2240 - The busts of the 2025 season

Take 10 with Tim – September 19, 2025 – 45 minutes to an hour
Microsoft Teams:

1.Yordan Alvarez is hurt again. This time, it’s a significant ankle sprain. He’s been a huge bust this season for fantasy managers. Let’s provide our Top 5 bust of the season. Mine are listed.
a.Adley Rutschman (C, Bal, 56) – 85 games, 9 HR, 29 RBI, .227 BA
b.Marcel Ozuna (DH, Atl, 61) – 137 games, 20 HR, 58 HR, .233 and became a part-time player in the second half. The last two years he hit 40 and 39 home runs.
c.Brenton Doyle (OF, Col, 68) – 23-30 last season and 14-16 this season. He has been better of late.
d.Mark Vientos (3B, NYM, 90) – 112 games, 17 home runs, 58 RBI, and .237 BA
e.Tyler Glasnow (RHP, LAD, 95) – He only pitched in 16 games with 3 wins. 3.06 ERA

2.Arizona Fall League Preview
a.I wrote a large post on Thursday of all the ranked players attending. We will discuss some of the players and who you are looking forward to seeing how they do?

3.Listener Questions:
a.David - Is O'Neil Cruz a bust at this point?

b.Mark – Does Konnor Griffin make his MLB debut in 2025? What is your comp?

c.Hoppy - Who's your favourite (and least favourite) fantasy baseball player of all time?

d.Michael - Hey Rich- I tend to do a number of early draft and hold redraft leagues. It would be great to hear a few lesser known / further away names you expect to contribute in ‘26. I have names like Wetherholt, McGonigle, Snelling.. is Aidan Miller likely up?m early? ERC with Yankees? Barco?. I may be early on this but any names you like would be great to hear., thanks.

i.Robby Snelling, Aidan Miller, Carson Benge, Gage Jump, and Ryan Waldschmdit

e.Jermey - With their recent success, is it time to start putting the Mets pitching development up with the elites (Mariners, Dodgers, Guardians, etc)?

f.Nick - When working a Dynasty League where you can keep anyone you want for any amount of time, what is the cut off of your rankings that you are willing to throw them back into the draft to see what else you can get? Top 300? Top 15 at position? And does that differ slightly on age, like willing to keep someone who is a lot younger or not so much older?
i.Context: I am in a 12 team Dynasty league with normal roster positions, with a 15 person minor league roster in CBS. I find myself sometimes keeping too many players so I really only change over 1 or 2 on the active roster, then struggle to figure out who to cut when a prospect gets called up and wonder if I should cut more people out the gate to take some risks, to be willing to cut them for prospects.

4.What one or two hitters are you targeting for this weekend’s FAAB?

5.What one or two pitchers are you targeting for this weekend’s FAAB?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:21):
A Society takes everyone to Rich Weil's I Walk into
Fantasy Baseball Live. Today is September nineteenth, probably our last
Take ten with Tim on Friday, as the season is
winding down and Tim and I are winding down here
as well. Tim, are you how's life with you?

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Life is good.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
I got home last night early evening. I think I
found all my dirty clothes, but if not, I'm sure
they will come to the fort sometime in the next
week and I'll find them in the cars somewhere.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
How long were you gone?

Speaker 4 (00:55):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Nine days?

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Wow? Wow, that's a long time to be gone.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah, it was. It was a quick trip, but it
was a good trip.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
I had some things I had to take care of
on the personal front, and spent some time with my
brother and old friends, and uh, yeah it was. It
was a long drive. I'll leave it at that. But
back in one piece. That's what counts.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
That's good. That's good. So we've got I said, this
is our last show. We've only got two more. We're
actually ten days left of the season, if you can
believe that time. We've got this weekend, all of next
week and next weekend, and then it's it's time it's
just surreal almost.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
Well, yeah, we're starting to get questions about drafts.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
I know, I can't even I can't even think that
far ahead.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
No, I I sort of liked the I sort of
liked the break between the the our season and you know,
watching watching the playoffs and you know, getting through the
playoffs and then I then I start getting it into it.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
A little bit more.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
But for the most part, my off season is the
MLB playoffs.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
I think that makes sense. I was actually as you
were talking of, going, Yeah, I kind of like the
playoffs because I don't have to worry about anything yet, and
the drafts really aren't starting yet draft prep. I mean,
it's it's just a nice four weeks of some downtime.
So so yeah, it doesn't make sense.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
Yeah, because as soon as the playoffs end, you get
into free agency.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Things are happening quick.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
You've got you know, the Asian market coming into play,
and people are starting to draft in October. So if
we don't know, you know, towards the end of October,
if you don't take that break hearing the playoffs, before
you know it, we're into spring training again.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
Right, Yeah, it's crazy. I do in two weeks from today.
That'll be my first drop of my prospects. So the
top twenties come out starting October third of the Chicago Cubs.
It's ready to roll, Tim, So I've got I've been
writing like a madman. So that's that's ready to go.
Two a week as I do every year.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
Yes, which means by some time around uh oh, the
third week of October, we'll be doing our first review
of those prospects.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Correct, crazy, it's crazy, Yeah, just about that's that'll be
the the break will be over the third week in October.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
Well, yeah, we start going through the prospects, I get
into my rankings, and before you know it, spring training
has arrived.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
So it's a short show everyone. We're going to talk
about kind of our bust of the seasons. I've got five,
Tim's got five, so some of those guys that just
did not perform the way, So there's really eleven because
we're gonna talk about one guy, you know that kind
of started this whole discussion for me. They were gonna
talk aout the Arizona Fall League. The rosters are out.

(04:05):
They came out a couple of weeks ago, but Tim
and I are both on vacation. We've got more listener questions,
and I'm gonna see the TAM's going to pick up
for this last weekend before the last week of the season.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
Sound good, tim sounds like a plan to me.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
So it all started and I couldn't believe, well I can't,
but Jordan Alvarez is hurt again and the report coming
out of Houston is a significant ankle injury. And it's
just been a disaster for guys who drafted him, Tim
because they got him, had to get him in late
in the first round, early in the second round. And
it kind of begged the question, what are some other

(04:41):
busts that have been the season that just have not
performed the way that fantasy managers would have we're expecting. So,
first of all, on you are Dan Alvarez, right, you
have him in one league. I think you drafted them
and that's that's just a bomber.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Too as a matter of fact.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
Wow, And yeah, with an ADP of six, you expect
more than six homers twenty seven RBIs in a two
seventy three batting average.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:07):
It those two teams were basically lost before they even
had all that much of a chance to get going.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
You know, it was just done like dinner.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
You know, you don't you don't replace even though it
happened early in the season, you don't replace your Dan Alvarez.
You know, at basically back of the back of the
first round draft slot.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
It just doesn't happen.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
So he's still a young player, but he looks like
an old player to me, just because of his size
and as we know, guys that are gigantic like he
is just don't age. Well, are you now going into
next season, first of all, where do you think he
goes in drafts? And are you just going to avoid
drafting him just because you're worried about the injury risk?

(05:56):
Or is this just is an anomaly. He's still only
twenty six, twenty seven years old.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
I think for now, yeah, playing it as an anomaly
and just a bad season, I think is the approach
that I'll take.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
I don't know if it's the right one. I'm hoping
it is.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
He's so young, it's hard to you know, usually that
fall off the bigger players is somewhere the other side
of thirty early thirties. It seems a little bit early
to me to be predicting the demise of your Dan Alvarez.
Now again, Hey, if you so choose to take that route,

(06:38):
am I going to argue with you? No, I'm expecting it,
But I am expecting. If I look at Albaz, I'm
expecting a discount next year.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
How much of a discount?

Speaker 2 (06:48):
One round?

