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December 14, 2025 90 mins
Fantasy Baseball Live – December 14, 2025 – 1.Let’s talk about your draft
2.What is the format – standard 15-team, BA, NO Draft and hold
3.How did the first two rounds go?
a.J-Rod - 6, Skubal - 7, Caminero - 9, De La Cruz – 10 (Down), Lindor – 13
b.2nd Round – Gunnar, Vlad, Crochet, Kurtz, Schwarber
4.How did your first handful of picks go?
a.1st two picks – Tatis Jr. and Kyle Tucker
b.2nd – Woo and Wyatt Langford
c.3rd – Rice and Holiday
d.4th – Baldwin and Brendan Woodruff
e.5th – Matt Shaw and Addison Barger
f.6th – Lodolo and Drylan Crews
Segment 2 – News and Notes
1.The Dodgers sign Edwin Diaz for three years and $69 million
a.Finally, the Dodgers get that lockdown closer they’ve been missing. Thoughts on the signing?
b.The Mets signed Devin Williams as the supposed setup guy, but now he is the closer. Williams is the 11th best closer available. Is that too low, too high, or about right? Too high for Tim

2.The Braves sign Robert Suarez for two-years and $16 million. They now have both Iglesias and Suarez manning the back of the bullpen. The Braves are saying that Iglesias will still be the Closer. Are you buying that? Tim says Iglesias
a.I’m assuming this kills the Mason Miller to the rotation?

3.The Tigers re-sign Kyle Finnegan and then sign Kenley Jansen on Saturday to a one-year deal. Break down the Closer situation for the Tigers?
a.Jansen – first, Vest, then Finnegan

4.Kyle Schwarber signs back with the Phillies for 5 years and $150 million.
a.What do you think of the deal?
b.Do you believe the stories that the Pirates made a legitimate offer to Schwarber?
c.The Orioles apparently offered him the same deal.

5.The Orioles sign Pete Alonso to a 5-year, $155 million deal. Hmm. They’ve now signed two major right-handed power hitters. Clearly, that was an area they wanted to strengthen. What are your thoughts on the deal?
a.Let’s sort out the playing time for the Orioles' infield?
b. Do you think this deal will age well for Alonso? His defensive metrics are already declining, ranking as one of the least effective first basemen. When will he move to the DH role?
6.The Mets respond to losing Alonso and sign Jorge Polanco to a two-year $40 million contract.
a.Does he slide into the Mets starting DH? Did you like this trade off – Polanco for two years vs. Alonso for 5-years and 30 million a year?
7.The Royals sign Lane Thomas to a one-year, $5.25 million deal. Can he bounce back to the player he was in 2023 when he hit 28 home runs and stole 20 bags?

Segment 3 – Catcher Ranking for 2026 Season
1.How are you approaching this position for your upcoming drafts?
2.We will break down the top 15 to 20 in detail. Then, go through 20 to 30 in less detail. We will end by jumping around the remaining ranked players.
3.Which player not in the Top 10 has a chance to emerge there next season?
4.Which Top 10 player will not be there next season?
5.Give me a couple of sleepers
6.Give me one, maybe two guys you are just going to avoid drafting?

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Greens and salutations everyone at Rich Twelves and welcome the
Fantasy Baseball Live. Today is December fourteenth, about one thirty
in the afternoon. We're recording a little bit early because
Tim was gracious enough to give me the late afternoon
off because I have to go to a in law
outlall family celebration this afternoon. Tim extravaganza, Right, extravaganza. All

(00:45):
I know is some my my daughter, my son's mother
in law which would make my daughter's mother is putting
on a big joint holiday festival party and they're big
on cheese on cheese courses. So we got to get
there for the cheese course. So that's why we need
we need to do the podcast early. Matt caught and said,

(01:07):
don't miss the cheese course. Dad.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
I'm like, okay, so yeah, well, hey, no cheese.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
Was I'm assuming they don't have cheese was? I think
it's a little bit fancier than that.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
I was going to say. It's it's it's important that
these events and somebody is there to cut the cheese
right that I couldn't pass ridge I could. I tried.
I fought it, but I you know, I fought the
cheese and I lost.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
I have them speaking of cutting the cheese. And you know,
you can't go too far from your roots. So Jackson,
my my grandson, three years old, is in preschool, okay,
and they had you know, the old class pictures and
your you know, your pictures that you take, you know
when you're in school, remember those from the old days.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah, black and white.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
But yeah, so Jackson's Jackson's hazard his portrait. Mat Sen's
a picture to me, I mean, Laurie and I are
laughing hysterically. He's got a shirt on that at least
two sizes is too big for him, might be three
sizes to one half of the shirt is tucked in
and the other half it's sticking out. I mean, it

(02:23):
is classic Wilson, you know, just completely. You know, I'm
sure they dressed him well before he went to school,
and by the time it's picturetime, you're a wreck. That's
the apple doesn't far from the tree there.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
I was gonna say, he's drafted. He's dressed like a
typical sixteen year old. Though right I now.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
See this picture, it's just the size of the shirt.
It's like, holy moly, it's so large. So but he
is swimming in it. It's pretty funny stuff. So it's
funny because if he would have looked perfect, it wouldn't
have been any fun. This is this is something we
can hang hang over him for his you know, first
time her childhood, so which is great.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Yeah, his first girlfriend, his second girlfriend exactly. Yeah, there
you go, there you go.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
So, Temmy, how's your week, my friend? You're you're in
the middle of a draft. I know because you've been
sending me texts about your picks and uh, we were
driving up to New Jersey. It was my wife that
was making comments, just you know. She goes, what do
you want me to tell him?

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Thank you?

Speaker 1 (03:29):
I said, let's say something so he doesn't respond back,
and of course ten would respond back for more elaboration.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Ah, well, well, yes, I think I commented. We're on
the same page.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
Goes, you want to comment on that gun? Now, it's
too complicated to try to. I'm too embarrassed to tell
you what I would say, so let's just let it go.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Well played, well played? All right?

Speaker 1 (04:04):
So Tommy, tell us about this draft? How many rounds,
how many teams?

Speaker 3 (04:09):
Is it?

Speaker 1 (04:09):
One base percentage, batting average ball, those kinds of things.
Tell us about the draft.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
First, yeah, it's it's a standard fifteen team. Nothing fancy
batting average over OBP. A couple of rules that are
a little bit, a little bit different. If you haven't
signed an MLB contract by the time the draft started,
you are not eligible. Okay, so.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
Are not eligible?

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, and Cody Ponce, believe it or not, because he
didn't officially sign until the tenth.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
So what about somebody like what about somebody like Kyle
Schwarber who was not signed before the draft but is
now signed.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
It's MLB as a as a free agent, he's eligible.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
Okay, so you'd have to sign, because that's the way
is in our our dynasty leagues. As long as you
had signed a MLB contract at one point in your life,
then you're good. But Cody Pontce probably for some reason,
should count in that scenario, but he doesn't in your scenario.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Yeah, no, he doesn't. The the other thing that's a
bit different is that once the draft is over, you
can't pick up a player on waivers until they have
one at bet or a third of an inning pitched.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
Okay, Yeah, so you'll be able to pick up your
amoto until the first waiver wire after the season starts.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
Once the season starts, that first waiver wire is always
fascinating because a lot of money is spent and there
is a pile of activity. So it's it's it's cool,
how much how much do you want to do you
want to spend on Cody Ponce? How much do you
want to spend on Okamoto? It's hey, you're going against

(06:01):
fourteen other teams. I've I've seen as much as six
seven hundred dollars dispersed early on in that first draft,
and it'll be that way this year. I'm sure with
some of the some of the talent coming over, it's
gonna you're gonna have some rather challenging decisions to make.
But other than that, it's.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
Let me ask, Let me ask a geeky commissioner question,
so or which which service are you using?

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Fan tracks?

Speaker 1 (06:30):
Okay, so is Miramoto in the list of players to drafters?
He I mean, can you see him visually?

Speaker 2 (06:38):
Oh? Yeah, Ponce is there. They're all there.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
Okay. I was hoping you would say somebody they were
able to because I didn't think you could do that
with fan tracks you were able to filter those guys out.
So unfortunately they're just end there. You just know you
can't draft them.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
That would be correct, And one of them was drafted
and it was just back to general. Yeah, yeah, it's
it's it's I'm sure they knowing fan tracts. There's probably
a way to do it, rich.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
I don't think there is.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
Just go on you can.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
The only way you can do it is to literally
the commissioner goes in and makes that player not eligible
for the draft. So you have to manually go in
there and do that, because I did think.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
To adjust it manually if somebody.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
Makes exactly I mean, that's a pain to go through
because I remember people were drafted Ethan Holiday last year
during our first year player drafts, and he wasn't even
drafted yet, right, So it's like right, so I went
and like excluded those famous guys, knowing that you know
people were going to do that. But it'd be it
would be great, you know, if you could just put
in a rule that you've got to have a third

(07:49):
of an inning or a one at bat and to
be eligible to the draft. But I don't think they've
got that capability built in yet.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
No, for the for the most for the most part,
it's it's a veteran league with a lot of the
same players year to year, all good, solid players.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
So it's not a is it draft and hold or
going to be pickups?

