Fantasy Baseball Today - Spring Training Winners & Opening Day Roster Updates! (3/25 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 25, 2024

Consider yourself a winner if you drafted Corey Seager or Josh Jung at a discount (2:10)! Jackson Merrill and Wyatt Langford were also clear winners this spring. ... Surprisingly, Jackson Holliday was not a winner (16:38). ... The MLB is investigating the allegations surrounding Shohei Ohtani (24:10). ... Eury Perez has right elbow inflammation and will start the season on the IL (26:22). ... News (32:50): Bryce Harper returned this weekend. ... Colton Cowser was one of the prospects who did make his team's Opening Day roster (41:55). ... Shane Bieber, Jack Flaherty and Luis Severino were all clear winners during spring training (50:15)! ... We wrap up with our winning FAAB bids in The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational (1:04:08). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: https://sptfy.com/QiKv Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your lead. Well, fantasy! Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. What's up, and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Monday, March 25th. I am Frank Sample joined by Scott White and Chris Towers.

Today on the show, we are talking the biggest spring training winners. opening day roster updates, and we had waivers run in the great fantasy baseball invitational. Those are 15-team, Roto Industry Leagues. We drafted back in late February, early March. A lot has changed since then. It'll be fun to talk about some of the fad bids that went out here on Sunday night. But let's just kick things off with the biggest spring winners, in our opinions. And Chris, you get the first go at it.

Who's your biggest winner this spring? anyone who drafted Corey Seeger and Josh Young at a discount, because it looks like the Rangers are a fully operational battle station. And that lineup looks pretty terrifying when you look at it all the way through. White Langford obviously makes the opening day roster for them as well. But yeah, Corey Seeger is my biggest winner because you look back at late January. We all worried, oh, he might miss the first three weeks of the season. and he might not get, you know, any, any opportunities to play in spring.

All of a sudden, he played in spring. He's going to play in a couple more exhibition years before the start. He played at shortstop. Yeah, got two hits. And he's almost certainly going to be in the opening day lineup. So the surprising thing was I looked at his NFBC ADP from this weekend, which was after we knew he was going to be playing in games, it was still like 30.3. So there wasn't really any kind of.

of increase in Seeger's price, which I thought was really interesting because this was a guy who should have been a top 20 pick before the injury. Yeah, you wonder how many people were paying attention back to fantasy baseball rankings back then that they could revert. You know how much I like Matt Olson this year at the round one-two turn. I was taking Corey Seeger over him back before this hernia surgery. And it's, you know, it's not a hundred. percent certain still that he won't have to be his playing time won't have to be managed at all at the beginning of the year but just given and actually I forget who it was who made this point but somebody with the rangers made this point where if you look at Corey Seeger's history of coming

back from injury it's no need for a rehab assignment yeah that was what happened last year when he came back I think from the hamstring injury yeah they were going to send him on a rehab assignment one day he just did batting practice and was like, I'm good. Let's go. And he didn't and obviously almost one MVP. So yeah, it's a, well, yeah, almost one MVP, but he finished second. So as close as anyone is a. finished to not winning.

Yeah. And his ADP before the injury was inside the top 20. So yeah, I think, uh, the price has not returned to where it was. I guess there is some additional concern. that he's coming back from surgery, but he is back now. And I was surprised that there was not any increase in his value this weekend. I think sometimes when we get this late in draft season,

especially in the early rounds, people might be a little bit slower to react just with, again, players within the first two to three rounds. So it sounds like Corey Seeger probably should have moved up a little bit and likely that he's going to be up and ready to go on opening day. Josh Young's ADP this weekend was one. 129 going...

Love that. Eight picks ahead of Key Brian Hayes. Brian Hayes has been a big riser man. He's up to 137 this weekend. And Jake Burger at 144. How would you guys rank those three? Young, Key Brian Hayes, Jake Burger. I think I have them in that order.

But I have young... I might have moved him outside of my top 100, but no, he's top 100 still for me. So yeah. I have Burger ahead of Young, and I've been tempted to put Hayes. in the same tier with them. I've talked myself out of it a couple times,

which it probably explains why I haven't been drafting any of Cabrion Hayes. It seems like by ADP, he's now going in the same tier as them. But I want to concentrate even more on the IHF Burger ahead of Josh Young part because Jake Burger's been pretty awful this spring and he's had an excessive strikeout rate. and I just wonder, is he reverting to his old ways?

It is spring training, and so I'm trying to remind myself of that. But it has, it has crossed my mind. Yeah, maybe I should drop him behind Young at least. I hadn't noticed it. It's, yeah, it's back up above. I mean, that's like 40% this spring. Yeah, that's pretty. That's spring.

It's pretty rough, yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's, that is, I don't think Jake Berger's going to have a 40% strikeout rate next year. this year. But yeah, it's a little bit concerning when the sample size that we're talking about for the improved strikeout rate last year

was 217 plate appearances and this is a quarter of that. But still, it's not like we're dealing with a gigantic sample size there. All right, Scott, give me your biggest spring training winner. Yeah, I can give you like 30 names,

but my biggest, if I had to narrow it down to the biggest, it's got to be Jackson Merrill. it's got to be Jackson Merrill. Nobody gave him a chance coming into camp. Nobody even thought it was a possibility. And there he was starting in centerfield on opening day for the Padres. And seems like he's going to be there everyday centerfielder after a great spring where he hardly struck out at all for being a 20-year-old making the lead.

Is he 20 or 21? 21. 21, making the leap from AA after hardly any playing time there. Sorry, 20. It turns 21 in like 26 days. Cheers. It's his age 21 season.

Yes. And there's probably going to be some speed there. I don't know how much power is going to manifest yet, but it'll be some. It'll be 15 plus home runs if he stays healthy, I imagine. And what does plus look like? I don't know. but it'll be enough that even now, even acknowledging he's a winner,

he's still going 250th, 60th in drafts last time I checked. I have a more like 200th Jackson Merrill, and I'm even more eager to draft him now that Jackson Holiday, arguably the biggest loser of spring training, is out of consideration. Yeah, this weekend in NFBC drafts, Jackson Merrill's ADP, was only 253.4. Yeah.

For context, Jackson Holiday, who we knew wasn't making the team the whole weekend. That got announced on Friday afternoon. Every draft to happen this weekend was Jackson Merrill in the opening day lineup. Jackson Holiday not there. Jackson Holiday went 55 picks higher than Jackson Merrill on average. It's kind of setting their ways. And we will get to Jackson Holiday in just a little bit. Yeah, I would probably agree he's one of the biggest losers.

not necessarily all by his own doing, but again, we'll get to that in just a little bit. Guys, it feels like we're bearing the lead. The biggest spring winner, I mean, we've talked about him all spring. It's Wyatt Langford. Duh, right? Like, we've got to... Someone's got to take Wyatt Langford, right?

