Fantasy Baseball Today - Winning FAAB Bids, Week 1 Sleepers & What to Watch Early On! (3/30 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: March 30, 2023

Happy Opening Day (3:00)! What are our plans? ... Which players did Frank pick up in his 12-team H2H points Tout Wars team (6:30)? ... Scott spent 60% of his FAAB budget in his Tout Wars league (9:25)! ... Chris didn't win anybody in his Tout Wars league (18:45). ... News (21:25): we got a positive update on Liam Hendriks! ... Which pitchers can you stream this weekend (32:48)? ... What hitters have the best matchups early on (40:25)? ... To stream or not to stream (46:05)! ... What should we pay attention to early in the season (51:37)? ... We wrap up with five questions in five minutes (56:15). Fantasy Baseball Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Fantasy Baseball Today is a finalist in the Baseball Category for the Sports Podcast Awards! Quickly create an account and vote here: https://www.sportspodcastgroup.com/sports_category/best-baseball-podcast/ Get awesome Fantasy Baseball Today merch here: http://bit.ly/3y8dUqi Follow FBT on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@fbtpod?_t=8WyMkPdKOJ1&_r=1 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 lead. Where fantasy becomes reality. Now here's Frank, Scott, and Chris. Baseball is back. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on opening day, baby. Thursday, March 30th.

Frank Stamphill joined by Scott White and Chris Towers. Today on the show, we'll run through our Tout Wars winning bids. It was a big night because I know, Scott, you drafted in early March. So a 15-team league, a lot has changed since then. So we'll take a look at our winning bids and players that we dropped. We'll talk week one sleepers for the four-day period and the 11-day period. So whether or not you play in a roto style where you're just setting it for the week, for the weekend, or in a long head-to-head matchup, we've got you covered.

And what to watch early in the season? What matters? What doesn't? Chris, I know you have an article out, what to pay attention to on opening day, so we can hit on some of that, and five emails in five minutes. How much of that will we get to?

I don't know. Before we get started, make sure to like this video, leave a comment and subscribe if you haven't already. If you're listening on the audio side, we'd really appreciate a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. But I'll ask, guys, we did it.

Opening day. Every team is in action. It's over. It's over. In fact, it's just getting started. Our work here is done. People might be wondering, you know, what happens in season. So I guess we should probably give a little bit of a heads up.

We're going to go, we're still going to go live Sunday through Thursday night, but it's actually probably going to be Monday through Friday morning because it's going to be around midnight, 1230 Eastern time. We kind of wait for the West Coast games to start winding down. But we'll go live. Maybe it'll be sooner. With the rule changes, you know, these games could be wrapping up by like 1230, hopefully. So like.

That would be amazing. We could start recording before midnight. The problem is, here's how it always starts. It always starts out like, oh, yeah, 11. And then like May, it's like, yeah, 1145. And then by July, it's like we're starting at 1 in the morning. You know, we were actually better last year with consistency. We were aiming for midnight and we never quite hit midnight.

But we were pretty consistent, like Conan O'Brien style 1235 a.m. Start time. Look, admittedly, there's a lot going. on every night. So I probably jampack the rundown because that's just the MO, but you know, I don't want to miss anything. I want to look into every pitcher's velocity and all that kind of fun stuff. So we'll have you covered. We'll talk about the player of the night. We'll have waiver ads, players to drop, all the latest news. We'll play with some fun segments, daily stream runners, weekly previews, two-star pitchers, all that fun stuff. And that will be starting tomorrow night. We'll be

recapping all of opening day and it's going to be fun. Chris, I feel like you usually have some fun kind of traditions that you're into. What do you got playing opening day? I'm going to the Yankees game. Look at this guy. Mariano Rivera. Hey, New York City, baby. Let's go Yankees.

Hey, Mike and the Mad Dog. It's one of my favorite things that you do. Yeah. I don't know that that accent is quite on point. Gonna go, gonna go see Mariano throw out the first pitch. Hey, I don't know. Yeah, that's, I'm walking here. What are you going to do about it?

Hey, yeah, I'm going up to, to the Bronx, see the, my beloved bombers take on the Giants on opening day. I'm really excited. I'm going to be way up in the nosebleeds. And it's going to be great. Then I'm going to go into the, you know, Saris two halves brewing event after that. It's going to be a jam-packed baseball day. Looking forward to it.

If you're going to be there, say hi. Well, two things there, Chris. Make sure to dress warm because it's going to be cold. The higher you are in Yankee Stadium, I mean, oh yeah, it's going to be miserable. You get blasted by the wind. So that is quite bad.

Obviously, the game will be fun. But whether or not so much, I kind of feel like there's a chance, there's at least a 25, 30% chance. You just don't make it to the podcast tomorrow. We'll see. You know,

it's going to be a long day. I'm going to be here. All right. I'm going to be here. I'm looking forward to it. That's the plan. Scott, what do we got going for opening day?

Anything crazy? Watching the Braves, chilling out. Well, I'm deciding when I need to wake up to get my lineups set in time. That's always fun because, of course, you got the last-minute IL designations pouring in, which I'm sure everybody listening is freaking out about their injured players not being on the IEL yet. It happens every year. I'm sorry. I wish it was different, but this, you know, the teams don't have to do.

do it until they are ready to play basically. So yeah, that's a frustration. So, yeah, exciting when to wake up. I'm going to pick up, got to figure out when to pick up my kids from school still. But the Braves are one of the two games, one of the first two games, one of the 105 games. Yeah. So I'm going to try and get them in front of the TV to watch a little baseball with me. Hope they make it more than a inning.

We'll see. You know, I got one bone to pick with the schedulers. Only one 7 o'clock game. We got like 11 games starting between 1 and 4 on the East Coast. And then I think it's just the Astros home opener. That's right. Astros White Sox at 7 and then 3 10 o'clock games. Don't love that scheduling, you know.

I think there's a pretty fair explanation, Chris. I think they just kind of want to give the Astros their flowers on opening day, obviously winning the World Series, so they give them all the attention, and they'll be in prime time there on ESPN. Framber Valdez going up against Dylan C. So I think that's the reasoning, but I don't disagree. Even worse than that, is that the second day of the season,

we only have five games. I understand why they do it for rainout purposes and that, but it's just annoying because A, there's only five games. B, there's no day games. The second day of the season. It's kind of frustrating. So, but anyway, positivity, positive vibes. Let's talk about opening day,

and let's get into our Tout, winning bids, and I'll actually start us off here. Playing a 12-te-to-head points, Tout Wars format, with Roto-style lineups, so two catchers, five outfielders, a corner, a middle, seven starting pitchers, and two relief pitchers. So I have Rodon, Musgrove, I also drafted Luis Severino before he got hurt,

so it's going to be a pretty rough start to the season. I also dropped Billy Ober because he got sent down to the minors by the twins. This is a $1,000-fab budget, and the players that I added were Josiah Gray for 53, so roughly 5% of my budget. Ryan Pepio for $34. Seth Lugo for 13. He's got a good start over the weekend. Rockies on the road.

