Fantasy Baseball Today - Who is this year's (blank)? Realmuto returns to the Phillies! (1/28 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: January 28, 2021

Let's have some fun with some "who is this year's (blank)" but first JT Realmuto has re-upped with the Phillies (2:35)! ... Marcus Semien signed a huge one-year deal with the Blue Jays (6:31). What do...es this mean for everybody's playing time? ... We hit the rest of the news and notes including Andrelton Simmons signing with the Twins, Tommy La Stella joining the Giants, and Wilson Ramos heading to Detroit (13:22). ... It's everybody's favorite topic: the MLB Hall of Fame (22:54)! ... If you've left an apple podcast question recently, we answered them (26:53)! ... Who is this year's Marcell Ozuna, a player we expect to bounce-back solely because of Statcast data (32:38)? ... Who is this year's Jose Abreu or Trevor Bauer, a player drafted in the middle rounds who can return first round value (40:55)? ... Who is this year's Patrick Corbin, a pitcher we expect to take a step back (47:25)? ... Who is this year's 2019 version of Kirby Yates, an under the radar closer who can lead baseball in saves (53:38)? ... Who is this year's Trent Grisham or Corbin Burnes, a player drafted outside the top-300 who can return top-50 value? ... We end with A.J. Preller's update on Dinelson Lamet (59:30). ... Email us at fantasybaseball@cbsi.com. 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

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:02 The stove is a The stove is hot. Who is this year's blank? Plus, we have a Denelson-Lamette update from A.J. Preller, who was on this very podcast yesterday. Welcome to Fantasy Baseball today on Thursday, January 28th. Frank Stamphle joined by Scott White and Chris Towers, who appears to be wearing some kind of onesie pajamas. Chris, what are those?
Starting point is 00:00:49 What are you got going on over there? It's a two-piece pajama. It's actually funny. You should say that the stove is hot because this is my puppy. This is Stevie. And one of his nicknames around this apartment is stove. That's your actual dog on your pajamas right now.
Starting point is 00:01:05 This is my puppy. This is Stevie Nix. All right. So we're actually using some new technology here for our video service. So I'm going to zoom in here on Chris if you are watching on our YouTube. So you can actually see what Chris's dog
Starting point is 00:01:19 looks like on his pajamas. Yeah, this was a Christmas present from my sister-in-law, and I'm very happy with it. And, you know, sometimes you just want to wear, you want to wear jammies. And so that's what we've got. He's a very cute dog. The black lab on black background makes it a little hard to see. That's the only, if I had to lodge one complaint. Scott is here as well.
Starting point is 00:01:43 What's up, Scott? Do you, you don't own any pets, right? No, we are currently petless, and the plan is to, stay that way for the time. Smart man. For the foreseeable future, let's say. Smart man. I got a cat recently and she's awesome, but I have allergies.
Starting point is 00:01:59 So that's really my only complaint. There. So I mentioned who is this year's blank? What does that mean? We'll have a whole list of categories, fun things to talk about. Like, who is this year's Trent Grisham, for example? A player going outside the top 380P who can return top 50 value in fantasy baseball.
Starting point is 00:02:17 I mentioned there's a lot of signings going on as well. and some Hall of Fame stuff, I'll just ask you guys. If you have any opinion on it, honestly, it doesn't really matter much to me, but some people might actually care about it. There was a lot of moves that happened both on Tuesday and Wednesday. So let's talk about probably the biggest one that happened, and that was J.T. Real Muto, who is headed back to the Philadelphia Phillies on a five-year, $115 million deal.
Starting point is 00:02:44 Realmuto hit 266 with 11 home runs and four steals across 47 games in 2020. 20, that is a 30 homer, 11 steel pace over 130 games, which we should expect from a catcher. He's averaged like 137 games played over each of the past three seasons. I think we kind of know who Real Muto is at this point. He's the number one catcher in Roto, each of the past three seasons. He's finished number one or two in points leagues in each of those seasons as well. The ADP is at 41.3. Scott, what do you think about Real Muto heading back to the Phillies?
Starting point is 00:03:18 What does it mean for him and the rest of the? the surrounding hitters. And would you actually draft him in the fourth round? I want to draft him in the fourth round. No, there are too many other needs at that point. And catcher is a position. It's really maybe the only position you can afford to go weak at.
Starting point is 00:03:38 I mean, I guess relief pitcher as well, but that's just a completely different animal. That's like the kicker of fantasy baseball where it's just all kind of random. But no, catcher, you can afford to go weak there.
Starting point is 00:03:49 You certainly shouldn't pay that kind of up for real muto just because he's number one. But, you know, obviously it's, we like him staying in Philadelphia. It's a good place to hit. We've already seen him have success there. And, you know, he's getting, he's getting pretty old by catcher standards.
Starting point is 00:04:08 He's going to turn, let's see, he's going to turn 30 before the start of this season. And not a lot of catchers have maintained greatness into their 30s. So, yeah, we saw the strikeout rate jump a little bit last year. Obviously, small sample. Maybe it means nothing. But, you know, you can't, the decline's going to come sooner than later for Rio Muto. And it's just going to be a softer landing if he's in a small park like he is with the Phillies.
Starting point is 00:04:39 Chris, Scott mentioned the age for Real Muto. He's getting up there. He will be 30 by the time the season starts. He actually ended last season with a hip injury as well. So those things kind of creep into your mind when, drafting him and would you actually use a fourth, maybe say he falls to the fifth round. Would you use a pick that early on a catcher,
Starting point is 00:04:57 the best catcher in fantasy? And it's not just that he's the best catcher, but it's sort of a Travis Kelsey if George Kittle and Darren Waller didn't exist situation. I was about to say that. I was like, I mean, he's so much better.
Starting point is 00:05:18 Smith has done in his, 90 or so Major League games has been better than J.T. Romuto. What Salvador Perez did last season was better than J.T. Romoto. What James McCann has done
Starting point is 00:05:31 over the last two seasons has been better than J.T. Romuto. But none of them have the track record. None of them have the sample size to back it up. James McCann, I think in particular, is, you know, looks much more skeptical to keep those
Starting point is 00:05:46 numbers up. But, you know, Ram Loto, should be the best hitter, a catcher. If not, it's a Mike Trout situation where if someone's better than them, it's probably a career year. And historically, he has played a lot more games than your standard catcher.
Starting point is 00:06:02 I think he's second over the last three seasons in games caught or games played. Yes, Mardi Grondal is the only one ahead of him. And, you know, he was playing some DH. He was playing some first base when he was with the Brewers. And so, you know, Ray Omuto will probably be among the leaders in innings as well at catcher. And so I think you generally can just probably the biggest luxury
Starting point is 00:06:25 at a position in fantasy. And so, yeah, if it's a fifth round pick, I think I have him 52nd. Real Muto wasn't the only person who signed over the past couple of days. Marcus Semyon to the Toronto Blue Jays for a massive amount of money. I mean, good for Marcus Semyon.
