Top 20 For 2026

Grey and B_Don are looking forward to 2026 and drafting their top 20 players on this week's Razzball Fantasy Baseball Podcast. While they may agree on the top 3 draft picks, what comes after that is anyone's guess. Do the veterans get the respect they deserve or are we chasing shiny young upside? Steals are a mystery, but both of us have our own conspiracy theories on the topic. Grey catches B_Don off guard by... listening to him. Listen and find out how many players can we label as 30/30 bats for 2026?

The guys discuss the pitchers at the top of the draft board and might even draft one (for mock draft purposes only). Which players are we buying for bounce backs, breakouts, or just continued excellence.  

*Grey and B_Don reserve the right to completely change their minds by the start of the 2026 season. Subscribe to the Razzball Patreon account to get Grey's rankings early. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
You like fantasy ball, sense a chasm that I shall
not me hear myself stun spans and they can't even
count some of unifor gas I surround. It ain't even.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Matter be health.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Well, yeah, several charges on everyone.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Nothing else, and I'm alreadium to.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Hear my baby sounds just like your name.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Was, Mark. And it's a ride by podcast.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
It's a rapp podcast. It's a rapp podcast. It's a
ride bo podcast. It's a rap up podcast.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
I don't have a rap up podcast.

Speaker 4 (00:52):
Got a turn off?

Speaker 1 (00:53):
It should rap bo podcast.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Welcome back, everybody.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
It is the Raspball Fantasy Baseball podcast for the last
time of twenty twenty five.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
I am beat on. That's great. The Fantasy Master Lithario.
Are you doing over there?

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Gray?

Speaker 1 (01:23):
I mean, I think we might do a winter meetings
one in twenty twenty five, so.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
That usually happens in twenty twenty six, but okay, maybe
we have one more meeting.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
No winter Meetings happens in December. Where are you.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
We don't talk about it until January, but that's okay. Well,
Gray is committing to doing this before January.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
Everybody just know that it's here. It's not me. It's
not me.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
It's not beat On, it's me. Yeah, cool man, Yo,
I'm in twenty twenty sixth mode right now.

Speaker 4 (02:03):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
That was a crazy end to what TV show am
I watch right now that hasn't finished yet. Wow? What
an end to that TV show task on HBO. Wow, man,

(02:25):
that was insane. Avatar was so good. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
He tells you won how many games and what the
run differentials were for definitely not betting purposes.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
I was trying to I was trying to get it
so if people were listening to this in January, people
would be like, oh wow, they must have just recorded this.
Very cool. It didn't work out. Okay, all right, beat On,
let's do this.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
Let's do it.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
If you haven't heard already, it is the top twenty
five draft, way too early, obviously. It is October sixth
as we're recording this. There is still baseball being played.
In fact, we were trying to get this done so
Grey can watch. Well, we can both watch the Dodger game.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
So let's get into it.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
Gray, any general thoughts that you had about twenty twenty
six and how it works out in your rankings While
you were kind of working on what your list looks like.

Speaker 3 (03:23):
Were there any any thoughts that kind of came to
your mind?

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Um no, no, special, No, not really. I yeah, I
mean I felt like it felt a little bit like
there was a large contingency of either guys who were

(03:49):
you know, good last year or guys who I'm like,
I'd give him a bye, But I'm basically talking about
Gunnar Henderson, Like, yeah, I was. I was basically like, yeah,
that guy was.

Speaker 5 (04:05):
Good last year.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
And then there's Gunner Henderson, who you know, Unfortunately, it's
gonna he's gonna have to be in the he's gonna
have to be in the twenty twenty six ranking somewhere.
I yeah, no, I I think the big thing that
my big takeaway is, like, you know something I I
sort of mentioned last week that you know, steals are

(04:30):
more or less just like how much a player really
wants to steal versus their ability, so taking them with
a grain of salt a bit, which you know, for
the longest time, it was like power and speed were
the two steady categories, and it was just like and

(04:52):
then runs in RBIs were a matter of where a
guy was in the lineup, and average is a lot
to do with luck and a and it can be fluky,
whereas like now I feel like it's really only homers
are really the only thing you can count on. You
can't out on anything. Homers and strikeouts.

Speaker 3 (05:13):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
Don't count on anything else, that's all. Everything is in
disarray going into twenty twenty six. Yeah, no, I mean,
you know, certain guys I feel like, like Corbyn Carol,
really like he jumps off the page to me for
the in the biggest way, because it's like the fact
that him and Josh Naylor basically stole the same amount

(05:37):
of bags, It's like that doesn't make any sense at all.
I just gotta have to I had to push a
little bit of that out of my head and be like, yeah, okay,
Josh Naylor stole you know, thirty plus bags or whatever.
He stole thirty bags, and you know, I just had
to pretend like he stole four bags and just go

(05:57):
from there because I don't think, you know, it's like,
I don't think those those steals were real, even though
they were. So it's just like it's a lot of
you know, looking forward, it becomes a lot of like
how much of this is real? I don't know. I
don't know. It's hard to say because you want to

(06:20):
be like, you know, Kirman Carroll, if he can steal
the same bags as Josh Naylor, you would think with
his speed he can steal sixty bags. Then, like it's
like you could put him down for anywhere from you know,
thirty homers to you know, twenty maybe somewhere between say

(06:40):
twenty four and thirty two, say, you know, roughly, Okay,
So that's that's a small little gap. But for steals,
it could be anywhere from like thirty steals to sixty seals.
That's a huge difference. And that's I feel like that's
being conservative of how a lot of players like La
de la Cruz is like that, Jose Ramirez, Bobby Wit Junior,

(07:05):
Juan Soto just stole, you know, almost stole forty bags,
which is ridiculous. One Soto is not fast, Like I
love Wan Soto, He's not a fast guy. He almost
stole forty bags out So it's like it's it's hard
to reconcile this where it's like cal Rawley, you know,
he hit sixty homers and he also stole a bunch

(07:28):
of bags that it's like how much of you know,
I don't know steals. I feel like real are much
flukier than they used to be with the pitch clock,
so you know, I feel like that was that was
a lot of me looking at guys because you know,
early on we're doing what the top twenty. Early on
you want guys who were five category performers, So I,

(07:49):
you know, I try and look at guys who can
do thirty thirty as a baseline. But a baseline of
thirty thirty is you know, thirty It could be thirty
steel or it could be you know, fifty sixty steals.
So anyway, it was just sort of that was that
was the thing that I was I was wrestling with

(08:09):
going into this.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yeah, I mean it's it's pretty reasonable to to what
you're saying, like what you what exactly what you said,
Like Naylor stole a ridiculous amount of basis, Kyle Raley
stole fourteen, Juan Soto's still thirty eight Byron Buxton twenty four.
I mean, there's just really weird numbers of steals out there,

(08:33):
and it's it's it's kind of hard to predict, except
for maybe at the top where you can say like
you're saying like it's thirty plus, but that plus could
be six or that plus could be another thirty, and
it's kind of anywhere in between, depending on what the
team wants, how that player's hitting, Like Corbyn Carroll was
on bait or hitting too many home runs in the

(08:56):
first half to steal any bases, and then he stole
a bunch of the second half because he wasn't hitting
the home runs.