So I guess it's going to be me. He has been named to the Rangers' opening day roster and is expected to be the primary DH, though GM Chris Young has said Langford will rotate in the outfield. This spring, Langford has hit 375 with six homers and 1161 OPS. 25% strikeout rate is, it's alright. Like, that's manageable if that's just where it is this season,

hopefully not much higher than that. But there were 95 drafts in the NFBC this weekend. Wyatt Langford's ADP was 72. His ADP in February before spring training game started was 149. His ADP was cut in half in one month worth of spring training at bad. So, yeah. I would argue Wyatt Lankford is the biggest winner. And I actually had a draft on Friday over at the NFBC,

and I took Wyatt Lankford 84th overall. So based on where that ADP kind of settled in this weekend, I feel pretty good about getting M. 84th overall. Anything else to add? I feel like we've talked a lot about Wyatt Lankford. The one thing I will say is like everybody knows not to overreact to spring. We all say it all the time. Don't overreact to spring.

And at the start of spring, Jackson Turyo was being drafted ahead of Wyatt Langford, and he's considered the better prospect overall. And then Wyatt Lankford goes and has a crazy spring, and Jackson Turyo just holds his own as a 20-year-old in his first spring train. And White Lankford's now 40 picks ahead of Jackson Turyo. And I understand why that is happening. And it makes sense. I am not saying Jackson Turyo should not be drafted behind Wyatt Lankford. I, I just think it's interesting. When we do and do not apply, don't overreact to spring training.

I don't. Because, like, Lankford's ADP rising makes sense. He went from, yeah, we don't know if he's going to make the team. But why has Chorio just hasn't gone up? Yeah, Chorio just hasn't gone up at all. Like, I understand Lankford going in the top 75 now. I don't know why Chorio isn't, or at least inside the top 100. He's going about 120th.

since the news of him making the roster was reported. I think in Roto leagues and categories leagues, I would still prefer Chorio. I think he will at least double Wyatt Lankford's stolen base output this year, at least double it and potentially more. I don't know exactly how much Lankford's going to run. I know Chorio's going to run a lot.

And there may be differences in the other categories, but they both have huge power upside. Neither is expected to strike out a ton in the long run, how that goes as row. rookies, you know, we'll see. But they should be going right next to each other, I feel like. And so almost 50 spots apart by NFBC ADP, the 36 drafts that were conducted from Friday on. I don't know about that. I think Langford was kind of the low-hanging fruit. My actual answer would have been Christian Encarnacian Strand, who I've talked a lot about recently with Noelvi-Marté being

suspended the first 80 games. I think we all feel better about Christian and Carnacian's playing time. entering the off season, I was excited about the player. I was just really worried about what the playing time was going to look like for all the Reds. That has obviously kind of shaking itself out, some injuries, some ace suspension, as I mentioned. But Encarnacion Strand is just having a huge spring as well. The 17 for 51, five homers, two doubles, three triples, just a 13% strikeout rate. And he is second among qualified hitters in OPS. 1166 is the OPS there for Christian Encarnacion Strand.

Quickly promote a few things, download and follow Fantasy Baseball today on Spotify. You could scan the QR code if you're watching on YouTube. The link is in the podcast and the YouTube description. And as we mentioned on Friday's podcast, this is pretty cool. We're making a jump over to television. We finally made it. Don't worry, our regular YouTube and audio programming won't be going anywhere. But this Wednesday, March 27th at 2 p.m. Eastern,

you'll be able to watch Fantasy Baseball today on the CBS Sports Network. The same show as you know it just on TV. Help support the show by tuning in live. You can also watch live on the CBS Sports app through your cable provider. Let's take our first break. And when we return, talk about Jackson Holiday right after this. So somebody who was supposed to be a big winner this spring

was Jackson Holiday. And then we got the rug pulled out from us on Friday. And I will partially take blame for this. Maybe Scott, we are the fantasy jinx because I drafted Jackson Holiday last Tuesday night in our Head to Head Points Listener League, and I was so overly confident, yeah, I'll just wait a few weeks,

I'll have my second basement for the season, that'll be that. No, he is not up on opening day, so Tyro Estrada will have to hold it down in the meantime for me. It had been weeks since I'd seen anybody on the Orioles beat express doubt that Jackson Holiday would make the roster,

make the opening day roster. And, I mean, even the, Orioles GM, Mike Elias, he talked a big game early in spring training and made it seem like it was, you know, as long as he hit, he would be on the roster and he did hit. He hit well. Strikeout Ray was a little high, but you know, he's a 20-year-old facing major league pitchers for the first time.

You imagine that's going to be a better with increased exposure. And so I could understand it more if they decided, okay, Kobe Mayo, he looks ready. He looks more ready for this than Jackson Holiday, so we're going to install him as our third basement. We're going to slide Jordan Westberg over to second base, and there's just not room for Jackson Holiday at that point. Okay, I'd get that.

But Kobe Mayo is being sent down, too. They're just going to go with a scrubby infielder there as a team with World Series aspirations. And I don't know. That's tough pill to swallow, but obviously, I think Jackson Holiday should go after Jackson Merrill now, despite what the ADP this weekend shows. I think Jackson Holiday should probably go after Junior Cominero

because the rays are already so devastated by injury. It's not going to take much at all for Cominero to get called up. And he might have a skill set that is more suited to making an immediate impact because Cominero, the quality of contact metrics for him were good for major league players, not for minor league players. So that's the thing with the holiday hype is obviously he was the number one prospect of baseball. He was,

what he did last season as a 19 year old was incredibly impressive getting all the way to AAA. But it was 12 homers and 24 steals in 125 games with a bad stolen base success rate. So I was like, I have a friend who was preparing for his draft and he was asking me about Jackson Holiday. And like I was telling him like I think the ceiling case this year was probably like Christian Yellich, which that's an awesome player. But I don't know if like there was a 30 30 season here for Jackson Holley.

There may be 30 30 potential down the road. But he's got some growing up to do physically. So I just. I wouldn't be shocked if he went 20, 20, with a full season. Not 30, 30, but 2020. I think would have been within the realm of possibility. And look, 15 strikeouts and 48 played appearances. That's a 32% strikeout rate, something like that.

Like, that's pretty high. Yeah. And it's not unreasonable to say the things that they said, which is he's very, very close, but he has a lack of experience against high level competition, especially left-handed pitching. And he doesn't have a lot of experience at second base. Those things are true.

It's just weird to go into camp saying, he's going to have a chance to make the team. And then to have him have the spring you then have a 954 OPS in spring. Including I think one of his two home runs was off a lefty. That lead off. That lead off most days. And by all accounts, I don't remember there was no Gavin Lux-esque disaster on defense at second base.