Starting point is 00:06:41 Get your money, man. One year, $18 million deal. Before we try and figure out this playing time situation, for the Toronto Blue Jays. Let's just quickly hit on Semyon, who, Scott, I know you liked last year. He was coming off that mid-career breakout, that 2019, where he had the
Starting point is 00:06:58 892 OPS, just a massive season. He was in the running for MVP, and then followed that up in 2020 with a 679 OPS, just seven home runs, four steals, which, I mean, okay, the home runs and steals are not terrible. That's 19 homers, 11 steals
Starting point is 00:07:14 over the course of 150 games. But he did vast, underperform what was expected of him. So first, your thoughts on Marcus Semyon and the landing spot in Toronto. Yeah, so I was pretty much over Marcus Simeon. And look, I'm still not as enthusiastic about this move for him as others seem to be. But there's some data that's worth bringing up. So, yeah, obviously his regular season stats last year not very good.
Starting point is 00:07:45 and in a way that was similar to every other year of his career besides 2019. But if you include the postseason stats, he's one of those like Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, you include the postseason stats. I mean, he crushed it there, and you combine him with the regular season stats. It starts to look better. It starts to look better.
Starting point is 00:08:07 And normally we would just ignore postseason stats, but the percentage of games that made up the postseason season versus the regular season in this particular year. It makes more sense to combine them. So that's one thing. Two, he's going to a smaller park. Regardless of whether they play, the Blue Jays play in Toronto or Dunedin, Florida. Is that how you pronounce that?
Starting point is 00:08:32 Their spring training site. I think it's Dunedden. I don't know. Well, Chris is the native South Floridian. I just noticed Chris froze. How long should we leave him here, Scott? I don't know. I'm going to remove that one.
Starting point is 00:08:48 Bring in the... There it is. There he is. I broke Chris back. Okay. So should I just keep going? Yeah, keep going on, Sam you. How do you pronounce the where the Blue Jays play their spring training games, Chris?
Starting point is 00:09:01 Is it Dunedin? Dunedin, I think. Dunedin? Dunedin. All right. Well, whatever. Regardless of whether it's there or Toronto or Buffalo, it's going to be a smaller park than he was used to playing in a in Oakland. And, you know, he's kind of a fly ball hitter. He certainly was this most recent year. So you'd
Starting point is 00:09:18 think that'd be a good thing. But looking at his career history, Homeaway splits very even, very even. So I'm not sure how much Oakland actually held him back as a hitter. So, um, I could see, like, I'm more enthusiastic about Simeon now than I was before this signing. It's a better environment to hit. And, you know, he was stuck in Oakland a long time. It can only help his chances. But I'm kind of of the mind that we saw him turn, I keep using this expression, turned back into a pumpkin last year after a fluky performance in 2019
Starting point is 00:09:52 and I'm not really sure that I'm not at all confident that this venue change is going to cure what ails him. I mean, he's still a useful fantasy contributor but like if he's your starting shortstop, it's a problem.
Starting point is 00:10:08 Well, what is interesting about this is he's going to gain second base eligibility, right? And that would make him more, useful, but probably still pretty fringy in a mixed league sense. No, that's a really good point, though, and one that I hadn't even considered yet, because the second base position, we talk about it quite a bit. It might be deep with okay talent, mediocre talent, but it's really not a great position up top, and Semien's going around pick 150 in ADP, and he's going to gain second base eligibility
Starting point is 00:10:34 within the first week or so of the season. So, now, that's a really good point, and one that I hadn't considered. I still think he's somebody who can hit 20 plus homers, maybe double-digit steals, which is serviceable as a middle infielder, for sure. And maybe if you're one of the last people to grab a second baseman in your league as a borderline starting second baseman as well,
Starting point is 00:10:56 the biggest thing for me, and I don't know how much stock you want to put into this, Chris, because you've kind of talked about how you're not, you're trying not to put too much weight on the 2020 season. But his contact metrics, Like his quality of contact, Semian, just completely plummeted. Like his hard contact, all the stack cast data really kind of fell off the map as well. So your thoughts on Simeon?
Starting point is 00:11:17 And what does this do for the roster crunch with the Blue Jays? Because he's going to play second. That means, all right, where's Kevin Bizio going? There was a report on Wednesday, general manager Ross Atkins said that he expects Vladimir Guerrero to get another shot at third base. So where do we expect Bigio? Who's losing playing time in the outfield? My poor guy, Rowdy, Tellez.
Starting point is 00:11:38 I don't know what to do with all this. Yeah, I mean, I think the, the biggest thing would be, like, someone like Grady-Tiles doesn't, he's still got quite a bit to prove. And so, I mean, he's pretty awesome, Chris. Yeah, quite a bit to prove. If he gets forced out to line up, it's not necessarily, you know, something to cry about for anyone except for Frank, maybe. Yes. But, you know, Bigio, he's played the outfield in the past,
Starting point is 00:12:12 so maybe that's an option. Maybe Vlad, you know, goes to first base. I, it'll work itself out. Someone will underperform. Someone will get hurt. There will be, you know, playing time eventually for the guys who we want to play.
Starting point is 00:12:26 It is the way I would say that. With Simeon, the, you know, the small sample size nature of 2020 is, you know, you don't want to take too much of it from it, except that his, you know, decline in average XIVa velocity, his decline in hard hit rate, uh, barrel rate. He basically looked like the guy he was before 2019. And so I think that's probably telling.
Starting point is 00:12:53 And the guy he was before 2019 was, I think a pretty underrated fantasy option, but he was an underrated fantasy option who hit 15 homers and you hope stole 15 bases. He's still 14 and 2018. That, you know, I think maybe he's more like a 20-homer-15 steel guy or 20-home or 10-steel guy. It's useful in Roto, but, you know, the, the big breakout, I think, was probably a bit of a mirage. The Blue Jays acquired Stephen Mats from the Mets for Sean Reed Foley, Yenzi Diaz, and Josh Winkowski. I don't think there's really much to add on Stephen Mads. He's not very good, and now he moves to the ALE East where he has to face a bunch of teams.
Starting point is 00:13:36 tough teams. I always want him to be good, though. I'm always hoping. His changeup played better in 2020. Unfortunately, the rest of his pitches played much, much worse. I think this is a precursor
Starting point is 00:13:51 that the Mets are going to sign Trevor Bauer, which there has been a lot of smoke. I don't know if Steve Cullen's got all that, got the money for it after all this GameStop stuff. Oh, yeah, I saw that. What happened with that? I don't know. That's ridiculous.
Starting point is 00:14:07 It was like Reddit users. I don't know. I'm sure Trevor Bauer made a lot of money on it. He seems like the kind of guy who'd make bets based on what people tell them on Reddit. Right. Yeah. The value of GameStop stocks right now apparently are skyrocketing. Something to do with Reddit.
