EP 216: ADP Analysis: Zach Wheeler, Jose Altuve, Bo Bichette +

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Incoming pitch Spin rate of 2500RPM, 95.6 mph.
Adjusting swing 12°. Proceed with launch angle.
Welcome in to another episode ofthe Launch Angle pod.

(00:22):
I'm Rob D, the Deadpool hitter. I'll be bringing in Rob Silver
very shortly and we'll be starting out ADP analysis for
the 2020 sixth fantasy baseball drafting season.
Where already jumping into draftchampions.
There's gladiator leagues available on the NFPC for the
ADP analysis, we're going to be focusing on draft champions.
ADP, me and Rob arbitrarily started at a specific spot in

(00:46):
the ADP. We really feel like the
actionable stuff comes more so down the ADP versus the top.
So you'll hear us discussing players starting at about the
1:15 ADP right now. Draft Champions.
Every other launch angle episodethis offseason will be on the
Polito Patreon. Most of our last stuff has been

(01:07):
over at the Patreon, just makingsure the fans who are providing
us with some support for our endeavor, giving them the
greatest way to have the majority of the episodes in the
past month or so. And we'll be starting the every
other system right now going forward in the offseason.
So if you want the rest of the launch angle episodes, come join

(01:30):
the pull hitter pod. You can sign up strictly just
for the extra launch angle pods or you can come in to the
Discord spend up on the extra tier for $10 a month.
I am doing draft champions Diaries where you'll hear me
just go pick by pick as I'm making my pick.
The analysis of a player roster construction.
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(01:50):
If you do listen to the pull hitter podcast, the public side
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(02:13):
other things that I'm just goingto be doing in the offseason.
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(02:34):
Trying to provide as much content as I can when everyone
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And again, the discord itself isis just worth their price of
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thoughts and strategy, roster construction thoughts being, you
know, we talk about everything from life to baseball too.

(02:55):
So it's a great little hangout. We appreciate the support.
If you come check us out there and we'll get started with DVD
analysis. All right, welcome on into the
long triangle pod. I am Rob D I'm here with Rob
Silver. It is November 13th, 2025, and
Rob Silver is drafting. Let's go.

(03:17):
Who? Am I Rob?
Who am I? Who is this guy and what are we
doing? We turned you into.
Yeah, I'm doing my first DC. We're going to start ADP like
this. These are all record record
accomplishments or or or not like.
I don't know if records suggest something positive.
I don't know if any of this is positive but but here we are
anyways. Strong finished in your leagues

(03:39):
Blue Jays have a good end of season like not the best end of
season but a great end of seasonand so we.
Need. We need to continue to check
those boxes, Rob. This year is what?
I I am years away from able to talking about it, being able to
talk about game seven. I can't.
I'm not anywhere in a mental place where I can talk about
that yet. Yeah, no, like usually I need to

(03:59):
take until January 1st to just like unwind and get away from
baseball and for whatever reasons, all of them that you
said and and who knows what other reasons this year I just I
was ready to go. So I'm I'm going.
It's 2 hour DC and it's Novemberso I don't want to be the the

(04:20):
bitch who complaints about this stuff and I'm certainly glad
that like Mike's mouth is not inmy league.
But there is like one guy, and I'm not going to name him in
case he's a meatball who I thinkis timed out at least half his
picks. It's two hours, so it's not that
big a deal. But what drives me crazy is he

(04:42):
logs back in to take himself offof auto draft.
So I like it's, it's not just that he's timing out and
sometimes it looks like he's seta queue because it's not
straight like just taking the top guy from ADP.
So he's done some work, but it'sa fucking like a dry.
He's close enough to the turn that when he's logging back on

(05:03):
to take it. Like the only benefit of having
a guy who's time out like that is then you're going to come
back on auto draft and he keeps fucking around anyways.
It doesn't matter. It's November like deep breath
serenity now. It's all good.
Yeah, yeah. You gotta start baking in the
full meditative concept. When it comes it's because.
It's like the the answer, I think if it starts bothering you

(05:27):
at this time of year, like I understand in February, it's
like, I have shit to do. I want to get going this time of
year. It means you're watching the
draft too much. Like it's, it's just like just
step away from from the phone orthe computer for for a while and
time goes like it's just something that should be in the
background. You get the e-mail notification
only if you're watching the clock that it's like, Oh my God,

(05:49):
there's still an hour and 45 minutes left in this guy's.
I know he's not showing, showingup again.
Then the answer is go away dude.Like live your life.
Don't just sit there watching it.
I I think you just, that is really ultimate the best thing
and the only option honestly, inmy mind, because you'll have
brain rot, you'll all start overthinking your pick, whatever

(06:10):
it is. You know, it's just I, I just,
I'll keep the draft board up, but not like the draft room up
sometimes and I'll just like on my phone, just go to it and I'm
like, all right, it is what it is.
You know, I try to, once I see the queue or the player pool,
then I'll start like investigating and I'm like, I
just looked at this 20 minutes ago.
Yeah, like I, I mean, whatever. And I know lots of people talk

(06:32):
about this like I've, we're, we're in the 20th round and I
need like, I have a queue of probably 30 starting pitchers
right now. And it's a good exercise just
trying to like rank them like how assume all of them are there
when I, it's back to me. These guys are by definition all
not awesome or they would have gone in the 1st 20 rounds, but
they're all interesting. They all, most of them either

(06:54):
have jobs or have a path towardsjobs.
So it's it's a good use of time just kind of sorting through
these guys and figuring out if which ones you like and which
ones are just names you recognize and should not be on
your team this year. 100% and now we have the release of some
so we have, you know these. I think that's where I find my

(07:15):
most battles is where I look at their projection and the FGP and
be like, you know, I don't know if I believe that.
I know there's some people who just might look at the number
and and go yeah, like this is this is it, this is the value.
But I I I try to like at least validate some of my feeling, but
also the projection on the player.
Too. So let me ask you one one guy

(07:37):
we're gonna get into ADP but buthe's somebody we won't get to
for for months still. So when I ran, I take Steamer
600 and for pitchers and when I just run my straight SGP,
including the relievers, your boy Jonah Tong comes out as
pitcher 33 overall. And once you once you eliminate

(07:57):
a few guys who like are quite injured, he's basically a top 30
starting pitcher. And he was so good and so
dominant in the minors last year.
Obviously his brief stint in themajors didn't go as well.
What do you think a reason forget forget the specific
steamer projection like the per inning and the the the ratio.

(08:21):
What do you think a seat? What does the 2026 season look
like for Jonah Tong? I think it looks like 20 starts.
Yeah, 2020 to 22 starts, but I'll take the floor at 20 three.

(08:42):
No, he's not going to go higher than a foyer AI think.
I think he'll, I think he'll be safely under there and Steve has
got him for 15 1/2% came on his walk.
I think that's higher, maybe a smidge higher maybe toward the
1718. I think he's really good.
I don't think you are that dominant in the minors and then

(09:02):
just go to the majors and then you are just this guy alone.
And he was, I mean, underneath the hood there's still a lot of
things to like. So I think whether he starts in
the minors with, you know, a month and gets his feet back up
or going to be a lot team contextual wise, like, you know,
what the Mets do with their staff, But I think he's a legit

(09:24):
part of the plan for the season.I think he has to be.
Yeah, I mean if he gets 20 starts and he's going like 260
ish right now ADP wise even it So I I agree with with you.
I think the steamer like strikeout numbers are a little
bit better for him. But even if you just got the

(09:45):
steamer numbers, 20 start to that at 260 strikes me as a
really nice buyer. 100 hundred percent, 100%.
And I think there's been a lot of chatter about like him just
being A2 pit pitcher like Strider, but you know, hey, that
worked out a little bit too. But I also think he had to scope
all that he didn't use. I don't know if and he's just

(10:05):
got a really it's the change up,set up everything.
Are we still on this whole two pitch pitcher?
Like that's big. It's it's it's baked into the
numbers, right? Like it's it's it's the the
assumption of the two pitch starting pitcher can't work
unless you're Spencer Strider peak Spencer Strider suggests
that there's something so special about the majors where

(10:29):
the third pitch is absolutely necessary and therefore all of
we can project. You know, steamer is a reliable
projector for pitchers unless you fit in this narrow box, in
which case, like throw it out the window.
And I've never seen anybody do an actual and now that's vibes.
That's just like, I don't think this is going to work and I
don't know that their stuff plusis going to play kind of thing.

(10:52):
Somebody do a fucking study thatshows me that guys who only have
two pitchers or throw 2 pitches,2 pitches, 90% plus percent of
the time miss their projections by a wider margin than guys who
throw three or more pitchers. And if you can do that, then I'm
open minded to hearing that. But I think that's just a vibe
thing that people say because it's old schooly, right?

