Astros lineup, where to draft Altuve and Bregman, Inside Injuries, and more...

You're listening to the Fantasy Sports Radio Network. Fantasy best Friends Forever, h T T to Do, to Do, to do too. Yeah, this yes, the Fantasy best Friends Forever here in the Fantasy Sports Radio Network alongside Frankie stamfle i Am, Greg Susman. Gregg Thursday, February seven, decided to be back talking some fantasy baseball. Very excited to have dr A on of inside injuries for the first time in dr A will be talking fantasy baseball with us

and some really important baseball injuries. Greg, how about that A lot of baseball injuries that you have forgotten about, because I certainly did for a long time. Yeah. Big names. Two guys that are going off the board very early in draft, specifically three Houston Astros who are going inside the top fifty picks, who are all kind of returning from injury. Yeah, you know, had offseason surgery. So we'll

get into those guys. But before all else, Greg, i'd just sleep last night, just okay, he said, okay, nothing. You know, I wouldn't say it was it was great. I don't want to say I slept great. He said, okay, vide much better, much better. He walked into a pretty good mood tonight, so I thought things were good. I surprisingly drank a few beers last night. Didn't expecting to do that. See that coming now. Went out to play

some basketball. King his brother right, and he's like, oh, you want to come over to drink a couple of beers? And you know, I drank like four or five beers, and then I went home and looked up some Zach Weiler stats, tweeted some stuff out Louise Casto. Yeah, had a feeling you're playing basketball last night because I texted you but the auto Porter trade and you hadn't seen it yet. You were surprised and you spilled like a half hour later or so. I was like, he must

be playing basketball right now. That's exactly what it was. Ye, I figured that. I also showed King of my mess up yesterday on the air. That's why I slept so well. Screw you. I'm not cuddling you anymore. So it worked. Yeah, I'm not gonna shot this one. I hope you're not listening. She's not. Don't worry. Um uh so if you leave her our NBA thoughts, and I don't know how many of you are, if you leave our NBA thoughts, We're

gonna that later today on the NBA Twitch Show. You can check it out four thirty pm Eastern on the actual NBA Twitch channel as if you can go on a twitch dot Twitch dot tv slash NBA. We'll be there from four thirty six pm giving all of our thoughts on the trade deadline. Right, Yeah, there's a lot. Last night you mentioned Otto Porter. There are a few smaller trades. Maybe we'll have some blockbusters before the deadline this afternoon. Some of the Grizzlies guys are up in

the air right now, Conley Marcosol. What's gonna happen with those? Of course, still a chance Anthony Davis gets moved. Seeming more and more likely that he's not going to but yes, we will be on the NBA Twitch channel this afternoon to recap everything that went down and everything that's gone down to this point between last week's Maverick trade and Porzingis up until now. Yeah, I have almost like in there a lot of fantasy basketball tidbits to to take

away totally. Basically, the entire rundown is kind of just breaking not breaking down the trade, just listening to so we don't forget anything. And I'm excited to kind of go one by one and break it down. And I'm happy you were at an hour and a half now for the program, so I think it'll be good. I agree. So that's coming a little bit later on today this afternoon. Make sure you check it out um on the NBA's Twitch stream. But today, as Frank mentioned, we're back into baseball.

We'll talk to Dr Ray. I cut off about twenty past the hour to get into some of these baseball injuries. But as Frank was actually compiling the list yesterday of the players that we wanted to talk to Dr a about, it was kind of surprising. I guess that I was like, hey, astro, astro, astro, and we realized that's kind of a good place to start. We wanted to get into the astros today, not because there are that many new faces here there There are a couple, no doubt, but it's the returning faces and

where they're going. As Frank mentioned, guys in the top fifty here that you want to know, well, when do I draft them? Should I be drafting them? Is it too early? Is the value not good enough? This is what we're gonna talk about. This we want where want to breakdown. Jose L tv has been a first round pick for several years now in fantasy baseball, and there's always a debate can you We're not there's million ways to win, but can you win by drafting Al two

B a second overall or third overall? Where he was going and then he went down to more like six seven? But can you win by drafting jose L Tuvan in the first round? Because he wasn't a guy that was going to fifty home runs. He was a guy that was more gonna hit, you know, mostly horny, So you thought that you a ton of stolen basis have a high average. He wasn't a guy who's like Aaron Judge

or Jean Carlo stant or something like that. But of course in Alt two bays m VP here he you know, stole fifty bases, and he hit more home runs than ever expected, and he scored on the runs in the RBIs and everything was there. So the question marks kind of went away for jose L last year. Of course, last year is the first year of his career. All of a sudden he got hurt and being jose L two, he still played in most of the games, but a hundred and thirty seven games last year, but because of

those injuries, everything was down. Even when he came back, he simply was not healthy. He had less who runs, he had less runs scored, he had less rb I, he didn't even steal twenty bases. The o VP was still where you liked it at three six, but all the counting stats were lower because of that, because of the injuries, because of question marks that have now come back surrounding Josel to his a DP has dropped. Frank,

where is Josel to be going right now? And what do you think of him as a player going forward? So from January one on until today February seven, on NFBC a DP, he's going to pick the fifteen point nine three, and he fits the mold of one of the players in years past that has been a first round pick was now slipping to the second round, and I think rightfully so based on the injury last year.

He was dealing with a knee injury. The reason why I Tove was so good for fantasy purposes over the past couple of years is because he gave you three main categories, and he was very good in those three categories. Three of I would say the hardest catch. That's exactly what I was going to say. As so many fantasy players look for the power, the home runs. You're looking for the r B I like I. I get it,

no doubt. You still need a base like you need the base of home runs and r b I s and you can get that in your you know, second, third, fourth round picks. But to have a guy who in the past couple of years was gonna steal you thirty bases, was going to hit three tree thirty, was going to score a hundred plus runs. Those are sets that are hard to come by. Um. But I do have question marks as to whether or not he can get back

to those numbers. That's why I say, you know when he's going in the second round of dress rightfully so, because if he's not giving you thirty stolen bases anymore, if he's not hitting three thirty, I still think that the runs will be there. I still think that the Astro's lineup will be very potent. But coming off a knee injury, he had a and we're gonna talk to dr about this Hoteller evulsion fracture in his right knee UM, and he had surgery to repair that on October nineteenth.

