Greetings and salutations everyone at which Wilson Welcome to Fantasy Baseball Live. Today is
the seventh of January, about three o'clock in the afternoon, Tim and I
have already did our Happy New Year stuff, Timmy even I think Larry David,
who was the creator of Seinfeldt and Curb Your Enthusiasm, said after the
third of January, you can no longer stay Happy New Year to someone.
That was his position, Happy New Year, Rick, Well, it was
there. Come on, I don't know, like, when do you stop?
I had to walk through it. When do you stop saying Happy New
Year to people? I was at church today seeing these people and they're saying
Happy New Year. I'm going, it's a week after New Year's are you
still saying it? I just don't know. First time you see somebody wish
him Happy New Year. So if you first time you see somebody is in
March, right, what do you say Happy New Year? It's all you've
heard a conversation off somewhere right over year has been going well or yeah,
it's you know, that's funny. When I see somebody for the first time
in April, I'm say Happy New Year. How's your house? Year going
exactly there. I have been seen you since last last oct Ever, that's
funny. If anything it'll get, it'll provide a chuckle and a good entry
to a nice, warm, friendly conversation. Right, how has the week
been going, mister McLeod, It's been going good. Uh. I've been
busy ranking and filing and got shortstop done and I've even even got a few
third basement ranked. I'm I'm embracing the new year with a with a newfound
zealousy. Uh. I'm putting my why do tomorrow? We're like, no,
why do today? We're I can do tomorrow philosophy on the back burner
and diving right into things. And I got another league that's starting, another
preseason league starting up next week, doing some prep, doing some prep for
my XFL draft in March. Shift just busy, life is good. What
about yourself? How's your how's your draft going? What's what's happening there?
Well, before we do our drafts, Tim, Tim's Tim left me with
a big, like speculative question as we were coming on the air. We'll
get to that in a second, But third base? Can we get back
to third base real quick? Yeah? Sure, I'm getting a little worried
about Manny Machado. I don't, I mean, with with what's going on
in San Diego and is he going to take more time to truly heal.
You're not hearing a lot of he's in the best shape of his life type
of thing. And I mean there's nothing coming out. Am I reading too
much into this? No, I don't think you're reading too much into it
at all. I'm going to you know, his ADP's down to sixty eight.
But I think it's fairly obvious he's going to start the year at DH.
How long will he be at DH? Will he even start the year?
How is I about willing to affect him? I don't see many Machado
diving for balls, okay, with that repaired arm anytime early in the season.
If he is playing their base, and you're right, who knows he
might he might err on the side of caution, want to make sure he's
one hundred percent. We might not see him right out of the gates.
So no, I think it's perfectly perfectly reasonable right now to be concerned about
Manny Minchado. Yeah, I just I mean, I go a lot on
just the setup stem and if you kind of think about Manny Mitchado, Potch
All Star, one of the best players in baseball. You figure the Padres
have been consulting. Hey, we're bringing in one Soda, We're going for
it. We're doing this, we're doing that. And all of a sudden
he gets hurt. And then he sees his teammates leaving and again, one
of the best players in baseball office team, he's hearing about financial concerns,
and all sudden, Timmy, it's like, yeah, maybe I'll take a
few extra weeks just to make sure I'm healthy, as opposed to maybe if
Soda was on the team. This is pure speculation from my standpoint, maybe
he would rush himself back, you know what I mean. Yeah, No,
it makes sense. I think it's worth wondering about. Yeah, I'm
not gonna he's not in my plans for this. Yeah he was two months
ago. He's longer anymore. And again, this is no disrespect to me
and child at all. This is just like just what people you would think
would think, you know, thirty one year old or however, hold he
is probably needs extra time to get ready, and now all of a sudden
he sees maybe a team that eh, maybe I'll take the extra time.
Well, and let's face it, there are options, you know, the
current excuse me, the current ADP for Machado sixty eight, Well, i'sa
on Kim's a pretty bare player at eighty twelve picks. Then you go another
seventeen picks, No nol and Aeronatto, who's still a he's still a thirty
ninety guy in my books. Josh Young at one oh one, Bregman at
one oh one, Spencer Steer at one o six. There are there are
options, okay, that you can explore that you don't have to ask that
question every day until you see him on the field. Will he be on
the field? You know? So I it's just not worth it to me.
Yeah, And there are a steam former colleague of those who haven't been
with us that long time. We used to have Marcus Potter, good friend
of ours. This is on the podcast ten years years ago something like that
was one. Well, we're heading into our fifteenth years, so it might
even be longer than that, it might even longer than that. Just a
great guy, really smart guy. And he had his axiom that hey,
if you're injured to begin the season, I ain't interested in you, and
that was the Marcus Potter axiom that unfortunately has played off correctly more times than
not. Yeah, I would definitely say, if you know, if we
took a look at best shape of his life, I'm healthy and going to
be healthy in the spring after surgery. Yeah, I would say, definitely,
he's been right more often than wrong. It's hey, it's it's a
concern until we see these players coming off surgery actually on the field, we
don't know, Dooley. I took Bryce Harper I think in like the seventh
or eighth round last year in my NFBC draft, and I was expecting him
to come back early because he's Bryce Harper, and he's you know, he's
macho, and there's a good team. And he came back early. Timmy,
I'm smiling from ear to ear. I can assure you. I think
he had two home runs at the beginning of August. Now again, he
killed it at August and September, but he needed more time, tim to
heal and get ready, and the first couple of months were pretty tough from
a power standpoint. It was tough to put him in your lineup. Yeah,
if there was training in that league, I'm sure you would have looked
for some sort of an opportunity, but it probably wouldn't have been the right
move. But at the same point in time, Yeah, that first couple
of months returning, Yeah, he rushed himself. Obviously he made up for
it down the stretch, but that doesn't help you in June and July doesn't,
No, and it becomes stressful to me and maybe stressed that you don't
need because I can, like last year, you go, well, she
I can't take him out of the lineup because he's Bryce Harper and he could
hit four home runs in a week and then I'm gonna miss it, and
that's what you think. And then another week passes and it's a zero home
runs and three RBIs and you just it's it's not torture or not the way,
but it's very, very difficult from an emotional standpoint. Agonizing. Yeah,
it's agonizing exactly. So just everybody be careful with Minny Machado until he
shows up at spring training and looks like himself. I totally agree, Tim,
you asked about my draft, Yes, yes, would you like to
hear what I've been doing? Yes, I am curious because I have reason
to be curious. Why is that? Because I am starting a draft this
week on Wednesday, and I happen to have drawn the number two slot.
Coincidence of coincidences. Again, purely random selection, but sitting in the same
chair as you when it comes to picking, it's nice to know what you've
done, maybe what you haven't done, and which you think you could have
done better or worse, you know whatever. Is this a real draft or
a mock draft? That's one hundred dollars entry, it's big money. Well,
first off, Timmy, I will say I'm very impressed. One that
you remembered I was doing an NFBC draft, so thank you for that.
And two, Timmy, the listening skills are on fire. This must have
been a twenty twenty four New Year's resolution. You remember what slot I was
drafting, and well done? Well, thank you very much. I made
the same New Year's resolution I've made for the past twenty some odd years,
not to make any more of them. Man, it's the only one I've
ever kept. But I have been listening. I've I've always just been impressed
that you knew my name. So now now that you're actually realizing what slot
I'm drafting in Wow, exactly, Okay, so just everybody else. I
was in the number two slot, and as I said, I don't know
a week maybe three weeks ago, that if Bobby Wood, if I Bobby
Wood Junior was on the board, I would take him. I took him
to look. I love Julio Rodriguez, Kyle Tucker, Mookie Back. I
mean, they're all great picks. I took Bobby Witt and I went there,
came back with Michael Harris, and then my first picture was Pablo Lopez.
I did take him over Zach Galen and who else was big on the
board. Herbie was probably still there, Kirby was there yep, and Terrek
Scooba. Those were the four I was considering Glass I was on the board.
I was not considering him. I don't think you would either, And
nothing to GLASSA to me could easily win a cy Young in the National League,
but until he pitches one hundred and fifty innings caught me skeptical. Well,
hey, yeah, he could win you a SI. He could cost
you a title, that's true. So you could get sixty out of him
and be searching for another one hundred while spending major amounts of yr fab Yeah.
Yeah, it's just the way it is. It is so so after
that, so that's where we left the Timmy on right, when did we
record? We did the we did something this past week. Yeah it was.
It was on Tuesday because of the New Year's Oh that's right, that's
right, Sunday, Monday, and yeah, yeah, it was back Tuesday.
Had a short stop. I had an outfielder and I had a pitcher
right coming back. If you read my targets and read my how I was
going after drafts that I was going to be picking early with catching and early
with outfield I already had one outfielder, tim it was time to go with
another outfielder, and I went with one the only Michael Trout. Solid.
I like it. Michael Trout in the fourth round, Come on, I
like it. Now. That's just because it's an NFBC draft. You gotta
get closers early, and they started coming off the board. I'm like,
I gotta get I gotta get a closer. I wanted de Val he went
before my next pick, so I got Rossiel Iglesias. You know, with
Atlanta, probably try to get his set up as well. That's where I
went next. Yeah, okay. Then I came back again, thinking I'm
going to take a catcher early. My target was William Contreras. He went
off early. My next guy was Will Smith. I understand Tim McLeod's logic
that he is not going to get as many at bats as he did last
year because of Choyotani being there, but look, Will Smith is still a
great defender, a great catcher. So I went with will Smith. Yeah,
sol it, I like it. Then I came back and I've got
one starting pitcher. I've got two outfitters. I got my catch, I
got one catcher, and I decided to go back to back with starting pitchers
in the NFBC draft and whole format. I've been playing in it too many
years. Timmy, you will run out of pitching, so I'm making sure
you will run out of pitching in a redraft league, let alone a draft
and old format. Yeah. So the fair point. So I went with
Tanner Baby, Oh, I like it. Follow it in round eight.
This was a little controversial, but I'm thinking, where can I get two
hundred, two hundred strikeouts and it's missing draft Tyler Glasgow twice that that deserves
a rim shot. For sure to me, let I see her well played.
I brought, I brought. I brought my X game today, my
X rated game. Today. I'm gonna go full snark. I think rich
I went, I went toll and seized him. I'm thinking there ain't no
way he's gonna be with the White Sox. I do not believe that's the
case. Uh, the data still looks good. Yeah, he's dropped a
mile mile and a half in his fastball, but the spend rates are still
great. He doesn't have great control, but it is nasty, nasty stuff.
So maybe it comes with a four ear a, but I think it's
gonna come with two hundred strikeouts and a lot of wins because you know one
of the big teams are gonna go after him. Well yeah, and you're
looking at uh your looking at right now. You've got six hundred Strake coats
in the bank. That's sweets. That's a nice number. Yep. So
I two of my targets, Bobby Winn and Pablo Lopez are off the board
the next fourth, so I did not take any of my targets. Bibby
just missed being on my target list. So I felt pretty good about that.
