Fantasy Baseball Today - Trade Reactions & 2026 Rankings Debates! (1/14 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: January 14, 2026

We have trades! Nolan Arenado is headed to the Arizona Diamondbacks (2:33). What happens with Jordan Lawlar? ... The Yankees acquired Ryan Weathers for four prospects (12:41). ... The Royals are making changes to Kauffman Stadium (21:05). ... Let's get into rankings debates, starting with Vlad Jr. over Nick Kurtz (29:36). ... How many steals should we expect from Luke Keaschall (33:30)? ... Should you pay up for Byron Buxton (38:41)? ... Is Roman Anthony a breakout or a bust (46:12)? ... Jakob Marsee can run but what else (54:34)? ... Does Dylan Crews get a mulligan (57:43)? ... Do we buy Trent Grisham's 2025 (1:01:07)? ... How much will Trevor Rogers regress (1:05:55)? ... Joe Musgrove is returning from Tommy John surgery (1:09:21). Link to our 2026 rankings- https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/rankings/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Download and Follow Fantasy Baseball Today on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sptfy.com/QiKv⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FBT team on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@FBTPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CPTowers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@CBSScottWhite⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Roto_Frank⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. It was a busy day. Let's get to it.

Welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Wednesday, January 14th. I am Frank Sample joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, our 2026 rankings are live on the website. Make sure to check those out. I'll have the link in the podcast and YouTube description. But with that, come some differences. And so we will debate later on in the show. Plus a decent-sized newsday.

So we will start there, get some of these trades out of the way. I mean, finally, man. This off-season has just been moving at a, this is the word I've heard everywhere, a glacial pace. So, yes, it's about time that things start happening. get into it. And first, the debacks acquired Nolan Aronado from the Cardinals in exchange for pitching prospect Jack Martinez, who was just an eighth round pick in last year's draft.

This was basically a salary dump where the Cardinals paid a lot of the money. 31 million of the 42 million left on that two-year deal with Nolan Aronado, who turns 35 in April. He was limited to just 107 games last season with hamstring, back, ribs, finger, and a strained right shoulder. His offense looks like it might be in steep decline, but what do you guys think of Aronado in

Arizona? Maybe he can be this year's George Springer. Uh, doubtful. Yeah, I am very doubtful of that. I don't know, he spent last offseason trying to work on his bat speed and it was a big storyline and

I think his bat speed was up a little bit, yeah. 0.7 miles per hour. It did not help. He continued to hit the ball with absolutely no authority, 87 mile per hour average exit velocity, 108.3 mile per hour max exit velocity. Quality of contact metrics are disastrous pretty much across the board. I don't know, man. Maybe he can tweak something and get back to like a 30% pulled air rate when he's been at like 24 to 25 the last few years and coax a dead cat bounce season out. but like what does that even look like at this point? Like 20 homers, 80 RBI? It might not be completely nothing, but I don't think the chances of it are so high

that in any 12-team league you have to draft Nolan Aronado. Yeah, I think that's fair. Chase Field is a slight upgrade over Bush Stadium for whatever that is worth. Obviously, the D-BACs lineup is an upgrade for Aronado hitting, I don't know, somewhere in the middle of it, I guess, fifth, sixth, somewhere there. The NFBC ADP in January for Aeronado is 488 as the 39th third baseman off the board. Scott, you have him as your 35th ranked third baseman.

Chris, you have him at 40. I have him at 27. I don't really want to be the Nolan Aeronado guy, but, you know, he's going to play every day in a great lineup. So I just kind of slot him in there. Yeah, I mean, when you get that far down the rankings, you're basically past the standard mixed league portion of the rankings. It's kind of a philosophical choice, how you order them at that point. You could order them as if it's a deep league and you're just trying to play it safe. Nolan Aeronado, if he stays healthy, should get a ton of it bats and matter in like in L only leagues, maybe very deep mixed leagues.

but I tend philosophically to put higher upside guys who are less assured of getting at bats at that point in my rankings. So, you know, I don't know that I necessarily think, oh, Frank loves Nolan Aeronado because he has an eight spots higher in the third base rankings than I do. I just think maybe you're tailoring your list

a little differently there. Because, like, I could see, again, health is important, But I could see in those really deep leagues, Nolan Aeronado kind of being a good drifty play just to be like a compiler of counting stats. Yeah. But I think for most, for the most part, we can say he's done mattering in fantasy and this trade doesn't change that. I think the likeliest outcome might actually be that like Nolan Aeronado outperforms Marcelo Meyer in fantasy in 20206. there's no way who draft Nolan Aronado

ahead of Marcelel Meyer outside of a scenario where I'm in a 15 team or an NL only I guess that wouldn't work there but you get what I'm saying perfect example yes the next question is what happens

with Jordan Lawler here it does seem like the debacks are maybe lacking confidence here the latest update the latest update we got was that they're going to give him a chance in center field and I had someone tweeted me today that this doesn't affect

Jordan Lawler because apparently whoever this person was, thinks that the debacks are just done using him as like an infielder, which if that's the case, they're going to give him a shot in the outfield. But that's really, here's what I don't understand about that.

Like, if they're giving up on him as an infielder, like, why not just trade him for an outfielder? Why try to, this unproven bat that they don't seem to have a lot of faith in, stick him at a position where he's not going to be, They're moving them down the defensive spectrum to the point that it's costing him a lot of his trade value. Like, I'm sure there are other organizations that would be willing to try him, if not at third base, than second or shortstop. He, the weird thing is from everything that the scouting reports have said, he's not like a disaster at shortstop.

Right. Yeah. I mean, the problem is that Pardomo is really good. Yeah, right, right. Like, it makes sense why they wouldn't play him over Herald or Pardomo. It makes sense why they now wouldn't play him over no one, Aronado defensively. it's just his owner or not are worth the trouble? I mean, you could get a pretty good corner outfielder

for like one who's bat you could really trust to plug in the lineup every day for Jordan Lawler. I mean, they're not that hard to find. So why do you want to reduce his value to that and just take whatever he gives you a hitter? I don't buy it. I don't buy the explanation, frankly. I think if it's an outfield spot they're looking to fill, it's more likely going to be with Ryan Walschman.

than Jordan Lawler. And Lawler has, like, if they're just giving up on Jordan Lawler as an infielder, that's a very recent decision. Because he never played a game in the outfield as a professional until the Dominican Winter League this year, where he played three games, according to baseball reference. Maybe it's more, I don't know,

but that's all they have in there for, in his entire career. He played three games in center field for Lisey. struck out 18 times and 46 plate appearances, by the way, in that stint in the Dominican Winter League. I don't know. Their outfield is weak enough outside of Corbyn Carroll that I would not be surprised if Jordan Lawler is the starting center fielder on opening day. Yeah. But it just feels like asking a lot.

