Fantasy Baseball Today - Top Prospects to Stash! Bullpen Updates! (3/18 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 18, 2021

Here is the link to Scott's Top Prospects article: https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/news/2021-fantasy-baseball-draft-prep-top-10-prospects-to-stash-away-for-a-big-payoff-later/ Everybody loves Raymond? No, everybody loves prospects! What does Scott think about Bobby Witt potentially making the Royals Opening Day roster (2:41)? ... Who are the top prospects to stash (9:29)? When should you expect Jarred Kelenic and Wander Franco? Can MacKenzie Gore make the Padres roster? Which do we like more between Logan Gilbert and Matt Manning? ... Our email of the day provides an update on the archways in Oracle Park (28:50). ... Tyler Glasnow and Tarik Skubal were throwing new slider/cutters on Wednesday (34:13). Sandy Alcantara, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Charlie Morton were all awesome for their respective teams. ... What's the latest on Framber Valdez plus we have a few other updates (43:47). ... Let's run through each team and predict their closer (47:53)! ... Email us at [e-mail]. Join our FBT Bracket Challenge for a chance to enter the 'For the People' league: http://cbssports.com/FBTbrackets Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank, @AdamAizer Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. I drive, center field, this is magnificent. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank Scott, Chris, and Adam.

Everybody loves Raymond. No, everybody loves prospects. Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today. Frank Sample joined by Scotty Doe. Scott White, no Chris Towers. He's off writing about Curtis Samuel somewhere. This shouldn't be a surprise to anybody, but I've never watched a single episode of Everybody Loves Raymond in my life. Aw. Is that bad? Yeah, that's bad. Everybody loves Raymond. I think it's under-celebrated. I mean, it's reasonably celebrated, but, you know, I caught it in syndication. I didn't see it in

its initial run. And I was surprised how much and how consistently I enjoyed. I enjoyed it. Very solid. Very solid sitcom. Everybody loves Raymond. Oh, man. If I just ran through the sitcoms, I have, uh, sitcoms I have not watched. Friends have not watched it. That 70 show have not watched it. I'm sure there's plenty of others. I haven't done that 70 show other than just, you know, the occasional episode here and there. Number one sitcom, Scott, go. Seinfeld. Seinfeld. I'm not going to say anything about Seinfeld.

I've tried. I don't know that maybe it's just aged poorly. I'll try again. I'll go back one day and do it. I think people, most people would say it's aged quite well, but fair enough. You know, I love the office. I love Parks and Rec. I am watching Parks and Rec now, and it is pretty good.

It doesn't, it doesn't hold a candle to the office. The thing about Seinfeld is I could just like turn it on. whatever episode is playing. It doesn't matter. I'm sucked in. That's exactly how I feel about the office as well. We are not going to talk about sitcoms for the next hour. We are going to talk about the top prospects to stash in your redraft leagues.

We've got an update from a listener about the archways in Oracle Park, which helped with offense last year. So we'll tell you about that. We are going to re, we're going to relook at bullpens and try to predict each team's closer. We have had some things moving around recently. Hunter Harvey went to the 60 day IL, so we will try to figure out what's going on in Baltimore. A few pitcher performances to know from Wednesday spring training action. And of course, we have some updates, some news and notes as well. Let's start off with Bobby Witt, who was one of the

prospects that you wrote about Scott, and you did not have the opportunity to talk about him yet because we had this news break late on Tuesday night. But Royal's GM, Dayton Moore, told Sirius X-M's Fantasy Alarm show that he is, quote, open-minded about Bobby Witt, making the opening day roster out of camp. Of course, Bobby Witt, the second overall pick in 2019. He has played 37 games in the minors, Scott. So how are you reacting to that? Have you moved Bobby Witt up the rankings?

What are the chances of that actually happening? I think they're pretty good because, you know, you just hear a quote like that out of the context of the interview and you're like, okay, that's just GM speak. He doesn't want to say anything definitive that's going to, you know, give it away. But the inflection he used was like, I am very open-minded to having him on this team. And he said it twice. Like, you know, it was a whole minute, 20-second clip of him talking about how this is a real possibility, something they're really, you know, they're really considering.

They're basically they want to keep giving him chances to flop in spring training, chances to show that he doesn't belong. But I think if that doesn't happen, if he continues to roll, I think, I, you know, I'm taking it to face value that they're seriously considering Bobby Witt, who's only played, who's 20 years old, only played 37 games in the minors, and I believe it was rookie ball and didn't even perform that well there. They're seriously ready to make them

their starting second baseman. And I'm all for it, you know? I point out the lack of experience, you know, I kind of snicker at it, but more because it's more of me marveling at it, you know? The, just how, because he's looked amazing this spring. I mean, three home runs. I know one was off Hulu.

I know a different one was a 484 footer. Exactly. The strikeout rate has been fine. Like he hasn't looked overmatched offensively or defensively. And, you know, second generation player. So he was, I'm pretty sure he was around the game a lot. And it just looks like it just, we don't know what his development looked like last year, obviously, because it was happening at the alternate training site.

But it just looks like he's developed a lot in a very short period of time. And there's significant upside here. I'm not saying, you know, even if they announced today he's going to be their starting second basement, I would want him as my starter in fantasy, but I would draft him from my bench. For sure. In virtually any league, just to see where the upside takes him. Of course. By the way, I think the upside, I think what Bobby Witt profiles is eventually,

and he's naturally a shortstop, but obviously they have Mondesie there in Kansas City. I think he has the potential to be like a Trevor story. type player. I think that's how high the ceiling is for him. Yeah. And I remember you had the Welsh on a couple months ago and he was raving about Bobby Witt. And he was one of the first people I heard say he might even be up this year. So kudos to the Welsh. I know he was talking about that for a while. But Bobby Witt, again, having a monster spring 10 for 33 thus far, three home runs. He played second base on Tuesday night. So again, naturally a shortstop and he has played some shortstop in the spring. But it's good to see him over there at second base. Scott, let's just say,

he is up on opening day. We get confirmation that that happens. Among the second baseman in ADP, where do you think he would just slot in? Would you draft him ahead of Hacian Kim and Jake Croninworth? And how about Andres Jimenez? I think that's kind of,

I think that's the right range. Yeah, probably. You know, obviously we're talking strictly a five-by-five or a category's context there with Jimenez. If it's a points league context, you want to be so concerned about what Jimenez is going to do for you with stolen bases. So, yeah, that's in the 15-16 range of my rankings that would put them ahead of guys like Nick Solac, Gene Seguera,

Thai France, who I like a lot too. That's probably about right for where Bobby Witt would go. You know, I have a hard time deciding, I would have a hard time deciding between Bobby Witt and Brendan Rogers, actually, who I think has, you know, he's talked about wanting to steal 20 bases this year Rogers has, so he has that element of speed theoretically. He's got coarse field. I think given his age and where he is in his development, it would be much harder to send him down if he struggles than it would be for the Royals to send Witt down. Witt's ultimate ceiling is probably higher, but the likelihood of the player achieving his ceiling this year, I think I'd give that to Rogers. that's an interesting consideration there for you.

