something in spring training, I want it to be something new. I want to be learning new information about a player. And I don't know if we've learned any. anything new about Matt McLean. Maybe there is something. Maybe I haven't dove deep into what the scouting reports are saying. Maybe he made some changes this offseason and it's just I'm not aware of it. It's certainly possible.

But this has the makings of the spring training overreaction. But Matt McLean was in my sleepers 1.0. I removed him not because I'm out on Matt McLean. I still think he's a fine sleeper. It's just one, his price is starting to get higher. And I noticed Matt McLean's now like 30 or 40 picks ahead of Marcus Simeon in ADP. And I think I just prefer Marcus Semean heads up to Matt McLean. So I made the switch to Marcus Simeon in Sleepers 2.0.

But that doesn't mean I'm out on Matt McLean. Like even in a very bad year where he was playing after missing an entire year with injuries, he's still at 15 and 18. You know, like it's not asking. much for him to be a 2025 guy and he just has to get the batting average to a point where he's not killing you I think you know he hit 290 as a rookie Matt McClain's not a two 90 hitter the the plate discipline is just not nearly good enough for that the back to ball skills are nearly good enough he's not a good enough athlete none of that stuff yeah he's a good athlete but you know but 250 with 20 homers and 25 steals I mean 250 20 20 20 would yeah be great yeah I'd be thrilled with that yeah so I think McLean is it's just it's not because of spring training is the point I want to make if you like Matt McLean around 200 you should just like Matt McLean around 200 and if I don't know the spring

training is enough to be a tiebreaker between him and another guy that you're choosing between okay I guess you'd rather a guy be hot right now than not but he's going right next to Jose Caballero sure Matt McClain's having a great spring take him ahead of Jose Cabriero I think you should just do that anyway. He's going right next to Ezekiel Tovar. Sure, take Matt McLean. But I just don't want to, I don't want people to see him hitting

500 this spring and be like, ah, that's why I have to take Matt McLean. That would be bad process. I did see somebody in the chat mentioned that he might just be healthy, right? Like getting a full season removed from all those injuries he dealt with in 2024. I mean, that might be a fair hypothesis

for why he showed up to spring so far and has looked great. But again, it's like, let's not overreact here to Matt McLean. Who again is off to a great start. Let's wrap up with the reminder of Sleepers 1.0. And any updates that we've made to the list who was on this list originally, Scott will go over to you, remind people of who, it doesn't have to be all of them, but anything, any changes you see coming to the names that were originally on Sleepers 1.0.

Nope. I was a list of 10 and I think they all still qualify as sleepers for me. I did have to remove some from busts and breakouts but I'll just go through the 10 real quick. Ozzy Albiz still think he's undervalued second.

Brian Reynolds, people are sleeping on him after one off year, but the underlying number still look good. Carter Jensen at a deep position I think he's people are sleeping on his upside. Chris Bubich, somehow he's sliding outside of the top.

200 as good as he was last year. Sal Stewart. By the way, Chris Boevich looked very good in his spring debut on Monday. Either Sunday or Monday, but yeah, his velocity is where it needed to be coming back from a shoulder injury. Movement looked great. I thought he

looked exactly like we needed to see. Sal Stewart, I still love. I'm worried maybe he's getting a little too much attention, but even since the start of February, he's going outside the top 190. So I think I think it's fine to call him a sleeper still.

Ramon Luriano, people definitely sleeping on how good he's been the past year and a half. Kazuma Okamoto, the ultimate fallback at third base. I think he's great. Marcus Simeon. Chris mentioned him as a sleeper. I agree both. Just by, I liked him as a sleeper before he was traded to the Mets. And you look at how his expected home runs by ballpark, how good they are at City Field especially.

And there's a lot more reason to like Mark. Casimian is a sleeper. Joe Musgrove, we've mentioned him a few times this show. He was basically Max Fried in the three years before his injury afflicted 2024. And then Shane Smith, who was much better in the second half. It's a really good curveball. I think people are sleeping on Shane Smith's potential. All right, Chris.

Let's go over to you, a mention of who were in, which names were in your sleepers 1.0 and what changes, if any, that you made there? Yeah, the guys who are still in Sleepers 2.0 who were in Sleepers 1.0, I swapped out about half of them. Kyle Manzardo, Kazuma Okamoto, Justin Crawford, Chase DeLotter, Chris Bubich, Joe Musgrove, and Parker Messick are all in there. I didn't have a good reason to remove any of those names. Manzardo, the Guardians did sign Reese Hoskins, but like, I don't know, man. You look at that lineup. Reese Hawkins might just be the everyday DH next to Kyle Manzardo because.

Yeah, they do not have a lot of dudes. So I still think Combinzardo is going to get the opportunity to play every day. Justin Crawford, absolutely going to play every day unless he just completely falls apart this spring. I think he's underrated for fantasy. Could give you a lot of what you're hoping Chandler Simpson does, but potentially with a better overall skill set and more job security. Chase the Lodder, kind of a total wild card. And he's already missed a couple of days this spring with some lower body soreness. He just had a big game.

He had a double in a home run on Monday. But he has only played like 160 games, I think, since he became a professional in 2023, I want to say. So not a lot on the resume, but he's remained very productive. Prospect people still really like Chase the Lodder. He's going to get the opportunity. Again, Cleveland does not have a lot of dudes. And then Scott mentioned Bubich and Musgrove. I will just add Parker Messick.