Speaker 3 (09:03):
Which version of cordyin Carrol do we.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
Want somewhere in the middle would be nice, like a
nice thirty forty season, But we'll see where those people land.
I will say it felt less clear, like when I
was making this top twenty, and I think I said
twenty five its top twenty. Sorry for everybody at Helme
that thought we were doing five more. But it did

(09:25):
seem a little less clear as I was putting it
together than previous years, where I felt like there was
some mix up in like the teens and twenties that
you can do. But the top five, top ten even
felt pretty solidified, whereas I don't know that it's very
solidified other than maybe one in two for next year.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
Yeah, yeah, no, I agree. I think I think it's
kind of like the like what we were saying with
or at least I don't know. Maybe I was saying it,
maybe you were saying it, but or maybe neither of
us were saying it, and I read it somewhere. But
it's kind of like with you know, starting pitching, where
it's like Scooble and Schemes were clearly top two, and

(10:10):
then I came to respect Crochet as the top three.
So there's three there, and then it's like wide open.
It becomes like it becomes like four the starter number
four through starter number twenty is basically like flip a coin.
I guess, I don't know. I mean, there's guys for

(10:31):
sure that are gonna be like you know, in the discussion,
but it's a lot it's a lot less clear, and
I think, you know, for my top three, I don't
think it's really like that much of a mystery with Otani,
Judge and Wit so I feel like it's three as
well for a top For the top twenty, I feel

(10:52):
like there's three guys and then it's like basically, I mean,
you could you could kind of roll the die just
to figure out the fourth through the twentieth, but yeah.
I mean, I guess we'll see, let's go through it.
I guess yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
I mean I think you've already told us to your
number one pick is. I think we know who number
two and then apparently number three is.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
So I mean, let's just talk about those guys.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
I mean, would you go in any different direction just
because Otani is DH only wit has I don't know.
We all were taking win number one this year for
whatever reason we were thinking.

Speaker 3 (11:30):
I mean, it's not like he had a bat season.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
Otani's just amazing, and Aaron Judge is also ridiculous.

Speaker 3 (11:36):
It's just the way that it goes.

Speaker 1 (11:40):
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, who's uh, who's the who's the
first pick? Am my first pick? The first Okay? Yeah,
so Atani, I would say, uh, you know, I don't
think the DH in most leagues, the DH doesn't really
bother me. In a few leagues, it does because I
actually I rostered Otani this past year, and you know,

(12:04):
having in a few leagues I rostered him and having
them in uh you know, leagues where I had multiple
utility slots. I had them in one league like that,
and then I had him one league where he was
the where it was the only one utility slot, and
the one utility slot it did it It hampered things
a little bit, right, So there was a little there

(12:24):
was a bit of you know, there was a few
moments where during the year I would look at waivers
and I would be like, well, I don't really have
room for that guy because I don't have a utility
slot because you know, Otani's gonna be my utility guy,
and I don't have room for you know, this guy.
And whatever. He was like, you know, like say it

(12:47):
was Nick Kurtz. Like if I had you know, a
solid first basement and cornerman, I just didn't have room
for Nick Kurtz. If I had Otani at utility. You know,
it's a it's a good problem to have, obviously, but
there is a little bit like you do get hamstrung
a little bit with Otani where you can't always necessarily
pick up a guy you want. But with all that said,

(13:09):
I mean he has you know, he averaged now over
the past two seasons fifty four and a half homers,
because you know, fifty four homers and fifty five I
did the math, so that's a lot of homers. That's good.
This year, he clearly slowed down on the base pass
because of you know, not because not just because there's

(13:32):
a smaller number in the steels category, but I mean
he heard himself last year in the postseason stealing a bag,
so I mean there might have been he might have
been a little more tentive on the bays pass. Still, though,
that puts you know, a guy who's like baseline is
say conservatively say forty eight homers, twenty steals, two eighty

(13:56):
average with one hundred and thirty and one hundred plus
RBIs if that's your if that's a guy's baseline, and
then you throw in if you like are in a
daily league, the fact that you know, if you want
to get crazy with yourself, you could have a top
twenty starter. I mean it's like, I mean, he's a

(14:17):
no brainer as the first pick in my mind, Like
I don't see a scenario where, like if even if
I don't have the benefit of a daily league where
I know I'm only getting the hitter version of Otani
because in no weekly league, well I ever started him
as a pitcher. But if I'm only getting him in
a weekly league where he's only a hitter, I'm still

(14:41):
so happy with the with the hitting numbers that I
have no problem at all drafting him number one, and
I feel like he's so clearly number one, even though
you do get a little bit handcuffed with the utility
only thing. And if you're in a daily league and
you're able to once a week or however many starts

(15:01):
he ends up getting next year, if you're able to
move him into your pitching just you know, I don't
even know how often I would move him in because
his hitting is so good. But if you're able to
move him in as a pitcher, like you're next year,
you're gonna have a whole year of him pitching, you know.
Probably I want to say, they're probably gonna give him
like one hundred to one hundred and twenty innings next year.

(15:23):
I mean, it's gonna be it's ridiculous. I mean, his
numbers overall, I don't see any scenario where he's not
number one. I almost want to say he's number one
and then the next two guys are like two A
and two B, because I don't I don't think anyone
really touches Otani when you're when you're thinking about him,

(15:45):
especially in a daily league, like I don't think there's
any question at all Aaron Judge is as much as
I like Aaron Judge. Uh, you know, it's nice to
have him as an outfielder obviously, but I mean his
his numbers over even over even if you go over
the last two years. I mean, he gives you more

(16:07):
an average than Otani, but he gives you lesson steals.
He doesn't pitch at all obviously, so you know, for
a daily league, it's a no brainer with Otani. And
I think also with the h the power is basically
a push between Judge and Otani. So yeah, I mean,
I I really don't think there's any question at all

(16:27):
Otani's number one.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah, and I'm going Judge too. My counter would be, well,
Aaron Judge was worth more on the Player Rator this year.

Speaker 3 (16:37):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
The one the one thing I will say for Judge
is that he hits you know, further back in the lineup,
which allows him to hit more RBIs. That's kind of
a minimal thing, but that's why he ends up having
the dollar value that he does on the Player Raider. Now,
Atani next year will certainly have pitching to his his

(16:59):
dollar value, So I agree, it's not even a decision.
I would go Toni if he was sitting there, but
I will go with Aaron Judge and.

Speaker 3 (17:07):
Be very happy that I have, you know, the second
best player in baseball.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Yeah, definitely, and you know, arguably the best. I mean
he is Judges. A he's not a bad consolation prize
if you have the second pace.

Speaker 3 (17:21):
He's not.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
And let me ask you before we move on. You know,
we saw Toni Steel fifty nine. We've seen you know,
different people put up ridiculous stolen base numbers. Moon Sota
with thirty eight this year. We've seen the big Bobby
Witt junior year where he stole forty nine. We saw
Corbyn Carroll steel fifty four. When we see these big
numbers and I'm not even saying stolen bases like cal

(17:44):
Raley this year with home runs. When we see these
big numbers, do you do we have to expect that
they're gonna not happen again. Like obviously, projecting wise, we're
not going to project for that kind of number, But
projecting and thinking what's gonna happen slightly different, you know,
at least in my mind.

Speaker 1 (18:05):
Yeah, no, I want you know, I wonder with Otani,
you know, He's stole fifty nine bags last year. I
do kind of wonder if he didn't get injured, how
many steals we would have saw this year because he
was stealing bases pretty easily. But I would imagine, you know,
with him pitching now, the steels were gonna come down
a little bit anyway, you know, maybe it would have

(18:26):
been you know, more like twenty five to thirty steals
if he didn't hurt himself. But yeah, so I think
Otani's number is kind of like it's a little it's
like he's a little bit of a specific case example
with his steals coming down so dramatically, where some of
these other guys that you mentioned, like you know, Juan

(18:48):
Soto for instance, I was saying this all during September,
like he was clearly going for a forty to forty season.
He didn't get there, but he was going for it
so clearly, like his steel in August and September, We're ridiculous,
there's no way we're getting anywhere close to that. So
I you know, actually now that I say it, I mean,
I feel like each case is kind of a case

(19:11):
by case basis where it's hard to say across the board, like, oh,
cal Rawley's not gonna hit sixty. No, probably not. I mean, right,
but that I don't think that has anything to do
with whether or not Jan Soda is gonna steal, you know,
thirty eight bags. Again, I feel like each guy is
kind of their own sort of situation. But I do

(19:32):
think one Juan Soto, I do think his steals are
coming down. That's I mean, if that answers your question
at all.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yeah, I think it does to an extentp I hear
you're saying it's case by case. I think I'm more
on the in the camp of when those seasons happen.
There's it's a specific set of situations that come together to.

