Speaker 1: You like fantasy ball, sense talk chasm that I shall
not me hear myself stops fans and they can't even
count some of uniforcasom s rodo you ain't better the health?
Well yeah, several charges on everyone coming.
Speaker 2: Else and I'm alreadium to hear my baby sounds just
like your name was, Mark.
Speaker 1: And it's a ride by podcast. It's a rapop podcast.
It's a rapp podcast. It's a ride bo podcast.
Speaker 2: It's a rap up podcast. Don't have a rap up podcast?
Got a turn? It should rap bo podcast?
Speaker 1: Everybody, Welcome back. In is the rasp Ball Fantasy baseball Podcast.
I am beat on, joined by the abs umpire backing official,
the Fantasytorio Gray.
Speaker 2: Alright, what's U's I Actually? I just realized something that
I would be a terrible baseball player for a lot
of reasons, mostly because mostly because I can't play baseball,
but I'm the least athletic person you may ever know
in your life. But other than that, though, I was
thinking that with the ABS, I wouldn't want to tap
my head because I have such good hair.
Speaker 1: But you already have a hat on, Gray. I wonder
if you would already have a hat or a helmet on.
You know.
Speaker 2: Actually, you know how they have that oti where it's
like if he's pitching and he could stay in the
game to keep hitting. I wonder if they can make
an exception for me where I could, like I can
like tug my ear like Carol Burnett or something, rather
than like half my head because they're like, you know,
the guy is so good hair wise, right, so he
doesn't want to tap his hair, and there's a lot
of people the fans come to see O Tani hit
and Gray's hair, so you know, like we shouldn't make
an exception here. I think I could see that, I
could see that happen, and so you know, I might
be able to play baseball after all, even with the
head tapping.
Speaker 1: I think we have to address the hitting and throwing
part as well as potentially you have to wear a
helmet and a hat. You know, those these things are
no honestly though, this is a serious thing.
Speaker 2: So I went to the eye doctor today. I go
to the doctor every time we talk. So I went
to the eye doctor today and he dilated my pupils.
Good band by the way, anyway, So I had to
wear sunglasses and Coog's. The old wife was like, hey,
you could still walk Ted. You can wear your sunglasses
and walk Ted, And why don't you put on a hat?
And I was like, do you know me, I'm not
wearing a hat. I wear a hat. Are you seriously?
I think someone replaced my wife with a robot omp
because I don't wear hats. I don't know. No, I
won't say.
Speaker 1: Gray the first time I met you, the very first
time I met.
Speaker 2: You, That's true. I went through a phase where I
was wearing a pink fedora, but I grew out of it,
right exact. Can I say one thing with the with
the robot arms though, I love it. I love it.
I love it so much. I'm jumping up and down.
I love it. Oh my god, I'm so absolutely gobsmack
thrilled with the robot arms. It could not be a
bigger success. And you know, I actually think that I
don't mind. I wouldn't mind if it was like five
possible overturns rather than two. But I don't actually mind
that there's a limited amount, because then it gets to
the point where it's like you have to actually think
about whether or not you want to tap your head.
So I kind of like even the fact that there's
a limited amount of them. I love it. I love
everything about it. I'm sorry. I love the pitch clock,
I love of the d H Universal d H. I
love the abs. I'm sorry, maybe Robman, it isn't that bad.
I know it sounds crazy to say, but I love this.
I love the abs, I love the robots, I love
everything about it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't love everything about it, but this has
gone pretty well so far. I'm enjoining it. You know,
we'll see how how it adapts. I mean, it's here
to stay. Every all of everything you just said is
here to stay. So whether we liked it or not,
it's part of it's part of the game now.
Speaker 2: So okay, So if people miss this, this was actually
a absolute highlight of Opening weekend when it comes to
the robot OMPs. So i'll I'll explain the scenario. So,
the twins were facing Ryan Hellesley, the Oreos closer, and
Josh Bell. It was a three two count and the
ball and Helsley threw the pitch and the ump called
it a ball. Josh Bell started to first and Hellsley
tapped his head. He tapped his hat and so he
called a challenge saying it was actually a strike and
it actually turned into a strike. So Bell was out.
Helseley was correct, and Derek Shelton, the Twins manager, storms
out of the dugout. This is the funny part. He
storms out of the dugout and he starts arguing with
the umpire so to actually to recap real quick the
people can follow along the umpire who called the ball
in favor of Derek Shelton's Twins. Derek Shelton's now arguing
with him, so ridiculous. He's arguing with him that the call,
the challenge call, wasn't done fast enough by Ryan Helsley.
So the manager is now arguing with the umpire who
made the call in his favor. It's ridiculous. It's the
most ridiculous thing I've ever seen in my life. Absolutely brilliant, brilliant.
Speaker 1: I guess Rod Healsley hit it and like immediately, like
as soon as you kind of tapped his head, he
did it. It's like the shades of when you call
customer service and they're like, well, how slow it was
and how long were you dated They're like, I was
there for twenty minutes, when in reality it was like
three minutes maximum, that's what it was giving like just
it was more than three seconds. It was like it
was like thirty No, it was like a second, and
it was like a tail second.
Speaker 2: It was like literally, once he realized the call was wrong,
he was like, oh, he tapped his head and it
was like and then. But the best is the fact
that Derek Shelton is arguing with an umpire who.
Speaker 1: Called it in his favor.
Speaker 2: It's like, what are you arguing with When you're arguing
with the robots man, There's nothing to argue with with
the umpires. The umpire literally made the call in.
Speaker 3: Your favor, and you're arguing that's the best.
Speaker 2: That is Like, I don't know if we're ever going
to get to that. I mean, at some point, I
feel like the managers are going to figure out that.
It's like, why would I argue with an umpire who's
calling in my favor? It's so dumb. I love it.
It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen in my life
that Derek Shelton is mad at the umpire who called
in his favor. Ah, so dumb. It's so dumb. But
I but I honestly though with the abs I kind
of I'm looking forward to, like like it takes. I know,
baseball players may not be the smartest guys in the world,
so it might take a little bit of a little
time before they realize they can start gaming the system.
But I want to start seeing like I want to
see catchers like catch the ball in the zone zone
and quick the ball out of the zone so the
hitter thinks it's a ball like I want.
Speaker 1: I want.
Speaker 2: I want people to or we're also like the psychology
of like if an umpire misses a call, does that
make him more hesitant to call the next one? That's
borderline Like it's all this stuff that I feel like
there's a lot of psychology to the fact that they're
now reversing balls and strike calls. I love it, man,
I'm I'm a fan.
Speaker 1: I mean, for years, umpires have had leaning so like
they lean a little inside or they call a little high,
and so I do feel like it'll just be an
adjustment to where umpires are gonna have to go. I
always call the outside corner. I guess I can't give
that anymore, which'll I guess kind have sucked the pictures
and catchers a little bit. They can't use the umpire
system to kind of move move the strikes a little bit.
But yeah, I'm all in favor of getting things right,
of holding umpires in particular accountable, and getting the calls
right more often than not. We'll see how you know,
how many calls or how many times they go to
it during the season. But I'm with you that I'm
glad it's not like ten times or any like an
unlimited amount because I don't I know me personally, if
I was hitting, I'd be like tapping my home at
every pitch, Like no, that was that was definitely a.