Speaker 1 (06:49):
That's it? Wow?

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Well, if you look.

Speaker 3 (06:53):
At his history, if the history is fairly strong, So
if I can sneak him in as a three four
towards the back, I'm not saying I'm going to take
him right now. It's early, but I'm not it will
have my interests.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
How's that?

Speaker 1 (07:13):
So that sounds more to two rounds because he went
one two, So you're thinking three to four.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah, somewhere in that range.

Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yeah, yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
Early fourth, late third, early fourth somewhere.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
I mean, obviously a great player, there's no question he's
a great, great player. But you know, it's it's just,
you know, you worry about that body type. And I
don't worry about I think he'll perform well when he plays.
I just worry that he's just going to spend so
much time on the il. That's just my yeah, my
gut feeling on it.

Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah, And you know that's perfectly fine. I don't have
any problems at all. Then, you know what, we still
haven't got a firm definition on that ankle injury. If
it is you know, if it's more than just a spring, well,
of course that's going to change our whole discussion that
we just had, you know what I mean, if there's
ligament damage whatever, Right, yeah, it could change things rather

(08:09):
drastic good because again, he's a big boy, puts a
lot of torque into things, and having two solid ankles
probably helps in that cause, right.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
Probably does. All right, So that is one. So tell
us another one of your busts for the season.

Speaker 3 (08:24):
Well, As a rookie, Jackson Merrill hit twenty four home runs,
drove in ninety stole sixteen bases, and had a two
ninety two batting average. This year is ADP was twenty
six to six and so far fourteen homer, sixty one RBIs,
one stolen base and a two sixty three batting average.

(08:44):
You're looking at a second round pick that, for the
most part, because of injuries, just didn't deliver this year,
and that left a pretty big mark if you, if.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
You somehow were.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
Looking at a commination of say Mookie Betts, Merrill Alvarez,
any of those. Yeah you if you ended up with
both on your team somehow, Yeah, it was a total disaster.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
I'm looking at his Baseball Savant page and this exitossies
down a little bit. His speed is still the same
as it was last season. So I'm wondering if if
we can predict a bounce back for him next season,
and will you get a discount on him next year.

Speaker 3 (09:31):
I'm thinking, yeah, you'll get You'll get a discount, And
I'm thinking that there's a good potential for the sophomore
slump to be and the injuries that have gone along
with his sophomore season will disappear. And yeah, I think
the potential is still there. And if the discount, hey,
you move him back around, I think you'll get people's attention.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
Yeah, I mean it's it's still unexpected batting average of
two seventy nine. Again, he hits the ball reasonably hard,
and I mean, again, I don't see that he's twenty
two years old. So I'm hoping it was just the
injuries and again maybe just some adjustments that he had.
He did really chase a lot more chase in his swing,
so so there was a bit more strikeouts than there

(10:15):
were last season, In fact, a lot more strikeouts than
there were last season. You know, he's never going to
walk a lot, so on an on base percentage league,
it's not a great selection.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
No, It just if you went with him this year,
it has been undoubtedly a disappointment.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yeah. I think that's always that's always a risk. You know,
you go with these guys rookies that have their breakout
season and then Jackson Merrow is so young that it
does feel like there's many times that sophomore slump before
they get their sea legs again.

Speaker 3 (10:47):
Yeah, And you know, I think a lot of the
players that were looking at both my picks and your
picks fall into that, fall into that group, you know
what I mean. I know you you went with Brenton
Doyle and hey.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
I love to jack Kamaro for you, but I but
I took Britain toil. I knew that there's both of
those guys who were on your underperforming uh and you
had them on a bunch of teams. But my first
guy is Adlie Rutchman, right, I mean, obviously William Contravis
is probably the number one catcher taken off the board,
but Ali Ruchmand was right there fifty six eighty p so,

(11:23):
I mean it was he was taken in the you know,
top fourth four five rounds in eighty five games, nine
home runs, twenty nine RBIs at two twenty seven batting average,
and again injured a lot. I get it. But when
he played Timmy, he didn't play well.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
No, it's he's good.

Speaker 3 (11:43):
He's going to need a bounce back because, let's face it,
the group of catchers that were looking at moving forward,
it's a really really good group filled with a lot
of really good, young, high upside type players, and Adley
Richmond better get it to get either fairly quickly or
he's going to find himself being a mid tier ten

(12:05):
to fifteen type catcher off the board. It won't take
long with the young group that we're looking at right now.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
I do think. I mean, he doesn't hit the ball
that hard. I mean, that's always been the issue with him.
But I mean I think two years in a row
of twenty hond runs nineteen zero, I think he's a
twenty home run guy. Just don't know how much he's
I think it's what he's always done to two fifty
batting average with twenty home runs. I think that's who
the player is, and so I think everyone was expecting more.
I know I was expecting more as he was coming

(12:32):
through the minor leagues. And maybe he has that great
year where it's thirty home runs and he hits two
eighty and all is forgotten. But I don't see anything
in the data that would point to that.

Speaker 3 (12:43):
No, I agree, Hey, twenty twenty eighty to ninety two fifty. Yeah,
And this year you've also got to look at you know,
that whole Baltimore lineup and the chaos has sort of ensued.
Gunner Henderson didn't have a real good year, and that's
got to have some bearing, I think on Retchman and

(13:06):
everybody hitting around Henderson. So I'll go with the combination
plan on that.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
Looking at Rutchman, I I'm gonna I'm gonna go with that.
I'm also gonna go with maybe at least my own
evaluation of him coming to the minor leagues. I just
doesn't hit the ball as hard as I thought he
was going to do, and I therefore I think he's
a good player. I don't think he's going to be
the Buster Posey of our generation here.

Speaker 2 (13:35):
No, I I agree.

Speaker 3 (13:37):
I just hope he doesn't prove to be the Matt
Widers of our generation.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
You know, I that is a name that obviously has
been put forward before. So I agree with you there.
Who's your next guy?

Speaker 2 (13:51):
Well, I got I've got too in a row sort of.

Speaker 3 (13:54):
So I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna skip the two
in a row and I'm gonna go to Anthony Santander
of the Blue Jays. Yeah, eightyp of eighty seven to six,
and what we've seen this year is a total of
six home runs, eighteen RBIs and a one to seventy
nine batting average. Now that sounds that sounds bad, but

(14:20):
when you take into consideration the fact.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
Let me let me write that down. That sounds bad.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
It actually is worse because that's his production in the
first two months of the season before he went on
the il with the shoulder injury. So that's your first
two months out of Anthony stander six eighteen one seventy nine.
The rest of the year he was heard, which did
you know, Hey, it just adds adds to that dismal start.

(14:53):
But man's that is brutal. It really is. You're looking
at the guy that went as a second outfielder, and
you've got thing for a moment.

Speaker 1 (15:01):
Yeah, I didn't have Anthony. I didn't even consider Anthony
Santander in any league. And it's I just felt like
he had that great blowout free agent season with the Orioles,
and how many times do we see that and then
the guy goes back to who he was prior to that,
which is a fine player, but taken as your second outfielder. Boy,
you really questioned.

Speaker 3 (15:21):
That, Well, yeah, there was some damage that incouraged who
you got next.

Speaker 1 (15:27):
Rich, I've got a guy that has been pretty much
a stalwart of thirty nine home runs forty home runs
the last two seasons, and Timmy's a part time player now,
and that is Marcella is Soon one hundred and thirty
seven games, twenty on runs, fifty eight RBIs, And he goes, well,
that's not so bad. But the fifty eight RBIs kind
of shows you a the problem that the Atlanta Braves

(15:49):
had in scoring runs and b that he basically has
been sitting a lot here in the last couple of months.
And I maybe it's just Marcella Soon has finally got
to be that age that we're starting to see the
natural decline here.

