Speaker 1: Hello, everybody, Welcome into the cycle. I am Ryan Warmley,
Speaker 1: joined as always by Mike Mayor Mayor. We are here
Speaker 1: at almost the All Star break, and in fact, it
Speaker 1: might even be the All Star break for some people
Speaker 1: listening to this if they waited a couple of days
Speaker 1: after it gets released. We are just doing one episode.
Speaker 1: We always do kind of one quote unquote episode of
Speaker 1: the cycle. We're doing only one part today rather than
Speaker 1: breaking it up because there are not a lot of
Speaker 1: games next week and not until next weekend. We're not
Speaker 1: doing our usual you know, pitching streamers. Obviously, we can't
Speaker 1: really do the two star picture contests. We've got a
Speaker 1: fun way to so kind of go ahead to head
Speaker 1: against each other and something for next week. Anyway, we'll
Speaker 1: get to you later in the show. But yeah, just
Speaker 1: won't be one episode this week. You don't need to
Speaker 1: look for part two, Part three for other listeners who
Speaker 1: are used to seeing that on audio and video. What
Speaker 1: we're gonna be doing today is some news and notes,
Speaker 1: which there actually isn't really all that much. It's a
Speaker 1: lot of minor news and notes updates. We felt like
Speaker 1: it was kind of not very newsworthy week. We're gonna
Speaker 1: do some bold predictions for the post All Star breaks,
Speaker 1: the second half post All Star Break, however you want
Speaker 1: to call it. We're gonna do some bullet predictions. We've
Speaker 1: got three each, and then we're gonna wrap up with
Speaker 1: a home run Derby draft. Now we are recording this
Speaker 1: on Thursday, which is only a few days before the derby,
Speaker 1: and they still have not announced the whole field. I
Speaker 1: hate that Major League Baseball is waiting so long. Now.
Speaker 1: I don't see the value in this at all. Makes
Speaker 1: no sense to me. Right now, we only have seven
Speaker 1: names listed, and one of the names is Byron Buckston,
Speaker 1: who got hit by a pitch yesterday, and I haven't
Speaker 1: seen anything that says he's not going to participate, but
Speaker 1: you know, you never know with a guy like Buckston
Speaker 1: and his injury history. So we're gonna do the best
Speaker 1: we can with this home run Derby draft and figure
Speaker 1: it out kind of as we go along. That'll be
Speaker 1: how we wrap up this show, so stay tuned for
Speaker 1: that later on. Like I said, mayor just a couple
Speaker 1: of days here before the All Star Break. How we
Speaker 1: feel and kind of at this unofficial we are past
Speaker 1: the halfway point, but the unofficial halfway point of the season.
Speaker 2: I'm feeling pretty good, you know, like you said, Yeah,
Speaker 2: we normally do just the one like quote unquote episode,
Speaker 2: but three videos. We usually put out about one hundred
Speaker 2: minutes of content, and so I think we agreed this
Speaker 2: one episode's going to be one hundred minutes long?
Speaker 3: Is that right?
Speaker 1: I doubt it, But if it goes that long, naturally
Speaker 1: we will allow it to do. So that's my promise.
Speaker 1: But I cannot imagine that happening. Let's dive into the
Speaker 1: news and notes. Like I said, it really didn't feel
Speaker 1: like there was a whole lot here. Dallas Kykeel signs
Speaker 1: with the Royals just of note because of the name brand,
Speaker 1: not like you and I are. I mean, I assume
Speaker 1: not like we were expecting any kind of fantasy value here.
Speaker 1: Given the most recent performances we saw from Kaykel last
Speaker 1: time he was on the mound, I thought it was
Speaker 1: interesting that Major League Baseball is going to be using
Speaker 1: the ABS system? Does the S Stanford system? Can I
Speaker 1: say ABS system? Is it like pin number or ATM
Speaker 1: machine where you're not supposed to says? What does the
Speaker 1: S stand for? Again?
Speaker 3: I assume so I always.
Speaker 1: Or is it or is it automated Balls and Strikes?
Speaker 1: I know what it is, but I actually forget what
Speaker 1: it's what it stands for.
Speaker 2: I thought it was automated balls and strikes, So maybe
Speaker 2: I can't automated ball system.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, Well at any rate, I you know,
Speaker 1: forget what that's called. But at any rate, they're using
Speaker 1: it during the All Star Game. Is that of interest
Speaker 1: to you? Do you think this is kind of a
Speaker 1: fun exhibition to test it out more at the major
Speaker 1: league level? Or do you not really care about this?
Speaker 2: I care about it. I'm interested to see how they
Speaker 2: do it. I think there's a lot of ways to
Speaker 2: do it right and a lot of ways to do
Speaker 2: it wrong. I think the umpiring has been so bad
Speaker 2: that it's worth kind of you know, it.
Speaker 1: Is automated ball strike. So you can say ABS system,
Speaker 1: which is what I thought, but I got as soon
Speaker 1: as I said it, I was like, wait, is this
Speaker 1: like ATM machine or pin number? So I should have
Speaker 1: stuck with.
Speaker 3: The Garby eyes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, runs bat it in instead of run bad. It
Speaker 1: ends run bad, it ins Ribby's as I call them.
Speaker 1: All right, Sorry, I keep going on the ABS.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm interested to see how it goes. I
Speaker 2: know they've been playing Aroun at the minor league level.
Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of promise to it. I
Speaker 2: think there's a lot of ways it could go wrong.
Speaker 2: But I also think we're at a point now in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five, with all of the advanced cameras that
Speaker 2: we have and all these angles that we have, and
Speaker 2: we're seeing, you know, things done in other sports where
Speaker 2: it's like we're so exact with some of these things,
Speaker 2: Like even in tennis, there's like an automated system where
Speaker 2: you can see like if a ball was across the
Speaker 2: line from overhead and stuff that The days of Angel
Speaker 2: Hernandez calling a ball six inches out off the plate
Speaker 2: as a strike, like those have to be over at
Speaker 2: this point. Like we just have too much technology at
Speaker 2: our fingertips to just let that keep happening.
Speaker 3: Even though there.
Speaker 2: Is a part of me that loves like the human
Speaker 2: element of the game there.
Speaker 1: I don't this isn't the way it's going to look
Speaker 1: when it eventually becomes like a regular thing, which it will,
Speaker 1: but I I kind of wish there was a way
Speaker 1: to say it's only for stuff that's very obvious, like
Speaker 1: egregious misses. I kind of don't want it to get
Speaker 1: used for borderline well, like, well, technically that caught the
Speaker 1: black and you know it should have been because especially
Speaker 1: with like height, it's so different for every player. Like
Speaker 1: I know the technology is like calculating for that, but
Speaker 1: I'm not really that interested in it in a device
Speaker 1: to like steal a strike here and there. What I'm
Speaker 1: interested in it is for the stuff where it's like
Speaker 1: like the Angel Hernandez examples, right, like the okay, like
Speaker 1: this is such a clear miss I don't know what
Speaker 1: you were talking about. This is going to change the
Speaker 1: entire scope of the bat. We got to fix this.
Speaker 1: That's where I want it to be used. If it's
Speaker 1: like a borderline thing like technically by you know, a
Speaker 1: quarter of an inch, it is one way or the other.
Speaker 1: I'm less interested in that. Do you feel like it
Speaker 1: should be And again I know I'm not. It's not
Speaker 1: going to be what I want. But do you kind
Speaker 1: of get that point of you are okay with what
Speaker 1: I'm laying out its possibility or do you think it
Speaker 1: should just be very exact, like even if it's by
Speaker 1: a hair, if the ABS system catches it, it should be
Speaker 1: a strike.
Speaker 3: I think I'm okay with that.
Speaker 2: You know, there's kind of like that gray area outside
Speaker 2: of the strike zone, and it kind of feels like
Speaker 2: if if a pitch hits that gray area and you
Speaker 2: can still kind of have the human element, but if
Speaker 2: it's if it's three inches outside, you know, we got
Speaker 2: to correct that. We can't just let you make an
Speaker 2: atrocious call like that. I think also, you know that
Speaker 2: would that would you know, help speed up the game
Speaker 2: a little bit too, Like we don't want like every time.
Speaker 2: I know there was like a system in play where
Speaker 2: like the way I don't know if they're still doing
Speaker 2: this in minor leagues, but like an umpire would call
Speaker 2: the game, he would hear in his ear like that
Speaker 2: was a strike, and then he was allowed to say
Speaker 2: striker ball, but he was told what the system was saying.
Speaker 2: He was just allowed to override it. I don't know
Speaker 2: if they're still trying out a system like that, but
Speaker 2: you know, I don't I don't think it would be.
Speaker 2: There should be a system either where it's just like
Speaker 2: every pitch is reviewed and you have to be like
Speaker 2: like here's the pitch and you have to like look
Speaker 2: to the side to like see if yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: as a ball or strike. I agree, look up with
Speaker 2: the scoreboard.
Speaker 1: I mean the challenge system too, would be nice to see.
Speaker 1: Just like I want to see umpires put in their
Speaker 1: place more because they are all terrible and I love
Speaker 1: I want to see it. Batters, you know, do the
Speaker 1: hand on the helmet and sorry you were wrong, Blue,
Speaker 1: like you know, cook, get your eyes checked. So also,
Speaker 1: you know, just thinking about the upcoming weekend and the
Speaker 1: All Star break, do you have any interest in the
Speaker 1: Major League Baseball Draft? Obviously we played some dynasty leagues.
Speaker 1: We're in one together. It's really more of a deep keeper,
Speaker 1: but you know we are dynasty managers in fantasy baseball.
Speaker 1: The draft is this weekend. Are you somebody who consider
Speaker 1: yourself pretty familiar with the prospects coming in? Do you
Speaker 1: more just kind of wait to see top one hundred
Speaker 1: prospect lists? Like once these guys are into professional baseball. Also,
Speaker 1: of note, the Nationals fired not only Dave Martinez but
Speaker 1: Mike Rizzo. They're GM one week before the draft, which
Speaker 1: is really interesting timing. On the one hand, it's like
Speaker 1: very surprising. On the other, you know, if you think
Speaker 1: this is not the guy for you, you don't want
Speaker 1: to making the number and overall pick, but you know,
Speaker 1: very very definitely eyebrow raising at the very least. So
Speaker 1: any thoughts on that in general.
Speaker 2: So the Mike Raiso thing I thought was interesting, but
Speaker 2: I also agree with what you said, Like, you know,
Speaker 2: if you've come to this conclusion, your solution shouldn't be
Speaker 2: all right, let's give him one more draft and then
Speaker 2: we'll fire. I'm like, no, I don't want this guy
Speaker 2: making this draft pick. Like so, even even though even
Speaker 2: if you don't have like a perfect, you know, replacement,
Speaker 2: you know system in place.
Speaker 3: If you want to make the move, you make the move.
Speaker 2: And you know your scouts have done all the work anyway,
Speaker 2: and you know you should have a good idea of
Speaker 2: who you want to take.
Speaker 3: You just have a different, different person pulling the trigger.
Speaker 2: I I kind of varer from year to year with
Speaker 2: the MLB prospects coming in, depending on how big of
Speaker 2: a class it is. I'll know who the prospects are.
