The Cycle: Early 2026 Mock Draft (Ep. 1139)

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hello, everybody, Welcome back in to another episode of the cycle.
I'm your host, Mike Maher. I am joined once again
by Kelly Kirby. If you haven't seen us in a
few weeks, but we're back. The season is over, the
MLB playoffs are happening, and naturally we're gonna start looking
ahead to next season and turn the page. And we
figure we're gonna do that with a way too really

(00:27):
twenty twenty six mock draft. We're gonna do three rounds draft,
three rounds for twelve different teams. Kelly and I will alternate,
and throughout that we'll kind of sprinkle in some analysis,
some maybe big wins, that we had some major l's,
that we had some bold predictions that went poorly. We
won't talk about Mike Trout. That's not allowed. We're not

(00:47):
gonna discuss that on this show. No one predicted anything
for him this season. And with that, Kelly, how are
you doing today?

Speaker 2 (00:56):
I'm doing pretty great. The Cubs finally benefited from the
worst strike three call I can remember in recent memory,
and now they get to go face the Brewers. So
aside from not being able to talk to our colleague,
fits for the next week or whatever. I'm doing pretty well, so.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
I give the Brewers something they don't. They're not very
good after so let them have one.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, speaking, I don't dislike the Brewers. I always just
want to put that out there where I'm like, that's
not a rivalry that I've ever really thought about. It's
always been the Cardinals. So I'm okay, but you know,
for the next week, I'll hate the Brewers.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yeah, not to give any free advertisement, but Bud Selig's
book is actually pretty good, and there's a lot of
Brewer stuff in there. You know, pump up my former
employer because they published that book. But it's pretty good.
I enjoyed it. A lot of Brewers, fun Brewers stuff
in there.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Cool.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
So you want to jump right in. Actually, before we
jump right in, let's pull it right back. Since since
we talked about the playoffs, what what's your World series prediction?

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Oh, I think I really I still want it to
be the Mariners out of they like. I just desperately
desperately wanted to be them, even though I would be
okay with Toronto too, I guess, But so I guess
I would go I'm gonna go Mariners with their pitching
and I'm gonna go Phillies out of the NL. But

(02:18):
I could also see the Dodgers, you know, just working
their way back like that that machine that they did build,
that like all of a sudden showing up and just
kind of marching through the playoffs. I'm like, right, this
is when they this is when they arrive and steamroll everyone.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
So yeah, it was like before the season we were like,
why are we even playing the season? This team's gonna
win one hundred and fifty games and like cruise to
the World Series. And then throughout the season was like
are they going to win the division? Are they going
to make the playoffs? And then now it looks like
they just, you know, they're just locked in. They were
just kind of increase control of the regular season exactly.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
So who are you predicting?

Speaker 1 (02:54):
I was thinking about that this morning because obviously I'm
a Red Sox fan. This is the uh day after
their death, so rip twenty twenty five Red Sox. I
didn't think they had a shot anyway, Like, you know,
they probably didn't even belong in the playoffs with the
rosters that they had, but they made it work. I
mostly just really don't want it to be the Yankees.

(03:16):
My two favorite holidays of the year every year are
when the Yankees are eliminated and when the Cowboys are eliminated.
The Cowboys usually don't make me wait very long, sometimes
the Yankees do. And so I was trying to think
it was like such a weird like season, like we
talked all like, at least I talked all year about
the Tigers, and I was like looking at the Tigers

(03:38):
and I was like, I just don't understand how this
team is good, like, and then they almost fully collapse
at the end of the season, and I was like, finally,
this is happening. This is what I've been waiting for
for months. But they have schoobl so they can kind
of like pretty much shrink a series. The Guardians are
just scrappy. I kind of was thinking they would take
down the Tigers, but they didn't. And then yeah, like

(04:01):
the Blue Jays have the firepower, the Mariners have the pitching,
the the Yankees like have like they don't have the
best roster, but they also just kind of have like
that postseason magic and also the like joke of a
ballpark that they play in.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
That and they also have the most experience at this
point of that group, so I think, right, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
And then the one thing that like I always criticized
Brian Cashman because he has like one strategy. It's like
get lefty hitters and get lefty pitchers to set up
for success like in that ballpark. So once you get
into a like a shortened postseason series like that actually
helps to have you know, like you saw Ben right,
I said a ninety seven foot home round the other day. Yeah,

(04:47):
I I'm predicting Mariners and then Brewers. I just think
it could be like one of a magical runs for
the Brewers and like they we saw it earlier in
a season, like they just got hot out of nowhere
and we're unstoppable, and sometimes that turns back on in

(05:09):
the playoffs. So I could see. I feel like it's
probably gonna be the Dodgers or the Phillies, but I
could just I don't know, I just could see the
magic of the Brewers and Mariners, which would be a
fun series because if you read the book, the Brewers
got their colors from the Mariners because they just like
took that franchise when it like folded, the bus was
like on its way to Seattle and like rerouted to

(05:32):
Milwaukee and we're like, we're the Brewers now we're no
longer to Seattle pilots. So that would be a fun
throwback series that now people know about history. There nice,
But we are here to talk about twenty twenty six
fantasy baseball because everyone's ready for that in October, right obviously.
So you and I were talking a little bit before
the show. This is going to be a really interesting

(05:53):
kind of off season to see what changes in baseball,
and that's going to lead into what is probably going
to be a really interesting, interesting, like fantasy baseball draft
season because even trying to like you know, researching and
preparing for the show, it's kind of hard predict to
predict like how the first round or the first three
rounds are going to go, because it's like, you know,
I could I could see this guy maybe sneaking into

(06:15):
the you know, back in of the first round, early
second round, or could see him not going in the
first three rounds, depending on how things go. I think
there's a few different players like that, and there aren't
a ton of like lock of all locks. So we'll
see how it goes, and we'll see you know where
we differ. You and I are going to alternate, and uh,
we can just jump right into it. I'll let you
go first, and uh, you know, you can take it

(06:36):
away with Team one and we'll probably put up a
graphic on the screen. I'm out of control of that,
but we probably will. I'm going to I'll share the
graphic with the with the producer and see how it goes.
But you know, we'll have a draft board and so
you can go with a Team one and I'll recap
as we go and uh, yeah, you're on the clock
one second.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
I appreciate the Yeah, you gave me the first round
pick because it'll or the first pick overall is going
to be show hey for me, like until the end
of time. So yeah, that's that's easy, especially if he's pitching.
But even if he's not, I don't much care, So
I'm gonna take a tunny. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
The pitching thing is interesting for me because if we
talked about this a little bit this season, if if
it's a weekly league, pitching doesn't even matter to me
because I'm never going to put him in that pitcher slot,
like maybe maybe, maybe if it's a two start week,
but even then probably not. If it's a daily league,
I you know, maybe I'll take the day and swap
them from my you know, my utility spot over to

(07:32):
over to you know, starting pitcher for the day. But
for the most part, I just want that bat in
the lineup. I want those home runs, those deals, those RBIs,
those runs, all of the things. So yeah, it's always
tricky to lock up your utility spot like that, like
right off the bat. But also there are worse problems
to have than like the best player in the universe
in your locked locked in your utility like you know,

(07:54):
you'll figure it out, right for sure? Did you consider
anyone else?

Speaker 2 (07:59):
No? No?

Speaker 1 (08:00):
All right, So I guess that means I'm up with
pick number two, And as much as I don't want
to do it, I guess the obvious pick is Aaron Judge.
Boo hum hiss. I guess is there any argument against
Aaron Judge, like, like one or two? Is there anything

(08:24):
anyway to not take them?

Speaker 2 (08:26):
I mean, is Soto going to steal thirty seven bases
again next year?

Speaker 1 (08:29):
True?

Speaker 2 (08:31):
I don't you know, Wit had a good argument coming
into this this season. I think like you could have
justified it a little bit. But I mean the two
of them are Judge and Otani are just so far
head and shoulders above. I always have a little bit
of injury concern with Judge. That would interesting, Yeah, like
that's the that's the one knock. But otherwise I just

(08:52):
don't see how it can be anybody else at this point.
It's too consistent.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
Yeah, that was gonna be one thing. There's always a
little bit of injury injury concerned. There is another year older,
and I've talked a bunch like he's just like a
giant human being, and when you're a giant human being,
you have bigger things, and bigger things can go wrong.
And yeah, but he's also like he like missed some
time and also played kind of like the last couple
of months of the season hurt and was still like incredible,

(09:17):
Like even when he could like barely move in the outfield,
he was still like, you know, hitting horme runs, bat
at four hundred for a good part of the season,
and still finished at three thirty one, you know, despite
kind of like finishing a little banked up fifty three
home runs, still stole twelve bases, and so it's kind
of hard to pass up on that kind of like
automatic power. And he's also someone just like he's format proof.