And Blake Sable. Let's go, Scotty. I got a little. Yeah, Team Sable over here. Team Sable, $23 for him. So I spent right around $115, something like that. So about 11% of my budget is gone. Scott spent a lot more money.

Oh, yes, I did. Looking forward to that. Blake Sable only has outfield eligibility for now. I've got Christian Betancourt as my second catcher. So there's a chance that if Sable plays enough catcher, he'll just kind of work his way into that spot for me. Yeah. He is catcher, by the way, on CBS, but he is not TOW wars.

He's supposed to be in the lineup for the Giants on opening day, as I understand it, in the outfield. And, you know, he started a catcher their last. last spring game. He's going to play some catchers, so he'll eventually pick up eligibility there. But it seems like mostly left field and DH for Sable, so it's better when he comes in with the catcher eligibility already. But for a two-catcher league, I'd be pretty excited to pick him up at this point. Blake Sable, in the lineup on opening day, left-handed batter going up against Garic Cole, just saying, Yankee Stadium, anything can happen. I love how I'm talking about

Gary Cole like he's Josiah Gray. He's automatically going to give up a home run. Other than Josiah Gray, he gave up the most home runs last year. That is true. Chris, any thoughts on my bids here? Josiah Gray for about 5%. Ryan Pepio for 3, Seth Lugo for 1% and Blake's table for 2%. I think those all make sense.

I think I'm pretty skeptical of Pepio. I don't think Seth Lugo is going to give you too much, but they're low dollar bids early on. So it's hard to complain too much about them. And I think Sable is a nice sneaky one to try to get in there, yeah. My top bid was actually for Graham Ashcraft. I'm buying in. I'm with Scott here.

I'm on the train. I'm on the Ashcraft train. Team Ashcraft. But I didn't get him. I had an $88 bid in, and Joe Galena won him for $117. My buddy Joe Galena. Actually, fun fact, my first gig in radio was with Joe Galena. So, you know, we go back quite a ways and nice little bid there on Graham Ashcraft.

Wish I could have picked them up myself. But I missed out. Scott, let's move over to your Tout Wars team. Again, this is a 15 team, five-by-five roto. Also, $1,000 fat budget. Not anymore for you. Let's put this in perspective. You drafted this team back in the first week of March, correct?

I did. I did drafted in the first week of March. And I have a lot of injuries. Some of those were known when I drafted, and I just took advantage of the discounts, recognizing that in tout wars, unlike in TGFBI, let's say, there are IL-L spots. And the people running these leagues will actually slot the players in ahead of time if you need to.

So it's not a situation where I don't know if I can pick up a player because I don't know that they're going to be on the I.L in time for the lineup lock. I know they're going to be on the I.O. for the lineup lock. So that gave me the freedom to pick up a lot more players. But it also left me with a lot of needs. If you remember back when we were recapping my Tau Wars draft, I only had five outfielders on the entire roster. one was Fernando Tatis, who obviously I can't use right away. One was Alex Kirillov, who also I can't use right away. So I don't have, I only have 60% of my outfield.

I only had 60% of a starting outfield going into week one prior to this run of FAP. And then also I had Lance McCullors. I had Tony Gonsolin. I had Ryssela LaGlacius. I had some pitcher needs to. I basically had to fill for sure. I could not about two pitch and two outfielders in this first run of Fab. And fortunately, I got my top two choices of both.

Well, why don't you reveal those choices, Scott? Who'd you get? So I spent 60% of my budget here in the first run of Fab. I love it. 60% out the window. But unlike. Yeah, I think I spent 40% of that first run of TGFBI that we talked about earlier in the week.

I'm pretty happy with it. I'm pretty happy with the way things shook out. So I got, and reminder, this is a 15-team league. So I'm sure most of you listening, don't play in a league that deep. Might sound weird that I'm spending this much on these players, but you have to put it in that context. Graham Ashcraft for 133,

my top choice of pitcher, jerks and pro far for 133, top choice of outfielder. And it's a lot of money to spend on those players. I will point out, David Robertson went to somebody else for 273. Derek Hall went to somebody else for 255. So, and there will be plenty of times this year where people drop like $300 on a player.

So I actually kind of feel like the prices are pretty reasonable. Like just in the context of all the players who are going to be purchased off Fab over the course of the season, the quality of the players versus the amount you have to spend to get them. is more reasonable for this first run than any others. I don't know if people just tend to hang back, but there's been more time for talent to accumulate for this first run than any other run we're going to have all years.

So I can't imagine there's going to be a pitcher I'm much more excited about at any point this season than I am about Graham Ashcraft right now. And a hitter, specifically an outfielder, who I feel is going to be as useful as jerks and pro far with the Rockies. in an OBP league, no less, is. So, okay, so Graham Ashcroft 133, Juerkson, ProFar 133. Jared Schuster for 93,

beat Mike Gianella, defending champion Mike Giannella, $1 by $1 to get Jared Schuster for 93. That's crazy. Carrie Carpenter for 67 was the other outfielder. That's the bid where maybe, I think there was only one other $1 bid on it. So I probably went too aggressively on that one.

I would have been just as happy with Eddie Rosario. who was also out there. But Kerry Carpenter is the one I've got. Fine. You know, should have good power. Hopefully plays enough for the Tigers. So those were the meeting the needs bids. I also got Elehiras Montero for $83.

Hopefully the Rockies' Everyday Third Basement coming off a big spring. Adam Ottavino for $53, who I actually think is going to be, at least in a 50-50 time show with David Robertson. It may be more. So I'd much rather have Adamadovino for 53 than, you know, the guy who bought David Robertson for 273. And then Blake Sable, Team Sable over here. See the baby?

Just slip a Sable under the tree. $37. Can play him in that. Another outfield need MET, potentially. But the hope is eventually I'll be able to slot him in as a catcher. And we had a note about the Mets closing situation on Wednesday. Buckshaw-Walter said he will not name a closer going into the season. He did specifically mention David Robertson as having the quote,

strongest background for the job, but also mentioned Adam Ottavino, Brooks Raleigh, and Drew Smith as players who could also see save opportunities. So I think my guess is that David Robertson will see the first save opportunity, but

I agree that he probably should not go for $200 more in Fab. I mean, I get why he did, given the background, but you know, with this report, probably shouldn't have happened, in my opinion. You know, Kerry Carpenter, Chris, that was someone that you picked up the other day too

in The Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational, that's another 15 team league. And I was kind of confused at that time. Like, why are you guys picking up Carrie Carpenter? I looked into the spring. I mean, it was a good spring. 17 for 51, 33, batting average, three homers, a 940 OPS.