(11:13):
Like, you know, John Smoltz, it's a, it's a John Smoltzism,
but I don't think there's any fucking evidence of it.
I I mean, it's, it's being used as a real talking point for
Chase Burns right now. You know, for a couple of
things. I've heard it's offseason.
So in a similar fashion, he's only got these two pitches, but
they're they're both very elite.Yeah, so I'm not suggesting that

(11:36):
it can't be a fucking issue. Of course it can be an issue,
but but guys with five pitches also fail at the majors a lot.
Like it's hard to be a good Major League pitcher.
So I'm not suggesting to guarantee it.
But by the way, but Steamer 600 has Chase Burns as the 18th best
starting pitcher for any pitch. So, so like maybe these guys all

(11:58):
fail, but I'd love to see an actual study.
Somebody fucking take that. If you, if you want to, if you
want to use that talking point, then prove to me that that it's
actually a problem. And don't and don't cherry pick
five guys who only had two pitches and fail.
Like do something actual like Jeff Zimmerman.
Ask, if Jeff were here, I'd be assigning him a fucking

(12:19):
assignment right right now. Neither of us are going to
fucking take the time or have the wherewithal to do it with
somebody listening dice. Yeah.
We need, we need a fuck we like,we need, we need.
If Phil were sitting here, Phil would have in the last 40
seconds while I've been talking about it, completed the entire
study and told me actually, Rob,they missed, they missed their

(12:42):
strikeout minus walk rate by 3% more than other pictures.
And if you're like, how do you do?
I was just sitting on my computer while you were talking
and going on, and I completed it.
Without a doubt. And that's that's The funny
thing about Phil. You could actually like I'll,
I'll look and like while you're talking and I could see Phil's
eyes and his hands are moving. I'm like, Oh yeah, he's he's

(13:03):
he's digging up something. It's.
It's like I don't listen to a lot of Joe Rogan, but it's like
the producer guy where Joe Roganwill makes like should be like,
Hey, I hear there are like unicorns now in Missouri.
Have you heard about his unicorns and the producers?
Producers like actually that's been shown to to not be true.
Joe. There are no unicorns in
Missouri as of right now. We need a guy like that on the

(13:27):
podcast as a regular who it's like when we come up with
something like that, who could just be like, actually, Rob,
somebody'd already done that study and this is what it found.
Yeah, Jamie, 100%. That's the I need a Jamie on the
pod. All right, so we are gonna start
out ADP analysis. We are gonna start.
We picked and. Actually before we jump into the

(13:48):
ADP, there was 1 observation that we were pivoting and by
text about my observation for people going into DCS and that
was holy shit. Middle infield is deep late
right now in terms of just beingable to wait as long as you

(14:09):
fucking want and to to a point Iguess.
But like there is no need to push middle infielders
whatsoever in DCS this year. Second base obviously isn't
awesome in terms of talent, but but if you just you just don't
take anybody until like into thetwo hundreds like these are

(14:31):
these are the guys who are goingafter pick 200 pretty regularly
is like Colson Montgomery. I don't know what Colson
Montgomery is gonna be but like the Powers seems legit.
Matt McClain interesting bounce back Bryce and Scott.
Luis Garcia I don't know that Luis Garcia keeps his job so
maybe he's not a great example but but he is like a 1515 with

(14:54):
upside type of player. Xander Bogarts we can all shit
about like how all the things Xander Bogarts isn't and how bad
his contract is but Xander Bogarts had a plenty good
season. Otto Lopez.
Jorge Polanco, Like Jorge Polanco was the 7th best second
baseman last year. And what if he's not in Seattle?
Like what if he has a full time job with full health in a better

(15:17):
ballpark? He's a legit 30 home run guy.
If you don't like Jorge Polanco though, go to Gleber Torres, go
to Hassan Kim. Like Kevin Mcgonigal, like
interesting upside. Brett Beatty isn't going as a
top and you know, I know he alsoqualifies at third base.
He isn't a top 45 middle infielder right now.
Never made mind Mason win MarcusSimeon.

(15:39):
I don't love Marcus Simeon. Anthony Volpe again is not being
drafted as a top 45 middle infielder.
Anthony Volpe. We all know about Anthony Volpe,
but like, it used to be if you waited on middle infielder and
got, like, caught with your pants down, you were, like,
starting, I don't know, Joey Ortiz all year.

(16:02):
Yeah. And it's just it's not that
anymore. And there are obviously some
very good early middle infielders, but I'd feel really
good in drafts, including in FABleagues, just waiting and
waiting and waiting on these guys and seeing what my team
needs. Because if you need more speed,
there are guys who can give you more speed.

(16:23):
I haven't mentioned Carlos Correa, like right, there's lots
of problems with Carlos Correa, but if you but Carlos Correa is
just fine in ADC in terms of giving you some volume.
So anyways, I don't know what you think, but I, I just think
weight on middle infielders, notconsciously like, like don't
pass on great, you know, but Bobby Witt's there take Bobby
Witt. Obviously that's not what I'm

(16:44):
saying but don't get worried andand certainly I wouldn't be
reaching on Aussie Alby's in the11th round because I I have no
middle infielders yet so I better get Aussie fast.
It's so funny how there's a cascade of thoughts after you
start with just one thing, one decision point in a draft.
And I think you now that with middle and field, because
historically in draft champions,I like to get a a good short, a

(17:07):
good second shortstop and he's my MI and also just a safeguard
in case anything happened to thefirst guy.
And it just tends to be the better values, you know.
So in this current DC I'm in, you know, I just did the
shortstop review preview with Dusty.
And as I was prepping for it andlooking at these shortstops, I
was like, Oh yeah, I love Tovar.Oh yeah, Lovato Lopez.

(17:29):
But then I I kept going down like, oh, well, this prospect is
really interesting. They got the Mcgonagalls and,
you know, Weatherhol Griffin guys.
And then and then you ask yourself, all right, well, you
know, if I do grab Tovar, my second sharp Bob, I'm just
handcuffing like I can't take Mcgonagall as my third.
So it's just like those decisionpoints that start really coming
to your brain real quick. And then it really sets the tone

(17:51):
for how important it is to like,not like map it out.
This is where I'm going to pick this and this, but at least have
that thought. Like if you really do one of
those young prospects, then do you really want them to be your
third shortstop? Because then obviously you might
be short elsewhere. So, so many again, deeper and
deeper. You know, the Brendan Donovan's
is Clement. There's just so many interesting
youthful roto players at this position.

(18:13):
It's so deep. 100% and I think that you're going to hit a lot
of DC's in particular where like60% of the top ten guys on your
spreadsheet, if you're drafting off a spreadsheet or in your
queue or however you're doing it, or middle infielders.
And if you're filled at middle infield, it's ADC.
So depth is a good thing. But you're early enough still in

(18:36):
round 1516 where by definition you have holes somewhere.
By definition you either need more starting pitchers or need
outfielders or need something you don't have full team yet.
So taking your 4th middle infielder is a nice but tough
luxury there. So I think there's real value in
giving yourself the flexibility if there's a value you really

(18:57):
like, because it's, I think it'smore likely you're going to find
it there than an outfield, for example, because the full time
guys just dry up pretty quickly.100% And then like, what if
there's a whole draft that thinks like we're thinking right
now, which is my current DC of two, they went in the ninth
round that pick 124 like Ozzy Alby's went again, I pick 172.

(19:18):
I don't really have interest at 14150, but every right, like I'm
like, is everyone kind of thinking on my level here where?
And then so then those guys start to get pushed down too.
And then those are the decision points where you don't want to
get traffic because you don't have to make that feel like, oh,
here's this 20, you know, 20-30 pick gap difference.
You know, let me take this this guy because no, it's just like
just trust that there's still somuch more to come later and this

(19:41):
so. This was really just my sneaky
way of driving Aussie Alby's price down, Rob.
So you can get all the so you can get all the Aussie Alby's
because how did that work out for you last year?
Oh. Man, they so, so I do a little
bit quick thing before we start ADP, I do a little bit of
analysis on where I drafted my stats, you know, drafted stats

(20:04):
and FAB stats. And so when I looked at my main
event and then I was like, I wasgoing down.
I was like, wow, you know, whatever, 70% of my stats I got
from my drafted offense, but some like, that's usually a high
mark for me. And then I like go down the
actual starters and I see Alby'sand I see 210, six homers.
And I'm like, Oh yeah, I forgot I dropped them.

(20:26):
And then he had his best portionof his, you know, and it's so
funny. I made that note too in my
little note comic. I'm like, drop them for his best
production of the. Season and you, you drop, you
dropped him so everybody else could get so he could fly on
everybody else's roster. But hey, Lenin, Sosa was a great
ad, so I thought like I picked up.
No, no, I didn't even say Lenin Sosa.

(20:47):
Like Lenin Sosa is a tremendous DC guy, giving you corner, you
know, first base, middle infields eligibility.
Like it's wild. Wild and his team mate Colson
Montgomery, who was like, you know, you just saw what he was
able to. I don't know that whole team
that White Sox like shit, but there's such good, decent Chase
Mydro, you know, is. Yeah, it's it's back before we

(21:12):
got so smart. If a middle infielder hit like
25 home runs in less than 300 plate appearances as a rookie at
like 15 years old or whatever Montgomery would be.
We'd be like, this guy's gonna hit 40 plus home runs, and now
nobody wants Montgomery. Isn't that so funny?
We've outsmarted ourselves. Yeah, I don't know.
I don't know. Was his, is his seger bad or

(21:34):
something? Like why does everybody hate
Montgomery so much? Seger is bad, but it doesn't
matter When you have that kind of bat speed and you smash balls
like that, it kind of overrides some of your flaws.
You know, maybe most of them so,and that can always get better,
right? You know, like you can't teach
bat speed. Well, maybe some people you can,
but you know it's just you. You got it and now you got to

(21:54):
make better swing decision. I love that.
It's it's, it's weird just seeing driveline say like you
can't teach, you can't teach batspeed, but come to the to to
driveline and we'll take your money and try to teach you
throughout bat. 1000% All right,ADP, we're going to start.

(22:15):
Do we start in round one, Rob? Maybe we should start with, Oh
no, we don't do it that way. No, you know, I mean, just don't
lose the pick in the first round.
That's it. It's more difficult.
Let's let's let's have a six hour debate on whether in in
round one you should take Kyle Tucker, Tucker or Fernando
Tatis. Like it's like fuck off, yeah.

(22:38):
That's why we're going to start with them random guy at.
Random number generator. Just a random number generator.
Yeah, how about we start off here at Pick?
Um, 117 or maybe 115 or Carlos Rodon or Will Smith or catcher.
What do you think? Carlos Rodon, how much do you
trust his health going at this point of the season?

