Fantasy Baseball Today - Week 1 Sleepers, Tout Wars Bids & 2022 Season Predictions! (4/7 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: April 7, 2022

Baseball is back (1:15)! ... What things should you consider when setting your lineups early in the season (2:35)? ... Which sleeper hitters can you look to add for Week 1 (9:03)? Which teams have the best matchups? ... Which sleeper pitchers should you target for the short and long scoring periods in Week 1 (16:56)? Add Patrick Corbin!? ... Should you start Zack Wheeler in Week 1 (25:30)? ... Who did Scott and Frank add in their respective Tout Wars leagues (28:16)? ... News and notes (44:52): Jose Ramirez signed a contract extension, the Twins are trying to trade for Chris Paddack and more. ... We wrap up with our 2022 season predictions (52:55)!  'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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. Now here's Frank Scott and Chris. What's up and welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today. Frank Stamphill joined by Scott White. Happy opening day, Eve, to those watching us here on YouTube.

And a very happy opening day for those listening on the podcast side of things. today on the show, sleeper hitters and pitchers for week one, whether you play in the short four-day scoring period or the longer 11-day scoring period. We'll touch on both. No worries. Tout Wars Fab just ran a few hours ago, so we'll talk about our bids.

Scott is in the 15-te-team Roto League. I am in the 12-team Head to Head Points League, and then we'll end our show with 2022 season predictions. All that fun stuff. Rookie of the Year, Sy Young, MVP, World Series predictions as well. Scott, I'm not one to get emotional, and I'm not really going to do that here, but I am truly thankful that we have a baseball season because honestly, things look pretty bleak just one month ago.

You think about it, I think it was March 9th or March 10th, they settled on the CBA. One month ago this time, we didn't even know if we would have a baseball season, and here we are. Alas, baseball is back, Scottie. Yeah, I never had any doubts, really. Not even a single one. Well, yeah, I did start to worry at some point that they would lose maybe up to a month's worth of games toward the end, toward the phase when they started saying, okay, we've passed this deadline, so we have to cancel the first two series of games. Okay, well, they're starting to cancel games.

But they managed to pull it together and backtrack on that and save all the games. And that's good. Now we don't have to think about that again for a few years. Thankfully, because I was not looking forward to coming up with wonky podcast ideas and things to talk about while we wait for this lockout to end. I already did that once before. We already did that, exactly. For three or four months, when we were waiting for baseball to return during the pandemic. So did not want to do that again.

Anyway, before we get into our sleeper hitters and pitchers, Scott, do you have any line-up setting advice this early in the season? Because I feel like people might look to make. some rash decisions early on. Yeah. What do you have to say? Yeah, don't get cute. Don't get cute. You know, trust in the players you invested in.

There's not, like, the first week of the season is when we know the least, right? We know the least. Okay, some players had a good spring. Okay, maybe it looks like this player has good matchups this week. But we don't really know. I mean, it's kind of a fresh start for everybody. And as a general rule, especially in baseball, I'm not a fan of sitting the obvious better player for a lesser player who has good matchups. So just in general, I would say that.

But that's especially true at the start of the year when it's hard to gauge really how good the matchups are. So, you know, I do have sleeper hitters for week one. I do have sleeper pitchers for week one. I have those every week. It's kind of a requirement. but I always get a little nervous that just by virtue of me publishing that list, people are going to take some liberties with it that they shouldn't. It's really more of a in case of emergency sort of list than anything else.

Yeah, and I'm happy you hit on that too because that was my next question, right? Like, what is the best way to use these sleeper hitters and pitchers, right? It's like obviously you're not looking to drop players that you just drafted or even players that you drafted early, who are struggling early in the season. So these are more for, you know, fringe plays. If you have someone, the player at the end of your bench, if you don't need that player, then all right. You could pick up one of Scott's sleeper hitters or pitchers

and you could throw them in your lineup. Yeah, I mean, but they are sleeper pitchers and hitters. I'm strictly looking at the week ahead. So I don't know that, I don't know that even picking them up as a bench stash is necessarily something you should be thinking of doing. It's just, you know, somebody got, hurt, let's say, I don't know, who's a big, a lot of pitchers have gotten

hurt, right? Is there a big hitter who won't be available for week one that maybe you drafted as your starter? I'm struggling to come up with the name. If you drafted early, you might have Fernando Tatis on your team. Yeah, well, yeah. But basically, if you need to fill in for that first week,

then you could do this. Or maybe you play in a really deep league and some of your lineup spots are filled with fringy players. Like, for instance, Since, if we're just talking about the short week, the default setting on CBS is to use the four days, Thursday through Sunday is week one,

and then start fresh with week two on Monday. So if your league uses that arrangement, I have the Marlins as the worst matchups for that four-day scoring period. So let's say you play in a deep league and you drafted somebody like Jesus Aguilar, Jesus Sanchez, or Garrett Cooper as a starter. you know, not

fixtures, not players you expect to be fixtures in your lineup all season long. Yeah, then maybe you could explore the sleeper hitter list and I'm not even saying you have to, but that's a scenario where you could consider doing it.

And I'll point out with the two-star pitchers, Scott, especially there, don't get too cute. I mean, you kind of touched on it already, but say you have a proven top 25-ish starting pitcher, even if he has a tougher matchups, a tougher matchup, I don't know that I would look to streaming a two-star pitcher,

you know, someone who's a questionable player just because they have that extra matchup that week, that extra start. So, you know, chasing two-star pitchers could be a little bit rough, especially scheduling the past couple years, Scott. I feel like pitchers get moved around all the time. They wind up losing two-star week. So again, like, you know, it's good to know these things, but like don't take it as gospel as well. Well, what's interesting about week one is if you're going with the short week, just the four days, then there are no two-star pitchers. Correct.

If you're going with the long week, 11 days, almost everybody's a two-star pitcher. Not quite everybody, because there are some teams that are going to go six-man the first time through. And actually, if things play out, if things play out as expected with these teams all going five-man and nobody getting, going out of turn or anything like that,

then there are going to be a few pitchers in the extra long week that could make three starts. There are specifically four teams in line for 11 games if you're doing the 11-day scoring period is week one. Those teams are the Braves who are going to be going six-man right away, so not them. Not anyone for them is going to be making three starts. The Brewers who could be going six-man,

but maybe not, in which case Corbyn Burns could be in line for three starts. the Padres who also could go six-man but maybe not in which case you Darvish would be in line for three starts and finally the Nationals who I'm pretty sure aren't going six-man in which case Patrick Corbin

is in line for three starts and he's highly available those three starts would be against the Mets middle of the road lineup the Braves a really good lineup and the Pirates It's a really bad lineup.

So it's particularly if you play in a points league where you don't have to guard against ratios so much, that Patrick Corbyn pickup for those who play in leagues that are using the 11-day week one. And so it's a little, it's kind of tempting. I don't think I would do it because it's, it kind of falls under the umbrella of too cute after the way the past couple years have gone for Patrick Corbyn.