My next picktim You'll be very proud of me. I think I need
another outfielder. What the hell, let's go Jackson Curio. There, there
you go. There's there's your difference maker. Yep. Then I came back
with all of my targets, my first basement, Vinnie Pasquentina. I'm looking
in round eleven. I'm thinking I've already got a short stop. I don't
care. Anthony Volpi is twenty twenty in the bank, and come on like
and look, the batting average of balls and play was low last season.
Let's go with Anthony Volpi. Yeah, come back with my second catcher and
go Lewis Compensano. I want to desperately to have a logan o'happy he went,
But I Lewis Compensano was too good to pass up. There, I
go back with my next pitcher. Another target of mine, a guy you
do not like, is Brian wu following in the fourteenth round with probably my
biggest target of the season, and that is Michael Garcia with your Kansas City
Royals. Timmy, the data is off the charts with this guy. He
is fast, hits the ball and people don't realize this one of the hardest
hit rates in all of baseball is Michael Garcias, so there could be something
there. Then I come back with three pitchers all targets while two other three
were targets of mine. Brandon fought in the fifteenth round. I had to
get a second closer. I don't know if I like this, but I
went with Robert Suarez, trying to stay on the Tim McCloud good side.
Going with these former Japanese guys and then coming back with Emmitt Shehan is another
one of my targets. So it's chuck. I put my money where my
mouth is. At least half of my team or guys that I have written
up and said the data really likes these Robert Suarez, I mean, Timmy.
I wish I would have had a better second closer, but you know,
it is what it is. I did not want Kyle Finnegan. He
was my other selection. Well, no, We've been through the trials and
tribulations of Finnigan many times in the past, and at some point in time,
the definition of insanity kicks in. Right, Why are we doing something
over and over again expecting different results. It's the same situation. So yeah,
I would have gone to Az over Vinigan as well. Yeah, I've
got eight pictures Tim and three outfielders. Are probably going to go an outfielder
next. I do not have a second basement yet. As we talked last
week, Look, a lot of good second basements are off the board.
I wish I had one of them, but I do not. So I'm
going to get a second basement a little bit later. And that might be
my weak position, but it is what it is. Can't have a do
you get options late there? Yeah? Yeah, And you can't have a
start every position. But I'm really happy with my pitching staff. It's deep,
there's a lot of young arms in there. Nobody is old on my
on my pitching staff, so I feel really really good about it. And
I think my favorite pick. You gotta like Mike Mike Trout in the fourth
round, but I love Anthony Volpi in the eleventh round. All right,
Yeah, I think it's a great pick. I don't know what people are
thinking, like that's yeah, I'm just taking a look right now. Is
Adp is going as the fifteenth short stop off the board? With an ADP
at one thirty five, I get the batting average was low. I'm expecting
improvement, but as a rookie playing in the Bronx, Okay, it's not
like there isn't any pressure playing there are lots of players haven't been able to
play at all in New York. He was a twenty twenty player. Yeah,
that's not shabby for a kid that has a ceiling far in excess.
I believe what we saw last year. Would I be shocked if he's a
top ten potentially higher than that, even you know shortstop next year, No,
not at all. I think it's a great pick, and you got
your speed short up you go, Yeah, the power. I don't remember
all of the bats, but between Wit and Trow you got to be looking
at and counting on seventy there. Yeah, yeah, so you know,
yeah, it's a good start. I like it. Yeah, I'm pretty
happy with it. It's so I add it to my fancy spreadsheet Tim,
which is available to our Patreon subscribers. Haven't done the update, but I
put in some I put in all the ADPs. I sucked in all the
NFBC eightps, so as soon as I put in the player, it automatically
tells me what his ADP is, and then all I do is say,
what round did I pick him in? And I put in my slot,
So I put in slot number two on round I pick him in, and
it tells me did I get him ahead or did I get value at least
from a draft slot standpoint, or did I potentially overpay could have waited a
little bit, which I found to be pretty helpful. And guys like Anthony
Volpi. I got him with my eleventh pick that my personal ADP then would
have been one fifty two and his ADP was one thirty four point ninety five,
So I felt like I got a little value there. So yeah,
the only the only concern I would have uh with your team right now is
probably at the closer position. And again, who knows what's going to happen
in San Diego. But I'm not huge on a Glaciers either. I'd find
a way to tuck a j menjer in there. Yep, Yeah, you're
right, just just because like I said, I I know what Glaciers has
got to earth to Tim. Let's take a quick break, everybody, and
I'll go find out where Tim went. We have missed out wherever temping cloud
as he went into the black hole. Tim, Yes, I jumped into
the ABYSS very quickly. There, I was chatting away and bang power died.
Everything shut down, so of course you gotta wait for about five seconds.
Power came back on and then of course the rotor has to reboot.
So here we are sorry about that, no worries. Some of you were
talking about potentially a Glacias needing to back up for him on my team.
I agree with you there, and obviously Robert Suarez is Robert Suarez. We
just don't know. I will be adding a lot more set up guys for
sure, so it's not standing in the draft and hold you. Yeah,
you have to try and toss some dark and hopefully hopefully land on a couple
couple winners. Yeah, that's that's the goal here. So Tim, let's
say you've got the number out of the number two slot coming up on Wednesday,
and I said, well, you'll be taking Corbyn Carroll, who actually
dropped to number eight in my draft here, which yeah, again, we
talked about that last Tuesday. I think the guy got a real steal there.
And the eighth pick, who were you taking as your number two guy,
Bobby Witt? Are you really? Yeah? I've done some digging and
taking a look at things, and you know what, I just have I
just have concerns about Corbyn Carroll and that shoulder. And I did a little
bit, a little bit deeper digging you. How many home runs Corbyn Carroll
hit in the second half. Not many, I'm gonna say, let me
get I guess five. Uh, you're one high over his August September totals.
He hit four in August and September. Yeah, Now was he compensating
for the shoulder? Did he change something? Was it just a couple of
bad months? Either either way? In the back of my mind, Hey,
you know, the guy at number eight could have got himself a heck
of a deal. But in the back of my mind there's still something that
bothers me about that shoulder. And went in doubt. I'll go with Bobby
Witt and take one of two three outfielders with my second pick, and they
should all be on the board. So I mean you got I mean again
Lewis Robert went rop before when I picked at Michael Harris and Randy or Rose
Arena, we're all three there. So I think that's that's that's that's the
three pretty well that I'll h that I'll be looking at those. Yeah,
so I'm gonna and then come back with a starting pitcher. So same strategy
I used, maybe different players with same strategy I use yep, yeah,
but pretty much. Yeah, that's uh, that's pretty well what I'm going
to be looking at. I I think it makes a lot out of sense.
I as much as I would love an outfielder with how do you how
do you pass on a thirty fifty type player? You don't take take what's
there for you and be happy. Yeah, the data really supports this guy,
Tim, It's uh, yes it does. I don't know, I
don't Yeah, so I still agree with you. Yeah, the the Jacksonuria,
I know you took him in a previous draft. He was your first
outfielder, I believe, right. Yeah, that's the one where I went
pitching early and heavy. I took Garrett Cole and yeah, he ended up
being he ended up being my my number one, my number one outfielder.
I'm just pulling up the information now. As far as when I got him,
I believe it was somewhere around the tenth eleventh round, and I'll have
that up in a second here. Uh, yes, I took him.
I took him in the ninth round. Yeah, I got him in the
ninth round as well. So I think I could be, you know,
smoking something here or sniffing glue whatever. We could be talking about Jackson Curio
this time next season, like we're talking about Corbyn, Carrol, Gunner,
Henderson, these kind of guys. It's that kind of upside, tim And
I'm here to tell you write about prospects. I have boldly put Jackson Curio
as my number one prospect in the game with Jackson Holiday number two. So
I finally made that call, and I'm just saying, you know, the
upside is just too high. Now he might not hit tim still very young.
Well, you know what, every opportunity will be presented to him for
success. They're not going to demote him, Timmy, unless he hits one
ten or something like that for six weeks. They're not gonna He's gonna get
every chance to play. Well. Yeah, and you might want to check
when the Brewers have their bubble head nights scheduled because he might be one of
them. And you know he'll be up for that, right, I mean,
it's their big guy, you know it is it is there Corbyn Carrell
from last year. It is the guy that they are. You know,
he's he's going to be an important cog in that well. Plus he's already
won me a well, hasn't won me already, but it's it looks like
in the bag a steak and liquor bet, so I had to double down
with them. Well, yeah, I would do over a steak in liquor
bet. I'd be much more miserable to the person who made it. With
you. You'll let me off cheap here. I appreciate it. Thank you
again, So tell me that's going to the news, News and notes.
Speaking of the Mariner sim remember we had our al Wes kind of preview was
it maybe three weeks ago and four weeks ago? And we were saying,
are the Mariners really going to go to war with Dominice, Canzone and Cade
Marlowe? Well, Tim, what is that answer? The answer is yes,
but only exactly, and so they they they were busy, Tim.
They traded Robbie Ray to the Giants and received a former Mariner, Mitch Haniger
and writing a picture Anthony di Scalfini. I think it's disco disco is something
they call him? Yeah, just go yeah, something like that disco.
Yeah, and then they also acquired Luke Rowley from the Rais in exchange for
Jose Caballero. So I before we get into specifics, when you saw both
of those trades, they occurred, I believe within twenty four hours of one
another. What was going through your mind? Did you like it for the
Mariners? Did you see something that maybe for another team that wow? I
like what they did there? What was your thinking? Uh? Desperate times
require desperate measures, and the Mariners couldn't go into the season with the lineup
that we were looking at a week ago, so they made they made some
moves, they made some ads. The question that I looked at right away
is last year, the Mariners didn't make the playoffs? Did they? They
did not, and they probably should have. Well, they didn't make the
playoffs and two of their three starting outfielders were ti Oscar Hernandez and Jared Kelnick.
Now they have replaced ti Oscar and kell Nick with Hanager and Raley.
Does that make them better today as compared to a year ago or worse?
Who would you rather have entering the season Oscar above all three of those guys?