Speaker 2 (08:12):
Oh, it's pickups. The first waiver wires the first week
of the season, and we're drafting fourteen to nine and
seven reserves, and you don't you don't have to wait
until the reserve round to start filling it out. If
you want nine outfielders in the first nine rounds, hey
go for it. It'll dump it into your reserves.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Okay, cool, all right, So tell me how the first
two rounds went.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
First two rounds, drafting, drafting at the wheel at the turn.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
But tell me before you before you do yours. Just
can can you tell me how that first round went,
like from one to one to fourteen, and then we'll
talk about your stuff.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
Okay? Otani went at one one, no surprises there, followed
by Judge Bobby wit Junior at three one sot to
what four? Jose Ramirez at five. Now we got we
gotta move a move up here. Julio Rodriguez went at six,

(09:14):
Terry Terry Scouble at seven, Corbyn Carol at eight. Another
another move up that I thought I'd be considering at
the corner. Camin Arrow went at nine mm till a
Cruz moved down a bit at ten, Paul Skins at eleven,

(09:41):
cal Rally and that three hundred home run season went
at twelve and then in a bit of a surprise,
but I don't have any problems with that. Francisco Lindor
went at thirteen. Wow, Okay, which so anywhere from thirteen

(10:05):
to seventeen, what I wanted to do was draft to outfielders.
So I was just happier than happy could be.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
So yeah, you told us, You told us last week
that you would be thrilled if you got to Teast Junior,
which my wife said was Tatus Junior by the way,
so she didn't know who's is. He drafted Tatus Junior,
Like no, no, no, no, no, you don't listen to
the podcast enough, LORI. Anyway, if you wanted to draft
to Tease Junior and uh Tucker Kyle Tucker, yes, did

(10:38):
you get them?

Speaker 2 (10:40):
Yes? Because our good friend Josh Miller's in this draft.
Josh is in at least one Dynasty League or Autometrius friend.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
He took run he dropped out day okay?

Speaker 2 (10:53):
Uh uh he drafted da Kunya at fourteen. I would
have been happy with a two of Akunya to Chief
Junior or Tucker. So I knew I was going to get,
you know, I was going to get basically what I wanted,
and I got exactly where I wanted because he took
Acunya Junior and then I took the two outfielders.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
Cool. So how did how did the second round? So
Tucker goes first pick in the second round, give me
the next five picks?

Speaker 2 (11:22):
Uh? Gunner Henderson? Hmm, Guerrero caught him?

Speaker 1 (11:27):
Were you Guerrero?

Speaker 2 (11:30):
Blady? Oh?

Speaker 1 (11:30):
Oh, Blady Blad Caerrera, I was taken Caminaro. Sorry, got so?
Were you tempted at all to take Gunner Henderson?

Speaker 2 (11:44):
No? Not really. We still we're in around fourteen now
and we have one middle infielder and that's Holiday and
we're going very very late on our middle infield and
we still have options, uh that that we like. I

(12:04):
partlyen with Bob King Hi. We're doing this together to
have some have some fun and shoot the breeze while
we look at picks we still have.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
That's why you're that's why you're making all the right
picks because you got Bob drafting with you, no, I know,
with me or for me exactly telling me his picks.
I'm going, wow, that's a great pick. Now I find
out it, Okay, I'm sorry. So Gunner Vlad who else?
With the next three picks?

Speaker 2 (12:35):
Gunner Vlad Crochet, Nick Kurtz, and Kyle Schwarber went with
the first five picks of the second round.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
And well, at least, if I may at least some
sanity that Vlad went before Kurtz.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
Yes, I agree. I knew they'd be going fairly close together,
and they did. And after that. It's sort of the
only thing that I can say that sort of surprised
me with this effort so far is that starting pitching
seemed to go a little bit earlier than I thought

(13:12):
it would. Yeah, which I found a bit surprising because
but then again, there's no trading in this league, so again,
I think that drives starting pitching up a little bit.
But I think for the most part, starting pitching might
have been a little bit higher than say the NFBC.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
Oh really, yeah, well I know. So let's let's get
back to you. Your first two picks to teach junior
Kyle Tucker, who are your second.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
Two picks, Brian Wu and Wyatt Langford.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
I'd love that. Why at Langford pick? That's well done there.
So you got Brian Wu, who's a great pitcher. The
only thing he made my targets the last either two
years or the first year, not last year, just because
I was worried about injuries of the elbow. The elbow
seems to be barking a lot. But but statistically you
take a look at under under this under the uh

(14:12):
kind of looking under underneath all the stats and stuff
looks really really good.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
Yeah, there's there's risk there, but it's a redraft and
I thought the the upside warranted taking a chance. Hey,
of the twenty some odd pictures picked in the first
three four rounds, whatever, you know, it was gonna be
four or five of them hit the aisle, and it
could be it could be anybody at any time. So

(14:39):
I'm I'm not too concerned about Hopefully it works out.

Speaker 1 (14:44):
And then you got then you went, uh, who your
next two picks would be Holiday and somebody? Right?

Speaker 2 (14:52):
Uh, next two picks, Yeah, we're ben Rice and Holiday.

Speaker 1 (14:59):
Love Love love the Ben Rice pick. I did again.
I did my targets already and Ben Rice when I
looked at what the data was telling me, Tim, Yeah,
I mean it is off the charts in terms of
what he might be capable of. I mean it's power,
he runs well, really understands the strike zone. I mean,

(15:20):
I'm not I'm seeing a guy that has a chance
to really blow up here.

Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yeah, we're thinking the same thing. And our our backup
to that if Rice would have gone would have been
probably been a Pstmonino wanted to get a first pick
one to get somebody in the top ten from the
first base side of things.

Speaker 1 (15:41):
But you can also play catcher, obviously.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yeah we can. And our next two picks we picked
Drake Baldwin Baldwin and Brandon Woodrow, so we've got our
two catchers, but we're going to pick up a third
catcher later on Woodruff. Yeah, we're going to pick up
a third catch or so we can try and use
that flexibility with Rice in season. So I love the

(16:11):
Baldwin pick and Woodruff in the sixth round. I think
has has steel potential at this stage. You know, some
of the pictures being looked at were you know, Wheeler.

Speaker 1 (16:26):
If I'm making a common of Woodroff yeah, sure, I've
done the analysis on all positions. Woodroff is either at
the top of my picture targets or second or third.
I mean he is near the top. Everything looks everything
looks good on this guy. Everything he just so. I

(16:47):
built a model and it's got five different five different
elements for the hitters and four different elements for the pitchers.
And there was only one positional player that lit up
all five, and it was Juan Soto. And there was
only one picture that lit up all four and it
was Brandon Woodruff. So I mean it was and everything's

(17:10):
weighted and it's it's all it's way over complicated because
that's just how I do stuff. And I was really
surprised looking at his stuff, looking at the shape of
his pitches. It's pretty impressive. Granted he's he's been injured,
but otherwise he looked really good.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
Yeah. Again, there's there's a health risk, but at that
stage we could be we could be getting ourselves a
strong number two.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yeah great, I love your team so far. So tell
me who's who's the next two picks?

Speaker 2 (17:44):
This? This you might this, this is where to throw
up possible.

Speaker 1 (17:52):
So Bob, Bob was Bob was busy, so he turned
the reins over to you. We're learning.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
Pretty much.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
Yeah, I just I'm sorry. I heard Matt Shaw wan
uh who was the second.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
Guy, Addison Barger for Jays. Okay, yeah, third base outfield,
though we were looking for some power. Shaw. Where we're
looking for is twelve to fifteen and twenty to twenty
five at third base again, power speed. If we get it,
we'll be okay, you'll like the next two picks.

Speaker 1 (18:30):
I did not. I do not like the Matt Shaw
pick at all.

Speaker 2 (18:33):
No, it was either that or start to look at
the Noel v. Martes of the world. At third base.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
I mean I get that. I mean yeah, third third
base is it's a it's deeper than second base. Second
base is just awful.

Speaker 2 (18:50):
It's garbage.

Speaker 1 (18:51):
Yeah, it's really bad.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yeah, it's yeah, not good at all.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
Okay, here's we'll stop at your next two picks.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
Okay, uh, the next two picks Nicoladolo for our third
pitcher and Dylan Cruz. Oh good for you at twelve one.

Speaker 1 (19:11):
All right, yay, mister McLeod so.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
But my money where my mouth where my mouth is? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (19:18):
Let me see. I think I think Dylan Cruz still
lights up my uh my stat lines believe it or not.
So uh yes, which is h which is pretty encouraging.
But let me let me bring that up here. So
where's Oh, it's under something called baseball hitter Stats, hitting
stats twenty twenty five hitting stats.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
Let's see.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
If I click that on, it's got to bring in
all the data, update everything. Yep, all right, outfield, let's see. Yeah,
Dylan Cruz lights my stuff up.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah. Yeah, you're getting into round twelve. I figured the
worst we're going to get out of Cruise is fifteen
homers thirty stolen bases in a two twenty five batting
average in round twelve. I'm willing to bet on that
is a floor and the upside is significantly more.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
Yeah. Yeah, the speed is there. Let's see. Yeah, he
doesn't light up my stuff. He doesn't hit the ball
very hard. Yeah, thirty eight degree hard hit rates, poor
end zone contact. So yeah, I lied. He doesn't light
up the stuff very well.

Speaker 2 (20:35):
So okay, but again, we've got a lot of power
speed combinations. Okay, trying trying to avoid the caval Arrows
and Simpsons of the world.

Speaker 1 (20:52):
So where do you where's your need? Where's your need?
At for the rest of the draft.

Speaker 2 (20:57):
Well, right now, you.