Speaker 3 (19:55):
Make that happen.

Speaker 2 (19:56):
Like mon Sota wanting to get to forty forty. I
think so Otani won in fifty to fifty and maybe
fifty five sixty, so I think he was going for
something specific. Corbyn Carroll when he put up fifty four,
the Diamondbacks weren't that good. He was in his first
full season. You don't care about a guy in his
first full season like you do after he's the most

(20:18):
important player on your team. Same with Bobby Wint. There's
a certain set of circumstances that happen where these seasons
can occur. So I guess I'm saying to some extent,
if there's a guy who's in a a first or
second year, it's more likely we're gonna see those or
you know, I mean, Wan so On and Otani are

(20:40):
just ridiculous.

Speaker 3 (20:41):
They can kind of just do whatever they want.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, it's actually it's kind of funny that, like, you know,
the as so many of these guys are, you know,
I mean, I don't think any of them are really
going for it in March or April. Well maybe maybe, uh,
you know, going for it, I mean like going for
like a thirty thirty season or something, except for of

(21:03):
course one Mancata, who you know, he obviously he's going for.

Speaker 3 (21:07):
It every year.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
One Moncatta's going to go forty forty this year, according
to one Moncata in March. No, but anyway, what's interesting
is like Juan Soto, I don't think was thinking forty
forty until it became a realistic possibility. So it's almost
like it's hard to really know, Like if Bobby Witt
is like, you know, stealing a bunch of bags in

(21:33):
like say April May, and he's at like, you know,
a twenty forty season in like September, he may be like, oh,
I want to get to fifty steals and steal ten
more bags in September, Whereas if he's at like, you know,
thirty steals on September first, he may be like, oh,

(21:56):
you know, I don't care about getting to like four
steals or something. You know, It's like I feel like
it's almost like it's kind of like of the moment
with like some of these guys where I like, I
don't really know no one. I haven't read anything about
Juan Soto going for forty forty. That was all just
like me guessing. But he really seemed to be stealing

(22:17):
a lot. Like you look at his numbers, it's like
he was not only stealing a lot in August in September,
but he was also getting caught a lot and not
exactly you know, a bit to the detriment of the Mets.
And no one was ever talking about like, hey, Juan
Soto is going for like personal stats versus what's good
for the team. No, I didn't, I didn't hear anything

(22:39):
about that. I mean, people were just happy he was
hitting the ball, I think, hitting homers and you know,
being overall good. I mean, you know, I love Won Sota,
not take anything away from him, but I do think
there is like a certain element of like it depends
on where the player is. Like if Bobby Witt has
a great first half, that may that may push him

(23:01):
to have, you know, do something in the second half
he wouldn't normally do versus like, you know, if he
struggles or if anyone struggles in the first half, you know,
that could change what they're doing in the second half.
As far as like going for like a goal, where
like if you know, if Bobby Wits like has thirty
if Bobby Witt has thirty five homers and say twenty

(23:24):
eight steals or something, just by on September first, he
may be like, oh, I want to get a thirty
five you know, I want to get a forty forty
season or something like. He may like like what he
has to be to start August and September may actually
you know, dictate what he does in those months that
you know, something that we can't predict here. I mean,

(23:46):
we're you know, it's like we don't know the future.
We don't know we don't know what these guys are
going to go for, Like with like cal Raley, Like
if he's sitting on forty seven homers on September first,
he may get to fifty. But if he's not, but
if he doesn't have like fifty five homers in the
last week, I don't know if Rob Manfred's giving him

(24:08):
the bouncy balls to get to sixty, you know. And
again we're just guessing he's getting bouncy balls, but I
mean he was really like I mean, he was barely
hitting the ball and it was going out of the bar.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
Just flying out the bar. We don't know they have
them and know they're there.

Speaker 1 (24:25):
And they and we know from past reporting that they
MLB did this with Aaron Judge when he was going
for the al home run record, Like it's on record
as saying like they they examined the baseballs Aaron Judge
was getting bouncy balls in September of that year, what

(24:46):
was it, twenty twenty three he was getting He was
getting bouncy balls that year. So it's not like this
hasn't happened before, like this this is something they do.
So I mean, I don't know if Kyle Roley was
getting bouncy balls, but in short seen that way. So
you know, again it's like you don't, like, you don't
know what possible accomplishment these players are going to be

(25:08):
going for in September that is going to drive them
to get that, you know, like if you know, like
if Bobby Witt is going for like a league record
for triples, he may get more triples because he may
be going for you know, it's like it's hard to know,
So I don't know.

Speaker 3 (25:25):
Anyway, Yeah, let's go ahead and move on. Who's your
third pick? You've already kind of youah.

Speaker 1 (25:30):
Bobby Wood Junior, I you know, and I think as
clear cut as Otani Judge for one two. I think
Bobby Wood Junior is clear cut for number three. I
I you know, like this year was a little bit
of a step back for him, but it was still
at the end of the day, I mean, he still
had a top ten year and that was like everything

(25:52):
going kind of blah for him for you know, for
a certain for a certain you know stretch of the
season where like his power was down and his steals
were they were well, they were up from last year,
but they were down from his career. His average was
down from last year, like he had a down year.

(26:14):
Runs and RBIs were down, and he still was top
ten because at the end of the day, you know,
like like we always say that, it's like if a
guy's doing power and speed, it makes things a lot
easier to get fantasy value. You know. It's it's like
if a guy's hitting homers and stealing bags, it makes
things easier to provide fantasy values. So the fact that

(26:37):
he had a down year, I would expect, you know,
I would expect a bounce back, and a bounce back
for him is like, you know, he's a top three
player easily, and you know, if anyone is gonna unseat
Judge and Otawi, I would. I would say, Bobby, what,
Junior has as good a chance as anyone with what

(26:59):
he does, you.

Speaker 6 (27:00):
Know, being able to hit thirty homers and stealing fifty
bags and hitting you know three ten plus you know,
with pretty neutral luck and stuff.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
So yeah, I like Bobby with Junior lot I would
go number three for him.

Speaker 2 (27:18):
Agreed on everything he said, No need to say anything else.
Number four is it was a tough decision. Great I
came down to, I mean a handful of guys who
all kind of I felt like they belong there, but
they can go any order. So I'm going to start
with at four, Corporn Carrol, and the reason being he's

(27:40):
thirty thirty, did this year two fifty nine. I feel
like he's getting both parts of his game together. He's
entering that prime spot of his career at twenty five
to twenty eight. I just feel like this is a
easy bet on thirty thirty with upside for we've seen

(28:01):
fifty four stolen bases from him.

Speaker 3 (28:04):
If he continues anything.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
Close to the power we saw on the first half,
if that's just the profile he decides, it could be
forty home runs and twenty stolen bases instead. Both are
really nice lines. There's one person who probably deserve to
go number four, but I'm going with.

Speaker 3 (28:21):
The age and just the prime of their career rather
than what they did this season.