Speaker 3 (16:04):
Well, yeah, we saw his career spike pretty solidly going
back to twenty seventeen when he was with Miami and
then he moved to Saint Louis and he was okay,
And you know, his first couple of years in Atlanta
were no great shakes, and he had those two big
seasons and back to twenty sixty five. If I'm going

(16:27):
to lock up my DH slove with somebody next year,
it's not going to be Marcello Isna.

Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, that's a hard pass for me.

Speaker 1 (16:35):
It's he is thirty two years old. I've got him
in a couple of dynasty leagues, and it's I'm starting
to really worry here. But I mean I am taking
a look at his expected batting averages to fifty two.
He still hit the ball really hard, so I still
think there's there's some power there. But I mean, if
the Braves that were desperate for offense felt like they
couldn't play him full time, that's a real problem.

Speaker 3 (16:58):
Well yeah, and he's actually older than that. Rich He'll
be thirty five in December.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
Okay, Yeah, so he's gone to his thirty fifth season.

Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yeah, Yeah, he's like he's Yeah, it's and if you
look at the numbers, other than twenty seventeen and twenty
three and twenty four, he's been an okay type player,
but certainly not you know, twenty three home runs, eighty
eight RBIs, twenty three, seventy six, twenty three, fifty six,

(17:27):
twenty sixty five this year. Other than those three big
years were certainly big years, but there's a lot of
just okay, yeah, scattered amongst those big years. And I'm
I'm not going to tie up my dear slot next year.

Speaker 1 (17:43):
Yeah, even in his big years, he's still had a
lot more power against right handed pitchings, and maybe he's
just going to fall into a platoon guy. In twenty
twenty four he had the thirty nine home runs with
thirty four were hit against right handers, with a five
sixty one slow six flog against left handers was pretty good,

(18:04):
but I mean he was definitely a right handed killer
as opposed to a left handed killer.

Speaker 3 (18:10):
Yeah, I'm just taking a quick scan right now. I'm
just curious to see how long the braves are tied
into him, and it's coming up even as we speak. Uh,
He's he's a free agent heading in the next year.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
Oh okay, Well, who's your next guy? Tim?

Speaker 2 (18:31):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (18:33):
Uh can I can? I go with my combination pick now?

Speaker 1 (18:37):
Sure and you could do whatever you want?

Speaker 2 (18:39):
Okay?

Speaker 3 (18:40):
Well, uh, the twenty third starting pitcher off the board
with an ADP of one oh two point five netted
you one win, twenty four k's and a four seventy
two e er And that was one Rokie Sazaki And
following Sazaki right behind him was my buddy ten Or Biby,
who is finally showing some life at.

Speaker 1 (19:03):
One little start this week. That's it.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
He's had two in.

Speaker 3 (19:07):
A row, I believe has he Okay, I'm gonna call
out a streak.

Speaker 1 (19:12):
You know who's also played a lot better is the
Diamondbacks kid. Oh Gallant Gallon has had He's been He's
pitched much better of the last few weeks.

Speaker 3 (19:23):
Yeah, but again, if you invested, you know, as your
twenty third starting, twenty four starting pitcher off the board
the first first five months, I'm not sure where Gallon went.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
I'd have to take a look.

Speaker 3 (19:35):
But none of them have have helped your causes been.
Sazaki has been a huge disappointment this year.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
He really has, uh totally and the Sasaki I think
is back pitching in the bullpen. Is that what I read?

Speaker 2 (19:50):
Yeah, I read something along those lines. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (19:52):
I think they're gonna work them out of the pen,
which considering the Dodgers pen, it might actually be a
good thing, because.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
That's a mess.

Speaker 3 (20:02):
Like Tanner Scott, I don't know what is going on there,
but I know he isn't getting a Christmas card from Yamamoto.

Speaker 2 (20:09):
That ain't gonna happen. Uh.

Speaker 3 (20:11):
Yeah, He's just been up down all over the place,
and the Dodgers have to be disappointed with that term
of events.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
So my next guy is brent My next guy is
Brenton Doyle. I mean, obviously he was a number one,
number two outfielder, some number one outfielders twenty three thirty
in twenty twenty four. I mean this, if you look
at fourteen sixteen and I was thinking that's not so bad.
But then I take a look and it was really
a streak in August that he played really well. But

(20:42):
in September, to me, I don't know if you've seen
what he has done. So one eight and three batting
average with no home runs in three stolen bases. That's
what he's done. In the month since the last thirty days.
That's that's what he's done. So he's back to stinking
and two thirty seven batting average, and all the damage
was done in a streaky period in the middle of

(21:04):
August where it looked like he was bouncing back. But
other than that, he's been a real disappointment this season.

Speaker 3 (21:11):
I totally agree. I had him in a lot of
leagues this year. I've got a decision to make on
Brenton Doyle because I can protect him in one of
my leagues for eleven dollars next year. Now about the
middle of August, I'm thinking that eleven dollars looks real good.
Now you talk about looking at him in the middle
of September and all of a sudden, my keenness is

(21:32):
disappearing rather quickly. Yeah, it just hey, and I get
the personal issues it contributed to the first half. But
it's now September and he's sitting that's not good.

Speaker 1 (21:47):
Yeah, I mean he's still fast ninety six percentile and speed,
but I mean it, he doesn't have a great hit
till never has, but I would have to believe there's
still something there. But he is a rocky and you
run away from Rockies. So I mean, is that the
overarching kind of strategy just he's a Rocky, just don't
grab him.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
Well, I just have some current concerns with the way
he's finishing up the season. I was hoping he was
going to build on August and we would see that
player down the stretch. But no, it hasn't been happening
at all.

Speaker 1 (22:21):
Who's your next guy?

Speaker 2 (22:22):
Tim My next guy? And the last guy.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
Is a guy you look at the you look at
the numbers, and it doesn't look all bad. Seventeen homers,
seventy nine RBIs, sixteen stolen bases, two forty two batting average.
That's Michael Harris. But Michael Harris has boosted his numbers
considerably in the second half. But until I started looking

(22:51):
a little deeper, in six hundred and six plate appearances,
he has fourteen walks. I know, that's one four.

Speaker 2 (23:00):
L.

Speaker 3 (23:00):
Harris was drafted early, and those numbers just don't support
that draft spot. And people who rostered Harris this year,
I don't think they're very happy with the results.

Speaker 1 (23:14):
I don't think you can be. And again, you worry
everybody when a guy has a sub three hundred one
base percentage that is not that's not a major league
as set. He once he gets expensive, no one's gonna
want this guy. I mean he will. He will be
looking for one year deals and that's just a not
a good setup.

Speaker 2 (23:32):
Yeah. His ADP last year was forty point five.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
Yeah, that's that's not warranting of the numbers that we're
seeing and as you mentioned, you know the low walk rate,
the ovph. Yeah, he's a player I'm going to look
to avoid, I think, pretty much at all costs heading
into next year.

Speaker 1 (23:54):
My next guy is Mark Ventos. Walts's job for a
good chunk of the season has lay better of late
one hundred and twelve games, seventeen runs, fifty eat RBIs,
and a two thirty seven batting average. Guy who went
I guess in the ninetieth overall pick. So that is
it's a fifteen thirty forty five sixty seventy five. That's

(24:16):
the sixth round, six seventh round.

Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yeah, so yeah, very similar.

Speaker 1 (24:20):
To your Jackson Merrill, the guy with the big breakout
season his rookie year and then just kind of fell
back to earth.

Speaker 3 (24:28):
Yeah, you probably would have been better off with Brett
Beattie off the waiver wire. Yeah, and Mark Biento as
a draft pick.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
He still hits the ball really hard, no speed, not
a great hit tool, but so he might just be
a low batting, average power guy and that might be
who he is. Is that good enough for the Mets?
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
Well, my.