And he's a left-handed bat in Camerica where they just made changes to the ballpark, hopefully helping left-handed power. So I kind of get it and he has some pop. But yeah, upon looking into the spring, makes a little bit more sense on Kerry Carpenter. Yeah, 36 home runs, I think, across three levels between the minors and the majors last season. Six in 31 games.

He wasn't great last season in the majors, but I mean, that's a 30 homer pace if you paced it out. There are questions about his defense. There are questions about platoon abilities. But I, you know, in a deep league like that, I think Kerry Carpenter's got enough of a standout skill and power to be worth. A look. And his final 20 games with the Tigers last year, 282 with four of those home runs in 850 OPS. So he seemed like he settled in a little better after a slow start.

Now, the exit velocity readings aren't that good for Cary Carpenter, despite the big home run total over the course of the season. And it's a really... They moved in the fences in right center, but still, Carrie Carpenter being a left-handed hitter in that ballpark. You know, there's a lot of reason for skeptics. criticism here, but for a waiver wire outfielder and a five outfielder 15 team league, like I think it's reasonable to make a play for him at this point.

And the bid on Graham Ashcraft, $133, you know, some people listening, might look, might sound like a lot, but again, he went for 117 in my Towers League. That's a 12 team league. And you got him for 133. So he went for 191 in mine, which is a innings pitched instead of wins and saves and holds instead of saves. So I don't think it's like the format's necessarily going to help him too much. I mean, I would guess any pitcher on the Reds is probably a better bet

in an innings pitched than wins. Yeah, probably. You know, he's probably not going to give 180 innings this. But here's the thing. So we went for 191 in yours, Chris, 117 and yours, Frank. I got him for 133. The second bid, the run. The runner-up bid in my league for Graham Ashcraft was $35.

So, I mean, this is last time we were talking about FAB, like just the randomness of it. It just seems like people are throwing numbers out there and hoping for the best because there doesn't seem to be a lot of consensus behind any of these bids. I knew I really wanted them. So I tried to bid enough to ensure I got them. you know, it was $97 more than I had to bid, but whatever. Like I said, I don't think there's going to be a starting pitcher, like a starting pitcher emerged on the Waverware who I'm more excited about than I am,

Graham Ashcraft right now. Like maybe Uri Perez gets the call for the Marlins at some point, but it would probably be about equal, my enthusiasm level, because that's how I'm excited I am about Ashcraft right now. And Yuri Perez would probably go for 320. $25 or something. Chris, you said, Grayson Rodriguez. I'm guessing he was drafted.

Yeah, yeah, but you know, in a lot of leagues he's going to end up getting dropped. Right, for sure. Would you guys like to guess how much the backup bid for my Josiah Gray was?

I got him for 53. Either zero or 52. Hmm. Yeah. Yep. Zero. That would be zero. Yeah,

the backup was zero. So, uh, it is what it is. I like what I saw from Josiah Gray this spring. Bad team, but hopefully he can take that step forward.

Chris, you had some, you had some fab run here on Wednesday night as well in your Tout Wars League. Remind people the differences. You said it was innings pitched over wins, saves plus holds over saves. Yeah, did you win? 12 team, five by five innings pitched instead of wins, safe plus holds instead of saves, and OBP instead of average. I actually didn't get anyone in this run. Ashcraft went for 191.

I went way lower than that. And then I did put a big bid on. Anthony Volpe 355, I believe that was the second highest, but he ended up going for 501, 5.02 in that draft. Because this was one that we did. Yeah, this was one that we did two or three weeks ago. You know, I think this was middle of February,

or middle of March. So it was, you know, he wasn't viewed as likely to make the, make the roster. So yeah, that was the biggest one. Jeff Boggis got him for 502. Jeff Bogus he's a he tends to

he tends to play it fast and loose and this sort of thing it's worth outing throughout this conversation there are zero dollar bits yes that's exactly what I was going to say with a thousand dollar budget so so you don't have to like if you run

out of fab dollars it's not like you're done making pickups so you can you can be a little more reckless and I think in the case of Anthony Volpe who you know we're basically saying he's a top 100 player at least that seems to be the consensus view right now.

It totally makes sense if you don't have to keep a reserve of fab bids to last you the whole season. I think it totally makes sense to blow half your budget on him. And it's an OVP league. We think he's going to be a little better in that format anyway. So, yeah, I mean, look, I put 36% of my budget out there, and that was the second highest. So, you know, I was willing to drop a lot on him. And, you know, if I had known, I would have definitely beat it. if I had had the foresight.

Chris, were there any other players you tried to bid on? It was just those two. I'm in decent shape there. All right, fair enough. Well, let's take our first break and we get back some news and notes here on Fantasy Baseball today. As March turns to April, the madness continues in the Ion College Basketball podcast,

has you covered with this crazy Final Four of FAU, San Diego State, Miami, and Yukon. Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander will drop a mega final four preview and then hit Houston for all the news and nightly recaps from the scene. Can't get enough college hoops madness, download and follow Eye on College Basketball, wherever podcasts are found. Let's get into some news and notes, and we got a great update on Wednesday as Liam Hendricks is responding well to treatment and will be placed on the 15-day IL rather than the 60-day

IL to begin the season. So I also read that Hendricks has mentioned wanting to return by June. It doesn't mean that that's going to happen, and it's really hard to say what will happen next in a situation like this. But obviously really good news and the possibility that we could see Liam Hendricks at some point this season.

Chris, he is 41% rostered on CBS. If you have an IL spot, I think you absolutely should add Liam Hendricks right now. Yeah, I mean, look, we don't know whether he's going to come back. Obviously, that is not the most important thing as he recovers from non-Hodgans lymphoma. Correct.

Diagnosis, you know, that that's much more important, but the fact that he seems to be responding well, the fact that he was in camp, you know, I remember in late February, I saw like one report that he had thrown a bullpen session and then nothing, which,

you know, makes sense. This is not a situation where the White Sox are going to give updates because it's, you know, not an elbow sprain. You know, this is a much more serious issue that gets into privacy

and health. concerns. But like I started drafting him in a few leagues just like one gives me something to root for and two, it's like there's a chance that he's going to be able to play this year. You know, you remember Carlos Carrasco in 2019. I think his diagnosis actually came. And it was a different illness. But his diagnosis actually came after a few starts. I think it was like at the end of May. And he was able to come back a couple of months later, pitched out of the bullpen. So, you know, that's, it's awesome news.