Speaker 1 (20:59):
Don't have a relief fit yet.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
We have Polentia we drafted in fourteen. Okay, okay, it
was the best option there. We drafted to sell Steward,
by the way in thirteen, and that's where we're at.
Our biggest need right now is RBI's and of course pitching.
We've got three starters and a closer. We're going to
be focusing on pitching for the next four or five rounds,

(21:23):
trying to fill in the gaps and looking at pitching.
There's enough there that we should be able to do it.
Because we've got twice weekly moves, we're going to be
going into a heavy relief pitcher mode very very quickly.
Guys like you Rebay, you know, all of the all

(21:43):
of the setup guys are going to go in this format.
We're going to move a bit early and try and
capture as many setup guys as we can to go
along with Polentia, hoping that we can cobble out enough
saves to finish midpack, which based on what I'm what
I've seen in the past, and because I do, I

(22:04):
do all the targets based on the prior years numbers. Okay,
the saves. There were a couple teams that were way
out in front, and then there was a group of
about ten teams all within ten saves. And the same
thing is going to happen this year because everybody has
a couple teams have two closers. I think one has three.
Everybody else has one. Okay, so we're not playing for

(22:27):
first or second. We're playing in that mid pack hoping
to get enough to finish just above the median numbers
in saves, and I think I think we'll find a
way to make it work.

Speaker 1 (22:38):
Let me ask you a question. Where did Jacob Marcy go?

Speaker 2 (22:42):
Where did Jacob Mercy go? He was on our list,
Jacob Mercy. I'm just it was it was fairly early.
Chandler Simpson went in the fifth round, by the way,
Oh yeah wow, yeah, uh, Jacob Marcy? Where did Marcy go?

(23:09):
Jacob Marcy went in the eleventh round. We were looking
at him when we took Nadolo and Cruise. He went
into the twelfth pick of the eleventh round. Just before
him went Joe Adell and before him went Sedan Rafaela.
All in the eleventh round.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yeah wow, Jacob Marcy. I mean I I really used
him as a bellweather when I did my algorithms, and
every time I would check, change, tweak things, check, nothing
dropped that guy down. It was there could be something there.
I mean, I was like, I was trying to figure out,
like how I could bring this guy down, and it

(23:48):
just nothing was working. It was like his his underlying stats,
it looked really good.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yeah. If if he had if he had fallen another
two packs to us or another story, it would have
been three picks to us, we probably would have ended
up with Lodolo and Marcy Marcy instead of Cruise. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:14):
Wow, interesting Timmy to take a break, get back, good stuff,
my friend. I'm glad you shared that with me. Uh
shared that with us. In two weeks, I'll be starting
my NFC draft, so I'll be able to. I'll be
able to, we'll be able to compare notes. I might
take them. I mean, well, ask Bob to help me draft.

Speaker 2 (24:29):
Yeah, he's a good guy. We're building a winner.

Speaker 3 (24:36):
I know, I know.

Speaker 1 (24:37):
You got's take a break. Time here we go. We're
gonna be doing Tim's counting rankings and a bit. Second segment, though,
I was just talking about the news and notes and
tim We talked last Sunday, thinking that the Winter Meetings

(24:59):
might be meaningful, might be exciting. Did they did they
deliver for you? They did for me. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
We just saw a continuation we saw leading into it,
players getting signed, a lot of players, a lot of excitement.

Speaker 4 (25:17):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (25:18):
Yeah, it's a good thing. Baseball can't take three months off,
no good and no and resume in January February. And
I think they accomplished that goal.

Speaker 1 (25:30):
It's amazing. I think it was one person that was
Scott Barrs finally got with the program.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
Yeah. That was almost shocking, wasn't it. He's obviously started
listening to our podcast.

Speaker 1 (25:42):
Yeah, I mean, I mean you got to give him.
Gotta give him credit for realizing that the approach just
was not working. I mean, guys for every everybody was jumping,
and his guys were the guys that were left down,
and they were all signing these bizarre contingency deals. You
signed for one year, then you can elect, and it's
just and then they he had both Dylan CEESU signed

(26:05):
early and then obviously Pete Alonzo got a gigantic deal
with the Orioles and almost reminiscent a prince fielder with
a pee alonza that that's what it reminded me off.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
Yeah, well, you know what, it's a game of musical chairs,
and when you get down to the last couple chairs,
somebody's going to be setting out and somebody's going to
have to be creative. And hey, at one point in time,
you know, Morris's strategy worked effectively, but this is not

(26:38):
that time. The times have changed and he had to
do some adapting to get with the program, to put
them bluntly, and he did just that. Had he gone,
you know, with that late strategy here have seen the
same thing he would have seen Bridge type contracts with
opt outs every fifteen minutes. In a way you go

(26:59):
and that's no, that's not gonna that's not gonna work.
You know, I applaud to Jay's for going early on
both cs and ponds. You know why, as a team,
why do you want to get stuck in a situation
where you have eight teams fighting over the last free
agent starting pitcher. That's that's an overpay and it's also

(27:25):
it's also a situation where you're probably gonna be buying
into something that you wouldn't have been comfortable with in
the first place. That's never a good situation.

Speaker 1 (27:34):
Yeah. I think what we learned over the last few years,
and Baris was was proof positive of this that he
always relied on teams panicking and they just stopped panicking.
They just said, Okay, well, we'll just wait till your
price comes down, and if we've got to, we've we've
got to put a bridge guy in at first base

(27:55):
or second base, wherever the position is that you hold
the cards, and that's just what we're gonna do, and
we're not going to bet against ourselves anymore. So people
were getting the musical chairs were over. There was one
guy left and and I'm Team X, and Bars has
got that player, and I'm just like, okay, well, as
soon as your price comes down, I will take them.
And well, yeah, that's what was happening.

Speaker 2 (28:17):
Yeah, yeah, you're not going to be able to sell
team with money. The fact that the Pirates are the
other team contending, that's right, that's not going to work.

Speaker 1 (28:26):
And that's right, you're you're you're accurate, and that the
times have changed because there's only seven or eight teams
that are out there willing to spend the money on
the big free agents, and let's face that's who Scott
Baris manages. And you know it's very if you and
I can figure out like who needs a first basement
or an outfielder, then these teams clearly can't. So can

(28:47):
Scott Baris?

Speaker 2 (28:49):
Well exactly, and you can only uh sell the have
I got a deal line for you for so long? Right?
M and then nobody who's in didn't the deal in
the first place? Right?

Speaker 1 (29:02):
That is correct. Well, before we start talking about some
of the bars clients, let's talk about the Mets and
Edwin Diaz and just the situation with the Mets. I mean,
they they said they were going to make some changes
after missing the playoffs, tim and they lose pedal Anzo
to the Orioles and then the big killer was Edwin
Diaz to the Dodgers. Did the Dodgers need a closer?

(29:25):
I guess they did. The two time World Series champion
gets arguably the best closure in the game, three years
and sixty nine million dollars. It was what was your
thought on the signing?

Speaker 2 (29:37):
Ah, it's what the Dodgers. It's what the Dodgers do. Okay.
They saw I need Okay, they addressed that need by
getting the best in the business. That's what the Dodgers,
that's what they do, right.

Speaker 1 (29:53):
See, absolutely cannot blame Edwin Diaz. Say he's getting paid
a ton of money and he's going to be on
a team that's wow, fifty to fifty chances to win
the World Series. That's pretty dark.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
Good, Well, that's press conference. Yeah, it was stressed he
wanted to win. The sixty nine million didn't enter into
the discussion. But yeah, I'm sure, sure, yeah, yeah, exactly,
as as he's talking to his agent about the Ferrari
that's going to be in his gradge in another week

(30:26):
or so. Yeah, it's what the Dodgers do. They had need,
they went out, they didn't play around. They got the
best of the bids. That's what they do.

Speaker 1 (30:35):
You wait, if Eric's Google gets traded, it will be
to the Dodgers.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
Watch, well, it's gonna have to be to somebody that
has a slew of prospects and good prospects they can.

Speaker 1 (30:52):
Move back and are willing and are willing to move them.

Speaker 2 (30:58):
Yeah, you know, it won't be the Padres because it
don't have any prospects in their system. We can rule
them out of the race. But you know, with the
moves that Detroit has made, it leads me to want
to believe that they're going for it. Scooble is not
going anywhere, and Jill at the earliest uh the trade deadline, yep,

(31:21):
and maybe maybe not even then, based on again some
of the moves that they've made. So uh, I had
I guess school Schooble could get moved tomorrow. But if
I had to wager some money, I would say, no,
that's not going to happen right now.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
I think that's the that's the smart money would say no.
But everything that you read over the last week or
two that teams were surprised that the Tigers were engaged
in discussions with Trek School. But that could be all
just bs in this direction. But that's what was coming
out of the winter meetings. So so the to the Mets,

(31:59):
lou Edwin Diaz. They had signed Devin Williams as a
setup guy and I guess his insurance. But Devin Williams
wasn't very good last season, Timmy, and he's gone off
the board as the eleventh closer off the board. Is
that too high? Too low? Just about right?

Speaker 2 (32:17):
It's too high for me? Okay, I'm not a trusting
soul when it comes to back injuries and multiple stress
fractures in backs. I'm staying away and that still has
me concerned. Hey, it could work out great when healthy
Devin well is a great picture. But do I want

(32:41):
to invest make that sort of investment with my ability
to sleep well at night? I think it would interrupt
my sleep patterns seriously, So I'm I'm going to stay away.
I'll let somebody else take the chance.

Speaker 1 (33:00):
Having said all of that, era last year of four
to seven nine, expected era of three eleven, expected eurey
in twenty twenty four, at two oh nine two sixty
six in twenty twenty three, Say, wasn't that far off
from previous seasons. Struck out just about the same amount,
walked a few less. Maybe just got unlucky. His home

(33:20):
runs were elevated a bit. So maybe there's you know,
maybe the Mets sees something that they can correct and
or maybe it was just bad luck and he's going
to be fine.