But fortune favors the, bold and the brave. You sound like a crypto commercial. What is, I don't know if you've seen it. It's like a crypto.com commercial, I think, where it's whoever is. Like Matt Damon, fortune favors the bold or the brave, whatever it is. Anyway. I think it says brave, but I think the phrase is actually bold, but I don't know.

Maybe they're interchangeable. I don't think I'm old. And you're brave. I don't think I'm brave enough to, uh, to start Patrick Corbyn is and his 5.82 ERA. I was wondering why you had them, had him down as a. sleeper pitcher, but all right, yeah, three starts. Might matter somewhere. Let's get into our sleeper hitters first, and by hour, I of course mean Scots.

For the short week, Thursday through Sunday. Who are some names you got here, Scotty? Okay, for the short week, which again is the default setting on CBS, were you asking pitchers or hitters first? Hitters. Hitters. Okay. So, Andrew McCutcheon is somebody I like a lot.

And that's a figure on the short week or the long week. He crushed left-handers last year, 293 batting average 1027 OPS. It's, of course, with the Brewers now. The Brewers play four games in the short week, which only 10 teams do, and are scheduled to face two lefties in those four games. Plus, he just looked healthier this spring.

He feels like he was dealing with some knee-sorness last year, and it inhibited him against right. handed pitchers he wasn't able to drive the ball of the opposite field like he's used to and it looked like the little bit we saw him in this spring it looked like he was back to doing that so I kind of like McCutcheon is in just a general sense but I think the matchups this week make him especially attractive I also like Adam Duval Braves are among the teams playing four games

they're facing the Reds so he could do some damage there AJ Pollock yeah the Tigers top three is kind of questionable that's who they're facing C.J. Abrams who we still don't know for sure is on the Padres opening day roster but there were reports of them they announced that they were sending down a bunch of players including McKinsey Gore

and Abrams wasn't among them so I'm kind of feeling like he is on the opening day roster and it's not clear he'll play every day but Padres get four games and they're at Arizona so they're going to see some shaky pitching for sure

let's see I like Robinson Canoe I like Tommy Fan Of course, the Reds play four games, as I mentioned earlier. I don't know. Do I want to name all of them? Okay, so the Dodgers are at Cors Field for their opening series. It's only three games, not four. The only player in the Dodgers lineup that I could justify calling a sleeper because the rest are too rostered is Gavin Lux.

I don't know that'll start all three of those games. One of them is, there's a lefty on schedule for, one of the three games. So maybe not that one. But of course, it's, it's course, it's course field. And that's, that improves his odds of making an impact with the starts he does make. Speaking of those Dodgers, I mean, if there is anywhere for Cody Bellinger to start his season, that can maybe give us some confidence. Corse field. Come on, Cody. Take advantage. And, uh, let's have some fun. Let's do it. Andrew McCutcheon. I know we spoke about him recently as well, Scott, but I've got a good feeling, man. I've got a good feeling about Andrew McCutcheon,

an 8 for 20 in the spring. Small sample size, but you mentioned that knee, and he stole two bases during spring, too. It's like, why would Andrew McCutcheon have to steal bases in the spring? Like, this is a proven veteran, mid-30s. So it's like, what's the point of him doing that

other than proving that he's healthy and the knee is good to go? I've got a good feeling. So Andrew McCutcheon, I like that call quite a bit. He's 33% rostered over on CBS. The best hitter matchups in the four game week, Thursday through Sunday. The Mets, the Padres, the Dodgers, the Braves, and the Brewers, the worst hitter matchups.

Scott mentioned the Marlins, then the Rangers, the Cubs, the Tigers, and the Giants. Let's move over to sleeper hitters for the long week. Scott, I know that there's some overlap here, but this is for, again, the 11 days, April 7th through 17th. There were three names that you did not mention on the other list. Well, yeah, first I want to repeat McCutcheon for this list. Sure. I mentioned two of the first four games are against lefties. Five of the first 11 for the Brewers are against lefties.

So again, long week or short. I'm excited about McCutcheon this week. I mentioned the Rockies opening series was in Colorado, but of course they're facing the Dodgers for those first three games and top three for the Dodgers pretty good as far as pitchers go. So I didn't mention any Rockies hitters for the short week, but for the long week, they are playing seven of nine,

yeah, seven of nine games at Coorsfield. And the Road Series is against the back end of the Rangers rotation. So for the long week, the matchups look really good for the Rockies, even if they start out against the Dodgers top three. So I like Randall Gritchick for the long week. And I like Connor Joe for the long week.

Yes. Playing times a little more questionable for him. But I feel like he's going to be the DH more days than not. and then who else? Lane Thomas. Lane Thomas. I mentioned earlier the Nationals are one of four teams playing 11 games in the long week. And the matchups are pretty good overall.

So I'm hopeful with that power speed combo. It's kind of a modest power speed combo. You know, maybe like 15-15, 2010 production, but still. And when you have that many games to work with, I could see him. I could see him putting together, putting together some pretty good totals over an 11-day span. And that opening series against the Mets doesn't look nearly as daunting without Jacob de Grom pitching for the Mets. They've announced that Tyler McGill will be their opening day starter. I like Tyler McGill as a sleeper, but yeah, I think Lane Thomas is a good call there.

He is 23% rostered. It feels like maybe I'm wrong about this, but there are more than 23% of Cs. CBS leagues are five outfielder leagues, I could be wrong. But if there are anywhere... More than 23%? Yeah, are five outfielder leagues? I feel like he should be owned in all five outfielder leagues. So if he is somehow available in your five outfielder league, please go ad lane Thomas.

Well, I was noticing, I don't know why I'm bringing this up, but I just happened to notice it. It surprised me because I haven't... I don't know exactly what the breakdown of leagues is on CBS sports. I know we tend to have deeper leagues than the other major... sites like ESPN and Yahoo, our roster percentages are generally much higher than theirs. So I know we tend to skew deeper. But in terms of the scoring format, I kind of feel like we might have more points leagues than categories leagues because I noticed Joe Ryan was rostered in more leagues than

Joe Adele, which I don't think would be the case in categories leagues as much as in points leagues where of course people tend to draft a ton of starting pitchers. Yep. All right. The best hitter matchups for the long 11 day week are the Brewers, the Pirates, the Braves, the Royals, and the A's. The worst

hitter matchups are the Reds, the Marlins, the Phillies, the Giants, and the D-backs. Scott, I quickly looked up the most dropped hitters on CBS and a few names that stood out. Will Myers, Michael Conforto, and unfortunately Riley Green with that fractured foot placed on the

I.L in the minor, so you can't even stash him in an IL spot. Would you be okay dropping those three, any of those three, all of those three for maybe some or all of these sleeper hitters? Yeah. Yeah, I would. All right. I mean, even before, no, I mean, I would say I was drafting most of these sleeper hitters ahead of those guys in the leagues deep enough where they could, where it made sense to draft them. So, yeah, I think that, I think that makes sense. All right, Will Myers, Michael Canforto, Riley Green. Three names you could drop for these sleeper hitters if you need any. Let's move over to the sleeper pitchers.