He's expected to you ready for spring training, be ready for the season. His status is not in doubt. UM, with everything that happened last year, playing through the injury, obviously his power was sad because of that, couldn't really get his legs underneath him, he didn't run as much. The batting average was still three sixteen, which was fourth best in baseball. But this is what I'm saying, right I'm you said you thought that draft spot was kind

of right for him. I'm actually in love going back into jose al Tube this year. Like I take everything we saw last year and know that this need bothered him and he tried to play the means that you boy with the stolen bases are going to be back. I do because listen, that injury, his eye didn't change. He studied great. I was by the like he's still young enough, like he's not old, but he's in the prime of his career. So his eye didn't change last

year when he was hurt. So his on base percentage was still as good as it's, still as good as normally. The average was still as not not as good as it was as it always is. But as you said, what third best in baseball sixteen? It was fourth best in baseball? He hasn't fine average, but three in five street season he still didn't really strike you how he could have a higher actual cay percentage and he has his entire career at seven. We'll take that. Obviously, his

walk percentage actually went up. So those other numbers where you have are related to his legs, specifically runs and stolen bases going back down. That's not a surprise. It has to do with his knee. So yeah, Frankie, I'm banking that the stolen bases go back up. Yes, Well, that's the only way that you could draft him in the second round. And the projection, here's what I have projected for jose L two and projections for the most part, they're conservative, like I'm not going to project him for

a hundred runs? Can he score a hundred runs? He could easily score a hundred runs in the Astros line up right. I have him for a three fifteen average, eighteen home runs, ninety runs scored, a d r BI, twenty stolen basis to me, I'm not using my second round pick on that player. He's interesting. All the projections over on fan graphs are very similar to what you're saying. Now,

that's what I try to do. I look at, you know, the past three years, I kind of look at all the different projection systems and a how to come up with like a cumulative projection of my own. Yeah, I mean that seems realistic. And what you're saying is very much on part with what all the other projections are on on fangraphs. Whether it's Steamer, whether it's a t C the bat, I don't know what this is, but

their projection systems, I'm sure that is from Derek Carty. Oh, it's cool, like Derek Carter ESPN and a t C um you know, I know a t C is I saw you were on top of this. Right name is Ario uh A t C sings fa la la la la. He goes all around or like la la la la. That's um anyway. So all the projection systems have him at under towel almost all besides at C, under twenty stoma A t C and y on Twitter. He actually is a good follow, so go and check him out. He was up for Baseball Writer of the Year an

Article of the Year Lost Flora. Check out my Florio. Check out the patreon for him under twenty stolen bases for out to under twenty home runs nine five unscored, give or take a d r B. I I think those are conservative, I really do. Maybe I'm banging on him just being healthy and last year being a misnomer. I know objection systems are always conservative, for sure, and I'm normally one of those guys that don't like layers are getting older. I want to buy in the young,

sexy guy. I know that about myself, right, but old He'll be twenty nine in meg, so I don't feel like this guy all of a Sud'm just gonna drop off. I look at it like, hey, it was a bad year. I really like jos TV. I think he gets back to thirty. I think is realistic. I really do. Here's the problem Greg drafting Jose Tu in the second round.

You have to have the right construction because, in my opinion, what I said yesterday, right if you draft a starting pitcher in the first round, you in the second round, you're chasing power for the rest of your roto draft. So really, to me, the only way that you're taking a guy like Alt in the second round right now, NBC AD is if you're a you're getting Nolan Arronado in the first or you're pairing him with Manny Machado, or you're pairing him with Bryce Harper. That's how you're

taking Holdale, or you're pairing him with Aaron Judge. That probably makes the most sense because Aaron Judge is giving you to six ctis, two seventies, giving you forty plus home runs, giving you runs, giving you r BI, and then Mosal TV will kind of counteract him because he'll still give you the tough categories and runs, and they'll give you batting average and I'll also give you some

stolen bases. You know, Judge will maybe give you eight to ten stolen basis, and me personally, I think all TV probably closer to So you have a nice little base there, but I don't know if I can start my draft bris sale Why why can't you do that? Go Chris sale l T and then like Reece Hoskins you can again They're like, there are ways to do it. It's just how much do you trust a guy like

Reece Hoskins? Do you trust him enough to be your You need a few legitimate sluggers and then you know, in the third, fourth round you can get a guy like him. You get Chris Davis with a KA certainly absolutely so you know he's still powerful at him and he's a he's a good player to kind of pair with Josel too, because he doesn't give you a great batting average, but he's gonna give you home run, he's gonna give you RBIs and Alto gives you a little

bit of everything else. Me, I'm just really worried about the stolen basis. If he's not giving you close to thirty or thirty plus, I think that is a lot of his value. Great, well, it means it's a lot of the value. Fine, but we both agree the runs probably go back up being on top of being toward the top of that lineup, you know the average, and we know he's going to be healthy. We're expecting to be. But there's a good question for Dr. Right, who will talk to you in about five minutes or so. It's

an injury, like how severe? Is this the injury for a baseball player to come back and doesn't literally come back from being able to run and steal bases? Does he? Linger isn't something that could recur? Those are the questions that we ultimately are gonna have to ask Right. Like me, personally, Alex Bregman is going three spots higher than him. I'd rather have Brea. Let's get into Bregman here. Now. Bregman