(23:00):
So obviously by the time we hit Vegas in March, we'll have a lot
more information about his health.
How worried are you about CarlosRodon?
I don't think I'm extremely worried.
I mean, I think there's some concern, but I mean it's it's
it's loose, loose elbow, like loose bodies right in the elbow.

(23:25):
I know that the timeline speak may get a little people uneasy,
but it is Boone. I think you got to take that for
a grain of salt too. And I just think like maybe even
with at its price point right now, which I thought would be
cheaper, you know, I think it's pretty expensive just given the
news. And like even the most recent AD
PS don't really, I mean, there'sthe people are kind of off of

(23:48):
him and gladiators more than DC's, which makes sense.
But I mean, I, I think in a draft champions, I was thinking
like he was going to slip because last year in DC he was
going 140 and then the main event he ticked up a little bit.
So I thought he was going to be cheaper given the news, but he's
not. But if he gets it back into the,
you know, 15170, I'll probably be fine taking it because I

(24:10):
still think you'll get 100 very solid innings somewhere down in
a draft champions, all part of the Postal.
I think it'll work. Yeah, I I agree.
It's we need, we need and maybe this happened in Arizona.
Neither of us. I think we're in at first pitch.
We need a good doctor, Dave, like I am not touching Carlos
Rodon to drive down his price. The challenge.

(24:33):
I mean, he's been really good and last year he was
extraordinarily healthy, like 195 innings, uh, for him of
really good, uh, pitch. I think player Raider had him
like SP-9 last year, which is anamazing year.
And he's one of those guys. So on the one hand, it could be

(24:53):
binary, like he's, he's a pitcher and he has pitcher with
some health concerns. So it could be 0.
But I agree like you can take you at this price, you can start
playing the game of like how many innings plus a replacement
do I need from Rodon to get this?
Are you worried at all because of the health that his

(25:17):
performed? Like his per inning performance
is worse. That is just worse.
I know and and I'm going to Van leave this to the fullest, Rob.
You've had this, you've had, you've had this injury, so you
know what it's. Like, you know, when I got hurt
at work, I needed to do pretty much this.
I wasn't a pitcher, but I'm a Carpenter.
So some violent movement, you know, remove loose bodies, shave

(25:39):
down a bones spur. But for me, the bones spur is
affecting the the nerves in my fingers, you know, so in my
elbow. So it was necessary.
And it's just, I feel like with like having access to, you know,
your $100 million guy and the Yankees, I'm sure you'll get the
top notch help you need. So I mean, of course there's

(25:59):
always some concerns, especiallywith the elbow, but I just think
it's like a cleanup procedure that they were like, hey, you
know, let's do this now. It seems like perfect time to do
it. It's wild that he he he like
it's wild that he pitched as much as he did, given that
presumably he needed surgery thewhole season, right?

(26:19):
Like he wasn't he wasn't good inthe postseason.
He had the rough start in the postseason, but he still was
pitching and he was pitching well the whole year.
So it's a yeah. A lot about him, like him as a
guy to just want the ball and get out there and, and even
though like even if you just look at his last 11 starts, he
still had like a, a, a very goodERA.

(26:40):
But yeah, that's it. That's where you can see the
cracks and that's where you could be concerned.
Like 4.360 and 11.4% came on hiswalk, but then then you look at
the swinging strike, he was still missing paths.
He was still getting chased. He was good in the zone.
So it's like there was some translation.
I think maybe he lost. If you just looking at those
last couple starts, maybe just got a little bit unlucky, but I

(27:02):
wanted a little bit cheaper again.
I'm still shocked. And maybe that's what happened,
You know, maybe guys start getting into the news a little
bit more and it's start getting more news and it's like OK, like
realistically we're looking good.
Maybe some people just think like boom, full of shit, this
guy's going to be fine, you know, I don't know.
So I think next guy, Mr. Will Smith on the on the Dodgers

(27:23):
catcher here. This is kind of like a a decent
little gap from, you know, the the the the previous pack of
catchers. So this guy just continues to
have solid seasons and continuesto go down the ADP charts every
single year, right? Yeah, and part of it is.

(27:45):
Part of it is so, I mean, he washurt in the postseason, but he
kept playing when everybody else.
Again, I can't talk about the Dodgers yet.
It's it's still just too raw forme.
But they they, they, they pushedthem out because Mookie was
struggling so much. We all know that.

(28:05):
Like it sucks for him and for your fantasy teams, it because
just can't DH. Like he's one of the only
catchers that you can be guaranteed will not DH and
therefore, by definition, there is a ceiling on his on his
playing time because he will gethe will get quite literally.

(28:27):
You know, how did he played one game last year at DH?
So I guess Otani got one day offand they DH Will Smith.
But like, I don't know if he does.
Let me let me put it this way. If he just repeats last season,
are you happy If you drafted Will Smith here?
Are you like that's not quite good enough?

(28:49):
Like what? What does it take for you to
pull the trigger here on Will Smith?
I mean, it's going to take me missing out on like my favorite
guys in front of him. Like, I I have Drake Baldwin
well ahead of him. Yeah, I love Drake Baldwin.
So I it's kind of like, but he'salso, it's weird.
He's so productive yet in my brain still.

(29:13):
Yeah, I'm seeking like the guys behind him passively wait for
Moreno Alvarez. Like, I just like those guys
that they're caught too. But if you're going to complain
about like a 280 average or 296 hit last year, 2. 96 which for
me catcher position like I don'trun my SGP's this way.
I use like a straight batting average SGP.

(29:33):
If you wanted to use SGP by position, I think there is a not
to get too wonky. There is an argument that you
should use the replacement valuefor catcher shouldn't just be in
across the board SGP because so many of them like they steal no
bases and so many of them have shipped batting averages.
You can say well but that's going to be captured by the SGP

(29:54):
formula. But we all need to start 2
catchers. I don't know if I'm being clear.
So the 296 from Will Smith, eventhough it's in fewer plate
appearances, is actually worth more than a 296.
Is the argument from an outfielder in the same number of
plate plate appearances because of who the replacement player
is. And I don't know that my formula
fully captures how valuable a 296 from from Will Smith is,

(30:19):
especially in a world where likethe other, like in theory, he
can hit more home runs. Like I I have more faith in him
having 25 home runs this year then, for example, Alejandro
Kirk, my boy, or Gabe Marino, like the other good batting
average type of catchers. But I agree, there's just too

(30:40):
many other guys I like more around here and catchers I like
later, including Alejandro Kirk and Gabe Marino for me to pull
the trigger on Will Smith. But I don't think that makes it
a bad pick at all. No.
And you know what, like it's as I was looking into him for this
part of Mike man, again, I'm, I'm, I like the other guys
around them a little bit more. And then I, I, I dig a little

(31:01):
bit into the data. Yeah.
He had a really high batting average.
Expected batting average was pretty much on point, but then I
go to like the 90th percentile EV with the 70th percentile this
year. His previous high was 58 and
that was in 2022. So he may like may have unlocked
a little bit more power. There's this damage rate that
Robert or put together, he's typically been in the low 70s.

(31:23):
He was in 92nd percentile. That includes spray angle and
and so like he might have and hewas 96 percentile in that all
fashioned Segar. So I don't know, maybe maybe I'm
just not giving him enough respect because this guy just is
a legit batter. 12% Bowery career high.
Like he may just be, you know, we always say, oh, batters get
better at catcher. You know, I hate him when they

(31:45):
get older and like, can he even get better from what he's
historically done? That's that's, that's an old,
that's an old HQ thing is that catcher catcher sometimes
develop later than other hitters.
I don't know if that's like right.
I don't know if that was just Ron Chandler's gut back in like
1984 or if that's actually true,but there's something to it.

(32:06):
If I would like Will Smith more if he could DH once a week.
Like that's just the honest truth.
And that's just not though, you know, if they if they could play
Otani in the outfield in game seven of the World Series, maybe
they could also fucking play Otani one day.
I don't understand. Like I understand wanting to
keep Otani fresh. I don't understand at this point
why Showy Otani is capable of throwing like 120 miles an hour

(32:29):
but can't throw from the fuckingoutfield.
You like honestly, if there was a position he went to tomorrow,
would you be shocked like if he had to?
If him, if him, if him and Mookie Betts had a bets on which
one of them is a better shortstop and Otani just starts
playing shortstop, it would not ultimately shock me, no.
I guess it's just the overall like he does so much.

(32:51):
Can you? Is this another tax to his body?
That's probably the only thought, because. 100% it's,
it's 100% a it's, he puts himself through like pitch
pitching and just being showy. Otani is fucking exhausting
chanting. We don't need you to show a
Otani in game one of the World Series.
Also takes a lot out of you so Ican't even imagine what it is

(33:12):
being. Show a Otani in the World Series
so I understand. Jokes aside, he obviously
physically could play the outfield.
I understand why they don't wanthim to play the outfield.
It would really helpful Smith's fantasy value, which is a good
reason for Dave Roberts to make decisions.
If if Otani could play once a week in the outfield, like 3

(33:33):
days away from when he's starting on either side, just go
out into left field for for 9 innings and free up DH for Will
Smith, that would be awesome forhim as a fantasy player.
There is a lot of joy in some anti Otani chants.
I know I do it at the at Citi Field.
You know, I was, I was doing thefree IPE chant.

(33:53):
And and so anyway, there was a quick story, the quick look,
there's a little group next fromme from Japan, big Ohtani fans,
Dodger jerseys. And they were like, why are you
so mean? I'm like, I just turned to him
and said, listen, he's the greatest athlete I've ever seen
in my life. He's the best baseball player
ever in baseball. This is nothing against Ohtani
to play. I'm just being a rowdy Matt fan.
Don't mind me at all. Me.

(34:15):
Me, me, me starting. So I really did start the We
don't. Incredible.
I, I, I don't even want to thinkof how many beers in at the
game. One of the World Series, I was
when I started doing it, the Jays, the Jays at that point,
and I think we're up by eight runs and I started in my section
and my section quickly jumped onit.
The whole stadium jumped on it. And then like I didn't.

