Speaker 1: Hello, everybody, Welcome into the Cycle. I am Ryan Warmley,
Speaker 1: joined as always by Mike Mayor.
Speaker 2: Mayor.
Speaker 1: It is the third straight week of us kind of
Speaker 1: approaching the show a little differently than our usual format.
Speaker 1: A couple weeks ago it was the holiday with fourth
Speaker 1: of July. Last week we had, you know, kind of
Speaker 1: going into the All Star break. It was a little weird,
Speaker 1: you know, not having the upcoming week. This week, we
Speaker 1: don't have the previous week of games right because it
Speaker 1: was the All Star break. So we will be back
Speaker 1: to our kind of our normal format of three different
Speaker 1: parts spread out on both audio and video starting next week.
Speaker 1: For this week, we're doing one final one episode of
Speaker 1: the whole week edition of the cycle.
Speaker 2: We're gonna talks to news and.
Speaker 1: Notes, kind of react to Homer and Derby, All Star Game,
Speaker 1: MLB Draft at the top of the show, and then
Speaker 1: what we're gonna do is a way too early twenty
Speaker 1: twenty six baseball mock draft. Probably didn't need to say baseball.
Speaker 1: Everybody knows that for the show they're listening to, But yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna do a twenty twenty six early mock. We're
Speaker 1: gonna do two rounds to that and just kind of
Speaker 1: take an early look at who the guys are that
Speaker 1: we think are going to be at the top next
Speaker 1: year and see where we go. I actually very specifically
Speaker 1: did not prep for that. I mean, obviously I have
Speaker 1: all the names in mind, but I didn't like sit
Speaker 1: down and lay out a big board because I wanted
Speaker 1: to kind of feel in the moment, like I wanted
Speaker 1: this to kind of be like a gut check, like
Speaker 1: how are we feeling less so than like, well, the
Speaker 1: numbers say it'll probably be this guy.
Speaker 2: Does that make sense? Like I wanted to be kind
Speaker 2: of shooting from the hip.
Speaker 3: I personally was up all night crafting my strategy, and
Speaker 3: I have a very clear path going in. No, I
Speaker 3: don't have any strategy either, but uh yeah, similar I
Speaker 3: wanted to. I have a bunch of different like resources
Speaker 3: open that I want to look at, and it's kind
Speaker 3: of like, what do dynasty rankings look like? What do
Speaker 3: the stats look like at the halfway point here, what
Speaker 3: do the rest of season rankings look like? And what
Speaker 3: did draft rankings look like coming into last season? Because
Speaker 3: it'll be interesting to see how different those you know,
Speaker 3: those looks. So I have all those open to kind
Speaker 3: of review, but kind of the same thing. I wanted
Speaker 3: to see it, do it in real time and kind
Speaker 3: of see how things are gonna land.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that'll be fun.
Speaker 1: We'll see how it goes, and everybody can let us
Speaker 1: know in the comments who they think, you know, went
Speaker 1: too high, too low, who who had the better version
Speaker 1: of our way too early draft. But that will be
Speaker 1: the second part of the show. We'll start off with
Speaker 1: the news and notes can kind of go a bunch
Speaker 1: of different directions with this. I say, let's kind of
Speaker 1: go in order of how the events took place over
Speaker 1: the weekend, So that would be starting with the MLB Draft.
Speaker 1: And I you know, I'm very into dynasty leagues. You
Speaker 1: and I play in the kind of like a dynasty
Speaker 1: slash deep keeper format together. It's my favorite form of baseball.
Speaker 1: I just like prospect stuff. So those are the leagues
Speaker 1: that I enjoy the most. So I really enjoyed the
Speaker 1: bet the draft. Also, the Orioles were bad for so
Speaker 1: many years in a row that you get kind of
Speaker 1: used to caring about the draft. This year a little
Speaker 1: different with I'm not picking till nineteen.
Speaker 4: You'll be there next year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, probably, What's interesting though, is unlike football and unlike basketball,
Speaker 1: these guys are not contributing for your fantasy teams anytime soon.
Speaker 1: By and large, now you have the you know, these
Speaker 1: fast moving pictures lately like Chase Burns, Paul skeens Lee,
Speaker 1: or Pryor.
Speaker 2: Who are moving very quickly.
Speaker 1: But by and large, these players that are getting drafted
Speaker 1: are years away from even being in the big leagues,
Speaker 1: let alone being impact fantasy players.
Speaker 2: So when you watch the MLB draft.
Speaker 1: Is there a type of player you're looking for when
Speaker 1: you're thinking about long term dynasty stuff? Are you thinking like, oh,
Speaker 1: Mikad Anderson, for example, went to the Mariners. Are you thinking, well,
Speaker 1: the Mariners have a great track record of, you know,
Speaker 1: developing pictures, so I'm really happy with that landing spot
Speaker 1: and I'm more interested in Anderson now, or a guy
Speaker 1: like Ethan Holliday, big power going to Colorado, like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm sure he's going to hit well in course field.
Speaker 1: Are you thinking down the line that far when you
Speaker 1: are thinking about dynasty stuff? Are you just looking at
Speaker 1: pure talent? Like who did I think the best prospect was?
Speaker 1: How do you approach thinking about the draft with your
Speaker 1: dynasty formats?
Speaker 3: So I'm kind of an impatient team manager. I don't
Speaker 3: I don't like to wait that long. So ideally I
Speaker 3: want the you know, you know, everyone's going to want
Speaker 3: the Chase Spurns who comes up, you know, quickly and
Speaker 3: contributes right away. But I also, you know, like the
Speaker 3: first pick in this draft is probably not going to
Speaker 3: be someone I'm I'm going to take, you know, this
Speaker 3: kind of young high schooler who's a long term project.
Speaker 3: That's not really going to be the fantasy target for me,
Speaker 3: unless you know, we're talking you know, uh, generational prospects
Speaker 3: like Bryce Harper and Mike Trout who came up and
Speaker 3: we're like in the big leagues at eighteen nineteen years old.
Speaker 3: But a lot of times I look at the path
Speaker 3: to the big leagues like how close are these guys
Speaker 3: to being ready? And so for that reason, I would
Speaker 3: probably look at a Kate Anderson because he's probably one
Speaker 3: of the more you know, not MLB ready, But like,
Speaker 3: you know, looking at this class, we can talk about
Speaker 3: the class as a whole next, because it was I
Speaker 3: thought it was an interesting, like kind of a down
Speaker 3: year for the class, unless you know, people who are
Speaker 3: smarter than me really disagree it didn't feel like last
Speaker 3: year we had, you know, a bunch of high end
Speaker 3: talent that kind of went this year. You saw just
Speaker 3: how the draft played out, even the way people predicted
Speaker 3: the draft. There were a bunch of surprising picks in
Speaker 3: the top ten, and so it was kind of a
Speaker 3: down year for that. And I don't know, maybe this
Speaker 3: is the year I trade my first round pick and
Speaker 3: I don't worry about these prospects.
Speaker 2: But there are a couple that I like, Yeah, there
Speaker 2: are definitely prospects I like.
Speaker 1: It doesn't feel like, you know, like there was a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago where like the top five, I think,
Speaker 1: like you were like Walker Jenkins, Max Clark, those guys
Speaker 1: aren't in the big leagues yet. But just look at
Speaker 1: a lot of really high end talented guys, and again
Speaker 1: we've seen some players move very quickly. Guys like Nick
Speaker 1: Kurtz were drafted very recently and are already making an
Speaker 1: impact in the big leagues. This doesn't necessarily feel like
Speaker 1: that kind of class. I mean, Kate Anderson is a
Speaker 1: good example of a guy that I think could move quickly.
Speaker 1: But the number one pick, Eli Willits is a high
Speaker 1: school guy. I don't anticipate him moving super fast. Ethan
Speaker 1: Holliday a high school guy, so it's an interesting draft.
Speaker 1: I would encourage everybody to check out Welsh, who is
Speaker 1: an expert on all things draft prospects, did an episode
Speaker 1: with Joe kind of on their on their end of
Speaker 1: the feed upbout these prospects and first year player drafts
Speaker 1: and that sort of thing. So I would encourage everybody
Speaker 1: to to go listen in too and watch that and
Speaker 1: get kind of a deeper dive. Our thoughts just from
Speaker 1: kind of the macro level, are maybe not the class
Speaker 1: where you're trying to acquire these high end picks in
Speaker 1: your dynasty format or like in the league you and
Speaker 1: I are in. They'll be available in our salary cap
Speaker 1: draft in the spring. You know, I probably won't be
Speaker 1: spending a lot, you know, to give you to give
Speaker 1: you a reference point, because it was before you had
Speaker 1: joined the league. Paul Skeens went for like twenty eight
Speaker 1: bucks the year he was available, you know. Jackson Holiday
Speaker 1: went for twelve I think the year he was the
Speaker 1: number one overall pick. I'm not the type to really
Speaker 1: spend like that in these on rookies, not rookies on
Speaker 1: prospects in those drafts because I feel like I can
Speaker 1: get guys for cheaper. So I just feel like, if
Speaker 1: Ethan Holiday is going for ten plus, I'm probably not
Speaker 1: going to be in on that bidding.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I I don't have it up, but I'm
Speaker 3: pretty sure in that league I got Chase Burns for
Speaker 3: pretty cheap, like three bucks or something, and you know
Speaker 3: that is that is paid off. I will also say,
Speaker 3: you know, you mentioned the episode that Joe and Welsh did.
Speaker 3: Welsh also has an article up on fantasypros dot com
Speaker 3: on his first year player draft rankings or he kind
Speaker 3: of breaks down the class and how he would rank them.
Speaker 4: I agree with a lot of what he wrote.
Speaker 3: You know, I won't spoil all of it, but he
Speaker 3: kind of had a similar take to what I said
Speaker 3: at the top, that the way it broke down was
Speaker 3: kind of interesting, especially for fantasy, and that maybe this
Speaker 3: is you know, I don't know that you know you
Speaker 3: would go for like an Eli Willets at the top
Speaker 3: of your fantasy draft, but you know, maybe you take
Speaker 3: a big swing on an Ethan Holiday because you know,
Speaker 3: the power profile is there, even if it's not like
Speaker 3: a sure thing like we've seen in the past, whether
Speaker 3: a Jack Keg Leonner, Nick Kurtz, you know, he has
Speaker 3: the highest upside, you know. For me, it's like Ethan
Speaker 3: Holliday and Kate Anderstond the top of the class would
Speaker 3: be my top targets for fantasy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was gonna say, I feel like it's Ethan
Speaker 1: Holiday unless you are in a position where you really
Speaker 1: want a fast moving, quality pitcher.
Speaker 2: In that case, you just go Kate Anderson.
Speaker 1: But I think unless you specifically are eyeing that profile,
Speaker 1: I think Holiday's probably the right pick.
Speaker 2: But he is not a perfect prospect.
Speaker 1: He's a very different prospect than Jackson too, just in
Speaker 1: terms of his strengths and weaknesses. So don't don't think
Speaker 1: you're getting Jackson Holiday if you take Ethan Holiday. But
Speaker 1: obviously still a high ceiling, like, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1: All right, So those are quick MLB draft thoughts. Again,
Speaker 1: check us out, you know, on fanspros dot com and
Speaker 1: elsewhere on the feed for more of a deep dive there.
Speaker 1: The next event from the All Star break the home
Speaker 1: run Derby, which you didn't think you had won. We
Speaker 1: said we were doing total you know, home runs hit
Speaker 1: and cal Raley was the difference for you, so congratulations
Speaker 1: on winning that he arguably shouldn't have even advanced.
Speaker 2: There should have been a swing off in round one.
Speaker 2: I hate that there wasn't.