Right? So that's fair? Right? So so they got. So
I I think I'd rather have Ti Oscar and the hope that Jaric callin it
will turn into something that's what I'd rather go to war with than Luke Raley
and and uh oh, Mitch Hannagher. Well, and if you take that
approach as I do, as well as you do, that's still not good
enough for a playoff spot, is it? No, because they didn't make
the playoffs last season? Not the same was all It was all their fault
that the pitching was fine. Well yeah, no I'm not. I'm not
saying it. So yeah, I just think they were in a better position
last year and it didn't do it. So we do. I think it's
changed the world for Mariners fans. Well yes, compared to a week ago,
but in the big scheme of things, I don't think it makes them
a playoff team. So there we go. It's hey, it's it's better
than what it was, but I don't think it's good enough. I wrote
a thousand words on this on our Patreon site, so I tried to do
that on all trades, so was diving into the data. So I'm gonna
let you opine Timmy. First of all, Mitch Hanniger had his heyday back
with the Marror. Still a good player, has really struggled to stay healthy,
right, and again that that's the problem with Mitch Hanniger. It's health,
right, Yep. His ADP is three seventy seven. What are you
thinking about about that? Is that reasonable? Is that a guy that you
would target or just no, it's it's too much injury. I'm not going
to take him as my fourth fifth outfielder. I guess it's better than that
fifth or six outfielder. Yeah. Hey, I'll throw a data as a
fifth six outfielder and hope for the best, but also realizing the best might
not be that good. We're looking at three in the past four seasons he's
failed to stay healthy and you know, twenty nineteen good in what two hundred
and forty six at bats? Okay, in twenty twenty two to twenty four,
twenty twenty three, two eleven three out of four. Hey, you're
gambling as a as a fifth, sixth outfielder, a bench reserve slot.
Yeah, but to bet on a full year stats of the midchanager, it's
a long shot based on what's happened over the past three four years, right,
it looks like Mitchanderger's actually ADP is six' ten. I'm not sure.
I got three seventy seven, so okay, So yeah, if you're
looking at a bench slot, sure he's penciled into a full time position that
gives him the opportunity. We've seen him hit as many as thirty nine home
runs, okay, back in twenty twenty one. We've also seen him,
you know, twenty six home runs ninety three RBIs in twenty eighteen. Yeah,
healthy Mitch Haanderger can go thirty, thirty, eighty, thirty, ninety.
It's all about It's all about the hell. Luke Railey tim in four
hundred and six plate appearances, went nineteen home runs, fourteen stolen bases.
He did strike out thirty one point five percent of the time, and I
speculated in my article that's probably why he's no longer a Tampa Bay Ray.
They don't like that, but there is speed and power. What you're thinking
on Luke rally Ah as a fourth fifth type outfielder, Yeah, I'll toss
a dark depending on what I have to pay for him. He did have
a two forty nine batting average three point thirty babbots so his ex his ex
batting average of two twenty five feels about right. So he could be a
twenty twenty guy with a low batting average. Is that how you read it?
Yeah, that's pretty much pretty much how I read it. I don't
think there's any reason to believe that if he gets in four hundred and fifty
to five hundred bats, he could hit twenty five home runs and steal twenty
bases with a low batting average. One of the other principal players here is
Anthony D. Scalfini. Tim, I trashed him in my right up your
thoughts. It's all about health and we haven't seen enough of it, have
we. Yeah, the data does not look good with this guy. I
mean, his pitches are not very good anymore. Well, no, yeah,
you got to remember he's now thirty three years old, okay, turning
turning thirty four in April. And guys, we just lost him, but
I believe we have him backed. Tim, Do you need a nickel to
pay for your your electricity here? No, but I might need a dime
to pay for the burial of the squirrel. Okay that was up front in
a tree, chewing on buds and dragged the line into the tree. So
I don't know what's going on here, but I'm serious. Wait a minute,
you serious? I am serious. I went outside. There's this stupid
squirrel sitting in a tree, munching on some frozen berries, and it's dragged
somehow. It's it's dragged the line in and shorting it out. So if
the house burns because of a squirrel, I'll be sure to let you know.
Rich. I'm sorry, TIMMYO. That's a zero point zero right there.
That is so ridiculous. Yeah. Yeah, I opened the back door,
powers on in half the house, not in the front of the house,
and there's this squirrel the sitting up in the tree, just having a
heyday, chewing things on a line and dragged it into the trees. I
think, oh, man, dude, this is not good. No,
it's not. This is a first soul. Okay, when when if we
had a squirrel interrupt the podcast? Well, I mean, we're doing this
for fifteen years. It was bound to happen. I guess. I don't
know. It was on my top thousand list, but we near the bottle.
Wow, well we're glad you're back. Gosh, Tommy, I'm a
little worried. I mean, I don't want your I don't want the tree
catching on fire. And God knows what happened. And so but anyway,
you were saying the Scalfeini turns thirty four in April, and then you went
dead. Yes, And the last time he pitched a full season was twenty
twenty one. Before that, twenty nineteen, it's just been one injury after
another. Do I think he can help if he's healthy. Yeah, But
when I look at his his page over or injury elbow estimated return February first.
Okay, so again it's high injury risk in a draft, and hold,
would I take him, Yeah, somewhere in round thirty five to forty
five, somewhere in there, Okay, Yeah. And then we got and
then we've got Robbie Ray, probably the most famous of all of these guys,
clearly a Cy Young Award underneath, you know, in his in his
trophy cabinet twenty twenty one. But he did have Tommy John surgery fairly early
last seasons. I think he'll be back the second half of the year.
I kind of liked it for the Giants. I thought it was a gamble
to get in a you know, a very good picture. But obviously with
Risks, he's always struggled to find control, and that's obviously a problem with
Tommy john surgery. Guys, coming back from TJS, what you're thinking about
Robbi Ray? Did you like that deal for the Giants? It seems so
typical giant ish, if you know, it just sort of seems to fit
what I could see the Giants doing. I think right now, with the
state of pitching and the number of pitchers that are going to miss this season,
just the overall shortage, I think there's a couple of ways you can
acquire pitching. You can bit against the Dodgers, or you can roll the
dice and take some chances and or trade. And I don't have any I
don't have any problems with what the Giants did, none whatsoever. I don't
have any problems what the Mets did with Severino either, or what the Reds
did. You know, Hey, it's not like you're making a huge long
commitment and how you go about finding starting pitching. It's tough. They've got
now, They've got they've got Logan Webb, they've got Kyle Harrison, and
they've got Robbie Ray. I'll go to battle with those three guys in twenty
twenty five. Yeah, I don't think it's a bad move at all.
Now let's get to the most interesting of all the moves, I think,
and that is the Rays getting for Luke Raley getting back Jose Cabarello. I
think that's how you pronounced pronounce his name. And after what we've heard over
the last four or five days, Tim, I think we should comment it
does not sound good of what's happening in the Dominican with wander Franco in this
awful mother, Tim, I mean, wander Franco, what a dirtball,
But the mother what she's being accused of. If you can't trust your mother
to protect the child, I mean, that's really problematic. But I can't
imagine. And you're right up for short stop, we're going to get it,
and you say it's minuscule, that's being generous, that wonder Franco's gonna
come back in twenty twenty four. It's not happening. So they the Raiser
basically trying to find a shortstop. Well that they are, and when you
look at the options, you know Taylor Walls is one, but again he's
coming off October surgery to repair a laboral tear in his right hip, something
that I wasn't I don't believe aware of. When I did second base,
I might have ranked him to highly as a result of that. But you're
looking at Taylor Wells and you're looking at Cavallero. As I see it,
the two options at at shortstop for next year are either of them. I
told me my exercise roam was. It must have made me wave in my
hands to me, Oh, I've been waving mind by that, a damn
squirrel. Those are your two options, right? You know? When I
when I look at Walls, he's a twenty seven year old, right,
brings you some speed, limited batting average, and a little bit of pop.
When you look at Cavallero, it sort of seems like the same player,
doesn't it. There's no power, Yeah exactly, Yeah, it's and
there's some splits. There's some not kind splits with Cavallero. I mean,
so he might see the I mean, first of all, it would not
surprise me. And I'm sure you assume you would agree that there could be
a time share here. That's just the raised way. And I worry for
Cavallero. It could be against left handed pitching. He definitely has a better
statistics against left handed pitchers than he does right hand at pitchers. Well,
I'm just a quick scan of my rankings. I got Cavallero at thirty seven
and Taylor Walls at forty so okay, by side, Yeah, they're in
the same area. And the reason I've got Cavallero higher is because there's no
reason right now to assume he's not healthy entering spring training. That ships ye
Walls. Walls is definitely coming back from a hip surgery, so there's definitely
that I would agree. But I think that I know the roster resources Cavallera
is the shortstop. I'm not sure I'm buying that. I think Walls might
be the better, at least the strong side of the platoon. But it
is interesting, uh that move, and it's just very race. Yeah.
That's the raised way you're doing things, isn't it. Yeah, it's funny
if if you read my note Tomy, I know you typically don't read my
writings, but after jose Kubbeler, I just write, here's what I wrote.
This one's easy. The race seemed to hit on every under the radar
hitter they acquire in a trade. So don't ever think it, go get
the player. Yeah, right, the first the first. The other thought
that came to my mind, and it came fairly quickly, is depending on
what happens with Franco the contract yet. Yeah. Yeah, all of a
sudden, you know, we're looking at we're looking at a race team that
might be looking at promoting junior cam and Arrow a little quicker as a result.
Well, what do you mean? I think Junior Camenaro is starting the
season. He's not a shortstop. He's a third basement. Aren't you talking
about the shortstop that's sound there? Well no, I'm I'm talking about right
now at third base. They've got h east Act, Barretus pencil in,
and they've got Richie Palatios at DH. They don't have cam and Aro listed.
Well, Cam and Aro, I don't care what roster resource is saying.
I cannot imagine Cameron Aro either starting the Sea, not starting the season
with the Rays, or not being up by early April. I mean,
this is the if they want to compete, they need a ban and cam
and Arow's got a great I mean, this is an impact player. Yeah,
you know you got you got Cameron Aro, you got Curtis Mead.
Uh. There there are options that the race, the race can look at.
They could they could look at Austin Shenton if they wanted. But what
has happened as a result of this move is it's great in an open spot.
And in an open spot, hey, Cam and Arrow's got to generate
a little bit more helium now than he did a week ago. I would
think I was considering taking him in the draft and hole, but I'd already,
you know, did my my rookie with Jackson Churio. But if I
had not taken Jackson Cherio, Caminaro would have been a guy that I would
have strongly considered. Given what's going on there. It's a very very good
player, very good, very young, and it's Tampa Bay, so we
don't know how they'll react to it, but the odds have definitely improved for
an early arrival. I think Carson Williams is a wonderful defender at short.
I mean, he's still quite not quite his bats, not ready. It
would be very unraised for them to bring a guy up before he's ready.
But I mean there's an alternative you could see him in the second half of
if Walls or you know, the new acquisition doesn't doesn't work out at short
Yeah, agreed. I think that's it on that particular trade. Anything else
that comes to mind, maybe opportunities may And for the Giants, who plays
in the Channiger spot? Ah when I when I look at the Giants,
well, hey Canforido's got a job? Uh? Young holy has a job
in the center field. And Mike Yastremski looks like he's got a job now,
well usually it isn't. What's his face still there? The guy was
the Cubs for a long time, platoon guy, Oh, Wilmer Flores.