(34:37):
It's like you're just being a fucking drunk loudmouth when you
start it. And then the next thing you
know, like everybody's being asked about the chant at their
post game press conference and Otani is being asked about it
the next day. It's one of the 10 like best
things I've I've I've achieved at a baseball game for sure.
That's incredible. Some people some people eat 9

(35:00):
hot dogs and drink 9 beers. I drank 15 beers, one hot dog
and got an Otani chant going, sothat was pretty good.
As a vegetarian, I'm proud that you made that decision to go
that way instead. But next guy on the ADP list, a
Ranio Suarez, kind of a big jumpfrom ADP from last year.
He's going to pick 118 off the board as early as one O 2.

(35:22):
He finished at the 4th player onthe fan graft Playwater third
base last season. Landing spot context or or you
got a power bat and take it. Yeah.
I mean, so I like, I guess the question is like after last
year, if this is where Suarez's ADP goes up to, is it the people

(35:45):
just don't buy that Suarez can do this again?
49 home runs, 200 runs plus RB is and a 228 batting average,
which obviously isn't good but doesn't kill you anymore.
So is it the people just aren't buying that.
And and like nobody thinks he's going to get 49 home runs again.

(36:06):
Like, I don't know, I said I I did the stupid like why pay for
Kyle Schwarber in the second round when you can get Suarez
here? Everybody would rather have
Schwarber than Suarez, but I'm my teams do better when I'm not
short power and I feel like if I'm if I got Suarez, the odds of

(36:26):
me not being short power go up alot.
So, tell you, do you justify whythis is either too early or why
he's going here? I think it's, it's, it's a very
interesting price point because I think we're naturally inclined
to like be a little bit hesitantabout pushing up someone maybe

(36:50):
even further than they are now. Maybe that's the right thing to
do. I mean, the projection to have
him coming in like not as good as the value of where he is.
But if you have a little tweak for power, you know, maybe he
flies up your ranks a little bit.
And I think that's that's the carrying tool for him.
I I think there was, you know, just reading some stuff about
possible defensive metric slipping a little bit it, you

(37:13):
know, does he need to play first?
I don't think that's going to bother him mentally like to play
a new position if he has to or bring down his performance.
So I think he kind of checked the boxes here.
It's just actually, you know, itjust kind of depends on to like
how you feel about third base. You know, I feel some people
would like, Oh, it's it's just, it just stinks.
And I feel like a lot of decent value later on and, and and some

(37:36):
of the like more, you know, but you know, like the Matt Shaw's
or the Brett Beatty's, like they're capable players.
So I don't know if I want to invest this early in him.
I kind of feel like I'm mostly going to be out at 1:18 and it's
probably stupid to say, but you know, team contextual is if I'm
building, did I, you know, grab too much speed at the top, which

(37:59):
I'm trying not to do too much these days.
There's several like 2020 ish guys hanging around later in the
draft. So I don't like it's not a me
pick at this price, like 150 ish175 maybe.
I start to think about it and it's probably wild to sail for
someone who just hit 49 home runs, but just kind of, I think
the my lean right now early in draft.

(38:20):
Yeah, I, I, I, I buy all of that.
I just think it's interesting that people, some somebody is
taking Kyle Swarber in the second round of every single
draft and somebody is passing onSuarez, you know, set or for 15
teams are passing on him 7-8 times.
I understand that. I think if we simulated next

(38:42):
season again, not knowing where either player ends up, Suarez is
a better player than Kyle Schwarber 45% of the time.
If we simulate it a million times, maybe this is an argument
that Kyle Schwarber shouldn't begoing in the second round more
than Suarez is a smash in the eighth round.
Yeah. And it's just maybe going back
to your, your like comment of, you know, like, are we just

(39:04):
overthinking things, these things when you have this power
asset here just waiting? You know, I think, I think
people used to say as a truism like, well, I can't compete
maybe in a standalone league, but I can't compete for an
overall if I draft a Kyle Schwarber or a Kyle Raleigh or a
you and you know, Suarez becauseI and I, I'm obviously wanted to

(39:24):
compete for the the overall and I just don't think that's true
anymore. Like I, I think that the, if
you're drafting Joey Gallo, maybe that's like your, your
path to an overall or a certain Japanese player who reminds you
a lot of Joey Gallo. That may be one thing.
I think you can absolutely compete for an overall if you
have like one or two guys who are hitting 2:20 to 2:30.

(39:48):
You can't have six, you can't have six of them, but you can
have one or two and and draft a draft a guy who hits 300 to
balance them out. Totally the one the one thing is
that I caught my eye metric wise, like if you just and and
This is why I try to use the Seger as like like a backup
tool, because if you just look at his raw oh swing, it was a
career worst. It's been rising the last three

(40:09):
seasons, but then you head on over to Seeger and the swing
decisions were went from 82nd percentile to 74th.
It's just because he's knows thepitches he needs to smash and
his like actual selectivity rating is way better than his
chase rating. So it just showed that again,
like there's some there's some there's some value and why he
chased a little bit more that that it's capturing.

(40:31):
So I just wouldn't get so hung up on that.
If you know, I know they say as you get older and that, that,
that that just becomes not good to do.
But there's, there's, there's a different, you know, there's a
different factor to that. I think that you have to layer.
Does it make does it make me a bad person?
Rob and and you can just quicklyanswer yes, It probably does.
If I if you have to ask, ask a question and preface it with

(40:52):
does it make you a bad person? The answer 95% of the time is
yes. Does it make me a bad person?
I really like Seeger. I like olive ores metrics and I
find that they are useful and people use them well for fantasy
in a way that, and this has nothing to do with, you know,
people just don't use stuff plusand some of those pitcher stuff

(41:14):
well at all. They they just lean on them too
badly. And why is it?
And it's it's my biases. Obviously I find one like the
seeker stuff and and the swing decision, all of that really
useful. And the other one I'm like I
roll my eyes at and be like justyou strike at minus walk rates
like shut. Yeah, I don't know why that is,
but that's that is my bias. No, I think that's fair because

(41:36):
I think, you know, maybe, you know, maybe there's a part of a
metric that you're, that you're using and it's, it's already
accounted for either in the projection or whatever the guy's
doing. So I think.
Also also also also or doesn't have to relaunch the stat every
single year and say this is the 2026 version of it, which I
like. 100 percent, 100%, yeah. He sees I love his stuff too.

(41:57):
And I just it's just one tool I found that makes sense
intuitively. And then and then when you saw
the numbers like, oh, OK, yeah, like this, this totally makes
sense. Swing got better pitches.
And so good things will happen. Next on the ADP list, 118 Mr.
Salvador Perez capture first base eligible.
He keeps trudging along here andthe draft in public is a little

(42:19):
bit, you know, still excited on him, which I think is is valid.
Yeah, it's is is when, when doeshe become the guy you want to be
off of a year too early instead of a year too late?
I guess that's the only question.
I think this year it might be just a little bit different in

(42:39):
my eyes. Not that to say he's going to
he's he's he's a workhorse. We know what to expect that from
him. But do they get better
production from him? If Carter Jensen, you know, he's
a, you saw how good he was. Does he, does he get better with
some more rest days? Right.
You know, if even if he goes down to 135 games, you know, can
he still be useful at the spot if he gets, you know, 23 homers

(43:01):
instead of 30, you know, like hedid in 2022?
It's still useful. But I think there's just a
little bit maybe plate appearance wide that might get
chipped back with Genting with Jack Cagliano and that might
have to DH some days. So I think that's my only pull
back and that that may be the start of the that thought like
maybe this is the year that we don't do it.

(43:23):
So as great as Sal Perez has been and he's like he's been on
this run of since since he turned 31.
So since 2021, though you can include the COVID, OK, let's go
post COVID. So he's played like 161 games,
115 games, A140158155. Like it's wild how good he's

(43:46):
been. But the problem is look and it's
the Royals. We're not talking to Dodgers or
the Rays here. When he plays half his games as
ADH or first baseman, he still puts up fantasy numbers.
But in 641 plate appearances, hewas worth a 0.5 WAR last year.
Now I don't play. And I know your response is Rob,

(44:07):
do you play in leagues where a fan graft WAR is a category?
Because in which case I totally get why you'd you'd fade him.
But I don't play in those leagues.
I want him to play every day because that's how he puts a
fantasy stats. I understand that he's just not
a good enough hitter when he's DH ING a first base, a first
baseman to actually be a valuable player to to to the

(44:30):
Royals. He's a really valuable player
when he's catching. And you just you see that
difference pretty starkly, whichis, you know, if he's catching
and and and hitting these home runs, he's a three to four WAR
player. If he's playing half the time as
first base of DH, he's basicallya league average player.
The question then is as the Royals have some of these

(44:54):
prospects that they hope work out like do they do they give a
shit? Is Sal Perez enough of
institution that he is just going to play every single day
until his body says I can no longer play every single day?
Or do they say, actually we're trying to win baseball games
here and like, sorry bud, we have two better options today at

(45:18):
DH. My gut is it's the fucking
Royals and they're just going toplay them every single day.
So you don't give a shit. In fact, you'd rather he DH and
first base play first base most days.
And Sal sure does feel like a guy who's aging in such a way
that he will be able to hit homelike 25 home runs when he's like
42. Still.