was a guy I remember last year. We talked a lot about Alex Bregman going into the year, and it's funny we talked about reatedly I was out well, so it's funny we talked about roster construction and buying him at a ceiling because I wanted nothing to do with it. I never liked how my roster ended up when I was drafting Alex Bregman. I never wanted to draft Alex Bregman. Where he was going, So I didn't. I wanted that with Bregman absolutely nowhere, and I was wrong. He was

absolutely incredible last year. Over hundred runs scored, over hundred RBIs, over thirty home runs, ten stolen basis, he barely strikes out. He walks an the o v P around four hundred. I mean, there's no other way to describe it. Alex Bregman. Bregman was absolutely marvelous last year. And it's crazy because

he got off such a slow start. Remember he hit five home runs through April and May, his average was around to sixty and we were wondering if Alex Bregman was this bust, Like we felt really good about ourselves for not drafting Alex Bregman. Of course, through the summer months, as the weather heated up, he got scorching hot, particularly in June where he had eleven of his thirty one home runs. He was absolutely ridiculous and it all ended

up for the stats that I gave before. Frankie, I have to ask you, is Alex Bregman somebody that you feel comfortable with as a first round pick? Yes? Delay there, I'm sorry, Wait before I get into this. We're talking about today with Dr A. But I have to ask give me one word to describe your feelings on jose L two by out and I'm gonna use a debt. I'm gonna use mine. I'll say bounce back. I know it's a dash. That's the kind of on word we'll go. We'll go with bounce back, Mike, it's my rule, so

it's bounce back. It changed the rules. And Alex Bregman, Alex Bregman. Look, you mentioned he doesn't strike out. He was one of four players who walked more than he struck out last year, four swinging strikes, unbelievable, second best in baseball behind who Michael Brantley also signed. And you know it pisces me off how smart the Houston Astros are and how forward thinking they are. As a Yankees fan, Um, you know, just selfishly. But everyone's trying to hit home runs.

Everyone is, you know, they're trying to hit home runs, but at the cost of striking out a lot. And Houston Astros go out and they signed Michael Brantley, which at the time everyone's like, all right, well, you know, doesn't really move the needle. But they have a bunch of guys on their team that don't strike out, and Michael Brantley, they have Alex Bregman, they have mose L two A, they have you know, Carl's career will get into him as well, but Bregman. Look, there's a lot

to like. Back to back seasons at least two eighty four batting average. It seems like everything he did last year was in the progression of you know, of a hitter. You know, he's only twenty four years old, Like he's only maturing and getting better, and it's like everything you've seen, he's gotten better each and every year. And he's a slow starter. Admittedly, when he first came into when he first was called up, I remember there was a huge

slump he was in. It was like, you know, one for his first thirty one or whatever it was, and and he, you know, he took off the rest of the year. He was a slow starter last year. He had only one home run in both March and April. He had thirty home runs the rest of the way over the final five months of the season, ended up with thirty one home runs. Five to a player. He's not gonna give you a ton of stone basis, No.

Ten to fifteen stone basis, but it doesn't hurt your batting average tweet five thirty home runs one d r b I s and that was with Carl's Korea sucking last year and jose l to hurt he could be even better just twenty four years old. Is that power for real? Someone we'll talk about in a little bit. But when we come back, dr a inside Injuries joins us the ground. More from your BFFs right after this. Daily rodo dot Com learned from the game's best DFS players.

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Call now and learn how we can help you. Eight six six four eight four nine six two one eight six six four eight four nine six two one. That's eight six six four eight four ninety six twenty one Scout Fantasy Awards. The Sixers are the Eastern Conference champs. With this trade with Tobias Harris, who does this make them a legit contender? They were anyway without it? Toronto is still up there, Milwaukee's good, and the Celtics are still dangerous. They've sat Kyrie Irving quite a bit, so

they're right there. I mean, those are the four teams in the East that are are all going to be battling for that birth in the final weekdays to the four pm Eastern on the Fantasy Sports Network and on your popular podcast providers. We're back with you on the Fantasy Best Friends Forever Fantasy Sports Radio network. That's Frank Staffel.

I'm green excited, and I think you can hear in our voices that we're excited to get back into baseball and really dive deep and find out what we like would just like Frank, We've had a really I guess our first disagreement so far stronger disagreement is on a player. You said you're one word for Josel to bay out, and I'm very much in on jose So our first true disagreement this season was just kind of exciting, cause

we've been pretty much locking step uh thus far. With that speak of jose L. Let's bring our guy dr A from Inside Injuries. Who's gonna give us the latest on all these astros and a whole lot more. What's going on? Doc? Uh? Good guys, how are you guys doing today? We're doing really really well? Uh, feeling good? How did you? I did just sleep last night? I slept really good. Actually slept at seven thirty. When's the last time you guys went to bed at Never in

my life? I don't know, probably under five years old. Remember well, I woke up at four am. So there you go. Okay, that makes sense. Okay, So Doc, we We started the program off talking about jose Al tob and in this weird knee injury that he had and the surgery. Uh, what's the latest on him? Is this an injury that could linger kenna? Is it easy to recur? Will it affect him running this upcoming season? What's going on with jose L two bay? Yeah, So the injury

actually was a pateller tendon evulsion fracture. You know, the pateller tendon attaches on the sort of the top part of your tibia and then extends into the patela and then attaches to the patela. It's responsibility is to stabilize when you when you bend and extend your knee. The problem is is that he just didn't have a patellar tendon tear. He also had he had a patellar tendon of vulsion fracture. What that means is that when it got when it got you know, stretched, it pulled a

piece of bone off of the patella as well. This is a notoriously difficult thing to come back from, even as a normal person that does not play um, you know, professional baseball, and so Al two days, you know, small guy relies a lot on speed, a lot of being involved in the play, etcetera, a lot of lateral movement, etcetera.

