EP 212 | Live Draft Recaps & Opening Day Reactions - Launch Angle

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Incoming pitch Spin rate of 2500RPM 95.6 mph Adjusting swing
12°. Proceed with launch angle.
What's? Going into the launch angle part
of Rob Lee, I'll be bringing in Jeff and Rob Perry shortly.

(00:21):
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(00:41):
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changes, stuff like that that wecan reap the benefits of off

(01:03):
the, you know, waiver wire and it's just really not tailored
only to the NFBC. It'll really help you in every
single league you play in and I do a fab pod every Sunday that's
for the upper tier meatballs. If you would like to get
involved with that, I do a starting pitching pod with Matt
Madika that also comes with thatupper tier.
And then I do a lineup pod, which is a part of the general

(01:25):
mid tier for the pull hitter Patreon where I hope you set
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Thanks for Here's the pitch. All right, welcome to the launch

(01:46):
angle pod. I'm Rob D, the Deadpool hit.
I'm here with Rob Silver, Jeff Zimmerman, fresh off Las Vegas
draft weekend. Opening day was yesterday.
Lots of stuff to get into, fellas.
How is it going today? I think we need to start with
Rob. I don't know if you still like
got PTSD from like the his four drafts.
And I don't know what it was, six hours or something.

(02:07):
Yeah. Marathon silver pulling.
Yeah, pulling the Zach Waxman like a drafting massive draft.
You did all your CLQS I believe in two days span.
In a 24 hour span, plus I had already signed, plus I had
already signed up for a main. And when I decided, I'll give
you the story of why I decided to do it quickly.

(02:29):
But when I decided to do the CLQlast minute, I emailed Greg and
I'm like, look, I have this mainsigned up for.
I understand why you can't obviously just tag a draft as
your CLQ we've already drafted. That's deeply unfair.
You suddenly love your team. It goes against the spirit of
the competition and and the rules of the competition.

(02:49):
But I had this Wednesday main that I'd signed up for
beforehand and the only problem was the KDS had already run and
I had gotten like a very mid pick.
So it's not like I got pick one and then like I want that as my
CLQ. It was like, and Greg's like,
no, I can't do that. I can't slide that into my CLQ,

(03:11):
which if the rules are the rules, like I'm not bitching at
Greg for that. He needs to enforce the rules to
everybody equally. But it meant that I had one more
post Vegas draft signed up. I had to sign up for three more
drafts and I couldn't do it on Monday or or Tuesday.
So I started a 50 minute, 50 round Express DC AT2O clock on

(03:36):
Wednesday. Then I had five O clock.
I had the main that I had signedup for previously and then
yesterday morning, Saturday morning, I had a nine AMOC and
then the main at 11:00 AM. So Needless to say, there was
overlap for both both days with wraps the way.

(03:57):
The reason why very quick story I decided to do the stupidity is
I have a bit of a tradition on the Saturday in Vegas of the
main I first I go to the Bellagio gym to work out.
I wasn't staying at the Bellagio, but it's a very easy
hotel gym to just walk into if you look like you know what
you're doing and walk in. And it's a much better gym than
at the ship bag hotel we were staying at in Vegas.

(04:21):
And then once I've done good things for my body, I have a pre
Vegas main draft cigar at the sports book at the Bellagio.
And the last like we missed eachother last year and I got in
trouble for it. But most years Dusty friend of
the podcast Wagner shows up there and we, we kibitz and, and

(04:44):
talk about players and get psyched for, for the, for the
main. And he gave me this idea for a
strategy for the CLQ, which was you should do the CLQ.
And since you really only need like 75% of points to qualify
for the, for the, for the big table, you should pull a

(05:08):
strategy. I'm not going to say what the
strategy was, but it was it involves in all three teams
punting one category. And he says as long as you like,
nail it, like it, it's a very viable strategy.
Don't need to win any of your leagues in order to qualify.
You just need to do pretty well in all three of them and that
this could work. And I was like, that's really,

(05:30):
really interesting. I guess it's too late for me to
do it. And like I'm, I'm like ready to
fly home on on Sunday. And I emailed Greg and I'm like,
is there any way like these, these, these MTD Strat like
express DCS, they're not going to fill up like who the fuck is
still doing DCS at this point ofthe season anyways?

(05:50):
He said the main will definitelyfill fill the the the 11:00 AM
main, which I knew that there's enough degenerate to like regret
or not getting Robbie Ray, so they want to do one more.
He said the OC should fill the 9:00 AM Thursday because they're
people who just want to get one more OC in.
So the DC could be dodgy. But I won't charge you for any

(06:13):
of them unless they all three fill.
So put your name down and let's go.
I didn't end up doing the strategy and that's I just
drafted them as is, but that's, that's it's all fucking Dusty's
fault. It's a lot of it's a lot of
drafting in 24 hours and it's different.

(06:34):
Like it would be a lot of drafting if you were doing it in
Vegas or like New York live, butlike sitting at your computer
for that long, having to like run and pee and like grab
coffees randomly. It's just to bear.
Like it was, it was literally 24hours.
So it wasn't even two days. It was over two days.
But I I literally like drafted, went to bed, got up, drafted.

(06:59):
That's very impressive. And I, I guess one thing too
maybe of doing all the TLQ so close is that you kind of
remember your player shares and if you want to do the like the
multiplier or not do a multiplier, you kind of remember
I'll have scuba. I'll take scuba here.
I got the times too because whenI sat down for my ALQ on on
Monday, I had to bring up, you know my team because my OC was

(07:23):
from December, you know in my DCit's in January.
So how to refresh myself on who was on my actual?
Team It's an interesting strategy question because on the
one, especially with the DC, So on the one hand, like I have no
guys that I didn't that are like, oh shit, I took them in
December and now they're out. So I guess I really only have 49

(07:44):
and 48 and 47 guys. So like every guy I took, I know
they have made the team. They did not make the team.
They are injured. They are not injured.
I can make, you know, my Lance Mccullers love, but that's a
decision. It's not a wow.
He showed up at spring training and Blues elbow out.
So on the one hand, you have that advantage.
On the other hand, the whole markets have adjusted to all of

(08:05):
this. So it's not like you're drafting
against 14 idiots. Everybody else has the same
information. So there are no bargains quote,
UN quote in terms of nobody's even heard of this guy the way
they did in November or Decemberwhen you would have started
drafting your D CS Rob. It's pretty like there may be
bargains, but the bargains relative to current AVP, they're

(08:27):
not like people just haven't gotten to this guy yet kind of
thing. So I don't know if which from a
trade off perspective which is ultimately better.
That's there's so many things that people have the designed in
their heads about how to approach the CLQ.
So I think I think everything has a valid take to it.