And then to go out at the end of the spring training, send him down and say, well, these things that we. knew already at the beginning of spring that he didn't have a lot of experience. And nobody beat him out. What was the point of all of this? Right. It's not unreasonable that Jackson Holiday got sent down.

It just, I don't understand what was gained here. Yeah, I don't know. It's frustrating. I get why he got sent down, but it's all frustrating. Now, having said all that, and I said, I think Jackson Holiday probably, should be ranked behind junior Cominero now. They're one and two in terms of prospect to stash from the start of the season.

So unless you're on a really shallow league, if you draft a Jackson Holiday already, hold on to him. My guess is that they'll both be up within the first six weeks of the season. That's Mike yes. But...

And I'd say there's no telling what could happen from here. There's really no telling what can happen from here if everything's going fine for the Orioles and Jackson Holiday's just kind of doing fine at AAA, as young as he is, could they hold him out until late August and the eligibility for next year? It's possible.

What if late April gets here and opening opens up, but suddenly Kobe Mayo is having a much better start to the season at AAA? That's kind of the concern for me, is just that this team has so many alternatives that you kind of, But if you draft the Jackson Holiday with like a top 150 pick like we were last week. And look, I have him in my AL only labor team.

I have him in another league. I'm pretty sure. So I'm right there with everyone. But now you kind of, what's the, what would the poker term be? You need a straight draw. I don't know. Something like you need three cards in a row or two cards in a row now. You need Jackson Holiday to do really well.

You need the opening to still be there. And then you need him to be. higher on the priority list than another top 100 prospect in Kobe Mayo. So it's it's frustrating that we went from, don't even think about it. He's going to make the opening their roster. And that was us projecting to a certain extent to now this where. Yeah, someone in the chat,

runner, runner straight, backdoor draw. These are terms I've heard before. That all makes sense. Yeah. So yeah. Not that I want to downplay the risks that you guys have laid out, because they are obviously there. I just feel really optimistic that he's going to be up pretty soon.

Like, I really don't want to overreact too much the other way, because I think he's up by late April, early May. Those things can definitely happen. I just think he's that caliber of prospect. And what they said actually makes sense. Like, they want to see him do a little bit better against lefties. He went two for 14 against lefties this spring with nine strikeouts. That's pretty bad against left-handed pitching.

So, like, as much as Orioles fans, that fantasy players don't want to hear it, there is kind of some substance behind what the Orioles want to see him improve against. So I think as long as he does that early in the season, which is a chance he doesn't, I think we're going to see him pretty soon. So I would still take him over Caminero personally.

I know when you include a butt in your sentence, people only hear what comes after the butt, but I think my assumption is he'll be up within the first six weeks of the season. So I will stress that again. All right, let's get into some of the other news and notes from the weekend. Major League Baseball has launched an investigation

into the allegations involving Shohi Otani and his former interpreter Ipe Mizuhara. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that Otani will speak to reporters on Monday. And as I've mentioned, there were 95 drafts in the NFBC this weekend. Otani's ADP was 13.4. So people really were not scared off by what's happening right now. He dropped four spots in ADP from the March drafts before that. So it's not nothing when you're talking about that. range of the draft. He went, I believe, behind Trey Turner and Aaron Judge in this weekend's

drafts. He was going ahead of them before that. So it's not nothing that he fell a little bit. But yeah, nobody seems too concerned. And to be clear, there is not an investigation into show hayotai. Tani. There's an investigation. into the situation surrounding Shohei Otani. He has not, he has not as of yet been accused of any specific wrongdoing or malfeasance. I wasn't on the podcast when you guys talked about this last week. So I'll just give my two cents, which is I don't have a two cents. I have not been moved to drop him.

I have not been moved to raise him. Whether you are, this is not a situation where, we can really provide any insight. Like, I can't go on baseball savant and pull an export and say, ah, yes, this is the day. Like, we don't know anything that you guys don't. Right. So whether you are willing to take Shohe Otani in the top 15 comes down entirely to your personal level of risk tolerance or risk aversion. It seems given the ADP this weekend that you're not, if you're not comfortable doing it, you're not going to face.

a situation like in round two, round three. Oh, do I do it now? That's just not going to be an issue. Somebody's going to take him. It won't be long after you pass him up that somebody takes them. Yuri Perez will start the season on the 15-day IL due to right elbow inflammation. He played catch pain free on Saturday and apparently he was supposed to play catch again on Sunday.

I didn't check back in, but I assume that happened. Are you guys going back to drafting and stashing Yuri Perez given this latest news? I moved him into the pocket. of injured aces. So I think it's like 150 where I've got Garrett Cole, Kodaisenga, Yuri Perez,

Sunny Gray, Walker, Beuler, Justin Verlander. They're all like, I've just put them all back to back. And I have Justin Verlander at the top. I have them ranked Justin Verlander, Walker, Bueller, Sunny Gray, Garrett Cole, Kodaisanga,

Yuri Perez. But they're literally all in a row. They might, I might have moved you with Perez back up as much as you did. Either that, where do you have Nicolodolo? Do you have Nicolado in that group? Scott, Scott, let's have you hop out and hop back in because you are lagging a little bit. But Chris, you can answer his Nick Ladolo question in the meantime.

I've got Ladolo like six rounds below that group. And maybe that's not the right call. But I think he has more performance risk than the other guys. Like, there's a world in which Lodolo is healthy for the whole season after he makes his debut, which I believe is April 10th is when he's supposed to make his debut. There's a world in which Nicolodolo is healthy the whole season just isn't good, given his fly ball tendencies in that park. If Justin Verlander and Walker Bueller and on that other group are all healthy,

I think they'll all be good. I don't really have a lot of skepticism around that. Maybe Nicolodolo wasn't the best example. Let me just see. But I would take like, I would take Shane Bieber ahead of them. Okay. Talk about a spring winter.

I think he's absolutely won. Yes, for sure. I would take Carlos Rodon ahead of him, even with the concerns that I have about Carlos Rodon. But I think Uri Perez, and maybe this is me going from being too pessimistic about his chances to being too optimistic. But as far as we know, there is no structural damage,

this isn't even a Kyle Bradish situation. So, yeah. I felt really good about the report. I don't know. You're kind of guessing where everybody else is going to draft him because you don't want to take him too early. So where exactly I rank them is not that important. It's just when you feel comfortable taking him, feel, you know, go ahead and take him. Because when you feel comfortable waiting four to six weeks for him to be of surface to you, go ahead and take Yuri Perez.