This will even when he comes back completely healthy and completely ready to go and it's healed surgery side, it's fine, you know, this will impact his ability to actually obtain the amount of lateral and you know, acceleration movement that he requires, you know, being who he is, especially at the shortstops issue. And so it increases his chance for a risk. And so even though he'll be back and clear by May, we're we're predicting a right around the

beginning of May. Right now we have May nine to where he could be fully operational. The problem is is that his injury risk will remain quite high and and he'll always have that now because of this uh pateller evulsion fracture injury and about Frank one zero absolutely so inside injuries. Has his you know healthy to return, return and perform date in May, and he's going to give it a go in spring training, like you know, he's gonna be there on opening day. So he's even returning

before you know what the timeline says it should be. So, I mean, look, there's a there's a lot there to worry about what holds out to especially a guy that you want to bank on giving you thirty stolen basis if you're taking him in the second round, and it just sounds to me like he's not gonna approach that number. Last year, he stole seventeen and it clearly hampered his game, and I think it's gonna do so once again heading into this year. I I can't use a second round

pick on Dale. I think where he's being drafted and following in draft is uh is rightly justified. I want to ask you about Alex Bregman, another Houston astro, who underwent surgery last month to quote, remove loose bodies from his elbow. This is this sounds a lot scarier when it involves a starting pitcher. How about when it's a third baseman. Yeah, so third baseman obviously you know, requires that throw on right. He's a right handed guy. Um, And so the thing is he's not utilizing that arm

as much as a picture is. So yeah, I mean, we're we're concerned about the third basement from a power standpoint, but nowhere near the sensitivity of um, you know, a picture. But having said that, removing loose bone chips. It's actually a pro active procedure. Um, it's not response to something that is completely torn or fractured, etcetera. So you know, Uh, this is a great three elbow injury on a third baseman.

And you know, although he'll be we agree that you know, they should take its sensitively and limit him in the start of spring training. UM. You know he should be able to go probably by opening day. Uh from that standpoint, because um, even though they have to take him sensitively, his HPF should get back up to above average to peak helds so not as sensitive as a picture. It's important though, and it's important that they are limiting him in spring training and then taking its step by step

on the way back, so nothing's torn there. It's a clean up procedure, Uh, to prevent anything further happening this season. Doc, you use the word power to describing Alex Bregman, and last year what we loved about him so much was that he hit thirty one home runs. Is this something that could affect his power this season? Uh? It could improve it. Actually, you know, this is something that will make it better. I mean, he probably was playing through

these loose bone chips. The last season. So this should not this type of procedure, if everything goes okay, should actually make his power better and should be he should be ready to go. This is a proactive type of procedure, which is a very good call for him. Greg, I have my word for Alex Bregman. Okay, that's a good word, Frank, that's a good one. Very excited, very excited, very excited, clearly about Alex Bregman. We're talking to Dr a of

inside injuries. We're doing a whole astro show here, particularly on four guys that are coming back from injuries. We mentioned Bregman, we mentioned out to you, but he wanted to get to Carlos Correa as well, who battled injuries also most of the last year. He has deemed himself completely healthy and ready to go. Uh. Frank and I are gonna get into him after we talk to you, Doc. What's the latest in Carlos Corea so back in oblique injuries. This has been his nemesis, you know for a while now.

He missed fifty games last year because of it. Uh, And I'm sure he's had multiple m r s. And it looks like because of the fact that he's had trouble sleeping and you know taking deep breaths that he does have. You know, he probably had a partial terror of his obliques and he also probably has a multiple bulges or even a discarnation, et cetera. However, you know, he tends to often play through these injuries, so these are more like grade one and grade two back and

oblique injuries. However, I think the you know, sort of the time is catching up with him right now. You know, even though he's at above average at sixty percent in the off season, um it will go back up to pe health, but his injury risk will remain at about thirty percent because he will miss a third of the season that you can almost guarantee. These core injuries are scary, Greg.

I mean, look, as much as you want to hope because he's so young and that youth is on his side and that he'll be able to bounce back from an injury like this, and I don't want to completely

compared to Kershaw because it's different. It's definitely certainly when you're a picture and you know the stress that you put on your back, but I mean, look when you're a hitter and you swing with as much torque as you do, and you have, you know, issues with your oblique and your back and your core, and it just really worries me. I know that. You know, you want to get excited about where Carlos Correa is going this year because you're getting him at such a discount, but man,

it has me worried. You know, Look, another shortstop that has me worried. I think it's a natural transition here. Doc is moving into Corey Seeger. Look, Seeger and Carlos Correa were taking the league by storm, as you know, two young shortstops who were going very early in fantasy drafts last year at this time. And look, he's recovering from not only Tommy John surgery, but he had arthroscopic

hip surgery in August. So I guess they figured, you know, hey, while you're out rehabbing from Tommy John, you might as well get this done too. You know, you mentioned a proactive move with Alex Bregman earlier on in the show. I think this is probably one of those moves that the Dodgers looked to make with Corey Seeger. Um, how much do we trust him heading into this season? Yeah?

I mean the Tommys John surgery happened quite a while ago, and uh, you know this the very the good news is that he didn't have like an acute hip injury. Um you know that caused him to have surgery. I bet you this was a very very proactive type of surgery. And so he's he's been off you know, has been off the field for quite a bit of time. Um, and so when he does get back on the field, um,

you know, he should be ready to go. The problem is is that we're projecting that he's not going to be ready for opening day and it's more like a late April early May type of start for us. And so if he has any chance of coming back during opening day, I would really look at that as been be very cautionary on that because he he shouldn't be ready until early May. Coming back from Tommy John surgery

is at least a year. Uh. And then left hip surgery on top of that, even though it's our for scopic and may have been proactive, the combination of these two injuries and getting getting back on the field March end of March, mid March is just not I we think a realistic possibility. We think it's more at the end of April. If Carlos Correa end or see both play on opening day this year late March early April,

who is more likely to reinjure themselves? Is it Correa? Um? Yeah, Correa mainly because if you're talking about any injury, the very fact of a back and oblique, you know, getting reaggravated is much higher than retearing, uh, you know, an elbow or having some significant hip surgery. Again, speaking of elbows, I wanted to bring up perhaps the most famous elbow right now in MLBING. That's Shoeotani. It's Tommy John surgery.

