Fantasy Baseball Today - 🚨Starling Marte, Mark Canha and Eduardo Escobar to the New York Mets! - Emergency Podcast (11/27 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: November 27, 2021

Starling Marte, Mark Canha and Eduardo Escobar all signed with the New York Mets! How does this affect Marte's Fantasy value (1:08)? Is he worth a third-round pick? ... The Mets also signed Mark Canha and Eduardo Escobar (5:02). ... Who might lose playing time on the Mets (8:08)? In a much smaller deal, the Mariners also acquired Adam Frazier in a trade with the Padres (10:45). 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank 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/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday 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

Now here's Frank Scott, Chris, and Adam. All right, we're a little late to the party, but welcome in to our first emergency podcast of the offseason. Frank Stamphill, joined by a festive. Scott White has his Christmas tree up in the background. Love to see it. Saturday, November 27th, we are here to talk about the Mets, and thankfully not Steve Cohen's tweets.

All right, I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. Let's get right into it. The Mets signed a trio of players, starting with one of the bigger names on the market. Marlain, four years, $78 million, which actually seems like a pretty reasonable contract, just had a ridiculous season with the Marlins and the Oakland A's, 310 batting average, 12 homers, 89 runs, 47 steals in just 120 games. He finished as the 22nd overall player in 5x5 Roto.

Was really good in points leagues this past year, too. Scott, 3.8 fantasy points per game, sixth among outfielder's. That was better than Kyle Tucker, Mookie Betts, Yorda, Alvarez. He just turned 33 years old, usually good for at least one IL stint per season. What do you think about the move? Stalling Marte to the Mets. Well, I mean, let's start with the Mets, I guess. You mentioned that four years, $78 million, less than $20 million per for a guy coming off a career season,

the best center fielder on the market this off season. I mean, I was surprised how little he got, too. I guess the fourth year, maybe he accepted. a lesser average annual value to get that fourth year. And the reason why that would have been hard for him to get is because he's 33. And so, you know, obviously the best thing Starling Marte brings to the table of speed, he was the Major League leader with 47 steals last year. He was one of only two guys with 35 or more, with Merrifield being the other.

And you mentioned he did it in only 120 games, so that steals pace, you know, over 100. 160 games if you were to play that which he never has before You know be something like 60 plus steals for Starling Marte so you could understand why Just based on What he does in that one category and how scarce that category is you could see why he would get drafted You know early round three in a traditional five by five league so at some point in round three probably But

Because he is 33, and because his skill set depends so much on that, on speed, basically. I mean, that's something, when that falls off, it could happen very quickly. So I'm not predicting it's going to happen this year, but you have to acknowledge it's a possibility. Am I going to be the guy who drafts Starling Marte in round three early or late? Probably not, because I think you're powerful. passing up a lot of power to get that stolen base advantage and power impacts all the other categories. He's been a 20 homer guy twice before. You know, last year, that season was split between two ginormous pitchers parks.

So maybe maybe the move to city fields, he can get back to that 20 homer threshold, but certainly you shouldn't bet on that. I don't see that his stock really changes that much. It is a park improvement, so maybe it'll help him a little. but I just, I don't think you can count on it. I do think the decline in power could be real as well. I mean, you spoke a little bit about it. Only 12 homers over 120 games, but the ground ball rate has always been pretty high for Starling Marte.

That was definitely the case last year as well. Career high, 54.8% ground ball rate for Starling Marte, home runs a fly ball ratio right in line with his career. So just a modest projection here in late November, but I would expect 280 plus. That could be on the lower side. 15 to 18 home runs for Stalling Marte probably expect 30 to 35 steals though

he just showed us what the upside was this past season. His early NFBC ADP is 27.8. We actually have 20 NFBC drafts already in the books so people are a draft in Scotty. He is going just after Cedric Mullins who would you rather have between those two if you were drafting today which I assume you're not going to do? Well obviously Starling Marte has more of a track record

but I would rather go with Mullins. I mean he was the only 30-30 guy in the majors last year. I think the most suspicious of his stats was the batting average, and we saw that decline in the second half. He was more like a 260 hitter in the second half, and yet the power and speed numbers were, they held completely from first half to second half. So I'm pretty confident in Cedric Mullins,

and I'd be much more likely to invest a third round picking him than in Marte. All right, and there are some rumors floating around that the Orioles are shopping, Cedric Mullins. So we'll see if he remains with that team. by the time, you know, spring training rolls around. The Mets also signed Marcana and Eduardo Escobar to two-year deals. Obviously, these aren't as exciting deals

as getting stalling Marte, but pretty solid players in their own right. Markana was having a great season, Scott, and then suffered a hip injury in June, which basically derailed his entire season. 826 OPS before the injury, a 659 OPS after that injury. Eduardo Escobar had a nice bounce-back season,

253 batting average, 28 homers, 90 RBI, will have second base and third base eligibility for fantasy in 2020. So what do you think about Marcana and Eduardo Escobar? Do you think that they both play every day for the New York Mets? Yeah, I do. Obviously, the Mets, well, they then went around and signed Starling-Marté, of course, but they had a couple outfield openings.