Speaker 1: I don't understand why it strictly who hit the ball
Speaker 1: the furthest I actually didn't even realize that was the
Speaker 1: tiebreaker in round one, and I despise that, not just
Speaker 1: because it made lose, Like I hated it even in
Speaker 1: the moment that I was like, why is there not
Speaker 1: a swing off? That would be so much more fun
Speaker 1: alas that's the way it went, And even though the
Speaker 1: thing that was really frustrating me and I was ready
Speaker 1: to come on and argue about your victory is junior
Speaker 1: Cameron Aro like left time on the clock in round
Speaker 1: two when he was just on a heater because he
Speaker 1: went second. I actually didn't remember any of these I
Speaker 1: didn't remember that they switched to a bracket in the
Speaker 1: second round, like this whole thing, Like, I don't like
Speaker 1: that they keep changing the rules of this, and I
Speaker 1: don't really like this current setup. I don't mind having
Speaker 1: a limited number of pitches to make sure people aren't
Speaker 1: just taking every other pitch, but I don't like the
Speaker 1: time limit because I want to sit back and enjoy
Speaker 1: the majesty of these home runs. I don't like, go, go, go,
Speaker 1: you gotta get as many pitches in as possible.
Speaker 2: So you know, that was all kind of a bummer.
Speaker 1: At any rate, I was ready to argue, like Junior
Speaker 1: Camerenarow missed out on home runs that he should have
Speaker 1: had because he, you know, had to go second, and
Speaker 1: then he went second again in the finals. So even
Speaker 1: if he had won and I had picked the winner,
Speaker 1: he yet again was going to be able to stop
Speaker 1: and not keep hitting homer as out of the total.
Speaker 1: So I was like, that's just him getting punished for
Speaker 1: hitting more in the first round.
Speaker 2: But then he didn't hit enough.
Speaker 1: Cal Rally won, so it was a clear victory for you,
Speaker 1: which I, you know what will happily see.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'll take it.
Speaker 3: And you know, as we talk about cal Raley potentially
Speaker 3: winning the MVP, now he's also the home run Derby
Speaker 3: champion and even more importantly, I just saw today that
Speaker 3: he won the Mariners Golden Locker Award for having the
Speaker 3: cleanest and most organized locker. So just an all time
Speaker 3: season for cal Raley, just racking up the awards and
Speaker 3: if he's not the MVP. I don't you know we're
Speaker 3: talking about an all time season here.
Speaker 1: I have never heard of that for any team at
Speaker 1: any level. But great job for him winning that award.
Speaker 1: Do you like the current iteration of the home run derby?
Speaker 3: No, I want to go back to I don't like
Speaker 3: the current I'm like an old grump. I don't like
Speaker 3: the current iteration of anything. I want to go back
Speaker 3: to the outs version. I'm very alone in this take,
Speaker 3: but I want to go back to the All Star
Speaker 3: Game meaning something and determining home run or not home field.
Speaker 4: Advantage in the World Series. I love that.
Speaker 3: I love that the game meant something. I hate the
Speaker 3: way it is now. You know, I have it on
Speaker 3: in the background, but it's like not must watch for me.
Speaker 3: I just like to watch, like, you know, having all
Speaker 3: the obviously all the All Stars in one place. So
Speaker 3: though I could go on to rant about how bad
Speaker 3: the rosters were this year, I know you and I
Speaker 3: were slacking about that a little bit, and I was just,
Speaker 3: you know, ranting privately to you about how bad the
Speaker 3: American League roster was this year in terms of All Stars.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I'm an old grump. I don't like the
Speaker 3: format of anything. I want the All Star Game to
Speaker 3: determine homefield advantage in the World Series. But I think
Speaker 3: I might be the only person on Earth who thinks that.
Speaker 2: I kind of agree.
Speaker 1: Like, honestly, the All Star Game, the only thing that
Speaker 1: was cool was the swing off, Like I do like that,
Speaker 1: but like the All Star Game swing I have on
Speaker 1: in the background while doing other stuff, like I'm not
Speaker 1: I had friends over to watch the Home Run Derby
Speaker 1: even though I don't love the current format, I just
Speaker 1: I just love the idea of the Home Run Derby
Speaker 1: and I enjoy watching it with people like that is
Speaker 1: an event that I will care about and hope that
Speaker 1: it gets kind of back to.
Speaker 2: Its glory days.
Speaker 1: But the All Star Game is like, yeah, when an
Speaker 1: Orioles hitter is up, I'm looking up at my TV,
Speaker 1: which isn't on right now, but like I'd be like, oh,
Speaker 1: okay cool, Like Ryan O'Hearn's up when you know, besides that,
Speaker 1: it's like okay cool. But the swing off I did,
Speaker 1: I did, Like, did you enjoy that as a as?
Speaker 1: I mean, I certainly would hate it if that was
Speaker 1: like in a real game. But for the All Star Game,
Speaker 1: I loved it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I thought it was fine. I don't know that
Speaker 3: I hate it. For a real game, I might be
Speaker 3: okay with that. You know, it's kind of like the
Speaker 3: hell Hockey. Instead of having ties, they do the shootout
Speaker 3: at the end. I don't know that I'm against it.
Speaker 3: I might like that more than like the ghost run
Speaker 3: around second rule, but I don't know, maybe not.
Speaker 1: I actually could not more vehemently be opposed to it
Speaker 1: in a regular season game.
Speaker 2: It's so it's so fun.
Speaker 1: In the All Star Game and an exhibition it's so
Speaker 1: it would be so like baseball is afraid of extra innings,
Speaker 1: and I don't understand why. All my thing I was
Speaker 1: tweeting about this on Tuesday night, all my best memories
Speaker 1: of baseball are extra innings stuff like oh that game
Speaker 1: that went eighteen innings or oh remember like it got
Speaker 1: all the way to twelve. And I'm like, I don't
Speaker 1: like that they're trying to limit extra innings with the
Speaker 1: ghost runner, and well, let's just do a swing off instead,
Speaker 1: Like I want all the extra baseball. And I don't
Speaker 1: understand anybody who doesn't like I get it that, like
Speaker 1: you don't want every game to go six hours, but
Speaker 1: like as a as a random like Tuesday night in
Speaker 1: May and you're like, wow, I'm staying up for that,
Speaker 1: I'm inning fifteen, Like those are fun.
Speaker 2: I did that once.
Speaker 1: The Orioles were in Seattle and I was in college,
Speaker 1: so in Maryland on the East Coast, and I had
Speaker 1: an eight am class that I could not skip the
Speaker 1: next day. It was the only semester I ever had
Speaker 1: an eight am class, and it was one It was
Speaker 1: like twice a weekend.
Speaker 2: It was like totally unskippable.
Speaker 1: And I stayed up for an eighteen inning game with
Speaker 1: the Orioles in Seattle.
Speaker 2: Go.
Speaker 1: So I went to bed at you know, my time
Speaker 1: in the East Coast was like I don't know, five
Speaker 1: or six am, but I didn't care. It was a
Speaker 1: great memory and a fun like this is what makes
Speaker 1: baseball great in my opinion. So I would hate it
Speaker 1: in the regular season, but super cool. And shouts to
Speaker 1: Kyle Schwarber for being a beast in the All Star
Speaker 1: Game version.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Speaking of and going back to the rosters, how was
Speaker 3: Jonathan Rondo one of the American League picks for that
Speaker 3: swing off?
Speaker 4: Like how did he make the top three?
Speaker 2: I mean, I know a lot of people left, and
Speaker 2: that was part of it.
Speaker 1: I also think Boone also weird, was probably just like
Speaker 1: just picked the first three people who saw he saw
Speaker 1: or something like, I don't know genuinely, like it seems
Speaker 1: really odd. I don't know who was still like there
Speaker 1: and who he might have asked people and they said, nah,
Speaker 1: I'm good, like I'm you know, I've taken off my
Speaker 1: cleats for the day, like you know, yeah, I'm done.
Speaker 2: But I don't know. I agree, it was a weird pick.
Speaker 2: We didn't even get to.
Speaker 4: See, all right.
Speaker 3: Schwerber goes three for three and as The Cure's Jonathan
Speaker 3: Arondez saved the day, and it's like, shocker.
Speaker 2: He didn't acted all right.
Speaker 1: A couple other dudes and notes here you got some
Speaker 1: injury stuff on here for a couple of pictures.
Speaker 2: Run us through those.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, so a big one. Max Free dealing with
Speaker 3: a blister not always a huge deal, but when you
Speaker 3: when you talk about blisters, that's the kind of thing
Speaker 3: that can linger. And so he doubled in his last start.
Speaker 3: He's unsure if he's going to pitch this weekend, but
Speaker 3: it seems like such a minor injury. We've seen blisters
Speaker 3: really like derail pitchers for like several weeks at a
Speaker 3: time in the past, and it's the kind of thing
Speaker 3: where you keep thinking that they're back from it, and
Speaker 3: you know it keeps popping up again. I think in
Speaker 3: years past there were a lot of issues with the
Speaker 3: balls being changed, and we saw a ton of pictures
Speaker 3: dealing with blisters and it just almost derailed seasons. I
Speaker 3: don't want to be an alarmist and say that's going
Speaker 3: on with Max Freed. I think it's more of a
Speaker 3: minor blister, but still something you want to keep an
Speaker 3: eye on, because you know that's always scared. Shane McClanahan
Speaker 3: completed a short rehab start recently and you know, his
Speaker 3: arm did not fall off. It seems like he's working
Speaker 3: his way back from that nerve issue. He only threw
Speaker 3: thirty six pitches. But the fact that he's on the
Speaker 3: mound throwing after what we saw in you know, before
Speaker 3: the season started, when it looked like really really, really
Speaker 3: bad while you were actively drafting him in AR league.
Speaker 3: You know, it's good to see him and he's he's
Speaker 3: the potential someone we've talked to talked about.
Speaker 4: We didn't talk to him.
Speaker 3: That would be great someone we talked about recently as
Speaker 3: someone you could pick up in the second half. It
Speaker 3: could be a difference maker. And yeah, that was it
Speaker 3: for me. The last note here is about it on
Speaker 3: a trade that you're thinking about making in our league.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I wanted to ask you kind of your opinion
Speaker 1: since you are not you're not in kind of that
Speaker 1: tier one of contenders, so you're not going after this player.
Speaker 1: So I felt comfortable kind of talking strategy with you. Basically,
Speaker 1: and this is a dynasty discussion, well deep keeper dynasty.
Speaker 1: It's kind of a little bit of both, but hybrid
Speaker 1: you can keep up to fourteen players, so it very
Speaker 1: much feels like a dynasty, even though there's technically not
Speaker 1: like a first year player draft and you don't keep
Speaker 1: the entire roster, but it's a very very different.
Speaker 4: You must keep minor league you must keep.
Speaker 1: At least four minor leaguers, so that's part of this. Basically,
Speaker 1: Ronald Acunya is seventy dollars is his cost in this league.
Speaker 1: I have I'm actually not sure to pronounce.
Speaker 4: Which is a lot. For comparison, it's a lot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I think Mookie Betts was once like
Speaker 1: seventy four in this league. But that's basically like the
Speaker 1: highest i've we've ever had in this league.
Speaker 2: It's a three hundred dollars budget.