A few months back, and the rumor was that he was going to be a hitter this year started at d H and because the hitter rehab obviously takes a much shorter than the picture rehab does, he's not asked to play the field. He's literally just asked to hit. Now, news came out out about a week or so ago that hey, he may not be ready for opening day. We were just talking about Corey Corey seeger and he's

Tommy John surgery. What's up with Shoyotani and his I mean, just because he's not pitching that does not mean that it does not put due forces on the elbow when you hit. I mean you use every single aspect and the torque that's created on swing is not as great as a pitch, but it is still putting pressure on that elbow. So it has to get the Simmy John surgery has to get back to a certain point, and hell to a certain point before they're going to even

allow him to swing. And so the Lner Colado ligament has to heal, the reconstruction, it has to heal because God forbid, he takes a swing and tears the u c L. And then you know we're talking two years two one, right, and so I mean I can't even think further than two months from now, but think about two years from now, right, And so I think this is a bad move to have him d H. If he's going to get one injury, he's got to get the other man, meaning he's got to he's got to

basically be out the whole time. Um, numbers wise, Yeah, he's a great hitter, but um, you know that he's taking a big risk of damaging that U c L surgery further if he's going to d H. So no way by um opening day. I think it's at least made to June that he'll be back. If he's back, I'm telling you, this is one of those things where they make a decision and they decide, you know what, our investment is protected if we let him heal completely first. Yes,

this is one of those things. I'm not interested in Otani this year because of that exact reason, because plans can change the the arm is so valuable even in a daily Transactionally, you don't even want him there. I'm just really nervous about it. Man. And this goes back to a lot of what we talked about last year with Otani. How you know it's gonna be tough for the team to manage, you know, him being a hitter versus being a picture and you know this is why

we don't see a player like this all this often. Yes, he was the American League Rookie of the Year. He took the league by storm. He was awesome to watch, he was a great hitter. He was fun to watch as a picture as well. But it really really need needs to be smart about the way that they manage Otani heading into this season. Doc, we asked you about Corey Seeger and his hip surgery. Earlier on in the show, I want to ask you about Buster Posey now thirty

one years old. He's gonna be thirty two come late March. Last season, in August, he one underwent season ending surgery to repair a micro fracture and laboring pair in his

right hip. Um it sounds really bad for a catcher, Yes, big time, and you know because of his age and all the other injuries that he's had, I mean the wear and tear you guys know, for catcher, it's just just you know, it's like a running back in the NFL, right, and so they're their lifespan in the in the league is just it just gets uh, you know, for short shortened considerably by just being in that position alone. But um, you know, great four hip surgery, micro fractor surgery, and

laboral pathology that they have to essentially repair. Um, you know, it is not something that he should be ready for opening day. His injury date, I believe um was in August, but his surgery was in October. So we're looking at at least you know, May to June when we feel that he'd be back to an HPF that is respectable at peak. So right now he's at you know, I don't you know, I know, I think the rumor has it that he's expected to be ready for opening Day. I don't see how um and if he is playing,

then that the risk of injury. Right now, the risk is great because he's still recovering. But man, that I R C is probably going to be on opening day must prosy not expected to play catcher every day that he has been in draft him, Okay, don't draft him. That's it great, There's there's nothing else to say about bus proposing. Don't draft him. I know it's a terrible position. He is kind of like the last catcher. I mean, there's a huge gap in terms of ADP right now.

He there's a top eight he's going pick on the ninth catcher is Danny Jenson going to pick? So that's that's a huge gap. And look, I know he's like the drop off of a tier, but I'm not drafting I don't. I don't see how he's gonna, you know, come close to playing as much as he has in the past. He was already starting to lose power. He turning into Joe Mauer from you know, a from a

skill uh perspective, out two out buster pose out? Are you also out on Alex Reyes, who last year was coming back from his own Tommy John surgery comes back midway through the year. Uh, kind of excites everybody and then gets hurt again. There's a lot of hype around the forward top prospect use battle personal issues and obviously he battle the injuries now as well. We don't know if he's a reliever, we don't know if he's a starter.

We just want to know if he's healthy. What you got for us, Doc, Yeah, I mean this is uh, you know, a clear cut example of a lot of time to heal. He even remember had Tommy John surgery in February of two thousand seventeen, and so recovered from that and then recovered. This is a torn lap tendon which looks like he know, you know, his injury date was in June, so he will have completely recovered from that injury already and he should be ready to go.

I mean, we're projecting him already at peak HPF. He's a little bit injury risk elevated right now at four. But by the time opening day comes around, and if he doesn't have any setbacks. From a medical standpoint, you should be healed from these injuries, and his numbers look pretty good. Okay, that's actually very positive as a breakout candidate. Definitely. I don't I don't know what people forget about him.