And it does not feel like a vote of confidence in him. I don't know. Maybe he'll be just a very good centerfielder. and I still like the offensive skills. You've got above average quality of contact metrics at AAA. Pretty good plate discipline numbers. The biggest thing is he might just not be able to hit spin at all. Like his numbers against sweepers and sliders are abysmal.

Like 40% whiff rates at AAA, like 290 X-WBas. It's pretty bad. And that's also been the problem in the main. majors, I still think they just need to give him a chance. Because he really, he started three games in a row one time last year in the majors. Yeah. One time. They just haven't given him a real chance yet.

So I wonder if there's some behind the scene stuff or some like they just, I don't know. Like I have never seen anything that suggests that he's like not a, you know, a hard work or anything. But it, it's so weird all around that it, that's the only thing that would make sense. I don't know. Every time it seemed like there was a pretty clear opportunity for Jordan Lawler, the debacks have found a way to kind of stifle that or bring somebody else in or just give it to somebody else like a Blaze Alexander or whoever it might be. And some of these players have earned it.

I get it. But, you know, Jordan Lawler, top prospect, at least see what the kid can do, right? They haven't really given him that fair shake. So it is pretty weird the way that the debacks have handled him to this point. Or trade him to a team that's willing to see what he can do. I have to imagine. imagine he still has some kind of trade value, right? Like, they can use pitching.

They have not brought back Zach Gallen. They definitely could use another pitcher. So, you know, build a package around Jordan Lawler for a pitcher. Why not? I mean, who would say no to that? Unless they just think he can play center field. Highly ranked prospect, even last year, and performed great at AAA like he always has. So, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, a France is hard to find. And, like, in theory, he could still be that. for some other team. It's becoming harder and harder for my Jordan Lawler optimism to remain, but I'm hanging on until he gets a real opportunity. On the Cardinal side of things, that clears a spot at third base. Yesterday, I kind of half-jokingly brought up Nolan Gorman as a very deep sleeper, so I think he'll be in the mix. I think everyone's kind of ears perked up and thought, you know, JJ Weatherhole top prospect could have an opportunity here. I think the Cardinals are not done making trades. I would bet on Brendan Donovan being traded before spring training.

So I think one way or another, both guys, J.J. Weatherholt and Nolan Gorman, should have opportunities here in 2026. I agree. And I'm more excited about Weatherholtz. For sure. Yeah. At bat's inside, just as a hitting talent at this point, I'm more excited about Weatherholt than Lawler. And I think he would be among the rookie of the year favorites if he's there from the start. Maybe anyway, because I doubt he'll be down for long if he isn't there from the start. He should have been up in September, frankly, with as easily as he handled the high miners. Yep, top 200 pick, I think. Yeah, again, that's JJ Weatherholt that we were just talking about.

Last point on this trade, Aronado, still an above average defender. So I do think this is good news for DBAX pitchers, especially those who get ground balls. It's just, you know, the left side of their infield, Pardomo and Aronado. Great, great, great defense there for the DBAX pitching staff. Next up, Chris, we made a trade, baby. Let's go. The Yankees and Marlins. The Yankees acquired Ryan Weathers from the Marlins in exchange for four prospects. Outfielders Dylan Lewis and Brendan Jones plus infielder's Dylan Jaseau and I didn't look up how to say this guy's name but I'm going to go with Juan Matthews. Juan Matthews or Matthews something like that. It's a pretty big haul. None of those prospects are top names but it's still four prospects. Obviously the Marlins are going for the quantity route here just hoping that they hit on maybe one or two of those. players. You know, Weathers gives the Yankees help with Carl Sordaun and Garrick Cole on the shelf

to start the season. And we know Weathers has talent, but he just has not been able to stay healthy. He's only made 24 starts over the past two years while dealing with flexor and latch strains. So Scott, we'll start with you here. Any interest in Ryan Weathers as a, I guess, pretty deep sleeper on the Yankees? Sure, as a pretty deep sleeper, but your, your expectation should be very low. He's been a fantasy curiosity for a few years now, became even more curious last year when his already fast fastball picked up another mile per hour. But when a pitcher who already shows no ability to stay healthy begins adding velocity, I just think it's kind of a lost cause at that point. You're not, you're not going to suddenly become more durable if you're, you're

even asking more from your body like that. So, you know, there are some interesting skill ratings there. He got a swinging strike rate up to 13% last year for the 8th starts. He was healthy with that additional mile per hour. And, you know, obviously it's a better supporting cast now with the Yankees. So there's always that chance. He reaches a career high and inning, stays healthy enough that. you really feel like, I mean, a career high for innings for him would be 95.

So that's, you know, even that wouldn't be that useful in fantasy. But there's always a chance he could scrape out 130 plus innings and be of some use to you. I just think, you know, you better have a full pitching staff already by the time you're taking a chance on Ryan Weathers. Yeah. Just a late round flyer, I think. This is a guy who has been a lot. more interesting than actually good so far in his major league career like it's a 374 era over the past two seasons but even then it's like right around an average strikeout rate the peripherals are all

north of four um i i kind of think the ideal outcome for the yankees is by june he's not in the rotation and he's just like a super awesome high leverage relief farm because carlos rodon and garra car presumably will be back by June and I would say camp shouldler's certainly ahead of him um I would guess will Warren's ahead of him so I would think when the time comes and Carlos Rodan and garracol are healthy and nobody else has gotten hurt which seems unlikely there are pitchers uh you would presume that weathers and luciel and I think yeah wethers and louisiel could be outrageously good in the bullpen I'm not I'm not convinced Will Warren's good either. I'm not convinced Louis Heel is good. Oh, yeah. I mean, there's a,

there's a way that weather stays in the rotation, even with, even if everybody's healthy. But yeah, I mean, it's just not, it's just not realistic to, to hold out for anything there. Yeah, it's hard to say for sure. I feel like it could wind up being a swingman role for Ryan Weathers. There were reports that even after this trade, the Yankees are not out on Freddie Peralta. So if they do something like that, that tells you, okay, they might be looking at weather's more. seriously as that swing man type, maybe more so as a reliever, but that hasn't happened yet. So I think as of now, Weathers is in the rotation to start the season until some of those names come back. And then, as we know, life finds a way. On the Marlin side of this, it makes it much

more likely that one or both of their top pitching prospects, Robbie Snelling and Thomas White will be in their opening day rotation. I think both are interesting sleepers right away. So, Chris, I'll throw this over to you, the Marlin side of things. Any thoughts? on those pitching prospects and do you have any thoughts on the prospect that the marlins got in return in this deal? Yeah, according to baseball prospectus, the marlins got two of the Yankees top 10 prospects and four of their top 20, but it's 7, 10, 14, and 18. So it's not a huge haul. I think it's a lot for Ryan Weathers. Like, I'm just, I'm shocked they got like meaningful pieces for Ryan Weathers just because I don't think Ryan Weathers is a guy that the fantasy and, and stat nerd baseball community likes a lot more than like reality does.