Speaker 1: By the way, I know most people don't, you know,
Speaker 1: can really care about the specifics. The main important question
Speaker 1: here that I want to talk through on the show is,
Speaker 1: is Ronald o'cunya at seventy dollars based on what we've
Speaker 1: seen so far somebody that you think is worth giving
Speaker 1: up an elite prospect for Because I have Leo DeVry
Speaker 1: Devree is how you're pronounced, the Padres shortstop who's eighteen
Speaker 1: years old, crushing it in Hia. Still a couple of
Speaker 1: years away, but I mean, he's going to be the
Speaker 1: number one prospect in baseball. I think after this year,
Speaker 1: at the very least, he will be top five for
Speaker 1: the next couple of years, it feels like, and I
Speaker 1: have him for just one dollar, and eventually that cost
Speaker 1: will go up a few years into his career. But
Speaker 1: he's basically going to be very cheap for the next
Speaker 1: five or six years, and then even after that's still
Speaker 1: pretty cheap assuming he's a good player. Would you trade
Speaker 1: a prospect like that for Ronald Kunya, who we have
Speaker 1: seen be the best player in Fantasy at times. Obviously,
Speaker 1: coming back for the injury, he hasn't been running as much.
Speaker 1: I mean, he only has four steels since coming back.
Speaker 1: Obviously he's been home runs. I'm kind of torn. I
Speaker 1: am the type of manager who typically does not like
Speaker 1: to move elite young, cheap talent. I'm like, this is
Speaker 1: the core of my team going forward, like I want
Speaker 1: guys like Leo de vrye toe again, I'm not sure
Speaker 1: to pronounce it, you know, for a dollar in my roster,
Speaker 1: and the Padreas are aggressive with these guys, so maybe
Speaker 1: he moves a little faster than I expect. But fly forever.
Speaker 1: I am a Tier one team. I am not the
Speaker 1: best team in this league, but I'm clearly in the
Speaker 1: contending top tier. And the other factor here is if
Speaker 1: I do not make this trade, I know for a
Speaker 1: fact that the number one team, who is already clearly
Speaker 1: the best team in this league, will be getting Acunya.
Speaker 2: So what I want to ask you is A what
Speaker 2: do you think about that this.
Speaker 1: Trade offer of Devree for for Acunya, given costs and everything,
Speaker 1: and b how much when you're making trades in keeper
Speaker 1: in Dynasty formats, are you thinking about the fact that, oh,
Speaker 1: this other player, this other manager who is who I'm
Speaker 1: directly contending with, is going to get this guy if
Speaker 1: I don't, you know, overspend.
Speaker 3: So that makes it tricky because that obviously context matters
Speaker 3: you when you talk about a trade like this. If
Speaker 3: you're just talking about Acunya for DeVries, which is I
Speaker 3: say his name, it's in Dynasty, You're like, wow, I'd
Speaker 3: love to have Acunya. But then you consider that it's
Speaker 3: seventy dollars, which in the grands gay things is prohibitive
Speaker 3: to keeping him like that is just too Like.
Speaker 1: Mookie Betts has been caught kept for seventy dollars before,
Speaker 1: but it is like, okay, I'm now missing out on
Speaker 1: the opportunity for other talent elsewhere in the draft. It's capable,
Speaker 1: but it is like a lot and he is I
Speaker 1: believe was just per I believe he was sent back
Speaker 1: like this year, So he is his price isn't going
Speaker 1: up for a couple of years. Let me double check
Speaker 1: on that, or was he kept this year? He actually
Speaker 1: he actually might have been kept. Oh no, it is
Speaker 1: going up every year. Okay, so he will be seventy
Speaker 1: five dollars next year, which which is like borderline getting
Speaker 1: into not capable and like this is a rental.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so that's where it gets interesting. And then in
Speaker 3: the context of this league, the best team is like
Speaker 3: by far the best team, he's clearing a head and
Speaker 3: so if he gets a Kunya, it's almost like he's unbeatable.
Speaker 4: And so I don't know.
Speaker 3: I feel like in this instance I would I would
Speaker 3: go for it and just try to take my swing
Speaker 3: and hope that you know, knowing your team, you already
Speaker 3: have a good stockpile of young talent, and so it's
Speaker 3: not like Devrees is your only good prospect, And so
Speaker 3: it's the kind of thing where context really matters. In
Speaker 3: this context, I think you're close enough to go for it,
Speaker 3: and that Acunya could put you over the top. And
Speaker 3: I believe you've already beaten him head to head once,
Speaker 3: Is that right?
Speaker 2: I did earlier this season?
Speaker 1: Yeah, So the team ahead of us in the standings,
Speaker 1: who's really really good?
Speaker 2: He doesn't.
Speaker 1: Actually he doesn't have good prospects and doesn't really have
Speaker 1: good depth either. It's just his starting his starting lineup
Speaker 1: is very loaded. I think he's beatable, and getting Akunya
Speaker 1: for him obviously makes that more challenging. I guess what
Speaker 1: I'm curious about from your perspective too, And that's part
Speaker 1: of why I wanted to bring this up on the show,
Speaker 1: is because you know, people don't really care about like
Speaker 1: my fantasy team, but I think they care about Acunya.
Speaker 2: Do you see Yakunya as the type.
Speaker 1: Of player going forward, because like in past seasons, this
Speaker 1: is a guy who's been you know, however many points
Speaker 1: per game, likes like six point two points per game
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three. If the steals aren't there anymore
Speaker 1: to the degree we need them to be, that changes things.
Speaker 1: And you know, last season, in forty nine games, he
Speaker 1: had sixteen steals. This season in forty five games, he
Speaker 1: has four and obviously two knee injuries. You know, the
Speaker 1: ops is over a thousand, right, he has twelve home
Speaker 1: runs in forty five games, like a lot of it's
Speaker 1: very good. He's not been a bad player, clearly, But
Speaker 1: if he's not, if he's a four point per game
Speaker 1: player instead of a six point two point per game
Speaker 1: player and is also a clear rental, you know, does
Speaker 1: that sound worth it? Even setting aside the prospect that
Speaker 1: I'm giving up it, you know, setting aside cost is
Speaker 1: a Kunya somebody like that that you think is the
Speaker 1: type of player right now as he is playing this
Speaker 1: seas in the guy that can you know, put somebody
Speaker 1: over the top to win the league. Or do you
Speaker 1: just see him as a good player but not an
Speaker 1: elite one right now?
Speaker 4: I think he's still elite. I think you're you're seeing it.
Speaker 3: I just think the stolen bases are going to be
Speaker 3: a little bit lower, which he which he has already said,
Speaker 3: you know, he's probably not going to run as much.
Speaker 3: It's also possible he's the only stolen four bases in
Speaker 3: forty five games. It could just be as he's working
Speaker 3: his way back. He's also four for four on stolle bases.
Speaker 3: It could just be the more he gets comfortable with
Speaker 3: this knee, you know, being surgically repaired and not being
Speaker 3: nervous to run anymore, he might run a little bit more.
Speaker 3: And he in last year in forty nine games, you
Speaker 3: said he stole sixteen bases. This year he's only stolen four.
Speaker 3: But also last year in those forty nine games, he
Speaker 3: only had four home runs. This year, he's got twelve
Speaker 3: and he's patting three twenty three, and we've seen him
Speaker 3: just come back and it wasn't like before when the
Speaker 3: power was kind of apped. The powers there. He looks
Speaker 3: like the elite hitter again. And so yeah, I you
Speaker 3: kind of stole the line I was going to say
Speaker 3: about Flags five forever, which you know, it's hard when
Speaker 3: you're you know, especially in like a dynasty or keeper league,
Speaker 3: when it can it can be so fluid from year
Speaker 3: to year and you never know when you're going to
Speaker 3: really like be a contender, Like if you're in the
Speaker 3: contending window and you have an opportunity to go for it,
Speaker 3: it's hard to not pull the trigger, especially when when
Speaker 3: you know, we don't know if Davrez is a sure thing,
Speaker 3: like he's a top prospect, but Akunya is basically a
Speaker 3: sure thing, even though it's a one it's a one
Speaker 3: year rental.
Speaker 1: I really like Devrees, which makes it tough, right, Like
Speaker 1: if it was a guy who was ranked highly as
Speaker 1: a prospect but I wasn't like super invested in, I
Speaker 1: might feel a little differently.
Speaker 2: Devrez is a guy that I do like.
Speaker 1: Really believe in, So you know, that makes it like
Speaker 1: if it was just like, oh, you're not willing to
Speaker 1: give up in a vacuum. It's like, Okay, you're going
Speaker 1: to pass on a Kunya as a win now team
Speaker 1: for a guy that's not going to be in the
Speaker 1: big leagues for three years.
Speaker 2: Sounds silly, but.
Speaker 1: If you really believe, I mean, this is how I
Speaker 1: have a very cheap Bobby wit Junior in this league
Speaker 1: because I held on to him and now I'm reaping
Speaker 1: those bens benefits right like same with Jackson Curio I
Speaker 1: got for cheap.
Speaker 2: Gunnar Henderson has been a little down this year. Same thing.
Speaker 1: I have him for cheap because you know, I held
Speaker 1: on to them when they when they kind of took
Speaker 1: off as prospects. So because that's been so successful for
Speaker 1: me in the past in building this foundation, it's hard
Speaker 1: to give up on that. And I don't know, there's
Speaker 1: a lot to think about. I would love to hear
Speaker 1: what the commenters think on a trade like that. Given
Speaker 1: what they've heard, I won't waste their time.
Speaker 2: With that anyway. I vote Aunya, You vote Acunya.
Speaker 1: Well, speaking of Acunya, let's transition into our twenty twenty
Speaker 1: six way too early mock draft. We're going to go
Speaker 1: through two rounds here. Acunya will certainly be one of
Speaker 1: the players taken in the first two rounds here, let's say,
Speaker 1: because actually before we dive in, I want to let
Speaker 1: everybody know that we are giving away a Wan Gonzalez
Speaker 1: signed Rangers jersey courtesy of our friends at Pristine Auction
Speaker 1: dot com. All you have to do to enter is
Speaker 1: subscribe to the Fantasy Pros MLB YouTube channel right now,
Speaker 1: comment below on any video, and that is we will
Speaker 1: be announcing one lucky winner right here on the channel,
Speaker 1: So make sure to turn on those notifications so you
Speaker 1: can know when new videos are up and to claim
Speaker 1: your prize. I think we should let you go first
Speaker 1: as sort of a reward for winning the home run
Speaker 1: derby draft. But basically we'll just alternate here, so you'll
Speaker 1: you'll get picks one, three, five, seven, I'll get two, four, six, eight,
Speaker 1: et cetera, et cetera, and we'll go through twenty four
Speaker 1: picks here, two different rounds. Does that sound good to you?
Speaker 3: It sounds good to me, except that I didn't want
Speaker 3: to go first. I was hoping to not have to pick.
Speaker 3: But I will just go with the tried and true
Speaker 3: Tony and I'll just take Otani first and just lock
Speaker 3: that in and just make sure I can't ever use
Speaker 3: my utility spot for an entire season.
Speaker 1: I actually like I would be more inclined to take
Speaker 1: Otani if they just said, like, he's not never pitching again,
Speaker 1: Like I almost just like don't want him. It's cool
Speaker 1: that he does it, it makes it more valuable in
Speaker 1: real life, but I'm like, that is kind of.
Speaker 2: Hanging over your head a little bit.
Speaker 1: And there are other elite players, so yeah, I yeah.
Speaker 4: I should have also checked, like, is this a daily
Speaker 4: line up league? Can I use him as well?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I mean he will never pitch for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's let's let's call this weekly lineup And you know,
Speaker 1: do you want to call this roto versus categories?
Speaker 2: I don't really care.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we'll just do standard roto weekly league. Okay, but
Speaker 3: that is interesting. I do have Otani in both kinds
Speaker 3: of leagues. In a daily league, I will let not
Speaker 3: right now because he's only going like two three innings,
Speaker 3: but if he's like back to being a traditional starter
Speaker 3: in a daily league, I will start him. When he's
Speaker 3: a starter in a weekly league, he never leaves my
Speaker 3: hitter spot. He's never pitching for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I don't know how you view this. So
Speaker 1: if Otani is the clear number one, how big of
Speaker 1: a kind of a next tier do you view? Like, like,
Speaker 1: I don't know that he is a clear number Well, well
Speaker 1: let me rephrase, because I actually agree that I don't
Speaker 1: think he's a clear number one. How many names would
Speaker 1: you consider for this for the pick?