And if you've got the roster spot and the IL spot to play with, should absolutely pick up Liam Hendricks. He's one of the two or three best closers in baseball when he's right. Yeah. And just an ambassador of the game, too, genuinely great person and fun player, RooFour too. And one of the most fun players to have miced up during the All-Star game. Absolutely.

Because they just can't actually use any of the audio. because he curses after every single pitch. It's one of my favorite recurring bits of the All-Star game every year. So I would love to see him get back in there this year. That is Liam Hendricks, 41% rostered on CBS, sending good vibes your way. Juan Soto is officially good to go on opening day after recently battling an oblique injury. Good news for you, Scottie. I know you've got a lot of shares.

I think I've got five between the 13 leagues, five sodos. hope that oblique holds on for my NLMVP pick. I mentioned the note earlier about the Mets closing situation. What about the Marlins manager, Skip Schumacher. Schumacher? Shoemaker. I think it's Shoemaker. Skip Schumacher.

Another comment is Schumacher. Okay. Skip Schumacher. The former. Joel Schumacher. The former Angels pitcher was Shoemaker. But that was a different spelling. Matt Shoemaker.

Yeah. So. I always thought he was going to be. good. It never really worked out. Well, anyway, he mentioned that Tanner Scott, AJ Puck, and Dylan Floro will be, quote, in the mix for closing situations to begin the season. And I thought it was interesting

that he omitted the name Matt Barnes. He was not one of the three, or I guess that would have made it four, but not one of the names mentioned. So, to start, Tanner Scott, AJ Puck, and Dylan Floreau. And he did mention Puck. Yeah, which, as he should. If anybody's going to take it and run

with it, I mean, Puck's the best one. Yeah. And, and I wound up with him on my main event team as my fourth reliever. I've got him, McGuff, Kyle Finnegan, and Jordan Romano. So I feel pretty good about that group of them right there. I don't know if it's in the news and notes here, but there are, there are, there seem to be some loose indicators that Scott McGuff is going to get the first crack at the ninth inning job for the diamond backs, which is how I was leaning for most of spring training, really since he started

pitching but he worked the ninth inning I believe in their last spring training game and just the way Tori Lavulo lovolo I never know how to say it was love a low low right Lou Lou Lou you had to write the first one okay yeah the way I was talking about him after the game it seemed like he was kind of tipping his hand that direction which is a mixed metaphor right tipping his hand direction anyway it was it wasn't just that he pitched a ninth inning and closed out that game, Scott. He actually picked up a save in a one-run, one-run game at the time, Scott McGoffin. There you go. In their final spring training game. So I would be leaning that way

as well in the D-Backs bullpen. Speaking of the Marlins from earlier, Brian De LaCruz is expected to receive the bulk of reps as the third outfielder for the team, meaning that Jesus will start off on the bench. Fourth outfielder, De LaCruz, 34% rostered. Scott, should that number be higher? I mean, he was one of my favorite sleepers. going into draft prepsies. And, like, I was basically, he and, he and Lars Nupar were basically unequal footing for me. And we saw how much Lars Nupar's stock increased while Brian Dela Cruz's

plummeted because it looked like he was going to be a fourth outfield or even a minor leaguer. Yeah. So he didn't really do much of anything this spring. And considering all the players that did in limited roster space, I guess that has to count for something. but certainly in a five outfielder league. I'd want to make sure De La Cruz is rostered

now that they're saying, oh, he is going to be our primary left fielder because obviously spring sample is small and not especially significant. And everybody seemed to like him early on. Yeah, I would say especially in leagues where you have an outfielder that you're going to throw on the IL,

like a Sayas Suzuki or someone like that, go and check and see if Brian De LaCruz is available in your league. The Twins have already announced their starting lineup versus Zach Granky on opening day. That includes Max Kepler leading off followed by Carlos Correa, Byron Burenne Bucson, Trevor Larnick, Jose Miranda, Nick Gordon,

Joey Gallo, Christian Vasquez, and Michael A. Taylor. We got a tweet asking about Trevor Larnick, who is a former prospect. He had a great spring as well. He had 351 with four homers and 1130 OPS and just a 17.5% strikeout rate.

The strikeouts are... That's a big key that's something to watch early in the season with Trevor Larnick. But Chris, any interest, you know, it would have to be five outfielders, maybe a deeper type league. But Trevor Larnick batting cleanup against right-handed pitching. Yeah, definitely not in a 12-outfielder league, at least to start. Trevor Larnick.

12-12-team league, Chris. He's a 12-12-team league. 12-outfielders. He'd probably be in that discussion. You know, Trevor Larnick, at least so far in his major league career, kind of answers the question, what if Joey Gallo was worse? So, like, I don't have a ton of confidence in him. But, you know, maybe guys are always tinkering. Talent isn't static.

So it's entirely possible that, you know, he does have pop. So we'll see. You know, it would have to be a 15 teamer, though. I've got a minute. He was third in my outfield priority and, or I guess, fourth behind Jerks and Profar, Carrie Carpenter, Eddie Rosario, all four of whom I already mentioned. And then next was Trevor Larnick as I was looking to fill those two out. field spots and tout wars.

And there was a time actually, like right when they were first drafted, and I was, apart from the consensus on this, but I consider Trevor Larnick a better prospect than Jared Kelnick. I mean, I guess the jury is still out, right?

Yeah. Yeah, and I would rather have Brian Dela Cruz as well. Yeah. Which I would assume the roster rates for those two are pretty divergent as well. When I first joined the Scott White Dynasty League, I guess it was two years ago now, three years ago.

Three years ago, we did a supplemental draft, a couple of different teams, got thrown it back into the player pool, and I drafted Trevor Larnick over Michael Kopeck, and for a while I felt terrible about it. And now I'm like, I don't know, maybe it'll work out. It's all right, yeah. They're still out there too.

Let's move on to. Yohan Mukata was dealing with lower back stiffness, but we'll be good to go on opening day. Brian Anderson will play right field quite a bit for the Brewers to start the season. Twins prospect Royce Lewis has been taking live at bats and will soon advance to base running. He was placed on the 60-day IL as he continues to recover

from a second ACL surgery. If all goes well, we could see him sometime in June if the twins really want to kind of slow roll it and make sure he's good to go. Maybe it's the second half of the season. But Chris, I think anywhere, look, if you have a finite amount of IL spots, probably won't be able to hold on to Royce Lewis. but if you have a limited, why not? Why not take the show?

If you don't have to make a decision, yeah, see what, see what his timetable looks like he was doing, you know, simulated games a couple weeks ago. So it seems like he's been, you know, making pretty good progress. Obviously, he looked like a potential difference maker last year. So yeah, absolutely. If you've got any kind of roster spot to play with,

I think he's well worth a stash. Christian Pache, somebody who was a main piece, in the Matt Olson trade, has now been traded to the Phillies in exchange for a right-handed pitcher named Billy Sullivan. I looked into the minor league numbers. Not great last year.