(09:41):
Like it's not like, you know, if you're an OBP
league or a points league, it's not like he's going
to go out like you know, make you worse because
he just he does everything right. But yeah, stinks. He
stuck me to the Yankee right off the bat.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
You gave me first pick.

Speaker 1 (09:56):
Hoping you would take Judge. Yeah, I think I talked before.
I'm in a I only do it kind of like
as a joke, but in like my one home league,
I actually have a no Yankees rule, so like I
will not sign or trade for, or ever have Yankees
on my roster. And it's been like that for like
twelve years. Yeah, yeah, it's a great rule. You're up
with pick three.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
Also, am I allowed to be like Judges? Is all
of that still not the al MVP? Can I just
throw that in there or not?

Speaker 1 (10:23):
ABOUTE joined the train?

Speaker 2 (10:25):
All right? Cool? Yeah? So with the third pick, I
mean I feel like you can get a little bit
interesting on the third pick. Depending you know, you can
go Soda, you can go with I'm gonna go to
Soto at this point. My biggest fear there honestly is
I said this, I think in our slack where they're
going to institute the automatic ball strike, you know, challenge

(10:48):
system or whatever, and SODA's gonna walk like four hundred
times a year. Like, I mean, it'll just be over
because his eye is just unbelievable. But I don't it's
hard to argue. He hit forty three homers, he crossed
one hundred runs, one hundred rbi, it sold thirty seven bases.
I mean, his average is down to sixty three, but

(11:08):
the counting stats, he's it's just there. So I'm going
to take him third.

Speaker 1 (11:13):
Yeah, every now and then, like he has a weird
kind of like batting average season, but like still a
good season overall. So like I remember a few years
ago that that like worried me. I was like, whoa,
that was kind of a bad season out of nowhere,
Like what's going on? Like what did he? Like it
was twenty twenty two, he batted to forty two, right,
but he still hit twenty seven home runs, six dollon bases,

(11:36):
and that's like for most people, that's like a solid year,
and that's like by far his like outlea outlier, like
awful season of let so like that's my floor. It's
pretty safe.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yeah, and his his expected batting average was three hundred,
so I mean there's gonna be some regression there, So
I'm good.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
Yeah this season not it was it was three hundred
this season.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
No, yeah, yeah, I'm no god onm know that year.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
But yeah, yeah, so it's still solid. And yeah, the
stolen bases are a weird kind of wild card there,
because he stole almost as many bases this year as
he did the rest of his career combined. So who
knows if that's a thing or like, you know, I
guess he for him, he already got paid if he

(12:24):
get you know, those that money is guaranteed no matter what.
It's not like he's going to slide into second base
and miss two months and not get a billion dollars.
He's still getting a billion no matter what. Right, all right,
So I guess I'll put I'll put Juan Soto for
you and on team three. So I'm up at team four.
I should have named all of these teams, given all

(12:44):
twelve teams actual names. Yeah, there's still time. Maybe I
will after the fact, but oh what does that mean
for me? So Team one went first got Otani, Team two,
Aaron Judge team three on Soto, So we got three
hitters right off the bat. Is it too early for

(13:05):
a picture?

Speaker 2 (13:06):
Do you? Like?

Speaker 1 (13:07):
Where does Schooble go this year? Not to like, you know,
this isn't a real league. We didn't. You know, I'm
not going to steal your picks, not gonna steal mine,
but like, strategy wise, how early does someone like Schooble go?

Speaker 2 (13:19):
I mean, I for me, the way that I would
see it anyway, in terms of the like best practice,
I would say it would be after like pick eight,
so I can see it in the first round. There's
some first round guys going even this year that I
was kind of like, it might be useful to have Schooble.
You just are then stuck with what hitter could you

(13:40):
have had for that? And then it's just to me.
It's interesting because with pictures it's always so like I
always get really nervous because not only do you only
have them every fifth day, but I'm like, any injury
makes that pick just absolutely a complete nutter waste. Whereas
if it's a hitter, it's like, well, yeah, there's usually
other hitters. You can kind of throw in there, but

(14:00):
you do a high first round pick, it's like, jeez,
I can't lose him for any length of time. So yeah,
so for me it would be after pick eight, but
I can still see him in the first round.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yeah, this is like the spot where I would consider him,
just because I feel like, like we talked about, these
first few rounds are going to be a little weird.
I think I think this season more than others, the
first three rounds is going to be a lot different
across the leagues that you look at. I think what
we just showed, I think as of right now, as
of this recording, that's probably the clear top three, you know,

(14:33):
heading into into the next season. They are the three
who finished in Fantasy Suppos VBR one two three this season,
so they finished as the three most valuable, have a
long track record of being pretty incredible. So there's a
there's an old saying in fantasy sports that you don't
win your league in the first round, but you can
lose it in the first round with the wrong pick.

(14:53):
And so there's something you said about being safe early
and aggressively.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yeah, and I think that if you do, if you drafted,
that's the risk you're running is I think you're just
more likely to lose it because even any any decrease
in performance from school, and then again you're just all
of a sudden, he's not even close to a first
round er. So I was trying to remember. I mean,
I at least in the time I've played Fantasy Baseball,
which I would say has been at least twenty eighth

(15:18):
years at this point, Clayton Kershaw is the only one
I think I've ever seen go really high in the
first round in like that twenty fourteen area. I think
I saw him go four or five one time, so
but other than that, I've never I've never really seen
consistently a pitcher go that.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
High until this year, maybe we see school.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
Are you taking him?

Speaker 1 (15:42):
No, I'm gonna I'm going to be a coward and
I'm going to play it safe and I'm going to
go Bobby Wit. If you know, as we kind of
talked about it, this is his floor. You know, if
twenty twenty five is his floor, twenty three home runs,
thirty eight to one bases, it would still beat in
two ninety five. If that's the floor, you know, it's
pretty good. It's kind of a deep position. So I
don't love targeting in it in the first round because

(16:04):
there's so much value like later on, at least you know, theoretically,
but you know, he's just like one of those you know,
he's a five category producer. And one thing we kind
of overlook sometimes both that's like fantasy managers and analysts
is batting average. And there's something to be said that

(16:24):
guy who just like hits three hundred all the time,
and it's going to help you out there. And so
sometimes with roster construction, maybe you can take a little
bit of a chance later on a guy who's like
high power, high speed, maybe not high average, because you
know Bobby Wit is going to like be your rock there.
So I'll go Bobby Wit lock him in four, team
number four, which means you're up team number five District five.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah, so I mean, if I'm team five at this point,
I agree with you, Like, I don't actually really like
taking short stops at this point in the first round
because I just feel like there's just too many of
them in a way, and I am just for me personally,
I'm like, I will never have enough. Jose Ramirez, I
think I cannot believe he just continues to be so

(17:10):
chronically undervalued in fantasy that it's like it's just straight
up weird. So I'm gonna go with Jay ram at
pick five. I think he's a perfectly fine person to
build an entire roster around. He gives you the thirty homers,
he scored one hundred runs, he stole forty four bases,
and you know, again back to betting and average, he
batted to eighty two this year. Like where what do

(17:30):
you want more from him is? And from third base?
I just don't you know, you and I talked about
it the whole time in the last like two months,
like third bases of wasteland. Why not get the best
one and then kind of just sit back and fill
in the rest of it.

Speaker 1 (17:43):
And that's exactly what I was thinking when taking wit
and saying I don't really love taking shorts out Thisssarily.
The exact flip side of that is Jose Ramirez at
third base, where you know, as we talked about all season,
third base wasn't great. This season, doesn't seem like it's
going to be a lot better next season. You know,
obviously a lot can change between now and then, but
it doesn't seem like we have a ton changing there

(18:05):
at this moment, and it could be I don't want
to say worse, but someone like Raphael Devers isn't going
to have their base eligibility, so like you have one
fewer third basemen available to you. Also, I officially changed
Team five to District five, so we have one of
the twelve teams have a name now, so we'll see
if by the end I can name all of them.

