Fantasy Baseball Today - 🚨Trevor Bauer signs with the Dodgers! - Emergency Podcast (2/5 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: February 5, 2021

The wait is over! Trevor Bauer is headed to the Los Angeles Dodgers. What does this mean for his Fantasy value? Is he the unquestioned SP4 after deGrom, Cole, and Bieber? ... What does this mean for the rest of the Dodgers rotation (4:00)? Should you fade Julio Urias, Dustin May, and Tony Gonsolin? ... Is there a chance we see a six-man rotation (9:50)? We can officially rule out Bauer pitching every fourth day. Should you handcuff your Dodgers pitchers? Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank, @AdamAizer Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Now here's Frank Scott, Chris and Adam. After quite the delay, Trevor Bauer has officially chosen his next team, and he is headed to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Welcome to an emergency edition of Fantasy Baseball today. On Friday, February 5th, Frank Stamphill joined as always by Scott White here to break it down from a fantasy perspective. Of course, I have many thoughts on Trevor Bauer, and if you listen to Fantasy Baseball today for the past year,

you likely know some of them. But let's focus on fantasy. will keep the person, Trevor Bauer, and everything else out of this situation. The money here. This is from Jeff Passon. He tweeted Trevor Bauer's three-year, three-year deal with the Dodgers is for $102 million guaranteed. 40 million in 2021, $45 million in 2022. He can opt out after each year, meaning he'll make $40 million if he opts out this year, $85 million if he does so after 2022, and $102 million, if he can opt out. he stays all three. Scott, the people want to know. How does this change his fantasy value?

I mean, it's, I can only see it as good news for him, right? I mean, he goes to what was already the World Series favorites. He makes them even bigger favorites and has as good as supporting cast as he could ask for. Not only that, but I feel like his approach to the game mesh as well with the Dodgers approach, they're so good at handling pitching that I think maybe if he were to hit a road bump after his amazing 2020, the Dodgers have a better chance of helping him smooth it out. I don't think they're going to manipulate their usage of him. They're paying him a crap load of money over a short period of time, which would suggest

to me that they want to ride him as hard as any other team would. think Bauer would have signed with them if he didn't have those kinds of assurances. So I already had him as my number four starting pitcher after the big three of Bieber, de Grom, and Cole. And I think he's even a firmer number four now by signing with the Dodgers. But really, him choosing to sign with the Dodgers as opposed to the Mets, gives us a lot more to talk about because of what it means for the rest of the Dodgers rotation. It wreaks havoc on the rest of the Dodgers rotation. And suddenly some guys who looked very interesting there,

not so much anymore. Yes, and of course, we'll get into some of those names, the Dustin Mays and the Tony Gonslins of the world as well. Scott mentioned he has Trevor Bauer as his SP4 in both formats, right, Scott? In both, yep. So I had Trevor Bauer SP6 in points leagues before this move. I had him at SP9 in Roto. I have moved him up to SP6 in Roto.

as well. So I'm just going to, I'm going to leave him there. I do agree that he will be the unquestioned SP4 off the board in terms of ADP. Personally, I would still rather have you, Darvish and Aranola, but I wouldn't fault people for wanting to chase the dragon of Trevor Bauer now that he is with the Dodgers. Fantastic stat that we had on today's podcast that came out earlier with Vlad Sedler. He mentioned this, that since 2015, the Dodgers rotation has a 3.36 ERA, the next closest team in the National League. is the Cardinals at 375. The average in the National League is 4.20.

So the Dodgers just know how to get the best out of their starting pitchers, which means that they likely will with Trevor Bauer as well. Scott, earlier I tweeted out a poll asking if you're on the clock in the second round, who would you rather have? Darvish, Bauer, Gialito Bueller, and Bauer is actually second in the poll with 28% of the vote. Walker Bueller, 30% of the vote. Everyone knows how we feel about Walker Bueller. we're a little bit more scared about him.