Yeah. I think it's also just like three years of control for any pitcher. It's just like it's going to cost a decent amount. I can see him being an awesome high leverage relief arm and that would be worth giving up for interesting but not at all can't miss prospects. Like I get why the Yankees did it. But from a Marlins fan perspective, given the strengths of this team and given that like, I'm not 100% sure Ryan Weathers is better than Chance and junk from like a real life perspective.

He's more interesting for fantasy, but I don't know if like he keeps runs off the board any worse than Ryan Weathers. So I think it's a great move for the Marlins. I like the quantity over quality approach that they've taken in a lot of their trades over the past couple of years. I think it's smart. Get as many bites at the Apple as possible. For the fallout for the Marlins, though, Rosser resource currently does not have either Robbie Snelling or. or Thomas White in the rotation. If I was handicapping it,

I would probably put it at something like 50-50, maybe 55-45-45 Robbie Snelling's in the rotation and probably more like 25-75 for Thomas White. But Thomas White is the kind of talent who could show up in spring training and just dominate and force the Marlins hand. There has been some rumblings of that already. He got to AAA last year at 20.

Robbie Snelling just turned 22, I think, three days ago or something. And he already dominated AAA. So I might be underselling Robbie Snelling at 5545. I just, I don't know if Max Meyer has options. I don't know if Janssen Junk has options. I would guess. I mean, one option is bullpen, right?

Well, yeah. There's nothing that would stop them from doing that with them. But if they wanted to keep these guys stretched out and, you know. Jack does not have options. Max Meyer has two options, yeah. Really? That's surprising. Okay. So yeah, I guess missing all that time for Max Meyer preserved his options.

I kind of think Max Meyer should just be in the bullpen anyway. I just don't think his stuff's going to work as a starter. But I understand if they want to give him three weeks at the start of the season and just say, hey, let's see if we can, you know, he had some interesting stretches last year early on. So maybe there's something there. I kind of doubt it. But yeah, it certainly opens a path for right. Robbie Snelling and Thomas White, I would say Robbie Snelling much more likely and should be in that bench round flyer range of your draft.

Probably the top, he should, Robbie Snelling should be the highest drafted pitcher. Who has not debuted? America last year and has not debuted. Yeah. Okay, Tats VMI. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maybe Cody Ponce. Ponce has debuted.

Oh, you're right. And he wasn't in America last year. Yeah, I remain very, very excited about Robbie Snow. I take Snelling over Ponce anyway, to be clear. Okay. I would take Snelling over Ryan Weathers. Like, I would, oh, yeah, I am very excited about Robbie Snelling. And I agree, Chris.

I think I would probably put that odds chance of Snelling being in the rotation even higher. For me, it would probably be like maybe 60 or 70% that he's on the opening day roster. Lastly, we learned that the Royals are making changes to Kaufman Stadium so that it plays more as a neutral home run park rather than one of the worst in baseball. So I do have a graphic that I will pull up while you guys are talking, but honestly I think all of their hitters gain at least a little bit of a boost. I think the ones who gain the most are the ones who pull the ball in the air. And four names who had a pulled air rate over 20% last season, Vinnie P. Baby.

Salvador, I didn't know if that was still loaded up, so I just took a gamble. Vinnie P. Salvador Perez, Carter Jensen, and Isaac, Isaac, Isaac,

Isaac, Isaac, Isaac, Isaac, Isaac, who they acquired in the offseason. So those, to me, look like maybe the biggest

winners of this dimension change. Can I put up a graphic first? Yes, go for it. All right. Sorry for the people following along at home. Just explain it,

I guess. I would just, so I've pulled up Vinie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez's spray charts and I would just point out that not all pulled air rates are the same right like you can pull a ball to right center and it's technically to the pull side but that doesn't have as much value as a ball pulled directly down the line and if you look at viny p he is like

he has no power to the opposite field but when you actually look at the spray chart there's not that many non-home runs hit out to right field like there's there's a few that died at the warning track, but this is not a situation where it looks obvious that Vinnie Pasquantino is going to get a huge benefit from it. Salvador Perez, though, who I'm pulling up now, there's a lot of doubles. There's a, I think there's a triple out there. No, there's a single that he apparently hit off the wide. I have no idea how that happened. He's one of the slowest in baseball. But there's a lot of outs at the wall or doubles out to left field that it looks like Perez would benefit more from this than Vinny P.

Switch back to Vinny. Oh, okay. So here's Perez. There's Vinny. Yeah. By my count, it's like if you look at the little white line and take that as like 10-ish feet, which is about the distance that they're moving, which that's just a guess. They're keeping it.

They're keeping it the same in center. Yeah, and then pretty much the alleys. They're keeping it the same in center and at the polls, but the whole right and left field alleys are coming in 10 feet is the way I understand it. And it's interesting that you say that about Vinny Pasquantino. First of all, because Brent Rooker on Twitter immediately congratulated Vinny Pasquantino at this news. Vinny Pasquantino himself had a post that was kind of curious because, he seemed to be bemoaning the change because he was worried about how many non-home runs it would take away.

Like he seemed frustrated, but I don't know. It was kind of a confused post where it was hard to read exactly what his mood was. But it sounded more naked. He's in his feelings because I think he's like arbitration. He's in his arbitration. He's going to have his first arbitration. So there was definitely a like they're about to tell me why I stink. Yeah.

In part of the post. Yes. He mentioned he's about to go into a room to hear about how terrible. he is. But getting back to my point, it's interesting that you don't think it's going to help him so much because what I've always noticed about Vinnie Pasquantino,

you go to his baseball savant page, expected home runs by ballpark, it's all red. Like if he played anywhere else, he'd have more home runs than he actually hits year after year after year. So you have to, like for example,

last year he actually hit 32 home runs. It looks like there are one, two, three, four, five, six, six ballparks where Statcast thinks he'd have, he would have had 40 or more home runs as opposed to the 32 he actually hit. And another one where he would have hit 39. It's like a couple where he would have hit 38. You get the idea. So it can't hurt.

It can't hurt. It definitely won't hurt his home runs. But I, I think. it's worth pointing out that Kansas City is actually a great place to hit. Well, that's what he was saying. Yeah. For average. Yeah, right.

It's like triple. Which it was funny. But not just, not just triples and doubles, but it has the lowest strikeout park factor. So strikeouts are the lowest at like at Kaufman. It's a great place to see the ball. Yeah. Yeah. And so I don't think.

You can just look at it and say, well, offense is going to go crazy in Kansas City. Home runs will go up for sure. Home runs. I think offense probably ticks up a little bit overall, just because home runs are so valuable, but Kaufman has like off the charts double and triple park factors. So those are going to turn into outs or home runs, basically.