And I would also, it's also worth noting Bobby Witt would not be second base eligible right away. He'd have to pick it up, be shortstop eligible right now. Yep, good point there. And there is no shortage of middle infield prospects that can be had for very cheap. Gavin Lux is another name. Don't forget it. ADP is 239, according to fantasy pros. Brendan Rogers is all the way down.

and I think it's the 380 range. Yeah, 382. And then I saw Bobby Witt is at 480, but of course that's going to climb now based on this report. So remember the names. Remember the names there. Before we actually get into everything else, FBT listeners,

we want you to compete with us in our bracket challenge game. Scott, Chris, and I will all be in there, and we want you as well. Join us at cbsports.com slash FBT brackets. And the winner not only gets a $100 gift card, to Paramount Plus, but an entry into our 4-The-People Listener League that is a 16-team, Hed-Tagories League, and who enters just one pool? You can also create a group to compete against your friends and fill out your bracket for

the chance to win a Nissan Rogue and a trip to the 2022 Final Four. You can play on the CBS Sports app or at cbsports.com slash FBT brackets, and I will tell you right now, it'll be very easy to defeat me in this challenge because The only thing I know about college basketball is that Gonzaga is really good, and Cade Cunningham is going to be the number one pick in the NBA draft. So that's the extent of my knowledge. Let's look at some other top prospects. Scott, you recently wrote an article about this, which people can find on the website,

TBSports.com. I will post the link in the podcast description for those who want to follow along here. Before we actually get into the names, I did just want to ask you, no Andrew Vaughn on this list. Has he graduated out of this tier of process? prospect for you? Is that why you didn't have him? Yeah, so the idea of the article is top 10 prospects to stash. So my assumption was these are guys who aren't going to be up at the start of the year.

And we still don't know for sure whether Vaughn will be, but if he isn't, it's strictly for service time reasons he'll be up within two weeks. I'm counting him as being on the roster. And I actually left Alex Kirill off too because I was counting on him being on the roster. I actually did include Bobby Widd because I was thinking there was no chance the two days ago when I wrote this. You know, maybe I should have Kirillov on, Bobby Woodoff. But I was trying to give myself an opportunity to put some less than obvious names on there.

So I made a bunch of rules for myself at the top and had to do a lot of throat clearing before I got out to the list. Andrew Vaughn, of course, top prospect for the White Sox. He would probably play some first base, some DH. He is nine for 33 in the spring with a home run. run and a double. He has six walks to eight strikeouts. He also has a stolen base. I don't think we should expect much of that from Andrew Vaughn, but I will throw it out there. I saw this report earlier today. Jeff Passon of ESPN said that the White Sox have had contract extension talks with both Andrew Vaughn and Lucas Gialito. So the White Sox have been aggressive with this before. They've done this

with Luis Robert. They did it with Eloy Jimenez as well. If they do come to an agreement with Vaughn before opening day, that will guarantee that he is on the opening day roster. So keep that in your back pocket and pay attention to see if that actually does happen. Let's start off with Jared Kellnick, the outfielder for the Seattle Mariners. He was dealing with a left knee adductor. And he is, as we are recording this on Wednesday night, he's expected to appear in the Mariners game. He's making his return. So what do you think about Kellanick, Scott? Do you think he makes the opening day roster, the chance that happens. And if not, he'll probably be up soon. What are expectations for Kelnick in year one? Yeah, it doesn't sound like he's going to make the opening day roster.

I didn't think they really wanted him to anyway. And the injury, the amount of time he missed with that, it's going to give them a pretty easy out. But I don't suspect he'll spend long in the minors. I think there's a good chance we see him in April. I doubt they'll be able to hold them back all the way till mid-lay June when the Super 2 consideration comes into play. Because I think he's basically a finished product. He just has to prove it for a few weeks in the miners. And then presumably he's going to be up. I hesitate slightly because Taylor, I forget whether he pronounces it, Trammell or Trammell.

Taylor Trammell, I'll say, the Mariners. formerly of the Padres and before that of the Reds he's he's been a prospect who's been on the move but he's having a big spring it looks like he's going to be there starting left fielder

and if he continues to perform that way in the majors there isn't a clear opening for Kalnick because Guy Lewis and center Mitch Hanigur and Wright I think right now Ty Francis

slotted at DH so you know things happen players get injured that might delay calenic's time table slightly though if everybody's performing reasonably well

Wanda Franco the Tampa Bay Rays have made some roster cuts recently and sent some prospects back to their alternate site Wander Franco was not one of them he is six for 22 in the spring he does have a home run he has played both shortstop and third base

and I think that's worth noting because the more positions he can play the more versatility he has they can find ways to get him in the lineup. So what do you think about Wanda Franco, Scott? Same thing, ETA. What are you thinking? Probably not opening day,

and who would you rather have between him and Kelning? I wouldn't have put him on this list if I thought it was opening day. Yeah, no, he's 20. So, you know, and he last played, he hasn't played above A ball yet, though it's, you know, it's hard to know exactly what to classify the alternate training side as, right? Because there were some higher-end minor leaguers there. that he was working out with.

So the main thing for me is he was with the raise for the World Series. He was there ready to be activated if they needed him, which, you know, they kind of tip their hand with that, right? They think he's basically ready. And he's been the top prospect in baseball two years in a row now,

great contact skills, which should make for an easy transition, I would think. And third base should be, looks like the path of least resistance for him. I mean, Joey Wendell is probably going to get the majority of the playing time there, and he's a solid player, but probably for a championship caliber club, probably better off as like a utility guy. Willie Adamas, I mean, we keep waiting for the bat to come around.

I don't know if it ever will, but he's a good defender, so maybe they don't want to, maybe that's not really the best way for Wander Franco to make his way on the roster at his natural shortstop. position. But the fact they've been playing Franco at third base, you know, that that seems like a tell as well. And again, I'm thinking we could see Franco before the end of April. I hope so. That would be awesome. And his strikeout rate at three different levels in the miners, 7%, 7.4%, 6.7%. Just we don't see players with this type of upside make that level of contact. Even you know, Juan Soto is a little bit above league average, and he's probably the best example

that you could look at in terms of making contact. So, yeah, the plate discipline here, a double-digit walk rate for his career as well for Wander-Franco, a lot to like there. Scott thinks he's up before the end of April. Who would you rather have between him and Kelnick, Scott? Well, Frank, I rank Kelnick number one and Wander-Franco number two. There you go. Yeah. Fair enough. They're ranked. Mackenzie Gore is your top-ranked starting pitcher prospect. he is with the Padres. This one's a little bit tougher because obviously

the Padres are loaded, Scott. They have a great rotation. I mean, we're one to Nelson Lamet injury away from that changing, I suppose. But what are you thinking with McKenzie Gore? There actually is a reasonable chance Gore makes the opening day roster.