Speaker 3: I think that's hard to answer in mid July because
Speaker 3: I think will depend on how the second half goes.
Speaker 4: Because you can see.
Speaker 2: That's why this is way too early.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think you have Otani and you have Judge.
Speaker 3: But then it starts getting interesting because then obviously, like
Speaker 3: Bobby Wit comes into the equation. I don't think Jose.
Speaker 3: I think Jose Rimire is going to be locked in.
Speaker 3: I don't know if he's going to push for the
Speaker 3: top spot of it, but I think he's going to
Speaker 3: be locked in.
Speaker 4: Like the top five.
Speaker 3: But then based on how the second half goes, is
Speaker 3: Peek or Armstrong in that conversation, is cal Rawley in
Speaker 3: that conversation. So it's very interesting to see how the
Speaker 3: top very like tippy top of the draft goes next year.
Speaker 1: I am going to go with the guy that I
Speaker 1: am most confident is going to help me in the
Speaker 1: most categories, and that's Bobby Witch Junior with pick number two.
Speaker 1: And I view this as almost the safest pick here
Speaker 1: just given age and the categories he will help you in.
Speaker 2: I don't know that that's the right pick.
Speaker 1: Actually, I could very is you see myself a year
Speaker 1: from now saying I'd rather have taken you know, Judge
Speaker 1: or one of these other guys. But right now, I
Speaker 1: feel like Bobby with Junior is just the best at
Speaker 1: the most things. Even if like Judge is going to
Speaker 1: hit more homers than him, and you know, cal Roley
Speaker 1: has the catcher eligibility and all that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: Witt has both floor and ceiling and I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: be really happy with every league that I start with
Speaker 1: him in it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's fair. So at the third pick, I'm going
Speaker 3: to go with the player. I don't usually draft based
Speaker 3: on where I'm picking, but it just what almost feels
Speaker 3: silly to pass time at this point based on the
Speaker 3: season he's having Aaron Judge with the power and the
Speaker 3: average and ever all the other counting stats.
Speaker 4: You're going to get from him.
Speaker 3: I always worry about him and injuries and his you know,
Speaker 3: his size, but he's stayed healthy recently, so.
Speaker 2: He's he's also thirty three.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like he's the type of player who
Speaker 1: once it goes it's it's going to go fast. I'm
Speaker 1: not like, obviously he's been so good this year, you're
Speaker 1: not anticipating a falloff next year. But like you get
Speaker 1: into your mid thirties, I know he's kind of like
Speaker 1: a freak of nature just physically, but at a certain
Speaker 1: point it does go like, like he's not as young
Speaker 1: as you might think for how little he's been in
Speaker 1: the big leagues.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he and that's some of that is because he
Speaker 3: wasn't like this like one oh one draft pick who
Speaker 3: came up like he was kind of an un heralded,
Speaker 3: unheralded draft pick kind of coming up who just you know,
Speaker 3: outperformed his his draft slot and turned into the superstar.
Speaker 3: And so he didn't have the same kind of like
Speaker 3: really really quick path to the big leagues. I've said
Speaker 3: for a long time, I worry about how he's going
Speaker 3: to age. I was worried about that, you know, if
Speaker 3: I was Yankees I'd be worried about that contract, but
Speaker 3: I you know, I understand they had to do what
Speaker 3: they had to do.
Speaker 4: They couldn't just like let him walk, especially.
Speaker 3: With what he meant to that lineup and what he
Speaker 3: means to you know, how popular he is in that city.
Speaker 3: You know, they just were not in a position that
Speaker 3: they could let him go somewhere else. But I do
Speaker 3: think the back half of this contract could could get
Speaker 3: pretty ugly. It could be like a mcgul cabera kind
Speaker 3: of back half of the contract.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't disagree with that fourth pick.
Speaker 1: A couple of names of considering, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: this is maybe a little ironic, given that I'm not
Speaker 1: even sure if I want to if I'm going to
Speaker 1: be trading for him, But I think Ronald Acunya should
Speaker 1: be a top five pick as of right now from
Speaker 1: what we expect him to be, you know, even further
Speaker 1: removed from the injury, so maybe you know, more willingness
Speaker 1: to run, not seventy stolen bases again, but more willingness
Speaker 1: to run. The home runs haven't gone anywhere right in
Speaker 1: his prime. I think he'll be what twenty eight next season?
Speaker 1: I think so, assuming that the second half looks really
Speaker 1: good and he looks even healthier and healthier. I think
Speaker 1: the lineup will be better next year in Atlanta too.
Speaker 1: So I got where do you think Acunya should have gone?
Speaker 1: Because I do feel like top five or six is
Speaker 1: like the right place, and maybe even low like me,
Speaker 1: if he looks like the Acunya of old, maybe he'll
Speaker 1: even be like in the conversation for number one.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it'll be interesting.
Speaker 3: I don't know that he's going to go number one
Speaker 3: based on what we just talked about about with the speed,
Speaker 3: Like if if he only steals six stolen you know,
Speaker 3: six six bases the rest of the year and ends
Speaker 3: with ten in half a season, it might be pushing
Speaker 3: it to to.
Speaker 4: Draft him at one.
Speaker 3: Overall, I think at that point you'll see people lean
Speaker 3: more into like the Otani, the Bobby with the Aaron Judge.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I think he's gonna go top five. I
Speaker 3: think you're gonna he might be the player next year
Speaker 3: who has the biggest like difference in like average ADP
Speaker 3: where you know, an average ranking, just kind of the
Speaker 3: difference there, because you're going to see people are gonna
Speaker 3: be nervous, like there's two injuries here, Like some people
Speaker 3: just don't want to draft that at the top of
Speaker 3: the draft, and that's fair.
Speaker 2: I yeah, I think that's very fair.
Speaker 1: This is me kind of wanting to be aggressive and
Speaker 1: feel like I'm getting a superstar at the top, but
Speaker 1: I I will not as of right now. Obviously let's
Speaker 1: see what the second half looks like. But as of
Speaker 1: right now, I would not fault anybody.
Speaker 2: For thinking this is too high for Acunya.
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 3: I was debating which direction I want to go with
Speaker 3: this pick.
Speaker 4: It's it's possible.
Speaker 3: And I also will want to say, like part of
Speaker 3: this is like strategy of like going head to head
Speaker 3: in a draft, whereas like maybe I shouldn't be doing
Speaker 3: it thinking about this way, but like in the fifth
Speaker 3: for the fifth pick in the draft, if this was
Speaker 3: like my first pick, like one zero five is my
Speaker 3: first pick, I don't know that I'm taking this chance
Speaker 3: at least at this point of the season. We'll see
Speaker 3: how the second half goes. But this person is second
Speaker 3: in VBR already and is on pace for a forty
Speaker 3: forty season, and so I'm going to go Pik Armstrong,
Speaker 3: And some of that is like strategy thinking about what
Speaker 3: you're going to do next and how I'm building my roster.
Speaker 3: But Piker Armstrong second most valuable player so far and
Speaker 3: pushing for number one.
Speaker 4: But also, look, it's gonna be tough five. I'm getting
Speaker 4: in at fifth.
Speaker 1: I hope this isn't going to throw off picks you've made.
Speaker 1: But I don't say this is building a roster. This
Speaker 1: is like, these are twelve different managers I think that
Speaker 1: are drafting here.
Speaker 3: So like it's not like, yeah, that's why I said
Speaker 3: it's maybe the wrong way to think about it, but
Speaker 3: just also looking at value.
Speaker 1: Like I don't view it as like my team has
Speaker 1: went and a Kunya. It's like just kind of where
Speaker 1: they would go.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean, I'm drafting for the YouTube commenter.
Speaker 3: I want them to say that I have the best.
Speaker 1: I mean, what PCA has done so far, it's hard
Speaker 1: to argue. It's just a matter of, you know, how
Speaker 1: replicable you think it is for him compared to some
Speaker 1: of these other guys who have done it longer.
Speaker 3: I maybe it's an apology pick because we've we've kind
Speaker 3: of like downplayed his his season so far.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I'm reverting.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of torn between two players, So I'm just
Speaker 1: going to go with the younger one. I think Ellie
Speaker 1: Dala Cruz should not fall to this pick in a
Speaker 1: in a.
Speaker 2: In a Roto draft, sorry my computers, not any.
Speaker 1: Type in a you know, Roto format. The steals he
Speaker 1: is giving you. He is twenty five already this season,
Speaker 1: and eighteen homers and the best batting average of his
Speaker 1: career at two eighty four. I like he's a stud.
Speaker 1: I think it should be a top five pick. And
Speaker 1: there's there's another player that I really like that I
Speaker 1: could have taken here, but I will happily take the
Speaker 1: value of the following daily Cruz and get the power
Speaker 1: speed combo. Who's who's now hitting for average too?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so that was the player I was thinking about
Speaker 3: when talking. When talking just about like you know, if
Speaker 3: you if we're assuming this, this is us going to
Speaker 3: head to head and kind of like building a building
Speaker 3: a roster. Was like, I want to get PCA stolen
Speaker 3: bases and potentially the other counting stats there, assuming you
Speaker 3: might take Ellie next. I didn't want to miss out
Speaker 3: on like both of them kind of a thing. But
Speaker 3: now this gets really interesting because there's a player I
Speaker 3: really want to take. But a we're also at pick
Speaker 3: seven here, and there's a player that should not fall
Speaker 3: out a pick seven take who you really are?
Speaker 4: All right, well, I'm going to go calt Rally. Nice,
Speaker 4: that's I'm going to take count Rally.
Speaker 1: I thought that's who you really wanted, which, by the way,
Speaker 1: it might not be a terrible decision. It's not who
Speaker 1: I would have taken there, because there's a player that
Speaker 1: should not be available anymore, Jse Ramirez, and I'm.
Speaker 2: Just going to take him to exactly that's who I
Speaker 2: was talking about.
Speaker 1: I'm glad I go toed you into taking the other guy,
Speaker 1: because Ramire is at eight is the best value on
Speaker 1: this whole board. But yeah, I mean Raley is like
Speaker 1: Pete crow Armstrong, where you're very much leaning into what's
Speaker 1: happening this season with these last two picks and clearly
Speaker 1: buying into you're gonna be drafting these guys like you're
Speaker 1: gonna get something close to a repeat next year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you can make the argument Jose Aramir should
Speaker 3: have gone where I took p kromstro total.
Speaker 2: You can make the argument Ramirez could have gone.
Speaker 4: As high as four. I think, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: I think you could have gone instead of Acuna four.
Speaker 3: So I'm drafting on vibes, baby, I'm trying to clear
Speaker 3: how to build the best, the most fun team.
Speaker 4: Here clearly a right who's left? Anybody left?
Speaker 2: Well, you're on the clock.
Speaker 1: So I took hose air Ameres again great value at eight,
Speaker 1: just like consistently the best third basement and contributes everywhere,
Speaker 1: and it's just like an absolute stud eighteen homers, twenty
Speaker 1: nine stolen bases, two ninety two average like arguably could have,
Speaker 1: like I said, could have easily gone five.
Speaker 2: Spots Hires or four spots Hires. So at pic nine
Speaker 2: you're on the clock.