Starting point is 00:14:21 I don't know all the details. So if you know, let us know. tweet at us. Steve Cohen apparently has had to invest some capital as a result of it is the punchline. Yeah. So anyway, Stephen Matt's to the Blue Jays. seems like the Mets are going to sign for a Bauer. It hasn't happened yet. So wait and see regarding that situation. Let's kind of go rapid fire with the rest of these signings.
Starting point is 00:14:43 Andrelton Simmons to the twins. ADP is at 464. Maybe 10 homers, 10 steals. Scott, anything to see here with Andrelton Simmons. I think the biggest effect of this is Jorge Polanco moving to second base, which means he's going to gain second base eligibility. And, you know, he wasn't very good in 2020, but that seems like a total sample-sized thing. I mean, Strikeout rate was still elite, line drive rate was still elite. He still looks like a great bet for batting average with enough power to make it hold up. So I think Jorge Polanco with second base eligibility, not immediately, but eventually, will be a nice buy, top 12 potentially at that position.
Starting point is 00:15:24 Yeah, by the dip on Jorge Polanco. ADP is at 217.3, according to fantasy pros. I will say, I think this helps the twins pitchers quite a bit as well. I mean, their defense is going to be fantastic, especially up the middle. They have Simmons playing shortstop, obviously Byron Buckson in center field, who's one of the better defensive outfielders. It just has to stay in the outfield and stay healthy. Tommy Lestella to the Giants, Chris, I know that you're a big fan of Tommy Lestella
Starting point is 00:15:51 since the start of 2019. He has an 827 OPS, makes a lot of contact, which makes him appealing for points leagues. Maybe the venue, not so much. We're still waiting to see what they're going to do. do with those archways in the outfield because last year we saw offense way up in Oracle Park because those archways were closed, which didn't allow the wind to blow in from the bay, which meant that balls were flying out easier than they ever have before. So knowing what we know now, thoughts on Tommy Lestella, Chris. I like Tommy Lestella. He is, I think, one of the sure
Starting point is 00:16:29 bets for batting average. And I think, you know, I don't think the power that he showed in 2019 when he was on a 32 homer pace was real. But there is clearly more there than there was early in his career when I think he had, I think it was 10 home runs in his first like five seasons combined or something, maybe 11. I think he can be a 15 to 20 homer guy with a 290 batting average. And I would expect he's going to hit at or not. the top of that lineup.
Starting point is 00:17:00 I don't necessarily buy the spike and walk rate that he had last year when it jumped up to a 12, you know, 11.8%. But he's going to have a strikeout rate probably below 10%. He's going to put the ball in play a lot. And he's probably going to be a decent source of runs. So I think timely Lestella is a viable starting option. I actually like drafting him quite a bit. I got a different take on this.
Starting point is 00:17:29 I think this nerfs his value. I think he's... Do you think he's not going to play every day? Well, I think that's part of it. Yeah, the Giants like to platoon. He's never been that good against left-handed pitchers. Donovan Solano, who's hit for really good average the past two years. It seems like a ready-made platoon partner for him.
Starting point is 00:17:47 Or Homer Flores. Yeah, either one. And yeah, that... That part more than any other kills left-handed power, especially. And, you know, if you're, if you're setting the over under at a dozen homers for Lestella this year, I think I'm taking the under. And then you add playing time concerns, you know, in deeper leagues, he'll still be kind of interesting. And look, I haven't, I haven't dropped him way down my rankings because a lot of this is theoretical, but I'm not nearly as motivated to draft him as I was before he signed this.
Starting point is 00:18:20 Deal. And I will say the power plummeted in 2020. He only played, actually, he played 55 games. so he played quite a bit. But the home run to fly ball ratio went from 18.4% in 2019 with the juice ball when we saw him break out to just 6.7% in 2020. So I'm a bit skeptical of the home runs. I would take the under on that home run prop you put out as well, Scott.
Starting point is 00:18:48 Caesar Hernandez back to Cleveland on a one-year $5 million deal. Not the same money as Semyon, but not chump change either for a team that we know has been trying to cut corners and not pay people any chance that they can get. So I assume Caesar Hernandez is going to start at second base. He's extremely boring.
Starting point is 00:19:06 I was trying to talk him up last year. It didn't really happen. He's probably going to hit 260, 270. Late round source of runs, I don't really think he's going to give you much else. He did score 35 runs in 58 games in 2020. But I think the biggest effect that this has, Scott, is
Starting point is 00:19:24 one of Andres Jimenez, or Amena Rosario is not going to be an everyday player, at least not from the get-go. So I was excited about Jimenez. I think we kind of have to pump the brakes a little bit. Yeah, I wasn't excited about Jimenez, but obviously stolen bases are a need for everybody who plays Roto or five-by-five leagues, really any categories league.
Starting point is 00:19:48 And Jimenez looked like he could offer them and pretty good supply of them. Now, there is some talk. that maybe Ahmed Rezario could get flipped and then there would still be room for Jimenez and Seizor Hernandez to play every day. But as things stand right now, Jimenez and Rosario kind of go back to having the value
Starting point is 00:20:12 they did with the Mets where you weren't confident in either of them playing regularly enough to matter in mixed leagues. Zezar Hernandez probably looks more valuable than both. Yeah, I think this brings, he's going to make $5 million. I think this brings the Cleveland Indians opening day payroll to $29 million.
Starting point is 00:20:33 Yikes. Which is like early 2000s, Marlins and Ray's level. I mean, look, everyone is suffering through the pandemic. I understand that. But man, like if you're going to invest anything,
Starting point is 00:20:47 if you're going to invest $5 million, why don't you do it in the outfield, man? I mean, look at this outfield. Josh Naylor, Oscar Mercado, All right, maybe Mercado's a little bit of a bounceback candidate. Daniel Johnson? Daniel Johnson, you're starting right fielder, Jake Bowers at first base?
Starting point is 00:21:02 I mean, if you're going to allocate funds, I mean, why don't you just give Jimenez and Ahmed Rosario an opportunity to play every day and sign a cheap outfielder? Excuse me, 28.55 million is the number. $99.6 million less than the average major league payroll right now. Quickly wrap up, Freddie Galvis signed with the Orioles, expected to be there starting shortstop. I don't think there's really much to add there, maybe AL only just because he's going to have a job to start the season. So if you play in that format, remember Freddie Galvis. Trey Mancini will be the primary first baseman for the Orioles, though the Braves have recently shown interest.