(18:26):
And if you want to name any of them, feel free.
I might just change Team two to Yankee Stink or something.
But you know, I don't want to anger the YouTube
commentars too much with all of my I mean, I'm
a hater. Let's just you know, we can just put
it out there. Yeah, I'm being a hater, so you
don't have to say it in the comments. I know it.

Speaker 2 (18:44):
It's yeah, and he's proud of it, so don't even bother.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
All right. So that means I'm up with Team six
and I kind of want to go with I struggled
with one player. I really like Ellie Daala Cruise, and
I had a bold prediction coming into the season that
did not come through. It was very bold, so it
was not like I had to like take a major

(19:11):
l on it. But you know, I've looked back at
the extremely bold predictioned episode being worm did and I
had Ellie Dala cruise. Was it between home runs and
stole bases combined combining for one hundred because because he
stole so many bases and I was predicting an increase
of power and it didn't quite happen. But still, I mean,

(19:34):
he fell well short of it because it was twenty
two home runs thirty seven stolen basis, you know, a
far cry, and so the speed kind of really fell
down significantly, which is interesting. You hope that thirty seven
stolen bases is your new floor, but you obviously you
want more than that. But now I wonder is six

(19:55):
too early for someone like that? Another name on the board,
Julio Rodriguez. I can't. I can't do it, like I
can't do Julio Rodriguez because at the end of every
year the stats look great, but I just can't take
him stinking for a month and.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
Like I mean for half, Like, yeah, my question is
always and I'm I'm sure that there are stats out
there or someone can run them, but I wanted to
know how many Julio Rodriguez teams make the playoffs? Like
we probably run that, do you know what I mean? Like,
like it's it's kind of a by the time he
turns it on. I mean in our insiders league that

(20:31):
ends in June, like you're not making the playoffs, Like
he's not. He's like the worst possible pick in that regard.
So but yeah, so no, he's he's tough to he's
tough to draft her too.

Speaker 1 (20:42):
I think, yeah, we talked about that earlier, like maybe
like a consistency score for fantasy because because like you said,
like in rota or even in head to head, like
even if you go off in the second half and
the stats look the same, it's not the same as
like being good throughout the year. You can't just bury
me for three months and then I'm trying to dig out.
So I'll let you draft I will not draft him,

(21:07):
But then where does that bring me? How about this one?
Where do you think cal Raley goes this year? Is
he a first round pick?

Speaker 2 (21:15):
He's not My first round He's not. I don't think
he's a first round pick. But I also don't know
if you want to argue with it too much. I
don't you know. It's you. You and I talk about
that a lot too, where it's like you don't want
to draft at the height of like he's had he's
had his best season, right, this is probably it, but
he's also you want to talk about a premium position.

(21:36):
I mean, the guy he's stole fourteen bases, like you're
just it's that's just the lamest, weirdest little thing you
just threw in, Like, oh, I'm going to give you
sixty home runs and fourteen stone bases from a catching position, Like, yeah,
I think you could make the argument. I just hate
wasting high picks on catchers.

Speaker 1 (21:54):
See, and I made the exact opposite argument with William,
with William Contraras and saying a lot of people who
drafted him, we're gonna we're gonna regret it just because
he was going too high. And like when you look
at you know, the math between you know, the difference
between like a really good catcher and like the tenth
catcher versus like a really good you know, like a
Jose Ramirez and like the tenth third basement, like the

(22:16):
gap is much bigger. R cal Raley breaks the formula
and then so like, sixty home runs is not something
you can get from there, you know you can. You
can have four catchers and not get sixty home runs.
So I I think he's going to sneak into the
first round in a lot of drafts this year. Okay,
do I want to go with old reliable?

Speaker 2 (22:36):
Though?

Speaker 1 (22:37):
What about Ronald lacunya. I'm going to take Ronald 'cunya
junior here at number six.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
I'm sorry you're calling him. You're calling him.

Speaker 1 (22:44):
Reliable, liable when healthy.

Speaker 2 (22:47):
Okay, I think that's a good pick. I don't have
any if his is the health thing, if you're willing
to ride the health then then yes, he is very
reliable when he is healthy. Yep.

Speaker 1 (23:01):
Yeah. And and like you know, I'm being hypocrite because
I said, like you know, you, this is how you
lose your draft in the first round by taking a
swing like this and it goes poorly. But it's also
a full season from a healthier on lagoon, your junior
can still be the best player in baseball and one
of the most valuable players in fantasy. You know, the

(23:22):
problem is that we're talking about like multiple major knee
injuries and how much is he going to run, but
I feel like I saw enough from him in the
second half before we kind of like throttle things down
that is going to be valuable. But you know, team six,
the risk takers.

Speaker 2 (23:42):
Yeah, And I mean I think this is this is
tricky for us to do, as like like are we
predicting where we think they'll go? Like in which case
then I think Elliott will go seven. I don't see
him falling much further I could. I think you can
make the argument like if I'm going to pay like
so my pick at this point of the you know,

(24:03):
even my pick and prediction would be Corbyn Carrol. I think,
you know, if especially in a five not in a
three outfielder, but in a five outfielder league, his thirty
thirty season, his age, I mean, I'm I'm good with
I'm good with putting him in there and just at seven,
But you know, again, how how long do we let

(24:24):
the ones we know are going to go go here?
So one of us is going to have to be
like everything we just said about Julio Rodriguez and he
will absolutely not fall out of the first round. So
just that's where we are. So you're going with Ellie, No, no, no,
I'm gonna go with Corbyn Corbyn Carrol.

Speaker 1 (24:41):
Sorry, yep, I lost. I got lost in the train
of thought there. I was too busy renaming Team six
to risky business. Okay, I'm going to name Team seven
seventh Heaven.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
These are really original.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
Yeah, well, I also like, what's your favorite nineties sitcom?
Because Seventh Heaven was an under rated one.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
My favorite nineties sitcom?

Speaker 1 (25:02):
Or like show like that? You know sitcom? It's considerous sitcom?
Like Boy Meets World? Is that a sitcom? I guess
it is? Right blanket on me?

Speaker 2 (25:13):
Well, you froze, so I don't know. Oh yeah, so
let's pick that back up into you want to just
ask me the question again? Or what do you want
to do?

Speaker 1 (25:22):
Sure, so are renamed Team seven seventh seven two made
fun of and then I froze, and so toss it
back to you. What is your favorite nineties sitcom? Using?
Is that? Does that fit the definition of sitcom? It's
seventh teven a sitcom? Or is it just like a
family drama series? I'm using sitcom loose?

Speaker 2 (25:43):
Yeah, I don't, I don't know. I don't know if
I've ever I don't know if I ever watched it
like ever. My favorite, I mean, my favorite nineties sitcom
sitcom is is just Friends for because I've just watched
it so many times, I think, But I Fraser grew
on me, is like older. But I am not a
Signfeld person under any circumstances. So if that's where you're headed,

(26:06):
you're gonna lose me on every reference from here on out.
So good luck.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
I wasn't even considering that. Wait, so Fraser, does that?
Do you like Cheers or were you just Fraser?

Speaker 2 (26:16):
Oh? No, I liked Cheers. I mean I was so
young when Cheers was out, but the reruns are great.
That's a great show for I think anyone cheer out.

Speaker 1 (26:23):
I didn't watch Teers when I was younger, but like
a couple of years ago, I watched the entire series
on Netflix and it's pretty good. So that brings us
to Team eight the Ocho, which I'll I'll name that
team the Chow. We're going very original here. So Trekap
Real Quick Team one, Show Out, Tiny Team two, Aaron

(26:44):
Judge Team three, Juan Soto Team four, Bobby Wood Junior
District five, Jose Ramirez, Risky Business, Ronald Lacunia Junior Seventh, Heaven.
Corbyn Carroll and the OCHO is going with the first
pitcher off the board. Derek Scooble, it's locking the ace earlier.