Speaker 3: So here's an interesting one because I think there's an
Speaker 3: obvious pick here, But he's also someone who is going
Speaker 3: to be three hundred million dollars richer by the time
Speaker 3: you're making this pick next year, and he might not
Speaker 3: be on the same team, he might be on a
Speaker 3: different team, And those two things can sometimes scare me.
Speaker 3: In the first round, you know that you're drafting someone
Speaker 3: in potentially a new city with new expectations. We're seeing
Speaker 3: it with mon Soda right now, and who just got paid,
Speaker 3: and you know, sometimes you know you get paid, maybe
Speaker 3: you don't have the best steer it next year. You
Speaker 3: already got your money. But I think the obvious pick
Speaker 3: here is Kyle Tucker, and so I'm going to have
Speaker 3: to lock in Kyle Tucker at the ninth pick.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree. If you didn't take him, I was
Speaker 1: going to just having a great year in Chicago. Where
Speaker 1: do you think he ends up? Do you think because
Speaker 1: will keep him or I think they should.
Speaker 4: I assume they will.
Speaker 3: But you know, it's the kind of thing where when
Speaker 3: you get to free agency, the kind of money it's
Speaker 3: going to get thrown around.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 3: My fear is that he goes to the Yankees as
Speaker 3: a baseball on Red Sox fanas that he.
Speaker 2: But not not your fear as a fantasy manager.
Speaker 4: Nos a fantasy manager, he's not.
Speaker 1: This is a fantasy show, not a baseball show.
Speaker 4: Baseball show.
Speaker 3: Yeah, if he goes to the Yankees, he's not making
Speaker 3: it to die. And I can tell you that right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, I'm going to be the guy to
Speaker 1: take the picture.
Speaker 2: Schooble is just too good. We take him at ten here.
Speaker 2: Do you think that's the right spot for the first picture?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that's fine.
Speaker 3: I uh just because of like overall strategy and like
Speaker 3: what we've been talking about recently and like how you
Speaker 3: value pittures. I was almost not even considering pictures, but
Speaker 3: uh yeah, I think it's we've we It also feels
Speaker 3: like just looking at the like at the hitters we've
Speaker 3: taken and like kind of the tier where we're at
Speaker 3: it kind of it feels like the right spot and
Speaker 3: that I think Tucker is probably the end of this
Speaker 3: hitter tier, and you know, you're you're kind of picking
Speaker 3: between a lower tier hitter or the clear one of
Speaker 3: the top best pictures.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I don't know if this is who
Speaker 1: you're gonna take next, But in terms of just thinking
Speaker 1: about the hitters like Juan Soto, I think you can
Speaker 1: make a compelling case belongs in that tier.
Speaker 4: James Wood slower start.
Speaker 1: To the season for him, obviously, but like this this
Speaker 1: quote unquote disappointing start for Mets fans, twenty three homers,
Speaker 1: eleven stone bases two sixty two average. If that's his
Speaker 1: floor in New York, like, I'm not I'm expecting big
Speaker 1: things next year when again he's still like entering his prime,
Speaker 1: you know, realistically, or the very least in it. So
Speaker 1: I think you can make a case for him, especially
Speaker 1: with the eleven steels this year, that he does belong
Speaker 1: in that upper tier.
Speaker 2: But maybe maybe are you gonna go with him? Are
Speaker 2: you going to go in a different direction.
Speaker 3: I was thinking about him. I was thinking about James Wood.
Speaker 3: Not to spoil my picks here, but I was I
Speaker 3: think he's in the tier.
Speaker 4: I think you're right.
Speaker 3: I think the eleven steels do matter because I think
Speaker 3: if we're looking at twenty three home runs two sixty
Speaker 3: two average on like two steals, I think there's a
Speaker 3: big difference in the value we're talking about here. But
Speaker 3: the elevens deals does help Jackson Churio. But again, like
Speaker 3: we're we're drafting now in July based on how the
Speaker 3: season is gone, and I don't know. I feel like
Speaker 3: I feel like I would want all these players over
Speaker 3: Juan Soto. Okay, well you're on the clock, so okay,
Speaker 3: so I'm not taking one. So now the question is
Speaker 3: do I take one of the pictures or do I
Speaker 3: keep going down the hit or rabbit hole? And I
Speaker 3: guess I will go with everyone's favorite breakout and.
Speaker 4: I'll go James Wood. I'll take James Wood here.
Speaker 1: I wasn't sure if Wood had become a first round player.
Speaker 1: I think it's a great pick. I have nothing against it.
Speaker 1: I wasn't sure if he'd become a first round player,
Speaker 1: if he would still be more like kind of top
Speaker 1: of the second. I think I think there will, as
Speaker 1: of right now, there will be leagues where he would
Speaker 1: get to the second because I don't think you can
Speaker 1: really make a case for him in the top ten.
Speaker 1: So it really just kind of becomes personal preference in
Speaker 1: those last two spots, because I feel like, personally the
Speaker 1: top ten is pretty set with those nine hitters and
Speaker 1: Scooble For me personally, like I just can't like, I
Speaker 1: can't imagine taking would sixth be you know, more power
Speaker 1: to you if you did. And also I guess I
Speaker 1: should limit backtrack and say, if somebody is buying into
Speaker 1: significant regression for like cal Raley, then maybe he doesn't
Speaker 1: belong inside that top ten, and you you make the
Speaker 1: case for Wood ahead of him or something like that,
Speaker 1: like if you believe in his breakout season more, then
Speaker 1: I could see that case being made. So I don't
Speaker 1: want to say that Wood doesn't belong in the top ten,
Speaker 1: but I was curious if he was going to go
Speaker 1: there or not, you know, inside the first round. But
Speaker 1: I think it's a great pick just everything he's done,
Speaker 1: Like you know, I love James would, so I'm not
Speaker 1: going to argue with this one. I am going to
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take one Sido by the way.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, just for for James Wood. You know, just
Speaker 3: everyone was kind of predicting the breakout this year.
Speaker 4: We saw it.
Speaker 3: You know, I talked preseason about drafting meta ceiling shame
Speaker 3: on me because he's currently you talked about him going
Speaker 3: in the top ten. He's currently tenth in VBR in
Speaker 3: terms of fantasy value on Fantasy Pros, and that's thanks
Speaker 3: to twenty four home runs. And we just talked about
Speaker 3: Juan Soto's eleven steals. James Wood has twelve, and he's
Speaker 3: batting two seventy eight. And so the other thing that
Speaker 3: you and I have talked about is his power. It's
Speaker 3: to all fields, it's not just the pull power, and
Speaker 3: so you know that I think gives him a higher
Speaker 3: floor going forward.
Speaker 4: So someone I'm.
Speaker 3: Potentially excited about, assuming he has a strong second half
Speaker 3: as well.
Speaker 1: So I mean the stolen bases matter to me that
Speaker 1: he's getting more of them. I have no doubt about
Speaker 1: the power and batting average long term.
Speaker 4: So you think he's gonna keep running.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but enough, I think he'll keep running
Speaker 1: it more than you know, previous seasons of like you said,
Speaker 1: you know, really not doing anything. He's already what won
Speaker 1: off his career high in steals. Like, I think he'll
Speaker 1: run enough to be in the double digits. May maybe
Speaker 1: that's you know, wishful thinking, but I think he'll always
Speaker 1: be in the double digits with what we've seen so far.
Speaker 1: And if that, you know, if you give me that
Speaker 1: and thirty five to forty homers and a high batting
Speaker 1: average or you know, high enough batting average, I'm happy.
Speaker 3: Maybe he just really cares about fantasy managers and he
Speaker 3: knows he's not producing enough as a hitter, so he's
Speaker 3: running more, and that next year, if the batting stats
Speaker 3: come back, he won't run as.
Speaker 2: I mean, the bating stats aren't bad.
Speaker 1: He has twenty three homers at the All Star break,
Speaker 1: and his batting average is a little down.
Speaker 2: It's still too sixty two, And like I.
Speaker 4: Three fifteen expected batting average by the way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like I don't feel like the bat's letting us down.
Speaker 1: It's maybe not like mega insane, you know, all time
Speaker 1: batting season, but it's not bad.
Speaker 4: By the way, how many picks are we doing?
Speaker 2: Two rounds?
Speaker 4: Okay?
Speaker 2: We said that already, was.
Speaker 3: Looking at the sheet we had. We had a break,
Speaker 3: and are we doing ten teams or twelve twelve?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: She she got messed up in the formatting we're doing.
Speaker 1: We're doing twenty four picks to two rounds of twelve.
Speaker 1: So okay, So we are through round one and.
Speaker 4: Yeah, why don't you recap us real quick?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Round one went in this order. Twelve picks, Shoho Tani,
Speaker 1: Bobby Wit, Junior, Aaron Judge, Ronald o'cunya Junior, Pete rah Armstrong,
Speaker 1: Ellie d La Cruz, cal Raley, Jose Ramirez, Steel, the Draft,
Speaker 1: Kyle Tucker, Tarique's Google, James Wood and Juan Soto. Pretty
Speaker 1: good first.
Speaker 3: Round, not too shabby. So I'm on the clock at thirteen.
Speaker 3: Are we doing just or are we snaking?
Speaker 2: That's a good question.
Speaker 1: I actually was thinking of just still alternating, but you're right,
Speaker 1: we should snake and keep the kind of the same
Speaker 1: quote unquote managers let's do that for fun. So I'll
Speaker 1: be on the clock then to start round two. I
Speaker 1: was not thinking about that pairing with Sodo. I think
Speaker 1: there's a couple of names you could pick between. I
Speaker 1: am inclined. In a real draft, I think I would
Speaker 1: make a different pick than the one of my out
Speaker 1: to me, because I don't think you're going to take
Speaker 1: the player that I would really take in a real draft.
Speaker 4: So pretend like you know what I'm going to do.
Speaker 2: I just I said, think. I didn't say I know,
Speaker 2: So I think what I will do.
Speaker 4: Now real quick before you pick.
Speaker 3: So you are sorry, You're sorry, you already said this.
Speaker 3: So you are considering this like the twelve team and
Speaker 3: you're pairing with Juan Sota.
Speaker 1: I am approaching it that way, yes, like I said, Yes,
Speaker 1: that is the way I'm approaching it.
Speaker 2: Do you want to not approach it that way?
Speaker 4: No, that's fine. I just.
Speaker 3: I just wanted to, you know, clarify for our wonderful listeners.
Speaker 1: I think I'm going to go with the if Wan
Speaker 1: Soto is the floor, I'm going to go with this
Speaker 1: ceiling upside of his former teammate Fernando Tatis Junior. And
Speaker 1: like I said, this is probably not what I would
Speaker 1: pick if I was not going up against you, but
Speaker 1: that's what I'm picking here, So pairing up Soto intentions,
Speaker 1: But what do.
Speaker 4: You think about that against me? No, that's good.
Speaker 3: He I've been kind of like like I mentioned at
Speaker 3: the top of the show, bouncing around between like you know,
Speaker 3: current stats and the VBR and like previous rankings.
Speaker 4: And so if you just.
Speaker 3: Go by VBR in the first half, he's seventeen, but
Speaker 3: he's also behind players like Juanniel Suarez who are not
Speaker 3: going to go this high.
Speaker 1: He's in our rest of season consensus rankings on Fantasy
Speaker 1: pros TATIS.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's unsurprising, even you know, despite the VBR. So,
Speaker 3: I mean that's not a bad pairing either, especially you know,
Speaker 3: high ceiling, high floor for both those players, assuming Tuty
Speaker 3: stays healthy.
Speaker 4: Ye.
Speaker 3: And so so you went twelve thirteen paired Soda with tatists,
Speaker 3: that means I'm pairing James Wood with this pick. So
Speaker 3: to pair with James Wood, I think I'll go back
Speaker 3: into the pitchers bucket and I'll go Garrett Crochet. Okay,
Speaker 3: much the chagrin of Chris Rolls, we caret.