Starting point is 00:21:43 So a bit of a storyline to follow there. Wilson Ramos signed with the Detroit Tigers. He will be their starting catcher. He's 33 years old, pretty much tanked in 2020, was not good. Scott, anything left for Ramos, a second catcher in Roto League. I mean, maybe. He was fine in 2019, and if we're throwing out a lot of what we saw in 2020, or at least giving players a pass for it,
Starting point is 00:22:09 I feel like we should for him as well, getting him for $2 million like the Tigers did to work with the young pitching staff. seems like a good deal. And I see him as a top 15 catcher as of right now with the potential to rise into the top 12. Sure. No Hall of Famers were inducted here in 2021, which means 2020s inductees Derek Cheater
Starting point is 00:22:34 and Larry Walker will receive their honor in the summer. I don't know if either of you have strong feelings about the Hall of Fame or alleged PED users or Kurt Schilling, we should, I probably stay away from for obvious reasons. But Chris, does this matter? Do you care about the whole fame? I just feel so bad for the baseball writers who have to make this decision.
Starting point is 00:22:59 Can we really just like take a second and really think of the, of how tough this has all been for him? Can someone think of the baseball writers and help them make the decision? It's stupid. Like it's really dumb that like people my age who like should be who baseball, Major League Baseball is like trying to bring into the sport. They're basically telling them like, all those guys you loved as a kid who made you love the game, idiot.
Starting point is 00:23:32 Fool, they don't matter. Yeah, they, the MLB Network ran this promo package type thing right before they announced who it was with Tom Verduci and how tough. it is for him to figure out putting a check next to this guy's name for the Hall of Fame ballot. It's not, I don't think it's that big of a deal either. I think alleged PED users should be allowed in, especially Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. I have absolutely no issue with it. The game of baseball has been tainted for so long with PEDs, long before there were steroids or any type of HGH. Go back to the 60s, 70s, you know, 80s, 90s. They were using a little thing called
Starting point is 00:24:10 greenies, methamphetamines that were, uh, yeah. The biggest thing is like, we're definitely healthy. If you don't want to vote for Barry Bonds or you don't want to vote for, you know, whatever, like, just don't, but I don't like, I don't care anymore. Like, I don't care how tough the decision was for you. I don't care. Like, just vote for them or don't. Get it over with, put in the mail, fax it, whatever they do. I'm sure it's a fax machine, given that it's, you know, baseball writers.
Starting point is 00:24:38 And like, I just, this doesn't have to be, I don't, I don't need to hear you tearing your hair out. nobody cares. Like, vote for them or don't. Stop making yourself the story. Yeah. It's embarrassing at this point. Like, this, like, yearly, like, caterwauling from baseball writers. It's just, like, it is embarrassing now.
Starting point is 00:24:59 Like, people who don't follow baseball know more about this stuff than they do about Fernando Tatis. That is embarrassing. Yes. Very, very bad. And you wonder why the game of baseball is kind of taking a bit of a, not a big, it, but taking a plunge the past a couple of decades or so, I think this is part of the reason.
Starting point is 00:25:19 Adam Azer has not been on this podcast in quite a while, but he's always here in spirit, and evidently he has not lost his ability to make terrible takes. I was in a meeting with him on Wednesday when he had this to say, quote, Cobra Kai sucks and I won't watch it, end quote. After not even finishing
Starting point is 00:25:36 season one, the first season, I might add. So, Azer, if you're listening, I know you're not, but a bunch of people you want to tweet at him and tell how wrong he is about Cobra Kai. I would greatly appreciate that. Who is this year's blank? We'll do that in just a second,
Starting point is 00:25:50 but I do want to remind everyone, if you're a big football fan, you know that the biggest sporting spectacle of the year is nearly upon us. We know everyone loves making their picks no matter if you're a diehard fan or just tuning in for the big game. So we think you'll also love this opportunity.
Starting point is 00:26:07 Enter the CBS Sports Football Props game for your chance to compete for the $1 million jackpot. that's right. One million dollars if you correctly answer all of the questions and a guaranteed $50,000 to the winner and you can win all that money without risking anything. Football props is free to play. Questions are the normal props that you're used to. For example, who will score the first touchdown? Chris, you're a football fan. Which player do you think scores the first touchdown in the Super Bowl? Dorell Williams. Mm, mm, Dorell Williams. All right.
Starting point is 00:26:43 All right. And put it on the board. Probably get some nice odds on that as well. Just visit cbsports.com slash props or download the CBS Sports app to enter. And if you enjoy this podcast, we really do appreciate those five-star Apple podcast ratings. And make sure to drop a question in the review as well. We actually have a few questions that were sent in via Apple podcast reviews. This one's from Chris Higden, head-to-head Dynasty League with three keepers who were rookie
Starting point is 00:27:13 eligible in 2020 or 2021. I'm already keeping Jared Kalenik and Ian Anderson for sure. Which would be the best bet for the final spot? Spencer Howard or Terrick Scoobel? What do you think, Scott? I mean, both highly regarded prospects who haven't proven much in the majors, expected to have rotation spots from the start. Like, it's kind of a gut feeling thing, I feel like. I lean slightly towards scoble. I think he showed a little more as a rookie
Starting point is 00:27:46 once he started mixing in his change up more as the season went on. The strikeout potential went up. And, you know, his minor league numbers were a little more eye-popping, though both of them
Starting point is 00:27:58 were pretty great. So I lean scubal, but like, if you have a hunch about Howard, I'm not going to, I'm not going to try to talk you out of it because I don't really know. It's almost a coin flip.
Starting point is 00:28:09 Yeah. I lean Scuba a little bit as well, but no such thing as a pitching prospect. So I don't know. Flip a coin. Howard's in a better situation. You think so? I kind of lean him. Yeah, I mean, the Phillies are better.
Starting point is 00:28:22 There's no doubt about it. But also going to face tougher competition, tougher park to pitch in. And now, Scuba has the power of AJ Hinch. So the Astros... Not only really helps hitters, though. The Astros had a thing with turning some pitchers around as well, Chris. So you never know. A few sticky substances here and there.
Starting point is 00:28:44 You never know. Everybody's got pine tar. This one's from Jeff Francisco. Isn't using categories like on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and quality starts instead of batting average, home runs, and wins, like fantasy baseball without training wheels? Chris? No.
Starting point is 00:29:03 It's the same thing. if anything batting average and wins are much harder because they're much more difficult to predict. You know, quality starts. If a pitcher pitches well, he's going to get a quality start for the most part. Pitcher can pitch well and not get a win in, you know,
Starting point is 00:29:21 in any game. So I think that's his argument against it though, right? Is that wins are just so fluky. Without training wheels, training wheels are to make it easier for you. I think those things make it easier for you. They're more predictable. That's true.
Starting point is 00:29:34 I don't personally care one way or the other. I think it's all a test of skill, and you're just testing different types of skill there. And you know, quality starts are so arbitrary to, at least six innings, at least three, you know, three earn runs or less. I kind of feel like it should be a sliding scale. I've always thought this about quality starts.
Starting point is 00:29:56 Why don't we do? Because six innings, three runs. That's a 4.5 ERA. That would be bad for your team ERA that week. Yeah. You're getting rewarded for, something that's bad for your team ERA. That's not a quality start.
