Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:20):
is the Fantasy Football Best Friends Forever Show. Start listening
to us or suffer the consequences. See yeah right now.
(00:55):
As welcome by your host fie By from Fine Did
from St. Francis Prannice. Stand all, ladies and gentlemen, your
(01:19):
p with that we won't give you Inside up Studio
thirty four. This is the b f F. S is
Frank Stample. I am Greg Sauceman. What's happen about? Great
happy Monday to you. I hope you had a great weekend.
(01:39):
Did we had a Tyson Fury fight? Good times? We
got some peace, Paul. It's a great weekend, Greg. Nice
weather too, really nice weather this weekend and your weekend go.
I just sleep, man, I slept pretty well, have very funny.
I was excited to tell you about hit me very excited.
Uh So on Saturday night, Frank I woke up and
(02:02):
I found out overnight in my dreams that we uh
we fired Craig Mish. Oh, I'm not laughing at you, Craig,
I'm laughing with you. So we fired Craig Mish, but
you still host the fs T. Do you want to
know who you hosted it with? Um? I do want
to know. So I guess it was FST with Frank
(02:23):
Staffle and my dad Rob. Susan's right, it was you
and Rob hosted f S Day whenever the Fantasy League
gets a fresh pair of socks, sir. So that was
We worked on some wedding album stuff. Very it was fun.
We were all the same side, which was nice. It's hard, man,
(02:43):
it's really hard. Wedding album. Oh you're creating your Yeah,
you gotta pick out pictures before you like, Yeah, officially done.
I'll tell you about it during the update and somebody
else cares um. But we got that. We got Relief
Picture rankings, our debut. With the rankings, we're going backwards.
Everybody else that starts to catcher, we don't. We started
the Relief Picture akings. We had some NBA to talk
about as well before we do any of that. Shan
(03:04):
Glassmachia your sports trading us up. I'm John Glossomakia with
your sports trade news update. All right. Kobe Bryant remembered
right now going on at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
His widow, Vanessa Bryant calls Kobe m v P of
(03:27):
girls Dad's and she went on to say, God knew
that Gianna and Kobe couldn't be together on the start
without each other. He had to bring them home. And
you have them together, babe, you take care of our
g end. Quote. So a lot of emotions raging right
now at the Staples Center as they remember Kobe and
(03:47):
Gianna Bryant. Let's go over to the NHL and they
trade deadline. One of the more key names on the
waiver wire or the trade rumor mill was Chris Criter.
He was, of of course, the New York Rangers forward.
He's no longer on the trade rumor mill. He is
locked up for seven years. Of twenty eight year old
(04:07):
signed a six point five annual average value deal with
the New York Rangers. He has four goals and one
assists in sixty games this season. Set to break a
career high in both categories. He is now a New
York ranger for the next seven years. We think he
is locked up, so he is no longer on the
trade rumor Mill All right, let's go over to the
(04:28):
Rodal world and MLB hands a road lest the Angels closer.
That's what Joe Madden, the manager said today. He's pretty
safe bet to begin the season as the team's closer.
Last year he saved twenty three games with a two
point four three e R, a seventy five K, sixteen
walks in seventy two and two thirds innings. Last seasons
(04:49):
hands a road least now the closer, according to Joe
Mann and the Angels owner. So that's some BFFs news
right there. And friend Mill Rays, the Cleveland Indians outfielder
has dropped eighteen pounds in the off season. He hit
over thirty home runs for the Padres last year or so.
He isn't known to be a defensive liability. Losing eighteen
(05:11):
pounds might help in your fantasy traps there. If you
are a big Friend Mobrays fan, that is your BFF
sports grid news update for this hour. Now back to
Greg and Frank take it away all right, Thanks so much, Sean.
And we mentioned at the top of the show we're
gonna be talking about closers and relief pitchers here in
terms of fantasy baseball. But before we do all that,
(05:33):
we did want to jump a little bit into the
NBA here. Earlier today, our own Greg Sussman spoke with
Daily Rhodo's Ricky Sanders about tonight's NBA DFS slate. Here's
who you should be building your lineups around tonight. Let's
(05:55):
complete the Philly triffect to hear with you. Well embed
at center, Dude Emvite Janice Dodges. How are you pulling
this off? Well, we didn't mention Kendrick not a point
guard who's under five k, which is just a crazy
price tag for him. So again, if you're playing Richardson
and you're playing him all of a sudden, you can
pull it off with relative ease. But look, I mean
(06:17):
Joel embiid against this Atlanta Hawks team that again allows
a ton of stocks. It's just a great setup in itself.
And then you have Ben Simmons out of rotation, and
without Ben Simmons, Joel embiad isp posted to like a
thirty five percent usage rate, a rebound rate that's gone up.
We haven't had a twenty five percent rebound rate baseline
(06:37):
on Daily Rhodo. Obviously, Ben Simmons a good rebounder, and
you know as a point guard, and you look at
this matchup, I mean, it's just great. This Hawks team
has not covered center as well all year long. You know,
Joel Embiid could get you those blocks, and that's beyond
you know, we haven't projected with a high usage rate,
(06:58):
high assist rate, a high rebound rates rate. In fact,
with Ben Simmons out, So Joel Embiid just does everything.
It's a great spot for him. It's a great matchup,
and it he really doesn't matter. With Tobias Harris, I
think he's gonna be the focal point of his offense. Hey,
you haven't. I got an opportunity to talk to Ricky
earlier today you will be the sixers. That's where we're looking.