Speaker 2: This year, I'm not as familiar. I know there's another
Speaker 2: holiday coming out that people are excited about, but other
Speaker 2: than that, I kind of wait to see the names
Speaker 2: drafted and then I'll dive in a little bit more.
Speaker 3: But there's a bunch of names.
Speaker 2: I've heard of, but yeah, this this is this class
Speaker 2: in particular, or I haven't done like dug in too deep,
Speaker 2: but as they get announced and stuff, I'll start diging
Speaker 2: in and you know, see who the top prospects are
Speaker 2: and you know what their path is. And I think
Speaker 2: it's been more interesting in recent years because we're seeing
Speaker 2: that path to the major leagues shortened for a lot
Speaker 2: of these top prospects, whereas before I was like, all right,
Speaker 2: like we'll see this guy in four or five years.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it's like Chase Burham was drafted last year. There's
Speaker 2: a bunch of players drafted last year in the league
Speaker 2: in the league now. So that's where you know it
Speaker 2: starts to get more more exciting and interesting. And uh yeah,
Speaker 2: I wish they would to kind of like televise it
Speaker 2: more because sometimes it's hard. It's hard to watch the
Speaker 2: MLB draft or I would kind of sit down and
Speaker 2: watch that or at least having it on the background.
Speaker 1: I think Kate Anderson is going to be the first pick.
Speaker 1: It's just my guest. I don't have any inside knowledge.
Speaker 1: Ethan Holliday feels like, if he's not the first pick,
Speaker 1: feels like a lock to go to the Rockies at four,
Speaker 1: which would be fun because he's got more power than
Speaker 1: Jackson did as a as a prospect. He's a good player.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean, it's not that we've had some
Speaker 1: drafts in recent year where there is like, holy cow,
Speaker 1: there are like, you know, three or four superstars at
Speaker 1: the top. Doesn't feel that way of me right now,
Speaker 1: but there's a long way to go with these guys' career,
Speaker 1: so it's something that I will be watching. I do
Speaker 1: very much enjoy the draft. And the Orioles just traded
Speaker 1: for the thirty seventh pick by getting rid of a
Speaker 1: controllable reliever who I think is pretty good what we
Speaker 1: don't need to talk too much about. But they now
Speaker 1: have the most despite not picking early, they now have
Speaker 1: the most like bonus pool to spend. It's like eighteen
Speaker 1: or nineteen million because they have three competitive balance round picks.
Speaker 2: So well, I thought we were considering this the Brian
Speaker 2: Baker Emergency Podcast, so that we're going to spend most
Speaker 2: of the time on that Orioles reliever.
Speaker 1: See you make fun, but you admitted to me before
Speaker 1: the show you had never heard of Brian Baker before
Speaker 1: this episode. He's a good reliever. I was surprise. The orielstrated,
Speaker 1: all right, let's dive into a bunch of the news
Speaker 1: and notes that you edited in here.
Speaker 2: So did you already mention Dallas Kickeel. I don't know
Speaker 2: if you mentioned that. I thought you okay, So I
Speaker 2: thought you made you just went right to ABS. So
Speaker 2: John Gray is beginning a rehab assignment. He began it yesterday.
Speaker 2: Any interest in John Gray potentially has a fantasy asset
Speaker 2: in the second.
Speaker 1: Half, I wouldn't say a lot of interest, but I
Speaker 1: mean it depends on the league espers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, another report there.
Speaker 2: I'm surprised to see because I thought most of the
Speaker 2: reports a couple of weeks ago with that Als Bragman
Speaker 2: was you know, working his way back, but that we
Speaker 2: wouldn't seem to laughter the All Star break. Alex's course
Speaker 2: said yesterday that he expected them back potentially before the
Speaker 2: All Star break, which you know, as you already mentioned,
Speaker 2: there's only a few days left. He's been on the
Speaker 2: shelf for a while. Kind of why would you risk
Speaker 2: it at this point? You know, I get like, if
Speaker 2: he's ready, he's ready, but also just take a few
Speaker 2: extra days and get you know, get the All Star
Speaker 2: break and have him start the second half. Clark Schmidt
Speaker 2: picture for the Yankees, is expected to need Tommy John
Speaker 2: surgery as of this recording is getting a second opinion.
Speaker 3: But normally when it appears you.
Speaker 2: Need Tommy John surgery, you usually need Tommy John surgery
Speaker 2: or at least the internal brace procedure that obviously the
Speaker 2: type of procedure will act your recovery and kind of
Speaker 2: like what you look like when you come back. But
Speaker 2: you know it's a your absence pretty much.
Speaker 3: No matter what.
Speaker 2: Grayson Rodriguez, your boy is ramping up activity. It sounds
Speaker 2: like he could be back in the second half. What
Speaker 2: do you think any interest are you? Do you want
Speaker 2: the Ools to bring him back as a fantasy manager?
Speaker 2: Are you stashing him? I am stashing me seeing you
Speaker 2: up by the way, I know people don't think I
Speaker 2: ever do that.
Speaker 3: I just tied you up.
Speaker 1: I am stashing him, but I don't have really any expectations.
Speaker 1: It's more like a lottery ticket stash because at this point,
Speaker 1: by the time he is actually pitching again, you know
Speaker 1: they're going to take it easy on the innings. They're
Speaker 1: also not in contention. I mean, they're selling off players
Speaker 1: at least they started this with Baker, So I just
Speaker 1: don't expect to get much out of him. Like again,
Speaker 1: there are a couple of leagues where I am stashing
Speaker 1: him as a like again, like a Highend lottery ticket.
Speaker 1: But and I have him in the keeper leagues. But
Speaker 1: I'm not expecting this to be a needle mover in
Speaker 1: the second half of the season. I would be very
Speaker 1: surprised if he pitches enough for that to like, regardless
Speaker 1: of how effective he is once he's back, I would
Speaker 1: be surprised if he pitches just enough innings between now
Speaker 1: and the end of the season to be relevant.
Speaker 3: That's probably right.
Speaker 2: How about Louis Heal beginning a rehab assignment this weekend.
Speaker 2: He's kind of been forgotten about this.
Speaker 1: This is a guy you love to talk about, is
Speaker 1: Louis Heal.
Speaker 2: He's the guy I wrote up as like a a
Speaker 2: cell high pretty much the entirety of last year. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I have my own thoughts of Louis Heel, but he
Speaker 2: did have a really good year last year and could
Speaker 2: be really valuable in fantasy, you know, depending on what
Speaker 2: he looks like when he came back. I think there
Speaker 2: was a lot of smoke and mirrors last year, and
Speaker 2: we'll see what he looks like when he comes back.
Speaker 2: But you know, there are worst pitchers being started by
Speaker 2: fantasy managers right now and being started by the Yankees
Speaker 2: right now, and so if he can work his way
Speaker 2: back in a couple of weeks, you know, he's someone
Speaker 2: who can have a lot of value in the second half.
Speaker 2: And then Hunter Green, your boy without a timetable for return.
Speaker 2: I kind of wrote him up as a how high
Speaker 2: at the beginning of the year just because of like
Speaker 2: arm injury concerns. He's pretty much injured everything but his
Speaker 2: arm at this point, and he just kind of keeps
Speaker 2: having stepbacks trying to get his way back up.
Speaker 1: This one has sunk up multiple leagues for me where
Speaker 1: I was relying very heavily on him as somebody that
Speaker 1: I expected to take the leap into ace level pitcher
Speaker 1: and he did.
Speaker 3: He did, he looked really good.
Speaker 1: And this extended absence is just it's killing me in
Speaker 1: multiple leagues.
Speaker 2: So I know, it's just such such a dagger that
Speaker 2: it wasn't even the arm. You know, we talked about
Speaker 2: having concerned that, like, you know, he was around pitch
Speaker 2: one hundred and the ninth inning like hitting one two,
Speaker 2: one oh three, and I was like, I gotta be
Speaker 2: I got to be honest, I'm concerned about that arm.
Speaker 2: And then he just you know, he's had other injuries
Speaker 2: like unrelated to the arm. And then the other update
Speaker 2: is that Massa Takta Yoshida is back for the Red Sox.
Speaker 3: He was in the lineup yesterday.
Speaker 2: Not a huge ceiling for him in fantasy, but all
Speaker 2: a pretty high floor, as you know, someone who should
Speaker 2: play mostly every day. The Roadsacks have kind of a
Speaker 2: log jam in their lineup right now, especially when it
Speaker 2: comes to left handed hitters. But I also imagine if
Speaker 2: they continue to play well heading into the you know,
Speaker 2: the next couple of weeks, I think we're gonna see
Speaker 2: some trades and that that lineup is going to open
Speaker 2: up a little bit. And so he's someone who has
Speaker 2: some value, especially in deeper leagues where you know, like
Speaker 2: he's gonna have a decent batting average, driving some runs,
Speaker 2: but like not a high ceiling, but also you know,
Speaker 2: again a pretty high floor for a player like Yo Yoshida.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's an interesting one. To me as a guy
Speaker 1: to think about stashing or not stashing, but like picking
Speaker 1: up and what what's his availability? Actually, I meant to
Speaker 1: look that up before the show. I can put it
Speaker 1: up now. If you don't have it, I don't have it,
Speaker 1: I'll pull it up. He is. I assume it's obviously
Speaker 1: very low. Yeah, it's five percent on Yahoo, three percent
Speaker 1: on ESPN. So it's pretty much available everywhere.
Speaker 3: Wow, I wonder what I wonder what CBS and CBS
Speaker 3: is probably like forty percent, twelve percent, not even close
Speaker 3: twelve percent.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say CBS is definitely higher. Forty would
Speaker 1: be a lot higher. I would have been surprised by that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I'll probably go up this weekend though, especially
Speaker 3: for the weekly leagues. He wouldn't have been out of this.
Speaker 1: He's a he's a good person to flag. I'm glad
Speaker 1: you brought him up. All right, let's dive into our
Speaker 1: bold predictions here. Uh, we've got three each. Did you
Speaker 1: go into a particular order for years or just pick three?
Speaker 2: I just picked three. I tried to I Actually you
Speaker 2: know you got to the sheet first. I you know,
Speaker 2: I will admit I liked yours. I thought you had
Speaker 2: some pretty good ones that one of them I would
Speaker 2: have been one of mine.
Speaker 3: To think if you didn't have.
Speaker 1: It, I'm interesting on the movie. Don't tell me, tell
Speaker 1: me when we get to it, but I'm curious to
Speaker 1: find out which that is. Did you try to go
Speaker 1: particularly bold with yours or more just like because I
Speaker 1: didn't want to do just like regular predictions. I wanted
Speaker 1: to have a degree of bold, but also like unlike
Speaker 1: our because we did a preseason episode of bold predictions.
Speaker 1: And then it's a little more fun because you can
Speaker 1: kind of amend any scenario. It's harder to imagine that
Speaker 1: when you have a more just just shorter timeframe to
Speaker 1: be working with. And also we've seen these players, so
Speaker 1: we know more about what to expect. So I tried
Speaker 1: to be bold with it, and you know, sort of
Speaker 1: tow that line, strike that balance. Did you try to
Speaker 1: be particularly bold or just try to be more accurate?