Now the other guy Peterson, Jack Peterson, isn't he isn't he with the
Giants? Uh? He's a free agent, I believe. Oh yes,
okay, Oh let me just dark Peterson. Yeah he's a free agent.
Yeah. So you got Wilmer Flores at d H right now, and you
got Confordo y Stremski and Young Holyes know the positions are covering. Before we
get off that, I do want to let you comment, if you if
you choose to, what's happening in the Dominican with wander Franco and that whole
situation deplorable, your thoughts deplorable, that's all, you know. Yeah,
it's it's an awful situation, and it's a situation that, Yeah, I
put my closing line for my shortstop narrative is wander Franco is not including the
rankings this year as the odds of seeing him play in twenty twenty four our
minuscule at best. And I'm just gonna leave it at that. It's it's
morally just disgusting. That's likely. It's going to be tough for him to
recover from this. Even if you know that something happens and he doesn't get
charged down there, This one's tough, tim Well, yeah, you know
what, even if he's found innocent, indeed, he's going to be facing
a lengthy suspension by Major League Baseball. Yeah, okay, And will he
ever get a visa? You know, will us ever give a visa?
That's yeah, fair question. I didn't even thought about that. It's it's
yeah, it look, if you haven't a dynasty league, I guess you
advise you don't drop him quite yet. But man, it's this is worse,
way worse than Trevor Bauer situation. This, this is dealing with children,
and it's just it's a bad, bad situation. Here. We're talking
Felipe av Askuez level as far as I'm going, Yeah, and that fricking
mother man. Good lord, people, ten people, people, people.
Let's move on to with the Mets. And Mets at a very Unmets think
Timmy. They always signed the big free agent, the big guy. They
spend a lot of money. Now not so much. They signed Harrison Bader
for just a one year deal. I think it was ten million dollars,
eight million dollars or something like that. It's obviously great speed there, there's
good defense. It's moved Nemo off of center field, which I think he
loses a little value there from an overall baseball standpoint, I don't know.
Are you interested in Harrison batter Timmy? He's going in that same area that
like the late five hundreds is ADP. Yeah, I think you got to
have some interest, but it can in context is important. We're talking about
a player, okay, who has never broken the four hundred at batmark.
There's been there's been health issues even with those numbers, Like looking at last
year, three hundred and nineteen at bats, he stole twenty bases, hit
seven home runs. Okay, Harrison Vader will steal your bases. He'll hit
you some home runs, he said as many as sixteen back in twenty twenty
one. Yeah, he will give you some pop, He'll give you some
speed. He'll also give you odds of four hundred plus at bats being very
very low. I get what the Mets did, and it makes sense.
It's a one year deal. Would I look at him as any more than
a fifth outfielder, No, but as a reserve, as a reserve pick
and a re draft league. Yeah. Hey, there's a little pop,
little speed, batting average up until last year, I are looking at two
thirty two forty probably and he will play good d So yeah, it's it
is what it is. What it is. No your parameter, So all
right, two thoughts there. The Mets have got some very interesting options,
obviously in triple A with with Drew Gilbert and particularly Lewis Angola Kunya can probably
all over the place, and Ronnie Maurisi hopefully we be back in the second
half. Don't know. That's probably another reason they made that move with Harrison
Bader. But there's some options there. And my second thing is Harrison Bader.
There's a little he shout a little bit of pop a few years ago,
but he doesn't hit the ball very hard at all. It's all launched,
so just be careful know your parameters there. It's probably more of a
five to eight home run guy as opposed to anything more than that. But
yeah, he definitely is fast, so there's definitely still one base opportunity,
Timmy, let's take a break, we get back, let's do your shortstop
shortstop rankings. Sounds good looking forward to how's a squirrel? Tim he's nuts?
Oh geez, well, plate reminds me of my fall poem. Rich,
I can tell you my faull poem. Now, okay, here we
go. It's a short one. A little squirrel with your pants so low?
Why you walk so slow? Pick up your pants and he's in your
stre don't you know you've got nuts to high? All right? Well played?
Wow, you even have that memorized. I mean, that's that's that's
it says a lot that is classic by run and I'm running for the hills
after that one. That is very, very funny, So it's almost a
limerick. Tim yes, it's getting close to that, all right, you
know, Oh that's uh the land from the tucket sometimes know, don't know,
don't know these days sometimes, all right, timmy, let's move to
uh, let's move over to shortstop. Wonderful job on the rankings here they
should be. They're all out on prospect three sixty one. Now people go
take a look at them. Official think it's posted in the morning. But
there you can go to a little tap called tim Space and you can see
all the fantasy rankings. Let's see, Tim, you've you've a already giving
us an impression of how you're handling shortstop and your narrative. But why don't
you just talk a little bit about how you are dealing with shortstop this year
and drafts. Ah. When you look at shortstop, okay, you see
a host of wonderful names and they are and a lot of talent. Okay,
but that talent it goes pretty quick. Based on my first draft,
you're looking at what at least eleven of these shortstops will be gone by the
fifth round. Okay. You're also looking another free three to four going fairly
quickly. And you're also dealing with a situation where you've got a lot of
players with multi position eligibility. La de la Cruz, Matt McClain as On,
Kim Nico Horner. Moving further down, once you get through your top
twelve, thirteen, fourteen short stops, you get all that sort of it
gets thin and it gets fairly risky, fairly quickly. There's a lot of
shortstops that they're going to have full time jobs that are sitting in the twenty
to thirty range. But do I want to play that game? No?
I don't. I want to get one of the one of the top fifteen
short stops at least. Okay, I feel fairly comfortable down to about number
fourteen, which is Dansby Swanson. After that, I don't feel so comfortable.
So for me, I'm going to I'm going to target one of those
shortstops and a lot of it will also will also depend on your lot in
life. Okay, you end up sitting with the number two pick. Okay,
do you do you pass on Bobby wit Junior? I say no,
you take him, he's there. You're sitting with the eighth, ninth pick.
You pass on Trey Turner. Well, a lot of these picks are
going to fall into not a not I'm necessarily not pre regular. There's there's
spots where these guys are gonna go. You know, Linder's gonna Lindor is
gonna go middle end of the second round, Gunner, Henderson's gonna go,
second, third round. Seeger this, you know, hey, take him
as a fall. But for me getting if I don't get one of the
elite type shorts stops, I'm gonna be fairly disappointed. I don't want to
go into I don't want to go into battle with Trevor's story and who whomever
else? Yeah, or Jeremy Payinya, Okay, that's yeah, that's not
what I want. That's not my plans for this year. Just to like
is Tobar Yeah yeah, so so just not looking at Thames ranking, but
just looking at the adyps. If you also include O'Neil Cruz, you're talking
eleven if I'm reading this correctly, eleven shortstops in the first six rounds.
That's pretty impressive. Yeah, it's it's high end and then a ton of
speed. Yeah, and then it drops and then it drops quickly and you
know, hey, Bobby, what trade Cherner, Franciscoland or Gunner Henderson,
Segur, Dela Cruz, c J Abrams. Well, you're doing my job.
You're doing it. You're you're going through the rankings. I'll go through
the rankings. You comment, Okay, but they're all they're all bringing very
good. They're bringing they're bringing very good things to your team. Very good.
Let's go through the top five with and with Junior and Trade Turner or
Chalk with the n PC and yeah, you've already commented on that. And
then it's interesting, Uh, Francisco Lindor is going your third guy off the
board. He's number five in the NFC, which I find to be curious.
I mean, he went thirty thirty last year to I'm sure what this
guy has to do. You've got Yeah, you also got Gunner Henderson up
to he's going six in the NBC. You've got him at four, and
then Corey Seeger you got down to and then Elie de la Cruz. I'm
gonna hold off on Elie de la Cruz because that could take a while.
Your thoughts on Lindor, Gunner Henderson, and Cory Seger. Hey, I
love Corey Seeger, but there's one thing that he doesn't bring to the table.
And that's speed. Yeah, and I'm not gonna pass the pass up
the speed from Lindor for the relatively safe Flora to Corey Seeger. That's uh,
that's fair. Yeah, that's that's That's where I'm at. If you
decide you wish to take Corey's Corey Seeger as the third short stop off the
board, I'm not gonna argue with you for hours because there's forty five.
So there's forty home run pop with this guy, right, and he can
hit him. He's this is an MVP Canada and Cory Seger, he is
that good. But I totally get your point. And I look at Gunner
Henderson. Okay, last year is a twenty two year old? Yeah,
we repeat that. How old was he last year? Twenty two? I
believe it was two every Yes, Yeah, I'm looking at Henderson and I'm
I'm seeing thirty home runs, ninety RBIs, one hundred and ten runs scored,
and fifteen stolen bases in the future, and I'm thinking that future could
be as soon as next year. When I look at Seeger, yeah,
the floor's a little bit safer, but the upside out of Henderson leads me
to want to move him ahead of Seeger. Now is will it work out
that way? Well, the only time will tell, But I'll go with
the outside upside from Henderson versus the stability and lack of speed from Seegert.
I almost went Gunner Henderson back to back with with Bobby wit Junior. I
was that bullish on it. But I just in the end I thought about
it. I just said, you know, I got to get an outfielder,
and I didn't, but I mean I would have. I'm big on
Gunner Henderson. Totally agree with you. Well, and he's third base eligible
as well. Yeah, there's there's a lot. There's a lot to like
from the top five at shortstop. Let's now get the number six, and
yes, we might talk. We could talk about this for an hour,
so come to no conclusion. I think we would both agree. The upside
of led la Cruz is off the chart. I mean he could be a
top three guy this time next year. He could be the number one pick
in baseball. Yeah, I mean he's got that sort oft he could be.
He could hit thirty home runs and steal sixty five seventy thirty home runs,
steal sixty five to seventy bases. Yeah, it's one of the few
you guys that has Ronald Acunya fantasy upside. Would you not agree? I
agree totally. But can he hit enough? I mean it could, it
could. It could be tough to me. He did not hit in the
second half at all. Did you like my narrative where I said his uh
uh? The only question would be the hit tool and his bias ish approach
to swinging. I mean it is. It is close your eyes and swing
as hard as you can. Totally agree with you. Yeah, there's risk,
okay, but it doesn't come without some amazing potential rewards. I can't
move I can't move Dela Cruz any higher because of because of that risk.
That means you're not gonna get them. You're not gonna get them too.
I'm not gonna get him knowing I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that
too, And I get it if people are screaming at their devices, going
you guys are two old men. You play too conservative. I'll comp to
that, but it just I don't like the setup. I'm not a conservative
player, I never have been. But will I take Dela Cruz at twenty
one over Gunner Henderson nine picks later. Not on your life. I won't
do it. I can get the stolen. The one thing I feel fairly
comfortable with Dela Cruz is I think he's going to steal forty plus bases.