And you just hope that more of them turn into home runs than outs, but I don't think it's like the bonanza. it might seem at first glance because Coffman Stadium is an under, a very underrated hitters park. If nothing else for Vinny Pass Quintino, if you were just worried about natural regression, like, hey, this is the most home runs he's ever hit.

I expect that to come down this season. You might not expect it as much now. You might expect him to come closer to repeating or maybe even tacking on a few more home runs this upcoming season. That was my response to is less. Like, I think Vinny Pasquantino's going to be a home run leader now. Really, my reaction was, okay, I have less reason to worry about Vinny Pasquantino.

That's fair. All right, let's take our first break. When we return, we will get into our rankings debates. We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball today. As I mentioned, if you go to CBSSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball, you click on the rankings tab. You will find all of our rankings.

They are now live. We have top 300s for both head to head points and roto. We have positional rankings, auction values for 12 team leagues, ALNO only. So a whole bunch of stuff on the website. Make sure to check that out. And we're going to go over some of the biggest differences in our rankings. And we'll start up at the top.

I mean, this one actually is not that big of a difference in the grand scheme. But it was a big talking point earlier in the off season. So I just thought that I would start here and mention that I have Vlad Jr. over Nick Kurtz in Roto leagues. I'm the only one to do that. I think it is somewhat of a negligible difference. I have Vlad Jr. 20th overall. I have Kurtz just behind him at 22nd.

Scott, you have Kurtz at 17th, Vlad at 24th, and Chris has Kurtz at 22nd and Vlad 23rd. So all pretty close overall here between those two. And we all have Vlad over Kurtz in Head to Head Points Leagues because Kurtz does strike out quite a bit. I think this is just me guarding a bit against some of the downside factors that I see with Nick Kurtz, things like strikeouts and bad zone contact rate

and struggles against left-handed pitching. I understand he just had a historic rookie season. he was amazing. I don't like bemoaning, you know, an amazing young player. But I think the floor is just so high for Vlad Jr. And I'm holding out just a little bit of hope that maybe what we saw in the postseason, he could just carry over some of that. Like, I know the talent is there.

I know he can do it. I just don't know why we don't see it more in the regular season. Like, he clearly is really, really good. I think it's worth remembering how good he was in 2024. And especially like the last, well, I'm just. just saying the last you know what did nick kirts end up playing like 108 games or something that sounds right vladimir guerrero's final 108 games or whatever it was of that season where he didn't hit for quite as much power but the overall production was not far off what nick kurt's did it's just

320 with 30 homers and 100 rb i is is a great season we have seen we have not seen what the bad nick Kurt's season looks like. True. And we have seen what the bad Vladimir Guerrero season looks like. Kurtz is a bit more of the mystery box. But when comparing him to Vladimir Guerrero, I'll take the mystery box because there had, now in seven years, a seven year career for Vladimir Guerrero, only twice has he met or exceeded our expectations, twice in the seven years.

And look, if, like, he has to be pretty much as good as he was in 2024 to, to live up to where I rank him, even behind Nick Kurtz. Like, we consistently rank him in that first, second round range, and he consistently underperforms him. Last year, maybe even more so, because he stayed healthy all year, 156 games, 23 home runs, 84 RBI from a second round first baseman. I mean, that is, we're showing him more confidence than he deserves, even by just automatically ranking him first or second, you know? Yeah. So it's a little bit of fatigue, a little bit, fool me once, shame on you, full me twice, shame on me, fool me five times.

I might as well just quit at this point. So that's my stance on Vladimir Guerrero. I don't like the idea of investing even a second round picking. him, but you, you, there, there's, there are only so many players you can justify ranking ahead of him, that being said. Full transparency, I'm probably not drafting either of these guys, but that's just how I rank it. I have led a little bit ahead of Nick Kurtz. I like the first baseman, especially based on ADP, like Harper and Devers and Olson. They're going in like the fourth or fifth round right now in ADP. It's like, yeah, Devers is falling. Devers is down to like 60 in January. I don't get it. I'll do it

every single time. I like Vinnie Pass Quantino, who's going a little bit later. Chris and I, you and I have spoke about Michael Bush. I like Michael Bush a lot, too. So there are just other first baseman I like, and I'm more likely to take a shot on, like, a power speed type player in the second round over someone like Vlad or Nick Kurtz. Next up, we have Luke Keishel, who Chris has as his fourth-ranked second baseman. Scott has him down as his eighth-ranked second baseman. Not a huge difference there in the overall. Chris, you have him as a top 100 player, 97th, Scott has him at 133rd. It is a little bit closer in head-to-points Leagues.

Keishel is someone who makes a lot of contact, so I get that. Chris, why do you think you are much higher on Luke Keishel this season? I would guess it comes down to a difference in projection for stolen bases. I think Luke Keishel is like a 40-steel guy, and that is just super impactful at a very weak second-base position. I don't think he's going to hit 300 like he did last season in the majors, but probably 270-ish, double-digit homers, a bunch of runs, because he's going to live on base, and I think he's just going to run a ton.

The way they let him run last season at both the Major League and Minor League level was outrageous. 11 steals and 28 games in AAA, 14 and 49 games. At the Major League level, that is like a 50. steel pace at AAA and like 45 in the majors. Maybe 40 is more like a 70th percentile expectation. But I think 30 plus is pretty easy for Luke Kishel. And I think he's going to do enough else right that there just might not be that big of a difference between him and Nico Horner by the end of the season.

It's, Niko Horner's a much safer bet for batting average. But I, I think, Lukitiel, his ceiling could also be 2045 because he, I think if he taps into that pole side power, there's just a lot to like there. Is ranking him ahead of Horner aggressive? Yeah, it's aggressive. That might be, that might be a mistake given how easily projectable Niko Horner is. but it's a little bit of a statement about how I love Luke Kishel. Scott, why do you hate Luke Kishel? I don't.

Well, it's funny. I chuckled when Chris made the Nico Horner comparison because I've been doing that too. I don't know how many times I've said it out loud, but to myself, I've been saying, Luke Kishel looks like he's only Nico Horner. So, like, Chris was making that comparison in a way, yeah, look, Luke Kishel, he could be Nico Horner.

And I'm like, Luke Kishel, at best, I see Nico Hornor. Horner, you know, because I think... Nick Horner's an awesome player, though. He's, I don't know, awesome for fantasy. He's, he's good. I would rather have somebody who hits for power, and I don't think Keishel has much power is what it ultimately comes down to. I hoped he would, coming out of the miners, he had good home run numbers down there.