Starting point is 00:30:07 I mean, we should make it five innings, one run, six endings, two runs, seven endings, three runs, you know, whatever, anything later than seven. It's got to be three runs or less, but, um, well, they're not saying good start. They're just saying quality, I think, uh, what kind of quality? It's kind of bad quality, in my opinion. Yeah, I don't know. It's, it's, it is kind of an arbitrary stat and like, I don't know, like, on base percentage rewards more than bad.
Starting point is 00:30:34 average does. Lugging percentage rewards more than home runs does. I certainly understand the appeal. I guess I'm just a traditionalist because I'm happy with the roto categories being what they are and the challenges that go along with that. But if your league disagrees, by all means. This last one is from Burley Bob 91. If you were born in 1991, that was a fantastic year to be born. 12 team, 5 by 5 Roto Keeper League rank these four possible keepers. Sixtho Sanchez, Steven Shrosberg, Corbin Burns, Sunny Gray. I can only keep one already keeping Luis Castillo and Lucas Gialito. Scott?
Starting point is 00:31:19 I'm keeping... Ah, I'm keeping Burns. Burns. Corbin Burns. Burns, baby Burns. All right, we're going to take a quick break on the podcast side. watching us on YouTube, we're not going to go anywhere, but on the podcast side, we're going to take a quick break. Alrighty, who is this year's blank? Let's try to get to as many of these as we possibly can. Let's get to all of them. Let's get to all of them. Let's do that, Chris. And let's start with this one.
Starting point is 00:31:47 Who is this year's Marcel Ozuna, a hitter that you are targeting to bounce back solely because of statcast data? We were pounding the table for Marcelo Zuna last year, highlighting that in 2019, He vastly underperformed his expected batting average, his expected slug, his expected Wobah. He was making awesome quality of contact that final year with the Cardinals, but the results just weren't there for Marcel O'Zuna. But when you dug in, under the hood, the stack-ass data said that O'Zuna deserved much better outcomes than he actually received. So who is a hitter that we can say that about in 2021? We'll start with you, Chris. Who is this year's Marcel Ozuna?
Starting point is 00:32:31 I'm going to go with Miguel Seno, who. had an absolutely awful 2020 campaign but a 40% strikeout rate will do that yeah and look you can look at like oh his swing strike rate went up and all the but like he's not going to have a 40% strike out rate he's going to have a strike out rate right around 35% which is what he always has and
Starting point is 00:32:54 given that he hits the ball so hard and he had the eighth highest barrel rate in baseball last season I think Miguel Seno is going to bounce back to being something less than he was in 2019. I think people were a little too excited about him coming off that season. That was probably the best partial season we're going to see from him. But a 250 average 35 home runs, maybe a little more power, good run production and good offense. I think that's all totally doable. And he is, I believe, outside the top 300.
Starting point is 00:33:31 outside. No, that can't be right. Top 200? He is 178.7 in ADP. Sometimes you just say things, you know? The ADP just mentioned among first basements. He is the 22nd first baseman off the board. Well, how about this, Chris? You really like Josh Bell as well.
Starting point is 00:33:52 They're going six picks apart. Who would you take Josh Bell or Miguel Suno? Oh, I'd rather have Josh Bell. I think Miguel Seno's absolute ceiling is probably like a 270. 265, 270 batting average. I think Josh Bell could hit 290. And what I will say about to know is, this is going to sound weird,
Starting point is 00:34:10 but there's a lot of volatility in his batting average. So because he strikes out so much, that's going to make his batting average fluctuate year over year. And I always point to Chris Davis with a C. There would be years where he would hit 260, 270 plus, even with a 30% or higher strikeout rate, because he still hit the ball as hard. as he did. We see the same thing with Aaron Judge, right? Every single year. I mean, he's consistently
Starting point is 00:34:36 around 270, 280, even with a 30% strikeout rate. So when you hit the ball as hard as Suno does, even with the strikeout rate at that high, he can still kind of like, he could still maintain, like potentially have like a 260 or 270 batting average. So I mean, there's a lot of volatility. This is a question that people got mad about last year, but it turned out to be a pretty fair question. why is Matt Olson going 90 picks ahead of Miguel Seno? Like, he does, Miguel Seno strikes out a lot more than Matt Olson does, but Matt Olson has a career 277 Babbip, and Miguel Snow has a career 339 Babb.
Starting point is 00:35:16 He hits the ball incredibly hard and historically runs high babbps. And so I think they're a pretty safe bet for similar batting averages, actually. and I think the power is going to be similar. Adelson hits in a better spot in the lineup, so runs an RBI will probably be better. But other than that, I think they're very similar players. And Sano is a much cheaper version.
Starting point is 00:35:42 Yeah, I think that's a fair comp. The only thing I would say is, is it worth a 100-pick discount? But Sineau has never been able to stay healthy. He's never played more than 116 games in a season. He did play 53 out of 60 in 2020. But yeah, hasn't really been able to stay healthy.
Starting point is 00:35:59 Scott, your favorite pick for this year's Marcelo Zuna. So I think the one that you're just serving up on a platter is Nick Castellanos. And in fact, I made this exact same comparison in Breakouts 1.0, where I am doubling down on Castiano's as a breakout pick, even though he hit only 225 with the 784 OPS in his first year in Cincinnati, I think it was a total mirage, a mirage in like the best. bad kind of mirage because he was top 10%
Starting point is 00:36:32 in expected slugging percentage. And in fact, it was his fifth consecutive year, top 10% in expected slugging percentage. In three of those years, he's been top 10% and expected batting average, very reminiscent of Marcelo Zuna. And you say, okay, well, if he's been that consistently high
Starting point is 00:36:49 in the expected stats and it hasn't translated to the baseline stats, maybe that's the mirage, right? but he played in Detroit, which was a park that was like, couldn't have been worse suited for his, his particular style of hitting, where he hits a lot of balls to right center,
Starting point is 00:37:14 especially, and it's just, it just killed so much of his potential. He got out of there, we saw how well he did with the Cubs in the second half of that season once he was out of Detroit, and Cincinnati's an even better place to hit.
Starting point is 00:37:25 So what I think happened to Castellanos last year, and was able to happen because it was such a small sample is he had terrible Babbip luck, still an elite line drive rate, you know, Freddie Freeman type line drive rate, but a low BABIP. And he had an uncharacteristically high strikeout rate,
Starting point is 00:37:46 and those two together worked to crush his batting average. But remember, he got off to a really hot start too. So I just think, like, the season ended right as he was slumping. And if we got four more months out of Nick Castellanos, it would have been this monstrous breakout that we predicted for him
Starting point is 00:38:04 in the first place. Because everything else looks right for him. And the power breakout happened. He had a career high ISO of 261. He was on pace for a career high, you know, 35 home runs in a 150 game season. So, you know,
Starting point is 00:38:20 it really was just the batting average that let him down. And, you know, presumably he can, regress back to being a 22% strikeout rate guy and everything else should follow. He had historically been a very high Babbitt guy. Yeah, and that's because he hits so many line drives. And Scott, you referenced the line drives that he hit last season. And he was up over 25%. I looked at this. Among the 23 qualified hitters with a 25% line drive rate or better, Castellanos's 257 Babbip was by
Starting point is 00:38:50 far the lowest. So we should expect regression there as well. I'm just going to keep saying it until it happens or until Nick Castellanos retires. I still think that we have that 280, 35 homer, 100, 110 RBI season in his bat. I think it's possible. Oh, easily. I think that could be his baseline in Cincinnati. I think it could be even better than that. I'm still sticking with the, you know, last year, the comp for me was Nolan Aronado.