I would agree, Okay, I can get that from Ego Horner. Okay
would I? Why would I want to move Dela Cruze up to attain that
same those same numbers? Yeah, except that Eli de la Cruz has got
the potential for massive power though he didn't hit the ball all that hard last
season to me, but you know, the bat speed is there. He's
just a really young player that he's just not fully developed yet. In three
years he could be fully developing. Ronald Acunya, I just don't know if
it's going to be in twenty twenty four. I agree, and that's why
I have him ranked Lord. The NFBC guys are a little bit more bullish
on Dela Cruz being a star stud right out of the gate, and I'm
not as comfortable with that. I think the range in the batting average could
be anywhere from one to ninety to two forty two fifty. That's a big
range. There's many potential outcomes when it comes to that hit tool, and
hey, I'll I'll be very happy with Francisco Lindoor three picks or Gunner Henderson
nine picks after Dela Cruz. I yeah, you and I are and in
locked agreement. Everybody listening to this, you might disagree, and I think
I will speak for Tim. I hope we're both wrong because baseball needs Elie
de la Cruz to be a superstar. He's got that kind of stop what
you're doing and watch what he is doing. Yes, he's a he's a
type of player that you want to catch every bat. I totally I was
doing that last and I didn't have them any fantasy team. I didn't care.
I wanted to watch his games because of what he is capable of doing.
It is a it is Ronald Acuna type of skills. Yeah, he
can turn many a double into a triple. Yeah. Yeah, it's great.
Yeah, it's awesome. Now let's let's move on. So, so
Elie did the quiz at six. I think we wore that one out.
We go seven, eight, nine, and ten, you go CJ Abrams,
Matt McClain, Hassan Kim and then Nico Horner. The only thing is
different. You're a little bit is that. Yeah, you're a little bit
more bullish on hass On Kim, not too much so. But other than
that, it's pretty chalked to what the NFBC is doing. Yeah, and
you know, when you start looking at six through ten, there's about eight
hundred stolen bases. There isn't there a giver or take. It's crazy.
I you know, until I started looking a little deeper at CJ. Abrams
Man, did he have himself a breakout season in the second half last year
He's old thirty three of his forty seven bases in the second half. Yeah,
Like people forget he's an eighty runner Tommy, and people forget them because
he struggled so much just finding himself in major league baseball. But you looked
at him, he looked like a twelve year old out there playing. He's
needed to develop into his big boy body and he's starting to do that.
Well. Yeah, and you know in twenty twenty two, okay, in
roughly half a season, two hundred and eighty four at bats, he hit
two home runs and strolled seven bases. Okay, last year in five sixty
three, hit eighteen home runs and stole forty seven bases. Yeah. Yeah,
there's not many players in the game of any that elevated their stock more
in one year than C. James. Yeah, let's let me just take
a look at what else is going on with his data just says we're doing
this. Oops. Oops, what happened? Oops? Blaming on the squirrel
worked for me? Blaming on the squirrel. Sure, my little search bar
went away for the baseball spunt. I'll come back to that, Timmy said,
I don't ye, heird, it did come back. Let me just
type in abrams here ab are a MS there is cj abrams. See what
it looks like waiting for cash boy. This spreaker thing takes up a lot
of resources like computer. All right, I'm bored, Timmy. I'm up
there. It just came up. Yeah, it doesn't hit the ball.
There's not a lot of exit velocity. There not a lot of launch.
So I guess that's the only fly in the ointment that really good strikeout rate.
He never walks good speed. Yes, he's still twenty three year old
and a guy that's developing, so the big boy power is not there yet.
No, but would you need to disappointed if he hit say, fourteen
home runs and stole fifty five bases. I wouldn't be surprised if he does
that. If that's what you're asking, Yeah, it's yeah. I wouldn't
be shocked either. I think he's one of a handful of players that has
fifty plus stolen base potential. Yeah, I'm not ready to declare twenty to
twenty five home runs yet. No, I'm not either. I agree,
And in one base percentagely he could hurt you a little bit because he never
walks, but he does make good contact. You know, he could come
in, Timmy and gain twenty pounds of muscle and all of a sudden he's
starting to pop, and that probably will happen one year. Is it gonna
happen twenty twenty four? I guess we'll know in about three or four weeks
when everybody showing up, well exactly. Yeah. But you know, hey,
if you're looking for a lock for forty stolen bases, forty to fifty
stoo, I think he's a lock for forty to fifty stolen bases this year.
I totally agree with you, Timmy. So if you get down to
the third round, let's say you went your Dyan Alvarez and Pete Alonzo just
making stuff up. Those are your first two picks. Cj Abris was a
good pick there. Yes, definitely changes your your team build in a hurry.
Yep, a real hurry, as do all the shortstops in this in
this grouping. Yeah, Nico Horner is the one guy that just bugs me.
I mean again, it's there's no there's very little power there and he
is. You're relying on that stolen basis and we keep saying different than cj
Abrams. Cj Abrams has power upside and eventually that's going to play one year.
But you keep telling us that speed is plentiful. Why would I get
a guy that's going to give me forty stolen bases unless I need it when
I get to that part in the draft. Well, it is plentiful.
And you can weak your way through a draft and you can find yourself into
an adequate total by looking at you know, ten to twenty stolen base types.
But if you can find yourself a reasonable price on a Nico horn Horner
who's going to give you potentially fifty stolen bases with eight to ten home run
why wouldn't you take it and then you don't have to worry about it.
But I gotta get him into the fifth round. That that's that's I mean,
it's there's you gotta spin to get him. Yeah, and enjoy your
last year at shortstop because it will only be second base eligible next year.
Again, if nice players, this whole group, I have no problems rostering
any of The one that I probably won't end up with in a lot of
leagues is CJ. Abrams simply because of draft slot. And that again that
it boils down to, you know, hey, if I if you're looking
at the first pick, you're gonna get speed. You know You're you're going
to get somebody who's gonna steal thirty plus bases. Is the need there to
look at Abrams or an Eco Horner? Probably not, But again, depending
on your team build, it can give you. It can put you into
the contention in the stolen based category real quick. It's I find it fascinating
just I'm looking at the fifth round where Nico Horner went in the draft on
in and twelve picks, eleven of them were pitchers. Nico Horner is the
only positional player taken in the fifth realm to start the fifth round, which
is pretty remarkable. Tim. Wow. So and you were asking CJ.
Abrams went in the fourth round. He went to Team Zito, who is
in our Patreon site. He went Spencer Strader, Kevin Goussman, he went
Vlad Guerrero and he's probably looking at it, going, I got twenty five
plus home runs. There I need stolen bases or starting to run out.
I went two pictures. He goes CJ Abrams, great pick there, Yes,
it fits his team build right to a t yep. That's that's that's
the name of the game to me. It's not necessarily sometimes it's value of
where you get the guy. And sometimes I'm keeping my little spreadsheet, whether
mentally or physically, and what am I lacking? And where's the best place
to go? And that's the movie make well. Yeah, you look at
the ADPs in your top ten. Okay, the lowest ADP is based on
my top ten. His house on Kim at eighty. Everybody else is.
There's two in the sixties and all the rest are in the thirties twenties.
In first round the elite at short stop, they go quick, Yeah,
here's where hass I'm ken would This is actually a really interesting draft as well.
He goes Juan Soto and your Dane Alvarez. What's he got seventy eighty
home runs there? Yeah, and ten sol. He goes Marcus Simeon,
which is going to give him maybe fifteen to twenty. Then he goes two
pitchers, goes Paul Goldsmith, which I don't particularly care for. He needs
speed, so he goes Hassan Ken. You got a like where he takes
Kim there because that gives him that stolen basis and it also gives him position,
the added bonus of position eligibility. Yeah, it fits his build.
So again I'll maybe taking taking taking as a fold. Take what you can
get, you know, put it into your team build. And if you're
going power early and needs speed, hey, Kim and Horner fit the bill.
Yeah, get it done. Let's take a break, Timmy, and
let's get back and look at eleven through twenty eleven is Bopashett dropping like a
like a like a dropping a little bit. According to Tim McCloud, his
buddy Ezekiel Tovar up eight slots from where he's going into the NFC, comes
in at twelve. My buddy Anthony volpi ELSI has for this season come in
a number thirteen, Dansby Swanson at fourteen, Trevor Story at fifteen, O'Neil
Cruz at sixteen, Xander Bogart's at seventeen. Tim's always kind of when he
runs out, he always gets runs out of options for short sup hegoes thyro
ASTROTICU. And at eighteen nineteen is Jackson Holliday. Love the aggressiveness there,
and number twenty is Willie Adamis okay, Tim, first of all, tell
me, I mean, are you a little down on Bobashet or is it
just the way it worked out? Well? You know, I think in
my narrative I explained it rather straightforward and simply. Twenty five, thirteen and
five. Those are the stolen base totals for the past three years, starting
with twenty twenty one. I think it's important you remember those numbers. The
NFBC has them at thirty nine at Adp at thirty nine. I've got him
as the eleventh off the board and the reason n it was last year it
was okay. He had twenty home runs with seventy three RBIs yeah, scored
sixty nine. That's in five hundred and seventy one at bass. That's pretty
close to a full season, and he stole five bases. The siding average
was excellent at three oh six. But he doesn't have right now one defined
overpowering skill set other than batting average. So I was the power is okay,
but the speed isn't. And I think you have to look at that
very closely when moving on Bobashet. Yeah, it's fair, Tim, it's
fair. I mean the speed. I mean I think I took a look
at his data and the speed had definitely come down. But it's funny.
I'm looking at twenty five thirteen to five. This was one of those college
board entry tests that you have to take to get into college. Yeah,
the next number would be like minus four. Yet there's a trend happening there.
It's not a good trend, not for us in our game. If
he had if he's hitting thirty home runs, okay, then you're talking Corey
Seeger, right, But is he going to hit thirty home runs? I
don't know his sprint speed. Let's see. In twenty twenty one, his
sprint speed was seventy four. In twenty twenty two, ranked seventy fourth.
In twenty twenty two, his sprint speed ranked fifty third. In twenty twenty
three, his sprint speed ranked forty second. It is not going in the
right direction, Tim, Uh No, it's not. Just Again, if
you're counting on fifteen to twenty stolen bases from Bobachet, I don't think you
can. It pains me to say this, Tim, This is brilliant analysis
by the great Tim McLoud. You have done well, ranking Bobaschet where you
did. Yeah, I'll take the heat for it. No, No,
it's well thought out. He might be wrong, but it is well thought
out. It is very very good analysis. Thank you. That's why I
get the paid mom that night. Case squirrels, Well, that's why you
get paid the big bus. Okay, you got number coming on number twelve.