Speaker 2: I tried to think of predictions that I would feel
Speaker 2: good about, and then like see if I felt they
Speaker 2: were bold enough, and if they weren't, I moved on,
Speaker 2: or if they if I thought they were close, maybe
Speaker 2: I added a you know, a second piece to it
Speaker 2: to make it seem bolder, and so I tried to
Speaker 2: lean bold because I agree, just a regular like medium
Speaker 2: bold prediction, you know, not the most fun but hopefully
Speaker 2: minor bold.
Speaker 1: Enough years are more like minor all very players specific
Speaker 1: years are more like X number of players are going
Speaker 1: to do this for a couple of years. So we'll
Speaker 1: dived also go ahead, not.
Speaker 2: To really spoil the whole thing, but I did also,
Speaker 2: like you know, you did yours first, and I tried
Speaker 2: to kind of do different types of bold predictions since
Speaker 2: I didn't want to just copy your format.
Speaker 1: All right. I will start off with my first one,
Speaker 1: Junior Cameraro, who at the time I put this in
Speaker 1: the here only had twenty one home runs. He now
Speaker 1: it is twenty two because he hit another one yesterday.
Speaker 1: Junior Cameronarow will finish the season with over forty home
Speaker 1: runs and will be a consensus top three third baseman
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty six drafts. And mayor we have talked
Speaker 1: a lot about how third base is a very difficult
Speaker 1: position and it's not a deep position, but there is
Speaker 1: still a lot of star talent and power at the top,
Speaker 1: So finishing top three even though it's a weaker position
Speaker 1: further down, I do still thinking is difficult to crack into.
Speaker 1: I thought forty home runs was going to come across
Speaker 1: as bold, but if he keeps hitting pretty much every days,
Speaker 1: it's going to look less and less bold by the week.
Speaker 1: So what do you think about this one? Cameronaro forty
Speaker 1: plus homers a consensus top three third basement in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty six drafts.
Speaker 2: When I first read it, I thought you were saying
Speaker 2: consensus top three pick, and I was.
Speaker 3: Like, WHOA that is bold?
Speaker 1: Would be very insanely I would I wouldn't have led
Speaker 1: with that one, and.
Speaker 3: That would be your closer. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I I forget exactly what I said about junior Cameron
Speaker 2: Aro coming into the year, but I know I was
Speaker 2: below consensus because I thought, you know, I always talk
Speaker 2: about drafting at your ceiling, and I thought he was
Speaker 2: being drafted at a ceiling, and he's hitting his ceiling,
Speaker 2: maybe even going above what we thought a ceiling is.
Speaker 2: And so I'm gonna have to eat crawl a little
Speaker 2: bit on that one unless he falls off, which it
Speaker 2: doesn't look like he's going to. He already has twenty
Speaker 2: two home runs, as you said. His stackcast page is
Speaker 2: a little bit interesting. He has elite elite, elite bat speed,
Speaker 2: one hundred percentile bat speed. He's like sweet spot and
Speaker 2: squared up numbers aren't ideal for someone you want to
Speaker 2: hit forty home runs, but he's already got twenty two,
Speaker 2: so he's obviously you.
Speaker 3: Know, working around that.
Speaker 2: And so if he can hit twenty two home runs
Speaker 2: despite really poor numbers at sweet spot and squared our percentage,
Speaker 2: if he improves those even a little bit, he can
Speaker 2: be even better. And then a lot of his other
Speaker 2: metrics are like average to above average, except for like
Speaker 2: you know, chase percentage, which is fine because his k
Speaker 2: percentage is above average and so there's a lot to
Speaker 2: like in his profile. The other thing about his home
Speaker 2: runs is they're sprayed all across the field. There he's
Speaker 2: not just pulling everything. It's pretty much evenly distributed between
Speaker 2: like pull straight away and right field, which is really
Speaker 2: impressive for a young hitter, especially a young power hitter
Speaker 2: like that. To be able to have that kind of
Speaker 2: elite approach and that elite power to all fields at
Speaker 2: such a young age is really impressive.
Speaker 1: Also, just the fact that the ballpark he plays in,
Speaker 1: I figured would maybe get him a few extra homers,
Speaker 1: you know in the second half of the season. What
Speaker 1: do you less about the forty homers? What do you
Speaker 1: think about him as a top three third basement because
Speaker 1: you can't say number one right because of Jose Ramirez.
Speaker 1: It felt like I could have maybe said he'd be
Speaker 1: the number one third basement off the board besides Jose
Speaker 1: Ramirez as a bullet prediction. But there's a lot of
Speaker 1: names in that conversation. I don't know who you think
Speaker 1: the obvious guy is. You know, of that group of Devers, Machado, Riley,
Speaker 1: all those guys that are behind Jose Ramirez, where you
Speaker 1: see Camerono fitting into that for twenty twenty six drafts.
Speaker 1: But you know, guy like Machado's a little older, Devers
Speaker 1: now in San Francisco, you know, likely to hurt his power.
Speaker 1: Cameron Aro on the upswing, still a really young guy.
Speaker 1: Do you think that's a bold enough spot or do
Speaker 1: you think that will end up being you know the case.
Speaker 1: Do you think he will be a top three third baseman.
Speaker 2: I think it's bold, but I don't think it's unachievable,
Speaker 2: especially so he's already according to Finnispurs VBR so he's
Speaker 2: four right now in terms of value inter you know,
Speaker 2: value this so far this season. But number two is
Speaker 2: j Haino Suarez, who, no matter what he does the
Speaker 2: second half, he's not going to be a top three
Speaker 2: third basement going into next year.
Speaker 3: He just is who he is, and so.
Speaker 2: As Jose Ramirez, Juannio Suarez, Mana Machado, Cameronaro, Mikel Garcia.
Speaker 2: I also don't think, even though he's having a good year,
Speaker 2: he's not going to be top three. And then Devers
Speaker 2: is six, Austin Riley is seven. It feels like Devers
Speaker 2: will be an interesting one. Austin Riley could be an
Speaker 2: interesting one. He didn't have a great first half, but
Speaker 2: the Braves have a really light schedule in the second half,
Speaker 2: including a lot of staffs. I was reading. I was
Speaker 2: reading a piece on ESPN about second half schedules and
Speaker 2: they have the Braves have one of the easiest schedules
Speaker 2: and also are protected to face not one of the
Speaker 2: easiest schedules, but I think a very favorable pitching second
Speaker 2: half schedule for hitters like Austin Riley because they're supposed
Speaker 2: to face a lot of like soft lefties. Obviously, anything
Speaker 2: could change, so we could see Austin Riley have a
Speaker 2: really big second half, which you know could further lock
Speaker 2: him into that top three. But you know it's fair
Speaker 2: to say, especially at his age, that it could be Josierramirez.
Speaker 2: He could be number two, Junior cam An Aaroneck next year.
Speaker 2: But like top top three I think is pretty bold
Speaker 2: because he has to overcome.
Speaker 1: A few nails that are pretty Goodea, not.
Speaker 2: Jose Ramirez, but like Machado, Devers and Riley, you know,
Speaker 2: at least to get into that top three.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, let's go to your first Bowl A prediction.
Speaker 2: My first Bowl prediction is that Hunter Brown makes a
Speaker 2: serious run at the Al say Young Award and enters
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six as a top twenty pick. I considered
Speaker 2: making this wins the say Young Award as an even
Speaker 2: Boulder prediction. I do think Terry scouobl is going to
Speaker 2: win the award, and the sportsbooks right now agree.
Speaker 3: You know, they have.
Speaker 2: School as an overwhelming favorite. He's the best odds you
Speaker 2: can get. Our minus two sixty at DraftKings Fanjul has
Speaker 2: it almost at like they have it at minus four twenty.
Speaker 2: They're the most aggressive and not only do they have
Speaker 2: it at minus four twenty, they don't have anyone else
Speaker 2: better than plus eight to fifty, which is Garrett Crochet.
Speaker 2: And they have Hunter Brown at plus twelve hundred, who
Speaker 2: they have tied with de Gram and so they're considering
Speaker 2: that a long shot. So in that sense, it's really
Speaker 2: bold that we can think that he would win the award.
Speaker 2: But I do think there's a path there for Hunter Brown.
Speaker 2: And I think for a couple of reasons, or a
Speaker 2: few reasons. One, I think he's.
Speaker 3: Really really good.
Speaker 2: Two, the Astros have the second easiest schedule in the
Speaker 2: second half, and three the Tigers are cruising in the
Speaker 2: easiest division in baseball right now, and there's a really
Speaker 2: good chance that comes September they just start resting Schooble
Speaker 2: and maybe skipping a start, maybe limiting his his you
Speaker 2: know how deep he goes into games. And you know,
Speaker 2: while the Astros have a decent lead in their division, two,
Speaker 2: I do expect their division to be more competitive in
Speaker 2: the second half, and we could see Hunter Brown close
Speaker 2: the gap on some of those counting stats. And so
Speaker 2: if the Astros, you know, cruise to a division and
Speaker 2: the numbers are really close, I could see voters maybe
Speaker 2: leaning Hunter Brown, who's like anchoring the staff, even though
Speaker 2: it's going to be hard to unseat Schooble giving the
Speaker 2: first half that he had.
Speaker 1: I don't think this is bold enough.
Speaker 3: You don't think not even top twenty going in next
Speaker 3: year two?
Speaker 1: No, because I mean right now, rest of season he's
Speaker 1: SP five. I mean, technically he's six, but that's what
Speaker 1: Shohey is listed as number one in UR the way
Speaker 1: we do our rankings, so he's really SP five, and
Speaker 1: it's Scooble who will go ahead of him, Skins who
Speaker 1: I think will go ahead of him. But I mean,
Speaker 1: if people are really worried, they gonna keep not getting
Speaker 1: wins Crochet, who, even though he is totally not suggested
Speaker 1: that this is going to happen, it's hard for me
Speaker 1: to not still just feel like a little nervous about
Speaker 1: injury with him and Wheeler, who's going to be I
Speaker 1: yet another year older, and who's still really good. But
Speaker 1: is you know, Hunter Brown again again one of these
Speaker 1: guys more on the upswing Wheeler another year older. So
Speaker 1: if you're already a top five pitcher, maybe he goes
Speaker 1: ahead of like Wheeler, and maybe Crochet next year two.
Speaker 1: That feels like at least a second round pick, and
Speaker 1: you know that gets in the top twenty four, so
Speaker 1: top twenty is not that far off. And ifool, if
Speaker 1: Scooble were to get hurt, which obviously we don't want
Speaker 1: to happen, but let's say he does. I think Brown
Speaker 1: would be the favorite for SYNG. Like, I know he's
Speaker 1: like in that range with Crochet into Gram right now,
Speaker 1: but like he would get my vote if Schooble was
Speaker 1: off the board right now. So it's not that it's
Speaker 1: like not bold at all, but I don't think it's
Speaker 1: bold enough. I actually think like I would expect him
Speaker 1: as of right now today if we were if I
Speaker 1: had to draft my twenty twenty six team for whatever
Speaker 1: reason nine months early, Hunter Brown would be inside my
Speaker 1: top twenty. Actually, like I'm just really impressed. I don't
Speaker 1: need to see anything else. I am a total believer
Speaker 1: in him, and I think he will finish second in
Speaker 1: cy Young, you know, with only schools dominance standing in
Speaker 1: the way of him winning the award.
Speaker 3: Okay, I'll push back on two reasons. I will.