Speaker 3 (24:52):
Reaction to that would be no. I think they're in
it to win it unless we see significant improvement next year.
I think he could be looking for work fairly quick.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
Yep. My last guy chip shot here is Tyler Glasnow again,
I don't know why people continue to draft this guy
as their number one two starter. I get the talent,
but he's only got three wins sixteen and sixteen games
in a three zero sixty ear a. I mean, I
think that's who the guy is. I mean, he's gonna

(25:26):
start sixteen seventeen games, bitch about one hundred innings, and
you know he'll get you as many wins as luck
would have it. I mean, that's just he's a number
four starter. I'm sorry. I mean, yeah, maybe you'll get
a season where he pitches twenty five starts. I think
he did a lot better last season, still was hurt.
I just I don't know why you draft this guy,

(25:47):
I just don't.

Speaker 3 (25:48):
Well, no, at some point in time, he might have himself.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
A Byron Buxton.

Speaker 3 (26:01):
I wasn't gonna say, but yeah, that's you know, Hey,
you're looking you're looking at a guy.

Speaker 2 (26:07):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (26:07):
Last year everybody was holding out hope he got up
to about one hundred and thirty innings and then the
season ended. Okay, and we have still seen I'm just
looking at the total number of years. Now we're looking
at ten, ten year career and he's broken one hundred
innings pitched three times. Like, hey, if you want to

(26:31):
look at Glasgow as one hundred innings type guy with
one hundred and thirty strikeouts and whatever wins come your way,
eight I'll say eight to ten okay, based on the
number of starts. Yeah, that's fine, But you're not going
to get him for the price that you should be
paying for a picture that you know, barring a miracle

(26:53):
of all miracles, is going to give you a significant
number of innings pitch.

Speaker 2 (26:58):
That's just a way it is, and accept it. It
is what it is, yep.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
And you gotta stop taking him as your number two starter.
I mean, just doesn't. It makes no sense. Just makes
no sense.

Speaker 3 (27:11):
No, no, because all all of a sudden, your innings pitched,
you're working with maybe one hundred and seventy out of
your ace. So, okay, one hundred and seventy hundred and
eighty somewhere in that range. By the one hundred gives
you to eighty, which gives you an average one forty.
You're scrambling for innings before you even get to your
third pitcher off the board. That's not a solid way

(27:32):
to plan your pitching and your rotation for the purposes
of our game.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
It just is not. Yeah, it's not a solid move.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
I will say. Besides, Jordan Alvarez, when I was doing
this exercise, doing my research, and it sounds attempted the
same thing. The first round was pretty good. The guys
who were picked in the first round did okay.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (27:56):
The only the only one that I found disappointing out
of the first Gunner Henderson did not deliver to the
level we were expecting, and neither did Mookie Betts. But
for the most part, yeah, Skiings, you know, Voliati, Wholio
bounce back nicely. Yeah, it wasn't It wasn't a bad
first round this year. I agree, at all. The problems

(28:18):
started around that first.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
Turn, and.

Speaker 3 (28:24):
Yeah, it sort of magnified themselves after that. Pitching, Yeah,
it was. It was a dog's breakfast, it really was.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
Yeah. So I'm looking at Gunner Henderson. The sixty four
RBI stand out as just awful. I mean, you need
better than that. But the eighty three runs scored, that's
good in twenty six stlen bases. I don't know what
the power. The guy hits the ball really hard, so
I think that's going to bounce back. Only sixteen, but
if you finished the seasons with eighteen home runs in
twenty seven twenty, that's a decent player. It's probably more

(28:55):
of a number two second round guy, but I think
there's tremendous upside, so though he'll probably go as a
first round guy, late first round guy. Still like Gunner Henderson.

Speaker 2 (29:06):
Yeah, I agree.

Speaker 3 (29:07):
I you know, he didn't have a great year, but
it wasn't a It wasn't a total disaster, not by
any stretch of the imagination there. You know, once you
get into the second round, it it got pretty ugly
and it didn't didn't improve into the third again. Yeah,
looking at pitching, Cole Reagan's you know adp of forty seven,

(29:30):
seventy seventy one, you know, the forty third player off
the board that that's tough to take, and Dylan Sees
has regressed. I almost listed Dylan Cease just because yeah
Underarlief Pitchers, then you got Devin Williams Blake Snell. It
was it was not good after those first three big

(29:52):
picks went off the board. H In Skien Google Wheeler, really.

Speaker 1 (29:58):
I agree with that. I mean, I thought it was a
weird season because it's it was usually one or two
three first round guys that really disappoint, but this season
it seemed like it was your number two, number three
picks that just didn't land, and that's what made it
really hard.

Speaker 3 (30:15):
Yeah, for me, it was a weird year because usually
I have most of my picks and I know it's
just purely random. Over the past five six years, I've
been towards the top of the board.

Speaker 2 (30:27):
This year universally right across the board.

Speaker 3 (30:30):
I was drafting at the back end, okay, twelve, twelveth
through to through to fifteen, and it was not a
good year to be drafting at the back end.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
It really wasn't.

Speaker 3 (30:43):
You could hit really well player or you could end
up falling off a cliff. There wasn't a lot of
say middle ground towards the back end. It was an
either either or, and the or got ugly and I
ended up with too much or.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
Totally agree to me, I take a break with that.
First segment went a little bit long, so we have
to pick up the pace here, so I'll.

Speaker 4 (31:07):
Come back and some listener questions. We got some listener questions.

Speaker 1 (31:22):
David asked, is O'Neil Cruz a bust? At this point
I'm going to say no, I'm going to say he
is the guy that he's always been crazy tools you
can't hit?

Speaker 3 (31:36):
Yeah, how can How can you say a guy is
a bust when he hits nineteen homers this year and
has thirty eight stolen bases? But on the opposite end
of that coin is two or three batting average and
a pile of strakeouts. So again, I think this is
a case where we use your descriptor uh, your parameter

(31:57):
and know your parameters. Yeah, you're going to get You're
gonna get stolen bases. The batting average is gonna suck,
so be it.

Speaker 1 (32:04):
Yeah, and just know that you better have Stephen Kuan
on your team if you decide to go with a
Neil Cruise, I mean, it's it makes it tough when
you draft in O'Neil Cruz. You gotta you gotta think
about that batting average one bakes percentage is three or four,
so it's not so bad. And he hits the ball
hard enough that you're I think he's gonna have some

(32:25):
like he did in twenty twenty. You'll hit two fifty
two sixty some years just because he hits the ball
so hard. But you got a plan for that.

Speaker 3 (32:33):
And he's got a huge wingspan. He's a big kid,
right Yep. That doesn't help his guys.

Speaker 1 (32:39):
I think it only gets worse the older he gets.
He's still pretty young though, so he's it's probably a
few more years of just playing this crazy. He's twenty six,
so he probably got a couple of three years left
of you know, hoping that he hits the ball hard
and hoping he gets a high batting average some years.
But once he turns thirty, this is a guy that
I think is gonna run out of steam in a hurry.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
I agree.

Speaker 3 (33:01):
Once the stolen bases drop under, you know, into the
fifteen to twenty range, which eventually they will. Then all
of a sudden, you're looking at it. Could it could
be a frightening sort of situation.

Speaker 1 (33:15):
Yep, Mark, ask does Connor Griffin make his mL debut
in two thousand? Let's just say twenty twenty six? What
is your comp Sam, you want to take that one?

Speaker 3 (33:26):
Or I'm going to throw a name out there and
you're gonna say I'm on glue.

Speaker 1 (33:32):
Okay, so I'm gonna I'm curious as to what your
name is?

Speaker 2 (33:37):
A Rod?