(08:49):
You know, whatever you think, make yourself comfortable.
That's the way Silver how did the free what guys go in that
DC? Did people like push them up or?
I, I, I, I I got two or three ofthem.
In all three of them, it's. More than DC because you're
stuck with them all year. Not like that's that's that's

(09:11):
where I was struggling with. It's pretty easy to make the
decision in the OC or the main because it's no different than
than any other ones on ADC. It's like, do I really want, you
know, round 25 John Birdie for the two stolen bases and versus
like, where would John Birdie have gone if he had done nothing

(09:32):
but made the roster presumably like round 3840 kind of thing.
So it's a it's a much tougher decision.
I thought the win from NAC is still worth a fair bit because
wins are like easy clean wins are still fucking hard to get in

(09:53):
ADC, and I think he'll be a usable relief pitcher for the
season. So I think there's value there.
But it's a, it's a, It's a toughcall.
Yeah, I think I think like Knackis a draftable pitcher anyway
for depth wise in ADC. So I think that's a good that's
a good shot. Investigate will probably you
know, do the ratio thing and andget a you know, a handful went

(10:15):
to start and probably won't be ideal for you, but those.
Guys, the other, well, on the other thing I'd say is like Kiki
is going to play for the Dodgers.
He's yeah, he's a matchup guy, but Kiki is always like, and he
should have second base outfield, third base kind of
eligibility in this season. So jeez, Rob, you, you heard the

(10:37):
word Kiki and you got excited there.
Yeah, I just. So, so like Kiki Kiki, as soon
as you knew that he was going tobe on the Dodgers, as soon as
the Dodgers signed him, he's going to play that role.
And I think there's enough like,like Mookie Beth is going to
have to start eating a lot of sandwiches to regain that
weight. So I think I, I think TK will

(10:58):
will be fine this year. Not great.
And I think in like in in fab leagues, he's a guy who's going
to be on the waiver wire every single week.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And and yeah, I have a ton of
him in DCI, love the multi eligibility and he just really
said he was healthy towards the end of the season and you could
see the difference. I just loved in the Vegas draft
how much we react to news as well, you know, like the buzz in

(11:22):
the room, the buzz whoever the news popping up, you know, like
Jack Cagney known like, yeah, ifany P got hurt, maybe I take a
stab at him. Even though I knew practically
it was probably going to be South Reds going to first base
with Mark Connor. But it was still fun to do
something like that, right? It's like, hey, I'll take a shot
here. How?

(11:42):
Clever but how? Cuz how clever would we have
been if with our 29th round pick, we nail like the hottest
rookie for free And the reality is like Sunday, we're cutting
him. So I was going to cut my 29th
round pick anyways. I don't think that's bad.
I don't think that's overreacting to news.
I think that's a good like picking like Canna in the 19th

(12:04):
round because Vinnie Pete came up lame.
That would be a bad decision if we had taken him in again in the
19th, 20th round. That's overreacting. 29th round.
I think it's like a free look. I, you gave me some shit because
of like me giving a little bit of the gears to fill over the
Luke Jackson thing. And I, there's no doubt from a

(12:25):
process perspective, Steve Weiner made this point from a
process perspective. If what happened last night,
yesterday to Luke Jackson, whichis he's horrendous.
He's like waived by by them likea week from now.
Process wise, bill taking him for the last round or taking him
for a dollar in the in the firstfab was a great bet to make it.

(12:49):
Will it work out? Will it not work out?
You know, we'll, we'll see. But I think those kinds of bets
are are worth taking because if you're wrong, it cost you
literally nothing. Right, yeah, I was happy to try
to take him in the 30th round. But I saw some draft yesterday.
You know, I was sitting in on the stream with John Fish as he
was doing his main. He invited me on the show and I

(13:09):
think he went in like the 16th or 18th round.
And I just thought that was a little ludicrous.
You know, other point is still an unsettled situation.
He definitely, you know, looked terrible at last today as he
felt the whole the lead in the 9th.
But clearly, you know, they theythey threw the leverage at him.
I still think it'll be a revolving door all season long.

(13:31):
They got guys in the minors thatcould come up and do it.
They have several options in themajor.
So but it definitely was interesting because it's just
one of those things in in the spring training.
You know, we look at the first believer in kind of thing,
right, If they're facing the regulars.
But the the Rangers, you know, were doing the opposite thing
where it ended up being the lastguy they brought in was there

(13:52):
was the guy they wanted to close.
So it's hard to read those leaves all the time, but we try
our best. Jeff, I got to ask you a
question about your your Vegas. Coming.
Yeah, yeah, this. I mean, as soon as as soon as I
heard about it, it was like, God, that's the first thing we
got to talk about on one jangle.But you're in your auction

(14:13):
league in Las Vegas and all I heard was like, you know, it's
funny because everyone pops intodifferent rooms over there and
like, Oh my God, Jeff Zimmerman just got a Tawny and Schwarber
in the auction. I'm like.
Jesus, I didn't know. I didn't hear about this.
And I was just like, I froze. And I was like, how deep into
the auction I'm like, didn't it just start?
And was like, yeah, it just started.

(14:34):
It was like, I don't know, was it like five guys out and, and
and you had two? I think it was 4 because I was
trying to remember. Wow, that's wild.
In my head I just see all the pictures of the bourbon Rob that
like Jeff sending to everyone. Hey, if you need a pour like did
the bourbon talk there? What happened, Jeff?
So going into the auction, I noticed people weren't paying up

(14:59):
for Ohtani, so I had no problemsgetting him.
I don't think people wanted to spend what his value was going
to be. I also noticed all the DHS also
weren't. I found them all deals, Rooker,
Schwarberg and everyone. So in my mind, I didn't, I knew
that they were going to go less than what my values were.

(15:22):
So I actually threw out Schwerberg first thing and got
him for like a $4.00 deal according to my numbers.
So I didn't think anything aboutit.
And then Otani comes and he was below and in my mind I was just
like, didn't think I have my DH full and it bids on it.
I actually got a deal on him andI was like great.

(15:44):
Always in auctions, it's tough to get deals on the top guys.
Usually my numbers are way over.The problem was since Otani
could be pitcher, usually I couldn't bid on it because you
can't bid on ADH once you already have it.
But he could feel picture and soit was allowed.
And then there was like the moment like oh fuck, this is

(16:07):
done. The other thing was someone was
going to bid over me and just barely missed it so they could
have saved me from it. But the auctioneer was like
Nope, it's ended, it's over. And so I was just like, I was on
like full tilt for about two draft picks and all of a sudden

(16:28):
I'm just like, I just have to consider Schwarberg on the IL.
Like, it was a lot. It was like someone got hurt
during the draft. I lost him, He's gone for a
while, and I just had to build the rest of the team.
The one kind of shitty thing I had to deal with?
The one. The one shitty thing?
Yeah. Well, like I said, I lost

(16:51):
forward like you're going to lose players during the season.
I lost my fifth round pick, but is only had eight pitcher
starts, so I had all my money togo for 8:00.
So I kind of just paid up for about 50 for 15 to 20 guys per
yet. But Nope, I just lost $19.00 of
player and at some point during the season when Otani's back I

(17:16):
got to figure out a way to do it.
I don't know have a good way. I have to figure out if the drop
from Schwarberg to Otani hittingis less than or more than the
drop from Otani starting and my 9th starter.
So you're going to hold Schwarber?
Yeah. So that's the other cost of what
you've done is you have 6 bench spots.