And I'm not saying you have to wait until the result. reserve rounds like we were talking about before where it's like outside of the top 250 or whatever. But I would probably wait until I at least have my top five starting pitchers in my rotation where he is now a bench starting pitcher where I don't, I'm not relying on Yuri Perez coming back anytime soon. Which is usually what I'm doing when I'm drafting Senga and right and those guys. So yeah. While on the Marlins, Braxton Garrett is scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Tuesday and pitch in a game on Thursday. He could be back sometime in April. Edward Cabrera is scheduled to pitch in an intra squad scrimmage on Tuesday. He was diagnosed with a shoulder impingement

two weeks ago. Did we talk about Max Meyer making the rotation? We did not. I have that later on for like opening day roster updates, but sorry, sorry, sorry. I'm so sorry. Hey, it makes sense. We can work it in here with the Marlins. Yes, Max Meyer is going to be in the Marlins

rotation. I just, it kind of feels like maybe it's going to be short-lived if these guys are going to be back soon, you know? Yeah, I don't know. Because like, they know they've got an innings limit with him. So like it might, I would guess since he was the last one in, it's probably,

you know, I used to work at Dairy Queen when we replaced the toppings. You put the old stuff in last or whatever. Like he's probably, you know, it's going to be a situation like that where if everybody's healthy and pitching well, Max Meyer will probably be out of the rotation

when Edward Cabrera and or Braxton Garrett are healthy. But like, things don't often always go right at the same time. especially when you're talking about pitchers and especially when you're talking about hard throwing young pitchers like the Marlins have. So if Max Meyer's pitching well, I think he probably has a rotation spot.

I mean, if Weathers, Ryan Weathers gets bombed his first time out, might they opt to remove him instead of Meyer? Yes, if somebody gets hurt between now and, I don't know, but like Edward, Edward Cabr has already made a minor league. He started a game against minor leaguers, right? He's pitching in an intra-squad game on Tuesday.

You're pitching an injury. Okay. Okay. No, I get it. I'm just saying... How many turns do you think Max Meyer has, I guess, before one of the injured Marlins is healthy? That's one.

I would say three. Yeah, I was going to say three. Yeah, a lack of change in that amount of time, I guess. I just... I would assume things will be different by that. And look, it could be that Max Meyer's just not good or doesn't stay healthy himself. That's a live possibility,

But when we're talking about Louise Heel and even Ryan Weathers, who I do like and I added in TGFBI, I think Max Meyer certainly belongs in that discussion and should be in remaining drafts, I think, in the reserve round conversation. I would put him behind in that group. Even if it goes really well, it's not going to last. It can only last so long. Sure. Because coming off Tommy John's surgery, they're going to restrict his innings. And because they have so much surplus when every, theoretical surplus when everybody's healthy. I think what the Marlins wanted to do was just slow play it with Max Meyer early in the year so that they'd have those innings available later.

But they may have to like, because they had so many pitching injuries in spring, they might just kind of be reversing the calendar on Max Meyer now. And okay, we're going to use however many innings you have until those innings are up, rather than shut them down and build them up again, knowing that the players who are injured now, they'll be able to last longer into the season, in theory, if they recover as expected. All right, Bryce Harper was back in the lineup Saturday and Sunday. He's missed some time with back stiffness,

and hopefully he bounces back all right. Should be good to go on opening day. We'll learn more in the next couple days. Garrett Cole is a candidate to go on the 60-day IL if the team needs to clear. space on the 40-man roster. That means we wouldn't see Cole until late May, early June, which is likely the expectation anyway.

That's what I'm been expecting. Sunny Gray will open the season on the IEL, but we'll pitch in a minor league game on Thursday and could be back the second week of April. Lefty, Zach Thompson will start in his place. Justin Steele was removed Friday after taking a line drive off of his left knee. He remains in line to start on opening day. Orioles GM Mike Elias said Friday that Kyle Bradish and John Means are expected. to return early in the first half, which is pretty vague.

I think he did that on purpose. Like, I don't know. We don't have a timeline, but hopefully it's May. Before June? I don't know what that means. I mean, Bratish has been, he threw a bullpen session finally, right? Yes. I think Means is ahead of him.

Means has faced live, like it has faced hitters already a couple weeks ago. So I would guess Late April, early May. Maybe May. Like maybe early May for means, I would still think Bradish probably closer to May slash June. Mid-May would be the halfway point of the first half, right? Yeah.

More. It depends how you define first half. We're going an All-Star break because that's like 87. Yeah, true first half. It would definitely be the halfway point of the first half. All right. Yeah. Fair enough.

All right. Reserve round picks, both of them, Bradish, obviously ahead of Means, but yeah, we definitely could reach a point in May where

I'm excited to see like a healthy John Means in this ballpark because we haven't really seen it yet. Yeah, I mean, they literally built this ballpark for John Means.

That was like the entire blueprint was, hey, John Means is going to be our ace. We need to make this ballpark look like this. And Warner Rodriguez will open the season on the aisle. I don't think that's actually true, by the way. Erod will open the season on the aisle with a left-lats drain.

He'll be shut down from throwing until he is asymptomatic. Tommy Henry is likely to take his place in the rotation. Though there was some chatter about Jordan Montgomery this weekend. I think the debacks were listed as a team interested. So them, the Yankees, the Red Sox, I don't know, usual suspects. We'll see. I am actually, I'm looking now the architects who designed the new Camden Yards dimensions. John Means Business LLC.

Yeah, there you go. Interesting. Nolan Jones was removed Saturday after fouling a ball off his right knee, and thankfully it wasn't worse as he initially couldn't put any weight on his right leg, had to be helped off the field. Jones said Sunday that he should be good to go for opening day. Ian Hap is still dealing with that left hamstring strain. Craig Counsel said Hap's recovery has plateaued,

and he won't return to game action until Monday at the earliest. Lars Neupar will start the season on the IL, which was expected. He's dealing with two non-displaced fractures in his left rib cage. Victor Scott was also reassigned to minor league camp, so it looks like Dylan Carlson will be in centerfield with Alec Berluson in left. A lot going on here.

Do you guys have interest in either of Carlson or Burleson, are you still stashing Victor Scott in leagues? Victor Scott, I've been meaning to update that 12 prospects to stash at the start of the year. Victor Scott will go on that list and Jackson Holiday, of course,

will go on that list. Colton Kouser will come off. Zadani Raphaelah will come off. So still 12. I think he was on there. Yeah. No, it'll remain the same.

Anyway. No, Max Meyer will come off. Rafael, I was already saying. Only 11. Anyway, now I lost my train of thought. So. Lucy did, Chris. What were we talking about?

Victor Scott. Victor Scott. He'll be on the back half of that list. But I know, I don't know. People seem more excited about him than I am. I just, I don't think there's going to be enough power. He'll be just kind of a specialist. He might be a,

good specialist who would potentially rank in the top 150 by the time he's up. But it's not somebody who's good, everybody's going to be eager to roster. So I would put him on the back half of that list. Obviously, Lars Neupar is going to get healthy sooner than later. Tommy Edmund, we hope will be healthy at some point. Less clear there. I mean, the way Mason wins spring went, I don't know that Tommy Edmund would necessarily even return in the outfield, but that's a different story. Yeah, I will say it just Dylan Carlson gave them a reason to send Victor Scott down.