Speaker 2: I will concede your point that maybe it's not bold
Speaker 2: enough because I did. I did struggle, you know, to
Speaker 2: see how bold it is. I thought it was bold
Speaker 2: enough for a couple of reasons. One school is such
Speaker 2: an overwhelming favorite for this time right now, and so
Speaker 2: that's why I made like I wrote that he's going
Speaker 2: to make a serious run, or we can even make
Speaker 2: it bolder and say he's going to win the AlSi young.
Speaker 2: The other reason is going into the draft next year
Speaker 2: as a top twenty pick. I looked at where he
Speaker 2: went last year. He was going outside the top one hundred.
Speaker 2: He was sp thirty two going in the next year.
Speaker 2: So we're talking about a thirty pitcher jump and an
Speaker 2: eighty pick jump in just one year.
Speaker 3: And but but I.
Speaker 1: Do agree you feel like that's reason, Like do you
Speaker 1: need to see anything else to feel like he belongs
Speaker 1: among the fantasy aces. I don't.
Speaker 2: I need to see the second half match the first half,
Speaker 2: which it should the numbers say that it should. But
Speaker 2: also like if he just comes out and has like
Speaker 2: an okay second half, is a fourth round pick next year?
Speaker 1: Well, well let me ask you this, where do you
Speaker 1: think the fifth best starting pitcher is going in pick
Speaker 1: in drafts next year? Because I look at the guys
Speaker 1: behind him, I don't really expect like so in terms
Speaker 1: of our rest of season rankings right now, the guys
Speaker 1: immediately behind Brown, I already mentioned the guys in front
Speaker 1: of him. The guys immediately behind him, Logan Webb, Jacob deGrom,
Speaker 1: who I'm still not going to trust health wise, Yamamoto,
Speaker 1: who has been really inconsistent the last month, Max Freed,
Speaker 1: Franber Valdez, Logan Gilbert, Joe Ryan, and Spencer Strider maybe
Speaker 1: like if he has a kind of a dominant return
Speaker 1: to form second half. Makenzie Gore has been good, but
Speaker 1: you know, it still feels like, you know, the team
Speaker 1: that's not gonna win a lot of games. And he's
Speaker 1: also making this huge jump year over year along with
Speaker 1: Hunter Brown, you know, Kirby coming back from injury, Dilon
Speaker 1: See has been bad. Like outside of Strider, which of
Speaker 1: those names do you think is gonna go higher than Brown?
Speaker 1: So if we're talking about Brown, let's let's call him
Speaker 1: SP five going into next season. Let's say he goes
Speaker 1: ahead of Wheeler because of age, but you know Stryder's better,
Speaker 1: So just in that range SP five, that feels like
Speaker 1: a second round pick, or do you think SP five
Speaker 1: is going in the fourth round.
Speaker 2: I think it'd probably go in the third round, but
Speaker 2: we could see. I guess if it would depend on
Speaker 2: what the hitters look like. But I feel like a
Speaker 2: lot of the you know, in a lot of leagues,
Speaker 2: you'll see one to two pitchers go in the first round,
Speaker 2: and then another two in the second round, and then
Speaker 2: maybe that fifth is the third.
Speaker 1: Couples going in the first round in every league. Next year,
Speaker 1: Skens just maybe if somebody is like, this guy's a stud,
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna get more wins this year. Crochet
Speaker 1: and Wheeler.
Speaker 2: See that's where that's where we're getting into. Like we're
Speaker 2: talking about one pitcher in the first round, and then
Speaker 2: we're already talking him we're already in the second round
Speaker 2: talking about Skens.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel like I if I'm building a team
Speaker 1: next year, I'll be very happy to get a stud
Speaker 1: hitter in the first and any of those four guys
Speaker 1: in the second and be very happy with the start
Speaker 1: of my team. It's how I feel about it right now.
Speaker 1: There also have been a lot of hitters, like Gunnar
Speaker 1: Henderson is kind of disappointed who was a first round
Speaker 1: pick last year. You know, Jackson Churio has been good.
Speaker 1: Did he elevate into the first round so far? I
Speaker 1: don't know that he has. You know, there's been guys
Speaker 1: like that. I mean there's been people who've elevated too,
Speaker 1: though from much lower like Peaker Armstrong and James Wood.
Speaker 1: So I'm not saying there's no good hitters, but I
Speaker 1: don't feel like there's an opportunity there. If Hunter Brown
Speaker 1: finishes the way he started this season, I will be
Speaker 1: very comfortable ranking him in the second round. I'll just
Speaker 1: put it like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he's currently thirty three overall the rest of
Speaker 2: season ranking, so he needs thirt to jump thirteen spots.
Speaker 1: An he will for me at least. Maybe not And
Speaker 1: maybe maybe this is bold from the consensus perspective, but
Speaker 1: from my personal rankings is where I guess maybe I
Speaker 1: find it a little less.
Speaker 4: But I'll concede that it's not a bad I'm not
Speaker 4: saying it's a bad best over here.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it's a bad pick by you, or
Speaker 1: that it's not bold. I just don't think it's bold enough.
Speaker 1: Is like I would have said, like, oh he wins
Speaker 1: the cy Young or something he'd like to make it
Speaker 1: really feel like whoa Like you're going out on a limb.
Speaker 3: Here, But I just need to win the next three
Speaker 3: cy youngs.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I do think it's a good pick. I don't
Speaker 1: want to I don't want to sound too negative on
Speaker 1: and He's been a really fun story this year, so
Speaker 1: I'm glad we mentioned him. I want to also mentioned
Speaker 1: to everybody that we are giving away a Wan Gonzales
Speaker 1: signed Rangers jersey courtesy of our friends at Pristineauction dot com.
Speaker 1: All you have to do to enter is to subscribe
Speaker 1: the Fantasy Pros MLB YouTube channel right now, drop a
Speaker 1: comment below on any video, and that is it. We
Speaker 1: will 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. All right, My next pick is I didn't
Speaker 1: do this on purpose, but another ray because I had
Speaker 1: Camonaro is my first one. I'm going to double down.
Speaker 1: I picked this something similar to this before the season,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to run it back before the season.
Speaker 1: I think I think I said Chandler Simpson would lead
Speaker 1: Major League Baseball and stolen bases despite not starting the
Speaker 1: season in the big leagues. I didn't actually look it up.
Speaker 1: I think that's what the official prediction was. I am
Speaker 1: now saying that he is going to win the Major
Speaker 1: League Baseball Stolen based title and no one will be
Speaker 1: within fifteen stolen bases of his final total. And that
Speaker 1: is despite the fact that he missed multiple stretches at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the season due to them sending him
Speaker 1: back down surprisingly in the middle of the spring. So
Speaker 1: when he's going to win the title and no one
Speaker 1: will be within fifteen stolen bases of his final If
Speaker 1: you look at the rankings right now, which I had
Speaker 1: up and they're now reloading for me, he is tied
Speaker 1: for fourth, behind only Caballero, O'Neil, crue Oz, and Pieker Armstrong,
Speaker 1: who have thirty one, twenty eight, and twenty seven respectively.
Speaker 1: Chandler Simpson is tied with Jose Ramirez and Bobby Wit
Speaker 1: with twenty five, so he's six off the leader. And
Speaker 1: this is in way fewer games the number of games
Speaker 1: played for all the guys around him seventy three, eighty two,
Speaker 1: ninety two, eighty eight, ninety four, ninety one, ninety three.
Speaker 1: He's played fifty and he is in this spot. All
Speaker 1: he has to do is get on base often enough
Speaker 1: to steal, and he is zamabase percentage is over three forty,
Speaker 1: his batting average three ten. He's been caught six times.
Speaker 1: I'm actually surprised by but they let him keep running.
Speaker 1: He's going he's going to no pun intend to run
Speaker 1: away with this thing, and I think, just blow everybody
Speaker 1: else out of the water. What do you think about
Speaker 1: this one?
Speaker 2: So your bold prediction in the preseason was that he
Speaker 2: would lead MLB and stolen bases. I do think you
Speaker 2: need the fifteen number there to make it bold enough.
Speaker 2: I think if you just say leads the league and
Speaker 2: stolen bases, I don't think it's bold enough.
Speaker 1: I totally agree. That's what I was trying to decide
Speaker 1: what the right number was. Is like, originally I wanted.
Speaker 3: To go at least ten.
Speaker 1: I think I originally I got crazy with it, and
Speaker 1: now I was like twenty. But I was like, no,
Speaker 1: I actually like, there's it only takes one other person
Speaker 1: to run a lot. Twenty's probably too much.
Speaker 3: Ten.
Speaker 1: I was like, that feels right. I was considered maybe twelve,
Speaker 1: but I wanted to be really like, again, this is
Speaker 1: supposed to be bold, so I had I thought fifteen
Speaker 1: was it was a number I landed on, but I.
Speaker 3: Think twenty would have to be the preseason number. There's
Speaker 3: not enough.
Speaker 2: I don't think there's enough time left to get twenty
Speaker 2: up on someone who're already behind.
Speaker 3: The copyer is running a.
Speaker 2: Lot too, so yeah, but I mean he's he steals
Speaker 2: a base ever the other day except whenever he if
Speaker 2: whenever I bet on him, he does not steal a base.
Speaker 2: So you can just follow along with me on the
Speaker 2: betting pros app to know when he's not going to
Speaker 2: steal a base.
Speaker 1: Well, I need I need him to help me overtake
Speaker 1: fits in the steels category and our playoff matchup in
Speaker 1: our work league. So if you could stop betting on him,
Speaker 1: that would be great.
Speaker 3: I'll see what I can do.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so do you think this one like you?
Speaker 1: So you agree it's bold? Do you think it'll happen?
Speaker 2: I think he will as long as he stays up.
Speaker 2: I think he'll lead the league and selling bass. I
Speaker 2: don't know that he'll get fifteen up on cabrierro or PCA.
Speaker 1: Okay, well, it's supposed to be bold, so we'll see
Speaker 1: how that one plays out. I've obviously been a big
Speaker 1: Chandler Simpson fan from since the spring, and I've been
Speaker 1: really happy with how it's paid out when he's been
Speaker 1: actually up in the big leagues.
Speaker 2: So the biggest I think this is how we got
Speaker 2: into our one of our many Simpsons conversations with you
Speaker 2: being such a Chandler Simpson fan but not actually watching
Speaker 2: the Simpsons.
Speaker 1: You know. It's another thing this just came up on
Speaker 1: The Football Show with Jake Seely and Tom Strachan, is
Speaker 1: that it's not Simpsons, but it's not a very classic
Speaker 1: thing that I have no knowledge or experience of. It
Speaker 1: came up on the show earlier this week that I've
Speaker 1: never had taco bell in my life, and we're now
Speaker 1: asking listeners to tell me what menu item I should
Speaker 1: try at taco Bell from my first I've never even been.
Speaker 1: I've never said foot inside of a taco bell? Is
Speaker 1: that to you more surprising and like a bigger you
Speaker 1: know gap in my experience? Is it? Is it never
Speaker 1: getting taco bell or never seeing the Simpsons.
Speaker 2: Definitely never seeing the Simpsons, because here is a shocking
Speaker 2: thing for you.
Speaker 3: Neither have I. So I've never been inside of one
Speaker 3: or had taco.