And he's a reliever. I have no idea what the A's are doing. I don't know that they know what they're doing, but this is where we're at. In a vacuum, Christian Pache absolutely does not seem like a player who belongs on a major league roster at this point.

That's fair. That being said, like you mentioned, he was one of the main pieces in a trade for a multi-time All-Star literally a year ago, maybe a year in like two weeks at this point. But, you know, so like it definitely raises some pretty tough questions about the process that led the A's to make the decision to trade for him

and then let him go. But I think it's unlikely to matter for the A's. To let him go a year later. Yes, right? It's crazy. It's, I feel like this is, it's not unprecedented. I'm sure something like this has happened before in baseball, but it seems not great from their perspective. The Yankees signed Franci Cordero to a one-year split contract. I didn't really know what that meant until now.

That will pay him $1 million while he's on the Major League roster. Doesn't really matter for now, but obviously the Yankees have a ton of injury-prone players, so if something happens, then maybe Franchi Cordero will matter at some point this season. A bunch of players officially placed on the IL, Tyler Glass now with that grade two oblique strain, Jared Walsh with headaches and Max Stassie with a left hip strain. Aaron Ashby with a shoulder, Tyrone Taylor with a right elbow sprain, Leoti Tavares with a left oblique, and Griffin Canning with a groin injury, which means Tucker Davidson will serve as the Angel's sixth starter.

Let's get into some sleepers for the weekend, and these are up on the site, CVSports.com slash fantasy slash baseball, and you'll find them every week. Scott writes up sleepers for both hitters and pitchers. for the following week. And so these are already live. And we'll start off with pitchers to stream this weekend, Scott. I think ideally, most people kind of have their lineup set and they know what's going on.

But you never know. Maybe injury struck and they need to add a pitcher, whatever it might be. Who are some streamers you're looking at for this weekend? Well, I mean, if you're just doing the four-day scoring period, which is the standard setting, the default setting, then you may need to pick up a sleeper, pitcher just because all your pitchers aren't going over the four-day period.

Most teams are playing just three games in those four days. So a lot of pitchers just aren't going to be starting. And that might open the door for you to pick somebody up. So my favorite, who I'm surprised is only 65% rostered, is somebody we've talked about a lot, Tyler Anderson. He gets those athletics for the opening weekend, their AAA lineup with or without Christian Pache. So he's an easy call.

Sunny Gray gets the Royals. Another good match up there. Graham Ashcraft talked about him. Plenty. He gets the pirates to start out. So he's no sure thing, obviously, by going against the pirates. It makes it easier to roll the dice on him.

Jared Schuster and his Major League debut gets that Nationals. So it's one to consider Mitch Keller, another one we've talked about a lot. New Cutter this spring was getting more strikeouts. He is facing the Reds. in Cincinnati, so less interesting. Yeah, but he's not a fly ball pitcher, but sure.

It is a tough place to pitch. Zach Eflin against the Tigers, good matchup. Didn't do much this spring, but we're getting deeper onto the sleeper pitcher list here, obviously. Nick Martinez, who did have a pretty good spring, gets the Rockies in San Diego. Rockies tend to be a good matchup away from Coors Field. Eduardo Rodriguez at Tampa Bay. and I'm skipping some names here because I've had to update the list twice

based on pitching changes. So let me see what else I have here. David Peterson against the Marlins. Yeah. And Clark Schmidt against the Giants. You know, I'm not super excited about that one. I guess I would say, let me sum it up this way because I'm just kind of throwing names at people.

Tyler Anderson at Oakland. Sunny Gray at Kansas City, Graham Ashcroft against Pittsburgh, Jared Schuster against the Nationals, and Mitch Keller against the Reds. Those five, I would feel okay about starting. The only one who's anywhere close to must start is probably Tyler Anderson at Oakland.

But any of those five, you know, if you're in a tight spot, I'd be okay with it. These others are more like emergency plays. Those last five I listed, Zach Eflin, Nick Martinez, of Gordo Rodriguez, David Peterson, Clark Schmidt. The matchups aren't quite as good. My confidence in them isn't quite as high. But to give you 10 names, those are the rest of the 10 names.

Friday night, I will be glued to the TV. A great pitching matchup, in my opinion. Maybe not everyone else's. Jesus Lazzardo going up against David Peterson. So I've got those guys on quite a few teams, so it's going to be a fun game to watch, at least for me. teams that you want to stream against, stream your pitchers against this season.

Chris, I'll just rattle off a bunch of these. You let me know what you think or if I missed anybody. The Tigers, the A's, the Marlins, sorry,

the pirates, the nationals, the Royals, the Reds? We're probably streaming against the Reds, right? Yeah,

I think so. I don't think there's much in the Reds that scares me. What about the Cubs? It's funny because a couple of people have gotten on to me about my Jake Frailey enthusiasm.

Like, oh, he's going to look at his numbers against left-handers. They're obviously going to platoon him. Well, maybe, especially at the start of the year, it seems pretty likely they'll set him against some lefties. But you look at the Reds lineup, Jake Fraley is probably going to be their best or second best hitter.

Yeah. So it's going to be hard to justify. If he performs like, I think he will, it's going to be hard to justify sitting him at some way. Yeah, like they have some guys we like, but Jonathan India was really bad last year. Spencer Steer is totally unproven. Jake Freley has had a couple of interesting stretches,

but has never done it for a full season. Like, it's likely to be a pretty bad lineup. I will say like the Marlins are probably going to be a pretty bad offense. They may not be like the best team to stream against just because they did make a point of acquiring contact hitters. And it might not be a lineup that strikes out a ton. True.

Although, you know, Horace Salern, Marcel Garcia, you know, they'll do their part to make sure. But yeah, that's, that's one. I think Detroit, even with the changes they made, I still think Baltimore is a decent one, especially at home. It's just such a good home park now that like, I'm, I drafted Cole Irvin in a couple of leagues because he's playing in Baltimore. Like, I think that's, that's a, that's a situation you can take advantage of as well. I had the Cubs on the friends there, too, Chris. What do you think about that?

Yeah, that's, you know, with with Suzuki out, they're down, you know, one of their better bats. So, you know, we'll see. We're skeptical of Dansby Swanson. I think Ian Hap is a slightly above average hitter. So yeah, I think the Cubs are a fine matchup for pitchers, not necessarily when you go out of your way to chase. Certainly not with a bad pitcher. But they're definitely not a team I'm avoiding. And of course, have to mention the Rockies on the road as well.