Speaker 1 (33:39):
A Rod?

Speaker 2 (33:40):
Wow?

Speaker 3 (33:41):
Look at the minor league numbers? Okay, look at again?
Is he going to be a Rod? I don't. I
don't know. That's an awful high bar. But if you
look at what he's done in the minors as far
and you compare it to what a Rod did, you
look at the power of the speed stolen bases coming down?

(34:02):
I think the potential is there that he could be
a great baseball player. Willie Hey, I'm not going to
pay for him like a Rudd in his prime, but
there are certain similarities between what he has done this far,
and he does have a whack of talent.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
So I'll pass it back to you for your thoughts.

Speaker 1 (34:23):
So I've always comped in to Fernando Tautist Junior, which
is a damn good player. So I'm going to keep
with that. But the other guy that I was thinking,
and this just because I think Connor Griffin will strike
out some and the guy I'm going to tell you
this comp strikes still strikes out a lot. That is
Michael Trout. I think you're looking at Connor Griffin as

(34:44):
a chance to be a superstar here. And yeah, I
for a while I thought he was a Neil Cruz
because I thought he'd strike out a ton. That does
not appear to be. It's not at that level. He's
not the same kind of physicality as O'Neil Cruz. He
doesn't have the wingspan as a Neil Cruz. But Mike
Trout strikes out a lot. I think Connor griff is

(35:04):
gonna have huge power like Trout does. I think he's
gonna be a little bit more athletic than Trout, you know,
wanted to be once he signed the big contract. So
that's why I think he might be a little Fernando Tatis.
But it doesn't matter, Tommy a Ron, Mike Trout, Fernando Tatist, junior.
These are all great players, and I think that's Connor Griffin.
I think we see him next season. That's just that's

(35:26):
just a done deal. He's up.

Speaker 3 (35:28):
Yeah, Yeah, I share your thoughts. And in the back
of my mind, it's hard to forget that he is
a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates, right and they I'm
not saying that that should have a bearing, but I
would feel more comfortable if he was in another organization

(35:49):
and that doesn't include the Rockies.

Speaker 1 (35:53):
Yeah. I think I think that the math here with
Connor Griffin and why I think he comes up next
season is all about Paul Skins. I mean, because if
you're the Pittsburgh Pirates and you're the front office, you
know ownership is not going to pay the money for
Paul Skeins. They're just not They never have, no, they're
not going to do it. So you've got to bring

(36:13):
up these kids like Connor Griffin and try to win
now before Paul Skeans is ready to go to free agency.
And then it's going to be the same thing with
Connor Griffin. You're gonna have a superstar in your hand,
and then it's going to be bringing up the next guys.
Too soon to kind of surround them with a chance
to make it to the playoffs. So that's why I
think he comes up next season.

Speaker 3 (36:34):
Yeah, and it's a revolving door if you're going to
keep going round and round and round, and Connor Griffin,
I'm gonna predict we'll have his best season on a
team other than the Pirates.

Speaker 1 (36:46):
Yeah, because again, the if you're the Pittsburgh Pirates, what
Paul skeens. This is his second season, so he's got
four more years, So you've got to You've got to
make Hay in twenty twenty six and twenty seven, because
twenty eight comes, you gotta be thinking about should I
move him?

Speaker 3 (37:05):
Yeah, So he really only has three seasons maybe three
season half season.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
You can't. Yeah, you can't keep him during that that
free agent season, you can't. If you're the Pittsburgh Parts,
you've got to move them. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
Yeah. So it the clock's chicken and it's not slowing down.

Speaker 1 (37:23):
Yeah. The same thing is a bit true with with
Gunner Henderson because there are the Orioles going to have
the intestinal fortitude to sign him to a you know,
half a billion dollar contract, which assuming if he bounces back,
that's what it's gonna that's what it's gonna cost. So
he's a Boris client.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
Yep, exactly.

Speaker 1 (37:42):
Uh, Hoppy ass, what's your favorite? It must be Canadian
because he spells favorite f A F A v O
U R I T you guys, don't it's favorite up there?

Speaker 3 (37:52):
Actually, Hoppy is our friend from Uh he's he's our
friend that did the done with Dinner thing.

Speaker 2 (37:59):
He's from England. Oh he's American.

Speaker 3 (38:01):
Yeah, he's he lives in England, but he's originally from
the East Coast.

Speaker 1 (38:05):
Oh really, I didn't know that. That's funny.

Speaker 3 (38:08):
Yeah, you know he's he's done like dinner poster. Remember
when we got into the league.

Speaker 1 (38:14):
Yeah, so, so what's your favorite guy and least favorite
Fantasy Baseball player of all time? So I don't have
at least favorite, but I know you do, so I'll
throw that to you. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (38:26):
Actually, I I really don't have I don't have a
least favorite, per se. I have guys that have for
purposes of the podcast. Yeah, I've rigged out on Scott Baker,
and but again it wasn't least favorite.

Speaker 2 (38:43):
I'd probably draft Scott Baker again.

Speaker 3 (38:46):
Okay, the guys that I not a huge fan of
are I'll go with the narcissist sort of a Rod. Okay,
A Rod was never a favorite of mine. He was
a great baseball player and produced great numbers for our game,
but personally, ay Rod. I was never big on Kirk
Shilling when he was playing. Again, it's I don't have

(39:08):
a lot of least favorites, but I do have a
definite favorite.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
Uh well, I will say at least on least favorites.
And I've become a bit stronger on this position as
the more I experience it. And that is just Rocky players.
I'm sorry, it's all of it's pitchers and hitters. I
just you know, I see them in the minor leagues
and they look really good, and then they become Britton Doyle,

(39:33):
you know where they become Nolan Jones and they have
that they tease you with some some greatness, and then
they just flame out. I'm just tired of the whole
Rocky situation.

Speaker 3 (39:44):
It's a long way back to Larry Walker and Bashett
and you know the years when the Rockies pounded, pounded
the ball all over them. That's that's a long time
ago now, it really is.

Speaker 1 (39:57):
And if I've got least favorite, or these guys that
can't stay healthy. It's the Byron Buxton's, the Royce Lewis Tyler.
I just I'm done. I'm just I I to me,
they give me agina, and I'm just tired of those
guys that you that have so much talent when they play.
They're great baseball players, but you talk about taking it

(40:18):
out of you in season when it's when it's June
and you're seeing yourself drop because your best two players
are sitting on the il, and you know they were
going to sit on the il because that's what they
always do.

Speaker 3 (40:30):
Yeah, if I'm going to use my nitro spray, it's
not going to be on Viron Bucksman exactly.

Speaker 1 (40:36):
So who is your favorite player?

Speaker 3 (40:38):
My favorite player, and I've actually got an autograph print
of his. My favorite player all time has has got
to be Pedro Martinez and the reason for that is
other than the greatness. I won me a pile of
titles and an al only, and you look at his
numbers from nineteen ninety seven to twenty to two thousand

(41:00):
and three, that's when he wanted me. I had him
paired in an ale only with three keepers. I had
him paired with Mike Musina and Martinez and Musina, they
they rocked it for me. It was it was an
amazing time. So again it's all about me, but they
did did me a lot of good. And the the

(41:20):
other player that I'm gonna throw in there and thanks
thanks to you, my friend. I have an autograph ball
of his and that's Dice k Matt Sazaka and you're
gonna say Dice Cave. But he only had a couple
of years, but he was basically my introduction into the

(41:44):
fantasy baseball industry. I predicted he was going to come
over a year or so before he did, and Peter
Kreuzer printed it in his magazine and from there on
things just sort of grew. So there's even though he
didn't have the numbers other than the first couple of years,
a personal reason that Dice game mets is that will
always be one of my favorites.