And I think that's what they were looking for. Victor Scott had an awesome spring. Carlson got kind of hot towards the end and hit a couple of home runs. And I think that was probably they didn't want Victor Scott to make the opening day roster. He hasn't gotten to AAA yet. I think there's a lot to like about him. But I think the Cardinals were probably breathing a sigh of relief that they got signs of life from Dylan Carlson. I do like Alec Berlinson, though.

If you're in a deep five outfielder league and you're deciding which to add off the waiver wire between Berluson and Carlson, I would add Alec Berluson. All right, Tywon Walker is likely headed to the IL with a right shoulder impingement. Spencer Turnbull is expected to take his place in the rotation. James and Tyone will begin the season on the IL

and won't be ready to return until at least mid-April. Jordan Wicks and Javier Assad are expected to be in the Cubs rotation. DJ LaMayhew is, quote, a long shot to be ready for opening day. He's dealing with a bone bruise in his foot. Oswaldo Cabrero will likely be the team starting third baseman in LaMayhew's place. And we spoke about this last week. Anthony Volpe could potentially lead off in the meantime. And if he performs well, maybe he's just there all season.

So it just adds an extra element of upside for Anthony Volpe this season. Sure. Anthony Rizzo was Scratch Friday with some lat tightness. both Rizzo and Aaron Boone expressed optimism that he'll be available for opening day. Well, the Yankees have never been wrong when they've expressed optimism. And they've never lied to us before either. J.D. Martinez will spend at least 10 days preparing to join the Mets after the season begins, so we won't have him early on for fantasy.

The Rockies have signed Ezekiel Tovar to a seven-year $63.5 million extension with a club option that could bring the deal up to $84 million. dollars. So I always find it interesting when teams invest in young players because not that the Rockies are the smartest organization, but if a team is willing to invest in a young player, that gives me a little bit more confidence than the player themselves. And his defense makes it pretty likely that this won't end up being a bad contract, even if the bat never gets there. I'm super the price feels a little steep for a guy who didn't show much as a header last year. And frankly, for an organization that has, has not earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to prospect development over the last, let's say, decade. Yeah. So yeah. All right.

Michael Massey is expected to begin the season on the aisle due to back tightness. And it looks like Adam Frazier will start at second base, at least against right-handed pitching. Miles Straw was placed on waivers. Sounds like Estevan Floriel or Tyler Freeman will see work in center field. I think Straw already was option to the miners. Okay. So he made it through at least. And I am sorry, Chris, because it appears as though Cody Bradford will only make one or two starts

before relinquishing his rotation spot to Michael Lorenzen. You know what? Did you set up the soundboard? Life finds a way. I don't have it set up yet. No, it's a busy time. Let's take our final break when we return. Some other opening day roster updates. We found out some more things about prospects who will be up.

Some that won't. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in. We have some opening day roster updates. we already spoke about Jackson Holiday, who will be sent down by the Orioles. He wasn't the only one. Kobe Mayo, Heston, Kirstad,

and Kyle Stowers also sent down to the miners. Looks like Jordan Westberg will start at second base, and Ramon O'Reas at third for now. And Orioles prospects who did make the roster is Colton Kouser, who's had a huge spring, 14 for 46. That's a 304 batting average. Six homers, 1135 OPS.

Does have a 32% strikeout, right? A lot like Jackson Holiday. Where does he play? Rastor Resource has Colton Kouser on the bench with Ryan O'Hern at first base, Ryan Mountcastle at DH, and then the outfield is Santander, Cedric Mullins, and Austin Hayes. There will be some degree of mixing and matching there. I feel like part of the reason Kouser won over Kyle Stowers is that he's capable of playing center field, which will allow them to maneuver those players in and out. I imagine Kouser plays less than all three of their outfielders,

Cedric Mullins, Anthony Santander, and Austin Hayes. Could he come away with more playing time than Ryan O'Hern? That's possible. I think it'll depend on how those two perform. But I would have Colton Kouser as more of a scout team monitor his performance and his playing time at the start of the year versus rush out and pick him up. Certainly if you're playing like a 15-te-year, five outfielder league,

somebody's probably going to pick them up. But more typical league sizes, no need to do that yet. If you have a roster spot to play with, certainly ahead of the Cardinals guys, I would stash him. But like, if we're talking about like Raphael Sadan,

Saddam Raphael, excuse me. Yeah. I would go with Raphaelah. I agree. It's ahead of Kouser. But like, the thing to keep in mind is if Kouser's in the lineup

for that second game and he hits a home run, everyone's going to rush on at him. So, you know, if you play in daily fab leagues, maybe see if you can stash him right now just in case he gets off to a hot start. Rafael, by the way, we've mentioned his name a few times today. He has made the Red Sox opening day roster, also having a strong spring, batting 281, three homers, four steals, 883 OPS, just a 20% strikeout rate. I think that's really encouraging for him. Looks like Williare Abraeu is currently on the outside looking in. Unless they play Raphaela at second base, but I think they want to use him in center field. The market is

pretty hot on Raphaelah too this weekend. The ADP was 247 going right around names like Will Benton, Parker Meadows. I mean, that means you're drafting Raphaela as a starting outfielder in a five outfielder league, basically. And there are a lot of questions about playing time. There are questions about plate discipline in particular swing decisions, but I'm kind of, I kind of think he's just going to be the second baseman. They haven't said it specifically, but there was a report. They said I'll play mostly centerfield is what is what Alex Cora said, though he's capable of playing second base.

And he's capable of playing basically anywhere. Well, yeah, if you can play shortstop in center field, you can, you can pretty much play any position on the diamond. And I do think it's notable. Alice Cora didn't say he would only play center field. So they're going to take advantage of his versatility, but he's like, the main thing that the Red Sox like about Raphaelah is

the value his defense and center field adds and the offense is kind of you know kind of gravy he might be while we're waiting for Scott to rejoin us he looks so exasperated in that image on the screen

right now too he he might be like a gold glove caliber defensive player at center field right now and potentially at shortstop I mean that's Scouts really like the glove at both spots. Scott, continue. Am I here?

Can you see me? You're moving. Just wave your arms when you, that's how we can tell. You got a wacky, inflatable, arm flailing too bad. You know, my cable company sent me a text like two weeks ago saying, name and shame, Scott, name and shame. We're updating your service. We're upgrading your service.

You know, you may have internet problems for the next 24 hours. Well, it's been nothing but internet problems since then. So I dispute whether this was actually an upgrade. Got to get that cable. But anyway, am I here? You're here. You're here, Scott. Okay, you guys were kind of messing up.