(17:37):
That's why I'm considering him hurt.
It's just in my mind he's hurt. That's just.
Yeah, I think there's an argument to be said about cut,
and I'm advocating for this. There's there's an argument you
should just cut them and let somebody bid $990.00 in fab for
for Schwarber. I just think when the when the

(17:58):
pitching starts I can at least have that option when it happens
here in a month or two. So let's say that's going to be
ten starts for Motani, which will be, let's assume really
good starts and Schwarber is a good enough DH that like you're
losing, but you're not losing that much.
It's an interesting, it's an interesting problem to solve of

(18:20):
that versus the opportunity cost.
I mean, the money spent on Schwarber's gone.
That's a sun cost. So you can't you don't get that
back either way, but you could get the bench spot back to be
able to actually stream more useful players through the bed
spot. So that's the going forward.
That's the only real trade off. And I don't know what the right
answer is. And I the other thing is I went

(18:42):
with what I considered safe guys.
Like I took no one. That was even though Vinnie P
was going for freaking nothing at that point, I didn't take I
didn't add him to the team. Like we knew he was kind of hurt
and everything. Like I tried to go with safe
guys, but it might get to the point where I just have enough
other hurt guys that in my roster will determine who gets
dropped. And a lot of people are like,

(19:07):
oh, you know, they kept all thisstuff, bad stuff happen with the
Phillies and Schwarberg somehow gets in the field and gets
position. I I consider that like a 5%
chance. Right.
Yeah, Yeah. That's like very outlier.
They're like, oh, you know, Harper gets hurt and or he has
to has to DH. So Schwarberg's playing first
base, which that's going to be freaking.

(19:27):
Harper's got to be hurt pretty bad for.
That to happen, Holmes going to first base and Bundesosa is
playing. Third, yeah, that's what I'm
saying. There's, when you look at it
like the chances of that are like slim to none.
Yeah, they would have to lose like Kepler and Marsh and you
know and I I don't think. That's like someone has to force
him off DH. It's not so much if they get
hurt. Someone has to force him off the

(19:50):
DH spot that they're hurt so badthat they that Schwarberg's the
better option in the field than them, than them.
And that's just the chances are none as of right now.
Like I said, I still hold him. It was.
It is. Two interesting notes.
Fantasy pros picked me number one in the league.
I love that. They.
Did and as of today I am in first place in the league also.

(20:11):
There you go. Let's do it.
Let's let's prove that $14.00 isnothing.
You don't need 260. You can 244 and you'll and
you'll get the league. You know what the other thing
is, is someone in the league at the end added like a $12.00 guy
and it was like they almost tookas big a hit as I did, like

(20:32):
added the a guy that should havewent for $1.00.
Right, right. And then it was just like, we
had that and I was like, you almost lost as much money as I
did off of my move and no one's going to say a damn word about
it. So let's let's were you?
Were you drunk at the time? No, I'm not.
I didn't even, I actually had not had a drink.
My plan was during the reserve round is of this to really

(20:55):
commence the drinking, which I did 100% at that point but it
was like. Yeah, no, I would have.
Started to throw away. After I drafted my second DHI
would have started drinking rather heavily, so good for you
for being able to hold it together.
Absolutely good. I I totally agree with Bob.
I would have, I would have buried myself in sorrow and

(21:15):
ain't gone that route. But obviously.
Just heard about I can't remember the picture like Jeff
Erickson always talks about thathe lost like it's like with the
news like immediately like drafted as his ace and it was
hurt and like went on tilt. I was like I just can't go on
tilt. It just started come up with a
new plan and I. Mean that happened.

(21:37):
That happened Saturday during the main, and I posted in the
discord with the guy that I was at 14.
The guy at 15 was largely like pushing, starting pitching down.
So he took Shane Mcclanahan as his ace and then didn't take
another starting, took a couple of closers, didn't take a
starting pitcher again, I want to say until like round 1011.

(21:59):
And I, I certainly didn't want to be in that.
I, I saw, I saw the news he had already drafted him when the
news about Shane leaving the game and it looked really,
really bad came out and like, I don't want to get in this guy's
head. I'm just seems like a really
friendly guy. Like we're had had pleasant
banter, but I didn't want him leaving the, the draft with like

(22:22):
only 9 pitchers and seven hitters on the bench.
I mean, he had Fab like he, it'sultimately his team.
And it's not like I have some secret source for this, like
it's public, but I'd like, I wasreally torn.
Do you lean over to the guy at one of the breaks and being
like, you should Google Shane Mcclanahan right now?
Or do you just keep your mouth shut?
And it's like, this is not my problem.

(22:42):
I am not getting involved here. And after around 20 when he
really still did not have a ton of starting pictures, I was
like, I don't want to be a jerk.I don't know anything about how
serious it is, but you might want to look at Shane Mcclanahan
and like, do whatever you want. And I, I ultimately thought that

(23:02):
was the least the, the less jerky thing to do than saying
nothing, even though I knew. But I don't know if that's the
right call or not. I think that's a great call.
I mean, I, I don't think a lot of people would have actually
said anything. So I think that's I had to pay
you to, you know, to try to, youknow, help him out as much as
you can to the end of the draft.And again, I was not being a

(23:22):
Dick about. I wasn't being like, by the way,
your staff really sucks now because nothing, it was nothing
like that. It's dude's going to feel shitty
whether he finds out now or finds out an hour from now in
his hotel room right now, he canstill do something about it at
the margins. By definition.
It's like towards the end of thedraft.
So he can only, he can do it with volume, but he can't really

(23:43):
do anything, can't go back in time.
But anyways, I don't know. Who knows?
Who knows? Did you consider Shane at all in
your main event, like at a really depressed cost or you
were totally out of your out of your Yeah.
There was like if he had been around right at the end, I might
have taken. I shot it at him and wait for

(24:05):
wait 3-4 weeks for news and see see where things are at.
I mean, just just a tip, you know, when you're at in your
Vegas draft, just keep your phone out and just refresh that
roto wire news. Make sure you don't check the
underdog with 2G's because that got got a lot of people in
trouble. You know, I know a lot of people

(24:25):
were furious at that, but you know, whatever you can get your
edges, people will try. You just got to validate just
you know, like don't just check one thing.
Don't just read one tweet and believe it's true.
You know, it's just you have to dig a little deeper than that,
but. Yeah, I just felt found like a
normal, like it will be trade rumors or something, like it's
the normal feed on Twitter that I trust.

(24:48):
Like I said, I'm not just like searching in my normal, seeing
what other people are retweetingand whatever.
Find something trustworthy, the real underdog, you know what I'm
saying? It's just.
The real underdog. Yeah, not that dog or whatever
the hell it is. We, so we witnessed a couple of
other, you know, kind of a little bit of a miscuse in
draft. Both of them came in the

(25:08):
Champions League One in the fashion as Jess Wood just
alluded to as someone you know, spent 12 bucks on their last
play. But it was AJ Puck.
Let's say he's a $2.00 player, probably left about 9 or $10 on
the table in the Champions League auction, which was kind
of unfortunate. You know, definitely don't want
to do that like Jeff was mentioning before.
And then we also have probably afuture Hall of Famer and Mike

(25:31):
Maker, you know, picking 3 catchers.
And Rob, you were sitting next to me as I was live streaming it
and you were like, either he made a very bad mistake or he
about to unearth a strategy on us that we have not thought
about yet. You know, and he was clearly
like not fucked up. And, you know, it's so crazy
because we're around there. We're around great players and
just just easy to see that, you know, you can make a mistake

(25:54):
that's pretty, you know, pretty harmful to your team.
Which which one of the three Robwas the worst between Jeff's and
those two? Oh, Jeff's is my father.
It's. Not it's not even close because
I mean, Mike, Mike who is obviously a tremendous,
tremendous, tremendous player. The the third catcher was was a

(26:15):
cheapo catcher right like. Yeah, and it was keeper Ruiz.
Yeah, it was. Right.
Like, so it's it's not like he he got the Contreras brothers
and and spent another like $18.00 on a catcher kind of
thing and is convinced like, well, but they're going to play
like no, he fucked up, but he but he can wave the third
catcher or bench the third catcher and it's not a big deal.