Starting point is 00:39:17 I think you dropped to J.D. Martinez won, Frank. And those comparisons don't sound as lofty today as they did a year ago today. but you know those we're talking second round production potentially from Nick Castianos all right yeah I mean he was my pick as well
Starting point is 00:39:35 since October November I've been writing about it I did a New Year's resolution article on the site which you could find and my New Year's resolution for Nick Castianos was to have better luck which is kind of tongue in cheek because obviously you can't control that but based on his quality of contact
Starting point is 00:39:52 I think he's going to be just fine All right, next up, who is this year's Jose Abraeu or Trevor Bauer? And what I mean by this is a player going in rounds six through eight. So anywhere from pick 65 to 85-ish in that range that will return first-round value. Both players, both Bauer and Abraeu were top 12 in 2020. So Scott, why don't you get us started this time? First round value in someone that you can get in round six to eight. So I like your pick, but I didn't want to copy your pick again like I did with Castiana.
Starting point is 00:40:28 So I'm going to go with Kestan Hura. And look, I didn't see much from him last year that was encouraging. The strikeout rate, which was already bad, got even worse. It got to, like, Joey Gallo levels. And, you know, the exit velocity wasn't nearly as impressive, giving him a total pass because it was a weird season. And because it was so, what he said, did last year was so far in the opposite direction from what he was expected to be from the day he was drafted.
Starting point is 00:41:01 He was considered one of the best bats of his entire draft class showed it through the minors, looked like it as a rookie, and then, you know, just, just collapsed here during this weird season. So I'm going to, it's, it's entire, the case for him is entirely just belief in the pedigree, but I have that belief in the pedigree. and, you know, I don't know that I want him as ADP necessarily, but I see why the ADP is that high because I think the upside is that high. And that ADP that you reference for Kessinheera is 65.7. So he's going about eight picks behind Kevin Bizio, according to Fantasy Pros.
Starting point is 00:41:41 He's going three picks higher than Brendan Lau and about 17 picks higher than Ketel. Marte. So yeah, you gotta spend a decent bit, sixth round pick on Kestinheera. I liked him a lot last year. Don't want to put too much stock into it in 2020, but swinging strike rate was second among qualified hitters behind only Luis Robert, led the National League in strikeouts. I still think that there's upside there. If I'm in Dynasty, I'm holding, I'm not selling, like panic selling on him. But to invest at that cost, I need to see it. I need to see it. I need to see it. happen before I jump back in.
Starting point is 00:42:22 So I agree with that. I'm probably not. Strictly the upside argument here for this exercise. Chris, a player going in round six to eight that you think can return first round value. You talk about getting a mulligan for last season. I think Y'allamakata deserves a mulligan, if anyone does. And we've talked about it before, but diagnosed with COVID seemed to have a, you know, a pretty significant case relative to other.
Starting point is 00:42:50 players, you know, has talked about how he just didn't feel like he had his, you know, his stamina, his strength until the offseason. You know, I think there was a quote that we talked about a couple weeks back where, you know, he said he didn't really feel like himself until very recently. And so, you know, I think you can look at it and kind of like Marcus Simeon say, well, he turned back into the guy he was before 2019. And that's not unfair, but I would just say that the, you know, he didn't attempt a single stolen base. He was a much more passive hitter. He stopped swinging in a lot of pitches. He, you know, the defense actually was pretty good, but, you know, overall, it just, it mostly to me suggests a player who just didn't feel
Starting point is 00:43:37 like himself. And I'm willing to give him a pass for 2020 because I do think the talent level is so high. I think there is 30 homer, 15 stolen base potential here. And I just don't think he was right in 2020. So I'm willing to buy back in. The ADP for Moncada is 91.3. He's going six spots behind, E. E. E. E. E. Hennio Suarez among third baseman and six spots ahead of Max Muncie. So the ADP has dipped a little bit from last year.
Starting point is 00:44:09 He was a top 70 pick, I want to say, last season. so people are letting his weird 2020 kind of affect his draft stock for this upcoming season, which might not be fair. He looked like he was kind of turning a page and breaking out in 2019, and he's still just 25 years old. He's going to turn 26 in May. I think some people just have Yuan Moncada fatigue at this point, too, because we've been waiting for it for so long. But hey, man, if he's hanging around, pick 100, I think that there is still a good amount of upside
Starting point is 00:44:41 with one Yuan Moncada, especially in that lineup. The pick for me, someone going in this range that could return first round value, is Yudan Alvarez. I think it all comes down to health. What can we expect in terms of his knees? He had dual knee surgery in the off season. There's been some video of him running on a treadmill.
Starting point is 00:45:02 So I don't think he's going to play in the field much. They really just need him to step up to the plate four or five times a game. And while they lost Springer, I still think their lineup is pretty damn. I'm good, the Houston Astros. We saw what his upside was in 2019. He hit 50 home runs between the majors and the minor leagues.
Starting point is 00:45:19 Right around 150 RBI. Great just plate discipline, 14% walk rate. He just looked apart. He looked apart of someone that can be a 300 plus hitter with 35 to 40 home runs. It's just a matter of him staying on the field. And with his costs currently going in this range, which is 79, 9.7 is ADP. I mean, that's about the time
Starting point is 00:45:44 where you should be looking to take risks like that, I think. Guys that have massive upside, but a potential, a potential big downside as well. Of the three players we picked here, here are for me, Moncotta for Chris Alvarez for you.
Starting point is 00:45:56 Alvarez is the one. I'm most likely to draft at his going rate. I mean, one of my big draft day priorities this year is you got to get one of Alvarez, Nelson Cruz, and J.D. Martinez,
Starting point is 00:46:07 because they still have a lot of faith in all three, and the discount is, extreme. Yeah, among all the utility bats, you're on Alvarez, the cost versus upside. He is my favorite.
Starting point is 00:46:18 My second favorite is actually Giancarlo Stanton, who we've talked about quite a bit already. Who is this year's Patrick Corbyn? And by this, I mean a pitcher, we expect to take a step back in 2021.