Speaker 1 (28:28):
Yeah, you know, I like Corvin Carroll. I'm not gonna
argue it. I'm gonna go with pick number five. I'm
gonna go with who I think you were probably alluding to,
Jose Ramirez. I don't have, you know, not a ton
to say. I think his numbers speak for themselves. He's

(28:49):
a you know, perennial thirty thirty guy, doesn't hit for
a bad average, even though I think may maybe some
people feel like his uh you know, his one down
side is maybe average. But I mean he hit two
eighty three last year. He hit two seventy nine the
year before, to eighty two the year before that. I
mean he's he's a two eighty hitter. So yeah, I

(29:12):
mean thirty thirty, two eighty, you know, perennially, it's not like, uh,
you know, it's a Corbyn Carroll did it for the
first time, you know last year. Uh, you know, Jose
Ramirez is basically average is it for his career and
over the course of like, you know, eleven seasons, So yeah,

(29:35):
Jose Ramirez. Uh and third base is a good position
to lock up early. So yeah, Jose Ramirez for me.

Speaker 3 (29:42):
Yeah, no problem with it at all.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
Like I said, I'm just going with the upside and
age of Carrol versus the amazing consistency we have seen
from Jose Ramirez, who is awesome.

Speaker 3 (29:54):
Number six.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
I don't think we're getting the steals back, but I'm
gonna take Juan Soto just feels a very safe forty two,
seventy one hundred and twenty hundred and ten, like just
put in the bank and enjoy it, and the steals
maybe they're there, maybe they're not.

Speaker 1 (30:14):
Yeah no, I was Yeah, No, I think that's fair.
I feel like one said is probably the easiest.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
He feels the safest of the group that's coming. He's
the one I can point to be like, I'm pretty
sure I know exactly what he's gonna do, or at
least some semblance of what he's gonna do, whereas the
rest of this list is.

Speaker 3 (30:36):
Could be all over the place.

Speaker 1 (30:38):
Yeah, yeah, no, totally, I think, uh you know the guy.
Uh so I'm gonna go with for my seventh pick,
I'm gonna say Ellie de la Cruz. So, you know,
talking about being all over the place, his stats are
all over the place, even though they're relatively similar year

(31:00):
over year. You know, at least as far as his average,
he had two, he had two fifty nine, then two
sixty four. His power was twenty five homers that last
year or this year it was twenty two homers, so
those two are pretty similar. His steals were way down
this year, you know, from sixty seven steals to thirty seven.

(31:23):
So that goes back to what I was saying, you know,
earlier in the show, when I was saying, steals are
really have become so unpredictable with the pitch clock, it's
hard to know what you're gonna get. But I will say,
for Elie de la Cruz, I will assume you can
get sixty steals. Now, whether you get sixty steals, I
don't know about that, but even if you don't, say

(31:44):
you get, you know, forty steals this year was thirty seven.
Say it's forty. So his twenty two homers this year
was like that was basically having nothing in the second half.
It was a it was all first half more or less.
He hit four homers in the second half this year

(32:06):
and two thirty six.

Speaker 5 (32:09):
He played.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
I mean he played every day. He's he played one
hundred and sixty two games, so you know that's good
for runs and RBIs. He hit to sixty four. So
while he did have a bad second half in average,
but he still had a good enough average overall that
it didn't really kill you. Over one hundred and sixty

(32:31):
two games, that's still decent. Two sixty four. The power
and the speed are really the only question marks the
park is good. He obviously can hit a ton of homers.
I feel like we have not even scratched the surface
of how good of a season we can get from
La So I feel like I'm I'm not going to

(32:53):
project him for it. But if there's anyone who can
go forty forty to seventy, it's gonna be a De
la Cruz, you know, and that's that's gonna be top
you know, three overall fantasy type numbers. I would I
would assume his projections probably I'm gonna guess right now
that his projections are gonna fall around like twenty five homers,

(33:16):
forty steals, two sixty. It's not bad. I'll take it
at pick number seven.

Speaker 3 (33:24):
Yeah, I have no problem with it.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
It's a it's a little bit of a risk just
given what he did in the second half. But as
you mentioned, very talented. The strikeout rate came down, which
was always the issue. You're just like, oh, it's gonna
bottom out sometime because he he just strikes out too much.
That actually got better this year, even though his numbers
went down. And I know Great hasn't listened to listen

(33:47):
to me. But if you were listening to me earlier.
I do think the sixty seven was, you know, Ellie
being young, not as valuable at the time, and the
Reds being really bad and they just let him run.
I don't think I'm projecting sixty four m, but he
could definitely steal forty plus.

Speaker 3 (34:04):
And that's like cam Corbyn Carroll.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
They're basically they can steal as many as they want
or as the team allows them to. It just depends
on what that looks like, depending on their seasons and
in the organization.

Speaker 1 (34:17):
Yeah, I agreed. I think, uh, I think that's a
good point. I and I and I do listen to
you be on occasionally. I do, and I hear your point,
and I agree with it. I think there is a
certain element to like I think what you're saying is
like they are like the lynchpins of their teams, and

(34:38):
you know, steals are are a way, a good way
to get hurt, and you don't and a team probably
doesn't want their you know, main offensive weapon to get hurt,
so they're gonna be like, maybe you don't steal sixty
plus bags, maybe more like thirty five.

Speaker 2 (34:57):
Yeah, take the easy ones, don't don't just steal because
you're on first base every single time, right, all right?
Next up, Gray, I'm going with a player that I
really hope returns to his current team, and that is
Kyle Tucker. Again, it just there's kind of a group

(35:19):
of players that can go. Kyle Tucker feels the safest,
and I don't think he's coming back to regularly unfortunately,
but that will help his fantasy value because the home
runs will probably go up. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
I don't think he was. I think I probably had
him a little bit lower than this, But it's not
you know, it's not crazy, you know. I feel like
my big problem with Kyle Tucker is just like where
is he gonna be, and like what lineup is he
gonna be? Can?

Speaker 3 (35:50):
Can?

Speaker 1 (35:50):
Can the Rockies sign him? Please? That would be awesome
at least there would be awesome in theory. And then
they'll get to April and he'll have like a recurring
back issue and never play again.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
That's what we should have led the show off with, Gray.
Is Kyle Tucker going to the Rockies? Random news?

Speaker 1 (36:12):
Yeah that's true. Yeah, yeah, Well I just got back
from the Winter meetings and I'm happy to report Kyle
Tucker just signed with the Roers. Yeah, Kyle Tucker's. You know,
he's so good that as long as he's healthy, and
I think he's young enough where I'm yeah, I like

(36:34):
Kyle Tucker's though I don't think uh, I don't think
his best days are behind him, even even though he
did have a little bit of h if he passed
two seasons because of injuries. Anyway, Uh, for my pick,
I'm going with another guy who's a perennial thirty thirty guy,
even though he's only done it twice, but that's two

(36:56):
times out of what four seasons. I mean, go Julio Rodriguez.
So hopefully Julio Rodrigo shows up in the first half
of this season. I'm I'm hoping the Mariners. Uh, well,
by the time you listen to this in January, you
will have known who he will know whether or not

(37:17):
the Mariners went deep into the offseason or deep into
the post postseason. I think Julio Rodrigoz really is like
I mean, I feel like he's a thirty thirty guy
and not even playing until June. So that's I mean
that in some ways, that's like, oh God, that's you
know that that feels like a drain a bit to

(37:39):
take in the first round. But if you think about
the fact that a guy is a top ten guy,
uh you know this year he was, he was eleventh
on a Player Raider. So if you think about a
guy who's like eleventh on the Player Raider who doesn't
show up until June, I mean, that's pretty good considering
you know, like Ellie, I took Ellie before in my

(38:02):
last book, I took Ellie. He stopped showing up in July.
Julio shows up in July, so you know, trade trade
one for the other. No, I think Jay Rod is
you know, as safe as safe as you can say
a thirty thirty guy is. And he's another one where
like if Juan Soto can steal thirty eight bags, Julio

(38:24):
Rodriguez can steal fifty. I mean it's like not not
even a question. Will he know? Probably not. I you know,
again going back to what beat On said that he
that he thinks I don't listen to Jay Rod is
more or less the centerpiece to the I mean, I
know they have cal Rawley, but Jay Rod is really like,

(38:44):
I mean, he's their centerpiece and he's there, you know,
he's one of their stars. I guess cal Raleigh, but
we'll see where that goes with cal Rawley. So jay
Rod is not going to be a guy that they're
gonna send every single time, or or one to run
that much. But you know, even with all that said,
he's easy thirty homer power, thirty steel speed. He hits

(39:10):
he said two seventy four for his career, so he's
not a drain on average. I think a forty forty
season definitely, Like if he shows up in April and May,
he could easily go forty forty three hundred. So yeah,
I'm a fan, and yeah I'm taking I'm taking jay Rod.