Speaker 1: Crochet all right, Yeah, that that's I think a totally
Speaker 1: valid pick. Do you think Crochet is is the right
Speaker 1: guy for SP two? Did you consider Skiens or Wheeler?
Speaker 4: I did?
Speaker 3: I maybe, Yeah, I considered Skeens and Wheeler, and then
Speaker 3: it's too early too at this point to make this pick.
Speaker 3: But I do think Hunter Browns can be in that
Speaker 3: conversation too. But just given what Crochet, Wheeler and Skins
Speaker 3: are doing. As much as I like Hunter brown and
Speaker 3: believe in what he's doing, it's going to be hard
Speaker 3: to to overtake them. Barring injury. They look really really
Speaker 3: good right now. But yeah, I'm a big Paul Skins guy.
Speaker 3: I had him this year as coming into the year
Speaker 3: as SP one, but three schoobl is U making a
Speaker 3: mockery event.
Speaker 1: I think this is an interesting spot with Schooble because
Speaker 1: I think, like I would probably be inclined to take Skiings.
Speaker 1: I'm not somebody who really goes pocket aces though, so
Speaker 1: since we are can considering this as pairing them, I
Speaker 1: probably will go away from like I think, I think
Speaker 1: this is a spot where schemes should be off the board.
Speaker 1: But I don't know if it makes sense to pair
Speaker 1: with Google unless unless that is just your strategy of pocketases,
Speaker 1: which is totally valid if that's kind of the way
Speaker 1: you like to do things. There are I think as
Speaker 1: many as one, two, three, four. I think you can
Speaker 1: make a case for seven hitters here. Honestly, I mean,
Speaker 1: do you see a clear standout hitter or it feels
Speaker 1: like a real group of Are you buying a bounce
Speaker 1: back for Gunner? Lindor is great but another year older,
Speaker 1: you know, Churio taking another step forward? Maybe Mookie Betts.
Speaker 1: Is this just a down season? Vla Gerrero best first
Speaker 1: baseman available? Like, I feel like there's a lot of
Speaker 1: different cases you could that you can make here. Do
Speaker 1: you do you see that too? Or do you have
Speaker 1: a clear guy?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 4: I see that too.
Speaker 3: So there is one guy that came to mind first,
Speaker 3: just as not like I don't want to say highest ceiling,
Speaker 3: but like that I'm most excited about.
Speaker 1: Yeah, these guys all have high ceilings, right, Like you
Speaker 1: can paint a picture for any of them as really
Speaker 1: smart picks here.
Speaker 2: I think what I'm gonna do. I'm actually really torn this.
Speaker 1: This is a really fun exercise because it is teaching
Speaker 1: me that I see a really big group here. And
Speaker 1: I don't know that I would have assumed that going
Speaker 1: in that's the end. This is kind of why I
Speaker 1: like doing it. Shooting from the hip.
Speaker 4: Do you consider Camanaro in this group?
Speaker 1: I'm probably not taking him yet, but I wouldn't like
Speaker 1: say you're wrong for considering him, es like giving out
Speaker 1: how difficult third base is. Right, I'm not considering him
Speaker 1: with this pick, but I think it's reasonable. I think
Speaker 1: what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna say, you know,
Speaker 1: this is just a fluke down season for Mookie Bets
Speaker 1: and and take him. I know he didn't play full
Speaker 1: season last year, so this is now two years in
Speaker 1: a row where the coounting stats maybe aren't as good,
Speaker 1: but we know what this guy is at his best,
Speaker 1: and you know the Dodgers, there's always gonna be opportunities
Speaker 1: for runs and RBI. And I'm gonna say that he
Speaker 1: kind of goes in the next season fully healthy and
Speaker 1: we get one last kind of elite season out of him.
Speaker 1: Maybe not one last, but I'm gonna go with Nuoki
Speaker 1: Bets here. Does that Does that feel too early for him?
Speaker 1: Given what we've seen this year?
Speaker 4: It makes it?
Speaker 3: I mean yes and no, It feels a little early
Speaker 3: based on the down season we're seeing. We're like, I
Speaker 3: need to see a stronger second half from him in
Speaker 3: order to take him this early. But also like if
Speaker 3: he had a great season to be a first round pick,
Speaker 3: and we're already at pick fifteen, so it does feel fair, but.
Speaker 1: We're we're we're imagining going in the next season, Like again,
Speaker 1: he started off this season weird with the sickness, Like
Speaker 1: it's just like, it just feels like he has earned
Speaker 1: the benefit of the doubt of I'm willing to look
Speaker 1: past this kind of fluke bad year and hope that
Speaker 1: it is just a fluke and he's a lot lower
Speaker 1: and the rest of the season ranking, so this this
Speaker 1: might actually be a reach. I'm not saying that it's not,
Speaker 1: but I think all these guys are again justifiable, So
Speaker 1: I want to go with the guy that's been the
Speaker 1: best for the longest and count of this being a
Speaker 1: down season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a lot of worry there. He going into
Speaker 3: next season, he will be thirty three, as you mentioned,
Speaker 3: wou judge, and there's also the possibility that we're seeing
Speaker 3: the downturn. So in twenty twenty three, he played one
Speaker 3: hundred and fifty two games, it hit thirty nine home runs.
Speaker 3: Last year he only played one hundred sixteen, but he
Speaker 3: only hit nineteen home runs, so not the same kind
Speaker 3: of pace and so and this year eleven home runs
Speaker 3: in eighty nine games. So it's possible we've seen that power.
Speaker 3: You know, we're not going to see that thirty plus
Speaker 3: home run power anymore, which we only saw it like
Speaker 3: a few times before. Anyway, he kind of has floated
Speaker 3: between that, like, you know, twenties and thirties home runs power.
Speaker 3: I don't think we're seeing thirty nine anymore.
Speaker 1: What I'm more worried about is the risk of he's
Speaker 1: not going to run any He's only six stolen bases
Speaker 1: this year, so like, if he gets me like twenty
Speaker 1: six homers and fifteen stolen bases and his batting average
Speaker 1: is back to three hundred, like I'm okay with that.
Speaker 2: But if he's in the single.
Speaker 1: Digit steals total and low twenties homers and the average
Speaker 1: bet like that's where it starts to be. Like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is like a significant reach, but maybe it's buying
Speaker 1: a little too much into name value. But I have
Speaker 1: made the pick, so it's locked in Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we don't have to spend much more time on him,
Speaker 3: but there is when you just look at like, granted
Speaker 3: it's only half a season, but if you look at
Speaker 3: the numbers, there are some concerns he' about in two
Speaker 3: forty four.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not focused on this season's counting stats in
Speaker 1: making this pick. This is a This is me saying
Speaker 1: it is a weird start to the year, weird year
Speaker 1: in general for him, Like we're counting this as a
Speaker 1: fluke to me, the if you want to paint the
Speaker 1: case of this being a concern it's last year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because the county sides are down and his expected
Speaker 3: stats or a lot of them will all be career
Speaker 3: worst as well, and so he's earning it all right,
Speaker 3: But we can move on. I could tell you want
Speaker 3: to move on. You don't want to, you know, just well.
Speaker 2: No, you don't want to. We don't spend ten minutes
Speaker 2: on every pick.
Speaker 3: I know you're regretting the Mookie Bets pick already. So
Speaker 3: you paired Mookie Betts with Scooble, is that right?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: So now I'm up with the team who picked at
Speaker 3: one on nine and picked Kyle Tucker and so for me,
Speaker 3: I'll make it quick and I just think he shouldn't
Speaker 3: have fallen this this far. And I'll pair a really
Speaker 3: one of the top hitters with one of the top pitchers,
Speaker 3: and I'll take Paul Skins off the board.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Skens would have been my next pick for sure.
Speaker 1: If I didn't take Scooble with the tenth pick, I
Speaker 1: would have taken Skins. I like gu said, I just
Speaker 1: didn't want to go pocket aces, but like I would
Speaker 1: have taken him a pick before if we were just
Speaker 1: drafting in a vacuum correct pick. I think, I don't
Speaker 1: know that I want to take another picture here in Wheeler,
Speaker 1: like I don't know that I want to take another
Speaker 1: picture this whole mock draft is, is my point, even
Speaker 1: though I do really like Wheeler obviously, just like another
Speaker 1: year older. That's hard, and there's so many good hitters
Speaker 1: that I like. I'm gonna say, I'm going I'm gonna
Speaker 1: kind of a bounce back from Gunner Henderson. Other than
Speaker 1: this too far, he was a first rounder like very
Speaker 1: easily a year ago. He's still very young, he's still
Speaker 1: very good. A lot of the bad of ball data
Speaker 1: is very promising. He's sitting the ball hard, he's just
Speaker 1: not lifting it a lot. I think it gets back
Speaker 1: to you remember he also started this season weirdly, getting
Speaker 1: injured in in spring training and then kind of working
Speaker 1: his way back. It gets major league pitching. This is
Speaker 1: just buying into the talent what we saw last year.
Speaker 1: And I'll just take a Gunner Henderson and again, I
Speaker 1: kind of have the floor of Jose Ramirez that I'm
Speaker 1: pairing him with, and now I'm kind of getting I
Speaker 1: think I think the ceiling again with Gunner Henderson.
Speaker 3: All right, so you paired Jose Ramirez and Gunner Henderson.
Speaker 3: I am now up at eighteen with the team that
Speaker 3: one oh seven. I took cal Raley and so I
Speaker 3: could go in a couple different directions here. But I
Speaker 3: also think this player should not still be on board,
Speaker 3: and that's Jacksonio. And so I like the idea of
Speaker 3: pairing the power of cal Rally with the speed and
Speaker 3: power of Jacksonterio.
Speaker 1: I could have easily taken Cheerio instead of Gunner. You know, again,
Speaker 1: I think this is kind of a big group of hitters,
Speaker 1: and I think that's a totally good pick.
Speaker 2: I want to let.
Speaker 1: Everybody know before we finish up the draft. If you're
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Speaker 2: Okay, I'm back.
Speaker 1: On the clock and I will take a guy that
Speaker 1: I considered a couple of picks ago. Really, a lot
Speaker 1: of these guys I've at least considered for a couple
Speaker 1: of picks. I know the batting averages hasn't been very good.
Speaker 1: Corbyn Carroll is only twenty four years old. I know
Speaker 1: he's got a bit of the wrist injury stuff right now.
Speaker 1: But this is guy that in general, going into next season,
Speaker 1: barring anything unforeseen this year, I'm going to be expecting
Speaker 1: twenty five homers and thirty five stolen bases and hoping
Speaker 1: for a batting average bounce back. Even though this is
Speaker 1: two years in a row of a low batting average.
Speaker 1: I just think the town's too good. And again in
Speaker 1: this in a Rodo format with the Steels. I just
Speaker 1: think back half of Route two is a perfectly great
Speaker 1: place to take him.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's fair.
Speaker 3: I think it's he's probably he's been on the on
Speaker 3: the uh missing the word here.
Speaker 4: He's been available for too long in this draft.
Speaker 3: As someone who coming into last year he was like
Speaker 3: contensus top five, top three pick. There are some injury
Speaker 3: concerns there. You know, I share those coming into last season.
Speaker 3: I don't have any shares of Corbyn Carrol. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I think nineteenth pick, second round, like mid to late
Speaker 3: second round, is just way too long for him to
Speaker 3: be on the board.