Speaker 1: Let's definitely then get the listeners to let us know
Speaker 1: on this show what menu. Maybe at our next team
Speaker 1: trip we'll try. Although now at this point it's like
Speaker 1: I'm in my thirties, I might as well just keep
Speaker 1: not going. And you know, well that's having what I.
Speaker 2: Always say for me. I don't know if you know
Speaker 2: this fun fact about me. I've never had a soup
Speaker 2: or a salad in my life and I'm approaching forty,
Speaker 2: and so I'm like, why start now?
Speaker 1: Seeh Actually I don't believe that you've never had like
Speaker 1: remain lettuce.
Speaker 3: With ask my mom and my wife.
Speaker 1: They'll confirm, like a side salad at a steakhouse.
Speaker 3: Never I wouldn't even I don't play hear it.
Speaker 1: There's no way that's true. The soup I believe, even
Speaker 1: though it's it is surprising, but I believe. I don't know.
Speaker 3: Everyone else can't believe the soup. They believe the salad,
Speaker 3: not the soup.
Speaker 1: You've never like been out of barbecue and there's like
Speaker 1: a bowl of salad that you just like had a
Speaker 1: very small, like one tongs worth of picking it up
Speaker 1: out of the bowl. You've never have you ever had
Speaker 1: romaine lettuce.
Speaker 3: No, that's it.
Speaker 1: I don't believe that.
Speaker 2: I'm an incredibly picky eater.
Speaker 3: I don't eat.
Speaker 1: I'm an incredibly picky eater, and I've had salad. I
Speaker 1: just take stuff out of it that I don't want.
Speaker 1: I don't have like, you know, cherry tomatoes in it
Speaker 1: and other stuff that's gross to me. But I'll have
Speaker 1: lettuce and croutons and caesar dressing, which is very tasty
Speaker 1: by the way, It's not like a gross thing if
Speaker 1: you put the right dressing on it.
Speaker 2: I don't like to find a topic for me and
Speaker 2: you to launch a different podcast all about these things
Speaker 2: that like we like or don't like it. You know,
Speaker 2: it's got to be something that's like all encompassing that
Speaker 2: we can have a wide array of topics but also.
Speaker 3: Not just vague enough that no one will listen to it.
Speaker 1: But no, yeah, it's weird. The podcast has got to
Speaker 1: be something about like just our gaps and knowledge. Like
Speaker 1: every week it's like you've never seen this movie, you've
Speaker 1: never watched the show, you've never had a salad Like
Speaker 1: that is I think the show. I still don't believe you,
Speaker 1: and I will never believe you that you've never had
Speaker 1: a salad. So we can move on.
Speaker 3: Call my wife and get her on air.
Speaker 1: Heir, Yeah, what's your next bold prediction?
Speaker 2: That worm will step inside a taco bell in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five?
Speaker 3: Where are we in the sheet?
Speaker 2: So my next bullep is it prediction is that five
Speaker 2: players will finish with fifty plus home runs this season
Speaker 2: and ten we'll finish with. I wrote this backwards with
Speaker 2: forty plus home runs.
Speaker 3: I wrote our age.
Speaker 1: I was going to ask pretty what our h diood for?
Speaker 1: Is that a new age?
Speaker 3: It's like, have you ever seen the movie Hook?
Speaker 1: Probably not, probably when I was younger, but I don't
Speaker 1: remember it well. But I think so.
Speaker 2: When he's playing baseball with the pirates, they're, you know,
Speaker 2: obviously he's away from home and he's you know, he's
Speaker 2: been kidnapped and he's playing baseball with the pirates and
Speaker 2: they're trying to say home run jack, but in the
Speaker 2: outfield they spell out run.
Speaker 3: Home jack, run home jack. Run home jack. Just makes
Speaker 3: them more homesick.
Speaker 2: So it's forty plus run homes and so in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty four, two players hit fifty plus home runs and
Speaker 2: four hit forty plus, So I'm predicting a jump from
Speaker 2: two to five and four to ten.
Speaker 3: Is that bold enough for you?
Speaker 1: Where? Do you have names in mind? I do, because
Speaker 1: like I already picked a player here today. To me,
Speaker 1: I don't think the forty home run it is bold.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it's not bold. I don't think. I
Speaker 1: think the fifty home run more bold, the fifty bold.
Speaker 1: The fifty. Yeah, the fifty home run one I think
Speaker 1: is more bold than the forty one. Like ten finishing
Speaker 1: with forty is bold, five finishing with fifty is like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's a bold prediction. To me, I need to name
Speaker 1: all the forties. But do you have it? Do you
Speaker 1: have a picks in mind for the fifties?
Speaker 3: I did.
Speaker 2: I actually thought the forty was Boulder because bolder, more bold, Boulder.
Speaker 1: I guess, just like growing up the era of baseball
Speaker 1: I did, forty was more dual. I know it's a
Speaker 1: different era in now, but it's sort of still ingrained
Speaker 1: in me that like forty is doable in a good year,
Speaker 1: fifty feels special.
Speaker 2: So here, I do have the names in mind, and
Speaker 2: I was looking at the stats when I came up
Speaker 2: with and that's why I came up with these exact numbers.
Speaker 2: I came up with five for fifty because three players
Speaker 2: already have thirty. So cal Raley has thirty six, Aaron
Speaker 2: Judge has thirty four, and Otani has thirty one. I
Speaker 2: think those three are locks for fifty. Kylee Schwarber already
Speaker 2: has twenty nine. He's he could definitely within Chatney distance
Speaker 2: of fifty. You Hano Suarez has twenty nine as well,
Speaker 2: and so Suarez can go hot and cold. He may
Speaker 2: not get there, But I think those are just five
Speaker 2: players already on pace for fifty who who could realistically
Speaker 2: get there that are power hitters after them, say a
Speaker 2: Suzukise twenty five. I think he's unlikely to get to fifty,
Speaker 2: but he's at least not that far off the pace.
Speaker 2: If he has a hot month, he's within shot existence.
Speaker 2: After there, it's James Wood and Peter Armstrong at twenty
Speaker 2: four and twenty three.
Speaker 1: Would it totally unlike? Would it totally stun you if
Speaker 1: cow Raley falls off a bit in the second half,
Speaker 1: just like catching every day like this is so like
Speaker 1: Judge and know Tani, this isn't surprising. It's so surprising
Speaker 1: for him like, I mean, he could have ten in
Speaker 1: the second half and he's still finished with forty six
Speaker 1: this season. But you know, it wouldn't shock me if
Speaker 1: he falls short. I don't think you would predict he
Speaker 1: makes it.
Speaker 2: But it's what I was thinking. Even if he falls short,
Speaker 2: I think he gets fourteen and hits fifty. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: not falls short.
Speaker 3: If he falls yeah, yeah, I think.
Speaker 1: You know it regresses. Yeah, I assume yeah.
Speaker 2: Because he's already got thirty six. He's already so close
Speaker 2: and he doesn't look like someone who's going to fall off.
Speaker 2: Although you know we'll get to the home run Derby draft,
Speaker 2: but I don't love him being in the home run Derby. Well,
Speaker 2: and so those are the players.
Speaker 1: I think, go ahead, No, you can finish your thought.
Speaker 2: Okay, So those are the players I think that are
Speaker 2: within fifty. And I think fifty is more like lee
Speaker 2: than the forty number hitting because forty. So we have
Speaker 2: those five Raley, Judge, Otani, Scherbert Suarroz. I think are
Speaker 2: their locks for at least forty looking at the forty
Speaker 2: number and then could realistically get to fifty, and then
Speaker 2: to get to ten for forty, we have, say Sezuki
Speaker 2: A twenty five, James war at twenty four, Pika Romstrom
Speaker 2: twenty three, Riley Green twenty two, your Boy Junior Camerenero
Speaker 2: at twenty two.
Speaker 3: I think that gives us one, two.
Speaker 2: Three, four, five, six, seven, eight nine ten. So those
Speaker 2: players all have twenty two or more home runs, which
Speaker 2: means they're just about on pace for forty. After that
Speaker 2: at Swan Sodo Pete A Lonzo could get realistically get
Speaker 2: to forty. Coryman, Carroll Spencer, Torklesen Byron buckson no shot.
Speaker 2: But there's not a whole lot of leeway there in
Speaker 2: terms of players who are like on base for forty
Speaker 2: or within shouting distance of forty that if two or
Speaker 2: three of those fall off pace, we're not getting ten.
Speaker 2: Whereas you know for the for the fifty, there's five
Speaker 2: players well on pace for fifty that I think could
Speaker 2: all get there.
Speaker 1: So the reason I was about to move on was
Speaker 1: just a transition to my next pick is actually about
Speaker 1: cal Raley, so it kind of ties in nicely. I
Speaker 1: have him winning American League MVP, so clearly I don't
Speaker 1: think he's going to fall off too much. He's currently
Speaker 1: is the one, by the way that you agreed with
Speaker 1: m h He's currently plus six hundred. Judge is a
Speaker 1: minus fourteen hundred. This is as of when I looked yesterday,
Speaker 1: and you can see consensus betting odds on bettingpros dot
Speaker 1: com if you want to check him out for all
Speaker 1: these types of awards. I am taking this for a
Speaker 1: couple of reasons. Number one, I think the fact that
Speaker 1: he's a catcher matters like and a good catcher, right,
Speaker 1: like a good catcher.
Speaker 3: He's not just a catcher, he's a really good.
Speaker 1: Kitcher, so that matters like he is adding more value
Speaker 1: defensively than Judge, even though Judge is good in the outfield.
Speaker 1: And it's also I just think fun for voters, Like
Speaker 1: I think if it's not close, they're not just going
Speaker 1: to hand it to them. But if it's really close,
Speaker 1: I think voters will be excited and interested to give
Speaker 1: cal Raley an MVP as opposed to just another one
Speaker 1: for Judge. Judge is having such a great season that
Speaker 1: it is really hard to go against him, So I
Speaker 1: get why the I think the odds are too there's
Speaker 1: too big of a gap, But I get why there
Speaker 1: is a big gap, Like Judge is having a great year.
Speaker 1: But if cal Rally finishes with more home runs than
Speaker 1: Judge as a good defensive catcher and is close enough
Speaker 1: in the other categories, not only do I think he's
Speaker 1: a chance of winning, like he would get my vote
Speaker 1: even if Judge has the better overall offensive season, I
Speaker 1: just think what he's doing as a catcher is so
Speaker 1: impressive and I kind of hope he wins. So I
Speaker 1: do think this is bold given what the odds currently
Speaker 1: look like. Again, Judge of minus fourteen hundred saying he
Speaker 1: won't win is something. Now, if Judge were to get hurt,
Speaker 1: which has happened before, cal Raley's odds, I mean, if
Speaker 1: it's a serious injury to Judge all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: cal Raley is like, you know, minus three thousand or something,
Speaker 1: So like this is a little bit that could help
Speaker 1: if that happens in terms of prediction, but also even
Speaker 1: if they both stay healthy, like if Judge merely has
Speaker 1: a great season and not in all times you know,
Speaker 1: offensive season, and Raleigh continues the way he started this year. Again,
Speaker 1: I just think the gaps too wide.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's bold because the gaps wide I
Speaker 2: was interested to see when I was looking at this
Speaker 2: that Aaron Judge is more of a favorite to win
Speaker 2: MVP than Scooble is to win the Cy Young, which
Speaker 2: I thought was pretty interesting. I thought Scooble would be
Speaker 2: pretty well ahead there, even though he's got a couple
Speaker 2: people at his heels in the AL. The MVP race
Speaker 2: is Aaron Judge and Cal Raley and then nobody well.