I'd like to give a shout out to my friend Nick Pollock. obviously at Pitcher List on Twitter, I'm sure you've heard of him if you play fantasy baseball. He likes to call those starts Rocky Road. And I like that. Nice little shout out to Nick Pollock there. Scott, for the long week,

for the 11-day period, I had these five players written down. I don't know if anything has changed for them, but it was Ashcraft, Schuster, Keller, Matthew Boyd, and Eflin as the five you like for the long week as well. Yeah, so Matthew Boyd is out.

Okay. Because his, the title, I was just guessing what the tiger's first run at their rotation would be. And Boyd's matchups aren't good now where he's actually slotting. So I put Yusay Kukuchi in instead. Most pitchers it's worth noting are making two starts over the 11-day scoring period. So you're less likely to need help off the waiver wire for it. Kikuchi's first matchup at Kansas City.

Okay, we like that. Second, at the Angels, that's pretty scary. So it's not one that I'm recommending with a great amount of gusto, but he was missing bats like crazy this spring. It's easy to talk yourself into him again, especially when one of the matchups is as good as it is. At Kansas City is one of the toughest place to hit home runs. So, yeah, that's his fifth among the players you could potentially pick up the

pitchers, you could potentially pick up off waivers for the extra long version of week one, the 11 days. All right. Well, let's quickly run through some of the sleeper hitters as well, Scott, for this upcoming weekend. I know Jake Freilly is one of them for you going up against the pirates. He's only 40% rostered. Who are some other names that you like over the weekend? So part of the reason I like the Reds is they're facing the Pirates pitching staff. So I like Spencer Steer as well as Frealey, Will Myers. I also like the Rockies. Now, they are not at home, which is generally not a good time to start Rockies hitters. But part of the reason it's not a good time to start Rockies hitters is because of what's known as the Coors Field hangover.

I haven't played at Coors Field yet. Maybe there's a Cactus League hangover. I don't know. And the thought there, and this has been borne out in a lot of studies, but basically that because the ball moves so different, in course field players need and you see this both with course with rockies players the first series outside of cores and then even players who travel to course it tends to be a little less robust but they just need time to adjust to the different way the ball moves out of a pitcher's hand

so that that's the thought process behind the course field hangover it's it's a real it's a real effect and it's most potent the first couple of games after a series and course and scott too to your point about Rockies this weekend. They're not facing the Padre's ace pitchers either. They get Snell on opening day, but then they get Nick Martinez, Michael Waka, and Seth Lugo over the weekend.

Yeah, Darvish isn't starting until the sixth game of the season, so they miss him. And they're playing four games, which few teams are doing over the weekend. So I like Ezekiel Tovar as a sleeper. I like Elaheiros Montero coming off the Big Spring as a sleeper. Let's see, who else?

Jared Kelnick. The Mariners are facing the, they're playing four games, and they're facing nothing but right-handers in those four games against the Guardians. Toughest pitcher they're facing is Bieber, but the second tough is Calquantrol. So some pretty good matchups there. Not a bad time to use Jared Kellnick. Adam Duval, they're opening the year at Fenway Park, so we get to see how those towering flies of his play against the Green Monk.

Plus, they're going against the Orioles pitching staff. Some pretty homer prone pitchers there. Cole Irvin himself is going in that series. So he's a good choice. Braves are facing the Nationals pitching staff, including a couple really homer prone guys and Patrick Corbin and Josiah Gray. So I have Marcel Ozuna here.

I mean, you could think about Eddie Rosario too, I guess, though I get two lefties on the schedule, so he might sit. But Ozuna had a pretty good spring. Obviously, it's not the most exciting play. But if it's a five outfielder league especially, and you're really hurting to fill that fifth spot, you could think about using him with those matchups.

And the five hitters that I have written down for the longer week one scoring period, 11 days, Jake Frail, Ezekiel Tovar, Elahiris Montero, Adam Duval, and Oscar Coloss. Sound good? Yeah, so even over the 11 day scoring period, the Red Sox have the best matchups. That's why Duval's still in there. I will mention Oscar Coloss,

since I didn't mention him the first time around 10 games in those 11 days for the White Sox. And, you know, three-game series against the Pirates, favorable enough matchups that you could, you'll probably want to have him in your lineup. And it's hard to project that far out to know how many lefties he's facing, but it sounds like Coloss might sit against lefties to start.

They don't know if he's going to be in the opening day line. lineup yet going up against Framber Valdez. So just something worth mentioning for Oscar Colos. Let's take our second break and we'll get into, I have another news item that I missed that I want to talk about. We'll do that here on fantasy baseball today. Make sure to follow us on Twitter, if you haven't already. At CBS Scott White, at C Tower, CBS, and at Rodo underscore Frank for me.

There was a tweet from Jeff Passen a little bit before we went live here. Breaking news that a deal is in place between the minor league players in the MLBPA and Major League Baseball. on the historic first collective bargaining agreement for minor leaguers. Union officials tell ESPN deal is five years and includes at least two times pay at all levels of the minors. And I feel like details are slowly starting to trickle out even more about this deal. But at first glance, Chris, it seems like a good thing, right?

I mean, if minor leaguers are getting paid double what they were before, obviously it wasn't much anyway. But I feel like that's a step in the right direction. Yeah, the minor league pay scale, from what I understand, goes from around 20,000 for plus. players in complex leagues to peaking at 38,000, I believe, for players at AAA. So that is a significant pay raise. It's long overdue. And the one notable thing that has come out seems to be that the list of player, the amount of players you can have on your minor league,

in your minor league organization outside of international, I don't know what they refer to them as, international sites, complexes, whatever they call them, as being whittled down from 180 to 165, which is in keeping with what has been a longer-term trend of winnowing the minor league rosters and minor leagues down. So, you know, that's one downside, but all in all, I think it's a positive thing for the players.

All right. Well, let's get into some to stream or not to stream for opening day and for Friday. Scott, remind the people you hate this segment, right? I feel like whenever I bring this up in season, you're like, oh man, why are we talking about these pitchers? They stink. Yeah, because obviously it's not a one-size-fits-all thing.

I think the average user is rarely going to want to stream a pitcher ever because the pitcher's already on their roster. Like, it's a difference between assessing a pitcher by his primary characteristics versus secondary characteristics. Right? And there's a tendency to overstate the secondary characteristics over the primary characteristics. The primary characteristics being just how good is the pitcher? And that's much more important when it comes to your start sit decisions. So saying you should start Mitch Keller at Cincinnati, realistically, for the first week at the season, that's probably going to be a no for most people.

But there is a portion of the audience that it would be a yes for. And so it's hard to contextualize it perfectly. And I think if we're just speaking to the majority, the answer for most streaming options is going to be no, if I explained that correctly. So it's, you know, yeah, it's, it's, it may sound like I'm overcomplicating things, but I just, I hate giving advice that is going to mislead people, you know.