Speaker 4: That's the word I was looking for it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean he's he's on his one hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty two game pace this year is forty two homers
Speaker 1: and twenty two steals, and I think the steels is
Speaker 1: the one that we're more confident would bounce back in
Speaker 1: the future. So, like again, a twenty five to thirty
Speaker 1: five season is selling him, sure from what the ceiling
Speaker 1: could be. So I think if the floor is you're
Speaker 1: at least getting power speed combo, and the ceiling is
Speaker 1: like a top five player, which is what it is.
Speaker 1: I think this is a good value, and I'm pairing
Speaker 1: him with Eli Da La Cruz.
Speaker 2: So that's a lot of power speed.
Speaker 3: Yep, yeah, I was going to say that you're you're
Speaker 3: pairing with Eli Data Cruz, so I'm no up. And
Speaker 3: this is pairing with Pik or Armstrong who went at
Speaker 3: one oh five. Maybe a little early, but you know,
Speaker 3: projecting the superstardom. So I did take a little bit
Speaker 3: of a risk with that first pick with Piak or Armstrong.
Speaker 3: And so now do I want to pair it with
Speaker 3: an elite pitcher and kind of build the floor in
Speaker 3: the pitching side, or do I want to further cement
Speaker 3: my offensive floor. I think I'll go offense and I
Speaker 3: will go with.
Speaker 4: I already have some of that speed. Do I want
Speaker 4: to I'll go Lindoor, Francisco, Lindor.
Speaker 1: Good Claire and a good a good floor picked to
Speaker 1: pair of somebody like pe K Armstrong.
Speaker 3: I'm a little nervous about batting average because there's a
Speaker 3: chance that like I just drafted like two two fifty
Speaker 3: two sixty hitters, which was which was my one hesitation there.
Speaker 3: But I do think you're locking in a lot of
Speaker 3: power speed and like a good enough batting average really
Speaker 3: early on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I think it's a good pick.
Speaker 1: We're starting to get into the territory of feeling like
Speaker 1: you're taking a step down.
Speaker 2: With who's available. Yeah, I'm looking around.
Speaker 1: It's like like we're in the territory of there. There's
Speaker 1: a red flag somewhere. Was Zach Wheeler. It's age, you
Speaker 1: know with I mean, I don't know how far down
Speaker 1: you're looking. But you know, a guy like you know,
Speaker 1: Ca tel Marte, you're not getting any steals. You know,
Speaker 1: a guy like Trey Turner, you know, the power hasn't
Speaker 1: been there this year, you know, and he's also into
Speaker 1: his thirties now, so how long is the speed going
Speaker 1: to be there? You know, Julio Rodriguez has been like
Speaker 1: a slow starter, you know, for so much of the time.
Speaker 1: But he's you know, fourteen homers, seventeen steals at the
Speaker 1: All Star break, you know, low batting average. I'm like
Speaker 1: kind of talking it through because again, there's kind of
Speaker 1: like downsides for a lot of these guys. Somebody who's
Speaker 1: having a very you know, a good season is Manny
Speaker 1: Machado and third base is so difficult, you know, seventeen homers,
Speaker 1: eight steals two ninety two average. But he is another
Speaker 1: guy into his you know, early to mid thirties. Now
Speaker 1: he's thirty three years old right now. Like I said,
Speaker 1: I'm kind of talking it through because I think there's
Speaker 1: a lot of different options. I think what I will
Speaker 1: do in this is pairing with Ronald Acunya is and
Speaker 1: I didn't expect to this. I'm gonna take Zach Wheeler.
Speaker 1: I I'm at the point with Zach Wheeler where it's
Speaker 1: almost like Derrek Henry and fantasy football. I'm not I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna ride this thing until it burns me, right Like,
Speaker 1: I don't want to be the one. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: keep predicting when he's gonna fall off. He's been so
Speaker 1: good for so long it does concern me his age,
Speaker 1: But I mean, this is several years in a row
Speaker 1: of being a real fantasy ace, one of the five
Speaker 1: best pitchers in fantasy baseball. I'm just gonna let I'm
Speaker 1: gonna let him burn me one year, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: keep taking him until he does so. Pairing him with
Speaker 1: ron On Acunya Cook, that's that's a low ceiling. If
Speaker 1: he does at the age Cliff and Acunya, you know,
Speaker 1: has injury issues.
Speaker 2: But that's a high ceiling. It's it's a low floor.
Speaker 3: I feel like I feel like you tricked me saying
Speaker 3: you weren't going to take any more pictures. I just
Speaker 3: you know, filled up my strategy.
Speaker 1: Later I planned to not and then in the moment
Speaker 1: talk again, this is where we're figuring this out. In
Speaker 1: the moment, I kind of realized, actually I do.
Speaker 4: Yeah, No, I think it's the right move.
Speaker 3: I do think, especially when you start looking at like
Speaker 3: pitching tears, you need to not need to, but you know,
Speaker 3: locking like he said, like that ceiling floor of a
Speaker 3: Zach Wheeler, especially pairing up with someone like Acunya, I
Speaker 3: think it makes a lot of sense. So you paired
Speaker 3: Acunya and Wheeler, and now I am up with the
Speaker 3: team that was one O three, that Aaron Judge, and
Speaker 3: so I have a pretty high floor, high ceiling there,
Speaker 3: and who do I want to pair him with? So
Speaker 3: if I want to go the pitching route, there's Hunter
Speaker 3: Brown and there's Max Freed, and I feel like those
Speaker 3: are probably the only two.
Speaker 4: In that tier. And you could argue that the Hunter
Speaker 4: Brown is not in that tier yet. I Vlad is.
Speaker 3: Someone I consider, but he's not having the stats I
Speaker 3: would want to take. Take this early, like we're not
Speaker 3: not seeing the powers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought about Vlad the last couple of picks,
Speaker 1: but I'm like, it's just not happening, and I don't know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I Lad was a tricky one for me to decide on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I want to go Junior Camenaro.
Speaker 4: That's you know, I don't know that. I don't know.
Speaker 3: It makes me a little bit nervous, but you know,
Speaker 3: there is a lot of power out of her weak
Speaker 3: position there. I'm taking too long to make the pick here.
Speaker 3: Uh you know what, Just give me Junior kerin Air.
Speaker 3: I'll take him, Okay, I'll take the Plunge.
Speaker 4: Was not in on them this season.
Speaker 3: I'm I'm correcting the mistake like I did with Pek Armstrong.
Speaker 3: I'm I'm going back.
Speaker 1: My last pick. I have Bobby Wood. Junior is the
Speaker 1: guy I'm pairing this with.
Speaker 2: Ma'am.
Speaker 1: I I am torn as it happened for a couple
Speaker 1: of picks in Rowe because there's a lot of guys
Speaker 1: that I think are pretty close to each other.
Speaker 2: There's guys like Trade Kyle Schwarber.
Speaker 3: Is he someone you would take. I can't take him
Speaker 3: with the next pick because that's the team.
Speaker 1: I am just somebody who typically does not like that strategy.
Speaker 1: As good of a hitter as he is, I mean, dude,
Speaker 1: his thirty home runs this year, and like, I'm not
Speaker 1: even saying that I'm correct in that stance. I just
Speaker 1: don't typically go for guys like Schworber, you know, at
Speaker 1: their cost. But that's just a personal preference.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just wanted to bring it up because I
Speaker 3: actually I cannot take him with the next pick unless
Speaker 3: there's two utilities.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, no, no, it's valid. I mean I think you
Speaker 1: could even scroll down and look at like like I'm
Speaker 1: not taking him. But I wouldn't fight too strongly against
Speaker 1: somebody making the case for like Jackson Merrill and just saying, like, listen,
Speaker 1: he said, injury issues this year and that's why everything's
Speaker 1: looking really bad. But as a rookie, as a young
Speaker 1: rookie twenty one years old, he went he had twenty
Speaker 1: four homers, sixteen soul bases in a two ninety two average,
Speaker 1: and just kind of thinking a step forward from that
Speaker 1: is the most likely outcome for next year. I I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't think I'm a take it, but I wouldn't
Speaker 1: fight against it.
Speaker 4: Do you I'll be real quick.
Speaker 3: But do you want to see I have like last
Speaker 3: year's draft rankings up. Do you want to hear some
Speaker 3: of the top names setting into last draft season that
Speaker 3: are still available. Sure, there's a few of them, So
Speaker 3: scrolling through the list, Julio Rodriguez, consider God Alvarez, Bryce Harper, I.
Speaker 2: Will not be taking Jared on Alvarez.
Speaker 3: Jared Duran, Drey Turner, and then you're Jackson Merril, Freddie Freeman,
Speaker 3: Jazz Chishom could tell Marte Austin, Riley, Logan Gilbert.
Speaker 2: I mean there's good players there, yeah, for sure. I
Speaker 2: mean the highest in our rest of season rankings available
Speaker 2: is vlad.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I think I think he's too high there.
Speaker 1: It's just it's just so hard to take him with
Speaker 1: what the season has looked like.
Speaker 4: I think I agree.
Speaker 1: I mean, Trey Turner, you're getting steals, but another year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I also have Bobby wit Junior on the team, so
Speaker 1: pairing shortstops, I could do it, right, There'll be there'll
Speaker 1: be an infielder spot, but I probably won't, you know, Julio,
Speaker 1: just betting on the talent Pete Alonzo. If I wanted
Speaker 1: to go a different first baseman.
Speaker 2: I do.
Speaker 1: I mean again, I can't. I feel like I can't
Speaker 1: take him base on what we've seen. But I do
Speaker 1: really like Jackson Merrill a lot. Tell Marte just like
Speaker 1: getting the best second baseman is appealing.
Speaker 4: Would you consider Max Freed here?
Speaker 1: No? If if I was going to take a picture,
Speaker 1: I would take Connor Brown like unequivally. I I like
Speaker 1: Brown better than Freed for sure. Okay, so I don't
Speaker 1: think I want to take a picture, but if I
Speaker 1: was to take one, it would be one hundred percent.
Speaker 2: I think I'm going to.
Speaker 1: Say he's too talented and young enough that there could
Speaker 1: still be a step forward, and he was a high pick.
Speaker 1: He's had a thirty thirty season on his resume. I'm
Speaker 1: going to take Julio Rider. You guys, I think he
Speaker 1: can't get out of the second round just with the
Speaker 1: talent and age alone.
Speaker 2: Wow, do you think that's the wrong pick?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 3: I just think you were already talked about it. There's
Speaker 3: a lot of uncertainty there. He's also a he's been
Speaker 3: you know, it's kind of fluky, but he's been a
Speaker 3: second half player. So there's a world where we're heading
Speaker 3: into next draft season and his numbers look really good
Speaker 3: and you're like, wow, he had a great season forgetting that,
Speaker 3: Like the beginning of season was I mean, I mean.
Speaker 1: His poor first half is still fourteen homer seventeen steals,
Speaker 1: and like the average is twenty points lower. But his
Speaker 1: average the first three was two eighty four, two seventy five,
Speaker 1: two seventy three. This year's two fifty two. So that
Speaker 1: looks like the outlier. You know, he's he's been a
Speaker 1: twenty twenty guy every year of his career.
Speaker 2: He's going to be that again.
Speaker 1: He's been a thirty thirty guy once, twenty five to
Speaker 1: twenty five guy twice. So I feel like the floor
Speaker 1: is actually higher overall maybe then you would think with him,
Speaker 1: and the ceiling is very clear and apparent too, So
Speaker 1: I think like him getting out of the second would
Speaker 1: be crazy, and like pairing him with Bobby Woo Junior,
Speaker 1: I feel really good about.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So I'll be really quick again, but I'll just hit
Speaker 3: some of the before I hit the top draft rankings
Speaker 3: of a players heading into last year's draft that are
Speaker 3: still available. Now, I'll hit some of the players through
Speaker 3: the first half of the season have been the best
Speaker 3: statistically that are still available. Number nine Byron Buxton, not
Speaker 3: taking him here. Number eleven Kylesh forber he already said,
Speaker 3: can't take him.