And correct me if I'm wrong, Scott, but the top teams to stream against this season. The Oakland A's, I think, far away. Probably them and the pirates. They're kind of just like in a tier of their own where they are just the worst lineups in baseball. The debacks, not great. The Orioles, the Cubs, I think the Cubs will strike out quite a bit. The two that I was kind of on the fence on, the Guardians, the Marlins, Scott. I mean, are those teams that you're going to be looking to stream against?

I feel like the Marlins might actually have a solid lineup. Yeah, I think we were talking about that yesterday where you at least see enough upside in the Marlins lineup that it could be respectable. I don't know that the assumption going into the season is it will be respectable. And it is kind of funny to include the Nationals lineup in there considering they have arguably the best hitter in the game in one Soto. But yeah, I do agree that that they fall into that category. at least to start out. Did you mention the Diamondbacks?

I would put the Diamondbacks in the group of teams to stream against. Did you mention the Guardians? Yeah, they were like a fringe team. The Guardians and the Marlins, I was like, I don't know. Yeah, no, I think you got it. The ones who stand out the most, I think you nailed it with the athletics, pirates, and which one was the third one again? Orioles.

Yep. All right, for sure. Let's get into the sleepers for the short week again, April 7th through 10th. Scott, who are some pitchers you're looking at? Okay, so short week. Carlos Carrasco, he's 72% rostered on CBS, so he's getting close to the cutoff that I use, but he's at Washington.

So it's first time through. It looked better in his last spring start, and knowing that he was pitching last year with loose bodies in his elbow, wasn't able to extend his arm fully. I think that's reason to trust in the track record. Again, not saying he's a must-star, but among those rosters in less than 80% of leagues, he's probably my favorite. Merrill Kelly, we've talked about how good he looked this spring.

A change of might be getting more whiffs. He's against the Padres. I think the Padres are borderline in terms of, are they going to be a good matchup for pitchers? They're going to be a bad matchup. Without Tatis there, I think they're going to be a pretty good matchup for pitchers, but it's not one of the obvious ones. I like Zach Eflin,

who had a, who was making, like, he was using his breaking balls a lot more this spring, and he didn't pitch that much, but the last start was pretty impressive. He got like seven strikeouts in four innings or something like that. And he's going against Oakland. Also going against Oakland is his teammate Kyle Gibson, but that's a little deeper.

I'd rather start Eflin than Gibson. who else Nick Martinez only 8% rostered and he gets the dime the backs in his first start

and he's SPARP eligible for those in points leagues he is he is indeed a couple going against the Orioles so the Rays are facing

the Orioles for that season opening series and we don't it's hard to trust the usage of Ray's pitchers especially the first time through, but Drew Rasmussen and Corey Kluber are both on my sleeper list for week one.

I prefer Rasmussen, but his workload is the more questionable of the two. I just think at this stage, he's the better pitcher than Kluber. Yep. And Kluber, by the way, went six in his final spring start. Scott, there was a name on here that you didn't mention. I know you'd like to leave some of them for the article, but I wanted to ask, I wanted to follow up here. Bailey Ober had a really strong spring. He's 43% rostered, but he's going up against the Seattle Maritime.

So I guess how do you weigh for the sleeper pitchers? I guess just the talent of that pitcher versus the matchup because I don't know. I kind of feel like the Mariners might be a tough matchup. They might be. Yeah, it's one of those that's hard to say at this point. You can certainly look at their lineup. They've added Jesse Winker from a year ago. They've added Julio Rodriguez, of course.

Not sure how he's going to play as a 21-year-old, but it looked right in the spring, obviously. So the Mariners lineup wasn't very good last year But with those two additions You could definitely see it taking a big step forward Plus there's the chance Jared Kelnick just improves I still think they're in the lower third of the league Verging on the lower half of the league In terms of lineup strength

So if I was eager to start Bailey Ober I wouldn't let the matchup stop me but he's let's see where do I have him ranked here among these sleeper pitchers he's only like I think that's eighth yeah eighth among the 10 sleeper pitchers for this upcoming week for me so that that gives you a sense of how I prioritize it

and he's pitching at home so I don't know exactly what the weather looks like in Minnesota right now it was bad enough where they postponed their opening day game but I imagine it's going to be pretty cold so typically colder weather It lowers offense. It deadens offense a little bit. So something that could help the pitchers there early in Minnesota as well.

For the long week, Scott, April 7 through 17th, I see you got a few follow-ups here, some pitchers that you just mentioned, but a few that you didn't as well. Yeah, so one of them is Patrick Corbyn. Again, fortune favors the bold with his potential three starts. And by the way, it's worth pointing out, like, when you're predicting 11 days,

ahead, very likely stuff is going to change. So that's a reason maybe not to start Patrick Corbyn, because all it takes is one pitcher going out of turn, and suddenly he's not a three-start pitcher anymore. And that third start is the one against the pirates, for what it's worth. Yeah, so I have Carrasco and Kelly. I like their matchups even more when you give them a second start

than when they have just the one. I also have Eflin here. He would be in the long week against the athletics and also at the Marlins. That is a slam dunk. I love it. Yeah. My favorite pitcher for the long week, sleeper pitcher for the long week, rostered in less than 80% of leagues, remember, is Alex Wood. He gets the Padres and he gets the Guardians.

He's 75% rostered, so it'd have to be a pretty shallow league that he's available. But if you play in such a league, Wood is a good play for. that long 11-day scoring period. Should we make that the weekly segment, Scott? It's part of the Sleaver pitchers, who is our Fortune Favors the Brave pick of the week? This week it's Patrick Corden.

A lot to settle on whether it's bold or brave, first of all. So the Crypto.com ad with Matt Damon, he says Fortune favors the brave. And I know that because there was a South Park episode recently where they kept making fun of it. It was pretty good. Where do you add on South Park, Scott?

I've never asked. where am I at on South Park boy it's been around a long time I've been all over the place with South Park so when South Park was first getting started I was pretty young I was pretty young so I was even younger than you so

I recognized it wasn't age appropriate but a lot of my friends were watching it so I just kind of didn't think much of it and then I started to get into it a little more and like college and like, wow, this is some pretty good satire here. And, you know, after that, I kind of lost interest just because you only have so much. It feels like you have more time to watch TV during that phase of your life, I guess. Yeah, it's probably hard to watch with kids around too.