Speaker 2 (33:31):
Yeah, and again he could. He could spend the rest
of his career and never see a day on the il.
But I'm being the untrusting soul that I am. I'm
just gonna stay away. I'll take my chances elsewhere.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
I totally agree with the Brave sign Robert Suarez for
two years and sixteen million dollars. They now have both
Inglecias and Suarez manning the back of the Bullpenner reminded
me when the Padres brought in Mason Miller and we're
trying to figure out who is going to get the
cloth the saves at the you know, the at the
trade deadline, and it what's Suarez Who've got most of

(34:06):
the saves? And now the Braves are saying that it's
going to be Iglacias, will be my closer, Who's going
to get the saves to me in Atlanta? Is it
going to be sure? Is going to be Iglacias? What
say you?

Speaker 2 (34:20):
I'm buying with the Braves are selling. I think with
the second half that the Glaciers has, and I think
with the with the Braves history with a Glaciers and
it's a very good one from everything I've read. He's
great in the clubos. His numbers have been good for
a long time in Atlanta. Uh, I think it's his
job to lose this year, and I think it's the

(34:43):
opposite in the next two, and I think the Braves
actually have a third year option on Suarez, so I
can see Iglacias being the main man this year. Hey,
if he struggles, they've gotten option and heading into twenty
seven and twenty eight eight, I think it's Robert Warres's job,
so I'm expecting its worst to get to get some

(35:06):
saves this year. But if a Glacier's pitch is waited
the second hal half, it will be single digit saves.

Speaker 1 (35:15):
I'm assuming this kills the Mason Miller to the rotation,
though the Padres keep talking about they need to sell
off guys, and Mason Miller has been in rumor going
to the Mets for all kinds of young players. I'm
not sure what's gonna happen, but if the season were
to open tomorrow, Mason Miller, I'm assuming would be the closer.

(35:35):
And for San Diego, Yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
Think that was a pipe dream at best. Anyways, rich
keeping Mason Miller healthy would have to be the priority,
and taking a turn in the rotation every fifth day
that doesn't address that priority. I think it would be
a recipe for disaster. Yeah, Miller's had trouble staying healthy
in a relief role. Okay, is a starting role going

(36:01):
to improve that situation? I don't see it. And that
volume of innings, so I think it was a lot
of talk, but I think once somebody took a deeper look, yeah,
the talk will go away. Mason Miller, I just don't
see him pitching in his starting role.

Speaker 1 (36:18):
Last week it was Jose Ferrara getting traded to the
Seattle Mariners, which put a huge dent in my chances
for my dynasty leagues. Now that I think he's going
to be pitching the fourth inning, that's how far down
to the depth chart he is. And now Will vest
I don't know. Maybe Will Vess is going to be
pitching the fourth inning because the Tigers reassigned Kyle Finn

(36:38):
again and then they signed Kenley Janssen. As I was
writing up the notes on Saturday to a one year deal,
break down the closer situation for us with the Tigers,
and hopefully will Ves gets one or two saves for me.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
Yeah, I think what you're saying is you're not going
to be investing in will this year.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
Yeah, sorry, that was yeah, I will give you I
was all right anyway, Yes, so I'm not going to
be investing in invest But I've already invested Timmy I
got him in a bunch of leagues.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
Yeah, you've got invested interest.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
My my take would be just you just can't let
it go. Can't, no, no, not, it just goes double down,
double down.

Speaker 2 (37:30):
That's it. I'll get that rim shot yet the hell
or I think the thing I take from this radway
Kenley Jansen okay, needs twenty six saves to reach five hundred. Okay.
He didn't sign with the Tigers to not have a
shot at that twenty So.

Speaker 1 (37:50):
I didn't know that. That's interesting logic. I wonder if
the Tigers it that way.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
I would imagine when they were discussing contract, it was
a big part of the discussion because I don't see
Jensen going to a team okay that's gonna use him
as a setup guy when he's that close to five hundred. Okay,
in a shot at the Hall of Fame, Okay, so
he My take is Jensen needs that he's going to
get to his five hundred. Okay. I don't think he

(38:18):
was a sign if that auction wasn't on the table.
I see ten to fifteen saves for vest In Finnigan
possibly more of Jensen struggles, and if I was to
break it down, I'll go ten to twelve. But a
Vest and a handful for Finnegan, well.

Speaker 1 (38:32):
So ves would be. So you're thinking Jansen's the first option,
then Vest, then Finnegan.

Speaker 2 (38:39):
Yes, that's how I'm going to have them ordered and ranked.
And I think, hey, Kenley Jensen's what thirty eight, thirty nine,
he's getting up there. He is not going to save
games on three consecutive days should the need be there.
I think Vest will get the opportunities before Finnigan, and

(39:00):
say Levie and aj Hinch. Hinch will torment us all year.
So I would stay away from all three.

Speaker 1 (39:06):
Okay, just because so my shares of will Vest, which
are numerous in my dynasty leagues. Should I hold on
to Vest?

Speaker 2 (39:17):
I will say yes, because you will get nothing for him,
and in a lot of your leagues you have saves
and holes. Yes, okay, yeah, that changes the equation a
little bit.

Speaker 1 (39:26):
Would you hold onto Would you hold on to Kyle Finnegan?

Speaker 3 (39:30):
No?

Speaker 2 (39:31):
I wouldn't. I don't have him anywhere and I won't
have him anywhere. Interesting if Vest fails, I'll I'll go,
I'll end up investing somewhere in the fifty percent turnover
we don't know about yet at the waiver where.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
All right, let's get to some of the Scott Barrs signings.
Kyle Schuerber signs back with the Phillies five years, one
hundred and fifty million dollars. What do you think of
that deal?

Speaker 2 (39:54):
It was right, okay, he wanted to stay in Philly,
Philly wanted him. Everything fits, the Phillies have the need.
Everybody's happy. Life is good, and I'm happy for both.
I think it's uh, yeah, I have the next thing
they have to you just find a way to get
Jahi Real Mudo to sign on a short term deal
and that would address that address addresses the bulk of

(40:18):
the Phillies deeds in the off season. So yeah, I'm
happy for both. I think it's a good deal and
the way we go.

Speaker 1 (40:27):
Did you believe the stories that the pirates made a
legitimate offer to Shoreber or do you think that was
three years and thirty million dollars or something like that
that they really made.

Speaker 2 (40:37):
Well, I'm going to sum it up by saying a
legitimate offer by the pirates we would be considered illegitimate.
By the other twenty nine teams.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
So they made up. They might have made an offer,
they might have talked about making an offer, but they
were never in contention. That makes no sense.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
They called me rich okay, looking to see if they
could get the A League minimum. Okay, Well more could
I say? Now?

Speaker 1 (41:01):
Kyle Schwarber. Apparently it was well reported that the Orioles
made the exact same offer to Kyle Schwarber. Wouldn't go
up to one hundred and sixty or six years or whatever.
You know, Scott bars is trying to get them to
do that. That then turned their attention to signing Pete
Alonzo to a five year, one hundred and fifty five
million dollar deal, which I read a long thousand word

(41:23):
article for our Patreon members about what I thought of
the deal, What makes sense of what? What are the
Orioles doing. They've now signed two right handed power guys
and Taylor Ward and Pete Alonzo. Pete Alonzo's terrible first
basement at the moment, so you figure he's probably destined
for DH eventually. He's thirty one years old. What are

(41:46):
they doing, Timmy? They need pitching?

Speaker 4 (41:49):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (41:50):
Yeah, I can believe though that they offered. They offered
long Schwarber, you know, they offered schorberb the deal, and
I don't think Schwarber would would take it even if
it was ten million more, because I think he wanted
to be in Philly. I think if the Orioles really
wanted Kyle Schwarber, they would have had to They would
have had to talk twenty thirty million more, and I

(42:12):
don't think they were prepared to do that. As far
as the Orioles and signing Pete Alonzo, I heard Piece
working on a knuckle change, okay, so maybe maybe that'll
solve their pitching.

Speaker 1 (42:25):
Wolves maybe, So.

Speaker 2 (42:29):
I don't I don't get it like Chris Davis.

Speaker 1 (42:33):
Hes a lot like Chris Davis to me, you know,
And it's I think Peter A. Lonzo is a better
player than Chris Davis. Chris Dave's better pitcher than Pete Alonzo.
But Christaphas actually throw ninety ninety three off the off
the mound, so you had a good arm. But temmy,
I hate the deal for the Orioles. Pete Alonzo is

(42:53):
that that body type is just not going to age.

Speaker 2 (42:56):
Well.

Speaker 1 (42:57):
I maybe two or three years he'll be the same guy.
But I think he's going to really start to fall off,
uh in a big way, and they're gonna be stuck
with the d H guy that's lumbering around out there
injured all the time.

Speaker 2 (43:10):
But on a positive note, Chick, I.

Speaker 1 (43:13):
Guess so, I mean, I guess so. And maybe they
really felt like they needed right here in the power,
which I guess they did.

Speaker 2 (43:21):
But now they've got a whole bunch of bodies. They
get were they got to move for pitching? Right?

Speaker 1 (43:27):
And who gets moved? I mean, is it Adley Ruchman?

Speaker 2 (43:31):
Is it? Is it?

Speaker 1 (43:33):
I mean, who who's going to get moved?

Speaker 2 (43:36):
Well, it's not the right time to be looking at
at at at moving Adley Retchman. But yeah, you got
Ryan Mounts Castle, you got.

Speaker 1 (43:47):
Of course he's gone, right mind Castle, he's gone Norby.
Norby's not there. It's with Miami.

Speaker 2 (43:54):
Oh sorry, Mao, I'm amazing.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
What do they do with Mayo? I mean, I think
he'd believable people. People are gonna want to think that
they can fix them, and he's got big power, this
big strong kid.

Speaker 2 (44:07):
Yeah. But the problem being is that everybody out there
and now knows what the Orioles think of all these players, right,
where are they going to get into trade?