No Ben Simmons tonight, Harris's questionable. So before you check
(07:22):
to finalize your line ups, I don't know what to
Daily Order dot Com to set them. Yeah, it's a
great point. Look, whenever Ben Simmons is out, Greg you're
looking to build your teams around some of those seventies
sixers players, and it makes a lot of sense. You
heard it from Ricky Sanders. Joel embiid usage rate up
over thirty five per cent when Ben Simmons is not
on the floor. So you're looking to fill out your
(07:42):
DFS lineups tonight trying to figure out who to build
around Greg, I think Joel and beat the process makes
the most sense, of course. Not trust it, man, you
gott trust the process. There you go Daily Order dot Com.
Make sure you check that out. But be four lineups
lock tonight, righty? Should we start our relief as your rankings? Yeah? Yeah,
let's do it all right? So I have I have rankings.
(08:03):
Greg has rankings, Frank rankings. No, No, what are you
talking about? Right? What is this right here that I'm
looking at? That's Fantasy Pros rankings. Rank No, those are
my rankings, which go on Fantasy Pross whatever. Five most
accurate rank about nine. I haven't released the yet. I
believe I saw they did. Well, then I'm not on it.
I did. I'm not even kidding. I did see it.
Did I don't know? I did see they did? Then
(08:26):
ruses on it. I did not rank very highly and
rhonases on it. Now you piqued my interest. All right, anyway,
if you look over here on my computer, look at
this color CODEDE sheet. I got my color codes ready
to rock with the relief pitchers, considering this is the
only show draft accuracy out yet. I saw draft projections.
Then I saw raft projection injections. I saw I'm I'm
(08:49):
not even making it up. I don't even know what
that means. Then I will find it during the break
for you. All right, Well, they haven't released the twenty
nineteen draft accuracy rankings from last year. We're still waiting
on those. All right, I'm sure I finished, like number one,
Chris MENI got something, that's how I know. And I
saw this a color coded movie. You want? This is
what I'm gonna do is better room may that's Venmo,
(09:09):
Greg solid. I don't know what do you charge for
that nowadays? You know cool? A couple of suckles were good,
A couple of cecles. You rather have w W E
network or the Greg network. So I was was trying
to make these rankings, uh previously five minutes ago, and um,
(09:29):
I have a really hard time this year. And this
is what I'm hoping to use the show for trying
to figure out like where the first here ends and
the next year begins, and then that's here after that.
Like I'm all about tears, you know that about me,
But it's really hard for me to kind of figure
out who's elite and who's not because I really think
that truly, every closer on the board I think hasn't
(09:50):
been wrong with them as like a welt, And because
of that, I don't my tears are like much larger.
They're literally impacts of ten. Franc I literally have two
packs of ten for the first nineteen or you know,
essentially pac ten the first nineteen relief pictures off my board. Yeah,
I mean, look, the closer position is always a tough
(10:12):
one to figure out for fantasy purposes. And obviously if
you play in Rhodo or head to Add Categories, saves
count for a lot more. Honestly, if you play in
head to Add Categories, I would probably just punt some
on bases and punt saves. But that's just me. I
know that there's a lot of strategy built around, you know,
getting those elite relievers in that type of format if
you want to and head to head points leagues, they're
not nearly as valuable. But yeah, Greg, look, I think
(10:36):
the position now is harder to figure out than ever
before because as we go through today and try and
figure out, you know, every team's closing situation, you're gonna
see that there's at least five, six, seven teams that
are going to have multiple closers or don't have a
set closer right now. Gabe Kapler's out in San Francisco.
If you watch the BFFs the past couple of years,
(10:58):
you know, I hate Gabe Kapitler because he can never
figure out who his closure is gonna be. You know,
he changes it up every single day based on match.
So it was based on this, based on that, you know,
analytics for his closers. Uh, And now, well, I guess
he's got a fun job to figure out who's gonna
use out there in San Francisco because A they're not
gonna win a lot of games, Greg, and B I
don't think they really have that many great relievers in general.
(11:18):
So like most years, I would say this year is uh,
it's an interesting situation trying to figure out all these
closing situations. There's a lot of question marks. This year,
We're gonna break down, starting at the top. When we
come back the BFS roll on here on Monday. After this,
(11:39):
I want to be the next Daily Fantasy Millionaire. Dunk
on your NBA DFS competition with Daily Rodal dot Com
and dominate on fandel and DraftKings this season. Compete with
the pros with Daily Rodal dot Com optimizer and the
most accurate projections in NBA DFS, plus line up alerts,
breaking news, lake swap support, and much more. Save ten
on winning NBADFS advice with promo code Dunk. Visit daily
(12:03):
dot Com backslash to learn more. Alright, back here, BFFs,
it's our closer Rankings programmed. Where do you rankings? All
all week long? Oh? Next week, we're that's that time
of year. We're getting the mark. Next week's March. We
(12:26):
basically have to do two weeks worth of ranking shows.
Grego's next. We're gonna have to spend like two days
on out fielders, two days I'm starting pitchers. That's the
next two weeks, right, and then next week what's up
the draft? Next week? No, right, it's not what draft auction? Draft? No, no, no,
the auction is after it's like Thursday. I got on
(12:49):
my calendar here March March twelfth. Next week's the fifth
ready that I wasn't so crazy to ask. You're not
far off. You didn't realize that was close? Yeah, you're
You're not wrong. There's two weeks from this. Thursday is
our first draft of the year. I mean, good times.
(13:09):
I'm already nervous. Why we're gonna crush you? We already?
You already have a list? Do I do the list?
Hashtag list um. Who was listening to the show Dane
Dane Martears listen to the show last week and he
heard of our strategy a little bit about how I
want to piss everybody off. He enjoyed the show, he
says me. He says, let's succeed every year. He's not wrong.
(13:32):
All I do is have fun. Let's go greatly jumping right.
