Fantasy Baseball Today - Tough 2026 Rankings & Edward Cabrera to the Cubs! (1/9 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: January 9, 2026

Before we get into the toughest rankings, Edward Cabrera was traded over to the Cubs (2:40)! ... Moises Ballesteros and Owen Caissie should both get a real opportunity (12:07). ... Robby Snelling or Thomas White could step into the Marlins rotation (16:48). ... Let's get into players who are tough to rank, starting with George Springer (24:00). ... Zack Wheeler's status is up in the air right now (29:52). ... Cole Ragans is a big risk-reward player (35:05). ... Dylan Cease has always been a rollercoaster (40:39). ... What do we do after James Wood's second half (49:34)? ... Spencer Schwellenbach is coming back from a fractured elbow (52:52). ... Spencer Strider remains confusing (56:55). ... We wrap up with Jarren Duran and Jackson Merrill (59:54). Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CBSScottWhite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Roto_Frank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 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

We are so back. Welcome into fantasy baseball today on January 9th. I am Frank Sample. Join by Scott White and Chris Towers today on the show. Our full rankings and auction values will be published next week on Tuesday, January 13th. So we've been in the lab. Who are the toughest players to rank for 2026? We shall discuss.

But first, Chris, your Marlins were busy. And they made a pretty fun trade on Wednesday afternoon. Lots of different angles for fantasy, so we will start there, then we'll get into the tough players to rank a little bit later on. Edward Cabrera traded over to the Cubs in exchange for three prospects, outfielder Owen Casey and infielder's Christian Hernandez and Edgaro de Leon. Cabrera turns 28 in April and is under team control for three more years. Very interesting pitcher, he's clearly very talented, has an extensive injury history. We didn't see him perform consistently in a number.

until last season when he was very good. 353 ERA, 123 whip, nearly 10K per 9, got those walks down as well. Chris, how much did you move up? I'm assuming you did. Move up Edward Cabrera in your rankings with this trade over to the Cubs. Not that much. It's clearly a better situation.

The Cubs have arguably the best defense in baseball, probably the best infield defense as well. They give him a better chance of getting wins. all of that is true. And so it is a better situation. It's also Edward Cabrera. And I just, his biggest obstacle has always been himself. And so I just don't think this fundamentally changes. Like I, I'm relieved to hear you say that side. Side. I'm relieved to hear you say that. Sidebar on this one. It's Edward Cabrera. Like, why, why did like, Edward Cabrera suddenly become like this big trade chip that people thought was like,

like people were like, well, that's a disappointing return. It's like for Edward Cabrera, like, I thought that was a great return. Yeah, yeah. It's not a great. Like I think famous Charzard, Edward Cabrera. Yeah, like I have questions about Owen Casey. I think there are reasonable concerns about the fact that like this guy got to AAA like pretty early on in 2024 and the Cubs just gave him no chance in basically a year and a half.

Like, I think there are reasons to believe that the Cubs just don't have a lot of faith in Owen Casey. And look, the Cubs know Owen Casey better than anyone. So like, I, I think that should factor into your view of Owen Casey moving forward. But it's also Edward Cabrera. Like, I just, I don't, like, I don't think this was a guy who had a ton of value. Like, there are reports that the Yankees were interested but scared off by the medicals. I think it's fine for both sides. I think like the Cubs got a talented cheap pitcher and that the cheap part is very important to the Cubs at this point. But he's got to throw strikes.

He's got to stay healthy. I don't have a lot of faith in him to do either of those things. So yeah, the defense helps. Yeah, the ballpark helps. Yeah, the home, the team that's backing him up helps. It should be a probably not a 90 win team, but probably. probably an 85 plus win team, I would say, for the Cubs. But like, the primary issue for Edward Cabrera is Edward Cabrera.

And going to the Cubs probably doesn't fix that. I can't say for sure. Maybe they have some tweaks to his delivery. But, like, this is a guy who went on the IL in September with a sprained elbow and has been on the IL nine times in his major league career. Nine times. Nine times. So, like, I, no, I didn't, I didn't really move him up.

Yeah, I am valid. I feel validated hearing you say this because I had the same reaction to like, what is, what is all the fuss over Edward Cabrera? And I tweeted something about it. It got a big reaction, both in terms of likes and responses. And just, and I saw some headlines saying Cubs require, acquire front line pitcher Edward Cabrera. And I'm like, in what world is Edward Cabrera? of front light pitcher. I realized he just had the best season of his career. It was a breakout in some ways, and we could get into the changes that went behind it. I think that's, at least for

baseball dorks like us, listening to Fantasy Baseball podcast in early January. He's pretty well documented. You know, he started throwing a sinker more, that four-seamer that he had trouble controlling. Lowered his arm slot. Lowered the arm slot, which helped the secondary stuff play out, which was already pretty good. So there were changes he made that allowed him to have a breakout season. And yet he broke out to a 353 ERA and a 123 whip, which is pretty good. Yeah, good. I can use that, but not like even borderline ace material.

And then, okay, probably, you know, nearly 10K per nine guy who's capable of missing bats. We've always known that about Edward Cabrera. But he threw, you mentioned the nine Heilstins in it. his career. The 137 and two-thirds innings he just threw was a career high across, you know, five seasons, some of them up and down between the majors and minors, granted, but 90 career starts basically, 90 career, I'm rounding up, but 90 career starts for Edward Cabrera. And the most innings he's got, he hasn't even gotten to 140. So it's, it's almost like a Tyler Glass now health record here. But without the success record of a Tyler Glass now, really just one

season, this most recent season where he was good but not great. So are the changes that he made last year going to stick, first of all? Because you can backslide. Like the arm's slat could change again. Like the sinker, maybe he'll struggle to control that now. It's not like he has a long history of doing the things he did right last year. It's not like he has a history of doing that over and over again. And that makes it you question how likely it is to continue.

or at least it should. And then, you know, how many innings can you honestly expect from? Every pitcher is injury prone. And so I don't like to think of a pitcher as safe in terms of innings. But when the injury history is as extensive as it is for Edward Cabrera, I think you have to count it against him. So for me, he's 59th. I think it was like 64th among starting pitchers prior to the trade.