Speaker 3 (39:31):
Yeah, I have no problem with it.

Speaker 2 (39:32):
It's basically the same numbers as I would say for Tucker,
except you get it over a full season rather than
three months. I don't know if that's better or worse,
but it eventually comes out to the the same. And
then you're right, jay Rod does have does have forty
forty upside, There's no question about that. Somebody that has

(39:52):
forty seventy upside Gray is who I'm gonna go with next,
and that is Ronaldacuna Junior. I don't think we're seeing
forty seventy ever again from him, But I'm gonna go
with Ronald Pon Jr. I completely understand it was not
what we wanted to see completely from him, but in

(40:13):
an injury return season, he hit two ninety twenty one
to nine in ninety five games. Fully expect him to
come back next year and be at least the power
hitter we are used to, and I expect at least
some of the steals come back. I don't ever expect him,
I gains he said, to be a seventy or even
a thirty. There's necessarily a thirty home run guy or

(40:34):
stolen based guy. But forty twenty two eighty, that's that's
perfectly fine.

Speaker 1 (40:41):
I just realized if you combined his previous season and
this season, he went twenty five to twenty five. I mean,
I don't I don't know that, and a dollar is
not getting you a card. I'm just saying, I don't
know where. I don't know what that means, but yeah,
it's it's a something I guess I like, you know,

(41:03):
I like Rondi Kunya Junior a lot too. I feel
like that is that's around where he's gonna go. I
would think I.

Speaker 2 (41:13):
Don't know how he goes much later. There's a few
people you can definitely take above him.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
But yeah, I mean, I don't know how he drops much.
I mean, he's in He's probably in that ten to
twenty range, though, I mean I could see I could
see him going twenty ish twenty, maybe twenty two ish.
Ten feels you know, it feels like I'm a high side,
but not crazy. I think it's like a matter of

(41:39):
like we also, we don't draft.

Speaker 5 (41:41):
Pitching at all, so I mean there is that in
some some mock drafts, but they're the actual pitchers might
have been drafted ready.

Speaker 1 (41:51):
But yeah, we're we're not doing that. We're not doing
that nonsense. So anyway, Okay, so my pick at number eleven,
I'm gonna take. I think he actually I want to
say he did he go up this year? Yeah, I
want to say he went for He went a little
bit later than this spot last year, but not that much,

(42:15):
not that much later, but in the top twenty. Anyway,
mystery Sawve Jackson Cheerio is who I'm going with that
number eleven. I think he went around like nineteen or
twenty last year. Anyway, strikeouts down a little bit average
is you know, he's a two seventy five hitter again.

(42:35):
He's he went twenty one twenty one this year, but
it was only in one hundred and thirty one games
because he had I believe he had hamstring issue, which
he's actually dealing with I think in the in the postseason.
But yeah, I mean, you know, if he gets if
he gets injured again this year in twenty twenty six,

(42:57):
if he gets injured and he only plays one hundred
and thirty games at that point next year, at this time,
we may have to start thinking of him as one
hundred and thirty game season guy. But for now, I'm
still thinking of him as a guy who can go
for one hundred and fifty games and go thirty thirty
and to seventy. I mean, he's also he's twenty one

(43:20):
years old. He doesn't turn twenty two until March of
next year. So I you know, I feel like, again
the sky's kind of limit here, I see. You know,
the worst case scenario is you get another twenty twenty
season of two seventy five with ninety runs and eighty

(43:42):
RBIs and it's in one hundred and thirty games. Again,
because he shows himself to be actually injury prone and
not just have flukey injuries, that he actually has a
recurring injury thing, but that I feel like the upside
alone is worth grabbing him at some point around here

(44:03):
in the draft where, you know, because your upside is
basically I mean, the sky's the kind of the limit here.
I mean, he can go. I could see him going
forty thirty. I could see him going thirty thirty. I
could see him going thirty forty. I mean, I feel
like you really have just scratched the surface of how
good Jackson Cheerio can be. And you know, I like

(44:26):
that at eleven overall. So yeah, I'm taking Jackson Cheerio.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
Yeah, there's like a seven person tier here where I
just kind of separated them as I needed to, and
he's definitely in that tier. I do have him a
little bit lower, but there's no problem with it.

Speaker 3 (44:42):
I love Jackson Cheerio.

Speaker 2 (44:45):
I am gonna go with the number twelve pick with
Fernando Tatis Junior. I mean, thirty thirty, I feel like
they're still upside. He's twenty six years old. The strikeouts
came down this year. He had the best walk rate
he's ever had. He still has the ball just as
hard as he ever has. I just I love Fernando
Tatis Junior. And he played a full season this year,

(45:07):
which is the one was the one knock on him
was when are we going to get one hundred and
fifty games out of him?

Speaker 3 (45:13):
And we finally got it.

Speaker 2 (45:16):
Yeah, no, I.

Speaker 7 (45:17):
Agree, I see, uh yeah, I find I think Fernando
Tatis Junior for me is like, I mean, I think
he was at I think he was also around like
between nine and thirteen last year, and I don't think
he really did anything either way.

Speaker 1 (45:36):
To really change his ADP. Like he was sort of
he was relatively like like he definitely I mean he
he sort of cooled off power wise, but he still finished.
He finished twenty seventh on the Player Raider, and that's
including pitchers who were not including no but I'm saying though,

(45:59):
like he was still like twenty seven on the Player Raider,
and he, you know, probably had he cooled off a
little bit with the power in the second half, and
he was a little bit like, you know, a little
bit less than what you were expecting maybe, but still
because of power speed, hitting twenty five homers and stealing

(46:20):
thirty two bags and hitting two sixty eight. I mean
there's just like there's it's so you can only.

Speaker 8 (46:27):
Be so bad if you're going twenty five thirty two
in fantasy baseball in a five by five format, I mean,
twenty five thirty two, It's like, okay, that's you know, especially,
I mean he played one hundred and fifty.

Speaker 1 (46:40):
Five games, so there was none of that nonsense of like, oh,
he can't play a full season. He played a full season.
He had one hundred and eleven one hundred and eleven runs,
seventy one RBIs. I mean, he had. He did everything
you really wanted, except maybe a little bit like it
would have been nice if he went thirty thirty, but
twenty five thirty two is not bad. So yeah, no,

(47:01):
I like, I think he was either my next pick
or you know what, he would have been up there
for sure with uh at some point. So yeah, I
like the pick. Okay, so pick number thirteen for me.
There's a bunch of you know, I'll be honest, there's
a bunch of boring picks with you. I'm not going

(47:27):
to do him because I you know, I love my
audience so much. I'm not going to do boring.