I still don't think he will. But it doesn't look like Denelson Lemette's going to be ready. So they're going to have a rotation opening from the beginning. Adrian Morihoen and Ryan Weathers both have major league experience and are also in a battle for rotation spot. So I would suspect they beat out Gore,

especially since, you know, we heard some rumblings. The reason Gore didn't get called up last year was because he was having some delivery issues at the alternate training site. It was affecting his control. And he has had some issues with walks this spring, so I'm not sure that's totally ironed out. If there were any doubts there, I think they'd prefer to send him down. So I'm guessing Gore won't make it, but it won't be long.

He's the best pitching prospect in baseball. He's of age. He's dominated at every stop in the minors. You know, if Denelsa Lemette comes back strong and they got five strong there in their rotation, you know, I could see it being delayed until mid-season as opposed to April or May. But he's certainly. the pitcher I would want to stash most. The pitching prospect I would want to stash most

is McKinsey Gore. 22 years old for McKenzie Gore, former third overall pick back in 2017. Of course, with the San Diego Padres, regardless of formats, Scott, right? Even in a shallower head-to-ed points league, would you be looking to stash him on your bench if you could?

So basically these top three, Kelnick, sorry, Kellnick, Franco, and Gore. I see them as basically stashes in all formats. You get in anything? shallower than 10 teams, it's going to be hard to justify, I guess. And, you know, in a shallower league, like a 10-teamer or a small 12-teamer, it might be

difficult to be someone who stashes two of these three. But somebody in your league should be stashing each of those three. Let's move over to Logan Gilbert of the Seattle Mariners. Another one here on this list, one hitting prospect and one pitching prospect. Mariners coming soon. They're going to be really, They're going to be really good. And Logan Gilbert is someone that I do like quite a bit a towering right-hand pitcher. He has only made one start in the spring.

And I saw a clip on Twitter the day he made that start of him striking out Mike Trout looking. So no easy feat there to accomplish. Where does Logan Gilbert rank for you? Obviously, he's second behind McKenzie Gore. But I think the Mariners could be pretty aggressive here with him. They do have some names in that rotation. But it sounds like he might have a shot early in the season.

yeah he might I I feel like because he only made one actual true spring appearance and I guess it's not over I guess he could still make another but it doesn't seem like they were giving him a chance

from the start of the year which you know I wouldn't expect them to they're not expected to contend this year but he looks like pretty close to a finished product he already had success at double a he already has two established breaking balls and made it

apparently made a lot of progress with his change up last year. He controls the zone well. I don't see a lot of faults in Logan Gilbert at this stage of his development. And so, yeah, it doesn't look like a situation where they're going to be able to keep him down all year. And not to the same extent of McKenzie Gore, and you just mentioned it was only the top three prospects we talked about here that you would be looking to stash in 12 team leagues. but I have a few 15 team leagues where... No, in all leagues. In all leagues.

There are some of these others that I might stash in a 12-team league, particularly if you're talking to like roto roster size, you know, 29, 30 players rostered. It's just beyond the top three, beginning with Logan Gilbert, I wouldn't consider anybody here down to be mustache, you know.

Did you just say mustache? Do you have something to say about my facial hair, Scott? Yeah. What do you think? I got it trimmed up recently. Does look right? Yeah. Yeah, looking good. We've got to come up with a bet, Scott, where you have to grow out your facial hair or whatever you're capable of growing out for, I don't know, a certain period of time just to see how it looks. We're on video now. I think some people would enjoy that. Yeah. Would your wife enjoy it, though? I don't know that my wife would be one of them. No. That was my next question, because of course, that is. There are some sacrifices there. I may not be willing. to make.

That is one of the most important questions. Let's move away from Logan Gilbert. Matt Manning, the Tigers. No shortage of pitching prospects. Obviously, they have Casey Mize. Terrick Scoubel, who we'll talk about a little bit later on. He looked pretty good in his Wednesday start. But Manning has looked all right.

He was already optioned down. He's pitched six in the spring, seven hits, one walk and five strikeouts. Dealt with a bit of an injury last year, Scott. And the Tigers have all these, have like this hodgepage of veterans and Julio Taran and Michael Former looks terrible in the spring as well. So if those guys are stinking it up by late April, early May,

I think Matt Manning probably gets a shot. Yeah, I think so too. The only reason he didn't get called up during the promoter paloosa last year for the Tigers was because he was dealing with a, I think it was a sore forearm. source something in his arm and otherwise they would have considered they were all pretty much

at the same developmental level Casey Mize Terrick Scoubel and Matt Manning and Manning I don't know it depends who you ask which is the best of those three but I feel like Manning has the most traction right now

I feel like I see Manning at the top of most list for those three tigers pitching prospects. And just like, I don't know, he's just been very consistent and steady in the minor leagues. Strikeout rate has always been high.

He's a big guy with a hammer curveball and has had some control issues off and all, but nothing major. That doesn't seem like there's much more left for him to accomplish. But you're right about they don't really have, they don't truly have a spot for him right now.

My guess is Michael Fulmer's already going to be out from the get-go to get Terek Scoopal in there. So Fulmer's already taken care of, and yet there still isn't room. Maybe Matt Manning leapfrogs Casey Mize, who's looked pretty bad this spring in the pecking order. Maybe Manning moves ahead of him. That would make sense. But I don't know, Jose Orania, obviously there's not much to see there.

Julio Tehran's the one that's kind of interesting to me because he's thrown at 92-93 after being down at 89 last year. What year is this, Scott? It's been a few years, actually. Not just last year, but a few years since Tehran's thrown that hard, right? And yet, as a guy who was around 9091, he was consistently keeping his ERA below four for the Braves. I don't know that he's going to be so easy to bump from that rotation.

But maybe Jose Orania will be. There's always a chance for injuries, you know. I think Manning will be up. at some point. It just might not be, we might have to wait until June. Just a quick little sidebar on Julio Taran. So far in the spring for the Tigers,

nine innings, two runs, 12 strikeouts to just one walk. So yeah, he's had some success. Remember the name in your AL-only leagues or your deeper 15-team roto leagues. And I did just want to ask you about Mize, Scott, because you said,

scoble may have even leapfrogged Mize, Maybe Matt Manning is getting close to that as well. So far in the spring, six earned runs for Casey Meis over six and a third, nine walks to seven strikeouts. And I don't want to, not every splitter pitcher is the same, but I just, I do worry about pitchers who rely so heavily on their splitter as their main out pitch, as their main with pitch. We've seen it with Gosman inconsistencies year in and year out. But I worry the same way about Casey Meis. man, and he's had some shoulder injuries as well. I'm pretty down on him.