The expectation was, yeah, he doesn't hit the ball very hard, but he's so good at hitting it at the perfect ankles to optimize power. only had like a, I think it was a 13.6% pull air rate as a rookie. So he ended up with just four home runs in his 207 plate appearances. So I know there's a lot of Nico Horn. I'm sorry, Nick Horne. I know there's a lot of Luke Keishel enthusiasm right now. And I've kind of just been assuming,

I think these guys believe he has more power from the minor league numbers than he actually does. Now, it could be that with more exposure, to major league pitching he learns to turn on balls better and ups that pull air rate closer to what it was in the minors i'm not ruling that out but when i'm stacking up second baseman and and weighing the pros and cons of each and by the way this is what you have to do at second baseman this year they're you're just kind of choosing between a lot of imperfect parts and who's upside do you buy into the most who's downside are you fearful of the most well i'm

I buy into the upside of Jose Altuve more than Luke Kishel. I buy into the upside of Ozzy Albies more than Luke Kishel. I have Brandon Lowe more than Luke Kishel. And so he ends up eighth for me instead of fourth. I think those are the three guys and Niko Horner. I have Niko Horner ahead of Kishel because, you know, Luke Kishel could be anything. He could be a boat.

Niko Horner being the boat in this case. Yeah, I kind of see a kind of a mix of like Niko Horner and Bryson Stott skill sets here, which might not excite people, I guess, very much for Luke Keishal. But I think like a median expectation, 270-ish, 10 to 12 homers and like 25 to 30 steals, that's probably what I'm expecting for Keishel. And I think that's why I wind up like right in between you guys in the ranking there on Luke Keishel. I'm happy to take him.

I think him versus Albies is like a pretty interesting conversation. I think they're pretty close in ADP. Obviously Albies has the track record, but he's, you know, coming back from the Hammate Bone stuff. So, you know, we have questions there. And obviously questions with Keishel. He has a very limited sample so far, but obviously a lot of prospect pedigree, and he's going to play.

It seems like the twins are actually really excited about Luke Keishel this upcoming season. Let's stick with the twins here. Scott has Byron Buxton as his number 11 outfielder. Chris and I have him down as our 20th ranked outfielder this season. Scott has Buxton 47th overall. All right, Scottie. My how the tides have turned.

Oh, Chris and I have Buxton just outside of the top 80 picks. for Chris it's 82nd overall, I have him 83rd. Buckson just finished as the 31st overall player. He averaged 3.7 fantasy points per game, which was better than Lindor and Bobby Witt and Kyle Tucker. He was amazing. He played 124 games. That was his most since 2017. And he was spectacular. 35 homers, 24 steals. Personally, I'm just kind of playing it safe. I don't really want to bank on him staying healthy again. I hope I'm wrong, but I just feel like there's a very long track record here that goes against what we saw from Byron Buckson last year, at least in terms of staying on the field. Yeah, there is, and I am not comfortable with where I rank him. But what I like to

do with these sorts of players that have a wide range of outcomes is I like to slot them between tiers so that probably I won't draft them. You know, like unless they, unless they, unless, less, like put them at the beginning of a new tier. And that means, you know, there's only going to be one or maybe two players left when I dip into that tier. And hopefully it won't be this one that has the wide range of outcomes. And so I've decided to slot Byron Buxton at the end of the elite tier in the outfield. Because certainly, as you pointed out, like he performed like an elite outfielder last year. I'm 47th is is is is is is is is is downright conservative for how high he finished last year because after you get past that elite tier in the outfield and I'll go ahead and lump Pete Crow Armstrong and James Wood in there as well.

They have questions themselves, but I think they're, I'm less concerned about them than Byron Buxton. So I have Byron Buxton right behind them. After that, you get into a bunch of outfielders that I'm pretty confident don't have. second third round upside like Cody Bellinger and Brent Rooker and Randy a Roserina and Riley Green like they're safer than Buxton overall but they can't meet his upside and so it's just it's it's just a risk reward calculation I'm running here like yes Byron Buxton is riskier than those but how likely are those to really make a difference make the difference make the kind of impact that allows me to win my league. I think Byron Buxton is more so. And if I tear him with those guys but rank him higher, then if they all get depleted and Buxton's one of the last ones left,

okay, fine. I'll take the upside of Buxton. I think the thing I'm bumping up against with Byron Buxton is I don't think we learned anything new about Byron Buxton last season. And maybe I'm, maybe that's just because I've been the Buren Bucston. Buxton guy for so long. I think so.

But I like this was always within the realm of possibility for Byron Buxton. I think the biggest change is that he stole 24 bases last season. He had not run nearly that much. But that for me like he was just healthy. I know he missed a couple of I think he had a concussion and a rib injury at some point. But this was the first time in a long time that his knees were good. and that like I guess that's new information Byron Buxton's knees were feeling better

but I don't necessarily think that tells us anything about what's likely to happen moving forward. It's just do his knees feel good next year or not? I hope they do. Byron Buxton is legitimately one of my favorite baseball players of all time. I love watching this dude play. I said it a couple weeks ago. I think if not for injuries,

we are talking about Byron Buxton as a guy, who's on his way to the Hall of Fame. I think he's that good of a baseball player. But I think he's always been that good. Well, that's, I understand exactly what you mean. Because in past years when we'd have the Byron Buxton conversation, it would usually go, well, we all know what he's capable of when he's healthy. And I wouldn't, I would rarely bog the conversation down with this because, you know,

it's a podcast. You got to keep the go flowing. You got to keep the flow going. It's, it's, it's, you can't. derail it with every thought that goes through your head. But one thought that often went through my head when we had that Byron Buckson Buckson conversation where we said we all know what he's capable of is do we though? Because he's had a couple of monster years on a per game basis, but in between there have been

a lot of ups and downs in every category. And you project out his numbers some of those years. It's like, you know, batting average south of 250, maybe a 25 homer pace and a 12 steel pace. And that would be a player who's plenty startable in every league, but would it be worth, would the juice be worth the squeeze given, you know, the risk there? And last year, I was reminded, oh, yes, the juice is worth the squeeze. So it's partly that and partly just there aren't that many outfielders who are capable of achieving this upside-wise. And I don't love the like- On the more optimistic side.

I don't really. I don't know. Outfield is fine, but when it actually comes to drafting, I don't really love that like 11 through, I don't know, 30. The elite here goes fast. I mean, all those guys are gone by the third round. Yeah, I love the top three rounds. And even there, it's like, yeah, peak arm's front of James Wood.

I don't actually love those guys, but I love what they're capable. It really kind of ends with Torio, who a lot of times goes in the second round or like late, second, early third round. And if you look at auction values, even though I have Buxton 11th in the outfield, there's a big drop in auction value from 10 to 11. Yeah. Like, I don't even like Andy Pahas and I've got him ranked in the top 30.

I don't think I love Alfield this year. I don't know. Last point for me on Buckson, too, and this is just kind of a mental block for myself, and I've talked about this before. Last year, Buxon's ADP was 218.5. I just can't get over the price difference that you have to pay one year to the next.