You know, he has oriented more for ground balls. It's a great infield defense. in Chicago, not to mention probably a more competitive team. It is an upgrade. But I just think the commentary surrounding this trade runs the risk of inflating Edward Cabrera's draft status beyond what's reasonable. He should be a usable part of your fantasy rotation all season long. That is my expectation for him.

but there are both performance and durability questions, major ones. I kind of view him as like a less projectable Gavin Williams. Like Gavin Williams, except I'm even more concerned about how sustainable the success is and how likely he is to throw any kind of impactful number of innings. I have them right next to McKenzie Gore. I feel like those guys are really similar, right? It's just like big strike on upside and bad control. Mackenzie Gore is significantly more talented, actually.

I actually like, if McKenzie Gore was a top 20 starting pitcher, I would be surprised, but I wouldn't be shocked. I would be shocked if ever Cabrera got there. I don't know, man. We had a stretch in the middle of the season when Cabrera was healthy and when he was really going. It was like a 10, 12-star stretch where he was just turning out quality start after quality start.

And he kind of was in that, you know, top 40, top 36 starting pitcher conversation. But we had that with Gore too. Yeah, when McKenzie Gore was at his best, he was higher than that. We moved Gore into top 20. discussion, yeah. Yeah, but I mean, Gore very typically has had these huge follow-offs. And look, they both have their flaws. I totally get that.

Don't disagree with a word that you guys said. I do think I have a little bit more faith in the Cubs, kind of getting the best out of Cabrera. And again, just that defense behind him, he gets a lot of ground balls, when balls are put in play against him. And having one of maybe the best defense in baseball behind you, obviously, can only help Edward Cabrera. So I do like that aspect of it for him quite a bit. the updated Cubs rotation, Matthew Boyd, Chote Imanaga, Kate Horton, Edward Cabrera, Jameson, and Justin Seal returning at some point this season.

The NFBC ADP over the past two weeks for Cabrera is right at 200. It's a fun range of pitchers. He's right around Shane Boz and McKenzie Gore, who I just mentioned, and Chris Boobich, would you take Cabrero over any of those names? Boz, Gore, Bubich. I take him over Boz and Gore, but. We've talked before about how Chris Boobich by early ADP seems criminally underrated. So I don't think he belongs in that same conversation.

Boobitch. Cabrera, I was with you, actually, Frank. I had Cabrera and Gore back to back prior to the trade. And so now I've got a little separation between the two of them with Cabrera's circumstances improving. Yeah. But I've got Gore ahead. Okay. I think Baza and Cabrera are very close for me.

Let me see. Cabrera's a little ahead of Baz, it looks like. I have Cabrera 202, so I think I'm right with ADP there. For the Cubs, before we move on to the Marlin side of things, with Owen Casey gone, it does seem like Moises by Astero will get a pretty fair chance to be at least a strong side platoon at DH this season. Unfortunately, doesn't have catcher eligibility. I would say maybe he can work his way into getting that,

but the Cubs already have a bunch of other catchers they like. It didn't want appearance. Yeah. So that gives me some hope that they're not totally abandoning him as a catcher. I don't think he'll ever be the catcher for the Cubs, but could he be a bat first backup while playing a lot of D.H? I think that's possible for Biden. I think you need an injury.

Yeah, but he is util only just to start the season. So keep that in mind. But he's a prospect that can hit and maybe, you know, decent power there. So definitely a name to watch in spring training. Definitely a name, I think, for deeper leagues to know Moises by Astero's. I moved them up. And I wanted to follow up on Owen Casey, too, because, I mean, we could look at it a couple ways.

The Cubs were willing to part with them to get Edward Cabrera. But my understanding from what I've read is the Marlins have coveted Owen Casey for a while. They had agreed to a trade last offseason for Jesus Lazzardo, centered around Owen Casey, that the Cubs backed out of because of medicals. Yeah. And, you know, obviously the Cubs were in the playoff race, and I'm sure the Marlins, if they got the right return, would have made a deal at the deadline.

And so it seems like the Cubs resisted moving Casey until now. So the Cubs coveted Casey, I'm sorry, the Marlins coveted Casey. And the Marlins have had a good record of acquiring hitters, like overflow hitters from other organizations recently, with Kyle Stowers being the most prominent, sample. R.C.

I'm pretty bullish on Casey. And I think he's going to be a prime target for me in five outfielder leagues. I would imagine he'll have the inside track on a starting job this spring. I think there's huge power there. There are some strikeout concerns, but it's not like, it's not like he was Spencer Jones striking out, you know, 35% of the time at triple. It was like 28%. And when you dig deeper on the plate discipline numbers, the chase wasn't too bad.

Yep, the constituent parts are pretty strong. Wasn't that bad. So I think we saw him actualized the power this past year, Owen Casey, good plate discipline. I have high hopes for him. Yeah, I think when I think of like a comp for him, one that came to my was Taylor Ward. Kind of that, that three true outcomes got not going to steal bases, but, you know, you can live with a lower batting average if he gets to that 30 plus Homer territory. I do think, oh, and Casey has that skill set, 92 mile per hour, average exit velocity, 1-13 max.

His skill set actually looks a lot like Kyle Stowers, which, Frank, I see you put in the notes. That's exactly what I thought, yeah. I think Peter Bendix, actually. I saw a quote from Peter Bendix where he basically said the same thing. And so he's going to get the chance. I don't think he's necessarily a superstar, but Owen Casey, the only thing is there are actually quite a few. I'm working on sleepers. We're going to do sleepers breakouts and busts 1.0 next week,

and I'm sleepers on Monday. And there's a lot of outfielders in, like, the 250-plus range of ADP who are young. Like, that seems to be where we're sticking, like, Cam Smith and Chase DeLotter and Justin Crawford. Yep. You know, a lot of guys that I like a lot, but I do think Carson Benj is in, like, the 350-400 range. So I think Owen Casey's definitely. in that mix. And I would say in 12-team Roto League should probably be drafted as a bench piece.