I am pretty down on Casey Meis. Yeah, he made it look so easy, starting out in the miners. But he doesn't have like a true off speed pitch. I mean, some people consider a splitter more of a change, but I don't think his is of a velocity that you'd really consider it an off speed pitch. He has three really good pitches, but they're all hard pitches, you know? So I kind of wonder about that too. even when he was going well in the minors,

the strikeout rate wasn't that great. The control was great, though. So I don't know what's been going on with that. I didn't let him be on this list because, you know, I decided to make another rule that there would be no one who's already debuted in the majors because basically Casey Mize would be the only one excluded who wasn't already excluded by other reasons. If I let Mize be on the list, though, he would have probably slotted right after Manning here. of course, now right after Manning is Bobby Witt.

So I may need to make that change. But you know what? Here's what I'm thinking. If the Royals aren't willing to give it to Bobby Witt at the start, based on Dayton Mourn's comments, it's going to be because they genuinely don't feel he's ready. Because I don't know, maybe he stumbles over these last two weeks, maybe he starts to look more human.

If he, and it would be totally understandable given his age's level of development, If they decide he needs more development, I don't know, I don't know that I'd be counting on seeing him in April at that point. You know, I don't know that I'd be counting on seeing him in June. So obviously Witt doesn't belong on this list if he wins the second base job. But for now, I think maybe it kind of makes sense to leave him here just because it's, it feels like a sort of an all or nothing proposition right now. And this is pure speculation on my part. I have not read anything, but I will just throw it out there. there is a new CBA coming up.

After this season, the MLB and the MLB Players Association, they have to discuss, sit down, discuss the CBA, figure out what they're going to do with prospects and service time and all this other stuff, Universal D.H. And there could be changes to service time. So all I'm saying is I can see potentially teams being more aggressive with prospects this year

if they think things are going to change in the future regarding service time and how prospects are handled and because all this kind of manipulation, I'm pretty sure the Players Association wants it to go away to some level. So they're going to talk those things out, but I can see teams potentially being more aggressive with prospects this year more so than in years past because of that. A few other names on this list for Scott Jeter Downs, Josh Young,

Jeter Downs of the Boston Red Sox, Josh Young of the Texas Rangers and Alec Manoa of the Toronto Blue Jays. I do want to get to some other stuff. So if you want to... Nolan Jones, too. He's a good for Nolan Jones. Nolan Jones of the Cleveland Indians. You can read about all those, again, in Scott's article.

The email of the day. I want to throw on a couple bonus names that people called me out on. Elliot Ramos, Elliot with an H on the front. He's crushing it in the spring. Of the Giants, yeah, he's been crushing it this spring. It's a difficult profile to land because he's kind of just a slugger, and there's a lot of sluggers out there. Not a high OBP guy, not a fast guy.

just a slugger. But, you know, if he catches fire right when he reaches the majors, you'll be happy you have him. And now I'm forgetting the second one. I'll try to think of it. There was another one I had no one to mention too,

but now I can't think of it. Ramos is a good one. And I would say any prospects that are still playing at this point, I mean, a lot of teams have already optioned their prospects. So if they haven't yet, there is at least a chance

that either they'll make it on opening day or we see them earlier in the season. And I think it's relevant to talk about Ramos right now because our email of the day came from Ray, dear Larry, Curley, and Mo. If Adam's feeling left out, throw in Shemp. So, of course. I wanted to update you on the arches in Oracle Park.

I wrote to you last year about the arches being closed and the effect on the way the park plays. At the time, I noted that the thing to keep in mind about Giants, hitters, and pitchers, is whether the arches remain closed or not this season. As of yesterday, they are still closed, and he actually sent in a picture of the arches being closed at Oracle Park. Word is they will stay that way.

This has big implications, especially for players like Brandon Belt, who really benefited last year. When the wind is blowing out, the closed arches create an updraft that gives the ball a significant amount of carry. The black cloth doesn't look substantial, but you can feel the difference when you stand directly in front of the gap between the gates. Another lefty who really benefits is Alex Dickerson. So specifically, obviously, you know, for lefties hitting the right field, it's very deep in that part of Oracle Park.

But as of now, based on, I haven't, yeah, I've tried to research and find articles. I haven't seen anything about it. So we'll continue to pay attention. But offense was up last year, Scott. And I think that's worth mentioning here for Giants hitters. Yeah. I agree it's worth mentioning. I don't think it's gospel yet, even if we know that they're blocked.

like I remember when Sun Trust Park, I guess it's now Truest Park in Atlanta first open, like it looked like it was just going to be a home run haven because, you know, the way it was playing at the start of the year, that's just how it looked. But then things normalized over time. It looks like a pretty neutral park now. And, you know, usually you need a bigger sample of than two months and really only half the games being played there over those two months. months to really lock in those park effects.

You know, maybe it would play differently in April than it would in August. You know, we don't know that either. So it's probably going to help either way, but the extent to which it'll help is difficult to say. And obviously, it has for 20 plus years been the toughest place to hit in all of baseball. So based on two months of data, I'm not. not willing. I'm not ready to go all in on it, not being that anymore. Yep, definitely fair. But it was weird seeing that much offense last year in Oracle Park. So follow that storyline. And if I,

if I hear anything, read anything, I will definitely update everyone on that as well. We're going to hit a quick break. But first, just a quick reminder that our fantasy baseball today draft prep guide is free and it is available now. I've mentioned it a lot recently. Chris put a lot of hard work into it. Once you land at the page, that is cbsports.com slash FBB draft kit, all you do is punch your email in and you'll get it sent your way. And regardless of what type of league you plan, there are rankings, salary cap values, draft strategies, tiers, and so much more. Of course, a lot of the written content in there is from Scott as well. So I don't want to just play it up as,

it's only Chris doing the work. Obviously, Scott is doing a lot of hard work on that draft. You too, Frank. Yeah, but I don't pump myself up. My job here is to make you guys look good. So as long as I'm doing that, then I am happy. And a reminder for everybody that we will continue to do mailbags, bonus mailbag podcasts over the next two weekends, because obviously this is draft season. So it is a very busy time. So we're going to continue to take your questions on those bonus mailbag podcasts

and release those on Saturdays. You can email in your questions at Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. But as usual, if you enjoy the podcast, feel free to leave us a five-star Apple Podcast rating. and in the review you can drop a question. But also, over the next week, we are going to do bold predictions on next Friday's podcast. So I want to see some of those bold predictions

or hear them. So send those in, email them in, tweet at me at Roto underscore Frank. We will include those in our bold predictions for next week and drop them in your Apple podcast reviews as well. If you are watching on the video side, don't go anywhere.