Speaker 2: Ball, totally, absolutely, one hundred percent agree that it's like it. Actually,
when you start to think about it, it does make
sense that it's a limited amount of challenges because you
don't want people tapping on every call. It's like that's ridiculous.
Or if you do, if you're tapping on every call,
it may as well just be it may be an
automatic robot umps and have the home polate. I'm just
calling like plays at the plate, Like, there's no reason
for a home plate umpire if it's all challenges. So
I agree that it should be limited. I I think
maybe five might be a little bit better, but I
don't mind. I don't even mind the limited challenges because
it's like then you have to then you're like playing
into like do I tap my head here because I'm
not sure if that was a strike or a ball,
like depending on if you're the picture of the hitter
or a catcher. So yeah, I mean there's a lot
of psychology to it.
Speaker 1: I like it, yeah, And I like that it's it's
one of those things where it's kind of like the
in out in tennis, Like it's a quick review. We
don't need to sit here and look at it eighty
five times on our view screen. It's it's we just
it's yes or no it's a ball or strike.
Speaker 2: I mean, I mean it's like almost instantaneous, like so
it's so fast I already know the answer.
Speaker 1: They just have to relay it down, yeah, to the
umpire totally.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, completely, Yeah, No, it's awesome.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's move on to some fantasy baseball stuff here.
Let's start with the top ten on the play Raider.
And I say ten, like you say top twenty in
your rankings, and then you go to like sixty eight
each position, So I don't think we're gonna go to sixty,
but there's ten to twelve here. I think let's start
with then number one on the play Raider, and that
is my pick for Rookie of the Year, Chase the Latter.
Speaker 2: That okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 1: He has four games, great, seventeen play appearances, and four
home runs. He's hitting three fifty three. I mean, is
it a drop somebody from your roster and add him
regardless of league size? Do you completely buy this? Where
are you at on Chase the Latter?
Speaker 2: No? I don't completely buy this. I do think like
i've you know, in the in the preseason, very deep
in the preseason, like October, I write up like a
top ten or fifteen rookies that are gonna, you know,
play this play in the upcoming year. And Chase the
Latter was actually a guy who I wrote up. I
want to say, is as far back as like twenty
twenty four, like I've liked Chased the Latter for a
few years now, and then I believe it was in
twenty twenty four he had he fractured his foot and
he had a hamstring and both of those things knocked
him out for a ton of games, like I think
over one hundred games, and then in twenty twenty five
he had more issues with his foot and it didn't
seem like it was healing correctly and he was knocked
out again. I want to say, a good another one
hundred games, like he missed a lot of time. So
I'm really like, I'm almost completely sold on his power.
I'm not one hundred percent convinced he can stay healthy
and on the field, but that you know, like you
you obviously you roster a guy until he's injured, if
he's injury prone, and if he's and if he doesn't
get injured again, then great, he's you know, he's on
your team. I I personally think like there could be uh,
you know, some you know, some issues here, because like
it's it's concerning that he had two years of foot issues.
So I want to say, like, don't drop anyone like
insanely or or don't trade for him with uh, don't
trade for him with anyone who's like, you know, who's
very valuable. Uh look at Chase the latter. More like
you know a guy who is currently hot who could
stay valuable for power and and average, Like I I
think he could hit for a decent average right now.
Strikeouts are high, but that's only four games against a
very good Mariners pitching staff, and also, by the way,
four homers against a very good Mariners pitching staff, so
the power is real. I think he can hit for
a decent average. He has no speed whatsoever, and he
has injury concerns, but if he can stay in the field,
we could see a thirty homer two seventy season from him,
which is, you know, I mean, not that different than
like say, Rafael Devers. So yeah, I like Chase the
Latter a lot. I'd say, you know, don't go too
crazy for him, because there could be injury concerns, but
otherwise he's he's good. There's no reason to think he's
suddenly gonna stop hitting, no.
Speaker 1: I mean, I wouldn't think so. There's there's always gonna
be struggles, and everybody struggles at some point during the season.
So not saying he won't do that, But yeah, I
like Chase the Latter. Like I said, I had him
picked for my ALE Rookie of the Year, so obviously
I like him. Just let's run some names real quick
and and see who you would potentially you know, look
at it dropping forward. The latter would you drop pretty
much anybody in the outfield in Colorado. So I guess
the top would be like Brenton Doyle, Jordan Beck.
Speaker 2: I would put the latter above the entire Rockies outfield.
Speaker 1: Okay, how about how about you know, up and coming
and you know, a lot of a lot of people
like drafting him Dayly and Lyle.
Speaker 2: Kind of different, you know, I know, I hear I
would go. I would go Lyle.
Speaker 1: Still, all right, and with this is just a line,
we're just gonna keep calling it. Ian halp Ian Hap
or Chase the latter.
Speaker 2: Now, like I prefer you in half, I mean the.
Speaker 1: Bank production and half is just too good a passage.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say a trickier one would be Kevin McGonagall,
but I would I would probably lean McGonagall because his
hit tool is just a next, next, next level. Not
that the water is not good though, I do like
the latter, But I would go McGonagall over the latter.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't really have any problem with that. I mean,
they're both kind of in the same leve. In regards
to prospect pedigree, I would say from just a games
plate standpoint, maybe McGonagall gets the edge there because a
lot of chase a lot of injuries. I have not
been related, but as you mentioned, he's had two fairly
serious foot is shoes in the same foot, so that's
always concerned. Foot is shoes can just pop up randomly.
So I think I'm with you, and then I would
probably lean McGonagall still, But I don't know. I mean,
I guess not because I had chased a lotter as
my Rookie of the year, So I'm just gonna stick there.
Speaker 2: Word.
Speaker 1: Somebody else we really liked, and I think we might
have even you might have even proclaimed him the number
one of the season at his position is Shae Langlers,
who threw three games, has three home runs, is hitting
five hundred. Is Shane lang Leers the number one catcher
this year?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean we're gonna We're gonna go over a
bunch of guys here who are from the top ten
of the player Raider. I feel like, I don't know,
maybe I'm wrong about this, but I think Shane she
Langaliers is gonna be for me is the best bet
out of all the guys we talked about to finish
the highest on the Player Raider at the end of
the year, Like a lot of these guys are gonna
be like they're gonna be kind of flashing the pans.
Where Shane lang Leers, I think is the real deal.
I'm I'm not saying he's gonna be top ten overall
for the Player Raider at the end of the year,
but I want to be shocked to see Shane Langaliers
in the top thirty. I think he's the number one catcher. Yeah.
I like Shane Langleers more than Cal Rawley. I think.
I think I'm gonna be kicking myself that I didn't
just rank him that way in the preseason that I
said that more as like a bold prediction type of
thing where I was like, you know, saying, Langoleiars is
going to be the number one catcher, where I should
have just ranked them that way. I love Shae Langaliers.