Speaker 1 (44:19):
I mean, I think Andy Rutchman. I think if they
moved to Athley Rutchman, he would he would return a
lot because he's still a very good player and a
very good catcher. Mayo, I mean he's now had a
You would have to somebody would have to say, yeah,
I think I still believe in him. And moncast is
I going to turn anything? What about Sam? About Siying?
He's not going to be a d H at twenty

(44:41):
one years old? You're going to throw him at the
d H slot? Is he good enough to play first base?
Could he be their catcher and they move on from
Adley Rutchman.

Speaker 2 (44:50):
That's a possibility. I I just hope and pray that
somehow the Orioles don't find a way to screw up
Basalo in this whole process. And I think the easiest
way to rectify the problem is to move Adlei Rutchmand.
But Rutchman's coming off a very very bad season. Now, hey,

(45:12):
we've we've seen two years of twenty eighty solid catcher.
It's all there. But you're not selling high on Retchmond. No,
you're selling low. And are they prepared to do that right? Now,
you know, I just don't right now. The only switch
it in.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
Catchers are so rare.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
Yeah. The only spot you've got for Baselo on a
regular basis right now is DH and forty to fifty
games at catcher, spelling off Adley Ruchmand. I can right now,
that's that's the plans. Maybe spelling off the Alonso at
first base, but they've got Ryan Mountcastle to do that.

(45:52):
I in redraft leagues, I'm backing off right now on Basalo.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
Yeah, that's yeah. I think it will get resolved. I
would not be surprised if they move Samuelbasaiah so at
this juncture, I think he would return a ton because
he's well thought of. There's huge power. He signed a
team friendly deal. Blah blah blah blah blah. He could
but they've got to do something to him. They could

(46:22):
bring in pitching.

Speaker 2 (46:24):
Yeah, they've got to get a pitcher unless they go
with UH, unless they sign in my Emi from Japan,
the top posted player. I can't see how they go
into the season with Tyler Wells and Kate Polevich probably
great people. I can't see how they go in with
four and five and Dean Kramer's the three. That's that's

(46:49):
just not going to work. They're They're ace right now
is Trevor Rodgers and their number two is Kyle Bradish
And there's potential from both, but one's coming back hurt
and the others coming back from nowhere. Oh okay, that's yeah.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
I love one. I love both of those pictures, particularly
cop Raators. I think that stuff is still real. But
they need another one. They need at least another two pictures. Yeah,
at least not another not named Tyler Wells and Team Kramer.

Speaker 2 (47:14):
So yeah, there's yeah, there is going to be more
movement or they're better be in Baltimore or they're going
to be planning on winning an awful lot of ten
to eight games this year. And that's a tough bet
when you start looking at the pitching that they're going
to face, uh, in their own division, even you know,

(47:35):
you look at the Yankees rotation once Coal is back. Yeah, Boston,
Boston's got some quality arms. The Jays are loading loading up. Uh.
They will not secure a playoff spot until they find
at least at least arms.

Speaker 1 (47:51):
Yeah, and the ras are always the raiser are always good,
So I mean, you always have to be worried about them.
So let's let's let's pivot, because people here in New
York are going crazy about Alonso leaving the Mets and
Edwin Diaz leaving the Mets and also also losing Brandon
Nemo and it. But the Mets said at the end

(48:13):
of the season Temmy that they were going to make changes,
and this is what they're doing. I think signing Jorge
Polanco to two years and forty million dollars, maybe he's
not the same guy as pie Alonzo, but it's eighty
percent of Pee Alonzo. I don't think that's a horrible
trade off. What's your thought.

Speaker 2 (48:32):
I think if you're looking at you know, pure power,
it's maybe forty percent of pe Alonzo. Planco's had health
issues and had problems staying healthy, but when healthy, yeah,
he's a solid player. What it says to me is
they're prepared to go into the season with Biandro's and beati.
As we debated not too long ago, right where are

(48:53):
they be going to do well? It looks like that's
the ouption. Blanco can play a little bit at third base,
and he can also cover were at second base in
the event that Jeff McNeil isn't ready to go coming
out of spring training, right, so they've covered off that angle.

(49:14):
I I don't know what the Mets are doing, but
going in with there's a lot of questions and I
don't think as of today they have a playoff caliber team.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
May I, may I respectively respectfully push back on your
forty snide comment that you made in Hora a Palanco
Peter Alonzo. Okay, yeah, so, yes, Peter Alonso has more
power than Je Polanco, but Horriy Polanco hit twenty six
arm runs last year and Peter Alonzo hit thirty eight. Yes,

(49:54):
I agree with you on the health concerns. Twenty sixth
in Seattle. By the way, average exit velocity from Pedo
Alonzo ninety three to five, which is crazy, which was,
by the way, his previous three years under ninety mile
an hour exit velocity. So he was swinging for that
big contract. That just saying so with Pete Alonzo and

(50:16):
Harry Polanco is no slouch. I mean it's a ninety
point eight mile hour exit velocity, lots of leverage. I'm
sticky with my I'll go seventy percent of Pedo Alonzo
from a power standpoint, I don't think it's forty. I
don't think if peed Alonzo hits thirty eight, I don't
think Polanco hits whatever. Forty percent of thirty eight is.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
Yeah, and Jeck Williams and TOI leelards ever play the
O field is lost.

Speaker 1 (50:42):
Yeah, that's that's true. But I'd like it. I like
the arbitrage that they did for I think getting out
of the ped Alonzo game, even though I had ped
Alonzo going back to the Mets, because I didn't think
I couldn't figure out where he was going to go
until the Orioles for some reason decided to play to
play in there and now. But I think it was
smart that they moved on from him and they got

(51:02):
somebody I think and be a decent fill in. And
so maybe they're ready to bring up the you know,
the young first baseman that's sitting and trip away.

Speaker 2 (51:11):
Yeah. No, I I'm okay with the moves. But if
I'm looking at this year, I they got to do
something quick or they're going to be relying on a
lot of question marks and I don't think that will

(51:31):
cut it in a rather tough division.

Speaker 1 (51:34):
I agree to me to take a break, get back
and let's talk catchers rankings. I mean, it's always great
to get the get them out of the gate. If

(51:56):
Patreon members, you've already got those out there. Now you've
got the spreadsheet that I use, which I think is
fantastic because it shows how Tim ranked them last year.
Everything's there together. I've already got my draft targets out
to people or Patreon members can kind of triangulate them
all together and figure out who they want to pick

(52:16):
and their upcoming drafts. And we will be going through
first base hopefully next week. Give it them a little
a bit of a break, and then we'll come back
with second base, third base after the first of the year.
So tell us about how you are approaching the catching
position and your upcoming drafts.

Speaker 2 (52:39):
I want one of the top ten. Okay, why? Why?
Because if you look ten to twenty, there are still
opportunities in there, but there are also question marks. When
I look at the top ten, I see nine of
the top ten as players that I feel very comfortable

(53:02):
rostering with no questions asked per se. Okay, I've yeah,
what can you say about cal Riley? You know, Ben Rice,
if you stat page is as red as you can
get Baldwin's young and up and coming. Will Smith is consistent,
Perez is consistent. I I just like to have one

(53:26):
of that top group as compared to looking at the
middle tier and in some cases a rather boring middle tier. Okay.
I just think there's enough of an answer.

Speaker 1 (53:41):
Where does your where does your middle tiers start?

Speaker 2 (53:45):
Ah? My middle tiers would start with I'm gonna go
with Gabriel Marino in the there definitely with the Salo
Real Muto Nervo as Austin Wells. Jensen's intriguing. But do
I want him as a number one? No, I want

(54:07):
him as number two. And if I want him as
a number two, I want a real number one, you
know what I mean I want I don't think he
can pare Carter Jensen with Austin Wells okay and be
happy with that. You can pare Carter Jensen with Shane
Langelore's and be happy, okay. And then you get into

(54:29):
and in that mid tier like a lot of catchers
that are solid number twos. But that's all they're going
to be. There's no upside. They're rather boring and it's
not for me. I would rather go with a higher option.
And enough side risk than too boring middle of the

(54:52):
road sort of guys. They have flaws. Yes, that's how
I'm to look at it.

Speaker 1 (54:58):
Yeah, I I remember when I wrote about Catcherdefico Beck
in review. But the thing that strikes me and just
looking at your rankings and you write this in your
intro about Bob Dylan, things are at changing. Augustine Ramirez
is fourth on your list. He was last year ranked
thirty eight. Well done even ranking him to him, that's
really well done. Ben Rice wasn't ranked. He's number five.

(55:23):
Drake Baldwin was ranked thirty fifth, Hunter Goodman twenty three.
And these are your you know, so that's one, two, three,
Four out of your top seven guys were afterthoughts last season.

Speaker 2 (55:36):
Yeah, and then you've got four that were solid thoughts from.

Speaker 1 (55:40):
Me, Will Smith, Salvador Perez, Yannier Diez and Adlie Rutchman
are it's like they flip flop. We just it's like
you take took those rankings last year and you kind
of did an insert let me put these four young
hotshots in there.

Speaker 2 (55:57):
Well. Yeah, and then as you go further down, like
Kirk was at thirty, Kyle Teal was at forty and
I did have him right. Basalo was at fifty two
last year, Carter Jensen at fifty even, Dylan Dingler at
forty nine, and Carson Kelly at forty four. Harry Ford
going down. He's in the top thirty at sixty three.

Speaker 1 (56:18):
Yeahs wasn't rank last year. He's going seventeen.