If you are listening to the podcast, we're going to take a quick break. But when we return, we have some pitcher stuff, some updates from Wednesday coming up next here fantasy baseball today so I wanted to highlight Scott that Tyler Glass now through a he has been throwing a new slider so far in the spring and he threw 25 sliders on Wednesday at 87 miles per hour he wasn't particularly effective against the Pittsburgh pirates of all teams but I thought it was worth noting because for years Tyler Glass now

has been this two pitch pitcher throws that high 90s fastball he has that wipeout curve ball but it's this slider-cutter hybrid. He threw it 25 times. So that's pretty significant, and I was pretty interested in that. Any takeaways? Okay, 25 times. And what was the line for him? His final pitching line, I think it was four innings, seven hits, four runs.

Allowed against the Pirates. Yeah, it was four inning, six hits, four runs, one wall. So that's pretty good. Seven strikeouts. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think the biggest thing it could mean for Glass now is, and, you know, basically fastball, curveball pitcher.

When the curveball, he didn't have command of it, he was basically a one pitch pitcher, right? That's something that I've seen suggested on the raise beat that if he can get a second breaking ball going with that curve ball, that gives him two, to work with. If he's only spotting one one day, he could still turn in an effective start. It might explain some of the inconsistencies we've seen from Glass now

during his time with the race. Obviously, this wasn't a great start and it was against a bad team, but I think he dominated the Braves last time out, and it's only spring training, so he's working on stuff. The fact he threw it that many times suggests he's really trying to lock it in,

right, and not caring so much about the results. So yeah, it's an encouraging development for Tyler Glass now. Terrick Scuba mentioned a little bit earlier. All those Tigers pitching prospects. He pitched three innings against the Phillies on Wednesday. He allowed just one hit. Three walks, don't love that.

But six strikeouts, and he threw a cutter eight times, and he only threw that cutter seven times all of last season. So he's another one where he's working on a new pitch, getting that cutter worked in. Scott, I feel like we've talked off-air about this, but your optimism is growing for Scoobie. Correct? Yeah, no, I wrote about him in post-type sleepers. I had a post-type sleepers article that came out last week, and Scoobel was one of the names I talked about there. He worked with driveline baseball this off-season to develop something to offset his fastball better because he had a change up last year, and it was, you know, he started using it more late in the year and had some success with it, but he didn't feel great about it. His fastball's amazing, Scoobles is, and it was so good that he could basically get away with throwing home. that in the miners. So it's really about filling out the arsenal around that. And if he has

a really good compliment to it now, I mean, this is a guy who struck out almost 18 per nine and his nine starts at double A two years ago. So significant upside there for Scoobel. And I need, I need to start drafting him late because I don't think I've gotten him anywhere yet. Yeah, me too. And I like them. I just, I haven't wound up with him anywhere. So I don't know why that has been the case. But Terrick Scoobel definitely take a shot. Late round flyer in your fantasy baseball draft. Sandy Alcantara, not a late round flyer. He'll likely be drafted inside your top 150 picks.

Five innings, nine strikeouts, 14 whiffs on 64 pitches against the New York Mets. Don't want to overreact to something like this, but Sandy Alcantara has the stuff. We haven't necessarily seen it generate into whiffs and strikeouts so far in his career. But man, this is definitely encouraging. 14 whiffs on 64 pitches.

is the ADP for Sandy Alcantara, 152.6. Corey Kluber, random, but rocket ship up the ADP. He is now up to 151, pick 151, ahead of Alcansara. So I wouldn't do that personally. Scott, I know you like Kluber. Are you willing to go that far? You're taking Klubor over Sandy Alcantara? Well, here's the thing.

Kind of a double spoiler here. I'm working on sleepers, breakouts, busts, three different columns, version 3.0 I added Kluber to my sleepers I'm adding Alcantara to my breakouts because he has

he said he needs to throw his four seam fastball more and he has made an effort to do that this spring and we've seen the strikeout rate explode tiny sample of course but we've seen it explode with his decision to do that you look at the breakdown of his pitches

the whiff rate on each of them last year his four seam fast fastball, you know, by the standards of that pitch, it's not normally known for a high swinging strike rate. His is among the highest you'll see for that pitch. And it seems to be pairing well with the change-up. You got a lot of whiffs on the change-up today. Seems like those pitches complement each other. Yeah, he's a really good ground ball pitcher with the sinker as much as he throws that.

The two-seem fastball, but I don't know that he necessarily has to sacrifice that to become more of a strikeout artist. and, you know, it seems like something he's deliberately trying to do. So I'm very excited about that, because I don't really have workload concerns for Alcantara either. He's a guy who's shown an ability to pitch deep into games. And I think he will this year as well. If he's getting strikeouts, I mean, that's somebody who could be in line for a big breakout. Oh, so Scott's going to put Sandy Alcantara in the breakouts, but not Pablo Lopez. I see how it is, Scott.

I think the upside's higher for Alcantara, yeah. I mean, look, let's remind everyone. Alcantara was a top-ish prospect, and he came over in the Marcelo Zuna trade, originally back in the day. The Cardinals really coveted this kid, Sandy Alcantara, and they were willing to give him up in that trade.

So I think the final step for him outside of what you mentioned, Scott, is the control. If he can get those walks down below three walks per nine, which has been an issue for him, him in his career? Then yeah. I mean, the breakout could be imminent for one, Sandy Alcantara. How about Eduardo Rodriguez? We haven't talked about him much in the offseason. Scott. He has been named the Red Sox opening day starter. Awesome story coming back from last year had a serious

case of COVID, which led to myocarditis. And he's been great in the spring. 11 and two-thirds, three earned runs, 14 strikeouts versus just three walks for Eduardo Rodriguez. So similarly, I don't want to overreact, but I feel like we have not talked about him at all. He goes, just inside the top 200 picks. Any interest there, Scott? I mean, if the price is right, it seems like there's somebody more eager to draft him than I am.

I think it's obviously an indication his success in spring that he's healthy and that's not going to be a question. So clearly he deserves to be drafted. But I had my doubts about him, you know, going into last spring before any of the COVID stuff came up. You know, he was coming off a career season,

19 wins 381 ERA. Just a little more than a strikeout per inning and the whip was kind of high. And I just thought he performed over his head. And especially since the Red Sox aren't shaping up to be a great team this year, I'm going to stick to that. I see him as more like a late round type. That's it.