I really like the skill set. He's in a four-way competition for three jobs in Cleveland. So as long as he's still alive, I will have that Parker Messick love in my heart. I removed Francisco Alvarez and Connor Griffin because I have that 280P cutoff for my sleepers, and they're both too expensive now. Unfortunately, I think Francisco Alvarez is still well priced. He's at like 175. I've got him higher than that.

If you just look at catchers, I've got him higher than Alejandro Kirk at the very least who's going ahead of him. So love that one. And then Connor Griffin, obviously, Frank, you mentioned earlier. he's going to be a top 100 pick in like two weeks I think removed for other reasons Matt McLean I just like Marcus Simeon Moore okay that's all

as I said Andy Santander his shoulder fell off rest in peace Jonah Tong it just it looks like he's the eighth starting pitcher and a six man starting pitching rotation I think Jonah Tong will be up sometime this summer and still has a lot of reasons to be exciting

and Ed when you say it it just doesn't look I think he's going to be ready for opening day, so I'd rather throw my late round sleeper dart throw at Brian Abray. All right. The reminder of my names in Sleepers 1.0, Gabriel Moreno, Alec Berluson, Jorge Polanco, Marcus Semyon, Kazuma Okubodo, Connor Griffin, JJ Weatherholt, Kevin McGonigle, Justin Crawford, Owen Casey, Nick Ladolo,

Chris Bubich, Robbie Snelling, Parker Messick, and Ian Seymour. So had to remove Anthony Santander, same reason, shoulder surgery. Connor Griffin, I have updated my sleepers 1.0. I changed some blurbs around for whoever needed them changed, and I changed all the ADPs in there as well. So you could still take a look back at Sleepers 1.0. I left Connor Griffin in there, but just kind of acknowledged the situation. That's not a sleeper anymore.

No, it's not. I mean, but every league is different, right? If he goes in the 150 to 200 range of your home league, you should draft Connor Griffin and see what happens. but it's just an ever-evolving situation on a daily basis because I think people are not only reacting to what he's doing in games, he already has three home runs, but they're also reacting to,

okay, the pirates are talking about a contract extension. And if that were to happen, then Connor Griffin's up on opening day, and he probably should be a top 100 picks. So it's just kind of a rapidly evolving situation right now. Can I add one piece of color to this? Because there's a lot of like, oh, rookies are, terrible. You're all falling for the hype. That's the thing that everybody does. And like,

oh, Bobby Witt had a 92 WRC plus as a rookie. And it's like Bobby Witt was a top 50 player in fantasy as a rookie. And then the next year he was a first round pick. And then he was a real, yeah, like, but also just Connor Griffin doesn't need to be a great hitter to be a great fantasy pick. If Connor Griffin is like a 90 WRC plus as a rookie, he's probably going to be like a top 50 player in fantasy because he's going to steal a bunch of bases. And that is. certainly not the ceiling. But I pulled the data for a piece I wrote a couple years ago looking at all top 100 prospects who entered their rookie season with a top 150 ADP since 2014. Per the fan graph's player rateer, 12 of the 23 have been worth at least $25 in their

rookie, or at least $15 in their rookie season. That's basically like a top 75 player. And 14 have been worth at least $10. The average top prospect drafted between 50 and 100 over the last decade has returned $18 worth of value. The average player taking out the rookies in the 50 to 100 range, $7.3. The average, this goes back how many years? To 2014. Okay. Yeah. It might be too big of a sample because I know there was a stretch there, particularly during the juice ball year where it just seemed like rookies couldn't miss. And we're a little past that.

But, you know, we've had some big hits among rookies even in recent years. So for me, it's just... Why Lankford was disappointing, he was still an $11 player as a rookie. For me, it's just you don't want all the rookies. You know, you won't one or two. Yeah.

No, I think there is too much, like, knee-jerk, all rookies are bad, you're falling for the hype. And like, actually, if top prop 100 prospects reach the top 150 and 80p, they actually tend to be very, very good bets. It just, that requires us all to agree that they're good bets, you know? Yeah, I mean, we don't have to look that far to remember all the hype that we got on Julio Rodriguez, and then he went out and had lived up to it. I think a 25, 25 season as a rookie.

And so... That sounds right, yeah. Yeah, he was... Pretty awesome right away. And that doesn't mean that Griffin will be, but that's kind of the caliber of prospect that Connor Griffin is. Okamoto, I just wanted to mention that he's moving up,

but the price is still not egregious. It's like, you know, just inside the top 200 over the past week. Might have to wait a little bit longer for Snelling. As we mentioned, the Marlin signed Chris Paddock and assured him that he will be in the rotation. But, you know, one injury or a bad month of Chris Paddock away from seeing Robbie Snelling.

And I still like Ian Seymour. skills, but this is kind of a draft skills not roll right now because I do believe Ian Seymour is on the outside looking in, but the race have a lot of injury risk in their rotation and just, I don't know, question marks, like Stephen Matts, how's he going to do as a starter? Like, we just, I don't know, there's no guarantee there. And Nick Martinez has been kind of inconsistent as a starter as well. So I still think there's a chance for E&C Moore to make a big impact at some point this season. All right, we are going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am friends.

Thanks as always for tuning into Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again. I will be back again tomorrow afternoon, 2.30 p.m. Eastern Time. So be sure to check that out. See you then. Bye-bye. Paramount Podcasts.