(45:39):
He is not the Albert pool holes or the Miggy Cabrera kind of
aging path whatsoever, which is remarkable given that he does
still play catcher half the timeat, you know, 35 going into his
age 36 season. So I think I'm off of him.
I'd rather be off this train a year earlier than a year too

(46:00):
late. And again, there's just a lot of
good catchers. But I don't blame you whatsoever
if if you want on one more time.Yep, I I think I'm right with
you there and everything. You captured the one thing for
draft champions, I would say something I found really useful
last year and some of the guys that gained that first base
catcher, it's only him and Ben Rice that have that and Liam

(46:21):
Hicks. So in a draft champions, you
don't really want to pull him over to 1st, but I can't tell
you how useful it was when I hadknown Shanwell out and and Nate
load and have a job and Dylan Dingloo is my catcher 3 and I
was able to slide S to 1st. So if you want to find some
optionality in draft champions, I think that is the one tilt to

(46:41):
like say, OK, I see that value, you know, if you want.
To totally agree and like the valuation models would be like
no, no, no, you should never useS Perez at first vase and it's
like and then real life happens and it's either you take a zero
at first base or you are using Sal Perez.
Have you you? You were so all over Diggler or

(47:04):
whatever his name, the porn starslash catcher in Detroit.
Do you have somebody like that already this year or are you
still kind of still poking around on on who you're like
catcher 3 or 4 in ADC but who could emerge as sneaky good if
things break just right for him?Oh, yeah.
I mean, it's it's I really like this guy in the Marlins.

(47:27):
Joe Mack is as much as I dug into the stuff on him.
He seemed to be the kind of likebatter that can can leap into
that another youngster. Harry Ford is just another
player. Like if the Mariners can find a
spot for him, you know, obviously Cal rallies there and
that's, that's, I mean, that's pretty much it.

(47:47):
I'm really like there's so many good catchers beforehand that I
I kind of want to just make sureI'm getting, you know, that
there. And actually one guy, it's I go
back to the Dodgers, but Dolphinrushing, you know, underneath
the hood, it's just and very impressive, you know, quality of
contact stuff. So do they try to use them in
the outfield a little bit more because they're outfield with

(48:10):
shit, you know, that they sign Tucker and they solve that.
So there's, there's, I think there's, you know, there's,
there's a lot of value in rushing if you can just get to
the plate like you like usefullyas a catcher too in DC, you'll
probably be able to use them on on some weeks, Yeah.
Love it. Yeah, I love it.
Good stuff. Yeah, Zach Wheeler up next pick

(48:31):
119. The men there was 34 and the Max
was 296. So a lot of different feelings
about Zach Wheeler. How are you approaching Zach
Wheeler for this? He's the ultimate like he he

(48:52):
doesn't end here in March. He goes one way or another
because this is all about his health.
Zach Wheeler like he was it. Well, we'll never know how close
he gets to Paul schemes if he just stays healthy.
But he was heading like he he hewas finishing no worse than
second in National League Sai young voting, though Christopher

(49:14):
Sanchez ended up finishing real strong.
And so he's, I think he's by by March, he's a fourth, fifth
round pick if he's healthy and looks good in spring training or
you're not drafting him if he's if he's not.
So it's just what your risk tolerance is right now.
It's 100% what your risk tolerance is.

(49:35):
And we've talked about this likeSpeaking of Ron Chandler, like
Babs has a risk formula. I think there is something to be
said of allowing yourself some risk and what I you can use his
method of doing it. I think you can create your own
method as well. I think that having no risk on

(49:56):
your team is a good way to have a really average to below
average team. Obviously having too much risk
on your team, in particular amongst starting pitchers is a
good way to have a disastrously bad team.
So I think the the whole conceptof having like a risk budget is
a really smart intellectual way to approach drafts.

(50:17):
So I think that to the extent you're drafting Zach Wheeler as
let's say your SP3 here in the eighth round, it really depends
who you've taken before him as your SP one and two to me and
who you're going to take after him as, as safe ones.
I don't think it's just injury risk.
It's also rookie risk, like I wouldn't want a couple of, even

(50:40):
if you really believe in Burns or you Savage or McClain as
guys, by definition there is more risk if we've never seen
six months from these guys. So I think it's both injury risk
as well as performance risk. So it's just how he fits into
like a team and your risk tolerance if you're drafting
right now when healthy, we don'tneed to tell anybody what Zach

(51:01):
Wheeler is like when he's healthy.
I think that what are the odds that you get what is he going
into his age 35 season now? Like what are the odds we get 6
full months of a healthy Zach Wheeler?
It's pretty low I think. So I don't I think there are
places I'd rather take my pitcher risk right now.
But the flip side is being able to get like a first or second

(51:24):
round starting pitcher in the 8th rounds is is is a pretty
nice bet. At the same time, if you do
think that he could get 6 full healthy months.
Yeah, I I think that's a great way to frame it for sure.
Like at 120 innings, he maybe he's even worth this pick again
because, you know, you're drafting him.
Yeah, technically as maybe a third pitcher, but you just

(51:48):
going to know, all right, you know, I have to make sure I
backfill it good, safeguard it. And he just becomes like, if he
misses some time to start the season, it just becomes like a
FAB ad on your DC. It's like, oh, I just got this,
you know, the best guy availablein FAB now that that I could
plug in and. And yeah.
Can he come back? How healthy does he come back?
How good? You know, we've seen some guys
come back from the, the, the thoracic outlet, right?

(52:13):
You know, does he does he is like Melro Kelly where he kind
of like overcome it and still beeffective, you know, and still
keep some of his dominance, You know, even even the two years
prior to this year, 27 1/2% cameon its walk is 22.
You know, that's what his his norm, you know, and I think
you'll take that from this. But also, like you said, maybe

(52:33):
what before and maybe with effort, maybe you like Garrett
Cole, maybe you like Joe Musgrove, you know, and and so
like how many of those guys can you take that are kind of coming
back in my last DC, I probably didn't take another risk
assessment. I took a lot of these like
coming back from injury guys, you know, like Ronaldo Lopez.
So if you you know, just just don't take too many of them,
like you said, if you take the Wheeler, maybe you can't take

(52:54):
shot that Garrett Cole or anyoneafter that, but love the chance
to you know him to be a really kind of league swinger here.
Jose Altuve outfield second baseeligible 122 and these 12 DCS.
I have him on one DC so far out of the three that the two I've
done and three I'm currently doing right now.
And I just passed him up at a later spot that I took him in

(53:17):
the second DC just because I'm like, all right, we talked about
the second base in middle and field being kind of strong later
on, so. But I, I.
I think at this spot he's a nearsmash pick.
I don't know if I'm just, I don't know, am I missing just
like the deterioration of him getting worse this year?
Yeah, I mean, there's there are real baseball reasons why he's

(53:39):
getting much worse for for Houston.
He really has no position to play anymore for Houston.
And I just posted in the discordsome some to me what seems like
bad news for parades. So like if if if I'm an Astros

(54:00):
fan and I need Jose Altuve to beplaying second base for for me
all season. That's not awesome for my actual
baseball team. But but like we to to quote the
great, great Rob Di Pietro. I don't play in leagues where
defensive run saves from middle infielders is a category.

(54:21):
So I don't know that I give a shit about that.
And like he his, his Babbitt last year was 40 points below
his career Babbitt. His speed is not what it once
was. So you can say, well, but he's
not gonna put up the same Babbitt that he always put up.
But he put a 337 Babbitt the year before that 348 the year
before that. So I, I steamer thinks that his

(54:44):
batting average last year is hisnew batting average 2265 Steamer
has him for a 266. But if, if, if you, if you get
the steamer projection 2010 two 66 and know that there is by
definition power upside, by definition batting average
upside. I don't know, I wouldn't count

(55:05):
on any speed upside, but ten stolen bases feels like a pretty
comfy floor for me. And there's playing time upside
like he has hit over 650 play plate appearances the last two
seasons. Fan graft Steamer.
None of us know who the fuck is doing the playing time right now
between Steamer and depth chartslike it's one of the great
mysteries of the world. It's not just Steamer.

(55:27):
I wasn't wrong, I was overconfident in being right
because it makes no sense what'sgoing on there.
But there is upside here betweenwhether you pick 572 or 616,
there is upside on the playing time side because Jose Altuve is
still a fucking dog. Like he, he may not be the same.
Like he's getting he's he's old,he's 36.

(55:49):
So it's like you can point all the ways he is getting worse.
I'm sure his back speed is deteriorating because gravity
brings it back. But he's still a really good
Hall of Fame player. So I agree with you.
Like I, I, I think at this cost,it's let everybody else chase
the sexy new thing. Like take the boring, the boring
guy here and maybe it ends badly, but I think one more year

(56:12):
like last year, even at 36 is not a bad bet.
Not a bad bet at all. IIA 1000% is good.
Like he still has that biggest asset.
He takes takes advantage of the pull side at home and that just
continues to drive the power numbers.
He still has that skill. He's not losing it.
And yeah, it's just purely like you said, a 20 and 10 and 266 is

(56:32):
nothing to sneeze at. We know historically he's done
it. It's going to be now, you know,
we have to factor into like you see, you see the eighty runs,
like that's a little bit low guytop top of the line of all the
time. But you see you're done.
Alvarez then play for a lot of the seasons.
You know, some of the dusty brought up yesterday.
It's a great point. It's like some of those guys who
bat in front of him, I paint youout too.
They we may see those round drives a little bit because of

(56:53):
of that. So I love Altuve at the spot.
Up next, Brandon Woodruff, pick 123 as early as 42, as late as
158. Do you think he accepts this
qualifying offer? You think he's moving on?
Do you think another team will be interested in giving him a
three-year deal? Maybe.
I, I don't know that I give a shit from a fantasy perspective

(57:16):
which one it is. He was so good last year when he
came back. The question is with him, as it
always is, it's just volume likelike a, a, a fully healthy
Brandon Woodruff season could bea thing of just absolute beauty.
And we don't use the term like league winner at this cost.

(57:40):
But like, if you, you, you, if you get 30 starts from Brandon,
Brandon Woodruff in the eighth round, you, you have gotten an
SP1 almost certainly in the 8th round.
The only challenge is he has started 30 games exactly once in
his career and he's 33 years oldnow.