Okay. I don't even know what I'm talking about anymore. Rafael, I think where he's going is appropriate. I do think you can't just look at the strikeout rate and say everything's fine. He didn't strike out much in the miners. He just swings at everything. And he makes contact into too many easy outs, basically, is the problem for him. So it's not an open and shut case.

He'll be good. But as a fifth outfields are in the 250 range, I'm fine with that. All right. I want to move a little bit quicker through some of these other names because I do want to get to some spring standouts from the weekend.

Both Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Halk will open the season in the Red Sox rotation. Just give me a name. Who do you prefer between the two? Whitlock, Halk. Widlock. Whitlock. All right.

Matt Manning was optioned to AAA, which means Reese Olson and Casey Mize will both be in the Tigers rotation. Who do you prefer? Reese Olson or Casey Meis. Reese Olson. I think Olson. Yeah, I mean, he's shown us more at the major league level.

Mize has come back from Tommy John's surgery throwing harder and seems to have an expanded arsenal, maybe like a true off speed instead of like three variations of a fastball. So definitely upside to monitor there with Mize. I think Matt Manning was showing some really interesting signs this spring too. He's the odd man out just because they were all so good. But between those three and what I consider to be, I'm not even counting those three, what I consider to be one of the biggest spring winners, Jack Flaherty, who had another dominant start here Sunday.

The Tigers have some pitching riches right now. And it doesn't mean it's all going to go right, but more pitchers than they can fit in a rotation in a pitcher-friendly environment, that could be a really interesting team this year. All right. I think I have a, got to look at some odds after that. the show ends. I might put the Tigers to win the AL Central. Just see what's going on there.

You know, you're stealing my thunder when we do our predictions episode. I was kind of flirting with that idea myself. Both Tyler Wells and Cole Irvin will begin the season in the Orioles rotation, which was expected. I won't ask you which one you prefer because I'm pretty sure it's just Tyler Wells. He's better than Cole Irvin. Yeah, Cole Irvin lost

the velocity gains he made early in the spring too, so. Louise Heel has made the Yankees and will be their fifth starter to open the season. He made a start on Friday where he allowed two runs over four innings. He struck out five. He had eight swinging strikes on 63 pitches. He averaged 97 miles per hour on his fastball, and he's at a really strong spring, 23 strikeouts over 15 and two-thirds innings.

Now this is where I will ask you of all the names that just got brought up. Who are your two or three favorites? Whitlock, Halk, Mize, Olson, Tyler Wells, Cole Irvin, Luis Heel. Two or three favorites from that group. So we're not counting Flaherty? No, not yet. because he's coming a little bit later on. Spring winners.

I will go Reese Olson and Tyler Wells. Chris? I think that's also where I would go, although there are some other spring risers who I'd probably prefer. They're coming later on. Brian Roggio has won the Cardi and shortstop job. He does have some speed.

I think it's really deep leagues, AL-only, stuff like that. Nick Martini made the Reds and seems likely to be the strong side at DH due to all of their injuries. He has four home runs this spring, but is also batting 194. And Jared Triolo won the Pirates' second base job over Leo Ver Paguerro. And Triolo has had a good spring, batting 325, two homers, 925 OPS.

He's a name for really deep leagues. Let's just see what happens here, because he has two minor league seasons with 24 or more steals, given his skill set and the rules. Can he give some batting average and 20 plus steals? I think that's possible from Jared Triolo. So we'll see. Some spring standouts from the weekend. And these are just, again, just lots of spring winners in general.

Shane Bieber, he threw six shutout innings with seven strikeouts on Friday, has made four starts this spring, a 156 ERA, a 0.81 whip, 19 strikeouts over 17 in the third innings. We got that video in the offseason of Bieber working out with driveline baseball. Velocity is up, changes curveball grip, getting enhanced results with that curve ball. How much of you guys raised Shane Bieber in your rankings? He kind of feels like a pretty clear winner of the spring.

He is a clear winner, and I've raised him some. I wish I could raise him more, but he's like right on the border of pitchers. He's right on the border of the glob now, basically. And I'm not ready to say he's not in the glob because look at how last year went. But all indicators that we have this spring tell us he's back, baby. Shane Bieber is back and better than ever. He's probably not going to be better than ever. that that 20, 2019, 2020 run.

That was it, right? Or was it 2020, 2021? Whatever. That two-year run was incredible. But he is somebody I wish I was more invested in. And certainly at this point, you know, he's leaving behind. He's leaving the Jose Barrios of the world behind. Let's just say that.

The ADP this weekend for Shane Bieber was 112.9. How would you guys rank these spring training hype pitchers? Chris Sale, Bailey, O. over Shane Bieber. I think it's sale over Bieber. Sale over over Bieber. I'm going to put Bieber over over. How's that?

Come on. Sayle Bieber over. How dare you? Come on. It's barely over, man. I said that awfully fast and I deserve credit for that. We're giving you all the credit here, Scott. Let's talk about some of these fun pitchers. Jack Flaherty is part of the mix who made starts this weekend. They are big spring risers. Jack Flaherty, four and two-thirds. earned run. It was two total runs allowed, but eight strikeouts to zero walks on Sunday. He had 13

swinging strikes on 87 pitches. Jared Jones, I think, is also part of this mix. He is a pitching prospect with the pirates. He threw five innings, one unearned run, five strikeouts, had 14 swinging strikes on 83 pitches. Really just a two-pitch pitcher? I wonder if maybe those pitches are just so good. It could work for Jared Jones. Luis Severino has also looked good this spring and on Sunday five innings one run four strikeouts for him a 129 a 0.71 whip so we've got three names there flarity Jared Jones Luis Severino I will throw AJ puck in this mix yeah guys that are going around that 200 range down ADP rank them puck flarity Jared Jones Severino

puck flaredy no nope nope puck Severino Flaherty Flaherty Jared Jones I believe believe that's the order I have them in as well. Jared Jones is a distant fourth for me. There's clearly upside there, but there's the limited arsenal, there's the complete lack of track record, there's the fact he wasn't,

you know, he had some issues with walks and it's not like he was throwing a ton of strikes this spring either, and I just wonder how carefully the pirates will handle him on top of all of that. So he's a distant fourth. I would say puck, Severino, and Flaherty are must draft at this point.

I agree with that, yeah. Some shallower league pitchers who performed well this weekend, and really this spring. Joe Ryan, five innings, two runs aloud, five strikeouts. His velocity is just way up on all of his pitches. Fastball up 1.2 miles per hour. Joe Ryan Splitter is up four and a half miles per hour. His slider is up almost five miles per hour.

Are there even the same pitch anymore? I don't. I don't know if that's even good for him because that's a lot of velocity, but... I will save this. Joe Ryan is aware. He hears you. He is aware of the problems that he had last season.