I like Casey more than all those guys. With the exception of maybe Carson Binge, like I like Binge more as a prospect, but I also think Binge is the least likely of those to have a job out of spring journey. If you look at the end. I think he's like almost guaranteed, actually. Benj.

We got to see what the rest of the Mets out, the Mets off season looks like. But they like them a lot. There's two spots for him. Yeah. NFBC Draft Champions ADP over the past two weeks. Owen Casey was 454, Outfielder 109 before this trade. Obviously, he's going to climb up quite a bit. I put here, I could see him getting up into like that 300 to 325 range,

which puts him right around guys like Dylan Beaver's, Taste a Lotter, names you mentioned Chris as other young outfielders that were high-end prospects and have a decent opportunity this upcoming season as well. For the rest of the Marlin side of this trade, Cabrera gone, This opens up a spot in their rotation. So Ross, the resource put Max Meyer in there. He's returning from hip surgery. He had that in July.

It requires six to eight months to recover. So it's close whether or not he's going to be ready and whether or not he'll actually pitch well enough in spring training to earn that opportunity. But man, if one of the prospects gets a chance here, Robbie Snelling or Thomas White. And I only bring that up because we have team previews coming out next week.

More on that a little bit later on. short team previews. I interviewed Craig Mish, who's a Miami Marlins insider. He brought up Thomas White and said Marlins Brass has not shot down the possibility of Thomas White being in the rotation

on opening day. So, just wanted to mention that. And he's a monster. Thomas White is really, really exciting. If he can be, if he can have just decent control, I think he's going to be a really, really good pitcher.

at the major league level. He had a 39% strikeout rate as a 20 year old last season and got to AAA. Only made two starts to AAA, struggled with his control, but despite walking a lot of guys, he had a 25%

K-minus walk ratio. So I think it would be kind of silly to skip over Robbie Snelling, who is another guy who got to AAA, I think, in 2024. He made a He made 11th star in AAA in 2024 and then got there last year.

And what were his numbers of AAA last year? Ridiculous. 127 ERA. He was so good. Yeah, Robbie's selling. I know throughout September, I was talking like, oh, every time a change happened in the Marlins rotation, I was like, this is Robbie Snelling's ticket. And it never happened.

But like he's, he should have a spot in this rotation coming out of spring training because there's clearly nothing. more for him to accomplish a AAA. I do think Thomas White is the better prospect. Thomas White is my top ranked pitching prospect who hasn't debuted yet. There are three big ones ahead of him who have. But, like, White is really good. I just think Robbie Snelling is more of a finished product,

and he's really good himself. And I think he definitely deserves to be a sleeper now that Edward Cabrera is removed. And, you know, I'm speaking glowingly here of Owen Casey and Robbie Snelling. And of course, the Marlins had some interesting pieces, have some interesting pieces carrying over from last year, too. A lot has to go right. But I could see them competing this past year. Hey, the Marlins weren't eliminated last year until the final weekend of the season. Just want to point that out.

I think they also had like a minus 80 run differential. They could have had a minus 80 run differential. Thinking ahead to the bold predictions episode We'll do right before the season, I'm sure. Like I'm already kind of, and you know, bold predictions. We say things that are meant to sound kind of nutty and don't believe to our core. But, you know, it's within the realm of possibility.

I'm kind of floating the idea of the Marlins make the playoffs and the Cubs don't. Ooh, yeah, that would be pretty spicy. Just want to wrap this up. I agree what you guys have said about both of these pitching prospects here. I am really excited about Robbie Snelling. I think he will get the first opportunity here. You mentioned Scott. He's a much more finished product than Thomas White. He went six plus innings in 14 of 25 starts in the minors last year. That's not normal for pitching prospects to do.

So he kind of has like this big frame and they trust him in terms of his workload and then throwing innings. So I, I am in. He gets ground balls. Interesting lefty. He's got good stuff. Like I am very excited about Robbie Snelling. Getting an opportunity. potentially heading into opening day, being in that Marlins rotation. Programming alert, I just mentioned this, but for the first time in FBT history, we have a team preview series starting next week.

It's called On the Beat. These are shorter episodes, 10 to 12 minutes long, much like the FBT Express episodes we usually do, where we got a beat writer or TV personality from each team in baseball to come in, answer some big questions, give us a sleeper and a breakout. Those will be released daily,

starting on Monday, all the way up until the start of spring training in mid-February, even on the weekend. So Monday through, like, you know, Monday through Sunday, you're getting an extra podcast in your feed, 10 to 12 minutes, one team preview per day.

That will be out on YouTube and in your audio podcast feed as well. Let's take our first break. When we return, the toughest players to rank in 2026. We'll discuss right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today. Tuffest players to rank in 2026. and we're just going to cycle through here.

We're all, we have five of these each, so 15 players, we'll see if we can get to all of them. Scott, you are up first with, honestly, the free square on the board, George Springer, 36-year-old coming off a near career year. I mean, is there much else to add? He was the 11th best player in Roto, 3.8 fantasy points per game,

tied for six best among all hitters. And what makes it harder is that the stack-ass number is back it all up, Scott, and we're just left here trying to figure out, what do we do with him in 2020? Yeah, I think you'll notice a theme with my choices here for hardest player to rank. Mostly with rankings, you're assessing how good a player is, and it's kind of straightforward. But with the players that I find difficult to rank are the ones who have some other variable or maybe even multiple variables that obscure how good they are.

you're kind of just having to guess at how good he actually is and George Springer I think is a perfect example of that so with those kinds of players what I tend to do and my rankings is find

the place at the player's position where it's like I like to kind of slot them in between tiers so that if you get the good scenario great.

Like you didn't give up anything. What am I trying to say? If you get the good scenario from the player, it's great. Like there was a drop-off coming anyway, but if you get the bad scenario, you didn't give up another player who could produce similarly.

And so for me, that's pretty early in the outfield rankings for George Springer. Like, I don't think anyone, anyone in the fantasy baseball space is going to say for George Springer, yes, I think he can do what he did again last year. And I think that's how the conversation is generally going to go with George Springer. Do you think he can do it again?