Starting point is 00:46:33 Scott, why don't you get a start here? So I'm going to say Max Fried is the pick here. And it's like, oh, what do you doing? Turn it on Max Fried. that. Shame. Well, I think everybody's just gone a little too sanguine with Max Free because he had a
Starting point is 00:46:52 225 ERA last year. He was basically in the Cy Young race all year. But the numbers backing that up really weren't so great. His ex-fip was 405. His Sierra was 432, as compared to a 225. ERA remember, his strikeout rate dropped quite a bit. It was only 8 per 9. He's a great ground ball pitcher so he can get away with that,
Starting point is 00:47:20 but is he going to be somebody who competes for Cy Young's if he's doing that? I don't know. And then beyond that, beyond that, like he's not taking on the workload of a pitcher you'd, the kind of workload you'd expect to see from a pitcher getting drafted like he is. Last year, four times. He went six plus innings.
Starting point is 00:47:43 So like a third of his starts, he went six plus innings, which means under six most of the time. That's not good. That's not good from a non-strikeout pitcher, it appears, is what he's becoming, mostly a ground ball guy. And yeah, I think there's a chance. I don't think he's going to be bad, but I think there's a chance he's going to let a lot of people down
Starting point is 00:48:09 who are targeting him as a number two, number three type, and fantasy. Chris, a pitcher you expect to regress this season. Kentimaeida. I mean, first of all, he's going to face major league caliber lineups this season. I mean, he's still going to face Cleveland, so. Right, no, I'm not saying he's going to face exclusively major league caliber lineups. He'll face Cleveland in Kansas City and Detroit. He'll face those teams plenty, but here's who he pitched against last season.
Starting point is 00:48:37 This is the entire list of teams that can't. Tomaheda pitched against last season. The Chicago White Sox, okay. Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Burrers, Pittsburgh Pirates. You can't ask for an easier schedule. He saw the White Sox twice and didn't face another good offense the rest of the season. That's not to say Kentomayette is not good. But Kenton Mayeta clearly pitched over his head last season.
Starting point is 00:49:01 You know, we're talking about a 208 Babbup. We're talking about an 80% strand rate, a 49% ground ball rate. those are all well above his career norms. Now, ground ball rate, you can say, started throwing his slider more, started throwing his change up more. Those can lead to more ground balls. That's fine.
Starting point is 00:49:19 But there is a significant amount of regression coming for Kentomeda. He's historically been someone who's out, underperformed his peripherals a little bit. And you're talking about Max Fried and only going six innings, I think four times was the number. Kenta Maeda did average six innings per start last season. However, he averaged six innings per start. start with a 208 BABIP and 80% strand rate.
Starting point is 00:49:43 He's not going to do that next season if those numbers stabilize. If he has a 73% left on base rate, if he has a 270 BABAP. And those would both be pretty good numbers. And so I just think you're probably looking at someone who's not going to have the volume, who's going to regress and probably be more like a mid-3s ERA pitcher, and he's being drafted like an ace. Scott. Sorry, Scott.
Starting point is 00:50:07 Scott, I will give you 30 seconds to give your retort because you have Kentimaata ranked as your SP11 in both formats, starting now. Yeah, I think I'm in the highest. It looks like I'm one of the highest in the industry on him. And, you know, I think it was just what was waiting to happen for him based on the way his underlying numbers looked from his time with the Dodgers. and he made some improvements in his pitch selection after joining the twins.
Starting point is 00:50:39 And it wasn't just like this weird ERA thing happening like we saw with Max Reed. I mean, he was missing bats like crazy. The ex-fip looked great. The swinging strike rate was elite. And he was very efficient. Very, like, I can't find anything wrong with the way he actually performed.
Starting point is 00:50:57 It's just an appeal to track record. But frankly, I think the Dodgers didn't know what they had in him. I will just say it reminded. me of Blake's now coming off of 2018. All of the breakout stuff was true and he performed over his head. Yeah, the kind of opposite ends of the spectrum in terms
Starting point is 00:51:15 of efficiency, but otherwise, again, he had to average six innings per start with all of that in his favor. I look at how many, how few pitches he threw. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of you don't know if he can throw more pitches. Yeah, I remember the, when he was going
Starting point is 00:51:31 for the no-hitter or perfect game, that was really the only game where they pushed him. but maybe it's by design, right? Maybe this is how you get the best out of Kentimaieta. You limit him to around that 90 to 100 pitchmark. You don't let him go third time through the order very much, and that's how you keep the numbers where they're at. So choose Chris or Scott when it comes to your feeling on Kenta Maeda.
Starting point is 00:51:54 I'm just going to point out Zach Cranky for me, who is 37 years old. He had a 403-ERA-113 whip. The underlying numbers were still pretty good, but the fastball velocity. And this is normally something we talk about every spring training with Granky being way down, 87.1 miles per hour on the fastball,
Starting point is 00:52:14 whereas in 2019 it was 90 miles per hour. So, I don't know, I just think he's going to fall off eventually. And as the top 25-ish starting pitcher, I'm worried about Granky in that range. All right, let's hit these two quickly here, not spend too much time, because I do want to just quickly play that,
Starting point is 00:52:34 that preller quote on to Nelson Lemette. We'll end with that. But we'll turn back the clocks to 2019. Who is this year's Kirby Yates, a reliever going outside the top 10 closers in ADP, who will lead baseball in saves? Chris, give me your pick in 30 seconds or less. Kirby Yates.
Starting point is 00:52:53 Oh, Kirby Yates is going to be this year's Kirby Yates. Yeah, look, I know last year the, you know, he wasn't healthy. and the velocity was down. Actually, the velocity was fine. I just, he's being drafted at a discount. And anytime you can get someone on the down swing who's got the track record that Kirby Yates does,
Starting point is 00:53:14 I think that's a very good opportunity to buy. It's possible he's done. It happens with closers all the time. They lose it very suddenly. But I think he's a perfect bounceback candidate. Kirby Yates will turn 34 years old right before the season starts on March 25th, so we'll see how much he has left in a tank, of course, signed with the Toronto Blue Jays,
Starting point is 00:53:37 presumably to be their closer. Scott, who is this year's Kirby Yates? And don't choose Kirby Yates. Well, really anyone who's getting saves, who has that job all year, I think, could lead the majors and saves. It's kind of the randomness of it. Why I refer to it as like the kicker position of fantasy baseball. But I'm going to pick the guy replacing Kirby Yates, who's Drew Pomerant's obviously a better supporting cast than Kirby Yates had in 2019. And, you know, 14K per 9 last year, broke through big with the Brewers two years ago. Looks like an elite reliever.
Starting point is 00:54:18 And seems poised to step into that role. I just realized that I never made a pick for this one on her rundown. So I'm going to go with the guy that I was thinking about choosing. and that is Craig Kimberl. I think the only roadblock for him is if he is dealt because I think there's a very high chance that he is dealt.