Speaker 1 (42:05):
I fink those are great stories. I mean, it's I
agree with you there. When I was a kid, I
grew up an Orioles fan. I lived in Baltimore, So
those seventies teams that had Jim Palmer and Frank Robinson
brons Robinson, Bobby Gritch, those are my guys, right. I
was a kid, but out of all of them, and
I can't tell you why, I was a big Brooks
Robinson fan. So that so when I was a kid,

(42:28):
that's way. But as an adult and as a fantasy player,
I mean it's and I talk about these guys all
the time. It's Jose all Toove is my guy. And
I was the one that I think first wrote about
him because I saw him playing in San Jose is
a high a guy. A guy from the Houston Astros

(42:48):
invited me to a game. It's wanted me to see
Jose Altuve and I got a chance to see him.
I said, Wow, this guy looks great, and I started
writing about him. And it's kind of with you and
dice K. That's where I kind of made my mark
with with Josel. You know, obviously other other players have
come in. I've always really enjoyed watching my trout play,

(43:10):
but Josel TV is my.

Speaker 2 (43:12):
Guy so well.

Speaker 3 (43:14):
And you know, you know you you had a jose
L to a sweater jersey. Yeah, and you had that
you had to special order it because there weren't any
around at the time that you actually picked it. That's
how early you were. Yeah, and you know there's other
players and people people sort of laugh. But Ron Hunt

(43:34):
was a personal favorite of mine. My hunting for R. L.
J uh the hunting part is Ron Hunt. The other
three initials or other ex Bowl players, But I loved
Ron Hunting because he didn't have he didn't have the
skill and ability, but man, he had the record for
well and hit by pitches. He would do anything he
could to get on base and that always impressed me.

(43:56):
And Bill Lee for the Red Sox and the from
the Expost just marched the beat of a different drummer.
But I thought it was cool that he was who
he was, And sometimes today I think.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
Some of those players are missed.

Speaker 1 (44:12):
Yeah, I agree. I mean, I mean the Mark, the bid,
Bert Frederick, were those when he came up Invite a Blue.
When those guys came up, it was it was must
watch television. I mean, you back in the day when
it was the game of the week, and that's I mean,
you would watch those guys in the All Star Games
and say you wanted to see those guys play, and

(44:33):
it just it's it's everything's gotten watered down so much.
But I will say that the kids that excite me
now because obviously I write about prospects. Hazus Moday, I
think is he's going to be a dude. And again
opposite field home run last night in the playoffs, eighteen
years old in double A, and it's just we talked

(44:53):
about Connor Griffin and then you just got some of
these kids that are doing crazy stuff at such a
young age and they're just the next stars coming in
and I think they're going to be my next jose
Al two Vays of the world.

Speaker 3 (45:07):
And that's that's that's fair. It's exciting, especially being the
niche that you've carved into this game. Is the prospects
to see these kids advancing at such a young age
and the talent that they possess, that's going to be exciting.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
So good on you, Rich, Yeah, yeah, it is.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
It's it's fun. That's going to take a break as
I cough up along and we'll get back. We'll got
a couple more questions for you.

Speaker 2 (45:35):
Okay, So I have this.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
I bought these these this new headphone about six months ago,
and my other ones just started to die and started
causing all kinds of problems, and the other headphones had
a mute button, so when I had a cough, I
could just press the mute button and cough. This one,
you got, This one doesn't have a mute button. And
it took me forever, and I found it by mistake.

(46:10):
You take the you know, it's a headset, you know,
and it's got the little arm that comes down that
you know that that has the microphone on it. You
actually move that up and that mutes it because the
woman in your ear goes muted. So it's like and
I've literally found it by accident. When I moved it
once and I heard the mute, I go, oh, so
whenever I after cough, now I move the microphone up,

(46:34):
and that's what makes it mute.

Speaker 3 (46:36):
There you go, yeah, yeah, No, it's it's handy to
have that mute button.

Speaker 2 (46:41):
It really is.

Speaker 3 (46:42):
I know, I found I found it, oh, by trial
and error. I think on one podcast, I was talking
for about two minutes and I hear Jim Jim, Jim,
oh that button. Yes, okay, and where you go. But
it does come in handy. And I hope you get
through that gold right smart They aren't a positive note.

Speaker 2 (47:01):
I'll I'll give you the light. I always use. But
you got two longs.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
Yeah, I don't know about that. It feels like it's
in both of them.

Speaker 2 (47:11):
It's just.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
Yeah. So I think I got it. I mean, so
obviously we were out in Paris and get much sleep there,
and then Beans was ill so I was getting up
with him. And then we had this charity event that
Laurie and I hosted that was last Friday, and I
think then being shaking all these people's hands and being
in close quarters, that was it. My immune system was

(47:37):
weakend and I got something. And there you go. All
week long, it's just been coffin.

Speaker 3 (47:42):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
Well, hopefully you're better soon.

Speaker 1 (47:45):
All right, I agree, I hope so as well. Michael
lasts Hey Rich. I tend to do a number of
early drafts and whole redraft leagues. It would be great
to hear a few lesser known, further away names you
expect to contribute in twenty twenty six. I have names
like Weatherholt mcgonagill, Snelling is Aiden Miller likely up erc

(48:05):
with the Yankees, Barco who's with the Pittsburgh Pirates. I
maybe early on this, but any names you would like
would be great to hear. So Timmy give me some
of your names, and I'll give them some of my names.

Speaker 2 (48:18):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (48:19):
The only name as far as the prospect that I've
listed is Josh Bias from Saint Louis.

Speaker 1 (48:27):
Oh yeah, season.

Speaker 3 (48:30):
Yes, that that's courtesy of Bob king Hi, who is
the biggest event on the planet and owns every single
Bias jersey known to man. I think at this time,
so I want to list that one. But I took
a different I took a different approach for you, Michael.
What I did was I looked at some of the

(48:50):
NPV players we could be seeing this year, and if
you're drafting your early point and I'm talking about October
before where these guys are posted, and you could get
some you could get some great talent for a very
good price. Munattacki Murakami. Uh, you'll look at the numbers

(49:12):
from this year.

Speaker 2 (49:12):
They all looked that great. But he hasn't.

Speaker 3 (49:15):
He didn't play until about a month ago, and I
think he's up to seventeen or nineteen home runs. Big
power guy comp Kyle Schwarber. He walks, he strikes out
too much. He has a bit of trouble with the
high fastball. Murakami is one Tetsu Yeah, Amaya is a
picture from Sebu Si. He's supposedly going to get posted zero.

(49:38):
I would peg him as probably a number four the
slider you'll throw everything at you. But he's not a
big guy, so I don't know how that is going
to work out when he goes from a once a
week to every fifth day in the rotation sort of thing.
But he's a picture that could return value if you
can get him after pick thirty. And the other thing
that I would strongly suggest is do your homework on

(50:00):
the setup guys. Uh Look, look for free agent closers.
Look who's not probably going to be back, and invest
in some of those setup guys after pick thirty because
they could return some really good rewards for you, especially.

Speaker 2 (50:16):
In a draft and hold. So that's that's where I'll
leave it. Rich.

Speaker 1 (50:21):
So I was talking about my uh my mute button
right putting my I literally as you were talking and
say a thing, I just pushed my microphone off to
mute it. As I was hitting zero points throughout the
entire discussion, and I was myself the entire way. So
hopefully everybody enjoyed that. Every time you would mention the

(50:43):
name that was unpronounceable. I was to say zero point zero,
not even not even knowing that the guy was any
good or not, just because it was fun.

Speaker 3 (50:51):
So I expected one, Okay, I didn't expect to be young.

Speaker 1 (50:55):
I did three when you were talking about the players,
and then after both names, I had to do a
zero point zero.