I think he's got thirty five homer power. He hit
two seventy seven last year with a nineteen point seven
percent strikeout rate, so it doesn't strike out a lot
hits for a good average and thirty five homer power
and he stole seven bags last year and in that
park with the A's Shane Langaliers. Man, I feel like
Shae Langaliers is going to be so good this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, there's definitely the park to be considered
in that equation for sure, Just like there was when
you were looking at Nick Kurtz and Brent Rooker and
Shaderstrom and and honestly the entire pitching staff you were
thinking about even rostering one of them. You're like, oh,
maybe not. They got to pitch in that park, so
absolutely all that place to their benefit, love shangling and
the lears. And again, like you said, he's probably the
one of this group that finishes at the top of
the play Rader Chase the lotter definitely has the capability
to do that. I don't think we would project him
to do that as of right now. A guy who
you know, would would have been crazy to say that
about early in his career and put him not above
those two is Mike Trout, who's currently number three on
the Player Rador with two home runs, I stole a
base and he's hitting for sixty two. Maybe he's just
trying to finally get out of you know, LA data high.
You know he's got He's got five years left on
his deal, So maybe there's time he can get out
and join the Dodgers. You can just move across the city,
let's see.
Speaker 2: Uh that actually makes me think, is it? That kind
of depressed me a little bit because that makes me think,
probably in five years, that's gonna be the end of
Mike Trout's career. But I mean that's probably not that
far of a stretch considering he'll be thirty nine. God,
where's the time go? We're already talking about the end
of Mike Trout's career. Yeah, I mean, I I don't
mind Mike Trout if you have him in your league
and you know, ride ride him while he's uh healthy.
But I mean I wouldn't put you know, I wouldn't
put him for more than like maybe one hundred and
twenty games, one hundred and twenty five games and at
some point, like he's gonna I don't even know if
that might even be a high estimate for games played
because he's playing center now and he's like going all
out and like like that's cool and all, but I mean,
how many courtizon shots as he's got in his back
bro at some point, at some point, it's gonna it's
gonna fall apart again. I mean, it's sad to say,
but I would put his I would put the over
under for his first thirty game. IL stint at like
May tenth or something like. It's not I I really
would be shocked if we get to the middle of
May and he's still playing like this. So, you know,
enjoy it for now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I don't know when the injury is
gonna come, so I don't know that I put an
over under on like when it's gonna come, I'd say,
you know, probably an under on one hundred games, given
that they're gonna if they're really gonna try and play
him center all season, which seems seems ridiculous. I feel
like most teams would be like, you know what, here's
our agent, veteran, I know, too much money, I can't
stay healthy. Let's d h him. But hey, you know
it's the Angels. So here we are. Mike'shout playing center
field at you know, thirty six years old or thirty four, sorry,
thirty four, and I want to put extra years on
him just yet, Let's move on to the next guy though.
Luke Rayley. Luke Raley had four games fifteen played appearances,
he has three home runs. He's inning two eighty six
with a forty percent strikeout rate, and it's it's kind
of irrelevant. I mean, if you have a couple of strikeouts,
strikeout rate is pretty high. But what are your thoughts
here on Luke Rayley?
Speaker 2: Uh, this feels like one of those just random, like
he feels like hospittato, Like this just feels like a
random hot weekend and maybe that hot weekend stretches into
a hot week or two. But we've seen Luke Railly
now for like six years. We know he gets hot
for a week or two and he you know, comes
down and cools off, and you know he's fine for
if you have room to grab a hot bat, go
for it. But I would still put his over under it.
Like I don't know, fifteen, fifteen to seventeen homers total,
So I mean he's got three already, you know, so
I don't expect ton.
Speaker 1: Okay, so I'm not expecting a whole lot from Luke Raley.
Let's move on to Jake Berger, who in three games
has two home runs. He's sitting four sixty two. I
think this is a guy you kind of liked in
draft season, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I actually I think I might have made him.
I think he I made him my comeback player of
the Year or no, actually I think I said a
dollas Garcia. But I did like Jake Berger as a
as a bit of like a comeback from last year.
And also like I felt like the price was good
enough where it wasn't it was, the price was decent
in rafts that is. And you know, he he still
has twenty five plus homer power. It's just a matter
of you know, it's just a matter of him playing. Really,
you know, last year was I feel like last year
we're going to look back in retrospect and just be like, oh,
that was, you know, just a bit of a lost season.
So yeah, I like Jake Berger. I don't mind, you know,
he is what he is. I mean, it's not like
he's kind of like chased a Lotterer, like a poor
man's chased the lotter. So I don't like, I don't
I don't hate Burger. I just don't think like, you know,
I mean, he is, you know, twenty five to twenty
seven homers, zippo speed and probably two forty five ish average,
which is fine. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that,
but you know it is what it is, nothing.
Speaker 1: Wrong with that at all. Let's move on to Alec Burlison. Yes,
three games planted appearance is a home run, a stolen
base and he's hitting three sixty four. What are your
thoughts here on Alec Berlison, who I don't know, I'm
probably not in on, but hey, what do you think?
Is is it somebody you like?
Speaker 2: You know, I mean for you know, for deeper leagues
and for his price, he's probably one of the more
valuable guys. He's kind of like Ian Hap and like
no one really wanted them in drafts. But is he
really that bad? No? I mean he's fine, but he
just doesn't really have much upside. Like it's like his
his ceiling is like, you know, twenty two homers to
eighty average, and you know, it's fine, there's nothing wrong
with that. It's just not the most exciting line and
no real speed maybe you know, maybe five to seven steals.
You know, as we all know, is the guy wants
to run. He could run more because you know Josh Naylor.
But Ali Bernlson, Yeah, I mean he's okay, He's not
a top ten Player Raider guy, though at like, you know, longer,
I'd say by next week, he's gonna be at at
some point. Like he's just he's kind of like, you know, runs,
he's counting stats basically, but he's fine.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's just a very boring, like fifth or rotational outfielder,
and that's fine. But if you're in a shallow league
or you have somebody more exciting you, you know, it's
fine to all switch, sit him on your bench, or
go ahead and go grab somebody else. Good for him
to getting off the good start to the season. Though
we talked about one catcher, We're gona talking about two
catchers in the show, which is the only time all
season we may do that. Outside of the positional rankings,
Will Smith three games, eleven played appearances, two home runs,
and he's hitting two seventy three. It kind of felt
like he was just kind of ignoring draft season as well.
He's just consistent. Right, there's nothing really to report here.
Speaker 2: No, not really. I'm surprised you haven't mentioned Brandon Donovan,
the other the world's other be don your namesake. Brandon
Donovan's actually in the top ten on the Player Raider
as of today. I don't know when you. I don't
know when you did this list, but yeah, Brandon Donovan,
I think people because people also in the comments on
Rasbell had some questions. So I just wanted to say
real quick on Brandon Donovan, I think he is exactly
who's who he thought he was. He just had a
he had a well on Sunday. He got lucky with
a whole I'm not lucky, but I mean the home
run barely cleared defense. And I don't think Brandon Donovan
now is a home run hitter. It's just like it's
just a small sample size thing. So I just want
to say that real quick. And for Will Smith, yeah,
I don't think anything of Will Smith really either. You know,
he's fine for counting stats and like you know, he's
in a good line He'll be in a good line
up all year. But I don't think he's suddenly breaking
out or something. He's Will Smith.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Will Smith is who he is. And yeah, Brendan Donovan,
I agree. I don't think there's anything. I don't think,
you know, breakout season incoming at age twenty nine, going
from Saint Louis to Seattle. I don't really foresee that
he's gotten, he's gotten a couple of pitches just right
up in his wheels at Wheelhouse that he's been able
to just barely hit out of the park. So again,
good for him. Would not expect it to continue. Somebody,
I think there may be something here, and that's Nolan Chanelle.