So I don't recommend anyone doing that. I don't watch anything for myself with my kids away. I think it's fair to say, except for like sports and stuff. Yeah. All right. South Park, man, it's, it's become so smart over the years, too. It's like some of their jokes and just their comedy. It's like stuff that I don't even understand. But it's still good. I really like that, that crypto.com thing that they did. I have an email. Scott, email of the day. This is a starter sit question from Benjamin. Hi, Ricky Dave and Donnie baseball. Got that? Ricky Dave and Donnie baseball. Those are my Bronx Bombers.

So I guess both Henderson's and Don Manningly played on a team together at some point. I think that's the case, right? I believe it's Dave Winfield. Oh, okay. Yeah, Dave Winfield, Ricky Henderson, Don Mattingly. Sounds right to me. In the Points League, I am worried about starting Zach Wheeler for the long week one. His first start is Tuesday and will probably be short.

His second start would be scheduled for the last day of the scoring period. I hate relying on Sunday starts. Anything can happen to push that start back. Exactly. I was just saying, right? Yeah, I can start Robert Suarez instead and shift Ranger Suarez to starting pitcher. For context, my league gives 10 points for saves. Or I can replace Wheeler with one of Eduardo Rodriguez or Joe Ryan.

And I feel like a lot of people are going to be in a similar situation here, Scott, with Zach Wheeler, whether or not to trust him. And, you know, these are kind of like those fringe options where you might have to choose. do I play one of these or Zach Wheeler, his first start back? Yeah, that's a good thought. I think you've talked, now, I am weighing in that your particular league awards 10 points for saves. The CBS standard in points league is seven. So that's a pretty big difference.

I don't know if there are any other adjustments that would elevate starting pitcher scoring on the same level. But assuming closers are just beefed up in your league, I would say with the Padres being one of only four teams, scheduled for 11 games in that long week. I think I'd lean Robert Suarez there over the situation. As you point out with Wheeler, that first start of two could be short and the second start

could get bumped back for any number of reasons. All right, going with the dual Suarez's. Ranger Suarez, by the way, made his, I believe it was the spring debut, right? Final day of spring training here, Wednesday, April 6th, and he went three and two-thirds,

hitless innings. So obviously Scott is, As a Ranger Suarez advocate, you'll love to see that. He got up to 43 pitches, so, you know, maybe Ranger Suarez's first start. He'll go 65, 70, something like that. So he should be able to get through, you know, four or five innings. I responded to this email, and I said I would go with Eduardo Rodriguez, but I think it's closed.

The matchups for Eduardo, I believe they're the White Sox and Red Sox. So those are pretty scary matchups for him. So I can understand going with Robert Suarez and Rangers' Juarez. More on the Padres bullpen in a little bit because they're trying to make a trade right now which could kind of throw things out of whack. Tout Wars bid, Scott. You made a bunch of them.

I saw your screenshot. I saw your tweet. You put out far and away the most bids in your league and I believe this is a draft you did back in, what, like the first week of March? Yep. Yeah, it was. There was a lot of players available in your league.

And again, Tout Wars, for anyone wondering, this is a collection of industry slash expert. I don't consider myself. an expert. But these are industry leagues. Scott is in the 15 team, five by five, Roto League. Who are some players that you want here, Scottie? Okay. So, yeah, you remember, we talked about this a few days ago with the TGFBI and how I ended up spending half my budget with the first run of waivers. And, you know, I got a bunch of the best players to get. I just, I just thought others would give me, put it more of a fight, right? Give me, I didn't expect.

to win that many players, I guess is what I'm trying to say, because I thought others would be more aggressively. Well, apparently I didn't learn my lesson if there was one to be learned because I ended up spending $449 of my $1,000 budget for this first run of waivers. And, you know, for some of the players I wanted TGFBI, I raised it a little bit, specifically C.J. Abrams, because I figured, okay, there's more, there's even more reasons. to believe he's been on the, he's on the opening day roster. This bid's not going to catch people by surprise like it did in TGFBI.

So I up that bid from $93 to $127 and I won him. I won him by like a $50 margin over the next closest bid. So still a little more than I need to go. But I'm thrilled to get him. I mean, if he is playing

regularly for the Padres, that's a lot of steals potential in addition to just being a good hitter. I also one Jorge Mateo the Orioles starting shortstop who also is a

player who could steal a lot of bases and I feel like we haven't talked about him enough I think he's triple eligible

in this league too and not in CBS leagues but in this league I could start him at a few different places middle end field

and outfield so that's yeah that was that was my third highest bid was Matt Brash I didn't win him

I bid a hundred $117. I got slightly outbid by Mike Gianella, which is fine. I can't win everybody. I can come close, though. I also won Jake Frailey, who I think is eventually going to be playing close to every day for the Reds.

I think he's on-base skills are so good. I think his power will play up in Cincinnati. And he's going to steal bases too. What do you know? That, that, I put so little emphasis on stolen bases in the draft, and I'm taking care of it here off the waiver wire in week one. I also won Keston Hira,

who I prioritized over, who did I end up dropping to get Hira? Kyle Farmer. Yeah, Kyle Farmer, which makes sense because I picked up two other short stops. I drafted Kyle Farmer just to be a backup at that position and he doesn't have near the upside. So between picking up Abrams and Mateo,

no reason to keep Farmer around. but going further down, dropping, getting Kestan Hira meant dropping Robinson Kano, which I was willing to do, because Kano's playing time seems more secure here at the start, but I don't think it's going to be quite every day. Kestin Hira,

not sure exactly where he fits in, but if he continues to swing the bat like he did this spring, and of course we thought of him as a huge upside guy just a year ago, right? If he continues to swing the bat like he did this spring, simplifying a stroke, showing that elite ability to impact the ball like he did as a rookie in 2019,

then they're going to find a batts for him, whether it's at first base or DH or probably take an injury to get him in left field. But even so, I think that's a situation where the cream could rise to the top. And I'll be happy to have stashed here away because it could be an impact power bat. I think it's worth having around on the bench

and a 15 team like this, 15 team league like this. I also got McKinsey Gore. Of course, just got sent down. Don't think he'll be down for long. Sooner or later, I spot will open up in that rotation, and I think he's going to have the sort of impact we all believed he could have not so long ago. Mitch Keller I got for the paltry sum of $37 out of $1,000.

So, you know, if you're used to playing with $100 budget, I spent $3.7 on him in a 15-team league. I can't complain about that. Can I? That seems pretty good. No, no one else was in on that. I might complain about who you dropped for him, though.

Chris Stratton. I was kind of interested to see that, Scotty. Yeah, well, I mean, presumably it's going to be a shared closer role on a bad team between Chris Stratton and David Bednar. But I didn't really want to drop Chris Stratton. Again, I didn't expect to win this many players. I won seven players.