Well, the answer reflexively should be no because he just had arguably his career season at age 30, what is it, 37? He was 35 for most of the season. I think he turned 36 in September or something like that. So like he's in the late 30s now and he just had his career season or close to it. After a couple years where it looked like he had dropped off, he looked like he was on the verge of becoming irrelevant in fantasy. So it's not just the age alone,

which would be reasoned enough to scare people away, but the trend he was on. So for me, it's okay. Yeah, he's definitely not going to do what he does. did against last year that just seems like you're betting on lightning to strike twice. But it also seems far-fetched to me that he's just going to revert to what he was in 2024. So where within that range of outcomes where he was the number eight outfielder, you said?

And I think it was like top five on a per game basis. He was the 11th best player in Roto and the six tied for six best hitter and head to points. Points per game. Yeah. Yeah. So between that versus unstartable, borderline. line unrostrable and shout like there's that's a wide range of outcomes yeah um i'm going to give you a

kind of a bonus bit of a bonus detail here for each of these where i i view myself as being more on the optimistic side or the pessimistic side for springer i'm more on the optimistic side because he while it was his best year in a while maybe his best year ever obviously he has a long track record of all-star caliber production. And if he figured out a way to channel that again after a couple years of being lost in the weeds, I think it's easier to buy it just given his pedigree and track record.

The age concerns me, but I also recognize that for hitters especially, the age variable has made for some huge bargains in recent years. People just afraid to draft the old guy and he goes on to put up monster numbers still. I think that especially with hitters, we've seen a lot of that. So I have Springer ranked pretty high, but... Where'd you end up with him? Among outfielders or overall?

Either. Both. I have him 13th in the outfield in Godo, and I have him, this is going to probably sound kind of nutty, 57th overall. I have him 72nd overall, 18th at outfield. One of the outfielers is a catcher ranked ahead of him, so Hunter Goodman, you can throw that up. But that was also with me consciously moving him down, wanting to not be 50 picks ahead of ADP, which is. Right, right. Like, because his ADP is just crazy low.

Yeah. There's just not very much faith that what he did last year was real. And I don't think it was like real in that I wouldn't expect him to do it again. But there's nothing about it that looked fluky, except that he hadn't done it before last season. Yeah. ADP the last two weeks for Springer is 104 as the 23rd outfielder off the board. I have him outfield. They're 20.

so a little bit lower than you guys as the 91st overall player in my rankings. Chris, let's go over to you, a tough player for you to rank. Tough player, I think, for everybody to rank. That will be a pretty consistent theme, I think. Zach Wheeler, when healthy, one of the three, four best pitchers in all of baseball, but he's coming back from a major surgery. He first had a blood clot removed from his right shoulder, then thoracic outlet decompression surgery,

which is different than the usual thoracic outlet surgery that we talk about with pitchers. latest update came a few days ago. Philly's trainers say Wheeler is doing very well. He's throwing out to 75 feet so far. Honestly, Chris, we just don't know. This situation is completely up in the air. He could show up to spring training, look like himself, be ready for opening day. He could return in June.

He could maybe never pitch again. I mean, I think all of those things are in the range of outcomes here. So good luck ranking him. Yeah, you know, when we had, on Monday we had the big Spencer Strider discussion Frank where Scott did we discuss Spencer Strider on Tuesday's podcast as well yeah we did it on talked a lot about Spencer strider the last couple days and one thing I kept wanting to bring up and never had the chance was like we're gonna talk about him again if would you rather take players well but my would you

rather take the flyer on Spencer strider or Zach Wheeler relative to cost I probably Wheeler oh the cost is Wheeler is 40 picks cheaper in 80p that that's an easy call for now. I think if Wheeler's pitching in spring training games and he looks decent, it'll go up a lot. But that's probably also true of Spencer Strider. Yeah. I think it's more true with Zach Wheeler because there aren't performance questions about him. I guess maybe there could be some new ones, just given the nature of the injury.

But we've talked about how his specific thoracic outlet surgery is the less risky one. So I thought about Wheeler for this exercise too. I ultimately decided not to because while it seems hard to rank them now, I don't think it's going to be hard in March. Yeah. No, that's fair. Because we're just dealing with a deficit of information right now. Yeah. And if you're drafting right now, I think you look at that 140 ADP and that's probably like SP40, I would guess.

That just feels worth taking the risk. Like there are a couple of pitchers who have a cheaper cost right now. that I like a little more. I'm shocked at how cheap Trevor Rogers is. I thought, like, yeah. I have him like 33rd, and I thought I was being pretty cautious. Me too. You got a sub 2ERA.

Okay, well, I have questions about that. Yeah, I've got a lot of questions. 30th, but he's going more like 50th. He was a top 10 pitcher last year, I'm pretty sure. Trevor Rogers and fans. I think so. Chris, where did you wind up ranking exactly there for now? 36. So, or 34, one spot ahead of Spencer Strider. That's why I kept, every time we had this discussion, I kept looking at Spencer Strider and I was like, well, there's another guy right next to him that I have just as big concerns about. I don't know. I really, I genuinely have no idea. I think I've been trying to do look at some like actual scientific research that's been done on Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, looking at like, not just.

well, I remember Matt Harvey had thoracic outless syndrome and ruined his career. Like that doesn't really help. You got to take the whole sample of whatever, 30 pitchers or whatever it is that have had this surgery in major league history. And the results aren't as bad as you think, or at least as I think we all tend to think. The return to play is like 75% of pitchers who have this return to play. They tend to be older. So I think that's also part of why. a lot of guys seem to like Josh Beckett I think the end of his career coincided with thoracic

allergy but like that might have just been the end of his career anyway you know I actually wrote an article about this when Harvey was coming back from surgery because people were saying he's done yeah and I was sticking up for Matt Harvey by pointing out exactly what you're saying and Matt Harvey was done it turned out but yeah that's so I I feel a little bit burned by that but Matt Harvey's was the nerve re-location while Zach Wheeler's is the blood vessel. And Harvey had already, I think, started to regress. Wheeler was arguably the best we ever seen of him last year. Now he is 35.