You got your buddy Ezekiel Tovar. Tell us why you are so bullish
on Ezekiel Tovar. Well, yeah, a rookie season in which he had
fifteen home runs, drove in seventy three, stole eleven bases, and he
did this all as a twenty one year old with only two hundred and eighty
five at bats above high A Yeah, it's impressive. Yeah, I think
we're going to see bigger and better things from Tovar heading into this year and
for several years after that at least. And I'm willing to pay based on
what I've seen. I'm willing to up him ahead of a lot of shortstops
that most people at this point in time don't feel the same way. He's
the one guy that I will I will move earlier on because I've reached for
Yeah. Yeah, good for you. It's interesting. So I know what
that My question of who not in the top ten will be in next year's
top ten is going to be Ezekiel Tovar. Let's movee down to Trevor's story.
Timmy was really good at one point in his career. Yeah, it's
all about health. Okay. The last time we saw a full season from
him was twenty twenty one. Okay, Hey, story's a twenty twenty player.
If he can get in four hundred and fifty plus at bats, I'm
betting you will. Well, we'll see how everything unfolds. My only comment
there is you think he's a twenty twenty player. I mean, it's been
so long since he's played a full season. He could have slowed down a
little bit. I mean, the bats speed could have slowed. I mean,
there's so many things that could have happened in two years. You just
don't know. He's gotten to be an older player. Now, well,
let's take a look at last year. He only got in what one hundred
and fifty eight at bats? Okay, three home runs concerning, yes,
ten stolen base is not so concerning. Okay, the year before that,
when he got in three hundred and fifty seven at bats, he had sixteen
home runs, stole thirteen bases. The sprint speed still says he is very
fast. Eggs velocity, heart at rates are kind of mid middling. But
it was in such a small sample size. You just don't know. But
I guess my point is, Tommy, there's he's played so little. He's
at thirty one years old. I mean, if you think that he's going
to bounce back, I'm not saying you, but if our listeners think he's
great, but there's you can't really point anything and go the reason he's going
to bounce back is because of this, And that's always disconcerting when you get
to the draft table. Well, yeah, and when you look at shortstop.
After Tovar, I've got Anthony Volpe and Dansby Swanson. Draw a hard
line after Dansby Swanson, Okay, I think with Volpei, I think,
hey, he did twenty twenty last year. Maybe I'd be very disappointed if
he didn't better what he did last year this year. Dansby Swanson again,
if you're looking very good player, he's not Saxon. He's a very good
player. Yeah, if you're looking at a repeat at twenty twenty two,
it probably ain't gonna happen. Lower the bar, but there's noth than wrong
with low twenties power eighty and ninety RBIs ten stolen bases, two fifty average.
After you leave Swanson and move forward, then you get to Trevor's story.
Question Marks, cruise, question marks, bullguards, a pile of them,
A strata is where the strata is, Jackson Holiday will From here on
down, there's lots of question marks. And hey, if you think you
have the answers, well hey, maybe you do, but I know I
certainly don't with the next group of players. I know with the Neil Cruz,
I love I know what you're going to write when I said when they
see the first three words, or I get it. Yeah, we kind
of all get it. Like I mean, there is it's led La Cruz.
Not quite the same kind of crazy talent, but it's close, and
you throw in a crazy arm and it's like you might even have more raw
talent than led La Cruz. But Tim, I mean, I mean hurt
most of last season. There's tons of strikes downs and he plays for the
Pirates. Let's let's face it, he plays for the Pirates. Yeah,
you know, it was an amazing half season we saw in twenty twenty two,
but that's It's there's a full year in there that he didn't play after
fracturing his ankle and the surgery its basically cost him the entire twenty twenty three
season. I simply can't go as high as into the eighties. Okay,
you're looking at six round. I can't go that high when I can get
Tovar okay, one hundred and ten picks later or Anthony Boldby or Dansby Swell.
I just can't take the chance on O'Neill Cruz. Yeah, Hey,
there's only so many players one can gamble on. Cruise is not going to
be that player for me. To tullygri at six round. This is too
rich for me. I totally agree with you, and it's just he's just
I don't even when I was going through my draft, and I know I
took a short sup early, so I didn't really get to think about it.
But he would not have been on my team. There's no way I
would have been drafting O'Neil Cruz. No, it's five, six rounds later.
You can get more certainty, at least more certainty I believe. Yeah,
you go with a lighter pick. Yeah, it's sixth round, Tammy,
Yeah, yeah, six round. Let me tell you what you can
get in the sixth round. Brian Reynolds, will Smith, Jass Chisholm,
William Contreras, Labor Torrez, Paul Colt. Well, that's up, Christian
Yelich, Josh Looe. I mean there's some really good baseball players there,
really good with proven talent. Yep. Let's move on to twenty one through
thirty, and then we will take a break after we talk through these first
of I love your Jackson Holiday selection at number nineteen. It's I think we
see him soon. I'm assuming you agree as well as yes, I don't
know if he's going to be better than his father, but it has a
chance to be very very good tim Yeah, that's maybe he could end up
being better. But dad was pretty good players. So you know where you
know where I'm sitting with Jackson Holiday and if the kid has superstar potential.
Yeah, he's physically different though than his father was. Just his father was
big when he was younger, but he put on so much weight and it
wasn't bad weight, it was just he just became wide. It became like
a Mac truck and and it was this massive power. Jackson Holiday's more twitchy.
I think he's gonna hold his speed a lot longer than Matt Holliday did.
He might be the better hitter though, Yeah, I I will definitely
guarantee that Jackson Holiday is a better defensive shortstop than his dad was defensive Oaksielder
Housing I think that well, definitely after after he left Collar. Yeah,
yeah, exactly for sure. But it's it's Jackson Holiday, Jackson Cheriot.
It's gonna be fascinating to see where those guys are in three years, who
the better player is. And I love that debate that that's gonna go on.
Number twenty one is Carlos Caraja, Tommy Edmund at twenty two, Lewis
Rahifo, Orlando Arcia, JP Crawford, Jeremy Penney taking a beating. This
year he went he was last year he was tenth. Timmy, he is
down to twenty sixth Ezekiel Durant, my buddy, your buddy, Leov Paguera,
Chris Taylor, and I don't know how how the Hecker Bia that's got
ahead of Heroaldo Perdomo, but it is Tim McCloud's list. But Javier Bias
at thirty. That's generous, Tim it is. I'll leave it at that.
It is. Yeah, when I look at that. The one thing
that I definitely think people should be looking at a little bit is Tommy Edmund.
Okay, he had ARTHUR'SCPIC surgery on his wrist in October. Okay,
and again st and fairly quiet. I don't know how many people are aware
or not. I don't aware. But he expects him to be ready to
go with the start of spring draining. Again, we'll bring up the Marcus
Potter axiom. Yeah. Again, I don't have any reason to think that
he won't. But at the same point in time, I've moved I've moved
Evan down because of that. Yeah, Okay, as far as the rest
of them, yeah, Jeremy Paanya did not have a good year. Not
all lost. JP Crawford, I had trouble with him there, But I
think it's the right spot. But I think knowing your parameters is fairly important.
JP Crawford last year hit more home runs than he did in the prior
three seasons combined with nineteen home runs. Yeah, he's gonna score runs,
but he doesn't steal bases. And I'm not betting on a repeat of the
nineteen home runs. I think that will prove to be an outlier and I
think we'll see seven to ten home runs from Crawford. Great runs scored.
The batting average is okay, but I just can't bet on a repeat of
those nineteen home runs from JP. Crawford. Hard hit rates earned the twenty
one percentile average ex of velocities eighty eight miles an hour, which is rot
on league average, And he did Here's here's probably why he hit more home
runs. He angled nearly doubled his launch angle from eight point nine to fifteen
point one, so he started to add some off to a swing. So
yeah, I mean, he doesn't hit hits the ball, doesn't hit the
hits the ball at average. But look, the launch angle plays a big,
big deal. But that probably hurt his strikeout rate. Yes, it
did. Look at that the strikeout racos from thirteen point three to nineteen point
six, which is still pretty good. Yeah, No, it's it's just,
hey, I'm not betting on a repeat of the nineteen home runs.
He doesn't run period. Okay, so that leaves your run scored, right
yep. Yeah. So you know the one name of this list in the
in the twenties that if you completely get called out and have I mean,
you're scrambling all of the league that you're playing in love shortstop and they take
them all and Carlo's Korea is there. It's not the worst option to grab
in the seventeenth round. No, it's not. You know, you're looking
at you know, based on what we've seen the past couple of years,
you're looking at eh eighteen eighteen to twenty two to twenty three home runs.
You're looking at sixty five RBIs the batting average. It could be could be
a two to sixty batting average. You'll score some runs. I don't think
he'll hurt you, but I don't think he provides. And there's no upside.
There's there's really little maybe some power upside, but that's about it.
And you have to worry that eventually the things that everybody saw when he was
trying to sign as a free agent might come back. The injuries might come
back to haunt him. You know who I do like in there? Is
I like Ezekiel durant Ran. Yeah. Yeah. Plus he's outfield eligible,
yeah and third base eligible. Looks like yeah, that's good. Well,
yeah, it looks like he's currently slotted in as the thh Okay, you
know, if he can get last year we saw fourteen home runs, eight
stolen bases. He strikes out too much, but with the right opportunity,
there might be. Yeah, there might be a twenty home run bat sitting
there with fifteen stolen bases and a two sixty two seventy batting average really late,
which is right now, which his ADP in the five to six hundred
grange. That's there's I think there's an opportunity there with Duran as a late
option. Now, speaking of Duran in Texas, I don't know if you
just forgot him or what? But but Whyatt Langford is not on this list?
Whyatt Langthoring? Oh, I'm sorry, I got confused to me,
I had a brain cramp. My my bad. We're talking shortstop. I'm
telling I looked at out well all of a sudden I'm having I'm sitting here
saying, what what the hell? I'm looking at Ezeko Duran, I'm looking
at out for you. I'm like, where where is? Where is?
Uh? I told my bad a total brain freezer. So ignore that.
I'll edit that out and I won't. It's more fun to keep it in
there. So all right, so forget about forget what I said there.
So I'm going to tell you a quick little story a trade conversation I had
with our good friend Robbie Thayer, who plays in d L five. He
hurt, very nice man. He's expecting his first child, or maybe I've
already has already had that. So I had a you know, him and
his wife both listened to the podcast, and I've heard Robbie that she's a
better player than you. Okay, but anyway, so he he heard me
deriding h Ryan McMahon, So you know, he said Hey, what do
you want for Ryan McMahon. I've got I've got cold Keith coming up as
my third baseman, and and you know, I I'll take him if you
know, if you if you really don't want him. And I said,
well, my backup to Ryan McMahon, and I'm going to get the short
stuff because he's Elijo. Everywhere is Chris Taylor. And I have zero confidence
that Chris Taylor is going to get enough, you know, enough at bats
to really even even hold down a I think Ryan McMahon is going to be
better than even Chris Taylor. So I said no, but if I haven't
had anybody else, I would have given it to him. But uh,
I mean, but Chris. I mean, it's so Chris Taylor's at like
twenty nine, and that's another guy that don't you think it's more position flex
ability. The reason that you have him on a team, Well, the
position flexibility comes in handy, but he's going to lose that probably this year.