But it seems like people are, again, gravitating towards one of those Dodgers pitchers as the fourth starting pitcher off the board. All right, so what does this do for the rest of the rotation, the Dodgers rotation? We know that there is a big three up top. There's Bauer, there's Kirschaw, there's Walker Bueller. How do you think this shapes the rest of the rotation

from David Price, Julio O'Reas? Do you think we get a six-man? Who do you think is the odd man out? because you're right. There was a lot of pictures that we were excited about here, but now I think we have to pump the brakes a little bit.

It's pandemonium. I don't think we can trust anything for anyone beyond those top three. And I mean, even the top three, Bauer, I feel like, very secure.

Kershaw, of course, has an injury history. I suspect when he's not on the IL, he'll be handled in a very traditional way. Bueller, I mean, We've talked about how we had concerns about how the Dodgers would handle him,

given that at the start of the last years, they basically had him skipped spring training and build up in season. He only made one six-inning regular season start last year, wound up with about 60 total innings, six-de-toteled endings between the regular season and post-season. So as careful as they've always been with Bueller, what's it going to, like how many inning, what kind of innings increase are they,

going to ask them to have in 2021. I'm thinking 160 max from Bueller during the regular season and how that manifests there's a lot of options now. Maybe they go piggyback at the start of the season with Bueller and one of those other guys,

Julio Ereus, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, one of them piggybacking with Bueller for, I don't know, maybe the first six weeks, something like that. Maybe Phantom IEL stint. You know, the Dodgers always like to work those in as a way of preserving arms. Now they have even more avenues to do it.

So you got the three who we expect to take a regular fifth turn, more or less, Bauer, Kershaw, and Bueller. Price, David Price, who didn't pitch at all in 2019, who's 35 years old, who when we last saw him pitch, his velocity was down, his ERA was up. He's kind of been getting some sleeper buzz, but I don't think we can be so sanguine about. out of him, and it doesn't seem like the Dodgers are either.

I think if price is healthy and is going well enough, he'll probably be a fourth guy who takes a regular fifth turn because it's not like he would be a fit in the bullpen at all. And so that leaves just one spot, right? That leaves one spot between Arias, Tony Gonsolin, and Dustin May, who had very similar numbers last year, excellent numbers last year. The consensus seems to be that Arias is, going to get the most starts out of that group.

I don't know that that's a, I don't know that that's a safe assumption because he's the best bullpen option of the three, too. I mean, he was mostly served out of the bullpen in the postseason and saw a big spike and strikeout rate because of that. But I don't think it's going to be a situation where two of those guys are bullpen arms

and one's a starter. I don't see it playing out that way at all. I think they'll, they'll all be more or less stretched out by throwing two, three-inning stints in the bullpen, maybe as a piggyback option for a pitcher, maybe as an opener here and there. And then they'll have starts worked in as needed. However, the Dodgers see it being most convenient.

Nick Pollock of Pitcher List, he kind of laid out what he thought it might look like on Twitter. So one day, Kershaw, then Bauer, then Bueller, then Aureas, then Ares, then Ares, then Gonsaliner May, then Bauer, then Bauer, then Bauer, then Gonsalind or May, then just all over the place what they could choose to do here with those extra arms. And I think that's more or less what it'll be like. I think it'll be a situation where they will all be worth rostering Aureas, Gonsalind, and May.

They'll all be worth rostering because the upside is there. the opportunity could present itself at any moment. There's just not going to be a lot of forewarning for when they're going to make a start and if they'll be treated like a normal starter in that start. So it's going to be very frustrating having any of those three to the point that I'm not sure I want any of those three. And yet I feel like somebody in your league has to have each of them. Yeah, I think that's very well said.