Four games t when he played appearances he has two
and runs, he's inning three thirteen. He's just kind of
been slowly getting a little bit better each season. Is
this the we're gonna see a little bit more than
a slow rise or is this another one where just
a nice weekend where we're still gonna get Nolan Chanelle.
Speaker 2: I thought, you know, I thought like you and I
I was thinking Nolan Chanelle might be breaking out. I
was thinking similar, I think to what you were thinking.
And while you were saying that, I looked up his
game log for last year and would you believe would
you believe Nolan Chanelle had back to back homers April thirteenth,
twelfth and thirteenth of last year, So you know, and
that led nowhere and that was, you know, I mean,
within the first two weeks of the season. So I
don't know. I kind of thought this might have been
a breakout in Nolan Chanelle. I kind of felt similar
to you. But you know, now that I look at
his game log from last year, I mean he did,
he did have moment. He did have back to back
games with homers, and it didn't do anything. It didn't
lead to anything. So I don't know, man, I I'm
kind of now, I'm I'm kind of backpedaling in my
thoughts on Nolan Chanell. I was kind of more excited
about him before I saw that. Yeah, it's too it's
too early to say. It's probably too early to say
for all these guys to be totally honest, but I mean,
I I don't know. I did like Chanel for a
couple years and he did nothing, so I kind of
want to believe, but I don't know. It's too early
to say it's a good sign though. I mean, if
he has two more homers this week, and you know
we're talking about him next week with four homers and
still hitting three hundred, I might, I might be, I
might be more excited again.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I would say the thing that the
things that I'm monitoring, or the launch angle and the
hard hit, they've both been climbing a little bit each season.
And so if there's a little bit of like he
maintains the launch angle and he maintains the hard hit,
that gets him to a more reasonable position. I don't
think there's a huge, like thirty home run breakout coming,
But if he could just get to the low twenties
in home runs and at two seventy average, like, that's fine.
That's fine for a you know, deep league corner infield guy.
And that's really all I think he is. So yeah,
I like him. I think that there's value here. But
even with a breakout, I don't think we're seeing crazy stuff.
It's he's got a great eye. He does not hit
the ball particularly hard. He is not, you know, on
an Aaron Judge staying level in regards to have eggs
of losity and hard hit. But if he just lift
a few more than then maybe there's there's a little
bit of fantasy goodness here. All right, let's talk about
some rookies. Great gonna move outside of the play rader
a little bit, but you know, these are the guys
that we don't have as much track record on. So
where we formulate our opinions early can give us value
or really screw us later on JJ Weatherhold is number
twelve on the play Rader. Actually three games, fifteen plate
appearance is he has a home run, a stolen base.
He's hitting three h eight in a sub seven percent
strikeout right, which I believe it means he struck out once.
So where what are your thoughts here? On JJ weatherhol
We didn't know if he was gonna have a job
or not coming out of camp, and they said he was,
But now he does and he's performing.
Speaker 2: He also has a six point seven walk, right, do
you know how many times that means he walked?
Speaker 1: I'm guessing what.
Speaker 2: You're good? Look at v don I think the B
stands for brain. I think I think Weatherholt is probably
like there was so many I mean, there's so many
different narratives that sort of latch onto in the preseason.
It's kind of hard to know what exactly to go with. Uh,
and like you know, and it's like oh, if one
if one thing works, and and that's like somehow confirmation
bias then jumps on and it's like yeah, weather Holt,
And you know, I could see Weatherholt being a you know,
top seventy five overall fantasy player. With like, you know,
twenty homers, fifteen steals to seventy average, like everything is there.
I think, you know, he was probably a little bit
underrated in the preseason, and like you know, a lot
of people like I don't know how many leagues I
was in, whereas like Connor Griffin was going before weather
Hold or for more money in an auction, which never
really made sense. Like I mean, I know at some
point Connor Griffin's gonna get called up and everyone's gonna
be like, oh, kind of Grifflin. But I mean weather
Hold's good, like there's no there's no reason why, and
he's like, what's he batting leadoff for? You know, the
Cardinals not a good team obviously, but you know, batting
leadoff for a major league team, that's something. Yeah, I
like Weatherholt. You know, he's he's shown incredible plate discipline
for his entire minor league career. There's no reason to
believe that that's going to just dissipate. I think the
power looks real, the steals are real. Everything's there. I
mean five tool player for you know, a five category
for fantasy. Maybe I'm even under selling them by top
seventy five, Like if he gets to twenty homers in
he steals in two seventy, it's gonna be top fifty.
Speaker 1: It's good.
Speaker 2: I mean, there's nothing wrong with JJ Weatherholt. It'll just
be like, you know, probably a little bit of hit
on excuse me on counting stats because the Cardinals aren't
very good, but you know that is what it is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you basically just described your boy. Michael
Harris is what I just heard.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Michael Harris. Yes, Michael Rhris is the second not
his dad. I saw Michael Harris the second home word,
I believe this weekend and I went to look at
the box score and I was like, oh, yeah, he's hitting.
I mean some of the lineups this I mean, I
think we're gonna talk about lineups in a little bit,
but some of the lineups this opening weekend was like,
oh my god, this guy is so crackers. Like what
is like what Michael Harris is seconds hitting nine? Like
people somewhere along the line someone said to a major
league manager something about like, oh he's the second leadoff guy.
That like that's stuck man, that that's stuck in the
major league manager crawl, and it's like that ain't coming
out that is in their brains. And they see a
guy who's got like leadoff potential, but they have a
leadoff hitter already, and they're like, oh, I'm gonna put
him ninth, Like what, No, No, don't put him ninth,
put him second, put him number two in the order.
Oh man. Like it's like, I like Ozzy Alby's and all,
and I don't mind him hitting like third, but I
mean it's kind of crazy to be like Michael Harris
the second ninth and Ozzy Alby's hitting third, Like I mean,
and you know, I'm not a fan of Michael Harris
a second, but still, I mean that's crackers. Like that
makes me no sense, Like put Harris the second in
the two hole, Drake Baldwin hit three, Ozzy Alby's hit
clean up or fifth, like Matt Olsen hit clean up,
Ozzy Alby's hits fifth or you know, even six, but
Harris hitting ninth, Like what doesn't make sense?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't understand it. And I mean everything you said
is accurate. That the part that really confuses me is
mike Y Strimsky hitting above him like they're both lefties.
Like why is you Strimsky hitting in the middle of
the lineup and Michael Harris is eighth or ninth, Like
do you do you understand the players that you have?
Speaker 2: Like no, no, no idea, no, no clueless, no, because
they'll be like Michael Harris the second will hit ninth
and it's like Mauricio de Bond's above him, Dominic Smith's
above him, Your Shrimpsky's above him, Like what is above him?
What are you talking about? Why wouldn't you put the
Bond above him? Why would you put Don Smith of them?