Well it is, but yeah we're talking this year though, yep,
yeah, this this year he offers a position flex and you know, when
you look at Taylor's numbers, he's penciled into an oatfield spot. Okay,
and Chris Taylor had pretty decent year last year. The batting I was just,
you know, two thirty seven, but he hit fifteen home runs,
stole sixteen bases. Yeah, and that's in three hundred and thirty eight at
bats. That's true. Yeah, you should have made the deal with them.
Yeah. Well, yeah, there's a full time outfielder in a world
where outfield is short. Do I want Chris Taylor's my middle endfielder. No,
but I'll take him as my fifth six outfielder. Yeah. Yeah,
it's as he strikes out too much. And yeah it is an average of
velocity is it is all about launch angle with him. He doesn't hit the
ball hard at all. He's pretty fast, so I mean it's it's yeah,
and he's thirty three years old. But you know, as a utility
type player on your redraft redraft plague, he provides some value. I would
agree with that. Tommy. Let's take a break, get back and the
hard questions start to start to enter the fray here hour and a half,
oh my word, because of the world. No, that's recorded time.
I took a break during all of our squirrel issues. Now, so we're
not getting to the San Francisco Giants again. Forget about that that it's not
going to happen here. I disagree with your hobby bias pick, but I'll
let you have it. Let's just bounce around in these last thirty guys.
I love Heraldo Perdolma tim at five seventy three, ADP. Tell me your
thoughts on Bryce Terrang. You'll give you a stolen bases. Will the power
ever development? Probably not? I don't. I don't know, okay,
not yet. He's young enough that we could see better days ahead, but
I'm not going to pay for it. Bryce Training is a sort of player
that if you find yourself towards the end of April with an injury and you
need some speed, yeah, pick him up and plug him into second base
or short. But he's not going to be a draft target this year.
I was expecting better. I was expecting Well, yeah, I agree with
that. Here's one that's interesting. You have Zach Ndo at thirty eight.
He's going to be the NFC is twenty six. Why the hate for Zach
Needo? Good question you're asked, asking me off memory. I took a
look at the numbers and it just didn't overly impress me. Yeah, and
basically half a season. Yeah, he had nine home runs, stole five
bases, struck out seventy seven times. I've in Anaheim, I've or is
it Oakland Anaheim? And yeah, Yeah, he's young, okay, and
I think there's potential, but I just don't want to have anything to do
with him, per Sae this. I just don't see enough there that interests
me that I'm going to make a move on Zach Needo. That's a pass
for me. I will take. You know, he's going as what the
twentieth off the board in the NBC. There's a slew and I've got them
a whole listed of shortstops I will take before Zach Needle. Zach needo sprint
speed is sixteh percentile and his hard hit rate looks like it's about the same
about fifty So I mean there's some power, there's some speed. Feels like
a fifteen to fifteen kind of guy with strikes out a little bit too much.
But yeah, I mean I don't know. I think thirty six is
a little harsh. Yeah, I could have moved, But do I move
him ahead of von Grissom? Yes, even though von Grissom's got a full
time job. You don't think Zachnito does. Yeah, oh yeah again,
I started like von Grissom, I I like Bryce ter Ang will give you
a thirty stolen basis. Mason wins got you know, potential perdomo at thirty
one. Yeah, maybe I could swap them with half your bias. Have
your bias drops their response. I think there could be something a little bit
more there with zach Nita. That's that's my only my only thought there.
Looking back to Tim Tim Anderson, Tim home totally totally justified forty ninth.
You have him forty ninth. Well at Ted twenty nine? Okay, no,
no, no, no, no, no. Most most teams are
relatively secure at shortstop right now, aren't they. Well, I don't know.
I don't even know if Tim Managers is going to get a job.
He could have been the worst player in baseball last year. Well yeah,
and it's it's not as if it was a one off. Yeah, Okay,
you take a look at Tim Anderson, Okay, and you go back,
okay a few years, which is what I'm gonna do if I can
ever find him. He's down at the bottom of the list on roadal ware
as well. Yeah, last year Tim Anderson one home run, thirteen stolen
bases, two forty five average. But let's let's go back. You know
he had the twenty home run season, Okay, in twenty eighteen. Okay,
well, then I believe he signed a five year deal. Well,
the year after that, it was eighteen home runs, seventeen stolen bases,
three thirty five average. It was a good year. Okay, after that,
ten home runs, five stolen bases seventeen eighteen twenty twenty two, six
home runs, thirteen stolen bases, one home run thirteen. It's he swings
at everything, Okay. I remember looking at looking at looking at him,
and you know, commenting on what happens, okay when the batspeed maybe slows
down a little bit. But you know, his walk totals for his entire
career are one hundred and forty three. Yeah, it's amazing. Here's here's
a year and a half year and a half of one sotos in a eight
year career. No, I I, hey, somebody will probably take a
chance on Tim Anderson. But yeah, it's interesting. His exit velocity is
a little bit below average. But here's what's fascinating. In twenty eighteen at
launch angle of ten point eight degrees, which is a little bit below average,
but in nineteen it was eight point seven, twenty twenty six point seven,
four point three, and twenty one three point three, twenty two and
last year two percent. He's become an extreme ground ball hitter. He's not
getting the ball in the air at all. And Timmy, there's no way
you can hit home runs with a two degree launching. It ain't gonna happen.
Everything's being hit on the ground. Well, unless you've got an exit
velocity averaging about one ten. Yeah, it's a challenge, right, Maxic's
velocity is still up there, So I mean, could somebody help him and
figure out you need to add some launch to your swing to maybe, I
mean there's that possibility, but man, it's a mess. He is absolute
mess. I think I have him ranked too high at forty nine. The
more I look at this, Yeah, I would I take Anderson over Vessab
or Colson Montgomery or even Jackson Marino. Probably not, Yeah, it's yeah,
I certainly would not have him elevated to the thirty short stop off the
board. All right, Timmy, let's get to the tough questions. Yes,
which player not in the top ten. We've already answered this, but
I want to hear it again. Which player not on the top ten has
a chance to merge there next season? I know it's gonna be to war,
So give me that and give me another one. Anthony Bolpley and Ezekiel
Tobar. Yeah, yep, okay, yeah, okay, okay, okay,
big shooter, you're gonna give me that. You throw Jackson Holiday into
that group too, depending on what happens. There are very interesting three or
four names that I think could ascend the top ten. But hey, the
top ten is pretty solid. Top ten Okay, so it's a big shot.
You got to take two guys out. No, I don't. I'm
not taking any well. I think one has got to be Nico Horner,
right, I mean, it's all of a sudden if you get a guy
that's doing power and speed, somebody who's very little power and speed is going
to drop right right. I think the ones that will come out of the
top ten are Gunner Henderson out of the top ten. Yeah at shortstop.
You think that Jackson Holiday is going to play shortstop and Gunner Henderson is going
to go to third. Yes, I think that's a distinct possibility. I
think, so let me let me can I push back on that. Yeah,
sure, you're going to take the one of the two cornerstones of your
team in the Baltimore Orioles. You're going to take a guy that's got a
Rookie of the Year trophy in his trophy case, and you're gonna say,
there's this young hot shot in Jackson Holiday down in the minor leagues, which
you didn't play with them, but you know everybody knows of them. We're
going to move you to third because we think Jackson Holiday is going to be
a better shortstop. You think they're going to have that conversation with Gunner Henderson.
Gunner Sat Henderson played eighty four games at third base last year. I
think I don't think. I think he sees himself as a shortstop, though,
well again, he saw himself as a pretty good third basement last year,
so I think they can have that discussion. Interesting that he wouldn't obviously
he again he could, he could move into shortstop, and we could see
one of the two of them is not going to have shortstop by eligibly.
That's fair, that's fair in all probability. But a player like Matt McClean,
okay, m h you know, is he going to be in an
everyday second base hass on. Kim has got multiple position eligibility between short,
second, and third. He's likely to lose one this year. Horner is
going to lose He's going to lose his shortstop eligibility. So you're saying just
because of yeah, where these guys are playing next season, that's why these
other that's kind of cheap. If I may be so bold to me,
I want a guy that's going to drop because he's not going to be as
good, but I'm cheap. It's a bill, That's what she That's what
she said. She said, yeah, with a dot. If I had
to, if I had to bet on any of any two players coming off
this Leston everybody is shortstop eligible next year, it's got to be Kim and
Horner, Yeah, I would, Yeah, yep. That's and it's not
because they aren't good players. It's because the potential is there for the other
three to be better. I agree with you, Tim, So that was
one question. So that's the guy. And we talked with the guys who
drop off. Sorry, So give me a couple of sleepers. Oh,
a couple sleepers. Oh, what's got to be? Tovar is one?
Well, I don't I don't consider him to be a sleeper. Well,
if he's going in the fourteenth round and you're suggesting that people take him in
the uh yeah, yeah, I guess he follows and falls into the category
of sleeper. Uh. I think as Ezekiel Durant could prove to be an
interesting player. Uh. Paguero, Yes, okay, definitely, and then
be over Praguero even though he plays for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Yes, I
that caveat in there. Yeah. His ADP right now is six oh one.
Okay, Yeah, there's potential. And when you get into after pick
thirty, okay, Perdomo, Mason, Wynn, Vaughan Grissom, Louis Hey,
Marco Luciano, Zach Needo, Jordan Lawler, all those players have considerable
upside potential. The guy that I kind of like that you can get with
pick six ninety is Jackson Merrill. I mean, yeah, I do like
the setup there. He's probably gonna play in the outfield. He'll be shortstop
eligible, as he should be. There's a lot of spots available in the
outfield and sand Diego Bogarts is not going anywhere. And I do like Colson
Montgomery, who you've got at fifty three. You've got him tense, actually
going ten slots after the NFBC. But I do like that pick in there
because they could be wide open in Chicago for him to play there. Yeah,
the one, the one pick that Another pick that surprises me coming out
of the NFBC is Amed Rosario. Okay, Yeah, he's currently going twenty
eight in the NFBC and I've got him down at fifty two. Now,
am I being overly harsh? I don't think so. I haven't even thought
about amd Razia. Where's he playing? He's a free agent? Yeah,
there you go? Okay, Yeah, last year he was left off the
NLDS roster by the Dodgers. He had six home runs last year, swiped
fifteen bases. You know, you go, But you have to go back
to twenty nineteen where he best at fifteen home runs and it was sorry where
he got to fifteen home runs. Okay, is high water marking. RBI
is a seventy two stolen bases. He's a fifteen to twenty stolen base type
and his batting averages, say, averaging out around two seventy seven. Yeah,
yeah, thirty one walks twenty five is a Medrew's areo? Is he
going to get a job? I would think he would. I mean,
it's you're better than have your bias. But he doesn't have the contract.