Speaker 3 (47:35):
I feel like there's like three guys. I assume you're
going with here. I don't know what's wine, but.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
You're not going with I know who you're not going with,
So I know it's one of three guys left here.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
Yeah, no, I mean, I don't know. Maybe some people
would consider him boring. I don't know. I again, it's
like thirty thirty rules to day, right, So if you're
going thirty thirty, you can only be so bad. And
now we're looking at what one, two, three, almost three
seasons in a row where he's gone thirty thirty. In

(48:12):
twenty twenty four he went thirty three twenty nine, so
he just missed thirty thirty. And it's Juan Soto's teammate,
Francisco Lindor. He's a career two seventy three hitter, thirty
thirty every year he hits. He plays nearly every game,
if not every game, So you're looking at you know,

(48:33):
roughly one hundred and ten runs, eighty five ish RBIs,
thirty homers, thirty steals to seventy average. I mean, it's like,
I don't know, maybe maybe he's so good it's become boring.
But you know, on the Player Raider this year. He
was where he was ninth overall on the Player Raider

(48:54):
this year. So yeah, I mean he was great again.
He's just con he he is actually by I think
me taking Lindor at thirteen, he's actually underrated, even though
I'm saying he's underrated. I mean, even though like I

(49:15):
am underrating him even as I pick him at thirteen.
And that's like, you know that Sayson, Like you know,
I I did not you know, I didn't draft Kyle Tucker.
But there's a case to be made Lindor is better
than Tucker. I I would say, you know, Lindoor or Akunya,
I mean, you know, it's like I love rod Or,

(49:37):
I love I love him. I think, you know, it's
hard to say why Lindoor is, you know, always sort
of underrated, even you know, even though he's so consistently good.

Speaker 3 (49:51):
But I don't know.

Speaker 1 (49:53):
I like him though, and I yeah, I'm taking Lindor there.

Speaker 2 (49:57):
Yeah, I mean it's it's always a good pick when
he take Lindor. He just does his thing every season
I had him in this group as well. There's I mean,
it's just, uh, I feel like everybody we've talked about
everybody sees that they can do more than thirty thirty,
or at least you have visions of it, whereas I

(50:18):
feel like people just take lind Door in like thirty thirty, two, fifty, two,
sixty whatever, that's still amazing, Like it's it's nothing to
turn your nose up at.

Speaker 3 (50:31):
And uh, he should have gone.

Speaker 2 (50:33):
He probably should have gone like right after Je Soda
or Jose Ramirez or in that group.

Speaker 3 (50:39):
Rather than them back here in this group. But this
is where we both have him. So this is where
he goes.

Speaker 2 (50:45):
And part of the reason he's back years because you
know you can get him and later I got him
in the second round and drafts Gray and people, why
are you taking lindorm like cause he's good.

Speaker 3 (50:55):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (50:55):
I don't understand the question. So there's nothing wrong with that.
All I'm going to go in a slightly different direction
of I we talked about it up top. We just
love him, and I'm just gonna draft him and hope
for the best. And that is Gunner Henderson. He has

(51:15):
the possibility of going forty thirty.

Speaker 3 (51:18):
He has the.

Speaker 2 (51:19):
Possibility of going seventeen thirty like he did this season,
or twenty eight ten in his rookie season. All aren't
that bad, and there's just so much upside if he's
finally healthy. Gray, we thought we were gonna get it
this season. He got injured obviously, so I'm still expecting
it to.

Speaker 1 (51:38):
Happen, though. Yeah, I mean, he really burnt me back.

Speaker 3 (51:43):
Yeah, he burned a lot of us.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
A lot of people really loved Gunner Henderson and he hurt,
but he still hit the ball really really hard even
though the.

Speaker 3 (51:54):
Power numbers came down.

Speaker 2 (51:55):
So I'm fully expecting to come back after a full
off scene season of recovery, especially at his age.

Speaker 1 (52:04):
Yeah, you know, I feel like I'm gonna be in
on Gunner Henderson again as well. Yeah, it's gonna it's
gonna be even especially frustrating when he has another terrible season.

Speaker 5 (52:19):
It's gonna be really really like, I mean, fool me one,
shame on you, fool me twice.

Speaker 1 (52:25):
I am a moron. I mean, I'll be there though, man,
I you know, Gunner Henderson. For me, I feel like
Gunner Henderson is gonna be like Russian Roulette, where it's
like I'm gonna want to draft him at some point
in the second round and it's gonna be like do

(52:45):
I pull the trigger here or do I wait like
another like spot or two. You know, like it's gonna
it's gonna be hard because it's gonna be like I
want him, but I also who don't want to draft him?

Speaker 3 (53:02):
Like I said, it's gonna be Its gonna be.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
A little bit like a waiting game where it's like, oh,
this is like a good I think there's a good
spot for him, even though like really, I mean, if
he I mean, even in a terrible season last year
he went seventeen thirty to seventy four, if he just
bounces back a little bit in the power the fact

(53:26):
that the Oreos brought in their fences too is so hilarious.
But if he just bounces back to like twenty seven
homers and steals again like he did, you know, it's
like that's you know, it's basically Lindor you know. I
also like the fact that, like what we were saying

(53:47):
earlier with the you know, when a guy is approaching
like a a an accomplishment, Like I really do think
that there is something to the fact that like Gunner
Henderson ended up stealing thirty bags because you close to
that number, like if he would have, if he would
have been close to like, you know, forty bags, he
would have stole that, you know. I don't know. I

(54:09):
just feel like there is something to it that it's like, oh,
I'm at twenty seven steals, like oh, I'm gonna steal
three more, just so it's a round number. Whereas like
if he was already, if he was at thirty steals,
I don't know if he would have, you know, stole
those last three bags in the final week.

Speaker 2 (54:26):
You know, or not.

Speaker 1 (54:27):
I don't know. Maybe there's nothing to that, but yeah,
I like, I like Gunder Henderson. There, I'm I'm fine
with the pick. Okay, so you know, so I'm between
a couple guys here, not I'm not between any pictures.

Speaker 2 (54:48):
There's still at least a handful of picks away for
both of us.

Speaker 1 (54:51):
I would have say, yeah, I'm not, I'm not in them,
not in that range. I'm not. I'm not looking at pictures,
but I am looking at guys. I you know, I
think I'm gonna, uh, this is gonna be a this
might be a little bit of a shocker, but I
think I'm gonna go with Nick Kurtz. I you know

(55:17):
I because I feel like he's he's at We're at
that point where it's like, who's the first basement, the
top first basement off the board. I think I'm going
with Nick Kurtz because like in one hundred and seventeen
games last year, he hit thirty six homers, ninety runs,

(55:37):
eighty six RBIs hit two ninety a little bit high
on the babbit, but it's also it's the stadium, So
the stadium he plays and is gonna help a babbit,
and he's gonna hit for a decent average even though
the case were a little high. So it's basically like
who's the first first basement off the board. I was
looking at Vlad, I was looking at Pete Alonzo. I

(55:59):
I think it's Nick Kurtz for me, and I think
at fifteen overall, I mean it feels aggressive, but I
also think I'll never have the fifteen. I will never
have Nick Kurtz at fifteen because I know, well, what
I'm imagining will happen is, you know, at pick nine
or something, someone is gonna take Scooble. I pick ten,

(56:23):
someone's gonna take Skeens. I pick eleven, someone's gonna take Crochet.
I'm gonna be at pick eighteen or nineteen, and that's
where I'm gonna be looking at with Nick Kurtz. So
I don't think I'm ever really taking Nick Kurtz at fifteen,
but I will draft him in this exercise because I
do think the sky is absolutely the limit. Like I

(56:44):
feel like his baseline right now for me, his projections,
if I had to guess, they're probably gonna be like
ninety five runs, forty five homers, one hundred and five
are eyes and say two seventy five ish, like somewhere

(57:07):
in that range. Maybe maybe a little bit higher on average,
but somewhere in there. And that that is like you
know where people oh and you know, maybe three steals whatever,
but that is kind of like you know where last
year people were taking Vlad Junior with a lot less
expectations than that at pick twelve. So yeah, I'm happy

(57:31):
taking Nick Kurtz here. You know, I've I've tuck myself
into it. Nick Kurtz from President Let's go man, I'll
go maybe.