I know Dom Smith hit the Grand Slam, but an
opening day, but still, I mean, come on, man, that's like,
I mean, like that doesn't look sense, Like like it's
not like like you don't have to have your your
best guy, your best possible, your your second best leadoff
hitter hit ninth. Like that doesn't make sense. That's like,
if you have a leadoff hitter and then you have
a guy who's the second best leadoff hitter, you don't
put them below Dom Smith? What ah, it's crazy anyway, Yeah, I.
Speaker 1: Mean we're not talking about it, and we're not talking
about like the best offense in baseball like it was
you know, three four years ago or whatever year that was,
Like at that point you could maybe make the case
for it. Now you like, the Braves offense kind of sucks.
You need everybody you that can hit at the top
of that lineup helping Ronald Acunia do something with this
roster because everybody has just falling off.
Speaker 2: No exactly, I just want, like, I want someone who's like,
who here's a major league manager to be like, well, yeah, no,
he's hitting ninth, so he can he can turn the
lineup over. I want I want someone to hear that
and be like, but you know that means he's gonna
get less at bats than everyone above him, Right, you
can't turn the lineup over. If Maurice who Dubon is
hitting above you and making an out, that's the end
of the lineup. That's dupond. If Dubon's hitting in front
of him, then.
Speaker 3: There's no way to turn the line up after doesn't
make sense.
Speaker 2: It's crazy, okay.
Speaker 1: And the first time through the rotation, which is you know,
then the one that you can play out the most,
it's most likely he's gonna get third in the third inning,
and like, and even if he gets on there's two
outs in the third inning. Like it's just it's so dumb.
Let's move on, Gray, Let's talk about some other rookies.
I'm gonna talk about a comedy has three games, three
home runs, three thirty three and a thirty strikeout. Right,
he loves the number three like nobody I've ever seen her.
Speaker 2: Thirteen played appearances. Uh yeah, I you know, I think
more comedy. So I said this earlier with Devers and
the laughter, but I I feel and I said I
actually I wrote this on rasball, but I feel like
more comedy. At the end of the day, it's gonna
be like and speaking of the Braves, I think more
comedy is gonna be like the guy that you wish
you took instead of Austin Riley at the back end
of the top one hundred. Like more comedy for me,
Like like he's he looks like a thirty homer hitter.
I mean, there's there's definitely gonna be some strikeout concerns
and a little bit of average concerns. So he hits
two forty and thirty plus homers, and he's also got
a little bit of speed too, like he might steal
ten bags. So yeah, I like more Kami a ton.
I drafted him everywhere. I More Kami is probably my
most rostered player. I drafted him everywhere because I know
there's no way the White Sox were bringing him in
and paying that money and not playing them. So we
knew that for sure. And if you look at his numbers,
we have a large enough sample size now with with
hitters coming over from Japan, we know what guys are
gonna do. And more Kami hit fifty six homers, stole
twelve bags, and hit three eighteen in Japan. He's not
gonna do that in the US. But he's not gonna
be a total bust either, Like he's not gonna be
like awful. We know he's gonna hit for power. He's
got a power swing. Like I'm I love I love
more Kami.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I love him too. He has three hits.
They are all home runs. Great, so he just that up.
Just everything he hits. You can just be a home run.
That'd be phenomenal. Let's talk about another guy, Dominic Canzone
four games, twelve plate appearances to them runs. He's hitting
three hundred, has not struck out yet. I do not
have a lot of shares about Dominic Canzone if I'm
being honest, but should I agree?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like them. I wrote a sleeper post on
him and it was probably the least red post of
mine for the last ten years. I really like Canzone.
I mean his hard hit percentage. You look at his
like like last year he only hit eleven point two
percent of balls quote unquote soft. Everything else was either
medium or hard contact. He hits a decent homer per
five balls, always been decent. His five balls have been
good line drives. He's a good hitter. I you know,
I feel like he was also going at like four
hundred and fifty overall in drafts, so it was super late.
So it was definitely about the price a little bit.
But I liked Canzone then I still do. I don't know.
It's like it's a little bit tough because he will
platoon because he's a lefties, so he's not going to
face any lefties, so that's a little bit of a
problem for his overall value. But I don't think he's
going to be that different than Carry Carpenter.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I would rather have Carry Carpenter, But
I think at the end of the year, the line
might be similar, just because Carry Carpenter never plays a
full set of games, so I could definitely see that.
I didn't know if can Zone had a job, and
he's definitely down in the lineup. So those are my
biggest concerns with them, and that ballpark as well. But
so far, so good with him, and absolutely if you
have him or if he's available, I would grab him
and ride him while he's hitting well. And you know,
he only had eighty two games last year. He performed
well in those eighty two games, so we can just
do that for a full season. That's that's a useful player.
Let's talk about the guy that I was very sad
to leave the Cubs, and that is Owen Casey. Through
three games, ten plate appearances, he has a home run
in stone base, he's hitting five hundred. I believe one
of those is a game winning hit. So yeah, everything's
going great. Owen Casey is phenomenal, and the Cubs are
you know, we have one win.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's early, you know in Casey speaking of dumb
managers with lineup decisions. On Sunday, Owen Casey was sitting
for Austin Slater. Come on, man, I mean the only
really the only bright spot for the Marlins, like future wise,
Like you know, I like Xavier Edwards and marsh and
Otto Lopez, but like for like a guy who they
went out and got with, Owen Casey, like they traded
for him. They obviously they they have like high hopes
for him, and they're benching him for Austin Slater, a
quad a thirty three year old, Like come on, man,
Like that's just dumb. Like it's like you're three games
into the season and you're benching like you're one real
like like Owen Casey. They you should if you're the Marlins,
you should want to see him face everyone. You should
want to see what he's capable of. Instead you bench
out for Austin Slater Like what, let's just stupid.
Speaker 1: It's not like they have a shortage of lefties to binch,
Like it could have been anybody in that lineup except
Owen Casey.
Speaker 2: Really right, Yeah, it's just dumb. It's just so dumb. Yeah,
I mean, I like going Casey. I think people are
worried a little bit about his strikeout rate. Potentially if
he's getting benched against lefty, is that's gonna hurt his
counting stats, but he does have good power, a little
bit of speed. I think you probably do worse in
like fifteen team next league, and deeper in the twelve
teen mixt League. You're probably gonna have to platoon a
little bit. But I like it on Casey. I'm I'm
excited to see what he can do this year, but
I don't know if he's He's not on the same
level as like more Comedy or weather Holt, But yeah,
I do like him, though.
Speaker 1: Now I don't think you will be this year. I'm
not saying he can't be long term, because again, I
really do like his bat, but this year I would
assume he's gonna run into some growing pains at some point,
just because there are gaps in that swing. Let's talk
about Brady House for the Nationals. He has three games
fourteen playing Appearency is a home run. He's sitting in
three zero eight. Is this is this something we should
put on our radars here? Great?
Speaker 2: Probably not, But I mean in an NL only, there's
there's worse guys to have, like potential upside from I
don't know if he's I don't know if he's really
on mix league. Maybe fifteen team mix league and deeper,
but it's kind of borderline. I don't mind him for
upside though, and I will be watching to see if
like he can string together a couple more good games,
because he could get on twelve team mix league gradars.