(58:01):
I think he's motivated his, I don't know that his arm or his
elbow or his, like any part of his body gives a shit that he's
motivated. But I think he's, he's trying.
I don't know, maybe, maybe if heaccepts the qualifying offer,
it'll freak people out and drop his cost even more because he
must be hiding an injury or something.

(58:22):
I think he needs one fully healthy season to get really
paid one time in his life. And I think if he can make 30
starts and forget like doing exactly what he did when he came
back last year for those 12 starts for Milwaukee, Brendan
Woodruff can put up anything close to that.
Even if he's just quote UN quotehis steamer projection, which is

(58:44):
not even close to what he did last year.
It's still a like an incredible player.
So again, you don't want to double tap like Wheeler and
Woodruff, obviously. But if I can have Woodruff as my
third starting pitcher or secondstarting pitcher, even with
some, like if I could get one ofthe top three starting pitchers

(59:06):
and then back it up with BrandonWoodruff as my next pick.
So that I know the worst case scenario is I have Derek Crochet
and I'll I'm meaning I have a bit of wiggle room to stream
some shitty pictures. But the the best case scenario
is I've drafted pocket aces withmy second ace in the eighth

(59:27):
round. That'll play, I think.
Yeah, Yeah, I think it that's that's an excellent way to frame
it. He came back and he was just
like, I think there was a question like, Oh my God, how is
he doing it with this fourth team or got 18% swinger strike,
which is incredible. He just again, the brew away
finding ways to optimize what hehas left.

(59:49):
But I think, you know, when I see him next to Wheeler, I just
makes me less interested in Woodruff, I think because for
the cost, I think I'd rather take Wheeler all day, you know,
just because of what we've seen historically.
He did end up throwing 104 innings, 100 and. 6 innings
because you know, he actually threw 42 innings in the minor
league this year so I think that's part of like, you know

(01:00:12):
what can you realistically expect 140 you know like is that
that that team's like aggressiveto me, you know so like when I
put like 120 innings in my sheet, he he he's a do not pick
right here, you know so. Oh I mean I had Steamer.
Steamer doesn't like him. So Steamer on a per inning
basis, he's like SP-40 ish through my SGPS.

(01:00:35):
So if you're if you're a spreadsheet drafter, Woodruff, I
mean, we'll see when we'll see when we'll see what oopsie
things. But as of now, Woodruff, if
that's what you're, what is guiding you.
So let me ask you this question because you also bring up Zach
Wheeler, gun to your head, need to make one binary, binary bet.

(01:00:57):
Who makes more starts in 2026, Zach Wheeler or Brandon
Woodruff? Zach Wheeler.
OK, so if you feel that way, then your answer is absolutely
the right answer. If I knew both of them were
making 25 starts, Crystal Ball and God told me they're both
making 25 starts, I would take Zach Wheeler in a second over
Brandon Woodruff. It's not even close.

(01:01:19):
Yeah, I think if you even told me I could get 15 from Wheeler
and 22 from Woodruff. I think I still take Wheeler.
I don't know if that's. Bad I, I think, I think, I think
the challenge, and this is kind of how I started my answer to
Zach Wheeler is I think there isa higher percentage that on
March 1st, there's an announcement that Zach Wheeler
is being shut down and probably his entire career is over.

(01:01:44):
Very, very, very good point. So so if I am drafting in
November, again, seek professional help.
If this lasts more than another two weeks, go see a doctor
immediately. Kind of think you're drafting in
November, but but jokes aside, you're just taking a bigger, in
my opinion, a bigger risk with Wheeler that you end up with

(01:02:05):
nothing. Whereas I feel pretty confident,
and maybe again, these are my biases, I am not a pretend
Internet fantasy baseball doctor, but I feel more
confident that Woodruff gets 15 saves than Zach Wheeler gets 15
saves. That that's actually probably
smarter. And there's also that, you know,
I forget about the Zach Wheeler mentioning he didn't he wasn't

(01:02:28):
going to play much longer. So that Doctor Creepin, like you
said, if he's like his arm isn'treacting, does he just say, you
know what? It's been good guys.
You know, it's not worth it for me to come back, but you know,
very, very good things to take into effect.
Kyle starrers, Dave Petra Dello's MVP, his his his Barry
Bonds pick 124 as early as 95, as late as 162.

(01:02:52):
This is where for me, you know, the like the free agent slash
awesome late DC saviors of my team, you know, try not to let
it influence too much of my interest for him this year.
I have to be very neutral as by as unbiased as I can, but it
seems maybe aggressive. What do you think?

(01:03:13):
Yeah, I mean, it's it's it is one of those situations where
like you, you are not getting him at the cost from last year.
So you can't you can't play thatas part of the game.
He was just so, so, so good lastyear.
And you obviously, based on how you frame this, thinks think it

(01:03:33):
was entirely legitimate. Yeah, I mean, the hard hit stuff
is really top notch. It's just I think people get
caught up on K rate a little toomuch.
You know, the like the big, the,the 8% drop.
But he's also finally getting a chance to play every day and not
getting dicked around by the Orioles.

(01:03:54):
So they may just be like more comfortability, more truth to
him just getting better and justthis is what he was going to do
after only 300 plate appearanceswith the Orioles.
So I think he says his skill setis is pretty locked in.
Did he over perform in batting average?
You know, but I don't know the the projection seemed to do

(01:04:15):
think that he did, I guess probably relaying to
historically what he done from Kpercentage, right.
So. Yeah, I mean, his his 356
Babbitt would have been second best, second highest Babbitt
amongst qualified batters. Now, somebody needs to have the
second best Babbitt, but it's not unreasonable to regress from

(01:04:36):
that kind of a Babbitt. It's not something he would have
put up in the minors. But the flip side is there's
enough room there that what likeif the power numbers are in any
way legitimate, Like if he, if so, if, if, if he hits his

(01:04:58):
steamer projection 25, five to 40, he's not a good pick here.
I think there are reasons to believe the power can
overachieve that. I also think that you could
split the difference if a 356 Babbitt seems too high for me to
be sustainable. A3O2 Babbitt feels a little bit

(01:05:20):
low for me to split the difference and suddenly he's a
30 to 60 hitter with a a sprinkling of speed.
Then it's a pretty nice pick up here.
So I, he was not my Barry Bonds last year, so I have no
emotional attachment to him. I just, I, yeah, I don't, I, I,

(01:05:40):
I don't think I'll have a lot ofhim, but he's one of those guys
that I may regret that very quickly because he was so good
last year. I I totally agree.
And if you just look at what he like, he actually like, you
know, lost some production overall on the bottom line with
when he came back and played with an oblique injury.
I don't think he was completely healthy, but there's a lot to

(01:06:01):
like here for sure, and I just have to get past some of my
YEAH. It's also like real baseball
talk for a second. It's why it's so shitty what
Baltimore is doing to some of these guys.
Like he's 28 so he's not old, but his career arc, if you
assume he is kind of a quasi star, borderline star type
player is by the time he hits free agency now, how many more

(01:06:23):
years does he have? 2030.
So like he's he's going to be 32.
He's like, he may get one on payday and he needs to stay
anyways. Like it's it's so shitty that
he's he's missed it. He's missed his peak basically
because Baltimore were a bunch of bags of shit with him.
Like 100% and, and, and can theyimprove their offense a little

(01:06:46):
bit in front of them, You know, get to kind of get up a little
bit, but I. We're going to hear a lot this
winter about the Miami organization because of all they
like young driveline guys, they have work in there and it's more
going to be on the think on the pitching side of things.
But it's going to be real interesting how they put
together on the cheap because they're not going to have, I

(01:07:07):
assume, a lot of money how they put that line up together.
It's one of those things that it's tough when you're doing DCS
now to do like the White Sox with them because I think that I
think there's a bunch of guys who are not on the organization
right now who they're going to bring in, who gonna get real
runs. But there's no doubts Towers is
like right in the middle of thatlineup.
I wouldn't be shocked if they dolock him up long term or do

(01:07:28):
something with him to buy out his our beers right now this
winter. Yeah, yeah.
And just a touch on the batting average too.
I just think that some, you know, it's just such a fluky
thing to project to because, youknow, like you mentioned the
Babrip, it's also been strong for him in the minors and in his
short MLB Herrera and you know, Steven projected him for three O

(01:07:51):
2. He's got 334 career BABRIP and
800 plate appearances. So maybe maybe the projection
for batting average is a little bit low, but it's a fluky, you
know, it's a it's it's very fluky in its own right.
So, you know, don't get too hungup on it.
You know, I think Yaner Diaz is up next catcher pick 125.
It's so funny because I think a lot of people who just read the

(01:08:13):
discord too, there was a lot of disappointment in in in what
Yaner Diaz did last year againstapparently to the expectations.
But he's still bad at 2:56 with 20 homers.
I guess, you know, we were just expecting a little bit more from
him. But it's still a solid line.
How do you like him? I guess first the rest of the
catcher group or him on itself. I I, I liked him so much last

(01:08:34):
year. Do you have last year's ADP
handy on your computer there, Rob?
Yeah, so. What, what, what catcher number
was he last year when he when hegot drafted?
So I have the auction, the fan grafts, you know, the player
Raiders. So it's just, it's just an
aggregate of yeah, he was. 60 Sohe must have, he must have been

(01:08:56):
like catcher two or three last year.
Yep, Yep. And so like after Contreras and
and whatever he finished his catcher 11 like he, he, he was
fine, but he was disappointing. There's no doubt it was a
disappointing season. If you were drafting him in in
the fourth, fifth round last year, yen or Diaz, I think