Let's jump right in here today and let's get into
the closers. As I mentioned my top tier and asked
Frank right before the show starting, where is the top
tier end? And he's like, there's four guys and then
there's everybody else. But I was looking at the four
guys and I'm like, I think there's issues. So for me,
(13:53):
I got like nine guys. I feel very comfortable draking
any of these guys. I don't want to spend on
any of the top four because I like the other
six more just as much. And to be fair, I've
done two drafts already, Greg, and I have not wound
up with either of the top four closures that I
have in that top tier um anyway, So I mean
that's not how That's usually what I do when it
(14:15):
comes to relief pictures in rhoto leagues and head to
end categories leagues. I am going to more often than
not to wait for those top five or six to go.
I'll wind up with one of my top ten closers Greg,
then I'll probably jump in the eleven to fifteen range,
and then maybe just add a few more speculative guys
swords the back end of the draft. But more often
than not, I don't wind up with one of the
(14:37):
top five closures, Greg, because the value is just too high.
So here's the thing. I got nineteen guys. As I
mentioned that I like nineteen of them, I want two
of the nineteen. That's fair. I think that makes a
lot of sense. Yeah, And I'm not gonna spend up
for the number one closer, who is Josh Hayter this
year coming off the board. And I'm not gonna spend
(14:57):
up for Curbs, who's traditionally number two, And there might
number one and two also, I just don't see myself
spending up. I'm gonna wait and wait and wait and
take two of my top nine team. So let's go
through some of the top guys. I want to tell
you why I'm like pausing rather than drafting these players,
because like I think they have welts and number one,
we have Josh Hayden, number two, Curvy eighth, number three
(15:17):
or all this, Chapman, number four, Roberto oh soona and
that's like the consensus top four, right, That's what you
told me, that top serious, correct, That's what it is
for me. Okay, So those are the top four. Now
the reason I don't want to spend up for them,
I will go with the ones that are clearer to me.
Rollis Chapman a lot of miles on that arm. We've
(15:38):
seen him be pulled in the closer roll before, we've
seen him go on the I l a couple of
times elbow injuries, shoulder injuries. You wonder if all of
these pitches, all of these years, and that knee issue
that always recurs, you wonder if it catches up to
him at some point. Again, not I I don't like.
Are all the Chapman's right. Number three closer issues are
(15:59):
about Herby Yates led the MLB and saves last year
with forty one saves. We were just talking about it
during the break, Frank forty one saves he had. But
I believe it's a free agent to be or is
this just the year left? The Padres thought about trading
him last year at the deadline. They didn't this year.
If they fall out of it, they're going to just
(16:21):
like they did Brad Hand before him. And if Kurby
Yates goes, somebody else will stop up. Amilio Pagan. I
just traded for very good, very good reliever, Herby Yates,
the number two. Costing what he costs, it doesn't seem
worth it to me. And then you have Josh Hayder,
who is amazing the best reliever in baseball. Oh right,
he has all these multi inning appearances. They deploy him
(16:43):
whenever they want to. This is the issue we said
with him coming in the last season, and they had
a bunch of relievers in Milwaukee that could wind up
getting this job at some point or stealing saves. Hayter's
the guy, He's the number one guy. He's the best
out of these players. What if you're just specifically looking
for saves at you have questions when it comes to
Josh had Finally, Ronny at the top four is a Rhodo,
(17:04):
So he's a cheater. Well they got that's all you got. Well,
it's worth mentioning that our own Craig miss who was
still on Fantasy Sports today by the way, him Greg's
dad did not replace Craig Mish spoke with Alex Bregman
over the weekend. We're at I don't know where, somewhere
at spring training wherever they are, somewhere in Florida, and uh,
(17:25):
he said that Roberto Soona is going to lead all
of baseball and saves and subcaraus I can see that.
Like to me, it's not crazy, you know, cost the least,
it may lead them and saves like the most. He's
probably the one that I'm most likely to draft, just
based on So you look at the adp over at
the Fantasy pros right now, we're gonna put him in
white on the on the rankings, and Josh Hayder is
going off the board at fifty seven overall. So I mean, look,
(17:48):
that's a steep price that you're talking about. In a
twelve team league, you have to use a fifth round
pick on a closer. Mind you, you're gonna get the
best closer in the game. You're gonna get a ton
of strikeouts, great ratios from Josh Hayter as well, But
that is a big price tag to pay up. You're
passing up on, you know, legit top twenty starting pitchers,
you're passing up on stolen bases, which are scarce category
as well. Curby Yates, I'm with you, Greg, I think
(18:08):
he's awesome. The sub too e er. Last year he's
ridiculous and we were all over him. I actually wound
up with a few shares of Curby rates last season. Uh.
Phenomenal splitter, no doubt about it. We think you raise
a great point that they already have traded away Brad
Hand in the past, they were thinking about trading away
Kirby Yates. Last year they just traded four and they
(18:30):
gave up some assets together anymore. Amilio Pagan who is
a phenomenal look in his own right, and they also
have another name in Andres Munios who came up last year.
It was like a hundred five miles per hour. They
actually are projected to have one of, if not the
best bullpens in the Nationals. There's well, it's on one
and two for you continue and I'm with you on Osuda.
(18:50):
I'm most likely to drop chairman oh on a roller.
Chapman look, he has missed time and the strikeouts were
down last year, the swinging strike rate was down, the
velocity was pretty much on par. I mean, doesn't throw
as hard as he used to, but but you still
have to worry about the knees in the back of
your mind a little bit. He has thrown a lot,
uh look playing for one of the best teams in
(19:12):
baseball and the Yankees, they have the highest projected over
under for any team in baseball this upcoming season. They're
going to win a lot of games, and you know,
he easily could save forty plus games this upcoming season.
But I'm with you, Greg, I think based on the
price tag you have to pay for all this, Chapman
he's I think like some of the names that are
going behind him are really not that dissimilar, and you
(19:33):
might be able to get them a few rounds later.