Speaker 2 (56:23):
Yeah, yeah, neither neither was another top thirty Joe Mack.
So yeah, things at the times they are changing, there
is no doubt about it. And then I find it
rather exciting because for way too long in our game,
the real game catch catching has some different responsibilities per

(56:48):
se as compared to a lot of other other positions.
But for purposes of our game, there was a handful
of catchers that everybody wanted, okay, and then there was
the rest that everybody drafted in the last three rounds
of a draft because you had to have to. It's
it's nice now that we're moving away from that, and

(57:09):
you want to have catchers you don't want you don't
want to have to have them simply because it's in
the rules of the game. You know, when you get
into like a Kyle Teal or an Adlie Rutschman to
the eleventh. Catchers are spread out throughout the draft a
lot more this year, and I think it's refreshing. I

(57:32):
think it's a good thing. It's a good thing for
our game because for too long it was just top
five and oh it's round twenty two. It's time to
grab mine.

Speaker 1 (57:40):
It just doesn't matter what you got. Yeah. I mean, look,
I've been saying, because I do the prospect stuff, I've
been saying for a while that we were seeing a
rebirth at the catcher position. I gotta tell you didn't
see Ben Rice in that list. I didn't see Hounter
Goodman in that list. But I mean what we did
see was more athleticism entering the catching position and players
that are just flat out better.

Speaker 2 (58:03):
Yeah, and when you look at my list, I think
it's important. Maybe I can just toss this in now
to note that there are two players that currently are
DH only eligible that are going to get actually three
players that are going to gain catcher eligibility. Adrian del
Castillo Castillo in Arizona, who is interesting as a second

(58:29):
catcher in deeper leagues, and Ivan Herrera in Saint Louis
and Moyses by Asteros in Chicago. There's two names that
could be very worthy of stashing in your DH slot
until they gain catch your eligibility, because both will at
some point. Yes, from what I can gather the end,

(58:56):
it's it's something. As we go through the catcher rankings,
you'll notice I have Page ranked very very low okay
in Saint Louis. Well, he could be and I think
he will be the odd man. Oh, because I think
they're going to go or the early indications are they're
going to go with uh Herrera and Jimmy Crooks.

Speaker 1 (59:20):
Hmm. Well, it also sounds like Saint Louis is just
gutting their system. I mean they finally realize they're old
and the new GM's in place now and it's time
to sell off. Thank god, it's about time.

Speaker 2 (59:33):
Yeah. And if if, if you look at Jimmy Crooks, okay, uh,
that that explains why I have him a little bit
higher than the end.

Speaker 3 (59:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (59:45):
I like Jimmy Crooks. Yeah. All right, let's some of
the Cayl Riley Wan Will, in contrast to Shane Slangler
is a huge three huge power guys. U. Yeah, Kyle Riley,
I don't think we've seen a second realm guy's going
in the second seventeenth overall pick. I mean, hi, since
Buster Posey, right, that's the last time I can remember

(01:00:07):
a guy going that high with his sixty plus home runs?

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
Do you think he's a craft I'm doing went he
went twelve thirteen, he was in the first round.

Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
I'd struggle with that, tim. I mean, Kyle Riley remarkable
season last year. I mean you look at the date,
and the date is fine. I would and call it
like Vlad Guerrera kind of just hits the snot out
of the ball. But and he plays in Seattle. I mean,
how repeatable do you think last year will be?

Speaker 2 (01:00:37):
Well, the last sentence of my narrative pretty well sums
it up for me. A bet on forty balls leaven
the yard, and anything over and above falls into the
bonus category.

Speaker 1 (01:00:47):
Yeah, I think you had You can't put on your
spreadsheet sixty just can't do that.

Speaker 2 (01:00:52):
No, No, I like, I think forty is the the
over over undermark. Anything under that I would find disappointing.
Anything over that, well, it's imborings. And he could hit sixty,
but good luck trying to pay. You're gonna buy based
on that assumption you have to set. I think a

(01:01:14):
reasonable floor, and looking at what he's done in the progression,
I think forty is that mark. What are your thoughts?

Speaker 1 (01:01:24):
Look, I think thirty to forty, thirty five to forty
is more reasonable than sixty. I hope he does seventy,
but he's just not gonna. I'm just I just can't
do it. To me, I cannot bet. I can't take
him early in the second round where I'm looking at
more well rounded players and people get right. Everybody gets hurt,

(01:01:44):
but catchers just get nicked up. And look it happened
to William Contrera's last season. William Contreras has got way
more power than Kyle Roley does, but he had pretty
much a fractured hand most of the season and never
could get healthy. I don't know why didn't hit the
the il for weeks just to just to get healthy,
but he didn't.

Speaker 2 (01:02:04):
Yeah, And when I when I look at I think
you have to rank them Riley Contrera's But at the
same point in time, a healthy William Contreras, if you
take a few ticks off the batting average for rally,
would I be shocked at the end of the year

(01:02:25):
if Contreras is the number one catcher in the game. No,
I wouldn't.

Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
What say you, Oh, I totally agree with you. I
was trying to bring up my, my, my, how I
how I wrote about the catchers. But I totally agree.
I mean, I have William Contrera's as the guy long
term that I want to for call Riley. But I mean, look,
if kyt Rally hits another sixty five this season, then
I'll just shut up.

Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:02:50):
I think it's possible. But because it's got a huge
Leverette swing, so anything can happen. But it's just not.
I just am not buying the setup with half his
games being played in Seattle, and we all know the
problems in Seattle of hitting home runs. So I don't know.
Tell me that's that's where my head is.

Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
Well, yeah, you look at Contrarasy at seventeen home runs
he drove in seventy six. He scored eighty nine runs.
He led all catchers in the run scored catch and
eighty nine is a big number when you start looking
at the rest of the catcher category in the run scored.
And he did all of that with four fingers on
one hand.

Speaker 1 (01:03:30):
YEP, this is this is this is what I wrote
here's my paragraph about Kyle Riley. Kyle Rolly sixty hard
runs were fueled by a sky high twenty five degree launching.
That's one of the top four or five players in
the league. So it's just an incredibly leverage screen. Impressive
but hard to repeat. I bet the under with his
ADP in the second round. I'm passing. If I want

(01:03:50):
to go early on a catcher, I'll wait a couple
of rounds and grab William Contreras instead. That was my
thought process.

Speaker 2 (01:03:58):
Yeah, and you're looking at for Contreras, you're looking at
late third, fourth round.

Speaker 1 (01:04:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:04:04):
If I have a choice between the two, it's an
easy choice for me as well. Rich. Yeah, I'm gonna
look at Contreras. The guys i'm gonna target target are
even a little bit further down the list of that.

Speaker 1 (01:04:17):
Yeah, my big bet is on Ben Rice. I mean,
I'm a data guy to me, and when I do
the stuff, I'm looking strictly at not really looking at
playing time as much. But I take a look at
what Ben Rice is doing and it's he's faster than
you think, he can really hit, and there's big boy
power there. I love everything about Ben Rice. And you've

(01:04:37):
got him at five, Augustine Ramirez at four, follow by
ben Rice, Drake, Baldwin Hunter Goodman, Will Smith, Salvador Perez,
and Yanni are Diz. But ben Rice, love love love
ben Rice this season.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
Well, and you got to look at playing time too.
If he's there full time, basically a full time first
base type. You're looking at six hundred bats for Ben
Rice in the catcher position this year. There are there's
nobody on this list it's going to get six hundred
bats in this year other than Ben Rice to throw

(01:05:13):
the red from Ted Gaston. Yeah, look at.

Speaker 1 (01:05:16):
The I mean exit velocity of ninety three point three,
that's what Pete Alonzo did. He's got a fourteen degree
launch angle. I mean this is he's got an expected
batting average of two ninety. He strikes out nineteen percent
of the time. I mean, holy moly.

Speaker 2 (01:05:34):
Yeah, I put Yeah, I put a stat cast page
that is redder than the carpet of the Oscars.

Speaker 1 (01:05:42):
Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's it's serious stuff. Now, It's
I think there's some split issues there. I mean, definitely
hits right hand at destroys right handed pitching. Nineteen of
his twenty six on runs were against right handed pitching,
but he's still had a slug of forty one against lefties.
I mean there could be against a really tough lefty,

(01:06:03):
maybe he gets sat but I mean that I think
we're splitting hairs there.

Speaker 2 (01:06:07):
I'm going to be very disappointed if Ben Rice doesn't
have a thirty one hundred season or close to it.

Speaker 1 (01:06:14):
It's it's all set up there, so Will Smith, Salvador Perez,
Jan Your Diaz, and Adleie Rutchman. Of those four, the
one that sticks out for me having a bad season,
I'm not sure. How is Yon your Diaz?

Speaker 2 (01:06:33):
Uh? Yeah, I think he's I think he's worthy of
a spot at that level, and I think twenty seventy
five is a good is a good number to be
working with out of Diaz. My concern there is the

(01:06:54):
fact that he walks on average less than once a week.

Speaker 1 (01:06:58):
Yeah, it's three point five batting average. Yeah. But he
can hit. There's great strikeout rate. He hits the ball
really hard expected batting average at two seventy two, hits
a ball a ninety mile hour exit. I mean, I
wish he had a little bit more leverage in a swing,
he'd hit more home runs, But besides a terrible approach,
there's a lot to like still with him.

Speaker 2 (01:07:20):
Yeah, as a number ten off the board. Yeah, just
back it off a little bit. Nobe pe leagues the
same with sel Perez. You could move sal Perez down
a little bit if you wanted. Not much, but you
could move Perez down because of the combination of age
and the fact that he doesn't walk as much as

(01:07:40):
we would like. But Perez just keeps on keeping on.
Twenty five thirty ninety to one hundred. I think you
can pretty well pencil it in.

Speaker 1 (01:07:50):
Al Jana Kirk, it's to the next five A. N.
Kirk is at the twelve, Kyle Teel at thirteen, Gabriel
Marino at fourteen, of Samuel beside I at fifteen or so,
and jt Romoto at sixteen. Are people going to jump
on jt Romolto because he's jt Ramolta and go wow,
I can get a number one catcher in the sixteenth slot.