(01:09:20):
there's one of two ways to look at that.
Like, so you're you're getting amuch cheaper this year.
He had another nice season, so he's more of a track record.
He is hitting his prime. He's turning 27 this year.
He's he's basically the opposite.
The batting average should come up.
He like he hit 256 last year Steamer has him for 270 his

(01:09:41):
career almost 280 hitter. So like if you can get from your
catcher twenty home runs, 130 runs plus RBIs and 270 like
that's really solid and really good.
It's it's just coming off of 2024.
You could dream and say like this guy could become a

(01:10:03):
superstar. And I think that that kind of
like which casting of who he could become is I think now it's
more of he's just this very solid player catcher who plays
almost every single day. I think that he's again with the
Will Smith thing. If if I know that he can DH and

(01:10:28):
and and that that is open for him once a week, I feel better
than if they're big lugging guy who just missed like their
superstar who missed an entire season because he fucking can't
walk has to be stuck at the age of the entire season.
Yeah, he's he's an interesting cat, you know, Diaz and it's

(01:10:48):
it's almost I wonder if it's a little bit of the opposite of
what we mentioned before, right?Guy who always had a carrying
tool of offense. And then he has to like face
this monumental task of replacing Marty Maldonado,
right, This ultimate catcher perSE.
You know, so does he, you know, he has he had to and, you know,

(01:11:08):
it was it was well documented about him having to get better
at calling games defense. And it's like, maybe that's from
like, I've always been offensiveguy, so it's good.
Maybe I could peel a little bit of preparation or work back from
offense to work on this defense.But underneath it's still
stable. Like good, good quality of
contact, his seagulls very strong.

(01:11:30):
If I could just nitpick with him, where I think he can get
into more power. It's his his pole fly balls, his
his his pole barrels are very low.
And with those Crawford boxes, you think that maybe someone
with his skill set could take advantage of that.
So that that's that's where I could see a little bit of a
power spike. He only pulled 32% of his
barrels last year the league. I was just 46.
So he got the little maybe a little bit more into that.

(01:11:52):
He can get the Jose Altuve. I'll clear left field and maybe
you get the bump to 25, you know, on a, on a Goodyear.
So I could see the value in it. There's just so many good
catchers, right? It's just like that's the thing
with the catcher position. But I I I think it's a fine plug
and play pick at this point. I do think though that the
Altuve argument works for him aswell.
If you do have your Don in the lineup 150 games, there are more

(01:12:14):
RBI opportunities for for for him that whole lineup.
My jokes about your Don aside, like he is a superstar.
You're Don, and adding him to that lineup makes everybody
else's counting stats in that lineup much better.
Yeah, I I see him. He he will not get past me in
the third round. It's just too big of a bat
there. They're done.

(01:12:34):
Yeah, I just. I think that's 100% right.
I think that's, I think that I think that's right.
I think you should just put whenyou sit down at your seat in
Vegas, just put a sign saying he's like take your dawn ahead
of me because he ain't getting past.
Here 1000%. Up next, Mr. Beau Bichette, free
agent pick 125 as early as 110, as late as 162.

(01:13:00):
I went over a little bit with Bolast yesterday with Dusty.
I mean, overall, there's just a really incredible batting
average asset to have. You know, the the legs and the
speed is what it is. I think he's personally going
back to the Blue Jays. I don't know how you feel.
And when you plug them in, you know, behind Vlad and everybody

(01:13:21):
else in front of him. It seems like a very safe pick
here. Yeah.
So I think I, I, I think Bo is back as well.
I think there's just too many reasons for him not to come
back. I think that the problem.
So I love the batting average and the cost is a really nice

(01:13:45):
cost right now. I don't know if it moves.
There's the weird phenomenon we've talked about before that
free agents, even free agents that you have, Beau Bichette
will be on a team. A-Team is going to pay him a lot
of money. They're not going to pay him a
lot of money to hit him 8th. So like he's going to be
wherever he lands in a on a goodlineup in a, in a good hitting

(01:14:08):
position, I guess. I guess the problem, well, not
the problem. If I tell you Beau Bouchette is
just Yandy Diaz with middle infield eligibility, is that a
compliment or an insult? Wow, that's I mean, I love Yandi
so. Yeah.
So he's young, he's younger. So Yandi Diaz has some

(01:14:28):
age-related risk, but if but butBeau Bichette at this point is a
tremendous like hit tool guy. So I think the batting average
is real legitimate, even though as you, as you mentioned, like
there's variability to batting average, but he's one of those
like rare 11:50 guys in baseballthat you can plug in for a good
batting average and feel pretty good confident about because he

(01:14:51):
has such good hit tools. As long as he's healthy in any
lineup, whether it's next to Vladdy or next to Aaron Judge or
next to who, wherever he ends up, he will get good runs in
RBIs. And I feel confident about that.
We've been waiting for the speedto come for Beau his entire
career. It is not coming.
And then the question is like, does he go to a ballpark and

(01:15:13):
it's not really Toronto where suddenly his swing works
perfectly for like 27 home runs instead of 20 home runs.
I don't know that that's what who he is or what he's trying to
do. Which doesn't mean he will not
have one season in the next. Like he will have another 30
homework. He hasn't hit thirty hit 29 in

(01:15:34):
in 2021 in almost 700 plate appearances.
But I think he I think he is really more of a 20 home run guy
than a 30 home run guys. And so I really just described
Yandy Diaz to you. Yandy Diaz did better last year
than that. But but but if we're if we're
projecting the two of, of of them, they're sort of the same

(01:15:54):
guy. And I say that as somebody who
loves Beau. I just don't know that he's a
great fantasy player unless you just want batting average and
are happy with like no speed and20 home runs.
Interesting. Yeah, I mean, I I passed on him,
you know, where I could have drafted him, mostly because I
had already pocketed a straw stop.
And we talked about the depth behind it.

(01:16:18):
And I'm interested to it in the park thing because he does have
a good ability to spray the ball.
He gets a lot of double S into the gap.
So I just wonder if there's a park that can grab a little bit
more. I'm not going to say he's going
to Yankee Stadium or, you know, Steinbrenner Field, but is there
like a right center or right field gap, like landing spot for
him that getting tacked on some more homies?

(01:16:39):
Yeah. I think the 2021 was that was
the juice ball, right, per SE. Yeah, that.
Was prime happy fun ball. I wouldn't be shocked if he hits
23, you know, 24. He has the good bat, the ball,
you know, can he, can he spray the ball a little better to the
pool side? But yeah, it's, I think you
could strike the speed, you know, maybe pair him with
somebody, you know, like a Michael Garcia.

(01:17:01):
If you you know, if you grab a Michael Garcia third base and
you're going to get 25 steals, maybe you feel a little bit
better about grabbing only 5 or 6 from Bo, you know, Yeah.
And then? 2021 was also the Dunedin and oh
that's right, Buffalo Buffalo years more than happy fun ball.
So that was Vlad's 48 home run season or whatever it was.

(01:17:22):
And BO29, again, like we say this about a lot of these really
talented like bat tool guys we used to like I'm old enough Rob
to remember, like people used tosay Tony Gwynn.
If Tony Gwynn wants to hit thirty home runs, he could hit
it at any time. Ichiro, if Ichiro wanted to hit
thirty home runs, he could just hit thirty home runs.

(01:17:43):
I'm not saying Bo is as elite a hit tool guy as Tony Gwynn or
Ichiro, but we say those things and it's like, yeah, if if they
chose to be a different athlete than than who they are, then
these guys are so freakishly talented that they could do
something different. But why is Beau Bichette, in the

(01:18:04):
year 2026, just going to decide to be somebody he's not?
Right, right. I mean, he he dropping the K
rate to 14 a half percent, historically 19 four best
contact rate of his career. So, you know, he, he definitely
got me like looking at him like wow, he's he got better
throughout the physical ailments.
The only last point on bow and this is like narrative St. and

(01:18:28):
this can this is a narrative that could work either way.
So on the one hand, if he is a second baseman instead of a
shortstop, does that like free his mind because he's not as
stressed playing a position he really can't play very well to
focus more on hitting? Is he more comfortable or is he
learning a brand new position and it fucking weighs on him
because it's a position he's never played before in his

(01:18:50):
career? If you want to draft Boba shet
or fade Boba shet, you can create a narrative on either of
those two things. Narrative street I live on
narrative St. most of the. Time you're doing when you're
doing 300 podcasts over a six month winter, Rob, what the fuck
are you going to do? Other you can only you can only
quote Seeger so many times. You need to create some
narratives. Yeah, I'll throw another

(01:19:12):
narrative. I can't believe I'm playing
second base. I've been this the best stud
shortstop at every step of my life.
Now I'm some shit. I'm playing second.
Yeah. So that could be.
Or, or I just got a seven-year contract for 200 million bucks.
Does that free me? Or am I like, am I lazy?
Or am I like Juan Soto and have the best year of my career
because I'm comfortable now? Lot, a lot of narratives there.

(01:19:34):
I love all of it. Mr. Andy Pahe is off the board
at 1:26, as late as 177. He's the kind of guy, you look
at his overall number he put up last year.
He's got the stolen bases, he's got the pop, he's got this.
He's got the batting average, you know, 2714 and 270, the
projection. Don't think the speed is as

(01:19:55):
real. And then he also got a do you
fold in this abysmal postseason?Again, another abysmal
postseason for him. I personally don't think the
Dodgers have the luxury of not playing Andy Pajes.
So I think he's safe there. But that kind of is in the back
of my mind a little bit the way he ended the season.
Maybe it shouldn't be. Yeah, I mean, the the the 11 of

(01:20:17):
the 50 things that if it had gone different, if if Pajez was
just a little bit better and therefore they're not playing
Rojas instead of Fahez. It's like Fahez strikes out in
the ninth inning and the Blue Jays are world champions
anyways, Tucson, I can't talk about it.
Yeah, they. Also the guy who who pitch who

(01:20:38):
swung at Emmanuel classes does pitch, you know.
Intentional ball amazing it's it's interesting like I has
other than Will Smith is the best homegrown player that the
the Dodgers have had in a in a hot minute.