So I don't really have a problem waiting on him.
If you want to grab Chapman, I'm fine with it.
But you still do have to pay a big price
tag he's going off the board. I pick seventy one
right now, Greg, So back into the sixth round in
a twelve team league. Again, that's that's a big price
to pay for for your first closer. There you go.
We're all we're on the same page here when it
(19:54):
comes to Reberto. Assume you be in our favorite of
this tier. Let's move on. Let's move on. You think
that tears over here right like, that's where you're stopping.
You're cutting it off, making a new color. Yeah. I
don't have a problem with you kind of just keeping
one big tier for like your top ten. That's fine
to me. I think that these four are you know,
if they remain the closest for their respective teams the
(20:15):
entirety of the season would not surprise me. If they
all have sub two point five oh e r A
s really good strikeout numbers, and forty plus saves. I
would just put those these this group before I have
less doubt about than the other group of players were
about to talk about next gree al right, so let's
get let's get to those next guys. It would just
keep diving in Frank, because for me, I look at
(20:36):
these guys that are in the next crew and I'll
just kind of rattle them off and you could order
them how you pre For Frank, you got Liam Hendrix
in here. We talked about him briefly last week. You
got Kenley Jansen in here. We talked about him briefly
last week in the same conversation. Guys, we think that
could be this year's late China. We got Greig Kimberle.
(20:58):
I believe in this mix. We have Taylor Rogers. I
believe in this mix. And finally, for me, where my
top nine ends, I got Edwin Diaz here as well.
Is there anybody I'm leaving out or anybody that wouldn't
be in that top nine? So I have the top
four as the first year, and then I have five
(21:19):
through eleven for me that are kind of in this
They could still be really really good, but again they
have more Awartz than the than the first four that
we already spoke about. And for me, that group is
Brad Hand, Taylor Rogers, Ken Giles, Edwin Diaz, Liam Hendrix,
Kenley Jansen, and Craig Kimberl rounding out the top. So
it basically it's Brad Hand and Ken Giles that I
probably just move up to a bigger tier. But look,
(21:41):
I mean there's concerns over both of those guys as well.
Like Brad Hand was not nearly as elite last year
as he was. He can there's a chance he could
be traded as well, and they have And I think
with Ken Giles was he was trading the Yankees acquired him,
but they look at this his medicals like, yeah, we're good.
I'm not gonna take this guy. You're out on Ken Giles.
(22:02):
If the Yankees are out, Greg's out. I hear what
you're saying. But Greg, he was phenomenal last year, just
into the highest strikeout rate of his career, elite numbers.
It's just a matter of you know, Ken, can he
stay healthy? Can you remain healthy? And a lot of
people expect the Toronto Blue Jays to be more competitive
this upcoming season. Again, what he did last year a
(22:24):
sub two e r A, a whip of one point
zero zero twenty three saves, just one blown, save eighty
three strikeouts in fifty three and two thirds endings pitched. Greg,
I understand the injury concerns you might have over Ken Giles,
but I think you could say that about a lot
of the guys that we're talking about here. Kenley Jansen
has not, you know, been the model of health you
(22:45):
worry about, you know, the heart condition that he has,
plus his um his performance has you know, taken a
step back. Craig Kimberly, you have some of those same
concerns about Liam Hendricks you just dubbed last week as
this year's blake, trying to tell me they all have war.
Give me the person who has the best skills of
this group, and I think Ken Giles is up there
as one of them. And I think you can argue
(23:07):
the same thing for Edwin dis Edwin is exactly the
guys I think Edwin Diaz and Ken Giles, to me, Greg,
are always married together. Even a couple of years ago,
there were two guys that I was completely awful because
it seems like they could just implode at any time.
And last year we saw that implosion from Edwin Diaz
and we saw Ken Giles go the other way, actually
took a huge step forward. It's just a matter now
of him staying healthy. And if he does that, I
(23:27):
think you're looking at thirty five plus saves. You can't
just look at teams and say, oh, the Blue Jays
are not gonna be great, because look at the padres
one less than eighty games, team win close. Kirby Yates
led the league in with forty one safe, So you
can't really look at teams and I just think that
the Blue Jays are gonna be better. And I really
like the skills out of Ken Giles as well. I
think Edwin Diaz here, let's talk a little bit more
about Tylor Rodgers when we come back. I also wonder
(23:48):
about the fatigue, or at least our fatigue with guys
like Craig Kimberroll and Kenley Jansen. I think we could
at least mentioned here. On the other side, we're also
getting to the next year of guys. Guys I really like,
I want to live in this next year because what
I do put its here of guys that I'm pretty
positive at the closers and that's what I'm looking for.
We'll break that down for you. Proto next, want to
(24:12):
be the next Daily Fantasy Millionaire. Dunk on your NBA
DFS competition with Daily Rodal dot com and dominate on
fandel and DraftKings this season. Compete with the pros with
Daily Rodal dot Com optimizer and the most accurate projections
in NBA DFS, plus line up alerts, breaking news, lake
swap support, and much more. Save ten percent on winning
NBA DFS advice with promo code Dunk. Visit Daily Rodal
(24:35):
dot com backslash dunk to learn more. Back year in
the VFF spotted some of your tweets and darks Edward
days and I just wotted to Joe saying, hey, I
have no problem with the d r RP. One I
really don't have no problem is be my first closer
(24:58):
off the board. If that's what the value is, he's
my highest closure left, so also in that range, and
imagine it going to break for guys like Kenley Jansen
and Crank Kimbell. And I asked you Frank or post
the question. These are just some fatigue with these guys
because they've been around so long. Craik Kimbell signed in
June of last year and it was very, very uncomfortable.