Speaker 4: With the on the Otani team.
Speaker 3: This is the one oh one team that is now,
Speaker 3: you know, pairing whoever this player is without Treya Turner.
Speaker 4: Riley Green is an interesting one.
Speaker 3: I don't know that I would take him this high,
Speaker 3: but he's having a very good year. Twenty four home runs,
Speaker 3: twenty four batting average. You Haino Suarez not taking him here?
Speaker 3: Say Suzuki is an interesting name. Peelansa many him Chatto,
Speaker 3: you already mentioned Kristin Yelli's not doing that. And then
Speaker 3: I think you kind of get further down into two
Speaker 3: different kind of tears.
Speaker 4: And so.
Speaker 3: Assuming this you know this team, I'm making two picks,
Speaker 3: but we're not going to you know, go past this pick.
Speaker 3: But this, you know, in this, you know turn I
Speaker 3: would be making two picks, so I think one of
Speaker 3: them would be a pitcher, and so I'll take Hunter Brown.
Speaker 3: I'll take Hunter Brown as the final pick.
Speaker 1: And that tell us who who would the hitter have been?
Speaker 1: If you said, okay, Hunter Brown will be the first
Speaker 1: pick of the third round, just so we'd know who
Speaker 1: would who would the hitter have been.
Speaker 4: That's where I kind of was struggling. I think I
Speaker 4: think just based on.
Speaker 3: The you know, what we've seen so far, and he's
Speaker 3: having a really good year, though I don't know that
Speaker 3: I could really trust trust it based on the injury stuff.
Speaker 4: I was gonna say, say.
Speaker 3: It's Azuki would would have been would have been the pick,
Speaker 3: But I don't know. I'm not a big tell Marte
Speaker 3: guy is gonna be a year older Price Harper, I'm
Speaker 3: not going to do.
Speaker 2: So.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel like it's kind of a weird area. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I think it probably would have been saying Azuki.
Speaker 2: That would not I was not my guess. I I
Speaker 2: what was your guys gonna make?
Speaker 1: I don't know that I really had one, But it
Speaker 1: was not that I was thinking more like a guy
Speaker 1: that we had ranked in this way coming into the year,
Speaker 1: like like like the previous list you read like guys
Speaker 1: that were here a year ago, and we're thinking, oh,
Speaker 1: they just had a little bit of a down year
Speaker 1: or somebody like not not saying Laddie, but like you
Speaker 1: know of Laddie or somebody like that that was that
Speaker 1: we expected to be here would have been my guess, yeah, Duran.
Speaker 4: But I think the rants haven't down year. He's not good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean all these guys that were in this
Speaker 1: range of year ago, like in the spring, that we're
Speaker 1: not taking are having down years to varying degrees, or
Speaker 1: are older and we don't expect to maybe like like
Speaker 1: Mana Machada was having a good year, but like, is
Speaker 1: he having this kind of year that you expect him
Speaker 1: to do this as a thirty three year old next year?
Speaker 4: Like, I don't know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean the answer could have been or would
Speaker 3: have been Jackson Merril. But we're not seeing the kind
Speaker 3: of second year we were hoping for after that breakout
Speaker 3: rookie season, so it was hard hard to trust him
Speaker 3: in the second round either.
Speaker 2: But that's also injury based too.
Speaker 1: Like I feel like next year, I'm going to be
Speaker 1: really happy in any draft where I get Merrill in
Speaker 1: the third round if that happens, And maybe maybe that
Speaker 1: won't happen based on how the second half goes. But
Speaker 1: as of right now, he obviously didn't make our top
Speaker 1: two rounds here, but I'm going to be I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be stoked to buy low next year, I think.
Speaker 3: And he was twenty three consensus going into last year,
Speaker 3: so he would have gone right around.
Speaker 2: Here and is going to be twenty three years old
Speaker 2: next season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but also seven home runs in sixty four games,
Speaker 3: but that's after hitting twenty four.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean again, you're buying on it being it down.
Speaker 2: I think my one.
Speaker 4: Regret one one stolen base.
Speaker 1: I think my only regret from this is I actually
Speaker 1: I do think I reached on Mooki bets as I
Speaker 1: talked through it. But the rest, I actually I'm really
Speaker 1: happy with with the values I got. Like I think
Speaker 1: Jazeramirez eighth, Soto twelfth, you know, you getting Skiens sixteenth,
Speaker 1: I think was great. I would have taken skiin to
Speaker 1: heead of Crochet, honestly, although I think it's a coin flip,
Speaker 1: Like I'm not saying you're wrong for that, just the
Speaker 1: direction I would have gone, like Gunner, like from pick
Speaker 1: sixteen to nineteen being Skeens, Gunner, Churio and Corbyn Carroll
Speaker 1: is like, that's really enticing. And then even even after that,
Speaker 1: Lindor Wheeler, like that range of the mid teens to
Speaker 1: the early twenties.
Speaker 2: I think is really strong.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I took Pca early knowingly, but he's going
Speaker 3: to be a fascinating one going into next season seeing
Speaker 3: on the second half go because he could go as
Speaker 3: high as like top four, top three, or if he
Speaker 3: falls off in the second half, he could fall to
Speaker 3: the back end of the first round, maybe out of
Speaker 3: the first round.
Speaker 1: I think a few of these guys, you could say
Speaker 1: there's a chance they could go Like Acunia I think
Speaker 1: could go higher than four if he has a vintage
Speaker 1: second half. I think Julio could go a lot higher
Speaker 1: if he has his what he usually does in the
Speaker 1: second half. Gunner and Schurio I think could go higher.
Speaker 1: I think I think Camvanaro could fall off. I mean
Speaker 1: one of my bull predictions last week was that he
Speaker 1: has forty homer So I don't think he will, but
Speaker 1: I think he could. James would I could see falling
Speaker 1: out of the first. He's not falling out of the second,
Speaker 1: but I could see him falling out of the first.
Speaker 1: Cal Raley if he slows down, I think people he
Speaker 1: won't be a top seven pick. But but yeah, some
Speaker 1: of these guys could could move around a bit.
Speaker 2: I think the top three. Is even if he is
Speaker 2: the easiest part of this whole draft.
Speaker 3: Yeah, even if cal Raley falls off, think about going
Speaker 3: into second going into next year, he's going to be
Speaker 3: a catcher with a good average, forty home rounds and
Speaker 3: some stolen bases. Like someone's going to take that in
Speaker 3: the first round just because they want to be done
Speaker 3: with and don't have to worry about it anymore.
Speaker 1: And they're you know, maybe not wrong about that. You know,
Speaker 1: it's that's a totally viable thing. Is he's twenty eight
Speaker 1: this year, so it's not like he's like young young,
Speaker 1: but he's not old either. He's not one of these
Speaker 1: guys in his thirties that you would expect to see
Speaker 1: fall off. But I think we'll just be expecting general
Speaker 1: statistical regression, right, Like it's just gonna be hard to
Speaker 1: repeat it. All.
Speaker 2: Right, let's get into our two start pitcher competition quickly,
Speaker 2: because we went pretty long on this. It's currently tied.
Speaker 1: That includes the home run derby win for you, so
Speaker 1: it's six six and then we had one week that
Speaker 1: was a tie, so we've each won six and then
Speaker 1: there is the tie in there and that, by the way,
Speaker 1: I very easily gave myself the win. For the last
Speaker 1: full week, we had Christopher Sanchez thirty three Fantasy points,
Speaker 1: Hunter Brown just two for you against Cleveland and Texas.
Speaker 2: This week's really true second round pick Hunter Brown.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So what we decided to do for this week
Speaker 1: because obviously, like rotations aren't totally set yet as of
Speaker 1: Thursday morning when we're recording this, and it's a weird
Speaker 1: week where it's we have this weekend subpcoming weeks. So
Speaker 1: what we're doing is Mayor and I have each picked
Speaker 1: a each picked a pitcher that is has been announced
Speaker 1: to be pitching this weekend, so we can be reasonably
Speaker 1: confident they are getting two starts, including this weekend and
Speaker 1: then all of next week. So rather than try to
Speaker 1: play this game where we try to guess because like
Speaker 1: some teams want to give their best pictures like a
Speaker 1: little bit of extra rest, it's just sorry to tell
Speaker 1: what direction it's going. So pictures that are announced to
Speaker 1: pitch this weekend, we are assuming we'll get this weekend
Speaker 1: and then at least one more start in this upcoming week,
Speaker 1: and therefore we will be two starts between now next Sunday.
Speaker 2: That will be our approach with it. There was not.
Speaker 1: A super long list as of the time we're recording this,
Speaker 1: some guys that have even been confirmed to pitch this weekend,
Speaker 1: so it might sound like worse pictures than you know,
Speaker 1: we usually trying. We usually have some aces in here,
Speaker 1: but the guys that were announced we either had already
Speaker 1: used or we're not very good.
Speaker 2: So my pick is Nick Pavetta.
Speaker 1: He gets Washington and then we think the Mets next week,
Speaker 1: so one really good matchup in there. Mets have been
Speaker 1: up and down that has been good this year. I
Speaker 1: remember we had the guy predict he was going to
Speaker 1: lead the league in strikeouts before the season. That was
Speaker 1: one of our commenters bold predictions. So so yeah, I'll
Speaker 1: go with Paveta.
Speaker 3: And I'm going to go and just to you know,
Speaker 3: further cement your point. Looking at the announced schedule for
Speaker 3: this weekend, less than fifty percent of pitchers have been announced,
Speaker 3: so there's a lot of TVD and undecided on the schedule.
Speaker 3: So I'm going with Nathan Valdi, who is lining up
Speaker 3: this weekend to pitch against the Tigers, and then he
Speaker 3: should line up to face the Braves in his next start.
Speaker 3: So not the easiest of matchups. But the Braves are
Speaker 3: down and they will be without Austin Riley, So I'm
Speaker 3: going with Nathan Ivaldi.
Speaker 1: All right, Paveta versus Evaldi. I'm on a real winning
Speaker 1: streak here. By the way, you have not won a
Speaker 1: outside the home run derby version of it. You have
Speaker 1: not run a two start pitcher week since Week eight.
Speaker 1: I won in nine. We didn't have Week ten because
Speaker 1: both pitchers always started one game. Week eleven was our tie.
Speaker 1: I won a week twelve. I won a week thirteen.
Speaker 1: So we were on a little worm run here, but
Speaker 1: broken up by the Homer derby.
Speaker 4: Some we'll see I had one four out of five
Speaker 4: heading into that.
Speaker 2: It's a game of runs, like like basketball.
Speaker 1: So all right, we'll go ahead and wrap up there.
Speaker 1: I appreciate everybody tuning in for the episode. Let us
Speaker 1: know what picks you would have made in different spots
Speaker 1: in that two round mock draft. If you would have
Speaker 1: taken a guy earlier or lower.
Speaker 2: Let us know who didn't get drafted that should have been.
Speaker 2: Who we you know, we might have just forgotten. It's
Speaker 2: totally possible.
Speaker 1: Like I said, I wanted to do this shooting from
Speaker 1: the hip rather than strictly, like you know, laying out
Speaker 1: a big board, so maybe I overlook somebody let us know.
Speaker 1: If we did be able go ahead and wrap up there.
Speaker 1: We'll get back to our usual three part episode next week.
Speaker 1: It would be myself and Mayor through the end of July,
Speaker 1: and then we'll be having I believe Kelly stepping in
Speaker 1: for me in August, so a couple more weeks left
Speaker 1: of the dynamic duo. Here for Mayor, I'm Ryan Warmlan.
Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Baseball podcast.
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