Like now he's going inside the top 80 or top 75. And all I keep telling myself was, all right, well, I missed out. Last year was the year to draft Buckson. Now, if he does what he did again last year this year, then next year he'll probably be like a second or third round pick, something like that. So there is still room to profit. But the way my mind works is just like,

last year was the year for big profit. And now I don't really want to buy when his stock is high. I always just want to like, you know, buy a player coming off a down. year and sell when a player is coming off a great year. And that's just like the default mindset that that I go to. I'm not saying it's right or anything, but it's just, it's just always the way that I think. So perhaps that has kind of factored into me, ranking Byron Buckson a little bit lower here. Let's stick in the outfield and talk about Roman Anthony. Chris, you have him as your 11th ranked

outfielder. I have him 13th. Scott, you have him 20th. And we spoke a little bit about Roman Anthony yesterday. Chris has him 42nd overall. I have him 58th. Scott, you have him 74th. And What you said yesterday, Scott was kind of interesting, is like you didn't know whether to consider Roman Anthony a breakout or a bust. And I totally get it. For me, the reason why... I guess a bust base compared to you guys. I don't know.

The way that I'm ranking him is just like, I think where he's being drafted right now, 50th or 60th, is kind of like his median outcome. And then there's this 25% chance that he just goes completely nuclear because he's just this amazing prospect. So that's kind of how I'm ranking him and his chances at just like fulfilling this huge, huge upside and maybe being like a second round picnic season or something. Yeah, I mean, you're doing with Anthony what I'm doing with Buxton. Yeah, that's true.

Yeah. And it's in that range of outfielders that we just talked about, which I don't necessarily, like I want to phrase it like I hate that range of outfield. It's just there's not like a particular player within that range of the outfield that I am gravitating toward. Like, it's just like whoever I get from there is fine. Some have higher upside, but lower downside. Like Buxton, like Anthony.

I mean, I don't want to say Anthony has a lot of downside, but I think the most likely outcome for Anthony this year is he's closer to it being an ordinary fantasy asset than not. Because he doesn't have the stolen base contributions there. He has some issues with his swing playing that he needs to work out to fully tap into that. that power. He had some strikeout. What was the strikeout? Last year,

wasn't, wouldn't you have some strikeout issues? It was about 25% I think. I think it was like 28. It might have been a little bit higher. But I think it got better as the season went on. Yeah. It was like everything got better as the year went on.

Like that's why it's like, oh, look, everything got better as the year went on. There are a lot of great data indicators here. It was a huge prospect. Breakout, Roman Anthony. But it's like, yeah, but he's, historically put the ball on the ground a lot, and he doesn't have a lot of speed.

I totally get that, but I feel like we were saying the same thing about James Wood last year. And I know, like, he kind of crashed in the second half. But overall, he finished as a top 50 player, and his ADP was right around 50 last year, which is kind of eerily similar to Roman Anthony.

Can I make a comp that is less insulting than it will sound? Sure. I can see a world in which Roman Anthony's second season in the majors, looks a lot like Nomar Mazaras. And I don't know if you guys remember that far back, 2017. This is the second time we brought up

Nomar Mazar on like a month. Nomar Mazar was a big deal prospect, top-time worldwide prospect, was wildly overrated for years in fantasy before everybody finally caught up that he just wasn't that good. But his second season, he hit 253.

okay, that's not great. 20 homers. You'd like to see more from Roman Anthony, but 101 RBI. That's within the realm of possibility. Like the Dalmatians. Like the Dalmatians, yes.

That feels like a downside case for Roman Anthony, and that's still a really good player. It's not a hugely impactful player. I think Roman Anthony will be a lot better than Nomar Mazarra, but it's kind of similar. Like huge raw, power not at all optimized yet by the time he got to the majors.

Mazar made a pretty good amount of contact. He didn't have like terrifying strikeout rates. He just never got good. And like he just never figured out how to optimize the obvious raw power. And I think Roman Anthony will. I think we saw it in the last month that he played last season where he, his final hundred plate appearances as ex-Wobo was 407. That would have been a top three mark in baseball last year.

So I'm not saying that's the most likely outcome, but there's a world in which she's just a decent fantasy player and not a great one. That might be the most likely outcome. What you guys are giving up by ranking Anthony, where you rank them as opposed to where I rank him is like Cody Bellinger, Brent Rooker, Riley Green, say a Suzuki. And he has more upside than all of them. But because he's lacking that speed element, particularly in Roto, and I have Anthony quite a bit higher in point. links I think. I'd rather just take the bird in the hand, you know? Yeah. That's where I've come down. If I can get Anthony, if I can get Anthony at a little bit of a discount, great, but I'm fine letting them go to somebody else for this year.

Chris, you're muted. You are muted. As we're talking it through, you know, we do this like, oh, I, you know, I, like I spent the last month working on rankings on and off, right? But then once you start, like, it takes actually talking it through. It's still like, drafting too you put your rankings to the test and you've yeah we haven't done a ton of drafts yet um i'm fine with keeping roman anthony as my number 11 outfielder i'm moving him back towards the pack i do think there needs to be more of a separation so him Wyatt langford and uh who was the other guy jackson merrill i had them all in the 40s just moving them all into the 50s right now just same order in the outfield but there was like they were kind of in their own island and i don't feel

super comfortable with that. So I'm, uh, yeah, that's, that's what I'm doing right now. I found this trio to be kind of a mini tier and it's Roman Anthony Jaron Duran and Jackson Merrill. I just feel like they always kind of go similar range in a draft and they're not all like the same player. They provide different skill sets, but I always find like, I don't know, I'm just kind of grouping them together as like a mini tier there around, you know, outfielder 12 to 15, something like that. Let's take our final break when we return back into rankings debates right after this. Welcome back in fantasy baseball today.

We've got 10, 15 minutes left. So let's try and move a little quickly through some of these rankings debates here. And next up we have Jacob Marcy. Chris, you have him as your 28th ranked outfielder. I have him as my 36th ranked outfielder. You have him 118th overall. I have him 151st. The Marcy experience was so fun when he got called up, right?

He had this awesome August. And then he quietly tailed off pretty hard. in September. It was a 1058 OPS in August. The quality of contact was great. And then in September, 619 OPS and the quality of contact not so much. So I think the speed is a pretty safe bet, but I do have a little bit of worry on everything else. Chris, where are you at on Jacob Marcy? Spoiler alert for tomorrow's FBT newsletter. Subscribe, CBSports.com slash newsletters. I am writing the toughest players to rank. Jacob Marcy is one of them. I don't know, dude, I have no idea.