I think my default is he's probably more done than he's not. But if he's not and he's a top 10 pitcher again, I want to have some exposure to that. So he's an incredibly difficult player to rank, but I am willing to take that risk. Well, like you just said, Chris, if Zach Wheeler is done, it's not because of anything he showed us before the surgery. It's caused by the surgery, right?

He's done because he's just not the same pitcher he was before. And that's totally within the range of outcomes. We don't know that right now. We just have to wait until spring training and see what he looks like. Another pitcher who has probably been the hardest player for me to rank so far is Coler, This is, again, the starting pitcher that's probably given me the most trouble. I wouldn't blame you if you had them ranked as your SP4.

I wouldn't blame you if you had him ranked as your SP 34 because I think there is a lot of risk here, but also a ton of upside. 467 ERA last year, blah, blah, blah. Skills were insane. If you look at each of the ERA estimators, it was below 2.7. His 30% K-minus walk rate was first among starting pitchers. with at least 60 innings pitched. That's the problem.

He only threw 61 and 2 thirds innings. So he missed over three months with a strained rotator cuff. He has a history of elbow injuries as well, depending on who you ask, two Tommy John surgeries, one and a half Tommy John surgeries. He has had surgeries on his elbow. I wound up with Cole Regens as my SP 13,

50th overall, but I think he is a huge risk reward proposition right now. His ADP over the last two weeks is the SP-12. 12, 51.6 overall. Where are you guys at on Cole Regans? I am apparently lower on Cole Regens than the consensus, which I did not expect because he's 13 for me. So he's 12?

We're both spot on, yeah. I'm 13. 12 for me. Max Fried is probably the one that I have ahead of him that the ADP has behind. I also have Freed ahead. Which, that they're back to back in the overall rankings, 44 and 45. So if you want to take Regens ahead of Freed, I have no problem with that.

there's certainly more upside with Cole Reagan's. And the thing that's tough with him with the injuries is he had double Tommy John surgery. But it's not Shane McClanahan's double Tommy John surgery. Shane McClain had Tommy John surgery when he was prospect, then pitched for like, what, four years, and then had Tommy John's surgery again. Well, I mean, the other, like to me, it's, unless you're just questioning durability and the likelihood of him having enough. another elbow issue. Like, he's already come back from the double Tommy John surgery

and been better than ever. But also, it's, the second Tommy John surgery that he had was because the first one didn't take. It wasn't like he broke down again. It was just the surgery didn't go right. It was fixing the first one,

since then he's just had this shoulder thing last season, which rotator cuff for a pitcher is pretty scary. But we did see him come back. Yep. And he was unbelievable. It was what, two or three starts at the end of the season. But I think, didn't he have one that was like nine or ten strikeouts in four innings? He had like a couple of crazy big starts.

He had double-digit strikeouts in five of 13 starts, which is just-13 starts last year, 14.3K per nine. Yeah, he was, yeah, he had a 10 strikeout in five innings, and then eight and four. He made three starts in September. We saw him come back and look like himself, so I can't say he's going to be healthy. but what I can say relative to other pitchers with injury concerns or coming back from injuries or whatever is this is a different situation than Sandy Alcantra last season.

We didn't know what Sandy Alcantra was going to look like. This is more like Jacob de Grom last year where the only question is can he stay healthy? Can he hold up basically? But there is no question that he is an elite pitcher, one of the handful of best pitchers in baseball. So I'm ranking him pretty aggressively. I'd be happy to end up with Cole Regans on my teams, acknowledging that there's a lot of risk there.

There's a lot of risk for a lot of the aces. And, you know, just part of what makes me not want to put him in the injury prone categories, it was just two years ago he threw 186 innings. Like he took on an ace workload, did Cole Reagan's. And so I actually, and this is not just me. You're right to be, I'm not trying to dismiss your feelings about Cole Reagan's, Frank, but I'm just offering a contrasting view here. I don't find Cole Regens to be difficult to rank at all.

I want to rank him as high as high as I can while still having him behind what I consider to be the surefire slam dunk aces. Just right at the end of that group, I'm slotting Cole Regens. I think he's the end of that second tier that we've talked a lot about. I think, you know, that, like, any one of those guys, I would look at you sideways if you put Max Freed as your number four SP. There's a different risk-wward calculation going on with Freed than the rest of that group. But basically that whole group from SP4 to SP-13 for me, there's very little difference between them. I'll take Regens as my ace if it comes to it.

Like you've ranked the last of it, but I'd take it as my money. Yeah. There are 10 of them separated by 16 spots in my overall rankings right now. That's how I view, that's how close I view that group of pitchers. And again, we say this often, but when it comes to taking on risk, whether you consider Reagan's risky or not, I personally do, more likely to do it in a shallower league than not. So if you're playing a 10-team league, 12-team points league, whatever it might be, I'm more likely to do it there. 15-team Roto, I think you've got to be a little bit more prudent. I don't think you want your top two pitchers to be

Cole Reagan's and Hunter Green, let's say. That might be a little bit too risky in a league that deep. Scott, let's go back over to you. And Dylan Seas, oh man, we spoke about him with Nick Pollock. Seas is quite the... He is a roller coaster. We know that. He is immensely talented.

He racks up the strikeouts. He's been very durable thus far. But, Scott, his yearly inconsistency, it is infuriating. And the thing is, if you're like breaking him down as the way we traditionally evaluate pitchers these days, like how talented is still in cease. That doesn't fluctuate. Like he seems like the same guy.

It's just the results are so radically different. Like he has a certain amount of variance baked into that profile. And we've seen the full extent of it over the past four years. and it's one of those players, one of those situations where you just, you don't actually know what you're getting. And, okay, he's been durable, but I don't really trust that with any starting pitcher. So, like, this could be the year he's not durable.

I don't want to just depend on that. And in his case, Scott, it could be bad durability, right? Like, he makes all his starts, but he gives you a 450 ERA. That's pretty bad. Yeah. So it's, he's the kind of pitch. pitcher Dillen C's, maybe you're getting an ace. Maybe you're getting somebody who doesn't,

you don't even want in your lineup, as was the case last year. I mean, he averaged his head-to-head points per game Dillen C's last year was less than 10. Like, that's waiver fodder, you know? Yeah. And I don't think he's changed as a pitcher. You and I looked at this around the time he signed with the Blue Jays, Frank. how much his success has been tied to Babbitt. And so now that he's with the Blue Jays, that should help.