(27:04):
I feel like last season, if you went pocket aces
and got the right two aces, it worked out for you,
probably as long as one of them wasn't Zach Wheeler.
Although you've got a very good long season at Zach Wheeler.
So as long as it's Roto you were probably okay.
If you were head to head and lost in the playoffs,
that was problematic. But Rodo you probably probably okay. So

(27:24):
that brings.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
You up at nine, all right, So yeah, nine, I'll
take Kelly Kelly, okay, Yeah, just because I don't think
I don't think he's going to fall out of Yeah,
I don't think he's going to fall out of the
top ten in any draft, so top for sure.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
So we'll name that team Kelly's Ellie's Perfect Team ten.
What can I go with here? Team Ken, Team ten.
I want to do it. I'm doing cal Rally. I'm

(28:03):
going on in cal Raley lock in the catcher position.
Even if I get forty plus home runs, pretty good
counting stats. Otherwise, I'll take it. I'll take my I'll
take my catcher. Cal rally fight me.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
Yeah, I mean, I'm just you know, yeah, you'll take
your catcher. But really the first round, okay, that's right,
somebody will. He hit sixty home runs, so I can't
see him.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
Although he is a very good defensive catcher too.

Speaker 2 (28:34):
It's such a good different which also adds to why
he's the MVP. Not that I'm going to keep bringing
that up for any reason whatsoever. All Right, so Team eleven,
Team eleven is gonna go with Fernando Tatis Junior. Okay,

(28:54):
mostly for the culture, Yeah, mostly for the consistency, Like
he's I feel like he is the consistent, consistent version
of Huli already. Is like I see that you're going
to get a little bit less, but you're going to
get it through the whole year. And so I would
take him before. But they're kind of the same player

(29:16):
in my brain.

Speaker 1 (29:17):
Also, some pretty major injury concerns, but he is also
pretty far removed from them at this point. You know,
it's there were some major injury concerns a couple of
years ago, and yep, it seems like we're beyond them.
You know, that always is going to worry you. But yeah, he.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
Got five and ninety four at bats this year, So
I'll tell you his.

Speaker 1 (29:39):
Are mostly like of like the extreme variety, kind of
like Acuna. It's like he doesn't like get banged up.
It's like when he gets hurt, he gets very hurt.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
He's out. Yep.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
Yeah, all right, So I renamed Team ten MVP. So
Team twelve now I have to double dip here, which
means for me, if I'm double dipping on the turn,
it means one of these pictures is Garrett Crochet or
one of these picks is Garrett Crochet. So I'm taking

(30:10):
another picture Garrett Crochet. And then the only question is
do I pocket Aces full blown, go Paul Skans mhm,
or and just try to figure out the rest, or
do I pair it with like a super bat. And
you know what, we're here to have fun, we're here

(30:31):
to get weird, and I'm going pocket ass. I'm going
Paul Skins. So Team twelve is just screwing up the
draft board for everyone else and taking Garrett Crochet and
Paul Skans at the turn and I'm just gonna win
strikeouts and figure out the rest as I go.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
Now, when you do that does that or when that
happens to you, like in a draft. This is just
a theory question, like do you feel more pressure to
get a picture quicker or is it kind of like okay,
well now I can wait.

Speaker 1 (31:02):
A while as like one of the other teams.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
Yeah, like when you see when you see them go
pocket at the turn, do you just does that make
you like, Okay, I need to get one this round
or next round or is it like okay, now I'm
going to wait for that next tier entirely.

Speaker 1 (31:17):
I'm I'm normally of the of the opinion that I
don't really care what anyone else is doing in a draft,
I will pay attention to not the field, but like
the players and the tiers, like you said, but one
particular team doing something like I don't care what you're doing.
I just care about like you know, are these things

(31:38):
going to make it back to me? And then then
like as we get into the draft, I'll start looking
at the draft board and trying to like make, you know,
predict my picks. I'm like, Okay, this guy's not taking
a picture, so maybe I can wait for this guy.
Because there's only four picks, and two of them are
going to be him, and he's not going to a picture,
so like he'll probably make it back to me. So
that's really the only times I can I consider like
what you're doing, but like someone doing that, like I

(31:59):
don't care what you're doing, you know.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
Oh yeah, I just meant now that the top three pictures,
the very clear top three pictures are gone, so it's like,
do you feel the need to pick one? It doesn't.
I don't care who did it, just like now they're
all off the board.

Speaker 1 (32:12):
Yeah. I try not to let it volume me too much.
I'm mostly like you mentioned, paying attention to the tears,
like you know, don't. I try not to like reach.
I try to stay within my you know, comfort zone
of like each pick and not reach just because you know,
but like if it could address my strategy a little
bit of I'm like, all right, like I was expecting
a picture here, I'm not going to reach for one.

(32:35):
But I do like a late crop, so like now
we're going to like do late picture strategy and kind
of like adjust that way. So I try not to
let it make me be like all right, I got
to get a picture. Now I'm more of like, well,
here we go. I'm still going to take my value,
but it's just going to adjust do later.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
Right, gotcha? So I am up. So now we're on
Team eleven, who drafted Fernando Tatis Junior in the first round.
So that gives you an outfielder.

Speaker 1 (33:03):
Yeah, while you're looking, I'll recap the first round.

Speaker 2 (33:06):
Go for it.

Speaker 1 (33:07):
So some people are listening on audio so they don't
get the draft board. So Team one, Cherio Tani, Team two,
Aaron Judge, Team three, and now I've named a lot
of the later teams. The early team names to teams
are still numbers, but you know we'll get there by
the end. Team one, Chaotani, Team two, Aaron Judge, Team three,
Juan Soto four, Bobby Wood Junior, District five, Jose Ramirez,

(33:28):
Risky Business, Ronaldacuno Junior, seventh, even seventh pick, Gorbyn Carrol
the Ocho, the eighth pick, Trek Scoogle, ninth is Kelly's
Ellis took Ellie de la Cruz, Team ten, MVP cal Raley,
Team eleven, Fernando Tatis Junior, and then Team twelve. Garrett
finished up the first round with Garat Crochet and started

(33:49):
the second round with Paul Schimes, going pocket Aces.

Speaker 2 (33:54):
So in this case, if I'm team eleven, I was
hoping that they did not go pocket aces and I
would have taken whichever It was too bit that they
didn't take. But because they did, then I'm gonna kind
of steer away from pitching, so I would, but I'm
still looking at positional scarcity. So I'm since I took
an outfielder and there's a million outfielders, but that tear
falls quickly. I'm I'm gonna still look and take probably

(34:16):
what I feel is the other best third basement and
go with Junior Cameron Arrow.

Speaker 1 (34:19):
Here, Junior Cameronaro. If you want to talk els a
little bit, Junior Cameron Arrow is probably an l for me.
He's someone that I was worried coming in the season.
We were drafting out of ceiling, and uh, I was wrong.
I'm not afraid to admit it. I stunk.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
Yeah, yeah, and I just ignored him. I didn't think.
I thought that he was going like in the third round,
and I was just like, I don't really. I was
in the same boat where I'm like, I just feel
like that's too soon, and yep, nope, it wasn't.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
So so here's an interesting one.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
And are you gonna take another catcher?

Speaker 1 (34:56):
No, but I'm kind of having an interesting like, you know,
I like to have fun with these mock drafts and
and you know, like it's I don't it's not unrealistic
because sometimes, like especially if I'm in like ten leagues,
I'll get weird with the league and like just play
around with a strategy. And so I have cal Rawley,
which means I don't have a ton of power. What

(35:16):
if I double dip and take Kyle s Wwarber right
here and just lock it in And I'm just gonna
do Kyle Schwarber, who has an argument for n L
MVP and for being honest, and so it really fits
my brand of the MVP team. And now I just
have a ton of power and run production out of
the ten spot. So I'm going Kyle Schwarber to pair

(35:38):
with cal Rawley.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
Would you have considered Nick Kurtz there?

Speaker 1 (35:43):
I would, And I was actually the first name I
looked at, and I was like, Nick Kurtz, I could
take here. And then I was like, actually, Kyle Schwerber
still on the board.

Speaker 2 (35:49):
Let me take Sharber right, Okay, yes, mister, I mean
he's just the most. I mean, he's a free agent.
I guess I've like he he'll probably resign with Philly.
I wouldn't mind if he came back and signed with
the Cubs. But yeah, he's just so consistent that it's
really hard to pass up on him.