Excited to talk about him in the future. Yeah, I mean, I think the innings pitch will always kind of be a concern, especially this year. I don't know that you could project him for more than thirty I think that would be aggressive. But you know, when he's on the field, he could be very, very good. Stop speaking of pictures

that are returning from injuries. Two years ago, the last time we saw Jimmy Nelson, he was very good whenever he was on the field, and a lot of people took late stabs on him last year in drafts and he ultimately ended up not pitching. What what was the injury? To be exact with Jimmy Nelson's expect him to be back to this year since he's had so much time to rest and rehab. Yeah, I mean, this is the thing. From injury recovery standpoint, his numbers look great. Um, you know,

the injury date was September of two thousand, seventeen. He had a he had a significant rotator cuff strain, which means probably a partial tear at least, and then a starting pitcher and the throwing shoulder that's literally treated like a Grade four type injury. And then he also had a partial uh anterior labor tear, which is you know, again uh, something that if it's not repaired, especially for the repetition that a picture has, uh you know, then

it caused lots of problems in the future. So he got shut down, he got repaired, and it's been a long time. So his HPF is at nineties seven percent, his injury risk is at four and a half percent, which is very low. And so numbers and metrics everything

looks good. Here's the issue and this is not I'm saying this outside of the data metrics, which is he hasn't been in Major League baseball speed for over a year, and so it's going to be very very interesting to see when he first comes back, how he handles that and if his power and his the law a city and all of that stuff is still the same. And

there you go. That's that's the latest one comes the Jimmy Nelson has been a long time since we've seen on Emil E. MoU and hopefully you know was back in the Jimmy Nelson that we fell book well years ago. We'll say dr a inside injuries. We appreciate the time as always and we look forward to talking to you next week. Great guys, Thanks, have a good week. Awesome a lot of you guys. We gotta get to you. Gregory Block who comes up labor to I'm sorry, d

Goorius as well. We'll be back with more in Carlos Correa and Michael Brantley will wrap up the conversation. Alex Pegman too. Next week. The Fantasy Sports Network is hitting you from all angles with the best fantasy sports and betting analysis. You can catch the latest programming on so many platforms, there's no way you'll miss out on any of the award winning programming we pump out every single day.

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on the Fantasy Sports Networking on your popular podcast. Providers joined the Experts live on the air every day by calling in at April four at six seven nine to join the Fantasy Sports Network, Fantasy Best Friends Forever, Fantasy Sports Radio Networks. Anything else you wanted to bring up when it came to Alex Bregman the Bowl on that no, I'm pretty sure my word to describe how I feel

about Alex Bregman was was the final boat? The last thing you need to hear involving him heard from Doc, I mean, you know, part of his maturity as a hitter. And look again, a hundred runs hundred RBIs last year with everything that happened in the Astro's line up, with Carl's corea constantly in and out of the lineup, with Josel two a missing time and not being himself, and now they add a guy like Michael Brantley as well.

I mean, there's a lot of reasons to be excited about this lineup, but in particular Alex Bregman, who's only getting better every single season. I'm definitely on him. What Dr A said that the power, it's real and can actually improve that those bone chips are gone. I don't want to go that far, but how would you feel about a start of Bregman de Graham team Team USA? How I feel with you? That's what it feels like. Um,

how I feel you even pull that off? I don't know it would get a DP and see if that's even possible. I think I have it up. I was like, ext by accident, you could do it in a twelve team league because the GRAM is pick eleven point seven and three. So in a fifteen team or you're not getting that, Yeah, fifteen team or it's more likely you get Bregman and in a twelve team league it could happen at the turn for you. I actually have the updated NFBC where I took you even much smaller sample

sided Frank February exactly. Yeah, they're going back to back eleven twelve Yeah alright, so unless it's a twelve team league. You're not gonna be able to pull that off. Would How would you feel about your team if it was bregman Verlanders start first two picks? I'm not great, Okay, I feel okay. It's so interesting because, like I'm looking at, I know, if you're getting the first round and you want a starting pitcher, then you're likely going to take

the gram Sore for sale. And then in the second round you're gonna get a hitter, but you're not gonna get Bregmant So I know even really second round you'll get a guy like Aaron Judge. You don't want to learning more than anything, I think, Frank, this first round it's very different than first rounds we've seen over the past couple of years. Like normally they're relatively similar, but after your like top seven or so according to the NFBC,

it's very very different. Like all right, Erronado's in there and Trout and bets. Yeah, that's what I've noticed about this. There's a top five or six consensus. Yeah, we're gonna talk with Modico about this. Really, the first round a lot on Monday, and then it's kind of like take your pick whoever you prefer. A lot of these guys were just not the guys that we have seen in the first round. Christian Yellis, Ronald Kunia, de gram Bregman,

Chris Sale, Hobby Bayas. Then you get into the more traditional way you can think the first rounders, right like your power hitters of Freeman, Judge, Machado, Harper, gold Schmidt. All these guys are in the second round, which is crazy to me because they're they're your theoretical first rounders, and you know, it's it's crazy that they're all going right in that middle, that pack in the second round.

Like I love being in that spot where you get Harper, Judge Harper, Judge Machado, Freeman, gold Schmidt standing like I love that. Like now that's that, That's that's a great spot to be it. I think here's the problem, Greg, if you wait until the end of the third round in a fifteen team draft for a picture. Here, here are your options. Here, here's what you're gonna get your sp one Walker Bueller, No A Sinder, Guard, Patrick Corbyn,

James Paxson. What about Kershaw? Kirshaw was like right on the cut off, He's right around there, he's going to pick forty nine. Walker Bueler is going forty one point four. So what if you start if you started out with you know, I understand that, but like the upside, we know what it is and Modique is not on Kershaw. This year, you started your draft bra Bregman, Bregman, Judgeman Judge and then go with Kershaw and another picture in the fourth You know, I'm just asking, uh, And that's

what it comes down to. That's what I said yesterday. I don't want Kershaw to be my sp one. I mean, how can you trust them for more? I don't. I don't. I won't be here. But let's ask dr about Kershaw tomorrow. I remember we had him on the show last year. You said he wouldn't be surprised if in a couple of years Kershaw becomes a relief pitch, which is crazy to imagine, but trust dr Ay, he's back like back injury.