They have a great defense. Yeah. Yeah. We should see the Babbitt closer to the lower end. But I don't entirely trust that that's the reason for Dillon C's his struggles. I think it's a contributing factor. But I don't entirely trust it because so much of it is him defeating himself with walks and inefficiency. And the great years he's had with the low BAPIP,

it was kind of a ridiculously low BAPIP that I'm not sure, even with the good defensive behind him, you can count on it being repeated. So I have Dillon Cese kind of in that same range as Spencer Strider, who we're going to get too soon, I think. Oh, I would much rather have Dillon Cesar and Spencer Strider. Yes. I have Dillin Cese ahead of Strider,

but it's in the same range where it's like, I don't really know what I'm getting, but the upside could be great. And if he flops here, I don't think the pitchers are ranked behind him are going to be aces. So that's about 30th in my starting pitcher rankings. I've got him 17th.

The key distinction between Sees and Spencer Strider, I'm very confident Dylan Seas can go out with the same stuff he had last year and be a good pitcher. Like I don't think Dylan Seas needs to change. I think Spencer Strider, if Spencer Strider's the same guy he was last year, he is probably going to suck. Pardon my French. I just, I don't think Spencer Strider was a viable major league pitcher last season. Dillen Seas clearly was.

Like, things went wrong for him and maybe that was his own, maybe it was, you know, he unraveled with runners on base or whatever the explanation is. I think he was a major league caliber pitcher last season, and he just needs things to go right. for him. Spencer Strider needs to like overhaul his approach. I think you're being a lit like you don't think Spencer Strider should have been pitching in the majors last year. Oh, I think

it was very much worth Spencer Strider being in the Braves rotation, especially because they had nothing to pitch for, but like, or play for, but like if the Braves got to October last year and Spencer Strider pitched the way he did, that's not one of your three

playoff starters. Well, that's That's a different. That's a different standard. You're moving the gold post here now. Sure, but no, but like, it's not 100% clear that that guy deserves to be on a playoff roster, the way he was pitching last year, especially down the straight.

Like, he was, it cannot be overstated how bad he was. He had a 495 ERA and a 162 whip in the second half last season. 250 ERA over his final six starts. But it was kind of fool's gold if you dig into it. 26 strikeouts to 13 walks and 29 innings. It wasn't Strider's usual strikeout rate, but he had an eight strikeout game in there. He had a couple six strikeout games in there.

Like, I'm not, I'll have more to say about Strider later. I had plenty to say about him yesterday. I just think the way you were framing that was a little unfair. I agree with the general point you're making that like CIS has been basically, as I said, CES has been basically the same guy just with different results. Strider was a different guy last year. And so which is easier to come back from probably CIS. I rank CIS higher.

It's just that CIS being the same guy has like he was, I'm good, I get a guess and head to head points per game. He was worse than Strider last year. And which of the two had the lower ERA last year? It was strider. So, you know, CIS was bad. Technically correct. He was actually bad last year. Yeah, but the, the skills indicate like the ERA was bad.

You are correct to say that the ERA was bad. I'm just saying results. Everything else was very good. But like the stuff and the pitch characteristics much favor Dylan Seas. Yeah, that's always good. And the underlying stuff was still great. Like the peripherals were the 346 XERA. Like there is no indication that Dylan Seas has lost anything.

And so I'm entering this season, especially seeing a team give him a $210 million contract, I'm buying Dylan Seas. I'm happy with him as my SP2 this year. his ADP over the last two weeks Dylan cease SP19 as the 79th overall player so Chris you're just ahead of that sounds like you will have a real chance to get him I have him at SP 21

I know that we tell people not to do this I had Dylan Cease in a lot of spots last year and it's like you know how I got these scars like oh man Dylan Sees he hurt me man but I'm trying to look past that I think I could see myself winding up with him on a few teams again this season let's take our final break

and when we return back into tough players to rank. How many will we get to? I don't know. Let's see. All right, here we go. 15, 20 minutes left. Rapid Fire. Let's see how many of these names we can get to. Chris, you are up next. James Wood, massive talent, literally. It was a tale of two halves, completely fell off in the second half of last season, and now we're left trying to figure out what happens next. Where did you rank him? I ranked James Wood as my number 10 outfielder. Oh, you're right in line. with ADP. All right, let's move on. 30th overall, but man,

I do not feel good about any of that because he was unplayably bad in the second half. I'm surprised the OPS ended up at 690. He hit like a couple of home runs over the final like 10 games of the season, I think, to

kind of salvage it if I'm remembering correctly. But he was awful in the second half. 39% strikeout rate. The whiff rates were out of control. He wasn't, it's not like he was doing anything to make up for it.

He still isn't optimized for power. Yeah, I, that was a scary thing to witness for a guy who is as talented as James Wood. Yeah, he had four home runs in the final five games of the season. He had five in September overall. So, yeah, I, I believe in the talent, but there are now significant performance concerns based on what we saw in the second half

and he's just not is he not a base dealer he's just not like a big contributor and stolen bases now that is also very concerning pretty good 15's fine but it's it's not enough to overcome being a 40% strikeout rate guy you know like that's what I'm saying is that he is now yeah And I don't think it is, but like we have seen, having seen a tangible instance of James Wood being an unplayable hitter, he needs to have a lot of upside as a base dealer, I think, to overcome that. I think there's a real chance of anyone in the top 50. I think James Wood has the most non-injury. This guy's just not useful potential. Because even Peter Armstrong, who I think,

think we'll probably end up being a worse hitter than James Wood overall. Even Peacrow Armstrong should steal 30 plus bases. I can't say that about James Wood. So there's a lot of question marks for a guy inside the top 30. The ADP over the last two weeks for James Wood, he is the 10th outfielder off the board, 33rd overall. I basically have him right in line with that in my rankings. It's kind of a weird spot in the outfield rankings.