And whether this specific version of the slider and Splitter, which he kind of reintroduced both those pitches last year, he's constantly tinkering. And you don't always figure it out when you're constantly tinkering, but you look at someone like you say Kikuchi, who had massive, massive holes in his game. Mitch Keller, another one. Like, it's not a terrible profile to bet on.

Guy with clear talent who recognizes his limitations and puts in the work and goes to the data-driven coaches. And it's an okay bet to make even if I don't actually like Joe Ryan's price in drafts. He's 82.8 in ADP over the weekend. That's too rich for me. But I don't mind betting on him. All right, Brian Beow threw five and a third innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts, had 12 swinging strikes on 91 pitches. Four of those 12 swinging strikes came on this revamped slider,

which is up almost two miles per hour compared to last year. And Nathan Avaldi threw four shutout innings on Saturday. He's had a strong spring, 2.63 ERA 110 whip. And if fan graphs is correct, a 31% swinging strike rate for Nathan Avaldi. Have either of those names moved up for you? Brian Beow or Nathan Avaldi? Not for me. If Aldi, we kind of know the deal with him.

He can look really strong for a few months, but then there's always something that causes him to trip up and probably put him on the IL. And then Beio, this was like his first good strikeout game of the spring, right? That sounds right. Maybe the slider is going to make him more effective overall, but I don't think it's going to turn him into a strikeout pitcher.

And for being a non-strikeout pitcher, he has too many vulnerabilities that I see. I think he's kind of aiming to be Marcus Stroman in terms of fantasy impact. And there's not a lot of fantasy impact there. So this start, Bayo had seven strikeouts over five in a third. His previous start, he had five strikeouts over five innings, which if we got a strikeout running, I think we'd feel pretty good about that from Brian Bayo. It would be a lot better than 7.6. But I think he's at 7.6 for the whole spring unless the stat line isn't updated.

Well, he pitched on Saturday. It should be. I think it is updated. Deeper league pitchers from this weekend. Jake Irvin threw six shutout innings. He pitches for the nationals, by the way. Can't assume that everyone knows that because it's Jake Irvin after all. He has thrown 15 shutout innings over his last three outings,

and the spring ERA is 338. Ryan Nelson of the D-backs through five innings, one run, nine strikeouts on Friday. He had 17 swinging strikes on 73 pitches. And he is tied for the second. strikeouts this spring with 26 of them. Martine Perez of the Pirates through three shutout innings with three strikeouts against the Yankees on Sunday. And he's quietly having a really strong spring.

0.60 ERA.93 whip just over a strikeout per inning. And a gentleman named Jose Soriano of the Angels through six shutout with eight strikeouts against the White Sox this weekend. He's 25 years old. He did some interesting things as a reliever last year, a 51% ground ball rate, a 15% swinging strike rate, he throws really hard. I just don't really see a spot for him in the Angels rotation, but I think he's an interesting name for very deep leagues.

Jose Soriano. Anything else to add on Martin Perez, Ryan Nelson, Jake Irvin? Ryan Nelson was somebody I picked up in the first waiver run of TGFBI. You know, he was pretty highly regarded prospect. The rookie year was not so great, but he's been getting a lot of strikeouts this spring, second most in baseball. this nine strikeout effort,

the slider's been playing well, and he for sure has a spot. In fact, he's slotted into the number four spot now with Eduardo Rodriguez. So he for sure has a spot on a contender. And I think there's some low end appeal there. I would add Ryan Weathers over him. I would add a lot of the pitchers we've talked about liking here. Jack Flaherty, of course.

Would you take Luis Heel over him? Close call. I would. I went Nelson. I went Ryan Nelson over Luis Heel, mostly because workload expectations. And you said Ryan Weathers over Ryan Nelson, right? Yes.

The thing with Ryan Nelson, and it appears to still be the case for him in spring. It was the issue with him. He's got like five pitches. And he really, really wants to throw his fastball a ton. And then he just wants to throw all the other ones a little bit. And that slider,

when it's been working has been a really, really good pitch for him. 45% whiff rate in a small sample size in 2022. And, you know, has had some good results with it since then. But he just doesn't throw it very often. 12.4% last year, I think it was 16% on Friday. It just, I don't like the approach, but I think there's an interesting skill set there. There was a report early this spring that he was taking the team's advice

to throw more off-speed stuff and recognizing the need for, it. We don't have data from all this starts, right? But you're saying what data we do have says that's not really the case. Yeah, the start on Friday. I think he threw 65% fastballs in that start. Yeah. So that's too much. Again, that was Ryan Nelson of the Diamondbacks. Hey, offense exists. Let's quickly mention a few mid to late round hitters who had some big weekends. Willie Adomas went three for three with a triple dong on Sunday. He's having a big spring. Six homers entering a contract year here with the Brewers. Parker Meadows went two for four. with a sock and a shoe on Saturday. For those who don't know, if you'd be new to the podcast or found the YouTube channel, a sock and a shoe is a home run

and a steal in the same game. And that's what Parker Meadows did. Which is the sock and which is the shoe? The sock is the home run. The shoe is the stolen base. This spring, Parker Meadows is betting 3.73 with four homers, three steals. He's been leading off.

Last year, he had 22 homers, 27 steals between the minors and the majors. I think he's pretty interesting. Mitch Hanigur, who I've talked a lot about, two for three with his fifth home run of the spring on Sunday. He just has to be healthy. Right now he looks healthy.

I think he's going to hit for some power as long as he's on the field. Who would you guys rather have between Parker Meadows or Raphaela as a fourth or fifth outfielder? Raphaelah. Yeah, I think so. We're upside.

I would take Parker Meadows, but that's because I think he can lead off for the Tigers. I don't know that Raphael is going to bat high in the Red Sox lineup. Though I could be wrong about that. I think Parker Meadows the upside for him,

is like Jake Frailey numbers, which are useful in the right league context. But I don't think that there's particularly given where he's playing his home games. I don't think there's a lot of room for improvement there with the batting average and home run output compared to like a Jake Fraley, who gets the benefit of a good home part.

Quickly mentioned some of the bad from this weekend. Logan Webb allowed nine to earn runs on Friday. This might not matter at all. It could just be a veteran pitcher, whatever he's going through the motions. He's just trying to get his pitches in this spring, whatever it might be. He has a 1090.

have an ERA and a 180 whip. So that's pretty bad. The K to walk ratio is still really good. His Bavip is 4.59 this spring. So perhaps just some bad luck for Logan Webb. But as someone who has him on many teams, it's a little scary. I have no concerns, just to be clear. Okay. Cole Regens has allowed five earned runs over four innings at the Brewers this weekend. He's allowed four plus earned runs in three straight spring starts. The ERA is up to 675. Any concern there? I'm not going to say zero. He obviously doesn't have a long track record of dominance, Cole Reagan's.