And Chris Stratton was sixth on the list of potential drops for me. I didn't want to drop them, but when it comes down to it, Stratton versus Mitch Keller, a part-time shaky closer versus one of the busiest pitchers of spring training, busiest starting pitchers of spring training. I'll take the shot on Mitch Keller.

Sure. Other Strattons are going to emerge on waiver wires in the future. Waver Wires. I'm not talking very well. Waiver Wire in the future. Who else did I win? There's this one last name there. Kevin Smith.

Kevin Smith. I like it. I like it. Kevin Smith of the Oakland Athletics, who we haven't talked much about either. We kind of just are assuming everybody in the athletics lineup is going to be bad. And he debuted for the Blue Jays last year, and it didn't look that great.

Three for 32, a bunch of strikeouts, eggs of velocities weren't great, but obviously a small sample. Interesting player, Kevin Smith, because in the minors last year, he hit 285, in only 94 games,

he had 285 with 21 homers, 18 steals, a 931 OPS. He had a big spring, hit three homers, stole two bases, about at 325. Athletics have to fill out that lineup somehow.

So I think Kevin Smith's going to play a lot. He can play third, short or second for them. Maybe he'll jump around a little bit. And hopefully, you know, kind of a, I don't think he's going to be particularly high end for either home runs or stolen bases, but hopefully he'll contribute a usable number of both.

Again, it's just for a bench spot. I don't know, I'm excited. I spend a ton of money. I don't know what everybody else is doing. I feel like usually the bidding for this first run of waivers is aggressive because it's obviously the most loaded the waiver wires ever going to be. I mean, we had all of spring training since we drafted where we couldn't pick up these players and a lot of exciting names emerged.

We can't feel as confident in anybody, as I was saying at the top of the show. Like, this is the point in the year where we know the least. But, you know, this is the stage where people were picking up Trevor Rogers and Carlos Rodan and Robbie Ray, you know, some of those spring risers from last year. And if you didn't go aggressive then, I mean, you kind of missed out. Cedric Mullins got another name. Yeah. Yeah, sure.

I mean, there are more. Those were just a few of the names that I think if you're, and I said this when I was talking about my TGFBI bids last week. Like, I think I'd rather be overly aggressive than overly passive. you know, there are, as the season plays out, those fab dollars are going to get less and less valuable because everybody's, at some point, everybody's going to go in big for somebody they like

and pretty soon there are just going to be less dollars available for anyone to bid on anybody. Plus, the amount of time you have the player you win is less, so the impact they're able to make for your team is less. I can't sit here, all confidence and say Kevin Smith's going to be better than Robinson Canoe or Kest and Hero is going to be better than Robinson Canoe. I kind of like Robinson. Canoe would have liked to keep him around. But, you know, I wanted to take the shot on upside. And if I didn't do it this

first week, I may not get another chance to do it. And for those who don't play in FAB leagues, you still use a traditional waiver wire or even first come first serve. I would just say give it a try because Fab is far and away the most fair way to do waivers at this point. Yeah, well, I mean, it kind of, I'm not sure how this is going to play out, obviously. I went really aggressive. I spent a lot of money. I got a lot of players that are interesting. Are any of them going to be good?

I can't say for sure. But that's only possible in a league like this. And I've always felt like Fab, which tends to be the industry standard. And I don't know how widespread it is among listener leagues, but leagues, leagues are of people who are listening. I've always felt like it's kind of more trouble than it's worth. It's kind of a headache to come up with this amount to bid on a player when, you know,

I'll just, just let me take my turn claiming a guy, you know, that's just a lot simpler, less chance of me messing it up. And it seems like a lot of times that's how it plays out anyway because people bid close to the same amount. And okay,

I wanted to get all five of these guys, but I only got one, whatever. But that's not what happened this time in either TGFBI or Tout Wars for me. I won all the big players basically, except I think one in each of them, somebody outbid me on one of the big pickups. So that would never happen to a league that uses straight waiver claims. Yep, I love it.

I love the FAB system, and I would encourage everyone to change your league. Try it out one season if you haven't already. See how everyone responds to it. And then if they like it, you know, keep using it. For me, Scott, in the 12-te-to-head points salary, Recap League. I only won two players. Bryson Stott for $68. This is out of a $1,000 budget, so 6.8% of my FAB dollars. I dropped Jose Miranda. A little bit questionable. Miranda, I saw homered on Wednesday night, his first played appearance

in AAA, so could be back with the twins soon. And I also won Merrill Kelly for $33, 3.3% of my budget, and I dropped Chris Paddock. What do you think about those moves? Stott, dropping Miranda for dropping paddock for Kelly. So I was careful not to drop Miranda. I did in TGFBI, but TGFBI, you have to be more, you have to be more discriminant with that bench space because you can't move players to the IL. So those bench spots are extra valuable in TGFBI. So I had to draw Miranda there, but I could have dropped Miranda instead of Robinson,

Canoe or Chris Stratton and Toul Wars, and I chose not to because that's how much I like the upside for him. I think he just homered in the first game at AAA today, right? Yeah, I said that, Scottie. On a great sequence. Chris Welsh, I think, tweeted out the whole sequence where he took these borderline pitches, like just waiting for his pitch,

which was the key to his breakthrough last year. Because the problem for Jose Miranda is he hit with such a good contact hitter that he could get the bat, he could get the bat to so many pitches that he just wasn't patient enough to wait for his pitch. And he learned to do that last year. And we saw him doing that. in his first game at AAA.

So he'll be up soon, and I think the impact potential is so high. I didn't want to let him go. So who did you say you dropped him for? For Bryson Stott. Yeah, I mean, Bryson Stott obviously deserved to be picked up. And I guess I can't complain about that.

If Miranda's the one you have to drop to pick him up, I guess that's just the way it is. I could have dropped, I could have dropped Andrew Vaughn or Connor Joe those are close too but I chose not to you know I in this league

so this this is how Wars League is interesting too because you could set your lineups on Mondays and Fridays so it's almost more beneficial to have players who are actually playing and then you can play the matchups and you can take players in and out of your lineup so it's a little bit harder to stash minor league

players in a league like this so I wanted to I wanted Bryson Stought of my team so What was the other move you said you made? I dropped Chris Paddock for Merrill Kelly. I mean, if it came down to it, I'd rather have Miranda than Merrill Kelly. So I might have just... But I don't know, maybe you needed another pitcher for your lineup.

Maybe you didn't have a choice there. But I think Kelly's interesting. He was further down the list of potential pickups for me. And since I got seven of my top eight, I didn't have a chance to pick up Merrill Kelly. But, yeah. I mean, he worked hard on his change up this offseason was getting a ton of strikeouts in spring training. So maybe there's something there.

I've never perceived him as being a high upside arm, but he's been a usable arm the past couple years. Even just a small improvement could make Merrill Kelly somebody who needs to be rostered in every league. All right, well, those are the pits that we put out this week. If you play in a deeper league, then maybe those are a few names and how much money you should be looking to spend as well. Before we get to news and notes, a week unlike another is finally here.