That's the end of the sentence. I'm so bad at that. I faked myself out that time. So I'm happy that you informed me that that was the end of your sentence. Last thing we'll mention pitcher stuff from Wednesday. Charlie Morton, the hype is growing.

Four and a third. One run, it was an unearned run allowed, and four strikeouts. Mark Bowman, who covers the Atlanta Braves, had this to say on Twitter that Charlie Morton was sitting 93 to 95 miles per hour. Okay, we like that 95 part of it a little bit more, obviously,

and said, his breaking balls are dancing like a wiffle ball. So, Scott, I know that, you were talking about moving Charlie Morton up in your ranks recently, and he is up to SP 35. Any chance he creeps up a little bit higher? I don't think so. I have durability questions with him, and that's going to keep him down that far. For now, I mean, we get into the season,

and maybe some of those ahead of him start eliminating themselves from that discussion. I'm sure some of them will, just because that's always what happens. But as things stand right now, I think that's about as high as I can justify putting Morton. And that would be, you know, I'd be happy with him. I mean, personally, I'd be happy with him as like my number five. But, you know, top 35, that would be some people's number three, I guess, if we're talking an even distribution of pitchers.

Yeah, the hype is growing for me on Charlie Morton. I have him up at SP 32. I moved him ahead of Sonny Gray, who's dealing with an injury right now, moved him ahead of to Nelson Lamett. And then, you know, just ahead of him. Ian Anderson, Hayes was Lazzardo, two young guys that I think have a ton of upside as well. So once you see those names start to go off the board, I would be looking Charlie Morton's way, at least in my rankings. Let's hit some quick news and notes before we update people on the bullpen situations for each team.

The Red Sox option bold starting pitcher Tanner Hauk and outfielder Jaron back to the minors. Some were asking about Hauk in the offseason and the walks have been a big issue. Scott, you just gave me a finger point like either I did something really really, right or I did something really wrong. No, I remembered. I remembered the other prospect I wanted to mention. It was Jaron Duran. Ah, yes. Potential stash for later in the year, especially, you know, since it sounds like there's some buzz now that he's developing power. We'll have better indication of that by the time as he's working his way up to a promotion if he's hitting some home runs in the minors. But good speed guy is always hit for a high average in the miners. Well, not always, but he has

Yeah, he's shown the ability to do that before. He will now be known as Jaron Duran Duran on this podcast. He is, quote, hungry like the wolf. Ramon Luriano is dealing with a sore left side ace manager, Bob Melvin said Luriano is, quote, going to be okay and could return to games early next week. Sticking with the A's, Trevor Rosenthal made his spring debut on Wednesday. He allowed one run on two hits and a walk, but more importantly, he came out of the game healthy.

He has been dealing with a groin issue. I saw the velocity was down a little bit for Rosenthal in this appearance. It is his first appearance of the spring. So pay attention to that for the next couple of appearances. But Rosenthal is someone that both Scott and I like quite a bit. If you are willing to pay up for a closer. Dominic Smith. Adam, close your ears, if that's possible,

because you just want them in our salary cap draft yesterday. Dom Smith was scratched from Wednesday's game against the Marlins due to wrist sorenness. so hope he's all right. Luis Robert, who's been dealing with an abdominal issue, was back in the lineup for the White Sox. Framber Valdez. All right, now we're talking who has been... Yeah, how are we just now getting to this, Frank?

I mean, come on. We still don't know anything. The only thing we know is that he will not undergo surgery. So that is a good thing for Framber Valdez. John Heyman, a couple of weeks ago, was reporting. If he has surgery, then he could be out for the entire season. No, we know a lot. We learned a lot.

We know he's like if he's not having surgery He's not gonna be out for the season But there's no time table So what can we what can we possibly say about it? If it's a broke The time table for a broken bone is basically always four to six weeks right? Scott the expert He broke his bone

Broke his finger If there's no need for surgery and the recovery that goes along with that That's just how long it takes for a broken bone to heal I mean I Obviously he'll have to build up after that But I was getting in In 15 team leagues, I was getting Fromber Valdez for like a 25th, 26th round pick. Basically nothing.

I did it in Tout Wars. And so I'm fist pumping over this news because he is, it sounded like they didn't just say, they didn't just say he's not going to undergo surgery. It said, you know, testing has shown that it's healing. They're happy with the way it's healing. He's going to be a contributor this year, Fromber Valdez's. and probably need to move them back up the rankings. I don't know, maybe 100 spots.

Probably shouldn't be going that far behind like Mike Soroka, I would guess. Very touchy topic. Don't talk about Scott's Frumber Valdez. That is his boy. Red's pitcher updates. T.J. Anton is dealing with a groin issue. He is day-to-day. He will not make his start this weekend.

He could, however, throw a bullpen over the weekend. Speaking of both, speaking of Red's pitchers, Amarrett and Lucas Sims. through live batting practice on Wednesday. Garrett is dealing with a forearm issue. Sims is dealing with an elbow. D.D. Gregorius has a concussion

after getting hit in the back of the head with a pitch on Tuesday. He will be re-evaluated on Friday and Philly starter, Zach Eflin, was scratched from Friday's start with a back issue. His teammate Spencer Howard is also dealing with back spasms.

So they might be contagious out there. What else? Bullpen. Let's wrap up here, Scott, with bullpens. And just, you know, I mean, we don't have to talk in depth about every single team because a lot, many things have not changed since we've done our relief picture preview, but some things have changed. So I do want to talk specifically about those. So let's just run through every team. We'll start off in the national league. Yeah, there's only 10 minutes left. Every team. I realize that. Yeah, but I mean, for the Mets, we could just say, okay, Edwin Diaz is the guy. We know that. So we don't have to spend too much time on that. So that's exactly what we'll say. The Mets, they have Edwin Diaz. He is the guy. But I do think that it is a short leash. We've seen him. lose his job in the past. The nationals have Brad Hand. Remember the quote from Dave Martinez. In a perfect world, Brad Hand will be the team's closer. There are very capable backups in Tanner Rainey, Daniel Hudson, and Will Harris. But if Brad Hand is performing, I assume he will be the closer. So I wrote an article. I encourage everybody to check it out, top 12 non-closer relief

pitchers, where I not only give my top 12 non-closer relief pitchers, but I break down every team's closer situation just real quick at the top because I wanted to leave all potential closer candidates out of this discussion. Top 12 non-closer relief pitchers. Tanner Rainey, who I consider the next in line for saves for Washington,

is number two on that list. And for what it's worth, Trevor May, who I see is next in line for saves for the Mets, is number nine. Good stuff. Many people have been asking about relievers that can help with their race.

so definitely go read that article for the Phillies. I don't think we have any kind of definitive answer. It seems like the team might be leaning towards Archie Bradley. I read the other day that his velocity has been down so far in the spring. And Jose Alvarado has been awesome. And they do have... Hector Nairos has been really good too. Yeah, I, man, I like Jose Alvarado.