Michael Conforto is a free agent. So presumably with this signings, that means he's not going to be back with the Mets. It wasn't clear to me when I first started doing my player ranking. that either Cana or Escobar would land in a spot where they would play every day. But, you know, the Mets have been a mess at third base for a couple seasons now. Escobar hopefully brings some stability there. They're both pretty limited in what they bring to the table for fantasy. Cana was awesome in 2019.

He was terrible in 2020, the short season. He was awesome in the first half of 2021. He was terrible in the second half. Was it because of the hip injury? It's possible. But he's also a soon-to-be-three-year-old with a pretty sketchy track record. The one thing we can say for sure for Kanah is that he knows how to get on base. So I suspect even in those three outfielder points leagues, he'll probably merit a late-round pick.

But, you know, is he going to provide enough power to be somebody you want in your lineup all season long? you know, it doesn't impact the ball especially hard. It is, again, he's going from a horrible park for hitters to a pretty neutral park, so that helps. But I, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not sure that, I'm not sure what to expect from Ken. I just, I know he's not worth a big investment. Escobar, you know, pretty much power and nothing else. So, you know, he's not, he's more like a fallback. option at third base, but hey, a lot of people are going to have to rely on fallback options at

third base. I think maybe now that there's more assurances about his role heading into 2022, you know, he might creep into the top 15 or so. Might go in that same range as questionable Matt Chapman, Yon Moncada type. So have more upside, of course, but showed a lot more downside last year, too. Yep. Eduardo Escobar, 199.1 is the ADP through those first 20 drafts, Markana, 260, 2.5. So, you know, in your typical 12-team leagues, those are going to be more just late-round picks than anything else. Edwardo Escobar, you know, if you're playing 5-by-5 roto, you know, maybe he winds up being your corner infield or something like that. Scott, what does this do for the rest of the Mets? You know, J.D. Davis, Jeff McNeil, Dom Smith. It seems like those are probably some names

on the outside looking in as of now. Remember, Robinson Canoe will be back with the Mets this upcoming season. And we're assuming the National League will have the DH. We don't know that for sure yet. I think this could also just mean good things for Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonzo. So what do you think about the other pieces on the Mets? Yeah, it's it's interesting. Obviously, this is a major shakeup for their lineup. But okay, you got Cana taking over Dominic Smith spot. You've got Eduardo Escobar taking over J.D. Davis's spot. Two years ago, which of those would we have said was better? had the higher offensive ceiling.

We probably would have gone with Dominic Smith and J.D. Davis. So this is, you know, as exciting as it is for Mets fans, for them to make this big free agent splash on Black Friday of all days, it's kind of a concession that their higher upside bats, they're kind of thrown in the towel on them, kind of moving on from Dominic Smith and J.D. Davis. I don't know if that means they'll be literally moved in a trade or they'll have a shot with another organization

or if they're just kind of waste away on the bench for them. I don't really know. But I do think Kana and Escobar are going to get the lion's share of the abats there, even if Smith and Davis do stick around. And yeah, presumably Kano's going to have a job. He's very old and missed the whole season.

So I do think there's some question there. But obviously, Jeff McNeil is versatile. They can play him at second or third or in the outfield. So, yeah, I think they're going to be, I think it's certainly a more stable lineup, even if it doesn't have quite as much excitement as we, as fantasy owners, thought it did heading into last year. Yeah, I mean, look, I don't even know if Robinson Kono is an everyday player at this point, certainly not at second base. I assume if there's a DH, he's probably going to work his way into that rotation.

pretty often, but yeah, Jeff McNeil could play second or they can move Escobar to second, play Jeff McNeil at third, however they want to do it. There's still a chance that they sign Javier Baez or another shortstop because there's a lot of rumors floating around right now that the Mets are still looking to spend more. So whether it's a shortstop, whether it's Kevin Gosman, who apparently they're rumored to be in on, we'll see what happens with the rest of those moves. There was another smaller move, Scott, that we'll quickly touch on here. Adam Frazier traded to the Seattle Mariners for left-handed reliever Ray Kerr and

outfielder, Corey Roseer, and it was a solid season for Adam Frazier, 305 batting average, five homers, 10 steals, 83 runs scored, makes a ton of contact, doesn't really do much else. Like, it's just kind of empty batting average. It seems like he's just going to slot in as the starting second baseman for the Seattle Mariners. Yep, yeah, but I imagine that would mean Abraham Toro moved to third base. Kyle Seeger is a free agent, so he's probably gone, you know. But, but, yeah, Toro could come off the bench, too, if the Mariners decided they

wanted to go with a higher profile player at the hot corner. But yeah, also, it's worth pointing out, you know, once they got Adam Frazier, the Padres last year, there became this playing time crunch in the infields that presumably is relieved now. I imagine Eric Hosmer will go back to everyday duty for whatever that's worth. Yeah, we'll see if the Padres make any other moves right now. It seems like Kronaworth will slot back in at second base. I assume Tatees will play shortstop.

He won't be in the outfield anymore. So those things are working themselves out as of now. All right, Scott, that'll do it. Our first emergency podcast of the offseason, I'm sure there's probably going to be a ton more. We'll see if that happens before December 2nd when the CBA expires here. And all of free agency and all of baseball goes into a lockout,

unfortunately. For Scott, I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again on Tuesday. Bye-bye.