The Masters returns to Augusta National, where Hadeki Matsuyama will defend his green jacket. Go join the first cut golf podcast where the entire crew is previewing this year's tournament. From storylines to picks and even daily fantasy advice, the first cut has you covered. The first cut golf podcast is available wherever you're listening to this podcast. And just a heads up, our programming schedule in season. We're going to go live on YouTube around midnight. That's the plan. midnight every night, that's when we want to start.

Monday through Thursday, we'll do that. So that's, you know, right around, you know, West Coast games are kind of going into their final stretch at that time. And I think we'll have enough information around midnight, Eastern Time. And then on Sunday, we'll go 10 or 10.30 p.m. Eastern Time. So keep that in mind if you want to watch us and hang out with this live. I'm still undecided if I want to go back to the Susan Waldman's got to, I feel like I might have played it out a little bit.

For those who don't know, last year and the year before, the oh my goodness gracious player of the night is who we would highlight at the top of every podcast and using our favorite lady here on the podcast who's in Waldman. Oh my goodness gracious! So if you want it back, tweet at me, Adrodo underscore Frank, let me know how you feel.

If you don't want to hear it ever again, then I don't know. I kind of feel like it's run its course, Scott. So I'm looking into other things as well. Lastly, send us your favorite team names, Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Put team name Tuesday in the subject. line and we'll read some of those every Tuesday podcast. I will hit a quick break and then news and

notes here, Fantasy Baseball today. All right, so some news and notes quickly, Jose Ramirez signed a five-year, $124 million contract extension with the Cleveland Guardians. The deal includes a full no-trade clause and will run through 2008. So good for you, Jose Ramirez. Get that money. The twins are working to acquire Chris Paddock and apparently the Padres are interested in a return that includes Taylor Rogers. I don't know if this is actually going to work out because Taylor Rogers seems pretty damn valuable. But Scott, let's just say that something along these lines happens tonight or

tomorrow morning. If Taylor Rogers is traded, who do you think would be next up for saves for the Minnesota Twins? Well, as I said, when we went through every team's bullpen situation, I think Rocco Baldelli fancies himself as a committee guy. He wants to be like Gabe Kapler and Kevin Cash. I think trading Taylor Rogers would have him lean into that more, even more than he already does. So I think he mess around with it for a while.

Would he eventually settle on Tyler Duffy or Alcala? Possibly. But the exciting name there is Yoan Duran. He struck out 10 batters in 7 in 8th of spring, allowing just two base runners. It was a former starting pitcher prospect and is going to be in the bullpen now. So that might be the closer of the future for the twins.

But, you know, I don't want to spend too much time talking about it when it's just a hypothetical. At one point this weekend, it sounded like Chris Paddock was going to be traded for Dominic Smith, and obviously that didn't happen. Fair enough. Sticking with the Padres, they option McKenzie Gore to AAA. We mentioned that earlier.

Gore is still 54% rostered on CBS. Scott, it sounds like you still want to stash him because you just picked him up in Tout Wars. but would you drop him for somebody like Matt Brash or Mitch Keller or Nick Ladolo, some of those other young, exciting pitchers? So I'll tell you how I had them lined up even knowing Gore was likely going to get sent to the minors. And my Tout Wars bids, I had Brash first, then Gore, then Mitch Keller, and then Nick Lodolo. But having said that, if you remember how I constructed my Tout Wars team,

It has an incredible amount of starting pitching. It is the most pitching-rich team I have. So I was thinking bench all the way. And I prefer the extreme ceiling of McKinsey Gore to the possibly decent ceiling of Mitch Keller and Nicola. I mean, they have pretty good ceilings too, I guess. Nicodolo and Mitch Keller, hopefully. But I think Gore has the highest ceiling.

So I was willing to, at least in that specific situation, sell out for the upside a little harder. If you need help right away, I think Keller, you have to go with him over McKinsey Gore and even over Nick Ladolo, who I'm not sure is going to pitch deep enough into games to make an impact.

I'm not sure he's going to stick around long enough to make an impact. Fair enough. Tyler McGill will start on Thursday against the Washington Nationals. Max Scher is expected to go on Friday. Jordan Hicks will open the season as the Cardinals' fifth starter.

I assume he'll be more of an opener to start and he'll get stretched out as the season goes along here. But this seems like good news for Giovanni Gallegos. It does. It sounds like not just he's going to be an opener situation. Yeah, he's not going to be fully stretched out to start the year. But Jordan Hicks, it sounds like they want him to be a regular part of their rotation, at least until Jack Flaherty's back.

And by that point, who knows what's going to have changed in the rotation? Other pitchers may have gotten hurt. So I think it's appropriate. to think of Jordan Hicks as a starter now and not a potential threat to Giovanni Gallego's job. National GM, Mike Rizzo, said that Steven Schrosberg might be ready

around May 1st as he returns from thoracic outlet surgery. Victor Caratini was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers one day after Pedro Severino received an 80-game PED suspension. And I didn't really think this mattered much, Scott. But then I saw this tweet from Buster Only, and he said,

Interesting choice by the Padres to swap Victor Caratini, who has worked so closely in the past with U. Darvish. The 61 starts that they've had together is more than twice than twice more than any other Darvish catcher combo in his career. And Darvish has a career 3.45 ERA

and starts with Victor Karatini. I don't know if this actually matters as much as the stats bear it out, but it's something. It's something to watch early. You know, does this affect you Darvish? I don't know. Yeah, so I was surprised.

I immediately thought of that. Like I've thought of Victor Keratini as Darvish's personal catcher. I thought that's how he ended up in San Diego in the first place. So I was surprised to see it happened. Now, you said his career ERA, Darvish's career ERA with Keratini was what now?

3.45. So his career ERA just overall is 3.56. So I'm not sure. Not a huge difference. Carrotini deserves that much credit, but, you know, that's one less catcher. blocking the path of Luis Campusano.

Luis Campuano, thank you. Hard time recalling names. Yeah, that's one less catcher in the way of him, and I like Camposano's upside. So I was happy to hear it for that reason. Not that he's going to be up on opening day. The Padres have already sent him down. Yep.

And they have quite a few catchers there. They still have Austin Nola. They have Jorge Alfaro. So they've, they had a lot. They had a, they had a, quite a glut of catchers. Spencer Patton was option 2 AAA for the Rangers, so it won't be him getting

getting saves on opening day. It's probably still, I don't know. It's either Joe Barlow, Greg Holland, Matt Bush, one of those three. Scheduling notes for opening day. The Yankees, Red Sox, and the Mariners' twins have both been postponed. They will play on Friday.