Speaker 3 (57:42):
I mean he's gonna go early.

Speaker 2 (57:43):
There's gonna be some helio healing on him for sure,
because he was amazing obviously.

Speaker 3 (57:50):
And you know, Gray, if this were a real draft.

Speaker 2 (57:54):
There's somebody I would take, but I know for a
fact that you're not going to take him. So I'm
just gonna let him drop to me, and so I'm
gonna go with somebody else instead. We all know exactly
who I'm talking about. It's not a surprise to anybody
about who I'm gonna eventually take in this draft.

Speaker 3 (58:18):
But as of right now, I'm gonna go in a
direction I'm gonna go.

Speaker 2 (58:26):
So now I'm between two people because I already had
who I was gonna take. But again, I can wait.
I know you're not gonna take him.

Speaker 1 (58:31):
Did you have Nick Kurtzie or Top twenty?

Speaker 3 (58:34):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1 (58:35):
Okay, I'm gonna take another hard Sorry, nothing terrupt, but
this is like fifteen fifteen to twenty is hard.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
Man.

Speaker 1 (58:43):
I have like a bunch of guys where I'm like,
you know, not to you know, step on what you're
gonna say. But like I'm like Vlad Junior, I got
pedalanz Out, I got Kettle Marte, I got Jazz Machado,
Trey Turner, like a lot of guys here, like I
mean kind of kind of okay, I mean kind of boring,

(59:05):
but not all of them are boring. Like you know,
Jazz is a little bit exciting going into his contract year,
but Flat and Pete are like, yeah, and I know
I didn't even I ignored the person you're gonna say,
I didn't even mention them because I know, I know
you're I know you want to reveal them yourself.

Speaker 3 (59:26):
But I'll take him at twenty because he's not on
your list. I know he's not on it.

Speaker 1 (59:29):
I'm just taking on my list. But yeah, anyway, there's
a bunch of guys here who are valuable and will
be picked in this area, but they are kind of boring. Anyway,
go ahead, yeap uh.

Speaker 2 (59:44):
My boring pick in this area is a forty five
home run, seven home stolen base, ninety three two sixty
four hitter who plays the worst position in Fantasy baseball,
and that is Junior Camanaro. Happy to have Junior camer
and Arrow take their base at sixteen. I mean, I

(01:00:04):
feel like he goes right after Kurtz probably just this
is what's gonna happen. Kurts will go and then Cameron
Arrow will go.

Speaker 1 (01:00:12):
I'm gonna take I'm gonna take Caylee.

Speaker 3 (01:00:16):
No, you're not. Don't even lie. You don't even want him.

Speaker 1 (01:00:22):
No, I'm taking him because that's what you're waiting for twenty.

Speaker 3 (01:00:27):
I just wanted to make sure he got drafted. Great,
he deserves to get drafted.

Speaker 1 (01:00:32):
I'm taking Kyle Schwarber at seventeen. I you know, I
like Kyle Schwerbber so much. I was gonna take him
my five. Actually, I was gonna take him even though
five wasn't. I was gonna take my four, and four
wasn't even my pick. I was like, four, No, that's
not my pick.

Speaker 5 (01:00:46):
Five.

Speaker 1 (01:00:47):
I kind of want Jose Ramirez seven. I kind of
want Ellie nine.

Speaker 4 (01:00:51):
I kinda want Jay Ruck And I kept coming back
and forth, and eventually I'm like, you know what, Kyle Schwarber,
I am stealing your twentieth pick.

Speaker 1 (01:01:03):
Sorry, he's gone.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
That's okay, because I'm actually gonna steal who I think
you would have taken had I not said anything, and
that is James Wood.

Speaker 1 (01:01:16):
No, seriously put him back in.

Speaker 3 (01:01:20):
You want to swamp. You want to make a trade
right here? First top.

Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
First ever mock draft trade was uh. The first ever
mock draft trade was executed by Gray O'Brien and beg.
James Wood is awesome too, man, you know what. I
love James Wood. I feel like he's gonna be under
drafted too, because like he had a miserable second half

(01:01:48):
and he still ended up good because he's still so good.
I mean, God, if I can get like, if I
can get who potentially, I feel like what is gonna go?
I think what's gonna go a little bit later than this?
So I think if I could get like Ellie and
then turn around and get James Wood, Oh my god,

(01:02:11):
I'm literally saying that had this year. I'm living the
same name here over and over.

Speaker 2 (01:02:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:02:21):
Uh forget it good. I'd say what you're gonna say
about James.

Speaker 2 (01:02:25):
Uh No, I was just gonna say he kind of
fits the narrative that we were talking to that we
were talking about before, where he's gonna be in his
second full season. The Nationals are terrible. They will let
anybody run who wants to run. And he's way faster
than Josh Naylor. Like, why couldn't he do a thirty
thirty season if he wants to gray.

Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
Yeah, easily. And also I think unlike, well, I mean
maybe that's what you're you're you're saying, but I think
unlike the uh, the Ellie's and the Corbyn Carrols, it's
like the Nationals are really like they don't have anything
going for them.

Speaker 3 (01:03:03):
So, oh, bases are the highlight of the game in Washington.

Speaker 2 (01:03:08):
You have to have them. There's gotta be some kind
of like free meal deal when they get three of
them in a game.

Speaker 3 (01:03:15):
There has to be because that's the only thing they
can do.

Speaker 1 (01:03:20):
Exactly. It's like all they have is steals. They are
they're so sad. Oh man, Yeah, So I think I
think what I think what you're saying is for Ellie
and Corman Carroll is exactly right. And I think it's
in in the absolute. It's in like the direct inverse

(01:03:41):
for James Wood, where because he has nothing else going
on for him, he really could he could be like that,
you know, like that insane uh you know, like that
what what Juan Soda was doing going for forty forty
I feel like was a detriment to the Mets. But
James Wood can do that as a dutchment to no

(01:04:02):
one like whatever.

Speaker 3 (01:04:04):
You know, fans love it absolutely, even get strewn out,
it will still be fine. They get the yellow raft.

Speaker 1 (01:04:11):
I feel like the ownership would love bring people to
the stadium. They'd be like this guy, this guy's going
forty forty, go for it, man, go for it. We
don't care, Okay, So I pick nineteen. I'm gonna take
Tarik Schooble because I feel like, you got we have

(01:04:32):
to take at least one stuff, you know, I think, uh,
like I said last year, I believe I said last
year that you know, Paul Skeans was the number one
starter for me last year going into last year. I
think Tarik Schooble has earned that because I think we've

(01:04:53):
seen that even with Paul Skeans as good as he is,
and he is so good, like, don't I'm not gonna
take anything away from Paul's He is probably, pound for pound,
one of the best pitchers we've ever seen to start
a career. So he is doing exactly like everything you
can imagine you'd want to be done, but he can't

(01:05:13):
score runs for his team. Unfortunately. He's I mean, the
Pirates are terrible, like they're so egregiously bad. So I
think scooball, even though you know, the Tigers didn't give
him a ton of wins. He only won thirteen games
last year, but I mean, I feel like projections probably
will put him around like I want to say, seventeen wins, like,

(01:05:37):
and he has an outside chance for twenty wins, which
no one's gonna do anymore. And he is also he's
basically a two point three e er pitcher with you know,
two hundred and thirty five plus ks. This is Scooball,
that is, and you know, as good as Skeens is,

(01:05:57):
and he is so good, he's never gonna approach twenty wins.
He's never gonna have like, he's never gonna get projected
for seventeen like I'm saying with Scooball. And even though
everything else will be a little bit better for Skeens
because he is a little bit better in every other category.
The fact that he just had a season, well a
career actually, he has a career now of one point

(01:06:20):
nine to sixty array in three hundred and twenty innings
and he only has twenty one wins. I mean, it's ludicrous,
it's so stupid. I mean, it's really dumb. The fact
that if he stays with the Pirates, Paul Skans could
potentially I mean he's he's on Paul Skates is basically
on pace for fifty wins in his career, and he

(01:06:42):
doesn't have a he was under two year ray. So
I mean, as much as I love Paul Skins, and
he would be the second pitcher for he will be
the second pitcher off the board for me once my
picture rankings come out. But I think, you know, and
if you listening to this in December, the ranking should

(01:07:03):
be out on Patreon. But anyway, Scooble is going to
be the number one pitcher for me, just simply because
he could potentially win you know, anywhere from like five
to seven more games, and that makes a difference when
everything else is, you know, relatively the same in every

(01:07:24):
other category. So yeah, I'm going Schooble.