Speaker 2 (01:08:12):
No, if they are, you can join my league. I'll
pay your entry. Okay, all right, I'm that type of
guy rich I'm looking at that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:22):
I'd rather have J. T Romolta and you pay my
league fees. I'll think I'll take that. I'll take that back,
so trade off.

Speaker 2 (01:08:29):
I'm sorry, Yeah, but you're not thinking he's going to
be at number one either, so we know that not But.

Speaker 1 (01:08:36):
I'll take that if you pay my league feeds, I'll
take that caveat all, right, I'll take j Molto as
one number one catcher now. But I mean, he is
not the same guy anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:08:47):
No, he's not. But I think when you look at
the combination of power and speed, the batting average is
still seeing the two fifty two sixty range. I like,
I actually think that he's capable of doing what he
did last year. And if he does what he did
last year, that's okay, you know what I mean. It's hey,

(01:09:10):
it's not gg real Muto of five years ago, but
it's still okay numbers for a catcher. And my comments
where I think the Philly should be working harder than
this fantasy folk and finding a way to get real
Muto back into the full for twenty six. I think
he's combined between home runs and stolen bases, I think

(01:09:31):
he'll be good for twenty five, twenty five to thirty total,
and that's.

Speaker 1 (01:09:39):
Okay, up between home runs and so on. Bases.

Speaker 2 (01:09:42):
Yeah, the total of the two, yeah, I could. I
think he'll be good twenty to twenty five. I'll say
somewhere in that range. That's okay, a lot of these,
a lot of these, and the batting average won't kill you.
So like he's falling and he's going to continue to fall.
But I don't think it's going to be all in
one year. Rich, I guess that's where I'm getting it coming.

Speaker 1 (01:10:05):
So just I'll tell you what the data says, and
you can tell me I'm all wet. His average ex
velocity is down from what it was a few years ago.
But he's thirty four. I don't know when he's going
to be thirty five. He's an older player playing at
one of the most demanding spots in baseball. Right it's
all pool side power, so he steps in the bucket

(01:10:25):
a little bit. His launch angles and his big seasons
were much much more of a leverage swing. That's why
I saw more home runs. He's still hitting the ball
relatively hard, so if he added a little bit more leverage,
you might see a little spike go back up and
his home run power. But you thought he would have

(01:10:45):
done that in his walk year but he didn't, So
that's maybe he's just incapable of doing that anymore, because
it takes takes strength to do that to me, to
step in the bucket and really hit on the leverage swing.
So it looks like a guy who is it's you know,
it's aging. But I'm with ten, there could and they's
got decent speed seventy six percentile. I would not be

(01:11:07):
surprised to see fifteen to sixteen seventeen home runs an
eight to ten stolen bases.

Speaker 2 (01:11:14):
I think if you're looking, I know the NFC has
him at nineteen right now, I have him at sixteen.
I wouldn't be at all shocked if he, in fact,
in twenty twenty six earns as much as I'll say
number twelve overall.

Speaker 1 (01:11:34):
Yeah, I mean, I think as a low win, number
one catcher, I'm okay with that. If I miss out
on Ben Rice and Will Will Smith and some of
those guys, I'm okay with J t Romolto. I'm assuming
he's going to get.

Speaker 2 (01:11:48):
A job, yeah, hopefully hopefully with the Phillies. I think
that would be the ideal situation. But yeah, the banning
average won't kill you, and everything else should be okay,
and there's nothing wrong. There's nothing wrong with that when
you're when you're drafting a player with an ADP in

(01:12:10):
the two hundreds, right, low two hundreds, right, that's yeah, Yeah,
it's I don't.

Speaker 1 (01:12:17):
Yeah, talk to me about Kyle Teal.

Speaker 2 (01:12:21):
I like Kyle Teal, I I really do.

Speaker 1 (01:12:25):
I what do you like about them?

Speaker 2 (01:12:29):
I've always liked Teal. It's one of my favorite colors. Right,
so far, so good, Okay. I think the combination of
the hit tool and fifteen home runs could see him
elevate himself on this list. And I don't think for
a young player that's those are unreasonable expectations.

Speaker 1 (01:12:56):
Yeah, I would agree with that. Yeah, I think a
gross like it's only twenty three years old, so I
think there's stuff there. And he's always been a good hitter.
I don't know how much power he's going to have.
If you take a look at the data, I mean
that rejects velocity is eighty eight point three. Maybe there's
a little bit more juice in there, so, but it

(01:13:17):
feels like it's more fifteen type of home run pop
with a guy that can hit.

Speaker 2 (01:13:23):
Yeah, that's basically what I what I was looking at.
And the fact is that he's got the number one
job in Chicago, and if he plays well, he's got
a chance to develop his skills and play on a
regular basis that all those all those things count. You know,
I've got him ranked, I've got him ranked two slots

(01:13:44):
ahead of Bassallo, and one of the one of the
biggest reasons is the opportunity at hand. That's got to count.
And I'm a little bit concerned with Sam Bassalo. As
we mentioned in the first first segment to it.

Speaker 1 (01:14:00):
Would you think you'll start to downshift even more on him.

Speaker 2 (01:14:06):
Depending on what happens over the next month, month and
a half. Yeah, quite possibly. In dynasty keeper leagues, my
thoughts are still very strong. But for this year, there's
a lot of questions that need answering. And who knows,
Like you said, maybe they'll trade them. Yep, maybe you can't.

(01:14:26):
It can't be ruled out. If they trade him, he
could end up actually rising on this list fairly quickly
as well. If he gets into a situation where he's
got five hundred debts, you know, etched into the kitchen table,
then all of a sudden, some of the concerns that
we might have today might disappear because of pedigree. The

(01:14:46):
kid can play the kid can play ball.

Speaker 1 (01:14:48):
Yeah, I no longer have a feel for what the
Orioles are doing. I thought I was in tune with
what they where they were going, how they were approaching stuff.
The last two weeks have thrown me for a loop.
So I just all know what they're doing anymore to me.
Seventeen through twenty Carlers of Ayas, Austin Wells, who I
think you're pretty high on, Carter Jensen, and Logan o' hoppy.

(01:15:09):
What happened to Logan o'happy?

Speaker 2 (01:15:12):
What happened to Logan o' happy?

Speaker 1 (01:15:14):
It was eighth last season? You got him down at
twenty uh.

Speaker 2 (01:15:18):
When you post one thirty nine twenty four strakeout to
walk rate in four hundred and twenty three at bets,
it limits your upside potential significantly. He walked twenty four times,
struck over one hundred and thirty nine. That ain't They
ain't going to cut the mustard and unless we see
some change, he is going to be enjoy your career

(01:15:44):
until he starts falling off of twenty twenty five home
runs on the high side with maybe sixty seventy RBIs
and a two fifteen betting average.

Speaker 1 (01:15:55):
Yeah, it's funny because his two thousand his twenty four
season from a strike at the walk race, it's pretty
much the same. I mean, twenty nine point semberson strike
out rate, six point three percent walk rate last year
thirty point eight and five point three. Yeah, got worse,
but not that much worse. It's a guy that can't hit.

Speaker 2 (01:16:15):
Yeah. I was anticipating bigger and better things improvement, and
instead it looks like we got a replication that's not good.

Speaker 1 (01:16:24):
Is it not good at all? You're still pretty high
on Carter Jensen coming into the season, even though Salvador
Perez is going to get a lot of playing time
at catching.

Speaker 2 (01:16:37):
Yeah he could. Perez, I believe, got just over one
hundred games in catching last year. I don't see that
you change. Uh, Perez will get dh at bats, He
will get at bats at first base on occasion. Uh.

(01:16:57):
That still gives Carter Jensen and those immense skills plenty
of opportunities to get in two hundred and fifty at bats,
and they could be very very good at bats.

Speaker 1 (01:17:08):
I think, Toby think our final break get back out
of got the hard questions next, We've got to finish
up in ten minutes.

Speaker 5 (01:17:13):
Though, Okay, Joe back at thirteen.

Speaker 1 (01:17:27):
Slots ahead of where he's going in the NFBC. You
got at twenty four NFC, he's got him at thirty seven.

Speaker 2 (01:17:32):
Y opportunity and the fact that he's got some he's
got some solid skills. Hey, there's gonna be there's gonna
be some strikeouts in those eighteen homer seven stolen based
season at Triple A last year. The power is real,
and I think the opportunity for full time at bats

(01:17:52):
is a number one catchers sitting there in Miami. That's
a little bit bold. But when you look at the
other catch options, I don't see them. I don't see
them going out and getting JT. Real Muto. So I
think there's an opportunity for Joe Mack and I think
the power is such that I want to be I

(01:18:13):
want to be invested in that, in that young kid.

Speaker 1 (01:18:17):
If if memory serves me correct, you were a huge
Francisco Alvarez fan, not no more. Yeah, got nine slots
lower than where he's going in the NFBC.

Speaker 2 (01:18:27):
Yeah, last year I pronounced that the twenty five home
runs as a twenty year old and twenty twenty three
won't be his career best. I stand corrected after back
to back eleven home runs seasons by Alvarez at twenty
five homer season in twenty twenty three could very well
prove to be his career the best. I was expecting

(01:18:49):
more didn't get it, and it looks like as of
today the way things are sitting, I I'm down big
time on Alvarez. I'm just staying away. And I thought
he was gonna I thought he was going to have
a good year last year and it just didn't happen.

Speaker 1 (01:19:10):
Harry Ford just quick mention all that. I think he's
going to be moving up. He's thirty eighth guy ranked
by the NFC. You got him at twenty six. I
think he's only going to be going up because that
trade just occurred, and I think it opens up for him.