Starting point is 00:54:34 But if he's pitching well enough to be traded somewhere, my guess is that he probably closes for the team that he's traded to as well, unless he goes to like the Yankees or another team that has like a fantastic closer as well just to be a set up man. Craig Kimbril doesn't strike me
Starting point is 00:54:48 as the kind of guy who's going to be happy setting up for someone else. Yeah, exactly. He's going to hit you with his little dangling arm thing that he does. So my pick is Craig Kimberle. We'll end on who is this year's
Starting point is 00:55:01 Trent Grisham or Corbyn Burns. Both players were drafted outside the top 300 last season in ADP, and they returned top 50 value. Scott, 30 seconds or less. Cheated a little here. He's on the borderline of top 300, Alex Kiroloff,
Starting point is 00:55:16 who I think is going to catch a lot of people by surprise this year because his last minor league season, 2019, 283 batting average 756 OPS, you know, whatever. But the year before, 348 batting average 970 OPS. He was dealing with a wrist injury in 2019.
Starting point is 00:55:33 And reportedly, he bounced back big at the alternate training site. This is a guy who during that awesome season, 2018, Kirolov, I saw comparisons like Christian Yelich, those kinds of comparisons. Even now, baseball America gives them a 70-grade hit tool, you know, max 80. You don't see many 70s. And a 60-grade power tool. So very, very high on his bat. he has a job waiting for him and I think he could go off this year.
Starting point is 00:56:00 Chris, someone outside the top 300 that can return top 50 value. I love a post-type sleeper and Joe Adele seems like one of the absolute best this season on Fantasy Pros. He's got a... He's the 352nd player being taken on average. Now they've only got a couple of sources
Starting point is 00:56:18 and he's more in the late 200s. I think at NFBC he's like 305. So he's pretty close. but, you know, this is still one of the guys who was talked about as a, you know, Ronald Acuna level talent. He's still only 22 years old. And, you know, his minor league track record, he hit 298. He averaged 24 homers and 20 steals per 150 games. Very small sample size, only 224 games because he dealt with injuries.
Starting point is 00:56:49 But if you were looking for high upside, if you're looking for the kind of guy, who can take a big step forward and help you win your league. I think Joe Adele's right there among some of the best. So someone that I have been touting for quite a while, many people have, and I was very excited when he got out of Tampa Bay, is Nate Lowe. You're watching right now.
Starting point is 00:57:15 You can see I'm wearing my Texas Rangers hat. Big Rangers fan, always been since day one, big Texas Rangers fan, but they just have a lot of players I like. Nate Lowe, Willie Calhoun, still rooting for him, Dane Dunning, I like, to Marcus Evans, I'm kind of hoping he could become the closer. But for Nate Lowe, someone who, in the minors,
Starting point is 00:57:36 had a really good hit tool, showed some pop, had some really, really big seasons in the minor leagues with Tampa Bay. Never really was given a fair shake to play first base for them. He will be the starting first baseman for the Texas Rangers. It's a little bit harder for someone to finish inside the top 50, at least in Roto, if they don't steal bases, which I'm not expecting him to do. I look back at 2019 to try and find a comp.
Starting point is 00:57:58 Chris Bryant hit 282 with 31 homers, 77 RBI, and 108 runs. I'm not saying Nate Lowe can do all those things, but his 90th percentile outcome, the RBIs will be higher than 77. I think he can hit 25 to 30 home runs, good batting average, maybe 80 plus runs.
Starting point is 00:58:19 And if he does that, I think he's probably on the border of being a top 50 players. Really, really big fan of Nate Lowe now with the Texas Rangers. All right, we've been teasing it since the top of the podcast. I did just want to play a quote yesterday on this very podcast. We had Danny Vietti and Will Middlebrooks, which if you haven't listened,
Starting point is 00:58:37 they're not really fantasy guys. They give you more of just like a general baseball spin, but they had Padre's GM, A.J. Preleron, and he gave an update on Denelson Lemette, which you will hear right now. Yeah, I saw him a couple weeks ago in the Dominican. He was, you know, he's a workout warrior. He's one of these, you know, seven days a week. He gets after it.
Starting point is 00:58:54 He pushes himself, you know, from a training standpoint. He was, you know, again, he's in a really good spot in terms of being ahead of probably even last year's pace, but everything they put in front of him so far. He's been, you know, he's throwing program, you know, where his arm health is. He's been throwing bullpens. All of those so far have been good. I think he's actually put a few of them on the internet. I've seen pop up in the last couple days.
Starting point is 00:59:17 But I think we're realistic. Like, you know, I think for us, it's going to be getting into spring training, you know, until he really is able to take the ball and, you know, and throw it at, you know, a top effort and in a game situation, come back, you know, and throw his bullpen, come back through five days later and just keep repeating that process. You know, I think we're going to, we're going to see where it goes. But I think the good news is the doctors agree, the trainers agree that, you know, they feel like he's in a really good place.
Starting point is 00:59:40 And so far, his body and his off-season has been very good. He's throwing bullpins and should be full go for spring training. Scott, well, that might be perceived as positive. I'm a little bit more skeptical because of the way he said until we see him pitch every five days in game action, we're not really going to know how he's going to react. So I'm kind of looking at this
Starting point is 01:00:03 at a glass half empty view rather than glass heffel. Yeah, I mean, it kind of doesn't tell us anything, right? Like if he remained as positive as he started out, I'm not sure he would have been being entirely transparent. You know, it's kind of refreshing that he was as honest by saying, you know, look, we're realistic about it because I wasn't sure he was going to say that. I think it's a totally wait and see, which is what he was saying too. Yeah, I'd be concerned to invest too much in Lament until, you know, like the last week before the season when he's really been run through the ringer. LeMette's ADP is inside the top 60 as of now. Chris, any takeaways from that?
Starting point is 01:00:50 Preller quote. I mostly agree with Scott. I don't think there's a ton you can take away from that. You get positive quotes all the time from guys before they get injuries. You know, and that's not to say that he's going to get hurt or that he currently is or that AJ Prellar wasn't, you know, telling the truth. It's just, you know, like Scott said, you never know until, I mean,
Starting point is 01:01:15 even after you know, you never know when it comes to starting pitchers. Like they're so injury prone. and, you know, Lament is such a volatile type of pitcher. You know, he is so, you know, he's been so homer prone in his career. He's been so injury prone in his career. He's really only had one season where he's pitched at a high level that it's just, he was on my bus list. I don't think I talked about him on the Breakout, Sleepers Breakouts and Bus Show.
Starting point is 01:01:44 But, you know, like, I'm not the type of person who makes a do not draft list. but he comes the closest for me. I have him 114th overall as SP27. So he is well behind consensus for me. Yep, we're in agreement there. He was on my bust list as well. We're going to wrap for Scott and Chris. I am Frank.
Starting point is 01:02:05 Thank you all for listening and watching. Have a fantastic weekend. We'll be back again on Monday. Bye-bye.

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