Like, I made a Kevin Bigio comp in my Jacob Marcy write-up for tomorrow's piece. I don't love this range of the outfield, as I said earlier. I think it is a safe bet for a lot of stolen bases. I think he should get on base at a pretty good clip. And I think he should hit at the top of the line. So I am expecting Jacob Marcy to be a pretty good source of runs and a very good source of stolen bases

and I don't think he'll be terrible everywhere else but he might be terrible everywhere else he might not really have much power He might lose his job Possibly I just I don't know do they have anybody else who can play center field Estuary Ruiz is that who's gonna take it?

I don't think Estuary Ruiz can play center field I don't think Estuary where he should play center field excuse me no but I'm just saying And like if September Marcy shows up in April, like he wasn't a good enough prospect and Doug didn't have a long enough run of success in the majors to get that benefit of the doubt. It's one month. It's one month for a non-prospect who kind of caught the league by took the league by storm and then disappeared the next month.

And I just think, I mean, I don't rank them that much. I think I'm at actually, I'm a little higher than you, Chris, Marcy. But he's going to be on my bus for this year because I just, I don't have any confidence that we actually know who he is or that we, apart from those, apart from August, we really have reason to believe he's good. Yeah, Scott, you have him as your 32nd ranked outfieler. So split the difference between me and Chris. You're a smack in the middle there. For those who checked out our Marlins preview earlier today with Craig Mish, he is convinced the Marlins are going to run a lot this year.

I think that's good news for Jacob Marcy. He's also a career 239 hitter in the minors with bad exit velocity. So we'll see, man. I hope I'm wrong. I have been in the Scott White Tainty Cil league, so I'm rooting for Jacob Marcy, but I am a little worried, cautious about Jacob Marcy. Next up I have Dylan Cruz as my 37th ranked outfielder. Scott, you have him down at 48.

I have him 159th overall. You have him 209th overall. I actually have Cruz and Marcy back to back in my rankings. I think they're kind of similar. Cruz is a much better prospect than Jacob Marcy. Speed feels like the safest projection for Dylan Cruz. My view of him hasn't really changed all that much entering 2026 as it did last year.

I still think there's a breakout case to be made. I'm kind of, I'm just giving him a, you know, a mulligan for a last season. just, I just think he was never healthy. So I still think he's a breakout candidate, but Scott, you're a little bit lower on Dylan Cruz. I mean, he hit 208 with a 631 OPS. He's now played 116 games in the majors,

211 with a 634 OPS. Was he ever healthy last year, though? He had some injuries, and he's still young. I mean, like, I think it's reasonable to predict a step forward, given his prospect pedigree, given his youth. Given his relative, like it's a reasonable sample in the majors, but it's still, you know, he's still not super experienced. It used to be pretty common for players to need a few years to meet their upside and you still see it happen today.

So maybe Dylan Cruz is is one of those examples. But it's for me, it's just a question of, okay, what are you willing to forfeit for that possibility? and you know guys who I rank just a little ahead of Dylan Cruz that maybe you have behind him. Yeah, you definitely have behind him. Brian Reynolds, who has a long track record of success in the underlying numbers. Last year suggests he deserved much better. Noel V. Marte, who I have as a breakout candidate for next year. There's a lot to like their talent-wise too, and I think we've seen him demonstrate it more in the majors.

Dalton Varshow, who took... 162 game pace last year was 46 home runs. I think people are sleeping on the growth that we saw from Dalton Varsho last year. So it's 48th where I have Dylan Cruz sounds low in a vacuum, but when you look at the outfielders I have just a little ahead of him, there's a lot of promise there too. And I think we've seen clearer signs of it being met than we have with Cruz. I would also just like

I would like some evidence that Dylan Cruz legitimately has like above average power and I just that was supposed to be the calling card technically his max EV was 67th percentile so I guess technically if you want to be Yeah 11 max EV come on Chris If you want to be pedantic you can say that 67th percentile

Max EV is above average but like this was supposed to be a special power hitter. And we've just seen no sign of that whatsoever. And it's not like he's doing anything else. So, yeah, I'm, um, I had a lot of hope for him last year. It was a pretty unhopeful season for Dylan Cruz. He's too young, guys.

Too young to give up on Dylan Cruz just yet. The next name that we had was Trent Grisham. We spoke about him, I think, the other day or last week or something. then, Scott, you're much higher on him. You have him as your 39th ranked outfielder. Chris has him at outfielder 67, so it's a pretty massive difference there. Yeah.

Yeah, I don't get it, you guys. I don't see myself as a Trent Grisham optimist, but he did just hit 34 home runs, and he's back with the same team. And you drop them all the way to the 60s, I mean, you're probably, putting Colton Couser ahead of him, Cedric Mullins. I mean, Cedric Mullins is toast. And Chris has him ahead of Trent Grisham. Like, there's safeguarding against the likelihood of decline.

And then there's just writing them off completely. And I feel like you guys, you guys are close to the consensus, I will say. But like, I don't know. I don't. it just seems a little crazy to me to be so totally dismissive of a guy who was a must-star player, top 25 outfielder last year. So last season, Dylan Cruz had, sorry, Trent Grisham had, let me get the exact numbers correct, because it's very important, 34 home runs and nine doubles.

There have been seven players since 19. 161, including Tranchristian, who have had 30 homers in a season with single-digit doubles. That group, on average, went from 32.7 home runs to 28.1 in the next season, pace to the same number of played appearances. That doesn't sound like that big of a drop. Hank Aaron went from 34 to 47, which completely throws off the average. If you take that one out and Hank Aaron, I don't know, if you're going to take an out line, Hank Aaron kind of an outlier that group went from 32.7 home runs the next year to 24 I just how likely is Colton Couser to hit 24 home I mean regardless of the specific

players we have ahead of him that's what rankings are right we're talking about we're talking about nearly 30 spots of rankings there are other players between 39 and 67 besides Colt Coulton Cous like If you want to argue, if you want to argue Colton Couser, fine. I could move Coulton Couser behind Trent Gresham. I won't lose a wink of sleep about it. We're talking about the ranges. And for me, Tren Gresham is just not a player I want to bet on. I just think he's a, a incredibly thin, shallow skill set. He has, he had one thing he did last season at a, at a decent rate. And that thing is a thing that. But you know who else I don't want to bet on, Chris?

Adoli Scarcia, Nick Castellanos, Junghu Lee, Josh Lowe. We could, we could, but like, Adolese- Ranking's- Right, but again, we're talking- Like, oh, we could talk about the specific players. Rankings are contextualizing players. We can go through all 27 players ranked between Grisham and where you have Grisham and where I have him,

or we can just have the conversation. And I am making the case against Trent Grisham. And I think it's... If I move him to 58th, it doesn't really change the point, right? In a vacuum, I don't like Trent Grisham either, but there comes a point where it's like, well, obviously, I have to take Trink Grisham, because look what's left.