(26:35):
No, no, Jeff's, Jeff's is much, much, much, much worse.
It's not, it's not even in the same ball.
It's it's insulting to how bad ascrew up Jeff's was to even
include these other ones. It was Dame conversation.
Yeah. I I agree you should.
Show more respect to Jeff's screw up.
We will we'll make we'll have Phil make a jersey that's half

(26:57):
Rotani, half Schwarber for Jeff next year in Vegas.
Anything else that like you guyswanted to bring out, bring out,
you know, just that happened during the Vegas draft or you
know, like the the environment or anything that comes to mind
in in like the flow of it or, you know, drafting there?
No, I was. The only thing that I always

(27:20):
find like sometimes infuriating is when you're drafting and you
take a guy and then like 30 minutes later you hear him go in
another draft. You're like, God damn it, Did I
go too early, too late? It's just like that's the only
thing is you hear these other drafts going on at the same
time. It feels good the other way.
Like you might hear someone and the other one and then you end

(27:43):
up getting 3 or 4 rounds later. But it's more like, could I have
waited? You kind of think yourself and
everything and it was. Twice.
Twice in my draft, I heard a guygo in the other table and I was
like, oh, you know, yeah, that'sa target.
And then I literally twice the person in my draft goes, I'll

(28:03):
take him too. And I'm like, you gotta be
fucking kidding me. You not have like a plan or
something, you know? Just the copy got draft.
It's like, oh, I heard that guy's voice.
He he's good. Let me take that player now.
But you know, that's just is what it is.
You know, I think we heard it a little bit more being in rooms
of three tables rather than thatbig open room of nine, you know,

(28:27):
in Vegas. But Opening Day action, guys,
yesterday we had a lot of stuff happened, don't they?
Was really cool that Austin Wells became the first catcher
ever to lead off a home run withon opening Day.
Pretty good to see that, Tyler. And yeah.
He was he. He had some helium this week.

(28:48):
Sorry, Rob. He did right.
He was holy cow, like I guess the lead off thing made the
difference. We'll see if that lasts all
year. But yeah, he he was going real,
real early in the drafts that I did since Vegas and, and Vegas
was moving, but this week it wasmoving for Austin Wells.

(29:11):
It really was. And I think with the combination
of lead off plus the fact that Ithink everyone started to
realize that there's really isn't like a like a strong catch
or two behind him. And he may just amass like a a
really large amount of played appearances also too.
We could DH right on days you know where he doesn't catch.
Giancarlo Stanton is is is starting to be able to do a push

(29:33):
up again, so I think he's comingback soon.
Oh, he could feel his elbows again.
That's that's that's good. Very good.
Tyler O'Neill homework for the sixth straight opening day.
Is that impressive or is that just random?
It's I think it's impressive at this point.
I think so. It was like after three.

(29:54):
But it's like, like, I hate thatwe have to wait a year for it
though, you know? It's like, it's like it'd be
cool. Like every Monday or every
Tuesday afternoon he does it. It's like, oh, we can continue.
It's like, all right, 365 days. Does he get to do it again or
not? Yeah, I mean, I think it's
impressive that Tyler O'Neill has been healthy for six his

(30:15):
career. That's the that's the real take
away for me. Can't it can't something be both
random and impressive? Like if I call 6 consecutive
coin tosses, that is both reallyimpressive.
Like wow you just fucking nailed6 consecutive coin tosses and
quite random. That very true.
That that very, very true. Rob, you're always quick to

(30:37):
point out the that for sure Dodgers three different players
for three different saves and none of them is Kirby Yates.
I think a lot of people are, youknow, definitely tied up into
shares of all the different relievers there.
It just seems like this is goingto be 1 giant headache all

(30:58):
season long. And for Kirby Yates, I mean, you
just keep him around in case he gets one or do you, I mean, if
you have him on a fab team or are you just cutting the guy?
I think you're getting close to cutting him.
I think you would hold for a week.
I would kind of see how this thing kind of plays out then a
week and a half. But physically, like they can't

(31:21):
have one guy. Like they're going to be in a
ton of games. Their starters barely can go 5
innings. Like they're all limited in
every way. They're going to bring in more
guys that are limited. Otani Kershaw, they're not going
to go long innings that bullpensgoing to get work.
They're going to have to rest and it's going to be a different
bullpen every day. I think this is this is what you

(31:43):
signed up with. It's like they're not going to
just kill the bullpen. They're just use who's rested.
They're all great. No one's even talking about
Phillips and he might be one of the better arms in there.
So I think this is what it gets what it is, and I think we'll
probably get to a point where it's like these are the top two
or three guys and they might be Ross, bro.
We just don't have a clue who that is right now, like who who

(32:06):
the team considers the ones. But it's going to be a random
mess all year just because of how the starters are set up.
Yeah, I think the the gut punch yesterday in terms of the
Dodgers pen is not so much the Yates owners in FAB leagues
because you got a pretty good discount in most FAB leagues on
it's it's the people who used premium, premium picks on Scott

(32:30):
thinking they have like the 90% closer on the best team in
baseball. And you could easily rationalize
why he didn't get the second save in Japan just spring
training game. Of course, he wasn't going
back-to-back games, but then he's going to have, you know,
another week of ramping up. We're going to get to the

(32:52):
regular season. He won't pitch three games in a
row, but he's the the capital M man in that bullpen and
therefore I'm drafting him just below the top tier closers,
which is pretty much where he was going in main events.
And I think yesterday has to be a little bit of a wake up call.

(33:13):
Tanner Scott's is going to be really good.
You're going to get I think 20 plus saves from Scott still.
So you're holding him obviously.But I think they're that
yesterday has to be a little bitof realization.
They are not going to have one closer other than when he is
overworked and they need to go adifferent direction.
They're just going to decide every day and they're going to

(33:34):
have enough wins that Scott willbe the guy many, many, many
days. But he's not.
He's not going to save 40 games,Scott this year.
Like it's just not going to happen, I don't think.
Yeah, I think him getting into the Munoz range was a little too
rich for me. I actually started to, you know,
come to the realization that he will get the majority of them,

(33:55):
or maybe, you know, a decent amount of them.
And I had to get off of my KirbyYates bias from early in the
season. And I was happy for myself for
moving on from it. And I was like, actually looking
at it. All right, well, maybe at a
certain spot he makes sense to take him.
But then when he like he zoomed past Hoffman and he went into
that Munoz area, I thought it was just a little too rich
because like, I don't know what if he end up with 18 saves?