I'm not ready to say that he probably won't be the team's closer to start the year. I think that will be Bradley. But I would not be surprised if Jose Alvarado leads to Phillies this season. in saves. That is not really a bold prediction, but it's a prediction. They do have Tony Watson,

so it's not like Alvarado's the only lefty. Correct. So that helps. For your Braves, Scott, you have said all along that you think it's going to be Will Smith, and Brian Snitker has really

kind of just stuck with one closer as long as he has been there. And another team that has a lot of lefties in the pen, so I don't think that that is an issue for the Atlanta Braves. You're sticking with that for now, Will Smith?

Yeah, three of their top four bullpen arms or lefties, including Smith. He's paid like a closer. He was an all-star closer two years ago. Let's do it. I really can't imagine a world where he's not the closer, at least to start out.

And then if he blows it, and I mean, that goes for any closer. If they blow it, they blow it. But I'm happy taking Smith is my number one reliever in fantasy. For the Marlins, they have Anthony Bass versus Yimmee Garcia and I believe it was Craig Mish, who ruffled your feather, Scott, said that he... Challenge to me.

He guaranteed you that Anthony Bass would be. be the closer. And Bass has been better so far in the spring, super small sample sizes. I don't think he's very good, but he's probably the guy to start for the Miami Marlins. The Cubs, Craig Kimbril is going to start as the closer. But Scott, what is going on there? Because I believe you wrote about him recently in your spring notebook or another article, but what's going on. Spring notebook. Yeah, he's having some delivery issues that they're working on. They're similar to the delivery issues he was dealing with early last year is what the report said. And obviously, he lost his job early last year and then was really strong in September.

It never really gained the job back, but had an awesome September. Still throwing hard. I do think there's still elite closer potential there for Kimbril, but it's been such, he's been, you know, we've seen a lot more bad from him than good over his two years with the Cubs. And I don't have a lot of confidence right now. They don't have a great alternative, which helps. But like, even if they're turning to Kimball for saves,

you want him to be good or else that's that's not doing your fantasy team any favors either. Yeah, my confidence is wavering in Kimberle. And he was someone at the beginning of this process that I felt pretty good about. And just seeing these issues, you know, rear up again in spring training. It does not make me feel good about Craig Kimberle. I would say the name to watch is probably Ryan Tepera. I read about something about him the other day. Brandon Workman is in that bullpen as well. Rowan Wick was their best reliever last year. But he, will start the season on the IL. Wasn't Tepara the guy who got an MVP vote last year

because somebody misintered it? That sounds familiar. That might have happened. Yeah, I think that was the guy. For the Reds mentioned Amir Garrett and Lucas Sims are dealing with injuries, but we do like Amir Garrett to emerge as the guy there. He just has the closer mentality.

I was searching him up on Twitter earlier today to see if there were any updates. And there was just a video of him saying, I'm the guy. There is no competition. So he just, I love it. I love it out of Amir Gary.

It helps that his primary competition, Lucas Sims, has been dealing with an injury all spring. Yes. More severe than Garrets. Though it looks like they're both on the mend now. Sean Doolittle's been terrible. T.J. Anton,

I've seen him get hyped maybe as a possible closer or a possible rotation option. He could do it all. I'm pretty sure. Garrett. Like my ideal for drafting closers in fantasy right now is Will Smith, you know,

around round, round 15 and then Amir Garrett around round 18, something like that. And those are my closers. That's what I'm aiming to do. Well, in Tau Wars Scott, wound up with no closers. I know. It's all right. You'll figure it out. The Brewers,

Josh Hader, will be the guy. Definitely a capable backup in Devin Williams. So if Hayter falters at all, we could see a switch there. Not that we're expecting that, but just remember. For the Pirates, manager Derek Shelton said, the team does not have a

closer. Richard Rodriguez picked up some saves last season, and I was reading about this just earlier, that their manager, Shelton, he likes Richard Rodriguez in that setup role. I've got a bit of a prediction here, Scott. David Bednar, remember the name. Guy has been lights out in the spring. He's thrown 98 miles per hour. He has a splitter as well, six shutout innings with 11 strikeouts. Throw super hard. He came over in the Joe Musgrove trade. That's my prediction. David Bednar. is the closer for the Pittsburgh Pirates when they win, I don't know, 50 games. I'll remember the name. I mean, I'd still draft Richard Rodriguez, but not with a lot of confidence.

Richard Rodriguez is really good, though. He is good. Yeah. I think there's a good chance he gets traded this year at some point as well. For the Cardinals, I think Jordan Hicks, they want him to be the guy and he'll work his way in. Alex Reyes, is worth mentioning. He's looked really good in the spring thus far. The Diamondbacks, Joachim Sorriar, we're just kind of assuming here, right, Scott?

No, I'm taking the B-Writers at their word. They're all say he's the frontrunner. He's expected to. Stefan Kreitens technically competing with him, but I don't think, I think Sorio stocks up as a closer better and obviously has more experience in the role. So I feel pretty confident drafting him for saves. I don't think Giovanni Gallegos is out of the Cardinals mix either,

just to backtrack a little. I don't know that Jordan Hicks is going to be ready for that high leverage role right away. We'll see. I think ultimately they want him in it. Yeah. Everything that they've said about Jordan Hanks is that he'll work his way in. But I've seen this story too many times, Scott, where someone is the closer to start the year. And if they perform really well, they're not going to take that player out of the closer's role. So definitely worth mentioning the name Gallegos and Alex Reyes as well.

For the Rockies, Daniel Bard, seems like he should be the guy. He was the closer last year for them. Worth mentioning Scott Oberg is coming back this year after missing all of last season. and he has looked pretty good in the spring so far. Yeah, Bard has been named the closer. Nice. I like that. Dodgers, Kenley Jansen, definitely the closer and has looked really good in the spring. The Padres, your guess is as good as mine. It's Mark Malanson, Drew Pomeranz, Emilio Pagan.

Keonekella has closed games before as well. Scott, it is March 17th when we're recording, March 18th when people are listening. Your prediction to lead the Padres and saves. Mark Malanson. I think is who it's going to be. I'd rather be Pomeran's. I think Pomeranz could be a stud closer, but he's the high leverage lefty,

the one that they have. And so I don't think they'll confine him to that role. I think Melanson, you know, he doesn't profile like a closer, but he has a long history, and I think he'll be good enough to basically stick with it. I don't have a lot of confidence in drafting him,

but that's my hunch right now, how it's going to play out. Scott, who leads the Giants and saves us here? I think it'll be... Jake McGee? Yeah, Jake McGee. Sorry, that was the name of I was trying to think. Yeah, Jake McGee.