For Kershaw, It's it's chronic. It's always going to be there. Now, you can get lucky if a guy like Carrasco or Severino falls to you in the third round. I think I can live with that. I think I can live with one of those guys is my sp one team league. But Carl's Krass was going to pick thirty six, that's the middle of the third round. So with Severino, they're going to pick seven, that's the middle of the third

round of a fifteen team draft. In a twelve team league, you're getting those guys at the end of the third round that you can pull off. That I feel better about in a twelve team league if you could start Regman Judge. Because if I play in a rod A league, I'm taking an outfielder with one of my first three round picks. I have no choice. Start five outfielders. You gotta get one of them in the first three rounds.

I would start, you know, Regman Judge, and then I get like a Carrasco or sevenre you not at the end of the third round in twelve league. That yeah, I like that too. I like that a lot. Let's get back to the astros, though, and let's particularly dive a little bit deeper here on Carlos Korea. Not exactly a glowing report um on Korea when it came from dr A, but another one of these astros. It's just really battled injuries throughout last year. Obviously the form number

one overall pick for the Houston Astros. Another one of these guys. It's just twenty four years old. Last year, the second consecutive year, really only played in a hundred and ten games, fifteen homers, which was down, I mean down across the board right home runs, runs, rv i s. He doesn't run at all anymore. He strikes out more than Bragman and and LTDA walks as good over ten percent. The average was horrific, absolutely horrific last year. How much

does that do the injury? That's where we had to figure out he's had his back injury. As we said that just leaders he says he feels a million percent healthy. We know that backs could kind of just uh, as Frank mentioned with Kershaw, kind of crop up at any moment. Frank, what is your opinion here on Carlos Cray. I'm scared man. You mentioned it. Back to back seasons a hundred and ten games. Last year in a hundred nine games, the production didn't fall off in when he missed time. He

still hit twenty four home runs. He was on a great pace. You know, if he if he played hundred and fifty plus games, he was hitting thirty plus home runs. He was giving you a hundred RBIs, a hundred runs scored. He's batting over three hundred. He was phenomenal two years ago, but it is two years now in a row where he's played right around a hundred and ten games. Last year really started to affect his production. You heard Dr A talk about these core injuries, your back, your oblique.

You watched Carlo's career. He swings with a lot of ferocity. Um, Look, he had seven p s last year. It just clearly affected his production. Twenty nine percent hard hit rate, whereas you know the two previous years he was thirty seven percent and thirty nine percent. He was trending up in the right direction. He was getting better. This is one of these are one of those risky picks in the fourth or fifth round that can win you a draft.

He can return first round value. He can be a three hundred plus hitter, hit thirty bombs hit, you know, a hundred runs, a hundred RBIs. If he can stay healthy. In the actual's line up, it's a great lineup, and

it looked like he was destined first stardom. But it's also you know, at that point it's the ultimate risk reward pick because if he plays a hundred games again, he plays a hundred ten games, and he's not even what he was two years ago, where at least that year when he was playing, he was still Carlos Correa. Last year when he was playing, he was seven p s guy. That's a replacement level player that's lessan Lee average.

So it's risky, it's risky. It's the ultimate risk reward pick right now that I see in that fourth fifth round range, and you know who's going right around him, Greg the guy that we love, Tommy Fan. Are you gonna take Carlos Currey over guy like Tommy Fan? Where all right, he has some injury risk himself the past couple of years, but finally has a place where he's gonna play every single day, and in roto leagues you

need those outfielders. Are you handing up Suarez? Another guy going right around Carlos Correa, another guy who's only getting better every single year, and a stack line up with the Cincinnati Reds. Carlos Carea is the ultimate wild card this year, ultimate risk reward pick. There are just other players that I like in that range. Did you have Carlos care Jean Siagura A good question. They both play shortstop, and uh, it's the it's the stability of Jean Siagura.

You know what you're gonna get from him depends what kind of player you are. Me. I mean, my first thought is Jean Siagura, because you know, I like knowing what I'm gonna get. But if you're a riskier player, you want to shoot for the upside, you want to shoot for the moon. Alo Carea is your pick there, Jean Siagura. Look, I think he's gonna give me to a D plus batting average. He's gonna give me runs.

He's in a good line up with the Phillies. He's gonna still steal me at least basses doesn't kill your power. Twelve to fifty home runs. Carlos Korea, no doubt, has more upside, he also has more downside. The order to describe Carlos Correa scared, I would stay nervous. I would

say nervous. Would you take Correa or Cigara? It's really hard because the upside of Correa is the first round pick, right, like we talked about it, like if you're playing, if you're playing the NFBC and you're playing for an overall, so you go to that. I almost relate this to the question we talked a lot about in fantasy. I will play for first or do you want to play for third or four? We stood by this avantage football season, right, we do it all the time, where like which guy

do you take later? Like risks later on? Though you know risking you know the nine tenth round plus on. I know we talk a lot, dude about who could be a first rounder, who could return first round value in these middle rounds. Carlos Gray is one of those guys. He has that ability and that's what probably and you're right, it depends what how a player you are makes me take Correa over Cigara, I think, and I think you mentioned Tommy Famine, like you want that third outfielder. I

get it, but second outfielder. Most people use the second outfielder, you know, Tommy fam in the fifth round about roster can You're not gonna get Tommy fam is your third outfielder unless you by the fifth round you need to have two outfielders already, which means ultimately your infield is going to be suffering from that or even you're starting pitching league, So Tommy fam is gonna end up being a lot of people's second outfielder this year, which I

don't hate. I probably want him as my outfield three as well. But again, you gotta dig deep, you gotta find those and you can probably pull it off, because as of right now, you know there are first base and then I like that are going later on in draft. Jose Brave, I like him a lot already. Matt Olsen, I like him a lot, their second baseman going on later, Rugnado Door that I like. You can find guys later on in the infield. You know you can pull off

Tommy fam is your third outfielder. You definitely could with that. We're gonna sign off of YouTube before we start. Michael Brantley, I don't want to kind of stop in the middle of that. So come next it's the Fantasy Football Frenzy, So stay tuned for that. Like subscribe, rate us five stars, Please leave a comment, uh, give us the thumbs up. We appreciate all of your support and a lot of

baseball coming up programming. Note tomorrow on the show, we're gonna do my home League Draft lottery live right here on the bff's second year in a row. We've done that. We'll get the ducks up here, will spend the wheel and it'll be fun, and we will also have best ball analysis from our buddy John Legates. Make sure you follow him on Twitter at MLB moving a v G. He puts up a bunch of great stats graphs. Um.