But I don't think he is yet.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think he's quite in a shallow twelve
team like our rcl A lot. I know there's definitely
deeper twelve teams. I've played in deeper twelve twelve teams,
so I think in those you could you could take
a shot on him. And he's hitting, you know, third
in the lineup most days, which if he's hitting three, four, five,
that in itself is gonna have value. So I really
don't mind grabbing up Brady House if he's sitting out
there next up South Stuart. I think I was asked
about him a couple of different places. Three games, thirteen
played appearances. He's a home run and he's hitting seven
hundred grade. I have self Stewart everywhere you mentioned you
know guys that might be our most owned players across leagues.
Mine very well might be sal Stewart.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he might be my my, my biggest regret for
not rostering him. I like him a lot, I just
don't have him. He's gonna like if you give him
five hundred at bats, five hundred and twenty at bats
or something. You know, it's hard to see. It's hard
to see him really being that bad. Like he's never
really had a strikeout issues in the minor leagues. He's
super young, he's got huge power, a little bit of speed.
Like he another guy who I mean, if I'm you know,
saying like, what's you call it? If what's his face?
More common? Can be better than Austin Riley. I mean
south Stewart can too. I don't see why not. I
like south Stewart a ton. I think he's he's the
shallowest of leagues. I like south Stewart.
Speaker 1: Yep, agreed. Now we have your boy, Kevin McGonagall. We
already know that you love him. He's hitting four seventeen, Gray,
did you want to say anything real quick?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So he's hitting four seventeen and he had a
home run robbed by Jackson Merrill. I mean, come on, mcgonaga, man,
we gotta go no.
Speaker 1: Logical all right, Grety, We're moving on to the injuries section.
Of the podcast. Jackson Churio has a hairline fracture in
his hand. He's out two to four weeks. Happened in
the WBC. He returned to Action had MRI that revealed
he does have a hairline fracture. So that that sucks,
especially if you drafted him in that period between the
WBC and you thought he was healthy like myself. South
Frank is locked in in the outfield. But who else
in the outfield is locked in? Or is this just
a rotational group here in Milwaukee?
Speaker 2: Uh? Well, I think, uh, actually, I think, uh, David
Hamilton ended up. So David Hamilton won the third base
job over your boy Rangifo. I know you were upset
about that.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry for your your al onely or you're in
a lonely team.
Speaker 2: Gray, Yeah, yeah, you know my uh. Like, the good
news is no, the bad news is in tow Wars,
I drafted Louis Rengifo for two dollars. The good news
is I drafted David Hamilton for a dollar.
Speaker 3: So, I mean, honestly, if I get you know, thirty
five to forty steals from the both of them, it's
for n no only, I'll take it.
Speaker 2: Anyway, Yeah, south Free is locked in. I think Garrett
Mitchell is probably platooning with Blake Perkins. Garrett uh, and
then uh Lockridge is there too, so probably well, I guess,
I guess it's like four guys for three spots, but
Freelick plays every day, so it's more like three guys
for two spots. So Lockridge, Mitchell, Perkins. I like Mitchell
and Lockridge. Perkins is like, I feel like he's probably
just gonna face lefties when one of when Mitchell or
or someone comes out of line of Mitchell or Bowers
or or someone. And then Gary Sanchez, Oh you didn't
mention that you want to talk about Andrew Vaughn too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Andrew von has the hand manufacture in his left hand.
Just continues that injury line for this year four to
six weeks. Jake Bowers and Gary Sanchez, as well as
Jefferson Cuero who was called out all in the mix there.
So I'll let you, I'll let yeah.
Speaker 2: So, I mean, how embarrassing is it that, like Lindor
and Jackson Holiday, all these guys that have like the
ham like the hammet, but like the invites for the
fractured hammit bone went out in like February, Like where
Andrew Vaughn, what are you doing? Check your evites bronath.
Speaker 1: The stairs that nobody's nobody's delivered.
Speaker 2: Now, yeah, I think, uh, I think Andrew Vaughn's you know,
he's probably we're looking four to six weeks, so he's
probably replaced by a combination of Gary Sanchez and Jake
Bowers righty lefty platoon there at first base. And then
you know, like you mentioned, they brought up Jefferson Quero,
who's gonna be you know, he'll he'll fill in for
Contreras when Contreras needs a day off from being behind
the plate, which isn't that much really, but occasionally he's
gonna d h and that moves probably moves Yelich to
the outfield, which moves Lockridge probably out. So there's a
lot of moving parts. But Jefferson kiro is not it's
not really roster bull and anything but an NL only,
and even in an NL only, like you gotta be
pretty desperate. I think, like I saw, like, you know,
there's some bids in a couple of my leagues where
I was like, I don't I don't understand what's going on.
Here like between Jefferson Quiro and Davison, Dave Vison, Dela
Santos in the Marlin Like I mean, I I don't
mind Delo Santos if he has a job, but like
he was called up for like a day, like and
they the Marlins. If the Marlins don't want to play,
who's I mean, who's playing of that? If the Marlins
ain't playing them, then I don't know why you're why
you're picking them up. But yeah, so Quero is another
guy where like you know, bids were made and I
don't know, I don't think Quero is playing, which is
it's a little weird for a team to call up
a top prospect and I'm not playing them. But there's
just no I mean, William Contreras is their everyday catcher
and they have so many other guys who need DH spots,
so Quero is is not really going to be in
the mix that much.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then since we talked about it and you
brought it up, the Brewers are actually so they're sitting
Yellich versus Lefties, and Contreras is getting the time at
the H versus lefties instead of Yelich, which is really
weird because Yelich hits lefties better than Contreras and has
always hit lefties fine, So very confusing in regard to
what they're doing there. And also, Yelich isn't like an invalid.
He can go play left or right field. In Milwaukee,
It's it's not really a difficult place to play the corners.
So I don't really understand what's going on there, But
for now, if you don't Yellich, it's a little bit
concerning that he's gonna be sitting there, if he's gonna
sit versus lefties, And in addition to only being d
H like, that's feels weird.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, completely, if you're if you're speaking about more
ridiculous lineup decisions, then to bring this full circle back
to Derek Shelton, the the idiot in charge of the Twins.
I mean, this is this is classic just MLB manager brain.
He had Austin Martin hitting leadoff and Royce Lewis hitting eighth.
Now you know, I'm not a huge fan of Royce
Lewis eighth and Austin Martin's hitting lead off, Like why
why why would you do that? Like what what does
like why would you do like that doesn't make sense, Like,
you know, Royce Lewis is actually good, right, Like, let
just bear with me here. Royce Lewis is actually good
and Austin Martin is not good? So what you're doing?
Why would you do that? Like Derek Shelton, it's just
like as soon as the Twins hired him to be
their manager, it should have been like, oh, the Twins
don't they're not trying to win. That's it. You can't
spell Twins without wins. But it ain't happening in Minnesota
because like, whatever they're doing, man, it's not good. I
honestly can't figure out how you could come up to
the come up and be like, Okay, this is the
lineup right here. Seeing now we're gonna go with Cody
Clemens maybe leading off?
Speaker 1: Like what wait?
Speaker 2: Time out? I would be like if I was a
coach in Minnesota, like time out, timeout coach, Derek mister Shelton,
Cody Clemens, No, man, don't want to hit him lead off? Like, okay,
how about we hit Austin Martin leadoff? No, we need
another time out. Not Austin Martin either. Man, you actually
have good players in the Twins lineup Keishaw, Boxton, Royce Lewis.