And frustrating is the key word there because it's a great problem to have for the Dodger. and we know entering 2021, having depth for the rotation is very smart for Major League Baseball teams. So I can't fault the Dodgers for making moves like this and having this type of depth. But it is very frustrating from a fantasy perspective for sure, because we know the top three, David Price, if you want to include in that mix as well. Not that he's on the same talent level, but he's probably going to be given the same opportunities to start consistently. And then we really have just at one spot for three pitchers there with Julio Arreus, Dustin May, and Tony Gonsolin.

And honestly, Scott, Gonselin is probably the one that I was looking at most. His ADP right now is 189.3. I think this is probably going to drive his price down a little bit, which means maybe I'm more willing

to take a shot on Gonsolin. But remember how they treated Kentimaeida the last few years that he was there. He would bounce back and forth between the rotation, in the bullpen, and it was frustrating.

But when he pitched, no matter where he pitched, he was really good. So I think that we can see something similar from Tony Gonsolin as well. Scott, any chance that we see a six-man rotation here? That would certainly help things. I don't think like a strict six-man order, but kind of that order I let off for Nick,

that planned Nick Pollock of pitcherless laid out that I just read off for you, incorporates six different pitchers, just not a strict one through six schedule. Trevor Bauer is going to get every turn. Kershaw, while he's healthy, will get every turn. Bueller presumably will get every turn.

I just don't know that he's going to be treated like a full-fledged starter with those turns. But then you're going to see maybe Price spaced out more, maybe Eurea spaced out more. Something like that. Like, I think there may come a point during the 2021 season when it becomes a more traditional rotation because maybe price burns out,

you know, maybe he just doesn't have it anymore. Maybe somebody gets hurt. Maybe it's Kershaw. Maybe it's someone we're not even foreseeing. Maybe it's Bueller. Maybe it's Bauer himself. Who knows? And, you know, if that happens,

then the Dodgers will have ready-made replacements who are already semi-proven and we could see somebody like Tony Gonsel and we could see his value skyrocket. But heading into the season with seven arms for five spots and three of those spots really deserving to be on regular rest, then it's just hard to predict anything for the other two spots.

Yeah, a great point there on David Price as well. David Price did not pitch in 2020, so we don't really know what to project. He's someone who has dealt with injuries in the past as well, arm injuries. So these things usually have a way of working themselves out. And there is some risk. Kershaw getting older has the back injury. Bueller had some blisters last year. Look, if Gonsolin is performing well, if Dustin May is performing well,

I think these guys will find ways to get opportunities. And something I just thought of while you were talking about it, Scott, was if you take Bueller or even Bauer or Kershaw early in your drafts, why not in one of the last rounds just take a Dustin May or take a Tony Gonsolin almost as like, again, this is more of a football term, handcuff, handcuffing your running backs. But with pitchers as talented as this, why not do it? Just take these guys as a backup.

If something were to happen to your Kershaw, you have Tony Gonsolin on your bench who's ready to enter the rotation. So something that I would definitely look at doing from a fantasy baseball perspective. Scott, we can basically rule out. Trevor Bauer, there was talk about him wanting to pitch every fourth day. That is, there's no chance that's going to happen, right? Yeah, I would say that's pretty unlikely, at least to start out. You know, if attrition sets in, maybe that becomes a possibility again. but I don't think, like, of all of the Dodgers pitchers, of all seven options,

I think Bauer is going to be the most regular of all. And I would be very surprised if he didn't start every fifth day, or at least take every fifth turn, you know, factoring in for off days. Yeah, we agree there. Bauer, again, I think he will, in terms of ADP, be the fourth starting pitcher off the board. Scott has him as his SP4 in both head-to-head points. And in Roto, I have Bauer as my SP6 in both formats right behind you Darvish and Aaron Nola.

All right. So finally made his decision. Thank you, Trevor Bauer. It's over. Last big name, I guess we have now is Marcelo Zuna. So let's see. Maybe he'll land back with your Atlanta brave, Scott. Cross your fingers there.

They certainly can still use him. All right. So for Scott, I'm Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again on Monday. Bye-bye.