(34:18):
Is is is that is that I mean, I know yeah, 18 saved Edwin.
He had 1818 last year and he wasa top three round pick, but just
I guess you know, you're lookingfor a little more volume from
that, but. I think you'll get plenty of
value Rob from Yates in your DCS.
I think he's still a good enoughpitcher that he could easily be
like an 8 to 10 win 8 to 10 saveguy in DCS who when you don't

(34:43):
have a starting pitcher you wantto use in your DCS, you plug him
in, you hope for a win or a saveand some decent ratios and some
strikeouts. So I like I wouldn't be
despairing. In terms of owning Yates in DCS,
I agree. In in fab leagues, whether you
wait another week or not, I think short of an injury, a
bunch of injuries, he's not going to emerge as the guy.

(35:05):
So I think maybe move on in fab leagues, but in DCS, I think
he'll get plenty out of Kirby eights this year.
Yep. I think I'm actually the biggest
news was with the Tigers on the other side of that game where
they brought Brisky in to hold their lead in or it's a close
game, it's a one run game and tokind of keep the game close
since fully get demoted. Like, we'll kind of see how

(35:29):
things go, but that might kind of be a sign to look at.
And they, like me. And the team has been talking up
Hanafi. Yeah, Brett Hanafi, I.
Think that's how you pronounce his name so that he's been one
that they're kind of been in love with.
He kind of gave up a run. So maybe I mean that they're
definitely kind of a fickle team.

(35:49):
Like they go with a hot hand. Even the coach, the manager said
that, but Detroit doesn't have aclose or so that was like I
said, that's kind of one that I'm kind of looking at that
might be interesting to go this way.
Like we're going to weigh over analyze all these guys because
we still got more games to go with some suspect bullpens.
But that was, I actually think that was more important than

(36:11):
what happened with the Dodgers. Yeah, that I just think it's
going to be so difficult to actually capture a save from
anyone on the Tigers. You know, it's just you have to
get it right and you have to start the guy in the right week.
I just think it's going to be a mess.
Whoever does emerge. It's going to be, I mean,
Brisky's pretty heavily owned inin, in the main events and semi

(36:34):
in the OCS. But you know, I I think I think
everyone's going to take a stab at Canley Vest, even Holton,
who's like got a 50% roster ratein the mains.
I think all those guys are goingto inch up a little bit.
You know, I don't want to spend a lot of money on those guys,
but there probably is going to be a decent amount spent only
till I think just really have a tough time plugging them in each

(36:56):
week because of the usage. I don't think they want anything
to be predictable, whether it betheir starters, their bridge
guys or their closers, and I think it's going to be mayhem
all around. I'm I'm I'm I'm intend to like
not really want to chase that that bullpen right now.
I don't know if you guys feel the same way, but it's just

(37:17):
going to, it just seems like it's going to be hard to really.
Get for me, it's like all the other suspect bullpens are on
really, really shitty teams. So like, I think Detroit could
be good to chase in like who's Miami's?
Like, I don't want to chase Miami's.
I don't want to chase Colorado's.
I think I disagree. I think one team will we may

(37:37):
talk about next. I think if you get the Reds one
right, if if Tito Francona. Yeah, that's another one that's
like. They're not the four teams.
They may have no right answer. That's a different thing.
But Tito Francona has a long enough managerial track record
that in almost every season he has landed on one.

(37:58):
He's old school. He will land on one closer and
they will drive through the season.
He may not have, he also happensto have guys who could emerge as
the closer. So it's the the jury is still
out whether they have a guy who can do that for six months.
But I think it's worth taking risks in the Reds bullpen or, or
shots in the Reds bullpen because I think if you get the

(38:20):
right answer, unlike Jeff, to your point, with Detroit, the
right answer could be 25 to 30 saves.
Whereas with Detroit, the right answer could be a frustrating,
like awful 7 to 10 saves. And like, what have you just
done and when are you actually going to start the guy?
Yeah, for the Reds, you know, Scott Barlow comes in in the

(38:42):
6th. He's pretty much almost 100%
known than the main event. He faced the Damez Lee Chapman.
So he went to 234 Pagana in the 7th faced the 567 Santiana in
the eighth faced. Yeah, Stremski, Tyler Fitzgerald
and Almont, they wade. So that that too, because he's
got that splitter, so it's good for the lefties.
And then Ian Jabeau. Did I say that?

(39:03):
Right? Rob Gibo.
Gibo Gilbert. I don't know, Gilbert.
I don't know. I don't believe he's actually
French Canadian. He's probably from like
Mississippi or something. He's.
A. Mississippi Canadian.
But yeah, it's it's Gibo. He comes in in the ninth pretty

(39:25):
much out of nowhere, you know, doesn't pitch last year at all.
Blows the save now comes in to face Adama's Lee Chapman.
Ramos to the top of the line up there.
This one came out of left field.I I almost think like when Tito
said that he hadn't put much thought into it, he really
proved it that. Decision.

(39:45):
His quote, his quote like literally on Wednesday was
centillion is just too good. So it makes some sense for him
to be the guy. But man, he's so good.
I don't know that I'll be able to get to that point of the game
without using him. Like that's I'm paraphrasing,
but something like that. But yeah, it's really like he
put all the names in a hat and was just pulling them out at

(40:06):
random in terms of how they werecoming into the game.
Right. And then we didn't see the the
most popular pick up in the mainevents this weekend, which was
Graham Ashcraft. Ashcraft or Rogers?
Or Rogers, right when they had achance to.
When they had when they had the lead.
Yeah, right. Right.
So I'm very surprised here. I got a couple of Barlow shares

(40:27):
in the mains. I'm probably going to hold them
through another week. You know, I'm not going to do
too much of A reaction here because I do think given his
history and given like the fact that he's got, you know,
improved Velo this year, I thinkhe'll he's a good option, but I
just don't know he's going to bethe option.
But Ashcraft, you know, again, II I went to the player movement

(40:48):
tab after fab and I was like, wow, was it?
I knew there would be some interest, but I didn't think it
was going to be slam dunk every,I guess that phrase.
There was AI think there was a was was it he had somebody,
somebody wrote up that he might be the leading candidate.
I kind of want to attribute it to somebody because I don't

(41:09):
remember who wrote it up, but there was a speculative like
Ashcraft may get saves kind of piece that I think got picked up
relatively widely. And I think he said something
himself that was like, I don't think they're going to put me in
a bullpen just to be a reliever.Yeah, I'm too good for the shed.
Yeah, yeah, I'm too good with myterrible, you know, pitch mix

(41:30):
and shitty career to be 1/6 inning guy.
But so I think people ran with both both of those quotes.
But it was the pitching coach that brought him up and said
like, he has the makeup to be a reliever.
He didn't say he was going to bethe reliever.
He says he has the OR the closer, he has the makeup to be
the closer. And it was their pitching

(41:50):
coaches. Which which which?
Which again is one of those meaning meaningless coach speak
type things that we read a lot into.
Of course, what is he going to say?
He doesn't have the makings to be a reliever.
You know he's not going to say that.
But yeah, so he, him and Rodgers, we didn't get into

(42:11):
yesterday's game. I'm sure we'll see some usage
today that will get us swayed a little bit more, but you know,
it's going to be. If if Alexis Diaz throws 2 clean
outings in the minors, let's saynext week, you take a stab on
Diaz coming back or do we think he is buried and dead?