And you talked last week a little bit about Kelly
(25:20):
Jansen stuff not being what it once was, and Blake
trying and possibly you serveyan Kenley Jannson at some point.
The first question is who would you rather have between
Kimberroll and Jansen. The second question is do you want either?
I don't really want either. And I actually had this
exact decision to make in one of my NFBC Draft
Champions League so far, Greg and I wound up going
with Kenley Jansen. But I think no matter who you
(25:42):
go with there, you're not going to feel great about it. Obviously,
the Dodgers, like the Yankees, expected to be one of
the best teams this year, probably going to win a hundred,
maybe more than a hundred games, but there is serious
concern over Kenley Jansen. The e r A was, you know,
the highest that that it's space it's ever been for
Kenley Jansen. Last year. The velocity has been down in
(26:03):
the second half. He allowed more line drives last year.
The whip was the highest that has been for Kenley Jansen.
Like we have legitimate concerns. There are a bunch of
you know, warning signs when it comes to him. But again,
I still think that he is the closer for his
team right now, and obviously Dave Roberts has a ton
of faith and trust in Kenley Jansen. But frankly, I
do worry about the skills starting to erode a little
(26:25):
bit here, Greg, But the fact that he plays for
a really good team and you know he's gonna get
the benefit of the doubt. I think the least is
gonna be pretty long. He's probably going to be safe
for at least another thirty to thirty five saves, assuming
he's healthy. He also has a heart condition. But I
also think that, like I think Kimberall's job is even
safer with the Chicago Cubs, like Kelly Johnson. We just
(26:46):
talked about like training last week, right who's up next
for the Cubs. Who's another guy that's going to be
the guy? Steve c Scheck. Is that what we're talking about.
D c Scheck is now with the White Sox, Pat
Stroke is on the Cincinnati Reds. Jeremy je Ris Austin
round but last year had an ear a over five right,
So you want to know that the actual answer is
(27:07):
that the one that people have been drafting is this
gentleman named Rowan Wick is a two point four one
point one four with thirty five strikeouts in thirty three
innings pitched. He's the name. So that's the name that
people are hand. I think Craig kimber full off season
and give it a year younger than Kenley Jansen, but
(27:28):
didn't have a brutal season as well, or second half
of the second half was good, but the overall season
was fine. Thirteen eight six or nine walked up ton
of people. Ere was good. Extra was fine. I thought
it was okay. I'm not having dove in this obviously.
Freik Kimberll in the second half of eighteen had a
(27:52):
four point five seven e r A for what that's worth.
Greig thirty four strikeouts its whey one in two thirds
an ex pitch. But I almost give him the benefit
of the doubts. I'm with you because last year he
joins the Cubs late, he doesn't pitch until June. Because
of all the draft compensation that was attached to Craig Kimbrill,
and some people thought that he was overvaluing himself. He
(28:13):
wanted to get paid some kind of monster contracts, similar
to what role this Chapman got a couple of years
ago from the Yankees. That was never going to happen
for Craig Kimberle. But do you agree that both of
these guys are adequately ranked like where they're going, So
I shouldn't be valued the same way that they have
been in years past my rankings. So who do you
(28:34):
have just behind them? Liam? Here's Brad Hand and Ken Giles.
You really don't like Ken Jiles? Huh, I guess we're
not gonna get Ken Jiles. Basically he's the number one
closer of number one closer target of mine. Really well,
let's make it Robards number one. That's fine because I
just mean based on you know, price versus upside and
(28:57):
skill level. And I think, let me tell you the
guy I have them of things there first day the
guy had directly above them, and that's Taylor Rodgers, right,
pitching for a really good Twins team. Really good stuff
ran away with this closer's job last year. I understand
that kind of came from nowhere, and he wasn't the
guy we expected to be the closer for the Minnesota Twins.
But if you trust the Taylor Rodgers can keep this
job all season long. Rodgers is no grander pick here
(29:18):
inside the top ten. Yeah, and that's if you trust it, right.
And he was phenomenal last year, There's no doubt about that.
I mean to six one e r A with a
one zero zero whip, he's actually done a two years
in row. Greg, He's had a sub too six five
e r A two years in a row. He's he
had a zero point nine five whip in eighteen, a
whip of right around one in twenty nineteen. And the
(29:42):
strikeouts actually went up last year right around twelve case
for nine. The command got better, the walks went down. Uh. Yeah,
I think there's a lot to like. Obviously, the Twins
are expected to win a ton of games this upcoming season,
and looking into Taylor Rodgers, I wanted to see, well,
what are the splits because obviously he's a lefty and
I want to see, no, is there any opportunity that
he's just really good against lefties and kind of got
(30:03):
hip hard by right He's Nope, there is no worry
about that whatsoever. In fact, lefties were actually better against
Taylor Rodgers than righties. He did a great job of
neutralizing both two O eight batting average with a six
eleven o p s against right handed batters last year.
Greg he can handle both sides of the play. And
there were a lot of these guys were naming. There's
all these managerial changes, right, and team philosophy changes. It's
not the case in Minnesota. It's the same exact management
(30:25):
team that's been there. Sure, bench coach has gone and
pitch coach has gone. In a bunch of play, those
of these guys have gone, but same general manager, same
president baseball operations, and Rockabadelli is still the manager for
the Minnesota Twins. He named Taylor Rodgers the closer. He
watched Taylor Rodgers get thirty saves for him last year.
And yes, Trevor May is still there, and yes, ty
Duffy is still there, and Sergio Romo is still there,
(30:46):
and Tyler Clipper You're still there. It's a lot of
Romo five years old, right, There's a lot of names.
Five Taylor Rodgers proved himself for this crew last year.