Speaker 2 (01:19:26):
Yeah. I've actually got him ranked higher than Cabard Ruiz
by what six lots? Yeah, the opportunities there. He had
a great year at tripa A. The kid can hit.
I don't think it'll be very long and I'm going
to bet by the All Star break where he surpasses.
Even though Ruiz is on a long term contract, it's

(01:19:48):
for relatively cheap bucks. I think I can see Harry
Ford being the number one catcher in Washington this year.
I like the kid that much. In the head to him.

Speaker 1 (01:19:58):
Yeah, the end of speed is speed. What's is fascinating
from a catching position? All right, Timmy, this was this
would have been an easy question last year because there's
so many guys that weren't in the top ten that
are now in the top ten. Give me a catcher
not in the top ten. Who's going to be there
at the end of the season.

Speaker 2 (01:20:16):
H I obviously the Ivan Herrera could potentially be there.

Speaker 1 (01:20:29):
That's way down. Oh he's not. Is he not on
this list?

Speaker 2 (01:20:33):
No, he's not because he's only d h ut eligible
or at the season. The obvious three I got Vassalo,
Kyle TiO, and Carter Jansen.

Speaker 1 (01:20:45):
Yeah, that's three I think guys.

Speaker 2 (01:20:47):
Yeah, the three young guys that I think have the
knicks have the opportunity to move up.

Speaker 1 (01:20:52):
Well, given your love for Joe McK and Caerry Ford.
Maybe not top ten, but well they could be because
look at look at some of these guys that you
it's up here from last season. There's two other guys
that you like a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:21:04):
Well, you got a couple of guys in the top
twenty that weren't listed last year period. They weren't drafted
in the NBC. I don't believe. So, yeah, anything is possible.
But the game at catcher is getting younger and there
are more kids coming into the game with very very
good skill sets. So hey, the future is looking very bright.

Speaker 1 (01:21:24):
All right, give me the guy in the top ten
that's not going to be there at the end of
the season. That one of Kyle Teel, Samuel Pisaiah, Joe
mackerry Ford, Carter Jensen will replace.

Speaker 2 (01:21:37):
Yeah, Hunter Goodman.

Speaker 1 (01:21:41):
I thought you loved Hunter Goodman.

Speaker 2 (01:21:44):
Hey, love the power, but all it would take is
a batting average to crumble and there's a problem.

Speaker 1 (01:21:51):
Hey, he does play for the for the Colorado Rockies too.

Speaker 2 (01:21:55):
So yeah, it's well, when I look at the top ten,
I don't think there's going to be a lot of
change in the top ten. And what I can see
is the top fifteen being all top ten equivalent, if

(01:22:16):
that makes sense. I think you're going to see players
from eleven to seventeen that are going to be all
moving up. But it's going to be hard. If you
know Rally and Contreras and Augustin Ramiers a power speed,
ben Rice Baldwin, Will Smith Perez, It's going to be
hard for these guys to fall out of the top ten.

(01:22:37):
I think what it's going to do is make the
top fifteen much more entertaining with much better options. It's
going to be it's the top twenty could be incredibly
strong even a year.

Speaker 1 (01:22:51):
I'm going to push back a little bit because you
have done such a bold, kind of aggressive move here
by putting a lot of these young kids up. Somebody,
Augustine Ramirez, Ben Rice Blake, Drake Baldwin, Hunter Goodman, somebody's
not going to perform.

Speaker 2 (01:23:11):
Possible quite possibly, Yes, I'm taking the other mind. I'm
gonna say that, I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna take the
opposite for the opposite approach and play Devil's I even
said they all have the potential to perform at that level. Now,
maybe they won't, which is entirely possible. But how do
you not like a Drake Baldwin after what he did

(01:23:34):
last year, or Augustin Ramirez with the power of speed.
There's only two catchers in the game. That had more
that had a higher total of home runs and stolen bases.
In Augustin Ramirez, Relly and Angela said that was it?
So how do you not recognize that talent? I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:23:58):
Well, first of all, Augustine Ramirez with a sixteen stole,
but I don't know how he did it, so because
there's only thirty one percentile and speed. But yeah, so
we'll see how that plays out. Let me ask you
a question. Not on our list. If Kyle Riley is
not the number one pick and William Contreras is not
the number one pick and catch her next season.

Speaker 2 (01:24:18):
Who is Ben Rays?

Speaker 1 (01:24:23):
Tim is the man? I love it right? Okay, give
me a couple of sleepers, Tim, a.

Speaker 2 (01:24:30):
Couple of sleepers? O kay, Joe Mack, Cooper Ingle.

Speaker 1 (01:24:39):
Oh yeah, I saw Cooper Ringle's good good call there.

Speaker 2 (01:24:42):
Well, hey, let's let's face it, our friend boy Naylor
has struggled. Hey, Cooper Ingle looks ready. Would I be
shocked if Ingle is the number one catcher in Cleveland
by the end of the year, No, I wouldn't. Jimmy
works in Saint Louis.

Speaker 1 (01:25:01):
Does does does Cooper Engle have a subscription to a
fan Fan, Uh oh, what is it not? Fan grass?

Speaker 2 (01:25:12):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (01:25:12):
The the gambling site. If you don't know part of
the joke, it's hard to tell the jokes. So a
drafted how about that? Do they have a subscription to draftings?
Dumb joke?

Speaker 2 (01:25:24):
I would think probably not. I would say that, you know,
with my sense of humor, i'd buy a copy of
their magazine if they haven't and leave it on the table, okay,
in the locker room. But I wouldn't want to be
caught doing it. Okay, So who else?

Speaker 1 (01:25:39):
A little bit deeper?

Speaker 2 (01:25:41):
Tim Jimmy Crooks? And if you want to go real deep,
how about oh I never space sell his spell either
or say his first or last name? Correct? Troy Tiger Fan?
Is these you Brisino?

Speaker 1 (01:25:58):
Ho'sway, Prisino?

Speaker 2 (01:26:00):
Way? There we go? Haswei Versino, There's a deep, deep
sleeper for you.

Speaker 1 (01:26:03):
I'm a huge houseway Barsina Fan. I'm in a bunch
of diny So I hope you're right there. If I will,
I'll just call out to my article. Gary Sanchez's data
looks really really good and in draft and hold leagues,
and I needed a fourth or fifth catcher Gary Sanchez. Okay,

(01:26:25):
I know you're not. I know you're not buying it,
but I'm telling you if you go take a look
at his Baseball Savant page and he only had one
hundred and nine plate appearances or something very small last year.
But he hit the ball really hard. And uh, maybe
he's he'll never be healthy. Maybe he'll go play in Japan.
I don't know. All I'm saying is in the forty

(01:26:45):
seventh round, I've only got three catchers on my Gary Sanchez.

Speaker 2 (01:26:49):
Yeah, and you know, if you're playing in the league
that used pass balls as a category.

Speaker 4 (01:26:54):
Wow, wow, Brax Braxton of the kid from Colorado, Yeah, exactly, Yeah,
I just.

Speaker 1 (01:27:13):
I don't know what he what do you want to know?
He didn't make my top. He didn't take make make
my top. I don't think he did. He didn't make
my top. Is he still a prospect eligible? No, that's
why he didn't make it, because he might still be
got a little bit of power. He's a decent catcher.

(01:27:35):
I question how much he can hit. He's never had
He's never made a ton of contact. But that's just
just me. So and he's OK. And he's a rocky.
To me, what do we do with rockies? We don't
touch this.

Speaker 2 (01:27:53):
Yes, I don't have many trade offers over Brenton Doyle
right now, Rich.

Speaker 1 (01:27:58):
Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happen. Wait, so
where you draft? Where you have him slotted in?

Speaker 2 (01:28:03):
To me?

Speaker 1 (01:28:04):
Great stuff. Sorry to cut it off so quickly, but
I've got to get off to dinner.

Speaker 2 (01:28:09):
So okay.

Speaker 1 (01:28:11):
Any final comments on catching Uh?

Speaker 2 (01:28:16):
Yeah, it's rather refreshing this year in that they are
space throughout the draft, as I mentioned in my intro,
and the only observation is that you asked about you
know players. I'm avoiding drafting the group from twenty to
twenty three. I have them there for a reason, but

(01:28:38):
they're very boring with a very limited upside. And I
get how they can fit into your plans, but they
won't fit into mine. I would rather have somebody from
the upper tier. And if I'm going to take a
little bit of risk, there are options that allow you
to take that risk, and I'd rather do that than

(01:28:59):
go with ten to fifteen, forty five to sixty RBIs
as a ceiling just me, but that's you.

Speaker 1 (01:29:08):
You're so who would those be that You're just You're
just not interested in.

Speaker 2 (01:29:13):
That. I'm not interested in that would be As I
scrolled up Logan o'habby Dylan Dingler, Tyler Stevenson, Carson Kelly,
I I just I just don't want to go there, Okay,
not when you got guys like Joe Mack or maybe

(01:29:34):
Harry Ford, you know, So.

Speaker 1 (01:29:37):
Take them outside the upside with the second catcher.

Speaker 2 (01:29:40):
Yes, and going with one of the top ten as
as my number one. I would rather play that game
than yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:29:50):
So so a draft strategy of Ben Reis or Blake
draw Drake Baldwin with a Harry Ford and Joe Mack
as your number two, that would be your strateg exactly,
got it, Timmy, great stuff, my friend. I'm gonna let
you go. Everybody have a good week, and timmy, good
luck with the rest of your draft. We can't wait
to hear how it winds up for you.

Speaker 2 (01:30:14):
I just here, I just heard a beep in the background.
My pick's getting closer. Rich, have fucking supper tonight and
looking forward to going through first base next Sunday with you.
So yeah,
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