Speaker 1 (36:08):
I actually traded him away in a keeper league. It's
less painful because I won the league last year. This
year I did not, But I traded him away because
I also have a Tani in that league and I
couldn't play both of them anymore because we used to
have like double utilities and we dropped down to one,
and so I just I could. It was just like
on my bench, and I was like, I have to
trade him, and I forget what I traded him for.
But it was not great. It did not work out

(36:31):
for me. It was like I was trying to get
a young like a young pitcher and something else m
h and I got like Bryce Miller plus something and
it was like a disaster. Disaster.

Speaker 2 (36:42):
Yeah, yep, yeah, I understand. So Kelly's Ellie's we have Ellie.
So I took a short step in a first round there.
So this is where I'll go With Julio Rodriguez to
take because he's I just don't see him falling any
further than that. And since I didn't take an outfielder
in the first round, I will kind of get one

(37:03):
in the second and then just hope I have enough
to get me to July when he gets hot.

Speaker 1 (37:12):
Now, do you think we're being too negative on Hulo
Julio Rodriguez and he's probably gonna go in the first
round of most drafts, or do you think second round?

Speaker 2 (37:20):
I think I would flip a rally in Julio if
we're predicting how it will go. I feel like I
feel like Raley's going to fall to the second and
Julio would go like tenth or eleventh. So so yeah,
but you know, I don't know if for necessarily being
negative as much as we're just being realistic, like you
draft him, you have to have a plan that takes

(37:41):
care of the first two to two and a half
months of the season.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
So yeah, all right, So now we're coming back with
me with the ocho who took the first pitcher to
our Schooble at the eighth spot. So now I'm coming back.
I need some offense. If I'm teammate, I was probably
hoping Kyles Rober made it to me. And so what
I'll do now is I'll take Nick kurt and I'll
bank on the breakout. I'll bank on someone who looks

(38:05):
as legit as you can and really early on and
should probably just get better and has real power. And
so first base is not like the deepest position. It's
getting better, but you know, being able to lock in
someone like Nick Kurtz who looks really really good, I'll
take it cool.

Speaker 2 (38:25):
I am going. So we took Corbyn Carroll in seventh teven,
took Corbyn Carroll in the first round, and I'm going
to like there should be a consistency award for Francisco Indoor.
It's just like you can just lock a thirty thirty in,
So I'm going to take him there. And now I've
really kind of I've got two thirty thirty's on one team,

(38:47):
so and that's going to when you have a thirty
thirty that increases your run production. They both bat for
a pretty decent average, so I will take both of them.

Speaker 1 (38:57):
For similar reasons as another player that my not get
out of the first round. I actually just had a
double check that we didn't actually already draft him, but
kind of Jackson Tario kind of an up and down.
So he said, no, you're out on him. I'm on him,
Oh man, I could see. I think he's gonna go
in the first round. A lot of drafts like late
first round, but I'm getting him pretty late here, pairing

(39:18):
him with Ronald Wakunya. I don't know how much Acuny
is gonna run next year, but I think similar to
what you did with Carol and Lindor, I could have
something similar with the Gunya and Tario with really high ceilings.
Why are you out on Cheerio? Are you wrong?

Speaker 2 (39:34):
I think we know exactly who he is. He's a
he's a twenty twenty guy, and his his stack cast
is ugly, and I just I don't want him that high.
There are plenty of their outfielders.

Speaker 1 (39:46):
Later, Yeah, I was just playing Devil's advocate there. I'm
also like true guy, I was. I mean, I made
a terrible comparison. Earlier in this preseason I talked about
other players who could have like similar similar production to him,
you could take much Later, I mentioned a certain Yankees

(40:09):
prospect that I thought could do it, and that didn't
work out. But I still hold true that the argument
was sound, but the player was wrong. I I just
felt like he's probably going to go very early and
so getting in mid second round, I just you have
to do it. Yep.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
No, I totally I agree. I think that's where he'll go.
It's just hard to separate me from that feeling about him.
Are we good with Nick Kurtzby in the first basement?
Off the board?

Speaker 1 (40:38):
That's first first basement?

Speaker 2 (40:40):
That is interesting. Yeah, I don't think I saw that come,
but let's see. I am going. So now we're back
to District five. I took Jose Ramirez in the first round,
but now we're sort of starting to get into what pictures.
What pictures look interesting? I don't. I just am so

(41:05):
not totally up on wanting a picture there. So I'm
going to take Kyle Tucker and he is very dependent
on where he ends up free agent wise, but right
now hit or wise again, I went third base in
the first round in a five outfielder league, I'm gonna
go outfielder in the second. If somebody like Tucker is
still there, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:25):
He's someone you're just gonna get a lot of variants
of like there's some weird health concerns there. Obviously, free
agency can impact a lot, like if he goes to
the Yankees, he's probably going in the first round. But yeah, yeah,
it's it's he's fallen too far. You have to do
it for team four, I'll since you already mentioned the

(41:45):
first baseman, I'll go with the other one. I'll go
with Peelanso again. You know, impending free agent just had
a really good year in a contract year. Maybe he
comes back to the match. It was a really weird
offseason last offseason where it's like they didn't want him,
but he didn't really sign anyone anywhere else and they
were like, I guess you come on back. And so
he did had a great year. But like what if

(42:09):
what if he goes to Fenway and we just get
Pete Alonzo in Boston, which would be great, you know
for me. I'm also for that lineup. And I don't know,
I don't know if the Mets are gonna let him leave.
But I don't know, you know, it's not like they're
they're like, you know, well let's have another great season.
Like they just missed the playoffs, so maybe they don't
want to run it back. But you know, they have
more money than anyone. But this is for Team four,

(42:31):
and so I already have Bobby with Junior, and now
I have the power of Pedal Alanza. So I have
a pretty good base.

Speaker 2 (42:36):
Yes, yes, you have built a nice a nice start,
all right. So now we get to decide who is
pitcher four? Are we going Christopher Sanchez's picture four? Uh yeah,
I'm gonna, I'm yeah, you would go with Rangers for us,
I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this. I think it's uh,

(42:57):
it may not be the best option, so they it's so,
but I like it anyway. So team three took one
Soto and I'm gonna go with you know, my favorite,
my favorite win from last season. I'm Gonnake Hunter.

Speaker 1 (43:09):
Brown Hunter Brown. Yeah, that's a good one.

Speaker 2 (43:12):
So I think that he kind of established himself. He
had a little bit of a waiver I think toward
you know, middle end whatever, But now that he's he's
just figured it out. And so I have no problem
with him being the fourth off the board.

Speaker 1 (43:26):
Yeah, that's a good one. He's someone you and I
were both very high on. I think at one point
I predicted like a saw young run for him, that
he can make a run at it. Obviously that didn't
work out, but I think he's right there in that
conversation going forward. So that brings us back to team two,
where I have Aaron Judge. So now I have to
figure out what I want to do with my second pick.

(43:46):
So I already have Aaron Judge. Where do I want
to go next to do? Where do you think Gunnar
Henderson goes this year? Oh?

Speaker 2 (44:00):
That's a probably around here.

Speaker 1 (44:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:03):
I mean his his season was it ended up okay,
but that the injury just cost him so much at
the front of it. So I think this might even
be a little too late. I think he'd go sooner
than this, but all right.

Speaker 1 (44:19):
For the sake of accuracy, I'll I'll take him.

Speaker 2 (44:23):
Kah.

Speaker 1 (44:26):
So now you're up at the turn. So team two
is Aaron Judge, gunder Henderson. You're up a team one,
which Shotani.

Speaker 2 (44:34):
All right, so I have got Otani, I am. I
think I'm gonna go with Christopher Sanchez to get a
picture that I think is good, and then I think
I'm gonna go James Wood for the upside.

Speaker 1 (44:53):
James would okay, which is kind of wild, like, how
how did you games would fall? This far, but I
guess you could kind of say that, you know, this
is kind of what we're talking about the beginning of
the show. You can make it a lot argument for
a lot of these players, like late first or not
until now. Also, I renamed that team named Decoy. Do

(45:13):
you know why? No shoe Heyo Tani's dog's name is.