I mean, there's guys. There are guys there, but the
guys you're putting a lead up, they're not good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Cody Clemens and Austin Martin seem to have actually
settled in as the split d leadoff hitter for the time.
My mind is just blown because it doesn't make any sense.
You're like, is Cody Clemens good against any particular hand.
You're like, maybe he's really really strong versus writings, And
the answer is no, he had two nineteen last year
versus righties Austin Martin. I'm not even gonna gonna go
down that that. Like, I have no idea what's going on,
Like Cody Clemens has a sub two eighty five on
base like what Like there is no argument for why
either of them belongs at the top of the lineup.
I mean, there's there's a bunch of these. The leadoff
was the biggest just assault of terrible decisions in this
opening week. Gray. We had Rob Refschneider, who I didn't
even realize was in baseball anymore. Like I was pretty
sure he went to Korea and played. Jake Croninworth has
led off twice. Odeo Cruz and Jared Triolo are splitting leadoff.
I love Odeo Cruz, but he is not a leadoff
hitter by any stretch of the imagination. Gray Like, these
things are happening and it's absolutely absurd the.
Speaker 2: H I saw the Pirates lineup a day that they
were facing a lefty and O'Neil Cruz was out of
the lineup and Jared trio Trillo is it was hitting leadoff,
and I was just I I think I spit, I
spent my I did a spit take with boba in
my mouth. I was like, what is what is that?
Wait a minute, Jared Triolo is hitting leadoff? That's I
mean for NL only Jared Triolo gets a little bit
of a bump because he's he's basically playing against everyone
and hitting leadoff against lefties. O'Neil Cruz, though, I gotta say,
I think O'Neil Cruz not only does he need a
change of scenery for sure, but I think he might
be a boss. Even as late as he was going
in drafts at like one hundred overall, Like he does
not look like it does not look good for O'Neil Cruz.
Man I'm sad to say it, because you know, I've
been a fan of his, but he's striking out against
everyone and not playing against half of them. It's not good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean last year he had a phenomenal April
that kind of held up a lot of his season
in regards to just the overall numbers. We're gonna need
a couple of seasons like that at this pace right
now or month, sorry, a couple of months like that
at this pace. One last lineup thing just just you know,
really grinds my gear. So I gotta bring this one up.
Joe Adell. You know, the Angels, we know, we know
they hate him, They've hated him for years, but like
to be this blatant about it, Gray, this blatant about
it is ridiculous. He's hitting behind Jolan Mancata, Jorge Hilaire
and Nolan Chanel. Again, I kind ofel for like a
deep league quarter and field spot. That's fine, Like Yoan
Moncata barely belongs in Major League Baseball anymore, and Jare
Hilaire is essentially the same thing. If the Angels and
the Pirates and the White Sox and the Rockies didn't exist,
you know, these players would be out of baseball.
Speaker 2: Year like yeah, Like I would say, like Yon Mankata,
like he's hitting like under a hundred right now as
we record this. So I would hope that Kurt Suzuki,
the Angels manager, if I would hope by like Tuesday
of this week, he would be like, oh, gotta probably
shouldn't be hitting fifth. He should probably figure it out.
And I'll say that hopefully I'll give him the benefit
of the dad and say, you know, he's a new manager,
hopefully he can figure it out. But what kind of
marbles does a guy have in his had to have
the major league baseball managing job and be like look
at like past stats, like getting familiar with players and
being like, Yam, Mancatta is gonna hit in front of
Adele Like what You're a new manager, you're coming into
the league. You look at your players and you've evaluated
them and this is what this is what you've come
up with that Ya Mancata should hit in front of
Joe Adell Like what? Like what?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: I feel like there's certain lineup decisions where it's like
the manager should get like he should get fined, he
should be fined, like Kurt Suzuki should be fined because
it's like, yeah, you're a new manager, but you should
know better than that.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: I mean you can look at guy's stats and be
like st Moncott is not good, like you know, like
you can see that, right, Like that's a that's the
first little check to see if like you know what
you're doing. That's her. That's a safeguard here because if
you can't figure out ya Moncata is not good by
just looking at his status and it's like, I don't know, man,
I feel like maybe you shouldn't be bad. I got worries, man,
I got worries about you because Yamankata hasn't been good
since twenty nineteen. And we and if we and you've
listened to Raspbell podcast, you know there was a bounty
ball in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: For sure. I don't even think you have less to
us to know the twenty nineteen was an absurd, absurd year. Absolutely, Gray,
that's that was ridiculous. Yeah, I mean there's half the
angels belong in you know, Japan, and then I just
feel bad for the three or four that actually belonged
in the majors. It's it's terrible.
Speaker 2: Is at least at least half the Angels team belongs
in Japan, But there's a few that belong in Korea.
You know, let's be honest and ya Mancata might be
one of them.
Speaker 1: Look, he could definitely get a job in Japan. He
just wouldn't hold it and he ended up in Korea. Grady, No,
I mean they got rid of Broun Washington. You're like, Oh,
there's really only only up to go, and I really
I'm not so sure anymore. Grey, not so sure that
is the direction that they're gonna go. Uh, let's let's
sagged off it up. There's a lot of a lot
of stuff here in the season and then we'll get
out of here. Carlos the Stevens went for X rays.
It was negative on his inkle after he got hit
with a comebacker. That followed him blowing a huge, huge
game is the worst. It was worse than any appearance
he had all last year when nobody liked him as
a as a reliever. Gray, are you worried about Carlos
Estevez outside of the injury? It sounds like nothing, you know,
not a real big deal there, But you concerned enough
that you would look at grabbing Lucas or sag or
Matt Strong.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I'm I'm pretty concerned because not only was
there the walking boot, but also a steveez was you know,
throwing like eighty one miles per hour. So things things
aren't great for Carlos of Stevez right now. So I
would pick up er Seg everywhere. I think he's I
think he's the guy.
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, I agree, And I was drafted him
in deeper leagues in the preseason because of this reason.
Houston Brian Bray gives up runs in a non safe situation.
Speaker 2: Any concern there, Actually, yeah, I picked up Brian King
in a couple of leagues where, you know, just as
a speculative pick.
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'd be concerned if I was a Brew because, like,
you know, if because Hater, I mean, at some point,
Josh Hater's coming back. So it's not like the Astros
need to keep Abre in the closer role. It's like
they just want to get saved. They don't care who's
getting them. So yeah, if I if I was like
Espata over in Houston, I would just go to Brian
King if I were him, So I would be worried
if I had Brian Bradill.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not worried immediately, but I don't dislike the
preemptive Brian King, especially in some of our leagues that
are very deep and very competitive. Over in Cincinnati, Amelia
Pegan has a blown save in a four out appearance.
That's not a usual thing for him to do it
for out saved, but he did blow in Any concerns
here because again, this is a guy that we all
thought he was losing. They closed the role at some
point last year. Is it actually gonna happen this year?