Speaker 1: And it feels like, to your point, Raleigh is a
Speaker 1: better second option right now than the second best pitcher
Speaker 1: in the American League behind Schooble, Like whether it's Crochet
Speaker 1: or Hunter Brown or de Gram, I think Raleigh is
Speaker 1: better for MVP than those guys are for cy Young
Speaker 1: as of right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I agree.
Speaker 2: I also think we and I don't want to like
Speaker 2: come up as a hater and downplay the year that
Speaker 2: Aaron Judge is having, but we are kind of just
Speaker 2: talking about like he's having this incredible year because he
Speaker 2: came out of the gate. He had four hundred for
Speaker 2: two months and no one's ever done this with this
Speaker 2: kind of power before.
Speaker 3: He did kind of take a step back in June.
Speaker 2: He had a two fifty three in June, and we
Speaker 2: just saw him have a really tough you know, week
Speaker 2: and a half as also, the Yankees are falling off.
Speaker 2: So there's the other thing. Not that it like is
Speaker 2: always the end all be all, but for a while
Speaker 2: he was a lock to win MVP because the Yankees
Speaker 2: look like they were cruising to the American League East title.
Speaker 2: Now they're falling back and it's almost it's a you know,
Speaker 2: three or four team race in the American League East.
Speaker 2: When it looks like the Blue Jays are the favorite,
Speaker 2: there's a world. I don't think they will, but this
Speaker 2: is a world with the Yankees fall out all the
Speaker 2: way out of the playoffs. And if if the Yankees
Speaker 2: kind of fall of the playoffs or maybe just squeak
Speaker 2: in as like the last wild card and the Mariners
Speaker 2: also get in as a wildcard carried by cal Rawley,
Speaker 2: I think that carries a lot of weight with voters too,
Speaker 2: and so and you know, I agree with what you said.
Speaker 2: I think one of the biggest overlooked factors is that
Speaker 2: cal Rawley is a really good catcher. On top of this,
Speaker 2: you know, incredible offensive season, Like no one's ever had
Speaker 2: an offensive season as a catcher like this before.
Speaker 3: It's just never happened.
Speaker 2: And so I do think we you know, if Judge's
Speaker 2: numbers like he's he was batting four hundred, he's now batting,
Speaker 2: it's gonna star ridiculous to say like he's no batting
Speaker 2: all the way down to three sixty, Like, oh, god forbid,
Speaker 2: he's betting three sixty, expect the batting average three sixteen.
Speaker 2: What if his batting average comes down to like three fifteen,
Speaker 2: three twenty and cal Rawley hits three or three eighty
Speaker 2: two eighty, and those numbers all of a sudden look
Speaker 2: much more similar, and cal raleys a catcher, and Judge
Speaker 2: already is one MVP, and we know all about voter fatigue.
Speaker 2: I think there's a realistic shot that cal Rally wins
Speaker 2: this award, even though the odds say no way right now.
Speaker 1: One interesting thing is that I don't think War does
Speaker 1: a great job of capturing the value of catchers, and
Speaker 1: so like Judge's War is like one and a half
Speaker 1: to two wins higher depending on where you're looking, I
Speaker 1: don't think that's reflective of the actual value they're bringing
Speaker 1: to the team. Like I do think the fact that
Speaker 1: Rally's a catcher means that should be way closer, if
Speaker 1: not even like slightly in Col's favor. Truthfully, I agree. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're agreement on that one. Give me your last bulletpdiction here.
Speaker 2: My last one is that we get no twenty plus
Speaker 2: win pitchers for the second year in a row. And
Speaker 2: I will add the caveat for that that if we
Speaker 2: don't know if you just heard that thunder behind.
Speaker 1: Me, but it actually I usually don't. Usually when I'm
Speaker 1: on shows and somebody says, oh, did you hear that
Speaker 1: behind me, I'm like, no, I actually didn't. You're good,
Speaker 1: I did hear that one.
Speaker 2: There are crazy storms here in Georgia. That's when I
Speaker 2: mean you were talking before you may have seen me,
Speaker 2: like look behind me. I think as you were talking,
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, I just heard like like it
Speaker 2: just started like pouring out of nowhere.
Speaker 1: And that the Norfolk Tides the Oriol Striple a affiliate.
Speaker 1: A picture got called for a bock because there was
Speaker 1: a crazy clap of thunder and lightning. I don't think
Speaker 1: it was lightning because they would have paused the game.
Speaker 1: But it was like mid uh, you know, in his
Speaker 1: pitching rotation, he like mid delivery. Sorry, I was having
Speaker 1: a brain from mid delivery. There was this huge like
Speaker 1: rolling thunder and everybody you can see in the video
Speaker 1: kind of like stops. But technically speaking it was a
Speaker 1: box and the umpire called it and a runner on
Speaker 1: third scored because of it.
Speaker 3: That's wild.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we get some crazy storms down here, especially because
Speaker 2: I live kind of at higher elevation, not like your elevation,
Speaker 2: but like you know, in terms of the surrounding area
Speaker 2: I've you know, I live kind of like on like
Speaker 2: a hill mountain kind of area, and so we get
Speaker 2: crazy storms that like waiting the jump me out of bed. Anyway,
Speaker 2: back to the prediction, the predictions that no, we get
Speaker 2: no twenty plus web pitchers for the second year in
Speaker 2: a row, and not including twenty twenty. We had at
Speaker 2: least one in every season since twenty seventeen until last year,
Speaker 2: and so I'm predicting it to not happen again for
Speaker 2: the second year in a row.
Speaker 1: What do you attribute that to? Is it something with
Speaker 1: modern approaches to pitching? I mean, obviously guys aren't going
Speaker 1: to step into games and all that stuff, but you know,
Speaker 1: even within the last five years, it feels like maybe
Speaker 1: a trend. If it's two in a row after having
Speaker 1: one for so many years in a row. Do you
Speaker 1: attribute that to anything in particular.
Speaker 2: It's got to be you know, it's got to be
Speaker 2: usage pictures, not you know, getting more time off, not
Speaker 2: going to steep into games. You know, you don't want
Speaker 2: to say it's like the openers, because you know, like
Speaker 2: the bulk relievers get wins and stuff, but like that's
Speaker 2: also you know, just like one fewer start for you know,
Speaker 2: for the kind of like mid level pitchers, or we're
Speaker 2: not going to see like the Rick Porcellos of the
Speaker 2: world win twenty two games anymore. But even going back
Speaker 2: when when I was looking back at previous years, in
Speaker 2: recent years, we've had like exactly one. And then when
Speaker 2: I started getting back to twenty seventeen and earlier, it
Speaker 2: was like, okay, now there's three, now there's two, Now
Speaker 2: there's three, and there were more, and now we're getting
Speaker 2: like one or none. And then for last year we
Speaker 2: got none, and I think it's possible this you know
Speaker 2: this year we get none again. And just to give
Speaker 2: you an idea of where we are in terms of wins,
Speaker 2: Max Freed has eleven, Scooble has ten. But I'm also
Speaker 2: kind of thinking again if their cruising at the Division
Speaker 2: in September. Maybe he you know, they skip him a
Speaker 2: few times and they really pull back on his innings
Speaker 2: because the Tigers aren't in the playoffs every year, and
Speaker 2: so they want this almost automatic win pitcher to be
Speaker 2: as fresh as he can go to in the postseason.
Speaker 1: So Scooble is the interesting one because of the point
Speaker 1: I was about to make, which is there's also not
Speaker 1: a lot of elite teams there. I believe the Tigers
Speaker 1: are the only team with a winning percentage over six
Speaker 1: hundred right now. So like your team needs to be
Speaker 1: winning games a lot for you to get twenty wins
Speaker 1: in a season. But Scooble is the best pitcher in
Speaker 1: baseball is also on the best team in baseball by
Speaker 1: winning percentage right now, So he is the clear in
Speaker 1: my opinion choice. Like, if somebody is going to ruin
Speaker 1: this prediction for you, it will certainly be Scooble. I
Speaker 1: would think we talked about before the season two the
Speaker 1: lack of two hundred inning pitchers, and that plays into
Speaker 1: this as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have that was I was looking at that
Speaker 2: a little bit when when I got into the wins.
Speaker 2: This is a fun one and I will admit, maybe
Speaker 2: you'll get it because I've thrown some trivia your way
Speaker 2: and you've nailed them recently. But if you asked me
Speaker 2: this question and gave me fifty guesses, I don't think
Speaker 2: I would get it right. I would probably get one
Speaker 2: of them right, but not two of them. So are
Speaker 2: you able to tell me who the last two twenty
Speaker 2: wins starting pitchers were? There was one in twenty twenty
Speaker 2: three and one in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna guess no. I'm back for whatever reason, I
Speaker 1: feel like I'm better at order trivia than im recent trivia. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you said one in twenty you say so, but the
Speaker 1: ones in the twenties basically is what you're asking and
Speaker 1: it was two different people, right and people. I'm sure
Speaker 1: there's an obvious name that is. I'm just like, oh crap, duh,
Speaker 1: that was definitely it, and I'm just forgetting nothing comes
Speaker 1: to mind off the top of the dumb I'm trying
Speaker 1: to run through all the teams quickly in my head,
Speaker 1: like who I would be overlooking here?
Speaker 3: So I'll give you a hint.
Speaker 2: One of them is like a top ten guy that
Speaker 2: you would say like, okay, that makes sense, like this
Speaker 2: guy is you know, the other guy is a deep cut.
Speaker 1: I'm definitely not gonna pull the deep cut. I mean
Speaker 1: like I'm trying to think, like, did did Wheeler get
Speaker 1: to it? Or did Free to get to it with
Speaker 1: the Braves? No, I don't think, Well Gilbert didn't when
Speaker 1: he had his two hundred innings because I was last year.
Speaker 1: I need to have more hints? Did Strider Strider twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three? So Strider did? Who's a deep cut? I'm
Speaker 1: not going to get it? Well, do you want to
Speaker 1: give me a hinter.
Speaker 2: I'll give you another hand. This it's such a deep
Speaker 2: cut that this might still not do it. So Spencer
Speaker 2: Strider was one. They're both braves. Twenty twenty three was
Speaker 2: a Brave, twenty twenty two was a Brave.
Speaker 1: Twenty two Brave and it wasn't Freed No or Strider.
Speaker 2: I don't even know where this guy's pitching now. If
Speaker 2: he is pitching, maybe he's hurt.
Speaker 3: Let me see.
Speaker 1: Wow, I am struggling to I'm going to get my
Speaker 1: brain as I've gotten older. Like I said, long term trivia,
Speaker 1: I have a pretty good memory for, but anything recent
Speaker 1: like just doesn't stick in my brain. Anymore as I've
Speaker 1: gotten into my servies.
Speaker 3: This pitcher.
Speaker 2: He's now twenty nine, he's now on the Royals. He's injured.
Speaker 2: He was recently injured at Triple A further Royals at
Speaker 2: eight twenty nine.
Speaker 1: I feel like, as soon as you say it, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be like, oh, duh, I should have gotten that.
Speaker 1: But who is it?