Speaker 2 (45:17):
DECOYH Yeah, I should have thought about that for longer
than a second.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
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Speaker 2 (46:52):
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(47:15):
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Speaker 1 (47:23):
So don't do it because of me, do it for you.
And So now I'm up with Team two. Still without
a name for Team two, which is you know, I'm
struggling with team names. I think I have one, two, three,
only four left. I have four more teams I have
to name. So Team two had Aaron Judge and Gunner
Henderson and so now where do I go? Do I go? Pitcher?

(47:44):
I know you and I talked before the show, We
talked about a certain other you know, we looked, we
did our research for this, We looked at some other
mock drafts and see where players are going. Trevor Story
is already off the board by this point, and I
gotta tell you not doing it. I'm not taking Turbs Story.
No offense to the very good analyst who did take
him in a different mock draft which was made of

(48:06):
a multiple analysts, but I just don't I don't trust him.
I think you're in agreement. What do you think about
jazz chishm? How are I don't think I'm gonna take
him here? But how high do you do?

Speaker 2 (48:17):
You?

Speaker 1 (48:17):
Do you take him?

Speaker 2 (48:19):
I mean, again, not to keep saying thirty thirty guy,
but uh yeah, I mean I think I think third round.
I think third round is good. He figured he finished
as the what was e VBR thirty four? So yeah,
I think you could take him here if you needed
a header.

Speaker 1 (48:38):
All right, I'm gonna I'm not gonna take him, but
I'm gonna go with my first pitcher. And there's two
I really like in this area. That are just kind
of I want to say two more left in this
tier for me that I could talk myself, and neither
one of them. I'm gonna go with Yoshinobu Yamamoto right here,
who I just think is really undervalued with how good

(48:59):
he is, and I think he's only getting better. There
were some health concerns coming into last year, but yeah,
I MA, mo do I spelled it wrong, but I
think we're beyond those, and he certainly looks pretty good
and he might be on his way to winning them
a World Series. We'll see how it goes, but I
think he's like a legit ace now and there's no
reason not to trust him. Two point three eight e

(49:21):
er over two hundred strikeouts and only did only one
hundred and seventy three innings. I think there's more there.
I think he could be in better.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
I agree with you, sweet, Yeah, that doesn't happen all
that often.

Speaker 1 (49:35):
So Team three, who had Juan Soto and Hunter.

Speaker 2 (49:39):
Brown, okay On Soto and Honor Brown, I am going
to take since I already took a picture. I don't
usually take pictures that close together this early, so I'm well,
I mean, if if we want to play this like,
this is probably what will happen. I feel like Pete

(49:59):
charm Strong going to go somewhere in this range. But
I'm I'm going to Oh, it's going to go forever.
I can already feel it. But I'm I'm gonna go
with and this might give you flashbacks. I'm gonna go
with Christian Yeliche.

Speaker 1 (50:15):
Wow, no chance for me.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
No, I know there isn't because of what happened to you.

Speaker 1 (50:22):
I like what he concerns there, like he can just
be like like yeah, I can see him retiring next
year and be like, look, guys, like I need a
chair now. My back is just gone. It's in two
pieces now I gotta go.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
Yes, but you called Ronald Quinia reliable earlier, so we're
not going to listen to too much here.

Speaker 1 (50:39):
That's true, that's fair. Relast he has like major injuries
and then comes back. Christian Yellige has like a chronic
issue that is you know that is already like like
heats twenty nine homebowns this year, but it has like
massively zapti his power like hmm, kind of overall and
like you know, more significantly in different phases. So yep, yeah,

(51:01):
better you than me. Let me tell you. Yep. But
you know a woman scorned and I was very scorned
by a christianology.

Speaker 2 (51:10):
You're very scorned by him. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
Can't do it, and we won't talk about what happened
to me. Can't do it. That brings me the Team four,
the still without a name. Team four. I named Team
three to three true outcomes, so I have three left
to name before we wrap up. I have eight minutes.
So Team four has Bobby Wit Junior and Pete A. Lonzo.
And since that other picture that I was considering in

(51:34):
that tier is still available and this team could use
a picture, I'm gonna go with Brian Wu. Do you
think he's in that tier.

Speaker 2 (51:40):
I have a couple of people I think I'd rather have,
but I think he's in the right tier. Eyes.

Speaker 1 (51:44):
I just think he's like just getting better better, And yes,
there's not a lot to hate there, and yes.

Speaker 2 (51:53):
I agree with that entirely. I mean I think he's
he's definitely climbing. I mean, bbr wise, he finished fifth,
so yeah, and he's just.

Speaker 1 (52:01):
He's like going deep into games and just really consistent,
which I enjoy. You know, it's the opposite of of
Julio Rotery guys on the same team. Man, we might
see him going to the Road Series if you know
they can get their pitching together to do it. Yeah,
you're up with District five with Josey Ramirez and Kyle Tucker.

Speaker 2 (52:21):
Cool, I'm going Freddy Peralta. I like when he gives
you he struck out over two hundred batters. Again he
plays on good Team two point seven the area in
a one point eight yep whip. I'll take it all day.

Speaker 1 (52:37):
Okay, So District five finishes with jose Ramirez, Kyle Tucker,
Freddy Peralta, And now I am up with the six
team Risky Business with Ronald mccuney Junior and Jackson Cheerio.
And so who do I want to go with? Are
there any pitchers I can add to this team that
I would feel comfortable taking? And you know what, I'm

(53:00):
going to take one year. And my hope is by
the time I'm doing, like, let's say this, this draft
is happening in March or February, I'm hoping this this
picture is on a different team by then, because the
team he's on stinks, and the Goodnest stink again. Next year,
but I think he is criminally underrated for how good

(53:21):
and consistent he's been recently, and maybe he's wearing an
American League East uniform. And I'm going to go with
Joe Ryan, who I think if you go to a
better team, you feel a lot better about taking them
this early. If he's on the Twins, I might not
do it, but I don't know. I just think Joe
Ryan he's been really good, really consistent, and he's good

(53:45):
pairing for my risky business team here, all right. I
guess not pairing because he's the third but Semantics, you're up, Semantics,
best show of the nineties, all right?

Speaker 2 (54:00):
So really, who am I putting with Corbyn Carroll and
Francisco Lindoor? There's always one team that just doesn't care
about pitching, like hardly at all, So I think I
would roll with I want him, I am. I so

(54:21):
want to go with Vinnie Patcantino, but I think this
is too high for him, so I would this is hard.
I'll take Vladdy here, Okay, okay, okay, some kind of
keeping that average hopefully. I was. I was so high

(54:46):
on Flatty coming into the season, like so so high
on Flatty, but mostly because it was a contract year.
And then he went ahead and signed that contract in April,
and I wanted to undo everything i'd said about him,
and he did exactly what happens after they signed contracts.
So but he did bat two ninety two. It's he's
still in a decent lineup. I will so I don't

(55:09):
mind him as a first baseman because first base, in
my opinion, is like Ken also has sort of a
severe drop off.

Speaker 1 (55:15):
It does. I feel like we're getting more. We're getting
more of them, but it's not as bad at third pace,
but it's not great. All right. Now I'm up with
the OCHO who already have a pitcher. They have Derek
Scuobell and Nick Kurtz. So I have speed, I have
or not not speed, I have pitching. I have power,
and I'm not going to take another picture. So who

(55:36):
is available as a hitter that I'm going to take here?
Let's check the board. I've been really focusing on team
names and not who's on the board, so when it
comes up, I'm not prepared at all. So great I
have I have three left before we finished, so I
haven't really working on those. While you're talking. That's why
I thought you took Ellie instead of Corby and Karam before.

(56:01):
So the player who finished eleventh the VBR, I'm not
taking him here because I'm not buying it. But Heraldo Perdomo,
where do you think he goes in drafts? Does he
go in the first three rounds because he finished eleventh
in VBR?

Speaker 2 (56:13):
No? I don't. I well, no, I just feel like
an in general draft, I would see him in the
fifth or six. Maybe. I feel like there's a name
recognition issue there that a lot of people are gonna
either think it was a fluke or just either or
just ignore him entirely, so it won't be in the third.
And I don't think he should go in the third.