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be shocked. I don't think he's lost it yet,
but I mean, I would say Pegan is probably I
don't know, maybe two or three blown saves away from
you know, Tony Santillion or Ashcroft or someone coming in
and getting saves. But right for right now, i'd put
On still has the closer job, and he's, you know,
not the safest guy, but he's relatively safe. Still.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he still feels like he's the guy, don't. I
don't think Cincinnati is a organization that's going to make
a change overly quickly, so that helps him out as well.
I do like Tony Santillion as a just general pitcher,
So you could do worse than describing him if you
have an extra spot in your lineup and just throwing
him out there. Tampa Bay, Griffin Jacks the temporary, temporary
assigned closer for Tampa Bay because there's never really one
he blows to save. There's always good relievers in Tampa Bay.
Speaker 2: Any concerns here, Yeah, I would be concerned. If I
was a Griffin Jacks owner Clevenger, probably it would be
the guy who I would He's a lefty though, but
I mean he'd probably be the guy who I would look.
But it could be anyone. Really. I still think probably
i'd put Griffin Jacks at the top of the depth
chart for saves. But yeah, I mean it's tended of.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's helped a little bit because Garrett Clevenger also
got hit around a little bit, so I think that
buys Griffin Jackson a little bit more time. I think
the guy who could become interesting is Brian Baker if
they both continue to struggle. But there's also Edwin. You
say that he's coming back at some point, He's gonna
take the job back over over in Minnesota, Cole Sands
gets the save. It's always kind of that up in
the air. Do you think it's Cole Sands or is
this still just a split it's the twins. There's not
gonna be a closer.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think Derek Shelton's a moron, so I don't
think they really are gonna have a closer. I feel
like it's gonna be a fluid situation all year. Cole
Sands might get, you know, fifteen saves on the year,
and Taylor Rogers gets ten and maybe and then the
field gets five, but it's gonna I feel like it's
never it's never gonna be just Cole Sands.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would agree. Over in Texas, Robert Garcia gets
the save opportunity but gets pulled so it doesn't get
the blowne say, but does give up a couple of hits.
Chris Martin comes in, What are your thoughts here on
the Texas closer situation?
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then I think Garcia then came in the
following game and had a clean inning in a close game,
but a non safe situation. So I'd still go Garcia,
but it'll probably be like I i'd put him above
Cole sands, but I would say Garcia is probably like
seventeen to twenty saves and Chris Martin gets like seven
to ten.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I could definitely see that. I could also see
Chris Martin just kind of taking the job at some
point if Robert Garcia falters. But there's nothing yet to
say Garcia is going to struggle. I'm not overly concerned
about it. Over in Saint Louis, I think a lot
of us thought it was Riley O'Brien or if not him,
Jojo Romero. But Ryan Stannik gets the first look this
Saint Louis. Ryan Stanik, is this just gonna be a
Minnesota Twins esque mess? What are your thoughts here?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think it might actually be more
of a mess than the Twins, even because Stannic is,
I mean, he's a mess, like he's he's really bad.
He couldn't find the plate, and I think both of
his starts, or excuse me, both of his appearances or yeah,
I think or JJ, excuse me, Jojo Romero I think
came in earlier in the game. Riley O'Brien came in earlier,
and they both looked good. But where they were better,
you know, better situations for them, harder, harder situations. So
this is just gonna be I think there's just gonna
be a fluid sort of mess all year. I would
probably avoid unless you really need the saves.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's probably a good out look on the on
the Cardinals bullpen in general. It's not like I actually
like Riley Brian and Jojo Romero from a pitching standpoint.
I just feel like they're just gonna be moved around
and they're gonna do all sorts of things. I don't
know what the Cardinals are doing. They may even be
as weird as it sounds. Maybe they're trying not to
give them saves for arbitration. I know that's not the
most far fetched thing, but it's not like, you know,
it's I don't know, it seems weird there in Saint Louis.
So yes, just avoid athletics. Mark Letter Junior, I believe
he got the first look. What are your thoughts here
for the athletics.
Speaker 2: Again, it's kind of a mess. And Hogan Harris is there,
Mark Letter Junior, Sterner Justin Sterner, I don't know. I
mean probably would go Hogan Harris as like in the lead,
but I mean none of them are. I don't think
any of them are are surpassing twelve saves to be honest.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I like Hogan Harris out of him. Mark Lighter
had the opportunity, but he's he's performed poorly. So I
think it's Hogan Harris, Mark Lighter, and then Scott Barlow
could randomly sneak in just because he has previous closer experience.
One last one the Angels, our favorite organization Gray Jordan Romano.
Speaker 2: I guess he's the closer, Yeah, question Mark, Yeah, he's Yeah,
I think Jordan Romano. I mean maybe because he has
a past history of being successful, but I feel like
he could be a surprising like twenty plus save guy.
I don't mind Jordan Romano, uh, because like, the Angels
don't really have anyone else you know, well, I mean
Kirby Yates at some point I guess could come back,
but he's he's been injury prone and he's old. Stevenson
has elbow inflammation. I mean, the the Angels don't really
have anyone else here that I feel I could, like,
you know, take the job and run with it. From Romano,
I don't know. I tend to think like Jordan Romano,
while has been awful for the better part of like
two years, he could still put together a decent year. So,
you know, not not a huge vote of confidence, but
I would pick up Jordan Romano.
Speaker 1: If you need saves. You know, everybody's available. If I
if I was not desperate for saves, I think I
would I would probably just avoid. But I get it.
He looks like he's the guy. And as you mentioned,
I have no idea who in LA would be the
guy other than him, because Drew Palm morianswho I thought
might be the guy who's been terrible uh pretty much ever, buddy,
So I really don't know who might be that be
the guy there one.
Speaker 2: Of my uh in one of my fab leagues. Out
of a thousand dollars, Jordan Romano, how much would you
have if you need saves? How much would you have
put on Jordan Romano.
Speaker 1: In a fab league? Probably like like ten twelve percent
at most, if I really, like, if I didn't draft
saying yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, I wouldn't want to drop
one hundred uh token on Jordan Romero. You know what
I'm saying, I want to I wouldn't want to put
a Benji down on Romero at one hundred dollars, I
wouldn't want to do one hundred out of a thousand.
I wouldn't want to do it. But someone in my
league put five hundred and fifty five dollars, five hundred
and fifty five dollars out of a thousand Jordan Romero,
I literally like, I I threw my computer out the
window for that person. I was like, you know, I
don't got you. I don't understand, okay, but you know
what you're above me, and the standings right now in
the last.
Speaker 1: After three days, they're they're above you. Uh yeah, I
will say. If I'm looking at this, and I already
said I don't believe in Jordan Romato. If we're looking elsewhere,
it's not your pairent Promerance, I think he might be cooked. Unfortunately,
Ryan Zephyr John I think could do it, and Chase
Selfseith could do it. So those be the two guys
I would monitor. I don't think you have to pick
them up as of right now, because also the Angels
aren't that good of an organization or a team, despite
although I think they are currently the first or second
best offense in baseball, but I do not expect that
to keep up. There you go, Gray. If you still
have any questions, you can find us on x I
am at rathbeat on Gray as the owner of the
at rasball account. You can find this on YouTube dot
com slash rasball Fantasy or on the rasball dot com
in the comments section. May your lineups be perfect, May
all your calls and your pickups work well. And I'll
talk to you later. Greg.
Speaker 2: All right, lads,