And that's why for me um he is number six
and leam of him. Number six. As well, So I'm
I like him. Why do we both like him over
Leon Hendricks though, that's my question, Like I have it, well,
(31:07):
all right, I'll tell you exactly why. Taylor Rodgers has
now been an elite reliever for two years in a row,
and Liam Hendricks has shown flashes. But what he did
last year was something he had never done before and
it was due to a velocity spike. And I don't
want to downplay that, Like, if Liam Hendricks continues to
have that velocity spike that he had last year and
continues to get as many swinging strikes and strikeouts, then
(31:29):
he is not going to be this year's Blake Trinan.
And I don't want people to think that, oh, we're
just making a lazy comparison, because it's the Oakland A's
closers and they're both they were both being drafted, as
you know, top five or even top ten options from
one year to the next. But Liam Hendricks did things
last year that he never did before. So I think
you're okay to be skeptical of that performance and whether
(31:52):
or not it's going to carry over from year to year,
And if it does, then yeah, he's easily going to
wind up being a top five closer because the a's
are going to be gray. It's a good ballpark to
pitching as well. Uh. And he showed us some of
that upside last year, but again, you don't know if
that velocity necessarily is going to carry over. And it
was by far the best year of his career. He
come through with him as your first closer, comfortable, ish,
(32:15):
I have him at nine, just ahead of Kenley Jansen
and Craig Kimbero. Ideally, I would want one of my
top eight guys. That's the difference again between us Brad Hanna,
ken Giles. But to me, again, I have a top eleven,
so it doesn't really matter to me. I just want one, really,
one of these guys. Ideally, let's move on to the
next ten or so, into the next tier, and mine's
not necessarily the Fantasy pros the average Jeff rankings, because
(32:39):
as I said, Frank, I want guys that I know
you're going to be the closer, and that's what make
up my next year. So I'll read in these names
and you let me know your thoughts, right Nector Nurses
in here, because I, as you know, I don't trust
Hector Narius or the Phillies. Okay, well maybe Joe Giardi
does Greg even probably not Brandon Workman, Alex klam A,
(33:00):
Hans Robless. As we heard today and in Shawn's update,
ricel Iglesias, Archie Bradley Way like a lot, who was
a La clerk, Kiona Kela and Will Smith make up
my next tier. I noticed that there's no Mr Anderson,
there is there is no Nick Anderson. Well, we talked
to it, Tam. We talked to the announcer, oh the
(33:21):
Tampa Bay race stats, and he's just like, I don't
know Jose Alvarado and he's much closer to the the team
than I am and you are. And this industry is
we have no idea who the closing was. The closers
are the race non zero. I'm not I'm not paying
this price tag on a Nick Anderson, as good as
this stuff can be, when the really the nine names
(33:42):
that I just named, the eight names, they're all the closers.
They've all been announced as the closers. Now, this is
just betting on on the cream rising to the top, Craig,
That's all it is. Would hear if you're drafting Nick
Anderson because The reason you would do that is because
he has. If you just look at his skills in
terms of strikeout rate and everything that he posted last year,
he was a top five, top ten reliever in baseball
(34:04):
all around. Agree that he is going to be the
best reliever in that pen and that they're going to
value him as such in Tampa Bay this year. Then
you could potentially have the top closer this season. He
could be this year's Kirby Yates. He could be a
year ago. At this time, we're talking about who's Alvarado
a similar spot? Right? And look, I'm just playing Devil's
(34:25):
still there. I'm just playing Devil's advocate because I'm probably
not drafting Nick Anderson if he continued. Would be surprised
to you, Frank, if game five of the regular season
Nick Anderson starts for the rais why, probably be a
little surprised. He didn't start any games last year, did he? No,
he did not. They didn't use him as an opener
last A full season with him change. I'm just not
(34:48):
investing a high pick in a rate. I agree. I
agree with you. I'm just playing Devil's ade. Skills are
amazing when it comes to Nick and that's what people
are looking at. It's worth men name. I am defending
where I have it ranked. I brought this up to you.
Matt Modica in the tout Wars draft and whole draft,
took Nick Anderson in the ninth round, one closer after
(35:10):
Edwin Diaz, two picks after Taylor Rodgers, and he took
Nick Anderson ahead of Kenley Jansen. He took him a
head of Brad Hand. He took him a head of
Ken Giles. I will say everybody else, I will say
that towt Wars, the NFBC, those are different. What you're
trying to achieve is a little bit different. You're trying
to win overall in the NFBC. Well, in tow Wars,
it's just a team league. And you know, I mean
(35:33):
there's no there's no overall components. So he's not like
swinging for the fences. He literally just taught. He just
took the best closer he thought was available, and that
was Nick Anderson. I don't agree with Matt in that regard. Look,
I think he has all the talent in the world,
and there's a chance, you know, the guy has nine
plus strikeouts this year, But how many says, what are
you setting over under for saves that with him fifteen
(35:55):
and a half exactly, and that's the problem. And then
a lot of people get Frank's take on all these
guys and what he's kind of next true looks like
when we come back here. I love be fs. Want
to be the next Daily Fantasy Millionaire. Dunk on your
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(36:17):
on fandel and DraftKings this season. Compete with the pros
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NBA DFS advice with promo code dunk. Visit Daily Rodo
dot com backslash dunk to learn more. All right, before
(36:49):
we continue the program, Yeah, you know, shout out right
do this? What is that? This is a Ryan guys,
since Sonati made I p a the truth? The truth
where you just sent to us, Frank, I sent to
you sent to us? Yes, you actually know who it is.
(37:12):
I'm just playing dumb our man. Derek Davis, Oh, Derek's
right friend of the show. Read it? What do you go.