I get what you're saying, Scott. And I feel like I could clip out that entire answer you just gave me and just use it to describe all of fantasy baseball analysis because there's so many different leagues, there's so many different formats, there's so many different size leagues out there too that it's not a one-size fit all. But mostly what we're doing with this,

and we'll probably wrap up every podcast, usually with this daily streamer segment. It's for daily lineup leagues, and most of the time it's people that are looking for volume when they're streaming pitchers. Realistically, you probably should not be playing these guys, but I'll bring it up anyway because a lot of people email in

and they say they want a segment like this. They want to hear about daily streamers. People like it. That is what they want. I just don't want to mislead the people. That's all. I get it. Opening day, you already mentioned Scott. You know, Mitch Keller as a sleeper, Eduardo Rodriguez at Tampa Bay. Obviously coming off a big spring for him,

so we'll see if he can keep that rolling. The only other two that I thought, you know, maybe you could talk herself into. Corey Kluber versus the Orioles or Kyle Gibson at the Red Sox. I can easily say no to both of those. Chris? I think Eduardo Rodriguez is really, really interesting. He had a great spring, like you mentioned,

21 strikeouts, only three walks in 18 and the third innings. That does not include whatever he did during the World Baseball Classic, which I know made at least one appearance. And that's the more interesting thing. He made one appearance in front of the Stackass cameras against Team Nicaragua on March 14. then he averaged 93.6 miles per hour with his fastball through about 50 pitches that outing. That would be the highest average fastball velocity for Eduardo Rodriguez since 2016.

His fastball velocity was down to 91.7 last year. It was 92.5 in 2021. So yeah, I think, you know, remember with Eduardo Rodriguez, I know he was disappointing in 2021 and then bad last year and had the time that he was away from the team as well. It's been a rough couple of years for him. I think he was dealing with a family issue last year, didn't pitch it all in 2020 after having myocarditis as a result of a COVID infection. So, you know, it's possible that it just took him a little while to get back to back in shape.

And he's been a pretty good pitcher in the past. So Edward Rodriguez, someone I have on a handful of teams. And, you know, Tampa Bay is not a great matchup. It's not a terrible one either. So I'm very interested to see what he looks like tomorrow today. To be clear, the no was to Corey Klouber and Kyle Gibson. Mitch Keller and Eduardo Rodriguez, I'm okay with. All right.

On Friday, again, only five games on the schedule. Scott mentioned David Peterson as a potential sleeper at Miami. Nick Martinez versus the Rockies on the road. The only other name, Hunter Gaddis. I assume this is a no. Hunter Gaddis at the Mariners. I don't know enough about what Hunter Gaddis is going to be yet to recommend that. it's it is like just finding a pill

a pill on the sidewalk and deciding I'm going to take that pill and see what happens I mean look sky you've never been to a music festival uh-oh but is that true sky you never been to a music festival Scott have you ever been to a concert part um I have yes okay I've been to a concert or two

well now we have to know who it was I don't even know somebody my wife took me to back before she was my wife and you know I had to act like I was interested in everything all right yeah sounds like the the scout white experience while at a concert music festival I don't know if we're all ever in Florida together I don't know Chris maybe we we take Scott out for a music festival let's do it no sales on the sidewalk nope no no no Scott don't no don't take the hunter gattis do not do it. Before we wrap up here, Chris, you have an article out, what to watch on opening day. So what are some things that you're paying attention to? And specifically early on in the season,

you know, what are you watching for when it comes to pitchers or, you know, hitters, maybe mechanics or, you know, strikeout rates or whatever it might be. What are you looking for? Yeah. So you should subscribe to the fantasy baseball today newsletter. I'm doing a little guest post for tomorrow. That's kind of an opening day viewing guide. So I'm just giving you like one thing to watch for every game. A lot of it is lineup construction stuff. So like, where does Anthony Volpe hit in the Yankees lineup? Uh, where does DJ Lemayhew hit? Stuff like that. Obviously, this is our first opportunity really to see closers, you know, which, which ones are going to be first used? You know, we've got like, which one was it? Who are the A's playing the Angels?

We don't really know who the Angels close are going to be. Well, they get the A's this weekend. So I think there's a pretty good chance. We're going to see a couple of safe opportunities for the angels unless they blow the A's out, which they very well could. But hopefully they keep it close enough that we find out whether it's Jimmy Hergett or Ryan Tepera or probably not Carlos Estevez. But we'll find some of that stuff out. And then on a more general note, you know, these new pitches that we've been talking about, Mitch Keller's cutter, Clark Schmidt's cutter, Jameson Sweeper.

I'm sure there are more interesting ones than those. Those just happen to be the ones that were at the top of my head. the velocity reading stuff like Eduardo Rodriguez, read Dettmers, the ones that we've been talking about all spring, seeing those carry on into not just a 50 pitch outing,

but a 90 pitch outing. Pablo Lopez, his velocity was up about a mile and a half per hour. He's starting tomorrow. That's one of the things that I'm really interested in seeing is, you know, is he throwing 94 and a half miles per hour

with his fastball on average? And then, you know, the, I'm really interested to see how like stuff like the shit shift restrictions are impacting like a team like the Dodgers who are really, really smart about how they shift. They've been a really, really great defensive team. Their team Babup is like, it's like 20 points lower than any other teams over the last

three seasons or something wild like that. They've just like been a huge outlier in that regard. And it makes like Julio Reyes really good. I have some questions about the Dodgers defense this season, especially up the middle. So I think there's a lot to keep an eye on. And Hunter Green's pitch mix. That's another one.

Is he throwing that change up? You talked about that a lot in the spring, but didn't really use it all that much. So lots to keep an eye out on opening day and beyond. So I'm looking at that. Don't react to performance. Bad Bip over the past three seasons. The Dodgers are at 257. Most by far in baseball.

Second on that list, the Houston Astros, 274. So yeah, about 20 points. Yeah, near a 20 point gap there. Yeah, I'm gonna double down, Chris, on a lot of what you said, velocity I want to pay attention to. Pitch makes changes. Not just are they using a new pitch, but are they using a pitch that's been effective in the past?

More or less. I think that's something that's interesting as well. Playing time is going to be big as well. Lineups, but also platoons. Whose platooning? Is Oscar Coloss going to play against left-handed pitching? I think these are all things we need to pay attention to early on in the season. I will say not to overreact too much to line up stuff too.