Speaker 3 (01:07:28):
Yeah, and I guess I will.

Speaker 2 (01:07:30):
I'm not going to take another picture just because we've
made our point about pitchers and that that would be
boring to take another one. But I'm gonna say right now,
I think I might have Crochet above schemes next year.
And there's an argument that he should be the number
one pitcher simply because of the three organizations. I count

(01:07:51):
on his organization to win him some games.

Speaker 3 (01:07:55):
Whereas I don't know that I would necessarily count on
that from the other two.

Speaker 2 (01:07:58):
Like even in a good year for the Tigers, it's
in an amazing year for scoob Well, it's not like
he was he was just running away with wins left
and right, like he was absolutely amazing, Gray, and he
got thirteen wins like that's it's it's definitely concern.

Speaker 3 (01:08:18):
I hate to go off of wins because it's a
stupid stat.

Speaker 2 (01:08:21):
I've always said you shouldn't go off of wins, but
at some point you just got to kind of look
at the facts.

Speaker 1 (01:08:27):
Yeah, no, totally, Yeah, no, I agree. I think you know,
the Player Raider shows Crochet was the top pitcher this year,
above Scooble and Schemes. So there is a case to
be made for Crochet. I do think. I think you
probably agree too. It's it's basically Scubo Crochet, Skians and
then everyone else.

Speaker 2 (01:08:48):
Yes, there's there's nobody else. Zach Wheeler would have been
in that discussion had he not, Yeah, yeah, but he's
he did, so he's no longer in that And so
with that, Gray, I will wrap our twenty twenty six
draft here with the twentieth pick, which is not going
to be a boring pitcher here. I'm gonna go with,

(01:09:10):
you've talked me into him through our kind of into
season discussions, career or contract year. He went thirty thirty
this season. How bad can you be if you go
thirty thirty Gray? And that is Jazz Chishom Jr.

Speaker 1 (01:09:25):
I like it. I think, yeah, he's going to be
definitely in my he He's going to be in discussion
for me for a top twenty, I think too. I
like I like him because it's like I mentioned a
bunch of guys earlier that I think are probably in
discussion to be in there. It's, you know, adding to Vlad,
I said, I think, I said, Trey Turner, Kettle, Marte, Pete, Alonzo,

(01:09:53):
cal Rally, Yeah, Machado, cal Raley.

Speaker 3 (01:09:59):
Your boy dev.

Speaker 2 (01:10:02):
Your actual boy yord On. I mean, I'm not gonna
say he's gonna be there because of the injury. He's
not gonna be drafted like that, no other than the
injury he completely deserves.

Speaker 1 (01:10:13):
But totally I could totally see potentially like coming out
of a draft with Ellie. I'm doing it. Repeat, I'm
just basically repeating this you're a season early.

Speaker 3 (01:10:25):
Great, you were just a season early.

Speaker 1 (01:10:27):
I'm doing it again. Man, I'm gonna do Ellie Wood.
You're done.

Speaker 3 (01:10:32):
There are some Gunner shares in there too, just to
just to mix it up.

Speaker 1 (01:10:36):
They're gonna be so bad awful again, and it's gonna
be like I might do it again in twenty twenty.

Speaker 3 (01:10:43):
Something may happen again because they're really talented people.

Speaker 1 (01:10:47):
Oh man, you know, I think I like Jazz Chisholm
Junior there at twenty. I think also someone someone neither
of us I mentioned I thought you might was Pete
crow Armstrong. I thought I thought he might be and
you didn't consider and.

Speaker 2 (01:11:05):
I had him on my list, but he was not
top twenty. Just the way that the second half went
the it feels like he's gonna have to make an
adjustment back to get to what we saw in the
first half. And you know, if I'm just being honest
with myself, like the exit numbers and the hard hit

(01:11:26):
has never been like elite, So those are typically the
guys that you know, they kind of Colorado outfield us.
I swear to God, if he does that to me,
I don't know what I'm gonna do. But that's kind
of what happens is like big season, they got hot,
the numbers weren't elite to begin with, and they kind

(01:11:48):
of dropped back to they're good, but not near where
we were drafting them. That being said, I will still
probably own plenty of shares of Pete crow Armstrong because
I don't think that's that's necessarily him.

Speaker 3 (01:12:01):
But that's that's me talking myself into it to an extent.

Speaker 1 (01:12:06):
Yeah, yeah, no, that's fair. I I I wouldn't tape.
I'm strong, and I just think.

Speaker 2 (01:12:12):
It's a bunch of like the the the the bats
we always see at the second round, and you know,
left it's like Alonzo Machado, Dever's Trey Turner just seems
to just find his way to value every single year,
you know. And then of course all the pictures we
didn't mention, and they'll probably be a reliever depending on
what league we're in.

Speaker 3 (01:12:34):
In like the next ten picks.

Speaker 1 (01:12:36):
Yeah, no, completely, they will definitely, depending on you know,
the format too. I could see potentially someone taking a
picture No probably not, probably not any Manuel class A.

Speaker 2 (01:12:48):
Though I'm imagining it's Edwin Diz for next season as
a clear cut one.

Speaker 1 (01:12:55):
Right, LB's report comes back a lot different than I expected.

Speaker 2 (01:13:01):
Yeah, but remember when we were looking at class saying
like everything looks good.

Speaker 3 (01:13:05):
He just gets lit up on occasion like I don't
I think you should just get him.

Speaker 1 (01:13:09):
Yeah, I wonder, I wonder why when the uh, when
the over under is within one, he always gives up
a home run. Curious, curious, very odd, very very uh.

Speaker 3 (01:13:25):
You know, strange, especially stuff. Stuff looks so good, STI him, Gray,
I don't understand it. It doesn't make any sense.

Speaker 1 (01:13:34):
It's oh wow, look at that, he's an O two count.
He looks so good. And then he just spiked the
ball three feet in front of the plate. M curious.

Speaker 2 (01:13:45):
I wonder, I wonder what next Next year's closer is
gonna be? Fun, Gray, that's gonna be a fun one
to try and rank.

Speaker 1 (01:13:52):
I agree, I say, I say we get together again
in December for winter meetings.

Speaker 3 (01:13:58):
Come on, clear, it sounds good, Well clear, it done.
We're doing it in December, Gray, it's gonna happen.

Speaker 1 (01:14:06):
Okay, we'll be back in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (01:14:09):
If you want to ask us anything between then, or
just you know, randomly shout something at us angrily, you
can find us on Twitter at rasbeat on at rasball
for Gray. You can find us on YouTube dot com
slash rasball Fantasy. Check out all the great football content.
If you have to start sit. There is the Sunday
Live Show which I will occasionally be on as well,
so you can jump on there, and you can always

(01:14:30):
go to rasball dot comment throw stuff in the comments.
Gray will continue to write. If you want to find me,
come find me on Footballer or on one of the
other sites. Until next year, Greg see it and uh
talk to you later.

Speaker 1 (01:14:43):
Buddy leads