Speaker 2: No, I think you're gonna be like, really, he won
Speaker 2: twenty twenty First, let me see how many games he won.
Speaker 2: I'm spending way too much time on this, but it's
Speaker 2: so fun that it's we.
Speaker 1: Do have a whole home run derby draft to get to.
Speaker 3: Okay, let's gay.
Speaker 2: So he won twenty one games in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: Kyle Wright won twenty one game twenty two.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Kyle Wright.
Speaker 1: I have no recollection of that at all. I mean
Speaker 1: I have a recollection of Kyle Right. I have no
Speaker 1: recollection of him getting twenty one wins. That's just completely
Speaker 1: directly out.
Speaker 2: Of twenty one and five with a three point one
Speaker 2: nine years the.
Speaker 1: Braves was really good, So like, I'm not surprised it's
Speaker 1: a brave, but holy cow, do I not remember that?
Speaker 1: That's hilarious.
Speaker 2: That's why I want to be like, I got to
Speaker 2: bring this up, Kyle Wright.
Speaker 1: No way, that's great. All right, you have some bonus
Speaker 1: bold trade predictions. I do want to make sure we
Speaker 1: have time for our home run derby draft. So do
Speaker 1: you want to quickly run through these?
Speaker 3: Yeah, we get to say real coup. We don't have
Speaker 3: this up on them.
Speaker 2: But I just I was looking while I was making
Speaker 2: my bold predictions, I wanted to I was looking at
Speaker 2: like trade ideas for bold predictions, and I was like,
Speaker 2: these are all so specific. I don't want to spend
Speaker 2: time talking about them, but I throw it on bonus
Speaker 2: bold trade predictions that we can just run through. I
Speaker 2: had Jared duran Is involved in a three team trade.
Speaker 2: Sandiel contre Is traded to the Blue Jays, Johanno Suarez
Speaker 2: traded to the Yankees, Seth Lugo traded to the Astros.
Speaker 2: Zach Gallen also traded to the Blue Jays, Ryan O'Hearn
Speaker 2: to the Mariners, Marcelo Zuna to the Tigers, and then
Speaker 2: Emmanuel Class to the Phillies. Those are my bold trade predictions.
Speaker 2: Hopefully they all come back, or they all come to
Speaker 2: fruition and we come back to this video like this
Speaker 2: guy is a legend.
Speaker 3: He just nailed all these predictions.
Speaker 1: I really liked the Lugo one to the Astros.
Speaker 2: He felt like a fit for them as the kind
Speaker 2: of picture they would want to go out.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Class to the Phillies obviously too, just you know,
Speaker 1: elite closer, good team. It will be fun. But yeah,
Speaker 1: those are good. I also wanted to do or you
Speaker 1: wanted to do World Series predictions, so you put yours
Speaker 1: in first, I'll let you go first.
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, throw back only, but goodie Phillies versus Blue Jays.
Speaker 2: I think the Phillies have a real shot. Is one
Speaker 2: of the better teams in the West, and I think
Speaker 2: that the are in the NL, and I think the
Speaker 2: AL is wide open, and I think the Blue Jays
Speaker 2: could get hot, especially if they add a couple of pitchers.
Speaker 1: The AL being wide open definitely was like very apparent,
Speaker 1: and trying to come up with us, I went with
Speaker 1: the Astros just obviously the organization has been there a bunch.
Speaker 1: There's a degree of trust in how they're going to
Speaker 1: perform in October, as opposed to teams that really haven't
Speaker 1: been there before. I don't like both of us didn't
Speaker 1: pick the Tigers. It feels like I don't know that
Speaker 1: I would call them again. No pun intended a paper Tiger,
Speaker 1: but I don't look at this team and feel like, oh,
Speaker 1: the rest of the season, they're going to be the
Speaker 1: clear best team in baseball like they have in the
Speaker 1: first half. So I wanted to get away from picking them,
Speaker 1: and there wasn't a really clear other choice, like the
Speaker 1: Blue Jays are really hot right now. The Yankees. I
Speaker 1: don't believe in the Astros. It's more like organizational trust.
Speaker 1: The fact that Hunter Brown has become an ace really
Speaker 1: helps in my opinion. And again like guys like Cozl
Speaker 1: TV have been there before. So I didn't love any
Speaker 1: American League pick. And then the Dodgers, Like I know,
Speaker 1: we're all disappointed by the Dodgers relative to expectation before
Speaker 1: the season. This is still the outside the Tigers. This
Speaker 1: is the best record in baseball right like it's even
Speaker 1: despite the struggles and guys underperforming and getting injured. This
Speaker 1: is an excellent organization that has so much talent they
Speaker 1: can easily add more at the trade deadline if they want.
Speaker 1: They're gonna get healthier, like you know, the Cubs are.
Speaker 1: I think legitimately good. The Phillies are really good. Phillies
Speaker 1: probably would have been my pick if I didn't go Dodgers.
Speaker 1: I like other teams than NL. There's a few teams
Speaker 1: the NL that would have been my choice in the AL,
Speaker 1: but I just couldn't get away from the Dodgers. Like
Speaker 1: I just and it's boring right to say Astros Dodgers.
Speaker 1: We've seen this recently, but I I just kind of
Speaker 1: feel like that's what it's gonna end up being.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just didn't want to pick Dodgers. I, you know,
Speaker 2: I thought that was more chalking. And I think the
Speaker 2: Phillies have the right kind of balance to pull it up,
Speaker 2: especially if they add like a right handed bat at
Speaker 2: the deadline. They have a really good rotation, you know.
Speaker 2: If they can just roll Wheeler out there, you canad
Speaker 2: he can go toe to toe with anyone in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Yeah. If you're struggling with lineup decisions, our lineup assistant
Speaker 1: recommends optimal lineup suggestions to maximize your team's performance each
Speaker 1: day or week. Just sink your league for tailored guidance
Speaker 1: based on your roster. In league settings, download the Fantasy
Speaker 1: Baseball My Playbook app or visit fantasypros dot com slash
Speaker 1: MLB my playbook to set your winning lineup today. All right, Mayor,
Speaker 1: we're gonna wrap things up with our home run Derby draft.
Speaker 1: We did this last year. I forget one. Actually was
Speaker 1: it me? Actually I genuinely don't remember who won.
Speaker 3: I think it was you.
Speaker 1: But what we're gonna do pretty sure is we're going
Speaker 1: to count this towards our two start picture contest because
Speaker 1: we can't really do one this week because nobody's making
Speaker 1: two starts with only half a week of games. So
Speaker 1: we're going to make this count because that's I believe
Speaker 1: we did that last year. H Garrett Crochet obviously crushed
Speaker 1: crushed Chase Perns the last completed week. So it's all
Speaker 1: tied up at five five and one. We have one tie.
Speaker 1: We each have five wins. I assume you're not going
Speaker 1: to push back too hard on the Crechet beating Chase
Speaker 1: pers given that terrible start.
Speaker 3: I actually have.
Speaker 2: I don't want to make this any longer, but I
Speaker 2: actually have a confession to make what so I believe
Speaker 2: last year we also counted their home on derby towards
Speaker 2: the two start picture competition as well right, yeah, So
Speaker 2: I'm also pretty sure that you won. And I think
Speaker 2: when I was recalculating everything at the end, there was
Speaker 2: no note about you winning their home on derby, and
Speaker 2: I think that was the extra point that was miscalculated.
Speaker 2: So I think you won last year's competition.
Speaker 1: I think definitely. I told you from the beginning that
Speaker 1: I won. I said this all off season and the
Speaker 1: beginning of this season that I didn't know what you
Speaker 1: were talking about that I so I.
Speaker 2: Was just looking at like the starts and I was like, no,
Speaker 2: it's dead even but the extra point is the home
Speaker 2: run derby contest.
Speaker 1: By the way, if you don't watch YouTube, I was
Speaker 1: just clapping. That's what that noise was. If you can't
Speaker 1: tell through audio, I don't know how well it comes through.
Speaker 3: But was it more thunder on my own?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Oh man, yea, we got to get like a
Speaker 1: championship belt or something. I told you that I won
Speaker 1: that I I knew it because I was I thought
Speaker 1: I had clinched it with like a week left. I
Speaker 1: was like, there's no way you can catch up. But
Speaker 1: that's that's really really excellent.
Speaker 3: That's what happened.
Speaker 1: I think I think that that makes total sense. That
Speaker 1: totally adds up. So, by the way, I didn't read
Speaker 1: the comments to see people called me out on this
Speaker 1: because I was afraid they were going to Paul Skeen's
Speaker 1: not a two start pitcher this week. I usually look
Speaker 1: at fan tracks just because it's really easy in one
Speaker 1: of my leagues to see when they've highlighted two start pictures.
Speaker 1: He was listed as one for this week for some reason.
Speaker 1: He made a start on Sunday, so clearly he was
Speaker 1: not going to be a two start pitcher this week.
Speaker 1: So I pivoted off the air, and I messaged before
Speaker 1: anybody had made start mayor about this that I pivoted
Speaker 1: to Christopher Sanchez, so he has my pick for this
Speaker 1: current week that we're in, not Paul Skeen's, because again,
Speaker 1: for some reason, fan tracks had it listed wrong, and
Speaker 1: I did zero effort to corroper right that they were
Speaker 1: going to be correct.
Speaker 3: So, yeah, your mistake not using the Fantasy pros tools.
Speaker 1: Yes it is my mistake. Christopher Sanchez vers Hunter Brown.
Speaker 1: Is this current week that we're in all tied up
Speaker 1: five to five and one, and yes this will count
Speaker 1: towards it. And I think what we did last year
Speaker 1: is total homers? Or did we just give it to
Speaker 1: whoever picked the winner?
Speaker 3: I gotta be honest, I don't remember.
Speaker 1: Do you have a preference what we do? Would you?
Speaker 1: Would you rather go total home runs drafted or something
Speaker 1: where like, you know, you get a point for making
Speaker 1: to the semis, three points for winning it at all or
Speaker 1: something like that. What would you rather do?
Speaker 2: I think I think maybe we did total home runs.
Speaker 2: Let's just do total home runs because if your players advance,
Speaker 2: you're gonna get there.
Speaker 1: You're going to get more rons anyway. Yeah, I agree,
Speaker 1: all right, we'll do total home runs now super annoyingly,
Speaker 1: we don't have the full field, so the surprise final
Speaker 1: person will be drafted. So we each have a team
Speaker 1: of four. But you're just getting to take a sing.
Speaker 1: You don't know who it's gonna be, So that baby
Speaker 1: that'll be the last pick or baby you say, I
Speaker 1: want to, you know, be bold, this is a bold
Speaker 1: predictions episode and take a chance so we can we
Speaker 1: can really do whatever you want with it. I think
Speaker 1: since I won last year, I should get to go first.
Speaker 1: I don't feel strongly about that. If you feel differently,
Speaker 1: I'm okay going second, But do. Are you okay with that?
Speaker 2: That's fine by me, but real quick, so we we
Speaker 2: know seven contestants with an asterix on Buckston.
Speaker 1: Right, yes, So the contestants are eight total, Ronald Acunya,
Speaker 1: James Wood, O'Neil Cruz Junior, Cameronaro, cal Rawley, Byron Buckston
Speaker 1: with an asterisk because of the hit by pitch Brent
Speaker 1: Rooker announced today. And then one more, well we'll get announced.