The Mets Nationals game has been moved from 4 p.m. Eastern Time to 7 p.m. Eastern Time on opening day. A few lineup notes. Stephen Kwan will start in right field against Zach Granky, and J.D. Davis will be in the lineup on opening day against Patrick Corbyn. Apparently, Davis has great career numbers against Patrick Corbyn. So I would assume that means no Dominic Smith, which sucks.

Wow. So on opening day, we're only going to have one game before 4 p.m. Because of those cancellations, that one getting pushed back. Brewers play at 220 Eastern Time. and then nothing else till 410. So that's kind of a letdown. Yeah, it is. Brewer's Cubs. Hey, I'm excited to watch some Corbyn Burns, though.

So that's going to be awesome. The final game of spring training was on Wednesday. Bryce Harper, double dong. So he finished with the most home runs in spring training. Mickey Moniac hit another one. Just the deepest of leagues, N-O-only, you know, 15-team, Roto. He's just a name to watch.

I've got a feeling here, Scott, with Mickey Moniac, man. Yeah, no. I mean, obviously, he's a former number one overall pick. So there has to be, it stands to reason there was talent deep in there that somebody had to extract from him. And Kevin Long is now the Phillies hitting coach. He's one of the more famous ones, work to shorten his swing, and a lot of power showed up. And it sounds like Moniac didn't just make the roster,

but he's going to be the strong side of a platoon with Matt Veerling there to open the season in center field. And I think that's the downside of him being a left-handed hitter. Everybody wants to put you in a platoon right away, but there's a chance Moniac could win more playing time if he continues to perform like he did this spring. Yep. Again there, Mickey Moniac, just a name to watch.

Scott, let's wrap up season predictions. We don't have to spend too much time explaining any of these, but we'll start with Rookie of the Year if you want to pull yours up quickly. And I'll just reveal mine. I've got O'Neill Cruz in the National League. I think Sayas Suzuki will be a very popular pick. Once O'Neill Cruz gets called up late April, early May,

I think he still has the potential to go 2020 this season alone. So very excited about him. A.L. Rookie of the Year is loaded. There's so many options to choose from. I am going with one of the chalk picks and Julio Rodriguez. So he's up on opening day, as is Bobby Witt. I think it will be very close between those two. It's J. Rod and O'Neill Cruz for me.

Who do you have? So I went a little off the beaten pass. for NL rookie of the year. And of course, it depends partly on when O'Neill Cruz comes up because I think he's the front runner. I went Aaron Ashby of the Brewers in the hope he claims a rotation spot before

O'Neill Cruz gets called up and continues the Brewers' tradition of maximizing second-tier pitching prospects, which is what Brandon Woodruff, Corby, and Freddie Peralta all were. None of them were like high-end pitching prospects and look

what they've become. I think Aaron Ashby, the great ground ball rate and swinging the slider could potentially follow in their footsteps. And then for the AAL rookie of the year, Bobby Witt, it'll be close between him and Julio Rodriguez, but I think Bobby Witt will just be steadier. His youth won't show as much as maybe Rodriguez as will at times. All right. I lean slightly his way. Chris has O'Neill Cruz in the National League and Bobby Witt in the American League.

Let's move over to Cy Young. I'll let you start us off here, Scotty. Who you got? So these are interesting picks too. I'll do A all this time first. Shane Bieber. I think people are just... Boo!

I feel like he's being underestimated. People are just not for whatever reason. I know he's coming off an injury-plagued year, but people want to write him off as a high-end pitcher, even though the last three years he has a 292 ERA 106 whip 11.9 K-per-9. I mean, just ridiculous numbers. I think he'll do something close to the. that this year and and claim the hardware for the NL,

Aranola. Aranola, I think he's going to have the volume to get that sigh, and I think he's going to bounce back in a big way as the analytics suggest he should. Scotty would have big old, take that Frank, Shane Bieber and Aranola picks. For both of those picks, I know. Yeah, American League, Chris and I both have this player, and we did not plan this out. Justin Verlander turns back the clocks. I think it looks like himself.

Elite ratios. 250 plus strikeouts over 180 inning, something like that. And it's just vintage Verlander. National League Syung. I have Brandon Woodruff. He was amazing last year. Mid-Tuesday, right?

He only had nine wins. That's just so random. It's so fluky. So I think going up against the pirates and the Cubs and the Reds consistently, I think Woodruff has another strong season. He was awful in spring training. I don't, that doesn't matter to me one bit.

I didn't hear anything about velocity, nothing about mechanics. I think Woodruff will be fine, and I think he'll win the National League Say Young. Chris has Walker Bueller as his NL Syung Award winner. Let's move over to MVP. Who you got? VP. AL, I went as by the book as I possibly could with Shohei Otani. I don't see how if he's healthy anybody, any mere one-way player can beat out Shohei Otani.

He serves the role of two-point. players and serves it very well. So that's, I think, a pretty easy call. In L-MvP, I'm going to say Juan Soto claims his first of what could be several. He has his best power season yet to go along with everything else he does and claims the hardware. And those are definitely realistic picks. I probably should have gone with a little bit more of a realistic path. But I did not do that. I went with Luis Robert as my AL MVP pick. No surprise. I've been talking them up all offseason how I think he could be a first round pick next year. He stays healthy. I think he puts it all together. 30 plus homers, 20 plus steals, White Sox win their division. And Luis Robert is the focal point

there. National League, this should not surprise anybody either. Francisco Lindor, I think he bounced back in a major way. I think he has a monster season. 280 plus, 30 plus homers, 15 to 20 steals, strong defense. The Mets win the NL East. And I'm going with Lindor and Luis Robert. So. What was that? Mets win the NL East? Yes. I'm sorry, Scott. I had to do it. For Chris, no surprise here, players he likes quite a bit as well. Mike Trout in the AL and Mookiee Betts in the National League.

Let's move over to our division, wildcard winners. You've already messed yours up, Frank. In all honesty, every time, like, I've been doing this for a long time. Every time I pick the Mets to win the East, they never have. Yeah, well, they don't do it often, Scott. That's why. That's true. But they often look like they have the best team in the division, and they rarely actually do.

All right. So kick us off here, Scott, American League. And I'll let you run through each division, wildcard winners. Yeah. And then we'll get to the World Series a little bit later. One fell swoop. Okay, AL East, Blue Jays. They had the third best run differential in the AL last year, and for some reason didn't

make the playoffs. That is improbable. I think they're even better. this year. I think they're going to win the division. White Sox in the in the AL Central repeat. The Tigers and Twins, I think, have made moves to close the gap, but I don't think they've quite gotten to where they can compete with the White Sox realistically.

And the AAL West also have a repeat winner here. The Astros, who, as much as we talk about the Blue Jays offense being amazing, the Astros actually had the best offense in baseball last year. And I know they lost Carlos Correa, but they have a pretty good replacement lined up in Jeremy Pena. And of course, they're getting Justin Erlander back. So I think they should be overall just as good. And wild cards, I'll go ahead and give those.