(01:21:02):
So he's 24 and I I just don't see how they possible like they
can bring in a lot of guys and Idon't know who they're going to
bring. Like, like let's say they signed
Kyle Tucker. I don't know that he loses a
single plate appearance. So I think that it's one of
those things like he was so bad in the World Series.
They literally did have to benchhim and they had no choice.
By the time they they benched pie heads, it was like it was

(01:21:25):
painful. It was the worst world the world
playoff stretch in baseball history.
Basically. I think Robinson Cano had one
for the Yankees where he was close, but but like Pahas was
was historically bad. And it's real baseball against
good pitching. But but you would expect like

(01:21:46):
good hitters to have bad stretches.
Like that's the random nature ofbaseball.
It doesn't make him like it. It you can say he socked and he
socked and it's real that he socked.
I don't know that it's predictive in terms of those and
therefore what comes to the next600 plate appearances.
And Π has like if, if he does his steamer projection is a

(01:22:08):
really nice pick here. I could see him falling even
further though, especially as they bring in guys.
So I can see π has becoming a quite a good buy as like a
2510250260 type of hitter. Cuz that's that's not nothing.
I totally agree with you, I could see him being a guy and I

(01:22:30):
start to slip and draft as maybepeople think about the post
season. I agree with you.
I don't think it's, you know, it's a 24 year old guy who's
coming off A4 war season. He's safe in this line up as an
everyday player. And I think the quality of
contact is good. The K percentage got better,
took some steps back and like Seger and EV90, but they're
still at marks where like I don't think it affects his

(01:22:52):
overall line. So yeah, I, I like Andy Pahe is
a good, it's a good guy to plug into.
So let me ask you, let me ask you this last question before we
wrap up. It sounds like you would take
Stowers, though ahead of Pahez and that's like a real draft
type of decision. They're both sitting.
They're both sitting there on the board.
Their ADP is roughly the same. You take Stowers ahead of him

(01:23:15):
ahead. Of us that's that's tough.
I definitely like that's definitely going, you know,
outside of the spreadsheet, which is something I'm doing
more of this year and I do trustthe the quality of contact a lot
more for Stowers. That's a close one, Rob.
That's a that's what I haven't thought of in my brain yet
because I'm like not thinking about outfielders here in this

(01:23:37):
range. I'm already in that mode, which
I got a snap out of, but it's going to be close.
I think I might have a little bit leanest hours, but I think
Pahez is a really solid pick here.
I, I think that I think that Pahez's speed, so like he had
fourteen stolen bases last year,projects for for 10/11 this year

(01:24:00):
gives him a bit more of a floor.If you think both of their
batting averages progressed down.
So it's not like a favorite. I haven't really dug into either
of them. Didn't have either of them last
year. So I, I, my gut is I don't, I
agree with you. I don't think you need to chase
speed, but there's still something to be said of guy

(01:24:21):
consistently hitting on guys whocan hit can hit.
You can get you 810. Twelve stolen bases is a really
nice luxury. And I don't like, I mean, in a
world where again, Juan Soto andJosh Naylor can steal all those
bases, anything is possible. But you obviously don't really
think that Star Wars is going toget you more than a handful of
stolen bases, whereas PAW has isa little a legit ten stolen base

(01:24:46):
guy. Beautifully said.
I think that's a definite safe floor to hinge on in case
anything else isn't clicking. Without a doubt.
All right, Rob, we started out ADP analysis.
We got all winter, we got all winter.
This is great. Appreciate you doing this and
being so active for us and the discord has been an awesome time
and I hope I hope, I hope you know, with grace you can move

(01:25:08):
past this. You know, the the blue Jay
ending. I and and I'll just I just want
to ask you this. Do you, do you take any like why
we did this this year or just isit?
Do you know what I mean? It was, it was, it was the most
it was the most fun. It was it was the most fun
season as a fan of my lifetime. It was incredible.

(01:25:30):
And if you said like, was it allworth it?
Of course it was fucking worth it.
Like you would you would I have been fans of teams who finished
last as recently as last year? I've been I, I went 40 years
without seeing a single playoff game.
So it was awesome and in some ways, if they get swept by the
Dodgers for nothing and like getblown out, blown outs, giving

(01:25:52):
up, it's over. That sucks.
That sucks donkey ass to get to the World Series and get blown
up. But then you shrug and you're
like, meh, the Dodgers are fucking awesome.
They're a juggernaut and it's like shit happens.
What an awesome season. Holy cow.
Would have read. It's just how it went down was
just so heartbreaking. Like they people get mad at me

(01:26:16):
when I say this. They choked the Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays choked in game seven.
You can't have that many different ways to win a deciding
game and be that close and blow every single part of it and not
use the word choke. That doesn't make them bad guys.
I'm not trying to dox anybody like Isaiah Kyer Falafel, like I

(01:26:37):
hope he's never on the Blue Jaysagain, but his family doesn't
deserve shit. He doesn't deserve shit.
Like I it's like they're professional athletes and I am
allowed to after a game, say yousucked today, you blew it today.
Does that make you a bad human? Does that mean that your family
should get death threats? Of course it doesn't mean that.

(01:26:57):
Like nobody's fucking say no, that's not true.
There are lots of there are too many people who who who blur
that line, but I have every fucking right in the world to
say that they choked because they choked and it fucking
sucks. And the only way that that goes
away is if they pull the Royals,I guess, and come back stronger
next year and they win next yearand then this year will will

(01:27:18):
fade away in terms of the pain. The problem is I under I know
too much about baseball. I know that they could be a
significantly better team next year.
Like they they could sign Bo andKyle Tucker and like a stud
starting pitcher and still lose 4-3 in in like the the ALCS or
like, like it just shit happens.It's baseball.

(01:27:42):
So that's my problem is like, I know that could be the closest
that the Jays get to winning a World Series until I'm dead.
And that's not being like fatalistic.
That's just a fucking fact. That's how it works.
So that's what makes it so hard.Anyways.
It's too soon, Rob. But like, I can't talk about it,
you know? No, but I agree with you.

(01:28:03):
Like, there's, there's, there's I think, I think we don't like
have enough gratitude when we get such a great moment like
this in our life, you know, and and and you have to save her.
And on the flip side, totally agree.
After 162 games, A7 game series,when you really say baseball's a
game of interest, it it really is all these little Bang Bang
plays, decision points, whateverit was that, you know, that they

(01:28:26):
that they couldn't execute. Yeah.
I mean, even me personally watching, I'm like, that's hard
to see because they just had that opportunity to capture it.
But again, nothing to take away from the overall season.
And totally agree with you. It's not a guarantee you go
back. You know, it's like, I'll always
go back to the Steven Strasburg thing, not even as a team fan,
but they're like, we're going tocome back to the World Series or

(01:28:47):
the playoffs. Let's just not pitch this guy,
whatever the that, you know, thing was.
And it's just like, yeah, well, you never did get back with
people. How?
How? How old were you in 1986, Rob?
6. Six years old, 1986, a long
fucking time ago, and you're theyou're the New York fucking

(01:29:07):
Mets. Yep, 100%.
That's why last year was so nice, you know, that, you know,
Pete goes, you know, beats the Brewers or make a nice little
push. And then pretty much same way
against the Dodgers, we joke there was opportunity to grab
that series and we didn't. And yeah, it's painful that it
ended that way, but it's also like, I appreciate that I got to
even go to a playoff game, you know, so.

(01:29:31):
Going to going to game one of the World Series with my son and
then winning it was the only home game that they ended up
winning is a once in a lifetime experience that I will never
forget, that I'm incredibly blessed for and that will
cherish forever. The other thing I will say is I
know we make fun of all the Canadians in the discord and all
the midfall Canadians, but casual Canadians are baseball

(01:29:55):
fans and will be baseball fans for a generation now.
And that is so big in terms of like Vince Carter turned Canada
into a basketball country. And you see in the NBA now
there's like it's second most second this.
Not if not close to the United States, but there are a ton of
Canadians now who play basketball.

(01:30:16):
And I think that's what's gonna happen with baseball is 20 years
from now, you're gonna be like, holy shit.
There were like in, in the first, you know, of the 30 teams
or by then, whatever, they'll be47 teams.
Vegas will have 12 teams by by by then, there'll be a lot of
Canadians and TV ratings are gonna be huge like because of
what just happened here. So I, I think that's an amazing

(01:30:40):
legacy. Now.
It's hard getting into the fucking like people are saying
it's hard to get into hockey right now.
It's hard to get into basket like the Raptors right now
because like baseball was so exciting all of September and
then all of October. It's like, how do I watch
November basketball right now? Great bring up with Vince

(01:31:01):
Carter. I never really thought about the
impact he had on just Canada itself because he was just like,
Oh yeah, you know, dumb contest.Vince Carter, extraordinary guy.
But I yeah, I I totally, I mean,I remember that team too with
him and Tracy McGrady those those two seasons.
They were just incredible. But yeah, Vince Carter good,
good point. It it does bring out like the
casual fan into now being a possible fan for life and so.

(01:31:22):
You're going to you're going to be able to go to all next
summer. Any sports bar in Saskatoon,
Halifax, like yeah, anywhere yougo in Canada and there will be a
Blue Jays game on. And that's, that's a legacy that
will last for a long time and that's awesome.
Cheers. To that, absolutely.
All right, Thanks for listening to the launch Tangle Pod.

(01:31:44):
We'll catch you next week. We'll continue to evolve through
this ADP analysis. And meanwhile, we'll continue to
talk about our PC draft towns. Awesome.
All right, Rob, thanks. Thanks for hanging out with me
and doing this. Appreciate you all the time.

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