Does that's true? You know, I just have my dotes as to whether
or not he'll get much of a deal. Maybe a one year you know,
he might be the sort of player that's added in the spring training as
a result of an injury. But isn't short stop? You know, you
know, you start looking at the teams that have shortstop challenges per se.
The Rays aren't going to go and pay for anybody unless they absolutely, I
don't necessit. You have to, you know, the Rays of the Rays,
right, the white socks, I got Montgomery, Montgomery sitting there.
The Padres have got Merrill, the you know, the Rays have also got
Bazabi, right, there's Adre's also got Xander Bogarts unless he gets hurt.
Well, yeah, so again you look at the Cards. Will the Cardinals
bring it in will or will if Mason win struggles? Possibly, I don't
know. Possibly, but there's just not that many opportunities. So we're saying
it's it's musical chairs and men. Rosario might be the guy who's out who
didn't have the chair. I'med Rosario would have been smart to have signed in
November and reserve his place at the table right right now. You know,
hey, the number of chairs has shrunk, and who knows how it's going
to fit in. That's fair, that's fair. So we've done sleepers anybody
you're just avoiding avoiding. Yeah, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna touch O'Neal
cruise leant not not with the you know, the hype of the helium that
is floating around with O'Neal cruise. No, I'm not going to touch Xander
Bogarts. Why not? Okay, why not? I mean where's that?
Well, let me go back to your list to see where he's going,
because I because everybody is draftable, well most how your bias isn't. But
everybody's draftable depending on where you can get him. Right, So, well,
yeah, where is Xander Bogart's going? Exander Bogarts is going at one
ten, that's the eighth realm. Yeah, yeah, I'm probably right,
I probably would. He did see a more bases last year. Yeah,
so did everybody. Okay, that's fair, that's what you wrote. That's
that's fair. Yeah, he had nineteen home runs and you grove in fifty
eight. Okay, the batting average is fine. I just don't see when
I look at Bullguards, I just don't see. Ye know, Hey,
I think there's an outlier in there, or rather big outlier, And I
just don't would would I bet on Bullgarts or Jackson Holiday or just wait and
grab Ezekiel Duran or Perdomo or Paguero, You know what I mean. There's
just not enough there to make me want to move on Bullgart's at this current
price, actually, at any price. Interesting. Yeah, I just don't
see any upside there. So why if I want a safe pick, I
can get Dan's Dansby Swanson. I think Dancy Swanson is a better safe pick.
I would agree with you there, but he does he doesn't provide He
doesn't provide you any upside. I would agree with that, but he does
provide some level of safety. Yeah, as a middle infielder. Yeah,
but and he did go nineteen nineteen last season. Okay, you're faced with
a choice, as you're to fill your middle infield slot, knowing that you
can get a Bryce Terring or Zach McKinstry off the waiver wire, did you
go Xander Bogart's at one ten or Jackson Holiday at two o eight, knowing
what's going to be left in the free agent bool? Yeah, I mean
I can. I can. I don't know. I can argue it both
ways. I mean, he did go nearly twenty twenty last season with a
two eighty five three point fifty. He's a big he's an established player,
he is thirty one years old. The bat speed's not great. It's only
an eighteen percent hard hit, right, so you have to believe that nineteen
twenty is the maximum home run it he is. He's probably more of a
fifteen home run guy. He's a fifty seven percent sprint speed guy. So
that nineteen stolen bases is probably not real either. So it's probably more of
a fifteen to fifteen guy. Do I roll the dice and say, Jackson
Holiday, it's got more upside than that. Later I can make that argument
Jackson all day and Chris Taylor sitting there in the free agent pool. Yeah,
yeah, I totally get what you're saying. I out of the two,
I would definitely take Danthony Swanson or Anthony Volpi over Xander Bogarts. I
would get I get that. Yeah, yeah, it's I'm they just it
does nothing for me. Yeah, you know, well you gotta, you
gotta fall in love, Timmy. Doesn't sound like that's gonna happen with Xander
Bogarts. I'll even take lust. Okay, right, Timmy, let's let's
take our final break and let's just wrap this puppy up. And we've been
all over the place going an hour and forty five minutes. We're not getting
to the San Francisco Giants prospects. Leave that for another day. Yeah you
okay with that, my friend, I am perfectly fine with that. I
got myself a squirrel. I got a hunch so I could have some supper
stew for supper. Yeah. Have you ever eaten squirrel before? No?
I haven't, But I know somebody who hasn't really likes it really, Yeah,
yeah, it's not for me. Not for me either, No,
it's is there much difference between a rat and a squirrel? Oh? Depending
on where you live. A couple bounds that's true. I told you about
that when we were in Brooklyn the last visit, visiting my son when he
lived in Brooklyn. This an awful experience. And there was this rat that
we saw. It looked like it looked like a small dog. I mean,
it was ridiculous. I'm like, oh my God, like, why
is he living here? You know? I was like, no, I'm
not coming anymore. You're moving. Yeah, no, we we have we
have a problem. There used to be again, uh, when the mill
was here. The mill's been torn down now, but well, the mill
was up. There was a fair number of living in the mill, eh,
and they'd occasionally be a bit of a problem. When I was in
thunder Bay. Hey they got green elevators. You got green elevators, you
got rats, and uh, I've heard stories about people looking at yeah small
dogs, yeah, small dogs. Yeah. Yeah. They get trash cans
or grain mills and they can fill up pretty quickly. Anyway, Yes,
I guess I should say you wrap bastard did very well there, So first
world a rat if we were forced with a choice for supper. But I'm
not looking at either. Ops. Well, I'm excited for you. On
Wednesday, Timmy is it a slow draft or a one night draft. It's
a it's a slow draft. Four okay, so we will we will cover
your draft next Sunday. See how you're doing there, because I think people
want to hear that it's unfortunate that you're picking the same slot. I am
it would have been better if you picked somewhere different, but it is what
it is. I mean, we can't we can't make up where you're picking.
No, it's uh, I am looking forward to it. It's from
the same guys running it that did my first run, and I write it
up for Masters Ball I I they have they have on their site. They
do an early review and I provide commentary on my picks and just general observation.
So I started to look forward to it. It's uh, it's it's
a fun, fun exercise for me and at the same time provides me with
an early look at the season that I will definitely be using as we move
into draft seasons. Well, it warms me, Cuckles Tim that maybe I
had just a smidge of impact on Bobby Wood Junior with you to nudge him
up a little bit. That warms me, Cuckles, does give me a
greater level of responsibility, because if he sucks to me, I would I
feel really bad. But you know you still do hold me for Alex Manola.
So oh that's true. That is true. That is definitely. Uh
boy. I just I shake my head every time I think of Alec Manoa.
He will never ever ever be on another one. I don't care if
he wins three cy Young's in a row. I'm done, totally done.
I get he wrecked my team last year. Yes, Christian Hovier was a
close second. Yeah, Christian Hoveyer shattered a lot of dreams last year.
He really did. Yeah. I mean I looked at his data. It's
still not awful. I'm not exactly sure. What have I got to dig
into that? It's yeah, he's not Yeah, he's once bitten twice shy,
No way, I'm not uh for me once, shame on you for
me twice, shame on me. Whatever express you want to use, not
happening again. Yeah. The one thing I did find interesting doing all my
digging and looking was I wasn't aware that Corbyn kerre his power numbers. We're
that down in August. In September, if I found the night when I
saw it, I said whoa, that's again. We'll let our listeners go
back to a podcast we did some somewhere in September when Rich Wilson said to
Tim McCleod, are you worried at all about the power reduction we see in
Corbyn Carroll, I think your answer was nope. That's exactly that's how you
said it. Nope, Like okay, and I moved one. Nope,
And apparently I've moved on as well. Tim's like, I heard this sumwherre
before. Where did I hear it from? Better? Look at this.
It was probably Bob king Hi sending me an email. Probably probably Bob smarter
than me. So I totally get that. Tommy. It has been a
blast. What's for dinner? Tell us what's for dinner? Dinner tonight?
Having? Uh oh yes, pork ribs or beef ribs. Pork ribs with
a honey garlic sauce. Oh wow, that sounds really really good. Yeah.
I one of these days I got to get back into the chicken ball
thing. But it's been a pause for the cause there, so ribs ribs
should do the job. What about you left overnight? It is leftover as
we had LORI made a salmon with glazed some kind of glaze on it was
really good, and so we only ate half of it. The other half
the night with a very healthy you're gonna hate this kil and Brussels sprout salad,
which sounds gross. It was outstanding with a little roasted pecans on top
of it. Really really good. So we're doing that. I'll take your
work for it. I looked at it too, and so I don't know
about this, but it was quite good. So now after the twenty six
when I see my cardiologist for the annual appointment, I might be more into
kale after that, might keep calling for a recipe. I get it.
Yeah, it's it's tough to take. To mean kale is not good.
It's very healthy for you, but it's not. And sort of Brussels sprouts
and then it's, uh, we actually like him raw and shredded and you
put nice, a nice little vinaigrette on it. It's somewhat tolerable. But
to buy themselves not good. Well, yeah, I I'll eat Brussels sprouts
and you know, broccoli and all that stuff. But the problem is I
dose it with lots of cheese sauce. Okay, So it's sort of defeats
the purposes. And that's part of the problem with all these healthy things.
They take by themselves, they taste terrible. Anybody tells you to tastes good,
they're lying. I mean they well, yeah, and you know one
counterman's the other right, and yeah exactly. So then you have to douse
them with all the stuff that's bad. And you said, well, look,
I et kale i ate Brussels sprouts, ate collared greens, look at
me, and then all of a sudden, it's like, no, you
better. I'm better off just cutting right to the chase. You filling my
face with frenh fries. So it was funny because so we have this farm
stand up the road and I don't know if you've ever had collar greens,
that's a Southern thing. Have you ever had them? No? I haven't
awful. I mean by themselves, Timmy, they're terrible. You literally have
to cook them for four hours in bacon grease and then they're absolutely delicious.
But it's so Loris like, I'm going to the farm stand. Should I
get some collar greens that go? Are we going to dallas them in for
four hours and bacon? And she goes, that's the only way to eat
them, otherwise are another ball. And then I go, let's no bacon
tomato exactly like, let's just cut out the middle man of of the colarts.
And but I tell you, Tommy in the south Man, when they
they these collar greens and bacon fat, oh my word, they're really good.
But literally you feel your arteries closing as you eat them. Well,
yeah, just give me a bowl of bacon fat, Tommy. It's a
it's a wrap, my friend. We will see you on Sunday. Have
a good week of luck with your draft. Thanks a bunch, and we'll
be back next week with third Base and looking forward to it. Have a
great week, Rich,