Yes, true. There is a tendency for managers at the start of the year to kind of want to get everybody's feet wet. And so we'll probably see more lineup variation at the very start of the year than we will by the end of April. Absolutely. It's fair to say. Lineups are just a snapshot in time. You know, that's the one thing that it's easy to freak out about Anthony Volpe hitting 9th on opening day, which I think is what we're assuming we're going to see. We haven't seen that roster, that lineup yet.

but if Anthony Volpe hits even 80% as much as the fantasy community thinks he will. He's not going to hit ninth all season. Now, he may not hit any higher than six. You know, that was kind of, even when Glaber Torres was really good, his plate appearance totals were really low relative to players of his calibers because he always hit in the bottom third of the lineup.

So, you know, those things matter, but it's important to keep in mind that opening day, opening week, opening month, they're just snapshots in time. And players who play well will earn bigger opportunities. You know, if Oscar Colos doesn't start tomorrow, it doesn't mean he's not going to start against any lefties. He'll just potentially have to earn his spot.

All right. Let's wrap up the offseason with five emails in five minutes. Will we get it done? Let's find out. This one's from Anthony, grade the trade in a 12-te-head points league traded Fernando Tatis, Mackenzie Gore and Cole Irvin got back Ronald Acuna, Alex Lang, and Adam Frazier. I mean, in a 12 team head-to-head points league, there's a pretty good chance that this is an acunia for Tatis trade.

Yeah. Right. And so I'd rather have a cunia. I think Alex Lang might be the second most valuable player. I mean, Cole Irvin, I think he'll probably be okay. And McKenzie Gore has some upside. but I think you came out clearly ahead in this one. Getting a cuneer for Tatis alone is very good.

I think it's a slight one. I'll go B minus. Scott? B. This one's from Trevin. A trade question. Head to head points league. 12 teams.

Lance Lynn, Teasker Hernandez, and Jonathan India for Kyle Schwerber and Brandon Lau. Which side wins? The I, I think the Schwabber side. Yeah.

It's, you know, 12-te-to-head points league. The head-to-head points league is on the shallower end of the pool, I would say. Thinking about 250 players rostered. So obviously, the Lynn Teoska-Hernandez side is getting the second and third best player. But I still think I'd just rather have the best player in Schwerber in that size league. Let's not forget that Brennan Lauer has a ton of upside of his. India has upside too, but yeah, I would say Lowe has more. You guys know I'm an India guy.

I think, and I'm a Lance Lynn guy too, so I think I would stick with that side. But if you want Schorber, you can listen to this. I think it's a, I think it's a Frankie 2 for 1. Yeah, no. 2 for 1 special, right? No, the 2 for special. This one's from John. Would you rather have Matthew Boyd or Mike Clevenger in a head-to-head points league?

Matthew Boyd on CBS, by the way, does have SPARP eligibility. That would be the reason I would go with Boyd, yeah. I'd go with Boyd anyway. I just think there's, you know, he's highly combustible. It's one of those total boomer bus plays. But the boom, I feel like is more interesting for Boyd with the strikeout potential. He showed this spring. Is shown in the past than for Clevenger at this stage of his career.

This one's from Bubba, 10 team six by six categories, five-keeper salary cap league, three outfielders. Would you trade Julio Rodriguez for Francisco Lindor, Kyle Schwarz? And Vinnie Pasquantino. That's tough because only five keepers. There's no guarantee Pasquantino is one of your five best players, assuming that it's just keep your five best players. I mean, attempting league presumably Pasquantino isn't. But we're not only thinking for considerations here.

I mean, the season's just starting. So I'm presuming you're playing for right now. I mean, look, this is a huge return. Obviously, Julio Rodriguez is the best player. It's a really shallow league 10 teams. And just as a rough rule, just a rough guideline. If it's a shallow league, the side getting the best player usually wins the deal. But Lindor, Schwabre, and Pasquantino are all still really good players who would be,

certainly Lindor and Schwabre would be must start even in a league, the shallow Pasquantino. I mean, probably him also. I think it would, I think you'd have to look at who you already have in those lineup spots and say, am I clearly upgrading all three of these spots? And if you are, go ahead and do it. Give up the best player and who Leo Rodriguez. But if you're not, then don't. Isn't there something just to talent acquisition though, Scott?

I mean, I hear what you're saying, and that was my inclination too, is make sure you're upgrading. But I mean, if you're just acquiring the most talent, doesn't it still make sense to do it? there's an argument to be made there. I mean, you anticipate in this league keeping Julio Rodriguez for the next decade, but it's not necessarily going to play out that way. Six by six-by-six category. I actually wrote down the current first baseman is Vargas

and the current shortstop is Ezekiel Tovar, so. I don't know what happened, that you ended up with those as your starter in a 10-team league. Yeah, I think you definitely do this trade, if that's the case. Yeah, I think so. This last one's from Jeff. Hey guys, needing to I.L. Adelberto Monashy in an eight-team AO-only league with no bench spots,

limited to doing only a middle infielder. Would you go with Jonathan Scope, Tony Kemp, David Hensley, Maricio Dubon, A Ledmas Diaz, or Kike Hernandez? I think I would lean. I think I'd lean Kike. Hernandez, just with an everyday job, even though he's likely to bet towards the box. of the Red Sox lineup.

Al-Led M. Diaz is a weird one. Do we think he's going to play every day? He is, I think, the athletics highest-paid player. I think they said he was going to be a short-side platoon with Nick Allen at shortstop, but they could probably play Al-Med Mists-D-M-D-H-M. Scott, do we have any update on who's going to play second base for the Astros? Because if it's Hensley, I think I would want him from this group. I think it's going to be, it's going to start out based on match-ups,

specifically the Astros own pitching staff. So like Framber Valdez, ground ball specialist, biggest ground ball pitcher in the game, they're probably going to go with the defensive-minded Mauricio Du Bonn. But then maybe when they start Christian Javier, big fly ball pitcher, they'd go with Hensley.

I think if Hensley hits well enough, he eventually just becomes the guy. But in an AL-only league, if you wanted more secure at bats, I could understand going with Jonathan's scope for Kike Hernandez instead. I think me in an 8-team AL-only league, I'd roll the dice on Hensley.

But it's up to you. All right, well, five questions in six and a half minutes. I kind of fog us down a little bit. It's not bad. We slowed way down on the last two. I know, yeah. We were making some good time. Anywho, we're going to wrap there.

I just want to give a big shout-out to everyone who watches, listen to us, an email, send us in nights notes, Apple Podcasts reviews, just making all of this possible. It's been an awesome, awesome offseason and lots of draft prep and lots of fun. And now the fun is about to pick up even more with the season starting. So shout out to you, the listeners and the people who watch us and keep us going here. So really do appreciate it. It's opening day.

Let's get it. We're going to wrap there for Scott and Chris. I am Frank. Thanks as always for tuning in to Fantasy Baseball today. Please make sure to follow and leave a five-star rating on Apple or Spotify. We'll be back again tomorrow on opening day with a recap. Bye bye.