The Mariners, the Rays, can't bet against the Rays. I don't know how they do it, but they were the best team in the Hale last year. And the Angels. I do think the Angels creep in ahead of both the Yankees and the Red Sox, leaving them out, putting the Angels in. I think, you know, they have the two best players in, baseball in Otani and Trout. And I think between Otani, the addition of Noah Cindergarde and the addition and continued

improvement from Patrick Sandoval, who we of course all like. I think they'll have a good enough rotation to be competitive all year. No Yankees, no Red Sox. Of all the dramatic things I've ever seen. You know what's funny about that, Scott? I too have no Yankees and no Red Sox in my American League. The AL East, Toronto Blue Jays, I'm with you. I think the offense is amazing.

The starting pitchers, they improved in the offseason. Kevin Gosman, they still have Berrios, they still have Junjin Ryu. I think they have a strong bullpen as well. I wouldn't be surprised if they add to the bullpen at some point. The AL Central... Don't forget Manoa in that rotation. I think he's actually the third best pitcher over Ryu. Yeah, for sure.

AL Central, of course, I've got my Chicago White Sox. The AL West, Houston Astros. You know, I think the Mariners are good. push the Astros. I think it's going to be closer than people realize. But I still think the Houston Astros will be better. I got three teams from that division. That's true. I'm kind of with you. Part of it's though like the athletics and Rangers should both be so bad that the other three just beat up on them all year. Yep. And then for my wildcar winners, I have Tampa Bay as well. I just don't like to bet against them. They're so analytically savvy. They get the most out of their players.

the Minnesota Twins. I love the addition of Carlos Correa offensively and defensively for that team. The pitching is questionable. They're going to need some of these young guys to really step up. And then I have the Seattle Mariners as well. So no Yankees, no Red Sox.

I worry about the pitching staffs for both of those teams. Chris Sale is down with injury. The back end of the Red Sox rotation, you have question marks there. The Yankees, they have Gary Cole. I don't really know about the rest. The depth there is not great.

What does Jameson Tion give you? the velocity for Luis Severino. Nestor Cortez, I love the story. I don't know if he's going to be able to repeat. So I have a real question marks. I'm not sure the Yankees lineup is up to its usual standards either. They sacrificed a lot of offense for defense this off season. Yeah, I have a bad feeling.

I'm typically a pessimistic Yankee fans got. So I don't know. I just, I don't have a good feeling about them this season. For Chris, he has, oddly enough, he has the Yankees winning the ALE East and then the White Sox in the Central. the Astros in the West, and then his wildcard winners,

the Red Sox, the Rays, and the Blue Jays. Let's move over to the Nash. He's got four from the AL East? Yes, he does. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you what, he wasn't going to have five

from the ALE East. Let's move over to the National League. Who do you have here? Okay, so the East is the Braves to repeat as division. Homer. What would that be? Four straight years?

Homer. So they had a 60, they had a six, 55 winning percentage over those final two months after making all those additions at the deadline. I think Olson for Freeman, as sad as it made me, is going to be lateral move. Bullpen's beefed up. Acuna is going to be around for most of the year. I think they should repeat pretty handily.

Got the Brewers in the NL Central with Jacob de Grom down. They have the best rotation in baseball. I got the Dodgers in the West, of course. and wild cards two other teams from the West the Giants and the Padres I think both make it Padres just barely squeaking in

ahead of the Cardinals and the Mets and the Marlins my third wildcard team is the Phillies so I have the Phillies ahead of the Mets as well so Giants Phillies Padres in addition to my division winners Braves, Brewers and Giants

Oh so I have the Mets I'm sorry Braves Brewers and Dodgers I have the Mets winning the NLEs Scott doesn't even have them in the playoffs, which that would be the most Mets thing ever, right? I mean, they basically created a new Steve Cohen tax and he's spending money and

they've got all these players, except one. They don't have Jacob de Grom. So I still do have the Mets winning the NL East. Hopefully they can get something out of DeGrom this season. NL Central, Milwaukee Brewers. I think the Brewers are the most well-balanced team in baseball right now. Just like top to bottom, pitching staff,

offense, bullpen. They have it all. The lineups questionable, but it's gotten better. And like, if Christian Yellich rebounds, then suddenly it's a good offense. Oh, yes. Yeah, that's really what you're banking on if you're a Brewers fan.

For the, in the N.O.S., I have the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Giants were an incredible story last season, but the Dodgers, they just boast too much elite talent. Wild card winners, the Atlanta Braves, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the San Francisco Giants, I think the loss of Fernando Tate's,

not having him for half the season, I think that it's going to be too much. for the San Diego Padres to overcome. I think they'll be close with those other wildcar teams, but I think that they will just miss out. For Chris in the National League, he has the Braves, the Brewers, the Dodgers,

winning their divisions, and then the Mets, the Phillies, and the Giants. All right, Scott. Wrap us up here. World Series prediction, heading into opening day. I got the Blue Jays going to the World Series, but I have them losing.

To the Atlanta Braves. Oh my gosh. Come on, Scott. Really? Oh, geez. Yeah, I think, I mean, hey, they have a great team. They do. They go to the NLCS against the Dodgers for the third straight year.

But the Dodgers have pitching problems once again at that after the attrition of the 162 game season. And they aren't quite able to quite able to pull it out. Kenley Jansen strikes out Freddie Freeman. for the final out. Oh, sweet justice. You would love that, wouldn't you, Scotty? You know. It would make me a little sad, too,

but it would be bittersweet. It would make for a great storyline. Kenley Jansen going up against Freddie Freeman to go to the World Series that would be awesome. So we'll see. Yeah, I think both teams are still fantastic. And I actually have none of those teams

in my World Series. I've got the Brewers over the White Sox. Again, I think the Brewers are one of the most complete teams, if not the most complete team in baseball. And if Christian Yelich gives them anything close to what they got in his MVP years, then I think that the brewers can really just run away with this thing.

The White Sox, they were my World Series prediction last year. It's going to be tough for them at first, I think. Once they get Lance Lynn back, that will obviously help. I think their lineup is going to be amazing, Scott. Like, one of the best lineups in baseball, the White Sox this is. I think if you're looking for who is this year's,

like Blue Jays team that just kind of like comes out of nowhere and just scores all these runs, I think it's going to be the White Sox Sox. So I'm going Brewers over the White Sox in the World Series and Chris He's going with the chalk picks. He's going with the Dodgers over my New York Yankees. My Yankees, my White Sox, you know, whatever.

I've got a few teams. I'm going to do that throughout the course of the season. I'll just adopt new teams. Why not? Let's have some fun. All right, Scott. We made it. Opening day. Baseball is here. I'm excited. For Scott White, I am Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching Fantasy Baseball today. We'll be back again. tomorrow with actual games to talk about.

Bye-bye.