Speaker 2 (51:03):
Good stuff there.

Speaker 1 (51:06):
I mean, I think you mentioned Robbie Snelling. I'm shocked
that Robbie Snelling has not been up this season. He's
just been amazing, so I think we see him early.
He also mentioned Aiden Miller's had a great second half,
particularly here push. I have no idea where he's gonna
play Michael because he's a short stop, and obviously they
have Trey Turner. So does aide Miller move to second

(51:29):
base as he moved a third. I think once we
see that, once we see a positional change with Miller,
I think that'll be the key for when he comes down.
The Miller will be in the Fall League, and a
lot of times you see guys move to a new
position in the Fall League. So if that happens, then
we know it's going to be soon. Some other guys.
I love Carson Binge. He's now up in Triple A

(51:50):
with the Mets. Cage Jump has been one of the
breakout pitchers for the Athletics this season at Double A.
I think he starts in Triple A next year. Is
another guy that no one's talking about's a really good pitcher.
And then Ryan Waltschmid. I don't know why more people
are not talking about this guy, but this is a
twenty twenty dude in Arizona that's in Double A, and

(52:11):
I think we see him at some point next season.
So there's yeah, two that you mentioned in three more guys.

Speaker 3 (52:18):
Yeah, I was gonna say, is it wrong with me?
Whenever I see Gage jump, the first thing that comes
into my mind is how high?

Speaker 2 (52:24):
Is that wrong?

Speaker 1 (52:25):
No, it's not any can't he jump? So yeah, I definitely.

Speaker 3 (52:30):
Yeah. No great names, great names, rich, But again, Michael,
make sure when you're putting your teams together. We saw
what happened with pitching this year. It's not gonna get
any better moving forward. Make sure that you've got lots
of arms as you get past pick you know, twenty

(52:51):
twenty five. Yeah, I would suggest if you're drafting fifty players,
if you can get at least twenty five to thirty
pitching that's in the right range.

Speaker 1 (53:02):
Are your thoughts to totally agree? I mean I ran
out of pitching. I had a lot of I mean,
if I if I were to go through my reserve
list in my draft and hold the most every one
of my pictures is is hurt or the guy that
was suspended, the Pittsburgh Pirate kids. So, uh, the other one,
the other one fourteen Yeah, So I mean that that's

(53:25):
that's that's it. I mean, you need a ton of pitching.
And I just saw other pictures. Brandon Sprout, I know
he's been up already. I think you're gonna be able
to get him late. And I think that that guy
has a chance to be somebody, right and Jonah talk.
Depending on how earlier late he goes, I think has
a chance to be somebody. Peyton totally. So these guys
that have come up and have flashed, I mean those

(53:46):
are guys that I think you can get, you know,
in the thirty range. Maybe maybe Tom is going to
go a little bit earlier than that, but who have
huge upside and they could stay healthy.

Speaker 2 (53:57):
I think you jump on them, agreed.

Speaker 1 (54:02):
Nick asmen working at Dynasty League, where you can keep
anyone you want for any amount of time, what is
the cutoff of your rankings that you're willing to throw
them back into the draft to see what else you
can get. This is a great question and one with
no answer.

Speaker 2 (54:15):
But the time, I'm just gonna say, to.

Speaker 1 (54:19):
Top fifteen at a position, and does that differ slightly
on age, like willing to keep someone who is a
lot younger or not so much older his context as
he's in a twelve team dynasty league with normal rosters
fifteen person minor league roster on CBS, So what's your council.

Speaker 3 (54:36):
Here, h he's playing in a twelve team league, so
automatically your minor leagues have to be stronger, okay, because
you're taking basically fifty players out of the pool. My
thoughts there is so much of it has to deal with.

Speaker 2 (55:01):
Context.

Speaker 3 (55:03):
I don't think you can put hard and fast in
there because you might be late on catchers and you
might have to draft catchers to fill in slots for
the future, or first base type, second base types, whatever.
You know, all you have to do is look at
the number of prospects that come and go on a
regular basis. And I'm gonna mention Jacob Marcy, Okay, how

(55:25):
many people cut them? I know we did in one
Dynasty league. They come and go and some come back
around a second and third time, And I think you
have to accept the fact that you're gonna miss on some.
It's just the way the game is. And as the
game gets younger, it doesn't improve your odds of missing

(55:47):
on some because there's more names to look at, more options,
more players that can struggle the first time around. So
I would strongest just don't beat yourself up when things
don't work out. Play the prospect game, and they're not
gonna work out, not all of them.

Speaker 2 (56:04):
Some will, some.

Speaker 3 (56:05):
Won't, And when you have to make moves to accommodate
your prospects, just take it as part of the game.

Speaker 2 (56:11):
You're gonna always lose some.

Speaker 1 (56:15):
I think that's really good counsel. So I don't play
any twelve team league, so I think that's so take
my my my answer in context of that, I have
a tendency to churn my minor league rosters because I'm
always looking for the next big thing. I over the years,
I have changed my philosophy. I am I want three

(56:39):
or four guys in a fifteen team minor League that
have a chance, have a chance to be superstars, and
I will grab young players like Jesus my Day and
Louis Penia and guys like that I think have a
chance to be like impact, impact Major league guys. I'll
get them young and hold on to them pictures. I'm
not you know, I'm gonna miss out and Andre Churio,

(57:01):
who is a young kid in the DSL that's already
moved up to Low Way in his first seas. I'm
gonna miss on that guy because I'm just I'm gonna
ignore guys in the DSL, in the Complex League, your pictures,
and mostly in Low Way. I'm just I'm not interested
because there's too many guys like Jonahtong and Brandon Spout,
the guys we just talked about with the Mets, that

(57:21):
they come on late and develop and turn into guys
that you can get once they're in Double A and
be just fine that turn out to be number one
starters in some cases.

Speaker 3 (57:33):
Yeah, no, I totally agree and support that that position.
I don't draft as a rural high school arms. Okay,
I look at I look.

Speaker 2 (57:44):
At High A.

Speaker 3 (57:46):
And Double A and the pictures that successfully make that
move from high to double A. Even if they're not
grated HI, that means they're getting close. And if they
can sustain what they did in High A with that
next step, only are they getting close, but we might
have a new assessment and a new definition on their potential.

Speaker 2 (58:07):
So for me, I had.

Speaker 3 (58:09):
Double eight is where I really spend a lot of
time focusing on pitching Ridge all.

Speaker 1 (58:15):
Right, yeah, I totally agree. And it's the guys like Trey,
You Savage and guys that are moving quickly you got
to jump on. I jumped on Cage Jump early this season,
a lot of Dynasty leads, so but they were available
and they moved. They come in with a new pitch,
they coming with increased velocity, and that's when you jump
on them, because what will happen is those guys will

(58:36):
move very very quickly. So you'll see a guy like
Peyton Totley who came in with a good arm and
nobody was on this guy and he's already made it
to the major leagues. Those are the guys that you
can jump on as opposed to investing in a high
school arm who got drafted. Katie Anderson will be a
good one that the Pirates did you know he'll be

(58:57):
a guy that's, you know, an eighteen year old kid
that was taken in the first round. People are gonna
go first year player dress. I'm not. I'm just not.
He could be special to me, but he's gonna have
Tommy John surgery. He's gonna take him a while to
come through and give me some guy that's closer. And
that's the way I'm gonna go every time. And I'm
looking for those young kids that have a chance to

(59:17):
be the big blowout guys. And that's how I like
to build the team.

Speaker 2 (59:22):
Yeah, and it makes total sense. You look at you, Savage.

Speaker 3 (59:24):
Okay, if you go back to last February, I guarantee
you in twelve team dynasties with fifteen minor league you
said you Savage wasn't rostered anywhere. But over the course
of this year he's gone through four levels and he's
now pitched successfully in the bigs that you have to
be paying attention to when you see players starting to

(59:46):
move that quickly, get all over them.