But I've looked for articles saying, addressing what's going on with Cole Reagan's. What's wrong with him? Presumably by people on the Royals beat, right? And there's nothing out there. Like nobody seems concerned the people who are closest to him. They're just talking about what an AC is. It is spring training. So I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.

And it's. I think one thing to keep in mind when we're talking about spring results is like, is what we're seeing reinforcing concerns that we had about a pitcher or any player. And that hasn't really been the case with Cole Regans. The concern coming in for him was, can he throw enough strikes? He's only had, I think, one outing with more than one walk. So I don't think there's much to be concerned about. Yeah.

After two solid outings in a row for Carlos Hordan, he had another rough one on Saturday. He gave up six runs. Four of those were earned over four innings. He only had four swinging strikes on 82 pitches. He averaged 94 miles per hour on the fastball. It's just been a really weird spring for Rodon. Try to get optimistic about some things. It's like two steps forward, two steps back kind of thing.

But I think he remains a wild card entering this season. And Joe Boyle allowed seven earned runs over three innings. His walks per nine up to 7.4 in six spring starts. I think we're officially out on Joe Boyle. right? Yeah, I mean, for now, for now. I mean, his arsenal is so overpowering that I'm not going to rule out Joe Boyle forever. But I am not, in teams where I haven't already drafted him, I am not making a priority to pick him out. He's pretty low on that list among the starting pitchers we've talked about today. All right. Well, if you want more spring training winners or end losers, Scott has an article coming out on the website. at CBSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball, so make sure to check that out.

There will be lots of names on that list. Let's quickly wrap up with just some waiver wire ads that we made in our leagues, and we had Fab Run in the Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational, the TGFBI leagues, and those are 15-team Roto Industry Leagues with $1,000 worth of fab budget. We wrapped up these drafts back in early March.

A lot has changed since then. Chris, who were some ads that you made in for how much? I overestimated how aggressive people were going to be with their bids. And I, people just weren't very aggressive. Like I overshot, to be clear, I had the two highest bids on any player. I got Michael Kopeck for 155. Runner up bid was 14. Say that again, a little bit louder.

What was that? $14. $14, runner up bid. I got Luis Heel for. for 85. Runner up bid was 44. That's whatever. And then Ryan Weather's for 70.

Runner up bid there was three. All right. Big spender. Towers. It's weird, though, because I feel like people are usually super aggressive in the first fab run of the season. And it's just like,

if I didn't exist, there would not have been a player who went for more than $71. this week, which is, like, it's not like there weren't a ton of amazing options, but this was our first opportunity to add players in a month, basically. And yeah, I don't know. It seems like this was just not an aggressive week for fab bidding. I've made that mistake the last two years and spent like half my fab budget,

the first run of waivers in these leagues. Fortunately, this year, I just didn't have that many players I wanted to drop. TGFBI's on NFBC, no IL spots. Jonathan Aranda was one I'm dropping because he's going to be on the IL a while as much as I like him. Just can't afford to use that roster spot on him with no IL spot.

And I talked myself into dropping Mason Wynn even though I am going to be without Jackson Holiday who I drafted as my starter. I have Tim Anderson, I have Jackson Meryl. Mason Wynn just, he had one good game the first day of spring training. and then struck out a million times after that. So I just, I have no confidence in him.

And so I was willing to drop him to free up another roster spot. Specifically, I wanted pitchers because I feel like in these 15 teamers, those are the hardest to find off the waiver wire of the course of the year. I may have underdone it, though. I, you know, I was looking at Abnery Rebae. I was looking at Michael Kopeck. I was hoping to get one of them for saves, got outbid. I ended up getting Ryan Weathers for three in Ryan,

and Ryan Nelson for three. Could have gotten each for one. I was the only one to bid on either, but at least I didn't spend many FAB dollars. I think part of your, to I guess let you off the hook, Chris, is part of it is just you have no idea how the people in the league are going to bid.

This is kind of the dark side of FAB is that there's no structure to it whatsoever. And you're always just guessing how much you think you need. So you're saying the top bid on Kopec in your league was how much? Well, 155, but besides me, 14. And 14.

Okay, well, the highest bid on Kopeck in my league was 51. And the second highest bid was 38. So, like, but the top four bids between our two leagues ran the whole gamut there for Michael Kopeck, which I think is illustrative. Somebody in my league spent $185 on Yemi Garcia. The person who has Jordan Romano, it's worth pointing out. But still, that was an act of paranoia. I would say that cost him a fifth of his fab budget. Runner up for that was 21.

So he overshot that by 164. And that's just, I get enjoyment out of fab, but I hate that part of it. I hate that part that you just feel like you get. It's inefficient. Yeah, well,

it's inefficient putting in your bids if you're playing in a lot of leagues. Most people don't play in as many. I'm in an inefficient market. Okay, sure. That too. It's frustrating. But I think that's just for the audience.

I mean, these are, and look, maybe it's just that in a 15 team league this year, there were an unusually low number of viable players to add. And, you know, if you look at CBS sports roster rates, like guys who are under 70% rostered are like Mitch Garver, Henry Davis, Colt Keith, Jared Duran is 76%. Nick LaDolo is 70. Jack Flaherty, I think is 50% rostered. Yeah, AJ Puck is 67. Gavin Stone is 50%.

those are all, I would say, must roster players in pretty much any format. And so the fact that they're not means that in your 12 team leagues, which is where most of you are playing, where most of CBS leagues are. Yeah. Yeah. There might be really aggressive bidding. And it's just the case that in 15 team leagues,

maybe those guys weren't as good. And for the record, the guys that we were dropping in these leagues were, at least in my case, both Orion Kirkring and Matt Brasher starting the season on the IL. I had drafted them as specular save sources. Kirkring should be back soon. He's on the aisle with an illness.

But that's the kind of names I was dropping. Yeah, I added Louise Heel for $38. The backup was 32. And I agree with everything that you guys have said. But when you win a bid that that's that close, it is. Oh, yeah. It's a great. Exilarating.

Fantastic feeling. He went for 17 in my league with the back. of being 14, so it's still like, you couldn't have known. It feels great, but you couldn't have known. There's no way to know. So I dropped Kyle Hendricks. And it's not that I dislike Kyle Hendricks. I just think Louise Heels upside is obviously better. So I went with him. And I added Richie Palacios from the Tampa Bay raise. I lost Josh Lowe and Lars Neupar since this draft happened. So I do need some outfield depth. Unfortunately, I dropped Victor Scott. I added Richie Palacios for $14.

Runner-up bid? Zero. There was no run-up bid. I like what I've seen from Palacios in spring, and I do think he'll be a strong side platoon player for Tampa Bay early on in the season. We are anything else, guys? Are you guys good? We're good. We're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris.

I am Frank. 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 tomorrow. Bye-bye.