Speaker 1 (56:34):
Yeah. I tweeted out his stackcast page earlier today because
it's weird. It's like a lot of red, a lot
of blue in the middle, a lot of dark roundt
the bot yep. That means I'm up with the ohow
and I'm going to go with your boy be kor
Armstrong feels like the right spot for it. I already
have my locked in Ace, I have Nick Kurtz, and

(56:55):
if I'm building a roster like this, I like the
third round aggressive swing on a player like Peter Romstring here,
I could kind of blow up in your face. But
if he like does even like so he called off
towards the end, which we know, but we saw the
ceiling and the ceiling was a lot of fun. And

(57:16):
so if you get that again, or if he does
he does even better, you're getting a first round pick
in the late third to pair with the best pitcher
in baseball and probably the best young hitter in baseball.
So this could be a very exciting, albeit aggressive build
for a team for the OCHO.

Speaker 2 (57:32):
Yes, and it appears they're going all left handed, so
so that's good too. I think that's a solid that's
a solid way to approach it. All Right, So this
is the team. It has Ellie and Julio, and I
want a pitcher at this point, and I think I'm
going to take Logan web who I was down on

(57:55):
last year. I just thought that there were some underlying
stats that I didn't like, and then he turned around
and led the majors in strikeouts because that's what he does,
so why wouldn't you.

Speaker 1 (58:07):
Yeah, And when I picked Joe Ryan, Logan Webb is
another name I considered. So I am in agreement there.
So now I'm at the MVP team. Who's my next
MVP that I can take? I have Cal Raley and
Kyle Schwarber.

Speaker 2 (58:22):
It's as isn't it.

Speaker 1 (58:26):
That'll be perfect for this build. So let's see, are
there any pictures? This episode is going a longer than
I expected or wanted to, but that's okay. We're here
for the people. We're doing a mock. It'll be great.

Speaker 2 (58:39):
We'll get done for you.

Speaker 1 (58:41):
For you, so we can't do Zach Whiellier because of
the devastating injury that he suffered. I'm kind of getting
into that area where like you should take a picture,
but I'm probably not going to because I just don't
feel comfortable about any of them in this tier. Like
there's like to Grom, there's Carlos Rodon Nick Bavetta. I

(59:04):
just don't know. I can you know, I already have
Nick Vetta at home. I don't need to take Nick
Vetta here. It's the kind of thing where like you
started getting into that like the you know what, like
this tier versus the next two tiers, and it's like
I'd rather just take another hitter and doubled it or
tripled it later on unless there is one picture m
H who should be taken right here, who I know

(59:29):
won't make it back to me because Team eleven might
take MH. So I guess I'll take Max Read.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
Okay, yeah, Max Rea, We're have been off the board.
We could have ended this in the next thirty seconds.
It's like it's I was.

Speaker 1 (59:47):
Going through it and I was like, there're on nine
picture that isn't this tier And I was like, actually
there is one.

Speaker 2 (59:52):
Yeah, yeah, there's a weird year.

Speaker 1 (59:54):
Like blisters and stuff like there. I still have some
underlying like health concerns with him because he, like one
it looked like he was like maybe kind of like
headitor like Tommy John area. And then it was like, nah,
he's good. We sure, but then they had, you know,
a really goodyear rather than like you had, like a
blister situation, which seems like he's past it, and really
it looked really good in the playoffs. So ye, health permitting,

(01:00:16):
you should get a really high floor in the third
round for my MVP team.

Speaker 2 (01:00:22):
Yep, yeah, I agree with you entirely. All right, So
I'm very torn on on this guy because he finally
the consistency finally dropped off a little bit, but not
far enough that I'm totally scared off by him. And
the fact that we're at the end of the third round.

(01:00:45):
I'm going to take Freddy Freeman and let his three
hundred batting average hang out with that group. So that's right, yeah,
with Cameron.

Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
But the health or the age there.

Speaker 2 (01:00:58):
I am, but I also think that, like I said,
the consistency is like, I'm a little it's a little iffy,
but he's still in that lineup. He's still batted two
ninety seven, he still hit twenty home. Rann's like, I'm like,
I'll take it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:11):
So it's worked out.

Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
Do you see how excited I am about it. I'm like, oh,
I will take him.

Speaker 1 (01:01:17):
Yeah, boy, this worked out great for me because I
had a team name ready to go if you didn't
take a pitcher, and now I can use it. So
I named that team pitch Please, so perfect. I only
have one team left and so I'm trying to figure
that out while also we are now at the end
where we get to the pocket Ace's team that took

(01:01:38):
Garrett Crochet and Paul Skeen's at the one two turn,
and they now have to figure out what they're going
to do for offense and so looking at the board,
not going to take her, although Perdomo that would that
would not be the smart move here to pair with
my pocket aces. What do you think about this player
who like kind of trying to do a different player
once he went to Seattle? What do you think about

(01:01:58):
Josh Naylor? Are you buying it? And do you think
he goes here?

Speaker 2 (01:02:03):
Remind is he a free agent? Do we know? I
can't remember or he.

Speaker 1 (01:02:06):
Is, but you know it would be wild if he
didn't go back there.

Speaker 2 (01:02:10):
Yeah, So, I mean I think Josh Naylor is like
he's another one that's just royally undervalued and he's he
had just had what two or three years in a
row now where it's like, okay, like why aren't we
paying closer attention to him? And I did look at
him with the last pick too. I would rather he
not be in Seattle just for the hitting purposes. But

(01:02:31):
twenty home rows one of the thirty stolen bases, that's
the thing, thirty stolen bases from that guy. So yeah, no,
I think I think he's I think he's as good
as VBR says he is, which I believe has him
as the top first baseman last season.

Speaker 1 (01:02:50):
He's behind Polanza.

Speaker 2 (01:02:52):
Not according to the one I'm looking at.

Speaker 1 (01:02:58):
I have him at fifteen, Pisa fIF team Josh Nayler seventeen. Okay,
all right, all right, right, also use some different filters.
We'll fight about this. Should we pause the show and
figure it out.

Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
I know, I think we can fight about it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
We can fight about laters, right, all right, I'm gonna
do it. I'm gonna take Josh Naylor. There is some
risk there of like, yep, he is a free agent.
I would be very surprised if he didn't go back
there because I think both sides are very happy with
where he is. There is some, you know, some concern
in there, like obviously like Seattle's not the best hitting environment,

(01:03:34):
but also like if he's gonna hit for power and
steal that many bases, Yep, I'll take it. It's a
little risky to pair him and his outlook with my
pocket aces, but uh, we're getting weird with pocket aces,
so we're doing it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:47):
Yeah, once you start that build, you just kind of
come off weird. You're gonna have to go.

Speaker 1 (01:03:54):
And that means we have finished our draft. We have
twelve teams drafted, and eleven of them are already named.
We haven't named team two, but to recap very quickly.
First team Decoy Shoho, Tany, Christopher Sanchez, James Wood. And
while I'm doing this, you think about which team you
think is the best in which one do you think
is the worst. Team Two Aaron Judge, Gunnar Henderson, Yoshinobu Yamamoto,

(01:04:18):
Three True Outcomes Juan Sota, Hunter Brown, Christian Yelich, Woo
Woo Woo, Kenny Wu. That's when I named while you
were while you were drafting, Mighty Ducks reference for you
and Worm, Bobby Wood, Junior, Peter Lonzo, Brian Wu District
five also Mighty Ducks Reference, but the Ramirez, Kyle Tucker,
Freddy peralta Risky Business, Ronald mccunya, Jackson, Terio, Joe Ryan,
Seventh Heaven Best show of the nineties, not really Corbyn,

(01:04:39):
Carl Francisco, Lindor, Vladguro, Junior, Deocho, Derek Sscuolbld, Nick Kurtz,
Peter Armstrong, Kelly's Elli's Elie de la Cruz, lu Rodriguez,
Logan Webb, m VP, cal Raley, Colle Schwarber, Max Fried
Pitch please, Fernando Tatis Junior Junior, Camereno, Freddy Freeman, Pocket
Ace's Garrett Crochet, Paul Sken's Josh Naylor. So I also,

(01:05:01):
I forgot to do something earlier in the show because
I'm a terrible host. But hopefully this person is listening,
because I was supposed to give away the winner of
the Billy Wagner Signed Baseball and that winner is Nolan
I believe it's mckaig mc c a I G Nolan McCaig.
Please get in touch with our customs support agents at
mailbag at Fantasypros dot com aka me at mail bag

(01:05:22):
at Fantasy ros dot com with your mailing address and
a screenshot of your YouTube account page while logged in,
and once we confirm, we'll get your prize shipped out. Again.
Congrats to Nolan McCaig. I should have done that earlier
in the show, but I'm you know, I'm bad at this,
and so I didn't do it. And so hopefully you
watched the whole thing. You made it all the way
to the end of this hour hour plus long mock
draft show, and you're gonna get your Billy Wagner signed baseball,

(01:05:45):
and we'll probably, you know, we'll try one more time.
But if you do win it, you're gonna get it
mailed to you by me, because I have it in
my house right now. So Kelly, back to you now
that we've gotten we've gotten Nolan his Billy Wagner signed
baseball and Nolan also my son's name.