He goes back to back with Pete Crowe Armstrong. It's kind of like the dividing line between like the, elite superstar outfielders, and then we start to get into a bunch of those names that have questions, too. The ones we thought we were elite for part of last year. And that's, I actually ranked George Springer right behind those because it's different reasons, but the concern level is similar. And honestly, Byron Buxton is right there too. I don't have him as one of my five toughest to rank, but he's, he is similarly tough to rank for the incredibly high upside, but also severe. concerns. Next one up for me is a player I loved last year. Actually put a bet out on him to win the

National League Cy Young. That was Spencer Schwellenbach. He was doing the thing. The breakout was happening, a 309 ERA.97 whip. He had a quality start in 13 of 17 outings. He was incredibly consistent. Then diagnosed with a fractured right elbow in early July, which ended his season that came in conjunction with a velocity bump. If the Braves were competing, there is a chance that he could have turn later in the season, but they chose to kind of hold him off. As of November, he was pain free. He's expected to be ready for spring training. But this is just another one where I need to see more. I need to see what he looks like coming back from this elbow fracture. Will there be a velocity drop? Will the stuff suffer because the velocity is down a little bit? So obviously I loved him last year.

I think the control is amazing and all that. I just kind of want to see what he looks like and where the Velassey is at this spring. I have him as my SP 23. It's kind of a stayaway for now. Last two weeks, the ADP is SP 22. So I don't know. I mean, I guess I'm not far enough behind. Maybe I need to drop them down a little bit. Do you guys have any thoughts on Schwellenbach? I've got him SP 16. Wow. I didn't expect to. Yeah, I mean, maybe I'm overreacting to a fractured elbow, but I don't know. I get it. I mean, and I made this point for for Jacob de Grom about him, just reaching a level of velocity that his biology couldn't live up to, and that's why it kept breaking.

And we saw the velocity jump from Schwellenbach. He actually pointed it out himself that he thought he was throwing too hard. And, you know, that's a usage injury, a stress fracture. So I think the concerns are reasonable. It's just A, he's identified the problem himself. And B, we saw he was really great with the lesser velocity, as a rookie in 2024. So if he follows through on what he says,

and it stands to reason he'll be just as good as 2024, and that performance in 2024 is why we were so high on Shuehl and Bach heading into 2035. So I don't think he needs the higher velocity. Long story short. Yeah, that is fair. The fractured elbow is one that I just also have no idea what to make of. I feel like we don't have a huge sample size of this, but I believe Michael King fractured elbow back in the day.

When he was a reliever. Yeah. And that freaked me out too, yeah. Corey Klover, but I think he got hit by a line drive. It was a stress one. Yeah. Not a stress fracture. Ryan Thompson, Wasker, Inoa, Noah.

Inoa. Brent Honeywell. There's not a lot. Apparently Ryan Helsley had it in 2021. I mean, he's come back and look really good, but that's also a reliever. Yeah. I don't know. I love the skills.

The thing that's always so hard with the velocity stuff is, if Spencer Schwellenbach comes back next season and is averaging 95.5 miles per hour with his fastball, which would be lower than he was in 2024. Is that intentional? Or is that how hard he throws now? We need a quote from him to say, I'm dialing it back intentionally.

Well, we've already kind of gotten that quote to a degree, but it is it's hard not to go all the way yeah yeah you know like every incentive for pitchers is to go max effort and so i i assume he can still be effective i'm getting a little a little queasy about that ranking yeah i mean that's that's where i was at too so it's like you know as your sp2 i don't really want to take on that much risk that early in the draft so uh but again i could be convinced if he comes out in spring and even if the velocity's down like scott said if he looks like the pitcher he was back in 2024 i'm i'm probably just right back on the on the swell schwellenbach bandwagon there let's stick with the brave scott we talked a lot about strider i think

we already kind of made the points today i don't know if there's anything else you want to add or mention where you actually haven't ranked but yeah it's to me he is the single hardest pitcher to rank because it's really just it's a hope you're you're you're just hoping. And I think it's, I think it's reasonable to hope, obviously he was coming back from a significant elbow injury last year.

I made the point on the last podcast that, like, this is a really determined guy who is into the biomechanics and just has as good of a grasp of how his, how to maximize his, as maybe any pitcher in baseball.

And, you know, he was hitting the pitching labs midseason trying to sort it out. I'm not sure that's enough time. So I think it's reasonable to have hope, but it may just be a waste of pick. And so how early are you willing to live with that? You may have one of, if not,

the top strikeout pitcher in baseball, or you may waste the pick. And to me, it's a similar calculation with Dylan Cs, though I think maybe the highest end outcome and the lowest end outcome are more extreme in Strider's case. But it's a similar calculation, and so I have them ranked similarly. It's a little outside the top 30. And look, if nobody else was drafting him that high, I'd be willing to move them down.

I'm not saying I'm eager to draft Spencer Strider, but I'm actually a little behind consensus right now. So am I on the optimistic side or the pessimistic side? Well, if you compare me to Nick Pollock, I guess I'm on the optimistic side for Strider. But I think I'm right in the middle. I think I'm right with everybody else. And concern slash hopefulness for Strider. And, you know, 2026 will be the most crucial year of his career.

I think it's fair to say. And his ADP over the last two weeks for Strider, it's 105 overall, the SP 27 off the board. It's way too high. Yeah, it's a stay away for me for now. I have him SP 31. I feel like I need to lower him. I think it's going to be closer to like SP40 or something. And another one where it's kind of fluid

and I'm open to being wrong or changing this ranking. If he shows up in spring and either velocity is up, shape on the fastball looks better, there's a legitimate third pitch that looks really, really good or whatever we learn.

I need to learn something. I mean, we're not going to learn much because the Brave Spring training facility I don't think has, as, uh, as what's it called? Stackcast.

Stack cast. That's not great. So, I don't know. We'll have to. This has changed since the last, unless, you know, unless they just added it, but they haven't historically. Well, we'll be, we'll be reading the quotes and paying very close attention to Spencer Schreider when he's pitching.