(42:33):
I can't, I can't get around. I don't think he's.
Dead. I think he's buried right now.
Like he'll have to work his way up.
So this you think he's you thinkthey want him down there for a
month or every other guy in the pen has blown it, blown it,
blown it, blown it, blown it. What the fuck?
I guess we might as well try Alexis and see if he can blow
it. Too come back up if he gets

(42:54):
control, but if like Pagan's just been lights out, I don't
think he's going to come in and take Pagan's job.
Yeah, I, so I think I, I am veryoptimistic one of four or five
guys on the Reds team will end up being like one of the three
or four best like free relieversthis year.

(43:14):
The problem is I wouldn't bet a dollar that I know which one it
is. I really don't because all of
them I think are good enough to get the job done and bad enough
that it's not obvious. It really should be them.
They're a bunch of idiots if they don't give it to them, the
job. So it makes it just really tough
to pick and therefore take the cheapest one or the free one if

(43:37):
they're available. Because I really do think
clearly Francona doesn't know who it is as of today.
So there's no secret. Like there's no secret plan like
it. It'll be whoever gets the job
done will get the job the next day I think.
Yeah, I I think, I think it's going to be a rolling try out

(43:58):
until Francona just find the guythat just saw, you know, yeah,
yeah, absolutely. You know, DI is like in the last
two seasons, there's 97 qualified relievers and he is
90th in XFIPI. Just just don't think the Reds
have these stats too. And there's no way they can look
at that and say, this is this isthe guy that we could continue

(44:20):
going. Right.
So the only interesting thing, and I think I posted this in the
on the Discord, was Jeff's friend Kyle Bodie from
Driveline, who used to work for the Reds, made the observation
on Twitter that Alexis Diaz ramped up slowly in previous
years as well and then went on to having fine seasons.

(44:41):
Fine seasons you can put in quotation marks, but I thought
it was interesting that he Bodieput that out publicly as an
observation. I please do not take that as me
advocating like get in on AlexisDiaz.
I think he's probably like, I think he maybe gets like traded

(45:02):
to Tampa Bay and becomes a lights out reliever for Tampa or
something. Like I I think they clearly
don't trust him, don't like him.I forget to Tampa.
He goes on the island after two weeks.
Yeah, yeah, something like that.Rob, another big pick up in the
main event this weekend with Alan Roden, gets into the lineup
yesterday. Looks like he should be a
permanent fixture. What about when Varsha comes

(45:23):
back? You anticipate him making his
way and just making himself partof this team.
I think the I think it depends on whether Roden or Wagner are
hitting better by the time of our show comes back in terms of
who keeps the job. Unless Clement is really
struggling, in which case Wagnercan play 3rd.

(45:44):
But I think that there, and I, I've said this all winter, I
think Roden at some point is going to be the lead off hitter
this year for the Blue Jays. He should be the lead off hitter
for for the Blue Jays. Santander should be the DH for
the Blue Jays. George Springer should be the
former Blue Jay who's sitting athome not playing for the Blue

(46:06):
Jays anymore. At some point this that season.
So I wouldn't spend like if he'sa free agent in a main or an OC
this weekend, I would not go over $100 for him because there
absolutely is a scenario where Varsho comes back and bar Varsho

(46:29):
is probably going to be back relatively soon, right?
He's hitting fine. He was killing the ball hitting
wise in spring training. He's just building up arm
strength for throwing. So he was at opening day
yesterday. He's back in Dunedin presumably
today working with with Kier Meyer and he'll be he'll he'll
be back relatively soon. So I would go like 8090 bucks on

(46:53):
Roden unless he goes off this weekend.
But I think he's a long term hold.
Like I think he think he's, I think he's a good hitter.
What what does like a full six months of him look like?
I think he's kind of a 15 to 1815 to 18 good batting average
guy that'll play in any week. Yeah, up to he's actually 100%

(47:13):
owned in the main event, so. He says never mind, he's
unavailable in your your main soyou can't bid on him.
Even if you wanted to bid on him, you can't.
But you know all that people outthere a little bit and.
And and the reality is in O CS, I think he's fine.
He's a little bit more marginal until he's starts hitting
towards the top of the lineup orreally starts hitting.
Like would I take him as my a bench outfielder in an OC?

(47:37):
Sure. But I think that he's going to
be hot enough pick up in OCS where he wasn't drafted, where
I'm not sure he's a great targetthis year, this week, sorry.
Right, yeah, he just might be one of those bench stream from
your bench types or one of the guy that comes like in and out
of your lineup or off the fab wire.
If unless he's absolutely, you know, fantastic, then I think

(47:57):
he'll you know, he'll make his way.
It just just permanently stay onyour team.
But yeah, I was I was surprised at that too, about the 100% when
I updated the the the roster race.
It's like, wow, that's. To be to be honest, what I
realized and we talked about this during the winter and I'm
sure you talked about it 100 times on podcast, Rob, holy

(48:18):
shit. If you have two or three
outfield spots going into round 20 in a 15 team league, it
starts getting scary in terms oflike if I don't get one of these
3 or 4 outfielders, I'm looking at some really bad option or
like really platoony options. So like this week Atlanta is

(48:39):
facing 3 right-handed pitchers. So Jared Kalanick in a 15 team
lead like this weekend is not good, but he's playable and then
you cut him. But like streaming outfielders,
this year is not going to be, I think, a lot of fun.
Yeah, I don't think it's going to be.
I saw a lot of people go with A4outfielder, you know in the 1st

(49:03):
15 round type of approach. Probably something I should have
considered. I actually considered it more in
an auction too because normally I I don't mind spending 3 bucks
for my last three off fill the spot.
But I definitely thought twice about that when just when
looking at the player pool. It is very, very barren out
there. The.
One thing with like auctions there was like that third or

(49:24):
it's same with drafts. It's like the 13th to the 15th
round was a lot of guys I like, but you just can't get them all.
No, a lot of times in auction where you have like Guriel
Mullins, Newt Bar, yeah, Mitchell Friedel, like like in
an auction you can get them all.Now.
The one I just looked and I was looking at a draft here,
Conforto not starting with the with the Dodgers.

(49:48):
I don't know how Rossville, he might be just with a platoon
right now. So we'll have to see how that
kind of situation goes. In a 12, I don't know if you
want to cut them after a week, but you might have to start
looking at another option here. In a fifteen, you probably have
to hold and see how it plays out.
But that's why I'm there. He was going kind of early.