Speaker 1 (59:51):
And the other thing I just will comment, you can't
get everybody, you know, you just can't sometimes, just like
you know, Aiden Miller makes that all the way through
and is going to become a great player. You don't
have them. You don't have them. I mean, it's just
the way it is. And there's because for every guy
that makes it, there's a ton more there that still
have a chance. So that's the fun thing about dynasty

(01:00:12):
leagues is there's always it's always re establishing itself. I mean,
it's always regenerating. There's always new players every year that
jumps up, and that's what makes it fun. So if
you miss on a guy, that's okay, there's gonna be
somebody else that follows.

Speaker 3 (01:00:27):
Yeah, and somebody who follows in. When you're drafting that
many players each and every single year, hey, there are
going to be players that are drafted in the eighth round.
They're playing very successful, successfully in the big leagues within
three years. Okay if you don't get if you do,
don't have success with those early picks, and so you

(01:00:50):
know first year player depths, there's lots of players there.
Stay on top of it and work hard. You've got
to work hard in dynasty leagues, you really do.

Speaker 1 (01:00:58):
Final question comes from jer Me, which I think is
we've talked a lot about Mets pitching and he brings
it up with a recent success. Its it's time to
start putting the Mets pitching development up with the elites,
the Mariners, Dodgers, and Guardians. The answer is yes. I've
been saying that for years the Mets have done a
really good job at developing pitchers, and I say, yes, Tommy,

(01:01:19):
what do you say?

Speaker 3 (01:01:21):
I I think I think the Masses have missed it
on this one. Okay, Jacob de Grom was no floach
and he was a positional player convert. They went to Japan,
they got Cody Singha. Okay, he hasn't had a great
year this year, but the potential is there. I think
the Mets have done a good job with their pitching

(01:01:42):
for a long time, and it has been overlooked and neglected.
So you know, if in answer your question, yeah, I
think the Mets pitching development should have been up there
a long time ago.

Speaker 1 (01:01:55):
I think the Milwaukee Brewers, you should take. That's a
not o their team that is not mentioned in the
top echelon of developing pictures. But they've done a great job,
really really good job there.

Speaker 3 (01:02:10):
S Matthew is a pretty good picture. Wasn't he work out?
Just yeah, they've They've brand Brandon Woodward.

Speaker 1 (01:02:18):
I mean, it just goes on and on of how
they and these are guys. Not all of these players
were high ranked guys that were drafted, et cetera. I
mean they've they truly have developed these guys. And and
Letson's another young kid in the Brewers organization that is
really moving up quickly. He's another guy to to to

(01:02:40):
to kind of familiarize yourself with, because what happens once
these Brewers pitchers get into double and triple A, that's
when they take that final step and it's pretty impressive
to see.

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
Yeah, Henderson's another one, Evans.

Speaker 1 (01:02:55):
Get Logan Henderson. The organizations that I have no use for,
we're with pitching. Obviously, the Rockies, the Angels have done
a terrible job of developing pitchers. I mean Cain and
Dana or Dayton, Kana whatever whatever is this first and
last name. I I got blown up again as a
guy that I thought had a chance to be somebody,
and it's just he's just underperforming. So we'll see what

(01:03:18):
the Yankees. The Yankees have always been a team that
their best pitching prospects seem to wind up on other teams, so.

Speaker 3 (01:03:28):
They buy a lot of their pitching. Yeah, you look
at col you look at Freed right now. Yeah, the
Yankees aren't trying to spend the money. And they'll go
out and they will chase. They'll chase starting pitching in
free agency and spend the money. Okay, so they play
and the Dodgers are the same. Way they can develop pitching.
Can they keep them healthy? Well that's a whole other

(01:03:51):
kettle of fish, right Emmachians.

Speaker 1 (01:03:53):
I'm pretty good this season. But back to the Yankees.
They probably have the best pitching rotation in Double A
of any team in baseball. I mean, it is a
really deep system. But how many of those are going
to make it as a Yankee? And I just don't know.
I mean, they have a tendency to move them and
and acchoir pitching. That's just how they roll. And but yeah,

(01:04:15):
take take a look at them. They're all over the league.
You know, Michael King is a great example.

Speaker 3 (01:04:21):
So, yep, exactly the questions, Like you said, how many
will actually take that final step as a Yankee?

Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
And probably a lot less than we think.

Speaker 1 (01:04:33):
To me sing our final break and get back and
boy we're at the hour mark. Thanks for hanging in
their tim and finally when to thinking up this weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
Show tow. I enjoyed this, as did I.

Speaker 3 (01:04:53):
We covered a little bit of everything and hopefully some
of our advice on those questions which I I hate,
which aren't great, and I I love getting our listeners
involved in the process. Rich and it's been a lot
of fun. I agree.

Speaker 2 (01:05:08):
Yeah, all right, what.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
What one or two pitters you're picking up? What one
or two pitchers you're picking up?

Speaker 3 (01:05:14):
Well, I think what you got to look for is
you got to look for players who are going to play. Okay,
there's a lot of options out there. There's a slew
of injuries, players are getting to shut down for the
for the season. The two hitters that I sort of
like right now, and maybe the numbers aren't there, but
Blaine Krim of the Rockies, Wow, not a household not

(01:05:37):
a household name, but I think he's gonna play and
I think there's some power potential there. And the other
is uh a player for the Nats who is really
heated up lately. Yeah and start Yeah, Dyalen Lyle, Yeah exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:05:53):
Yeah, Yeah, I got him in a couple of times.
I'm pretty excited about one I had on the roster
and the other guy picked up last weekend, and I
was pretty excited about that. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:06:02):
Yeah, again, I think both are gonna play and that's
that's what you want.

Speaker 2 (01:06:06):
Is he headed into that final week?

Speaker 1 (01:06:08):
And who's any pictures?

Speaker 3 (01:06:10):
Yeah, I got a couple of pictures. Uh, don't be
late on Connolly early.

Speaker 1 (01:06:17):
I will give you a rim shot on that. It's
it's actually very good. Your your your partner, DL fivesman
all over early as well.

Speaker 3 (01:06:26):
Yes he hasn't been late, No, definitely not. I've got
the I got the emails to prove it.

Speaker 2 (01:06:30):
My friend.

Speaker 3 (01:06:31):
The other guy, I sort of like he's rostered to
the tune. And forty five percent is Christian Haveer Okay,
he's facing off against Mason Barnett of I believe it
is the Oakland Slash Sacramento Slash Laws Vegas A's and
he's also going up against TVD of the Angels. Well,

(01:06:53):
we just mentioned the Angels and they're starting pitching. I
don't think TBD is going to be a great option.
So if you're looking for a two starter, I would
give Christian have Your a Look.

Speaker 1 (01:07:04):
That's a great call. Yeah, you forget about these guys
that spent most of the year on the IL, and
again Kyle Bradist continues to pitch extremely well. So that's
another guy that if he's floating around people forgotten about him,
go go give him a spy. Good stuff, Tim. We
will be back on Sunday. I don't know if there's
going to be a waiver where probably not. Just a
couple more players that Tim will give. We will. We

(01:07:26):
will cover the years in a fall league on Sunday
and start wrapping up the season.

Speaker 3 (01:07:31):
My friend, Yeah, pretty soon it'll be time time to
claim the winter Winter Chicken dinner thing. It's reaching that stage,
and here's wishing all of our listeners nothing but the
best as we head into that last week, week and
a half of the season. Good fortune Stall see you, Tim,

(01:07:53):
be safe, be well, and get healthy soon.

Speaker 2 (01:07:56):
My friend d