Speaker 2 (01:06:01):
And so.

Speaker 1 (01:06:02):
Which team you think is the best? Which one do
you think is the worst?

Speaker 2 (01:06:06):
Which one is the best? Which is the worst? I
was just going off which one I liked the best?

Speaker 1 (01:06:10):
Yeah, that's yeah, that's what we're going with. Which one
do you like the best? Same thing?

Speaker 2 (01:06:14):
I mean, I I secretly love the Rally Schwerber Freed team,
like I love it that I would be all over that.
But I think I like my Jose Ramirez, Kyle Tucker,
Freddie Peralto just in terms of like, I feel like
that's a pretty solid start that I can do a
lot of different things with. And I absolutely do not

(01:06:35):
like my Tatis Kamonaro Freeman team.

Speaker 1 (01:06:38):
Really Okay, yeah, not hard for me to say my
least favorite wanst A Hunter Brown, Christian Yelich. That's an easy,
uh worst, you know, for me. I also like the
rally Shoever Freed one. I I don't know that I
like it the best. It's very fun. The schoobl Kurtz

(01:06:59):
Peaker Strong one. I don't know. That's like the best
for the worst, but it's you know, there's a lot
happen in there. It could be fun.

Speaker 2 (01:07:05):
Ye.

Speaker 1 (01:07:08):
Yeah. Probably My least favorite would be a kun U
Cherio Joe Ryan. That's there's a lot of risk going
going on there. He's the name risky business exactly. Now
I have before we get out of here, I have
to name team Too, because we've named every team I've
been trying to name it. I also put it like
I put a bunch of I put the three player

(01:07:29):
names into chat GBT to see if you're not to
give any AI any free advertising here, but try to
give them. And I gotta tell you a lot of
them are offensive and I can't use them so not
like intentionally offensive. And I'm like, well I can't do that.
Just like mentioned the word like samurai and like nope, nope, nope, no,
do not doing any of that.

Speaker 2 (01:07:46):
I my suggestion would be to leave it as Team Too,
which my home league is. It started off and there
was a guy we play on ESPN inexplicably, but the
first guy who had the team was Team Paul, and
he got out of the league, and Brian brought in
my friend Nick, who has never changed the team name.
So that next team has been Team Paul. And every

(01:08:07):
year he changes his he changes his like photo to
a different famous Paul, so like Paul Jamadi or whoever.
So I feel like we should just name it like
Team Smith or something, and how.

Speaker 1 (01:08:20):
About we name it Team Paul.

Speaker 2 (01:08:22):
We can name it Team Paul. They'd be thrilled to
know it. I worked in.

Speaker 1 (01:08:27):
Now we're going with Team Paul. We finally named the
last team, all right, So I went a little bit longer,
so hopefully you stuck with us through the end, or
you know, we watched it faster speed. I was supposed
to keep it under an hour, but as we've already
gone over, I'm not good at this, you know, I'm
just out here. As I tell my son all the time,
I'm just doing my best, right, I'm just doing my best.
So before we get out of here, anything else, anything
else you want to cover. We went a little long

(01:08:48):
in the mock draft, but I think this is this
is really fun, and I think it's gonna be really
interesting draft season, you know, as even like going through
and I'm like, I could have taken this guy here,
I could have taken him around to go. I could
also pass on and so yeah, there's probably some players
that we waited out to, like the mid late second round,
they're going to be first round picks this year. It's
just like we personally waited. Yeah, what do you think?

Speaker 2 (01:09:11):
Yeah, I mean I think that so much. You know,
so much changes. But definitely this year there's a lot
of fantasy and there's a lot of volatility, and it's
going to be just super fun to kind of argue, discuss,
figure out where we're going to lock in and let
us know, like which team did you like, Which team
did you hate? Just make sure it's Mayor's teams that
you hate and we'll go from there.

Speaker 1 (01:09:29):
Yeah, tell me how much you love pocket Aces, MVP.
The team names would be great if you would. You
know your best and worst team names, your favorite sitcoms
or shows from the nineties. Also do seventh Heaven count
of the sitcom let me know in the comments. I
was trying to look up the definition of a sitcom
of like if that counts. The correct answer is probably
Boy Meets World is probably the correct answer. Best sitcom

(01:09:51):
in the nineties, big tgif kid back in the day
really loved that, Like Friday Night Rundown. That was a
great time for television. Boy Meets World is probably the winner.
Seventh of them was just one that stuck in my mind.
One thing I had in the outline we didn't really
get to is I want to talk about like biggest
predictions and wins from the from before the season and
like heading him the next season. I wanted to work
those in. We worked in a few, but uh, you know,

(01:10:12):
we didn't, but just they had a few of them.
We talked about Hunter Brown, we both liked him. Coutrash Brothers.
You mentioned. We didn't talk about Rookie Sasaki. We'll never
know what you're gonna say because we're we're not gonna
hit it now. So Oki Susaki was going to be
talking about and he wasn't, and now we'll never know.

Speaker 2 (01:10:26):
And now he's going to be the closer for the
World Series winner. So whatever.

Speaker 1 (01:10:31):
Some of my wins were Hazos Lozardo Trevors story and
the pocket ASA strategy, depending on which ones he took
a major l for both of us. With Santiel Contra.

Speaker 2 (01:10:42):
Missed it entirely bad.

Speaker 1 (01:10:43):
That was a bad one. Yeah, you put it in
and I just said, girl, same same one for me. Yep,
we're both way off on that, like Girl Junior. I
also was very high on Clay Homes coming in the season.
M and uh, yeah, that didn't work out. I mean
like he was fine, he was good, he had a
good season. I in our super Bowl prediction episode, I

(01:11:04):
was like, you know, he might get so young votes,
you know, but no, Yeah, we got pulled too early
from games. It was fine, it was just not what
I was hoping for. And then uh, breakouts for next year,
maybe look out for Jack kagleone and Ben Rice.

Speaker 2 (01:11:21):
And I just feel like, I feel like Leon is
not as bad as he came up being.

Speaker 1 (01:11:25):
So I agree. I mean, you're not buying no A
Cameron for next year. I like no Cameron, So we'll
have to discuss that in the off season find out why.

Speaker 2 (01:11:34):
Yeah. I don't like his stackcat page at all. So
I don't know some.

Speaker 1 (01:11:40):
People just you know, there's Deck gass pases not to
find them anything else. We keep going rounds.

Speaker 2 (01:11:50):
Sure, why not? I mean, people have lots of time
for like, we could be a mini series, but we
can get there. Yeah. I just think, uh, stick around
because we like, we like baseball, would be like to
keep doing baseball even when everyone else has abandoned baseball.

Speaker 1 (01:12:04):
So yeah, we got more coming up. There's going to
be I'm not sure when the cycle is going to
pick back up, but I know Welsh and the crew
they're going to be picking up. We're going to have
a pretty consistent off season baseball schedule. So stick around,
check it out, stay subscribed, comment say nice things in
the comments. If you really feel compelled, give us a
review on Apple or Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcasts,

(01:12:25):
say nice things about Kelly, talk about me being a hater,
whatever you want. Just make sure it's a five star
review or keep it to yourself.

Speaker 2 (01:12:34):
And with that.

Speaker 1 (01:12:36):
She's Kelly Kirby. I'm Mike Mayor. This has been the cycle,
and thank you for stopping back.

Speaker 4 (01:12:41):
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Baseball podcast.
If you love the show, the best freeway to support
us is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts
or Spotify. Follow us on x, Instagram, and TikTok at
Fantasy Pros and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube
dot com Slash Fantasy Pros MLB

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