He gave him a two-year deal. He was awesome for the Dodgers last year. But Matt Wissler could potentially as well. In the American League, for the Yankees, our oldest Chapman is their closer, and Zach Britton had surgery recently. So Chad Green is the next man up there. For the Red Sox,

have we got confirmation that Matt Barnes is for sure the guy. They traded for Adam Atovino in the offseason? No, we don't have confirmation. I think Barnes is the front runner just because he ended last year in the role. But Atovino might be better.

It could still go to Atovino. For the raise, they had 12 different pitchers record a save last season. We know Kevin Cash is going to use a bunch of different guys. So most likely Nick Anderson, Diego Castillo, Pete Fairbanks, but I'm sure they can sign Scott White

to be a reliever and he'll get a save throughout the course of the season as well. for the Blue Jays, Kirby Yates, that is a definite, right? When he signed, they were talking like it wasn't definite. And Jordan Romano is actually number one on my top 12 non-closer RPs. He was briefly anointed to the role last year with some fanfare and they got hurt right away. But I would be very surprised if they didn't go with Yates at first. and as long as the elbow was fine after last year.

I imagine he'll keep the job. Kirby Yates has only pitched one inning this spring so far, and he allowed two hits with no strikeouts. So let's see how he continues to do. The Orioles is the big one, Scott. Hunter Harvey. Yeah, the big one, right? The big one, the Orioles.

They're going to win all these games this year. Who are we going to get for saves? Hunter Harvey has an oblique injury. He was transferred to the 60-day I-L. I would like to apologize to the Orioles beatwriters, who I spammed on Twitter yesterday. continuously asking who is going to lead this team in saves, but every single one of them said Tanner Scott is the name, Scott.

If they say that's the name, I guess that's the name. But I do think this is the smallest one, actually, because just the way Brandon Hyde has operated so far, like he's never stuck with a guy. And he's never had anyone worth sticking with. Maybe that'll change this year. But I kind of expect nobody on the Orioles is going to have double-digit saves.

And just the tandem of Tanner Scott and Cesar Valdez is kind of like a great starting pitcher who has this really fast fastball and a deceptive changeup. Tanner Scott's fastball is 98 miles per hour. Cesar Valdez's fastball is 86 miles per hour. So it could be a nice little mix and match situation to throw people off there in the back end of the Orioles bullpen.

The White Sox signed Liam Hendricks for a ton of money. Cleveland, I keep saying that I don't think Karen Jack is going to be the closer. Said that yesterday on our salary cap draft. I don't really have anything to base that off of. Outside of, I think Karen Jack's really good. I think that he can be used in that stopper role whenever the biggest situation comes up. But I can't say with confidence whether or not Karen Jack is or isn't the closer for this team, Scott.

He's really good. He's their best reliever. If that's what they want to go with, I wouldn't be surprised. Emmanuel Class A and Nick Whitgren are the other names there competing. Yeah, I still, until I see reason to think otherwise, I still think it's going to be Corinchak. I think that's who they want in the role.

It's just, is he going to have good enough control for it? But yeah, those would be the other two if it doesn't go to him. I think it would probably be Nick Whitgren, who got the chance first if it didn't go to Corinchak. But I still think it's going to be Corinchak. For the Tigers, it seems like it's Brian Garcia versus Gregory Soto.

Soto is a left-handed pitcher. AJ Hinch, when he was with the Astros, he really just used one reliever as a closer. Joe Jimenez is still on this team. He has not been good this spring. All three of them have been great in the spring. Do you have a feel for this situation?

Yeah, I would guess Brian Garcia because he was the closer late last year and was a closer in college. But even last year, the strike rate was really low. this is probably the second smallest the second closer situation after the Orioles that I have like the least interest in.

Greg Holland will be I believe the closer for the Kansas City Royals and he is one of those names much like Daniel Bard and Amir Garrett that I like to target late as my second or third closer in a roto or head-to-head categories league but worth mentioning some really good arms behind Greg Holland

in the open. Josh Stamont is number three on my non on my top 12 non-closer relievers. The twins are going to use matchups, Rocco Ball Deli, not to the same extent of guys like Kevin Cash and Gabe Kapler has, he's played some matchups in recent years.

And that's what they're talking about with the twins there between Alex Colomé, Taylor Rogers, who is the guy that was on the Hansel Robles. He points to the sky every time it's a home run, like it's a pop-up. It's not a pop-up. It's a home run, Hansel Robles.

He's also in the mix. first saves there. I was watching the Twins game last week, and they asked Taylor Rogers that question while he was on the broadcast. And he said, yeah, I mean, this is what we expect. It's, you know, where he's going to mix and match. There's no egos on this team. When we get the ball, we get the ball. So I guess they're all in agreement there with the, with the Minnesota Twins. The Houston. Yep. What's interesting is the Twins best reliever might be Tyler Duffy, one name he didn't even mention. Correct. Yeah, he's great. He's also on this list of mine. Over the last two years, Tyler Duffy has a 231.E.R.8.94 whip 12.5K per 9.

For the, what are we up to? The Astros, Ryan Presley, is definitely the guy for them. For the Angels, Rysselaul Elysum, the A's have Trevor Rosenthal. The Mariners have Raphael Montero. Scott, you don't like Raphael Montero. Well, I mean, look at the numbers. He hasn't been a big badmisser like you'd expect to close her to be. And, uh, I feel like he has decent job security to start the year they traded for him. They don't really have much else. Yeah.

He probably does. I'm just not convinced he's truly a closer caliber believer. I'm fine with him as my number two. I think I'd prefer Amir Garrett. But I do agree that he has pretty good job security, Montero. So that's the main thing he has going for him. The last name on the list that we will hit today. The Rangers, Jose LeClerc.

He has a tighter grab. on that closer role because Jonathan Hernandez, who was really good for the team, suffered a UCL sprain and he'll be out for at least one month, potentially even longer. DeMarcus Evans is a name I've been pumping up for years. He throws extremely hard. I don't think that he has a clue where the ball is going half the time, gets a lot of strikeouts, but also a lot of walks. Jose LeClerc, at least to start, Scott.

I think he has pretty good job security now as well. Yeah, because Evans has been hurt too. Yep. So I don't think he's even had a chance to show what he could do yet. I think the job security is there for LeClerc, but I don't trust him. They'll figure out somebody to replace him at some point. I trust Jose LeClerc just about as far as I can throw him. And if you are watching this podcast, see these scrawny arms.

I am not throwing Jose LeClerc anywhere. We'll wrap it up. For Scott, I'm Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again tomorrow morning. Bye-bye.