Here's your beer as promised, and I PA for Greggy
that's me and Lagger for Frank. That's me. Go Bengals. Also,
I'll bet the over this year as well. We'll be
for us. Yes, hey, come on with Joe Burrow come
(37:36):
to town. He doesn't want to be there. Yes, time
to Shine with Sarah is my wife's business. So a
shout out to Time to Shine with Sarah. So Frank
shout out to Derrick Davis long been a fan of
the show, faithful listener, faithful viewer of the program. Thank you,
sir again. This is fifty West, fifty W. I'm American,
(38:00):
longer from Cincinnati's own good stuff. Here's buddy. Shout out
to Derrick Davis. Appreciate it. Yeah, this edition of the
Inside lines with the best, our best, yet we might
not make it there. That's tasty. That's stuff, good stuff,
(38:21):
durg it on a Monday. Are you are we allow
to do this? Creek? I think I make the rules.
I was about saying, there you go. All right? Um,
I need a bunch of guys that are in my
next year. Random Workman, Alex Coleman, Hans Rob Lass, Rice
ell Iglesias, Archie Riley, jose La Clerk, Kella uh and
Will Smith. I think I did these move Kiana Killa down. Um,
(38:44):
there's my initial reaction here, but these are the guys
that I feel really good about being being the closer
for the respective teams not having a nice season. My
next year includes Givanna Gagos, who we're speculating give me
the closer, but Andrew Miller Ko wind up being there?
I was rightis wind up with the closer, Carls Maartinez
peop in the little pen. I think there's a lot
more questions with the gayegos. Velocity down for Carlos Martinez
(39:04):
over the weekend as well. Surprised he will not have
on any of my teams. Hector Nerris, Joe Himenez, who stinks,
uh Ian Kennedy. You know, I think you should rethink
Joe him Man, E Kennedy, Wade Davis, my Man, Brandon Kinseler.
You know, I like Brandon Kindler. Like Brandon Kinseler as
well as a third option, not not a second closure neither.
Washington guys like everybody loves Sean Doolittle, like Danny Hudson
(39:24):
very well, maybe the closer there. I don't get the day,
the little thing Tony Watson, maybe the cape caplosn't screw
it up. And then of course the raised guys is
the sky Blue Greg. Of course Gabe Kapler is gonna
mess it up. And then whoever the closers in Seattle,
which I asked you about. I was like, yeah, Matt
McGill versus Yoshi Harano versus you know who else? They
fine before opening day. So that's that's why, that's what
(39:45):
my deal is. Yeah, that's Look, that's basically everybody, right,
I'll try try everybody. I'll say this, Greig, I think
you should rethink Joe him is and I think you
should look into him. The reason being he had a
four three seven e r A last year. He had
a four one nine x fit. His skill interactive e
r A was three point four one, and his underlying
metrics were phenomenal percent swinging strike creed, thirty five percent
(40:08):
chase rate. His sixty seven percent first strike percentage was
also in the elite category. He throws hard, he has
a fastball, he uses a slider, mixes in a change
just barely, but over twelve case per nine. Greg, he's
got to work on the walks a little bit here,
But I think Joe Jimenez as a third closer. I
don't want him as my second closer, but you know,
(40:29):
in a similar range as a brand kinseler, I think
someone I could get you more strikeouts. Both teams are
not gonna be great. But when you introduced Jo him
and as you said, he stinks, all right, so listen,
I'll take that far back, but I feel good at that.
I hadn't got Kiota Keller to the other crew. And
then Brandon Workman really high, you're not worried about what
anything going on with the Boston Red Sox because they
(40:52):
were hesitant to give him that role basically all of
last year, even with him being the best reliever on
the staff than they did. And then Ron Rednecky said
he's the closer. He has said that ready. I just
think it's far from a short thing. He also walks
a ton of batters too. Isn't his walk right like
over five per nine enough? I've all just he does
get He does get a lot of strikeouts. Right to
(41:12):
last year, phase for nine Greg five point six five
walks for nine for Brandon Workman one A right looks
great thirty eight percent hard contact rate, the x fit
over three Swingen strike right. Not nearly as good as
Joe Himenes, Greg Chase right, not nearly as good as
Joe him Is this I'm not gonna be in on
Brandon Workman. I was just off the list. I was
(41:34):
gonna move Will Smith up. Is he definitely the closer there?
Will Smith is not the closer. Molansen has already been
named the clothes. But it's one of those weird situations
where Will Smith is the best reliever on in that
bullpit down So it's it's like Josh Hayter from a
couple of years ago, where he wasn't the closer, but
you knew he was the best reliever there, and he
(41:56):
was always just kind of lingering. That's why you can't
really draft Mark moll Anson with much confidence, because again,
there's someone behind him who is better than him, who
can get more strikeouts than him, doesn't walk as many
batters as Mark Molanson does, and Mark Mollanson it seems
like he's basically the closer just because he's making a
lot of money. Greg so is Will Smith. So yeah,
(42:18):
but I think that they signed Will Smith thinking that
he was going to be there fireman putting out the fires,
you know, uh, seventh eighth inning whenever there's you know,
the best hitters coming to a to the plate, or
there's you know, a big jam to get out of.
I think Will Smith is probably going to be used
in that role because he is the best reliever in
that pulpan. Right. So, then of the next tier of
(42:40):
guys land and I named, who's your number one guy
who's gonna you trust the most? Is Archie Bradley. I
want to say Archie Bradley, but just because I don't
think that there's anyone else there in Arizona that you
know like you on Lopez. We knew about from last
year with Brad Ziegler, right because Brad Ziegler put us
put us on him. But last year, yeah, I mean
Joan Lopez was fine. He just doesn't get a lot
(43:02):
of strikeouts. Forty two strikeouts and sixty one and a
third endings pitch that's not gonna get it done. Hector
Ron Done was fine last year. He has some closing experience.