And for me, that point is much higher than it seems to be for you. I just, I think Trent Grisham's what's left, unfortunately. Maybe I'm too close to the Yankees. I still think they're going to wind up resigning Cody Bellinger, although this whole, like, back and forth has been very annoying as a fan. I think there's a chance if Trent Grisham gets off to a bad start and they bring back Cody Bellinger that he just goes back to being the fourth outfielder

and they just play Jason Dominguez in left field and they play Bellinger in center field like that is within the range of outcomes for Trenkisham and if that's the case I mean you could just drop them whatever it's not like a huge investment I'll move him down some yeah but I'm just saying I think that's like legitimately in the range of outcomes for Trencrisom so I do worry if Cody Bellinger comes back

that's just kind of bad news for everybody Yeah, I mean, it's from the jump, it would definitely be bad news for Dominguez. I think he would be the first one kind of outlooking in. But then again, like he could kind of fill in if Trent Christian gets off to a bad start. So just something I wanted to throw in there. Let's quickly get to a few pitchers here. Trevor Rogers, you guys mentioned this yesterday, how much higher you are on him versus ADP.

Scott has Rogers at SP 29, Chris at SP 32. I have him all the way down at SP 47. So I guess this is where I have to talk about why I have him so low. He was amazing last year. He was a league winner, you know, 181 ERA, 0.90 whip. But he has a long history of not being that pitcher. I actually do buy into some of the changes he made last year, velocity being up, changing the pitch mix, things like that.

I don't completely buy the control gains. He, you know, routinely over three, like four walks per nine, net points in his career. He also had a very high left on base percentage and a very low 226 Babbip. So I do think all three of those things will regress a little bit. And I think Rogers could still be a solid pitcher, like a usable pitcher for fantasy. I think like a mid to high three ZRA and like a 120-ish whip, that would still be like a usable pitcher for fantasy. I just, I don't want to rank him or draft him ahead of, you know, all those kind of first or second year pitchers that have theoretical like upside versus a Trevor Rogers. So I just I'm not going to

draft him ahead of those names. But I still think he could be usable. Oh, he could be more than useful. Yeah. I mean, if he comes to him close to a picture last year. If he comes anywhere close to what he did, I just we just have a long track record of him not being that. I mean, this is he's one of the hardest players to rank. Yeah. And I am kind of I think you're closer to consensus at least It'll be interesting to see how Trevor Rogers ranks. But he does fall a lot in draft. Like there was already a slow draft where I was about to take him just because it like it went way too far. Yeah.

And so I may end up, you know, again, we'll see what happens with some of the other platforms, get their ATP up there in a way that's trustworthy. Like if I am just reaching for Trevor Rogers every draft because I'm so far ahead of consensus, then I'll lower him. Like it's not like I'm, it's not like I'm bullish on Trevor Rogers. I mean, this is, this is kind of how it is with all of these disputes. It's, it's not like I'm sticking, the players I'm higher on, I'm planting my flag in them, at least not these examples we're pulling up here.

It's just, just that when I was making out my rankings, this seemed like the appropriate place to slot them. And I'm finding out that, I guess, other people landed in a different spot there. I don't really understand why, okay yes Trevor Rogers there are inherent risks there there are inherent risks to Kevin Gosman and Sandy Alcantra and certainly some of those young guys Jacob Mizorowski there's a ton of risk there and so to me it's like well who's riskier we just saw Trevor Rogers have a sub 2ERA I don't think he's going to do that again but that seems safer than than a lot of those guys

I just listed off what happened to them last year and so I come out higher on Trevor Rogers. So we'll see. It's it's it's somebody I'm open to moving down. But I just I don't really understand why when you stack up the names he's dropping so far behind for for so many people, including yourself. Last name I wanted to bring up here is the name we haven't really talked about at all is Joe Musgrove. Scott has at SP 62. I have at 74. Chris has down at 77. Musgrove had Tommy John surgery in October of 2024. He should be fully ready to go by spring training. We actually got a report earlier today that there will be no strict innings limit for Joe Musgrove this upcoming season.

He's 33 years old. He was great with the Padres from 2021 to 2024. Though we started to see some skills decline in that final season, maybe he was pitching through injury. It's hard for us to say. I will admit that I haven't really thought about Joe Musgrove at all. So I just, I think he just kind of fell into this tier of rankings for me where I have a bunch of like guys who are injured or coming back from injury or are injury risks and I just kind of like plopped him in there. So I will admit this is kind of a blind spot for me, but he's a name we haven't talked about at all. So, Scott, you're a little bit higher on Joe Musgrove. You're just optimistic about him coming back? I guess. I mean, sort of like you. It wasn't, it wasn't somebody I've, I have great affection.

for necessarily. I think it's just, so I have him ahead of like McKinsey Gore and Aaron Nola, like Aaron Nola, I don't have much hope for at all at this point. You get into a more unspiring range of these starting pitcher rankings.

I think Chris mentioned to cut off at about 60, and so I have Musgrove 62nd. Like he's kind of right before that cut off or right at that cutoff. And it's just, okay, well, who's Joe Musgrove? He's a guy who delivers a low whip every year. Last four years, the highest he's had is 117. It's likely to have a respectable ERA.

You know, all of this depends on him coming back seamlessly from Tommy John surgery, but often pitchers do that. And particularly hearing that the Padres aren't going to baby him, that he's supposed to be ready from the start of the year. I think the most likely outcome is that he goes back to being Joe Musgrove. And to me, the stats he offers are much more promising than anything that follows, anything in that uninspiring group of pitchers that follows. So, yeah, there's some risk there coming back from surgery,

but risks are everywhere at this point in the starting pitcher rankings. Yeah. At that point, at that price, there's no risk. I suppose there's risk that you take him with your, I don't know, third to last pick instead of, I don't know, Aaron Nola or... There are some pitchers later who I just think are better. Like Parker Messick, I think, just, like, is underrated.

So there's opportunity cost, I suppose, to drafting Joe Musgrove, but you're not drafting him as a core piece. Like, this is a firmly in the... let's hope he starts the season against the Rockies in San Diego and we get to see what he can do kind of situation. But like if he starts the season, I don't know what their schedule looks like, but if it's like against two top five offenses away from San Diego, by the time that comes out, that might be enough to just say, you know what? I'll roll the dice on some other late round flyer than Joe Musgrove because those kinds of things can matter when you're talking about the hundred. or 250th or 270th pick or whatever. We're not at that point right now.

We don't know what the schedules look like. Well, we know what the schedules look like. We don't know what the rotations look like. So right now, I think I have Joe Musgrove right next to Shane McClan. Similar thing. I have no idea. Genuinely none. But I think they should be drafted.

I think we should get a look at what they can do. So make them one of your final picks. That's all it is. All right, we're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning into fantasy baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. And we will be back again later this week.

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