Chris, another name here for you is Jaron Duran, who regressed across the board last season. Strikeouts went up a little bit, got worse against lefties. He actually hit the ball harder than ever before. Looks like he was trying maybe too hard to hit for power. He raised the launch angle. I just don't know if that's the player that Jaron Duran should try to be. but we know he can be a dynamic player. He was the 11th overall player just two years ago.

Where do you have Jaron Duran ranked right now? Yeah, the thing with Jaron Duran is he did some of the things that we want hitters to do. I'm just not sure those are the things we want this specific hitter on this specific team to do. In Fenway Park, right? In Fenway, it's the hardest, arguably the hardest park in baseball for left hand of power. I have him 20th at outfielder. I have him 81st overall, so a little bit behind consensus, although I have George Springer ahead of him. I have Sayucus ahead of him.

There are a handful of outfielders I like more who are cheaper. So it's pretty unlikely I'm going to draft Duran Duran. I also just like have some performance concerns with the changes he made. He became more pull heavy, more fly ball heavy. That's not really what you want as a left-handed hitter in Fenway Park, unless you can just really ESOC parade us that thing right around that pole and right field

but otherwise it is super deep. And for his skill set too Chris like we want more line drives and ground balls we just want them on base so he can give us 30 plus steals right? I also just like is there playing time concern here? I was wondering that but

do they have enough righties on the bench where they could platoon that's that's the thing but like he's a pretty bad defensive outfielder. he's already old like he's 29 already so old he's so old oh my gosh for for a young he's older than we would think yes for a guy who is viewed as up and coming he's not up and coming he's in his he was a five win player last year he's firmly in his prime um but he's like right on that

i don't know if we can play him against lefties uh line he was a five win player last year he was a nine win play two years ago. That's weird. I'm not sure I get how he was a five-win player last year. Yeah, that feels baseball reference, baseball reference. I was about to say it's a bad news. I don't know, I just 4.7 technically.

I'm rounding to the nearest whole win. I mean, that's close enough. Yeah. And also just late debut, late peak players tend to also have shorter peaks. This is only, this will be his third year or third full year, fourth full year I guess.

So, I don't know. I think he's fine, but I'm, I just, he scares me a little bit. I regret drafting Jaron Duran where I did last year. I feel like I should have known better. Yeah. But I think if you draft him according to his 2025 production, you're going to come out just fine. I think that's probably fine, yeah. Is ADP the last two weeks, Jared Duran is 78.6 as the 16th outfielder off the board.

I have him just one spot higher in the outfield rankings. I think I am willing to take the plunge here on Jaron. I worry a little bit about the lefty stuff, but that's always been a problem for him, and they've always played them against lefties. I don't know that they can platoon everybody. So they've got Willie Arbrae who needs a platoon. Rasta resource says Marcel O'Meyer is going to need a platoon.

So I guess they can't platoon everybody. So I think it's mostly safe with Jaron, but I get what you're saying, Chris. Last name we'll talk about here for me is Jackson Meryl. I mean, much like Jaron, he regressed last year after that breakout 2024. Meryl had the injury excuses, hamstring, concussion, ankle. He did finish very strong final 19 games, hit 308, seven home runs, OPS over a thousand, great exit velocities. Did I do something, Chris?

No, I'm sorry. I have the college football game on, and the UM quarterback just ran into his offensive lineman's butt and fell down. Oh, Mark Sanchez, you never won't that. He didn't fumble at least, but it was very funny. I'm sorry. The U. Yeah. Jackson Merrill, by the way, I was saying, he finished very strong last season.

He also had just one stolen base after 16 the year prior. Was that because of the leg injuries? You know, hamstring and ankle? It's hard to say for sure. I think he's a bit of a confusing player. Maybe I'm overthinking it. He's obviously still young and the team likes him a lot. Last two weeks his ADP is 73 as the 14th outfieler off the board.

I have him at that same exact spot in my outfield rankings, and I have him higher in the overall. So I guess I should be in, but do you guys have any strong thoughts about Jackson Merrill? I'm definitely the low guy on Jackson Merrill. I just, I think there isn't enough history of success there for us to just assume 2024 is the default, given how much he lost last year, especially like if he's not a base dealer, who that's a big, that's a big knock against him. particularly at this position.

So I, based on where I rank him relative to everyone else, who just seems completely willing to dismiss 20205 is just a fluke that happened. Maybe it was, maybe it was, but I only have one year to refer to. I understand he was a big prospect before that, but he wasn't a very productive prospect, you know?

So, yeah, I have, I just don't feel like I have a good enough graphic, who Jackson Merrill is to invest in him like a top 15 or even top 20 outfielder. I do think it's worth noting he's going 40 picks later than he did last year. It's very similar to Jared Red. They don't have the same skill set, but in terms of where they went last year and where they've dropped to this year. For me, it's just I'll take the Blue Chip prospect who has shown, especially because

he was hitting like 304 when he had his concussion. I think he was hitting 304 with like an 800 OPS. He had the concussion. He's bad for about two. months, September, he's awesome again. I can't say for sure that it was just a concussion, but it feels pretty likely. That's a good excuse at the very least for a player this young, this talented, the physical tools, swing is still great. I have Jackson Merrill's my 13th outfielder. So I've got him right in that Roman Anthony, Wyatt Langford group. They're grouped all together for me.

Yeah, I kind of have this mini tier, which is similar, of Jaron, Duran, Roman Anthony, and Jackson Merrill. It's just kind of that, you know, right around 60th overall, you know, right around 15th outfielder. And I think they're all really, really talented players. I lean towards closer to what you're saying, Chris. I think he was derailed by injury last year. I just don't want to forget how impressed we were by Jackson and Merrill just two years ago while learning a new position and he was great defensively. And he just, he had complete control of the zone.

and just his ability to hit line drives and not strike out. It was really, really impressive what he did as a rookie, and I think we can get closer to that player this upcoming season in 2026. We are going to wrap there, but we still have a bunch of other names. We'll have an FBT Express episode, where we will cover the names that we didn't get to here on this podcast. So if you want to hear more about some tough rankings,

make sure to check out our FBT Express episode. We're going to wrap there for Scott 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. Spotify, and we will be back again next week. Bye-bye. Mount Podcasts.