Junior Gara has you know, been around. He was with
the Milwaukee Brewers, former starter with the team, And so
I think Archie Bradley is actually pretty safe here, Greg,
but the whip one point four four for Archie Bradley
(43:23):
last year and he struggles big time with walks. This
is why, this is why all these guys are this
next year. Right, That's that's obviously why um Hans Robles
had a great year last year. Already named the closer
by Joe Madden. You heard that from Seawoman earlier. Richell Glaciers,
everyone was off last year. Maybe he should be the topic.
I seear Archie Bradley four point five walks for nine,
his highest since two thousand and fifteen. So really struggled
(43:45):
with the command last year and he's swinging strike Greg,
greg nine point six. That's below league average. Right, I
want to like Archie Bradley. He's he's probably the name
that I trust most at his next up on this
list right to the Glaciers He's he's there as well.
I think he's like just outside the top twelve. And
(44:06):
there are a few other names, uh there. In Cincinnati
when it comes to they signed Pedro Strop, who you
know filled in at times with the with the Chicago Cubs.
Mere Garret's a great reliever. He just hasn't been used
as as the closer before. Michael Lorenzen is kind of
like that two way player. I don't think he's actually
like a threat to the closer's role. What about Alex
(44:27):
Columnett thirty four saves for Rice Ley Glaciers last year.
I probably feel better about Rice Ley Glaciers than I
do callum Me. The underlying numbers for Columny were not good.
You look at you know, all the skill indicators, and
the x fit was not great, much higher than the
e r A four Alex column A last year. And
they just signed Aaron Bummer to an extension, five year extension,
(44:49):
and I think that there is a chance that, like
if column A struggles, I don't think that he's going
to have that that long lash because that's a team
is trying to compete and they want to now. And
Aaron Bummer last year was ridiculous two point one three
e r A zero point nine nine whip um he
was great. He was actually better than Alex Collinmate. So
column is someone who worries me. Doesn't get a ton
(45:11):
of strikeouts either. Two more names are in this crew
for me, hans A Robless and jose La clerk. Now
we've mentioned Robles a few times on the show. The
clerk was a top pick last year as the reliever,
um and really let you down right. He lost his
job in April, did Jose La Clerk, And he was
my once three. He's my tenth or leven the closer
(45:32):
off the board last year, right behind Curby Yates and
I got lucky and I draft the Curby rates in
most spots. Um, but whose the clerk was really liked
last year? Lost his job very early right after signed
that contract extension, struggle out of the year, eventually got
his job back. It's already been announced he is the
closer once again for Texas. It makes sense they just
paid him, so he kind of has to be. Are
you following the money here with Josi La Clerk? Yeah,
(45:54):
I mean he's a he's a risky one as well.
You want to like him because he has phenomenal strikeouts stuff,
but struggles big time time with command as well. What
I will say about Jose La Clark is that there's
not much competition there. Like the setup man is Rafael Montero. Yes,
that Rafael Montero, Greg the New York Mets. Rafael Montero.
So I think that there is a good amount of
(46:15):
job security here for the clerk still only twenty six
years old. The strikeouts were great last year of over
thirteen case per nine walks for nine five point one one. Greg.
He's he's not gonna be a target of mine, Jose
La Clark, He's not I thought he would be. He's
not gonna be a target. There's a name that I
found when Craig and I were doing like outside one
thousand a DP in the UH in the NFBC. I
(46:38):
think it's DeMarcus Evans. Look into this kid, Greg, because
Marcus he's on the Texas Rangers. He's in there, he's
in their farm system. Twenty three years old. He had
twelve saves last year in the minor leagues between High
A ball and Double A, and the strikeout numbers are
absolutely ridiculous. So that's like my dark horse, just shot
in the dark throwing a name out there. Uh, DeMarcus
(46:59):
Evans of the Texas Rangers. Pay attention to that name
for the Rangers this year, La Clerk, He's going to
be given the first opportunity. Greg, There's no doubt about that.
But I I worry about the command just he hasn't
really shown the ability to uh to really harness that
in and build off of that. I worry. I worry
(47:20):
about the command and the walks when it comes to
uh clerk, Is there is there anybody else that we
haven't named that you want to get into? You know,
you like Diegos? Is there anybody else? We have two
minutes to go. You haven't got a chance to mention? Yeah,
diagos Um. It's interesting just because he was a nasty
reliever last year and we're trying to figure out what's
(47:41):
going to happen with the Cardinals this year. Everyone's drafting
Diegos like he is going to be the closer, but
obviously Andrew Miller is still there. You mentioned that Greg
Koni Kelly you mentioned is someone that I'm interested in,
but could be traded halfway through the season. The Pirates
are not going to be are not expected to be
competitive this upcoming season. Kyle Crik is the next name up.
Find Koni Killer to pay attention to their I've been
(48:03):
drafting a lot of the raise guys, just like in
some of these deeper drafts not named Nick Anderson. But
what about what about taking Alvarado, I mean twelve team draft,
you want that third closer Randy Kinseler. Randy Kinsler see,
I mean we can put him on the list. He's
going to be the closers for the Marlins. They don't
spend a lot of money. They sign him to a
one year, four million dollar contract. Randy Kinseler is going
to be the closest bbff IS draft and Randi Kinsler
(48:25):
say that much. Roll COEs Coches next rolls back here
in New Jersey. Enjoy that for Shans Malakia, Alex Passano,
Frank Stanfel and Greg Sousman will do it all again tomorrow.
We hope I want to be the next Daily Fantasy millionaire.
Dunk on your NBA DFS competition with Daily Rodal dot
(48:46):
com and dominate on fandel and draft kings this season.
Compete with the pros with Daily rodal dot Com optimizer
and the most accurate projections in NBA DFS, plus line
up alerts, breaking news, lake swap support, and much more.
Say ten on winning NBA DFS advice with promo code Dunk.
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(49:08):
H