(50:08):
Yeah, I, I and I'll, I'll stand by my, I'll take Trevor Larnick
100 picks after Conforto. Just like I was saying.
I just think that I know Conforto started to hit lefties
last year really well and he hada phenomenal bounce back season.
But it's the Dodgers, and they will maximize that spot to the
Max. Yeah, I have to ask Silver
something here, though. How do you like the Blue Jays

(50:31):
cleanup hitter there? Do you think that's going to?
So far, the Blue Jays cleanup hitter is on pace for 160, two
home runs and A-4000 plug in. It's it's again.
It's like the Blue Jays decided,quite rightly, we want our first
3 hitters, Beauvlad and Santander, to maximize their

(50:52):
plate appearances, and then we're going to put everybody
else in the hat and draw them at10.
And that's what the batting average is like.
I know. And it makes sense.
They want Jimenez hitting head of Kirk every single game.
So that makes a ton of sense because otherwise 1 of Jimenez
is only skill. Not only skills, he's great

(51:12):
defensive second baseman. The main skills that he's
bringing to to the the offensiveside in terms of his speed is
neutered because of Kirk. But I wouldn't have thought that
him hitting fourth was planned. I think that the Blue Jays are
one of those teams that you'll see like 135 different batting
orders this year. I wouldn't expect to see that

(51:33):
particular 9 guys in that order very often.
Which means, of course, at 4:00 today when they post the batting
average or the batting line up, it'll be the exact same batting.
No, I think, I think they're going to switch around very,
very regularly. I do like the the the Kirk after
humanizing that. That's absolutely great.

(51:53):
And and Jeff, you'd you'd be you'd be excited about this, but
I pulled the some bat speed datafrom yesterday's games against
small sample. But I know you love the small
sample bat speed stuff. Aljandro Kirk only had four
swings, but he was plus 9 miles an hour from last year.
From 70 to 79. Let's go.
He's in much better, much, much,much better shape this year.

(52:16):
Any any any interesting extensions from pitchers that
you picked up yesterday? Anybody have increased?
It's a different podcast. Yeah, I'm not, I'm not doing the
extension. I already tried bat speed.
It took me like an hour to do that.
It that's enough for me, Rob, but.
Just pour yourself a sweet glassof beet juice, rob and punch

(52:39):
those numbers before the before the starting pitcher pod.
Are are you in Modica doing thatthis year or what's the?
Plan for starting doing it this year.
We're not doing it this week because it's just, you know, I
was. Curious.
I was, I was, I was curious whatthe, what the weather's like in
Tennessee. So I'm going to have to look
that up myself. No, no, yeah, no, we, I mean, we
didn't do this for this past week, you know, But yeah, we'll,

(53:00):
we'll be doing it going forward 100% Yeah.
Super excited about that and I'mjust happy he's he he wants to
do it again because I know he scaled back a little bit on the
baseball this year and. So if you could if you could
make sure you have your pitcher extension research done before
the 1st starting pitcher podcast, that would be helpful.
Yes, I will 100% get that down so I could reference it as much

(53:22):
as I can and he'll just he'll just shake me off with an Ice
cube mix 100. Percent and ice coffee, Yeah.
And ice coffee, some other bullpen stuff.
Yesterday we saw a roller Chapman come into the 8th in a
tie game. The Red Sox took the lead.
We saw Slayton come in for the save.
Will we be seeing a lot of this often where Slayton kind of, you

(53:46):
know, emerges now as the right-handed guy?
Cuz Hendrix is out, you know, onthe IL with the elbow
information didn't look great inthe spring.
And you know, obviously they've said that Chapman is their
closer, but Jeff, how how interested should we be in
Slayton? He's already owned a ton in main
events, 77% and 22% in OCS. But what what is your stance on

(54:10):
how much he'll be able to like put into your starting lineup
this year? It.
Depends on I think it's only in like main events or deeper like
15 teamers where you just don't feel good about a starter.
It could be a 5050, we don't know.
I mean, with that news that Chapman was going to be the
closer, but you know, he's goingto like if there's a bunch of

(54:32):
lefties up, like he's coming in and Slayton is is good.
I don't I don't know if he's might even be comparable to
Chapman. It's one of those ones where
it's like it's fine. So I think I kind of always
thought Chapman was getting way overdrafted.
Like he was there like, oh, he'sjust going to be the 9th inning
guy and I was like being a lefty.

(54:53):
They're going to use those matchups and once everything get
everyone gets healthy, I think it's going to be kind of a
little bit of a mess. So we don't know.
But as I don't know if it's going to be 5050, we'll see how
it was because it was Chapman came in in a tie game and they
wanted to keep it that way. It wasn't a there wasn't a safe
that when Chapman came in, the team wasn't set up for a safe

(55:15):
chance. So maybe when they're set up
that way, they're bring him in as the closer and not just to
try to stay in the game. So I think it's just wait and
see how it works out. Yeah, I, I, I agree with, I
agree with all that. I also agree Chapman was
starting to go like 10th, 11th, 12th rounds which seemed seemed
a bit glass is mostly full. Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely.

(55:41):
I I I didn't get, I didn't get that complete rise up into that,
you know, area with like Jansen Bednar and J Mart.
Those guys have their watch too,you don't get me wrong.
But I didn't think, I didn't think that like Chapman would
just be the guy that would get it all the time.
But yeah, definitely, definitelya big rise to the top.
But I think Slayton is going to be a popular pick regardless

(56:03):
this weekend in Fab. I think he'll probably get close
to 100% in both leagues. We're about the Philadelphia
Phillies pen. I've been mentioning Jose
Alvarado in the hot corner a lotthis year.
He's got the gas, he's bringing up 2 1/2 miles an hour.
He lost 20 lbs and the usage forhim was he, you know, we talked

(56:23):
about the Rangers being the opposite.
Well, they were using Jackson inthe as, as the last guy out of
the pen in the spring training. The Phillies were using him as
the first guy out of the pen And, and Thompson kind of did
this two years ago with Kimbrel.So it kind of got me like
thinking about Jose Alvarado's being a guy, even though they
signed Jordan Romano and they have Cook ring and Alvarado

(56:45):
looks like he's going to be at least getting a decent amount of
chances to close games here. But how do you how are you guys
looking at this pen in general and including Amano being the
first one off the board? Will he disappoint the owners
this season, Jeff? This is another one.
It was the same situation as thewith the Red Sox were there

(57:10):
wasn't like the team wasn't set up to get a save.
It was still a tied game. So they're just trying to win
it. And I some teams just operate
differently then like we're going to get our best arms.
We want to keep this games closeand wait till hitters come in
and then we'll deal with it. So I still think it's Romano,
but what's it's when you're going to have to watch and

(57:30):
you're going to have, if you have a bench spot that you don't
like, you have to bring in Alvarado and do it.
It's like it probably hurt that Romano gave up the runs like he
did. I guess he blow the save
earlier. So I don't know, maybe it is
Alvarado. Both of them need to be rostered

(57:52):
and see what happens. That's the right answer.
Yeah, I think by Sunday night we're going to know and I think
there's going to be a lot of pissed off by Jordan Romano
owners out there. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And Ivano's already at 88% ownedin Maine.
So but 15% OCS, I'm sure they'llsee a little bit of a rise.

(58:13):
What else do we have here? I I wanted to throw out really
quick Drake Baldwin. The Padres kind of ran all over
him yesterday. Machado with two steals, Bogart
with Juan Tatis with two. And Tatis made a comment that he
was playing on one leg last yearand that this is the real him.
So that's, that's going to be a chin to see how that ends up.