Speaker 3: So the one more we're going to guess who the
Speaker 3: one more is there?
Speaker 1: No, no, no, I think we just say mystery final
Speaker 1: contestant is the pick, and it's like it's like the
Speaker 1: mystery box, you know, and call duty. Just you get
Speaker 1: what you get.
Speaker 2: I thought maybe there was gonna be like two or
Speaker 2: three names we don't know, and we would just draft
Speaker 2: a bunch of guys and hopefully know.
Speaker 1: All right, So you okay with me going first? I mean,
Speaker 1: I just think that's that's fair. Like whoever wins gets
Speaker 1: to go.
Speaker 3: We're just going back and forth. We snake out.
Speaker 1: I think we just go back and forth, okay to
Speaker 1: man draft, all right, I am going to go with
Speaker 1: I actually don't really have a clear number one, so
Speaker 1: I don't know I'll go with Ronald o'cunya. Best player
Speaker 1: on the list has hit home run since coming back
Speaker 1: hometown for this you know, uh, this event, and I
Speaker 1: could just I can just more than anybody else in
Speaker 1: this in this lineup. I can picture him hitting like
Speaker 1: eight in a row on eight swings like and just
Speaker 1: going on like a real heater. I can visualize it.
Speaker 1: So I'll go with a Kunya for my pick.
Speaker 3: I was really hoping you would go somewhere else because
Speaker 3: that was going to be my first pick last year.
Speaker 1: Didn't you take Gunnar Henderson from me now that I'm remembering,
Speaker 1: and he hit like two?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I played the heel in last year's draft.
Speaker 3: It didn't work out.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Oh but by the way, just to let everybody know,
Speaker 1: and you know, so if you look at the number
Speaker 1: of home runs hit this season for these guys, Cal
Speaker 1: Raley thirty six, James Wood twenty four, Junior Cameronaro twenty two,
Speaker 1: Byron Buxton twenty, Brent Rooker nineteen, O'Neil Cruz sixteen, and
Speaker 1: Ronald Acunya eleven. Obviously, Kunya not played the full season,
Speaker 1: but he's hit the fewest of the seven are now
Speaker 1: so far.
Speaker 3: Wonderful. So second pick, I'm going to go. Let me
Speaker 3: just give cal Rally. You know, I'll just go with it.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't know if that's going to be
Speaker 2: the right pick or not, but let's do it.
Speaker 1: That's an interesting one. I wasn't sure what to do
Speaker 1: with it. Obviously he's been awesome this year. I don't
Speaker 1: it doesn't feel like a home run Derby is maybe
Speaker 1: the best fit. I know he's talked about always wanting
Speaker 1: to participate, and obviously he's really good, so it might be.
Speaker 2: Look a guy who would have the endurance for home
Speaker 2: run Derby does it?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's fair. I'm between two players here, and
Speaker 1: I'm worried you're gonna take the one. I don't take
Speaker 1: whichever direction I go. I'm gonna go with man I
Speaker 1: really I really like two of these is a clear
Speaker 1: top too. I wonder if you have the same too.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with O'Neil Cruz just light tower power.
Speaker 1: You know, people talk about his his batting practices as
Speaker 1: you see a lot of homers, and I could see
Speaker 1: him being a really fun and participant in this. So
Speaker 1: I'll go Cruse. Would he have been your next pick
Speaker 1: or somebody else.
Speaker 3: I actually don't know. I think Cruise would have been
Speaker 3: my next pick.
Speaker 1: Interestingly, I have taken the two guys with the fewest
Speaker 1: home runs on the list so far.
Speaker 2: I might be changing that. I I like Caimanara. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna go Brett Rooker. I'm gonna go with Britton Rooker.
Speaker 1: Okay, So I like Rooker. But my pick was it
Speaker 1: was between Cruz and Camonaro. So I'll go cam and Aro.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Camanara was the other guy. I wasn't going
Speaker 2: to pick either of the other two, but I didn't
Speaker 2: think you were.
Speaker 1: Okay, So I have a Kunya Cruz and Cameron Aro.
Speaker 1: You have cal Raley, Brent Rooker. You're on the clock
Speaker 1: remaining Byron Buxton, James Wood and mystery Box. If you
Speaker 1: just want to take the bold, maybe it turns out
Speaker 1: being somebody really good.
Speaker 3: Ooh, you know what.
Speaker 2: I would go mystery Box, but game three tells me
Speaker 2: I should not, so I'm not going to.
Speaker 1: I could see mystery Box being awesome, like they're saving
Speaker 1: somebody right for this final announcement. I I like Cesme's
Speaker 1: family Barbecue was talking about like maybe it's Julio Rodriguez.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's Jazz Chisholm, maybe it's Suarez, maybe it's Kyle Tucker.
Speaker 1: They're trying to name guys that are already going to
Speaker 1: be in Atlanta, but you have no idea. Also, by
Speaker 1: the way, I should say, if Buckston ends up leaving,
Speaker 1: whoever he is, replacement is, we'll go to that person. Clearly,
Speaker 1: all right, this is a really fun field. By the way, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what mystery box James Wood or Byron Buxton slash.
Speaker 3: Buyer mystery box. Mystery Box would be anything James would.
Speaker 1: I was definitely going to take mystery Box over Buxton.
Speaker 3: That's why I thought.
Speaker 2: I was like Originally in my mind, I was like,
Speaker 2: I'll take Wood, he'll take Box, and I'll get mystery Box.
Speaker 2: But then I was like, wait, he's definitely not going
Speaker 2: to take box.
Speaker 1: I would not have taken Buxton. But I mean bucks
Speaker 1: In again, if he doesn't participate, that's also a mystery box, right, Like,
Speaker 1: it could be a good replacement, so it's not necessarily
Speaker 1: a bad pick. The thing that I worry about with
Speaker 1: Wood is I wonder almost he has a lot of power, clearly,
Speaker 1: but I wonder if he's more of like an in
Speaker 1: game power type of guy.
Speaker 3: That's what I think.
Speaker 1: He does have the second most home runs on this list.
Speaker 1: And I really like James Wood the player, and I was,
Speaker 1: you know, I got I'm going to take Wood and
Speaker 1: not Bucks and Slash Mystery Player because I've been all
Speaker 1: in on Wood this whole season, like as a you know,
Speaker 1: one of my favorite picks and a guy planning my
Speaker 1: flag on. So I feel like I got to continue
Speaker 1: that and stick with with the guy who kind of
Speaker 1: got me here.
Speaker 3: Good because I already wrote that on the she So
Speaker 3: I have.
Speaker 1: Ronald Acunya, O'Neil Cruz, Junior Camonaro, and James Wood. You
Speaker 1: have Col Raley, Brent Rooker Mystery box Player A, and
Speaker 1: Byron Buxton Slash Mixed three box Player B. If there's
Speaker 1: a replacement.
Speaker 2: Well, so we have the one thing about James Would,
Speaker 2: I mean, I think we both love James Would is
Speaker 2: half of his home runs are the opposite field, so
Speaker 2: he's not necessarily this like huge pole power guy. I
Speaker 2: think he might be just a real in in game
Speaker 2: really good and of course, like now that I say that,
Speaker 2: he's gonna like hit fifty home runs and win this thing.
Speaker 1: No, but that is that's why I had him below
Speaker 1: like Junior cameronaro O'Neil Cruz like same, that's why he
Speaker 1: was a little lower on the list despite his great season.
Speaker 1: So we're we're in agreement on that. I might have
Speaker 1: taken Buxton over him if not for the injury in
Speaker 1: the mystery Box elements. Basically, what it is is I
Speaker 1: have my four players, you have two, and you just
Speaker 1: whoever the other two are, whether it's Buxton, whether it's
Speaker 1: whoever the mystery boxes, they're on your team. So we'll
Speaker 1: see how those.
Speaker 4: I hope it's Kotani or something that would be amazing,
Speaker 4: like yeah, you get just like the absolute best like
Speaker 4: option that would be a judge, Yeah, judge.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Alonso actually backtracks and says, you know what, I will
Speaker 1: do it. I'm like, oh, this that's a professional home
Speaker 1: run derbyus, Like yeah, all right.
Speaker 2: Give me, give me judges the mystery box, and then
Speaker 2: Buxton gets scratched for Otani and then I just dominate.
Speaker 1: I will feel like you will probably win if that's
Speaker 1: if that pants out that way, all right, we'll go
Speaker 1: ahead and wrap things up there. Everybody, let us know
Speaker 1: who you thought the first pict should have been in
Speaker 1: the home run derby draft and kind of what direction
Speaker 1: you would have gone? Whose team you think is gonna
Speaker 1: win again? A Kunya Cruz Cameronara Wood versus Raleigh Rooker
Speaker 1: mystery box player and Buxton Slash mystery box player. Let
Speaker 1: us know whose team you like better. We'll go ahead
Speaker 1: and wrap things up there by the way. By the way,
Speaker 1: one other news and note that I wanted to quickly mention, uh,
Speaker 1: Backyard Baseball two thousand and one now available on Steam.
Speaker 1: I will be downloading it. This is It's not. I
Speaker 1: just want to say it because I'm so excited about it.
Speaker 1: Like truthfully, I like that was the computer game I
Speaker 1: probably played most the most hours in my life as
Speaker 1: a kid growing up, specifically the one version of Backyard Baseball.
Speaker 1: So I'm like so excited to play as cal Ripkin again.
Speaker 1: And you know, Ken Griffey Junior was always one of
Speaker 1: my top choices and just an all time, all time
Speaker 1: great game. And uh, in case anybody missed it and
Speaker 1: loves baseball, I want to shout it out. Backyard Baseball,
Speaker 1: Oh one back and available to play so again not
Speaker 1: an ad Red, definitely not.
Speaker 3: I just maybe they'll sponsor the show that they say.
Speaker 1: What I love that. I we got to get Jimmy
Speaker 1: on that. I'm very excited to say about that possibility.
Speaker 2: Also, a friend of the show, Brendon Tuma, a huge
Speaker 2: fan of backyard Baseball, is in his I forget.
Speaker 1: Profile picture on Twitter still like Pablo Sanchez.
Speaker 3: That's what I was going.
Speaker 2: I couldn't remember the name. I wanted to say, Pablo Lopez.
Speaker 1: He's a real picture and not Pablo Sanchez, who's the
Speaker 1: best player in the backyard sports is his birthday is
Speaker 1: a day before mine. So I used to like totally.
Speaker 3: Irrelevant avatar for like a decade.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean he's a stunt, he's he's a great
Speaker 1: If you get that's gonna be your avatar. It's a
Speaker 1: go one and a half. So shouts to Pablo Sanchez,
Speaker 1: shouts to Tuma, Shouts to the mayor and all the listeners.
Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning in for you know, we're kind of
Speaker 1: wrapping up the first half of the season, so we
Speaker 1: will have some fun in the second half post All
Speaker 1: Star Break. Everybody, enjoy the All Star Break and the
Speaker 1: home Run Derby and we'll see you next time. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Baseball podcast. If
Speaker 1: you love the show, the best freeway to support us
Speaker 1: is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify,
Speaker 1: follow us on x, Instagram, and TikTok at Fantasy Pros,
Speaker 1: and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube dot com
Speaker 1: slash Fantasy Pros MLB