(58:33):
But will this be a problem for Jake Baldwin if he can't control
the run game? I know a lot of it has to do
with the pitchers as well, but alittle bit of cause for concern.
Jeff, if, if, if he can't throw guys out.
If it is the pitch, I'm going towait to see if it's constantly.
It's never been great. Relievers are horrible.
Just as a rule, I just assume every reliever can't hold a guy

(58:55):
on like that. Everyone just runs against even
the best relievers out there. So I think a lot of teams with
these rules are just going to pick on those guys if they can't
get it. And maybe with they found
something with Baldwin that they're just maybe he's just a
little bit slower than everyone else.
So give it a give it a week. Like I said, it's I'm a little,

(59:19):
it's usually almost always the pitchers they're picking on, the
same one everyone kept, I can't remember who it was last year,
kept getting mad, one of the guys for the Dodgers and it was
just like, no, it's the same 2 pitchers they're picking on and
it's just get over it. That's what happens.
A lot of times those guys are just really slow the plate.
They can be halfway to second base before the balls even left
the hand. Yeah, I think, I think that's

(59:42):
sound advice. Like three of them were off of
sale, 2 of them were off of bummer.
So let's let's let's see. It's not like the Braves have
have what what what is the Braves alternative between now
and and when it comes back from injury?
They don't have a lot of alternatives.
So I think they're kind of goingto roll Baldwin out there unless

(01:00:04):
it gets just untenable. But it's it's just if it if it
is if it is. Him who just can't throw then
it's an interesting guy to target in fantasy in terms of
like waiver wire picks. Yep, 100%.
Absolutely. Yep, It's a.
It's a. It's a good little nugget to
keep an eye on for sure. One other thing that caught my

(01:00:25):
eye was comments auto starter versus Corrigan's on opening
day. I was anticipating him being in
a, a strip platoon role, you know, and maybe get some starts
versus lefties. But I think I, you know, I don't
know if there's something that'sgonna stick a whole bunch.
He only started 25% of the time last year with lefties.
He only started 72% at the time versus righties last year.

(01:00:47):
As Stephen vote like completely,you know, always consistently
hurt us in that region. But Jeff, do you think this is
like a like a legit tilt toward him being a near full time guy?
And if so, he I think he's got agood chance to smash his coster.
That was 368 in the main this year.
I think he has it until that team starts getting healthy.

(01:01:09):
They have so many guys hurt right now that they can't
platoon, they can't do anything.It's just like these are the
guys who are running out. It feels like some of it's what
my some of my teams are going tobe in like July and you got like
6 guys on your benches. ILS you don't even have a
someone to put in. It's like this is who we have.
We're throwing them out there. Who even played who?

(01:01:29):
Are you talking about David Fry?Yeah, that like they have the
pitchers are injured. They're they're they're.
Oh God, I'm wrong. Team.
Sorry, Detroit. Detroit is.
The one That's how you draft 2 utility guys.
Yeah, you're right, 100%. You can't draft for the third
with Manzardo. You could have completed it.

(01:01:51):
No, I think he's got AI don't know he he it it looks pretty
wide open for him like to get some more run and he did last
year. But again, I just opening day.
It was just nice to see him get a start against Reagan's, you
know, hit a home run. It just kind of like caught my
eyes like man, this is somethingthat I wasn't expecting right
off the bat, especially from both, but could be a big tilt in

(01:02:13):
in in value for him going forward.
You know, I don't know if like that would be him being
interested in OC player right off the bat.
I would say no because of how much they put 2IN.
But if that's the case where he's going to start playing
versus all the time versus righties and some lefties, I
think that'll really change his value for sure.

(01:02:36):
Anything else you guys want to hit on before we head out of
here? The one thing you skipped over
wouldn't go back to is the Texasbullpen.
Oh, yeah, One thing I'll say about Luke Jackson, and it's
that way in Atlanta. It's always been his career is
lefties just crushing. And that's what happened
yesterday. Yeah.
I think he's a great Roogie. I don't know if he's going to be

(01:02:57):
the closer, if teams can just have a bunch of lefties on the
bench. I think teams with a set lineup,
you know, won't be able to. But if they go up against teams
like the Rays where it's like, OK, we're just going to bring
all our lefties against him, he won't close and or he won't be
able to succeed at it like he did yesterday.
But he just really can't get lefties out.

(01:03:19):
So he's, I don't know how long he'll be able to keep the job
like they want him to. And he does great against
righties. I just, and I think Texas wants
to have a set closer. I just don't know if he'll be
able to do it because teams willbe able to take advantage of
him. Yeah, I would, you know, take me
to church, as the song says. I, I think I don't, I don't
think it's going to be Luke Jackson for very long.

(01:03:41):
I think either the guy from Coldplay or Mark Church ends up
with the closer job in Texas before we're before we're
sitting out in the hot summer sun.
And Jeff and and that vein, if it's a big lefty pocket, maybe
it just becomes Robert Garcia, right to be able to shut them
down. I.
Think I think Garcia. Garcia gets 5 to 10 saves as the

(01:04:04):
the loogie. Not not at loogie.
The loogies aren't really a thing anymore.
But if, if he's if, if two, you know, they're playing, if
they're playing a team with two good left-handed hitters coming
up on the 9th, I can easily see him go in.
And then I think 1 of Church or Chris Martin emerges as the
closer, which is not me being bitter towards Phil for his good

(01:04:26):
call. It's like it's a great call.
I just don't think Luke Jackson is is long for the closer job in
my opinion. So if he's a free agent in your
league, Luke Jackson, I would bid on him, but I would not blow
my brains out thinking I'm buying a a closer for the next
six months is my opinion. I could be very wrong.

(01:04:50):
No, that's I, I think, I think it's a smart, that's a smart
approach to it. And I just want to thank you
guys for, for giving me a doubleloogie today.
I wasn't expecting that. I don't think I've heard loogie
all like in in my two years withyou guys.
And now I get a double loogie. Yeah, I know in Vegas, in Vegas
you got to pay 2300 bucks for a double loogie.

(01:05:10):
So us giving to you that for free is is the least we can do
for you, Rob. The only like kind of schmoopy
thing I want to say, and I say this every year after Vegas, so
many people come up to us and say they listen to the podcast,
they enjoy the podcast. And I'm not pretending to be
humble or like, like it, it, it means a lot.

(01:05:33):
Like it really does touch me that people like we, I think I,
I can't speak for you guys. I do this because it's fun and I
enjoy doing it. The fact that anybody else
actually listens to it and like,feels like they get something
out of it blows me away every single year when I meet real
people who like, sincerely seem to enjoy it and find it useful.

(01:05:53):
So thank you to everybody who came up to me at Vegas to say
that. It's very nice.
Perfectly well said. I, I, I echo that 1000 and it,
it's still new to me. It's still weird hearing that
from people. And truly I, I don't want to
ever get that feeling of, of, offeeling that way.
So good stuff guys. Enjoy the weekend.

(01:06:16):
We'll be back next week on the Pull hitter Patreon side of the
Launch Angle podcast and for RobSilver, Jeff Zimmerman.
I'm Rob D take care and we'll see you next week.
Peace.

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EP 212 | Live Draft Recaps & Opening Day Reactions

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}EP 212 | Live Draft Recaps & Opening Day Reactions