You know, he has like these line charts. He has these heat maps, um that he shows like which players you should be, you know, targeting your drafts, which guys are undervalued. Right now, he's done, like you know how Jim Day does like a hundred best ball Football drafts, Our buddy, he's already done like fifty, and he's like confident he's gonna cash and all of them because he has this down to like a science science science. He

really is. He used to do like trading and stuff, so he kind of like he looks at it from a completely different person. Active. It's gonna be cool to talk to him. All right. With that, we are going to as I said signed off on YouTube and get into our final player. We're gonna really break down today. And that's a fourth the fourth astro, and that's Michael Brantley and I think that Michael Brantley has never been his talent. That's absolutely never been an issue. It's his

ability to stay healthy. Last year he did and he turned into a nice contract year from the Houston Astros. We've been winning for that Astro prospect. Uh, Kyle Tucker mainly to come up and really be a star, I mean another one of these young superstars, the ash Strows, and it just has not happened. Kyle Tucker, Derek Fisher both come to mind here. So the Astus kind of took it into their own hands, like, you know what about surprise you it although like if Kyle Tucker overtakes

Josh Reddick's job, it wouldn't surprise me. I love Josh redd Stop. It's like you and Nando. I remember, So it wasn't any that was a that was a want Reddick. Nando hated Josh Good. He was good in that league. Sure, thank you to find good Good. Nevertheless, Michael Brantley in slots in that Outfiel as a starter and the talent, the talent's there, it's can you stay healthy? Pretty much the entire Astro's team, it's the same, it's the same conundrum.

They're awesome. Can they stay healthy? Are you buying Michael Brantley being back to full health to a certain extent. Look, I love him for points leagues. I love him in O B P leagues. Um, you know, specifically because he doesn't strike out a lot, he walks a lot. He makes a lot of contact. You know, I mentioned earlier in the show that Alex bregman swinging strike rate last year was four point two percent. The guy does not swing and miss. He makes a lot of contact. There

was one player in baseball better than him. That was Michael Brandley four percent swinging strike rate. He walks a decent amount. He doesn't strike out. So if you play in points leagues, he's gonna hit a ton of doubles. He's gonna be in a great lineup. Roster Resource has Michael Brandley batting fifth in the Astroll's lineup right now. But for Rodo he's just a little boring. I guess you could say, Look, he had three oh nine last year.

He's gonna give you batting average, he's gonna give you runs. He's gonna he's not gonna hit for a ton of power. He only had seventeen home runs, but it's again it's a it's a good park to hit in, not a great park anymore. It's a good park to hit in. But he's surrounded by a lot of good players, So I do think that they're is a great opportunity here for runs and r B. I s for Michael Brantley

this year. Um, he's just kind of like, why you know, he doesn't like do anything that stands out the batting average, which you know where you're getting him hast pick one hundred, Michael Brantley, Gon pick one twenty. So I mean, it's not the easiest thing to find great batting average there. These guys gonnaive you three batting average. To me, he's a guy that stands out more so in points leagues and ob p leagues. Yeah, I completely agree with you.

I think, like what we said, it's when he's healthy, he's the same guy. He's the same guy every years he's fine. And that if he played a hundred and forty three games last year, the year before that, ninety year before that, eleven. So yeah, there's been it was a long time before Michael Brantley was healthy. It was great to see him healthy. And what's so good about him and points Leaves and Frank describe it really well. It doesn't strike out, he doesn't really walk. The ob

p is awesome. He'll be all across the board and a really good at it. With Houston, it only should be good where you're getting around pick On, there's nothing. There's who's only around him? Right, I'm happy you asked, you're on You're on the clock, right, Okay. Michael Brantley, David Peralta or Andrew McCutchen. Those are the three outfielers that are going between picks one and one thirty four. I would feel very comfortable taking Michael Brantley. I had

of both those guys easily, really yeah, easily, yeah. I mean McCutcheon far Rodo doesn't really stand out anymore either. David Peralta though he's a hype guy. He's a hype guy. He's absolutely hype guy. This ye mean, you know he hit a lot more home runs last year. I know he hit the ball harder. Um So look, I haven't done my outfield rankings yet. Um I think as of nowglab right what all the struggles miserably agains lefties. I think he usually does. I don't know how he did

last year. I think it was miserable as usual. I look and it splits a lot. Greg, I don't know about I want. I want guys that are gonna play every day, and you know, in this day and age in baseball, it's hard to find. I mean, so many teams are moving into analytics where they platoon guys who's thirty seven batting average last years? You know what, I'm probably just not taking a outfielder there. If I'm just being on, I mean, I'm probably going to take that direction.

Any of those guys really excite me all that much. Taking Michael Bradley, he out the off fielders. Who else is there? Uh? There is Kyle Hendricks, starting pitcher, Carlos Martinez, and I'd probably take that shot. Interesting probably take that shot. You got some closes in here. You have Kirby Yates old boy, referred to by Chris Venter old boy, Kirby Yates, Bry's my favorite guy, these guys, Wade Davis, you get the Rockies closer, Wilson Rambo's. That's probably where I'm going.

That's where I'm taking my first catcher. Greg ninth eighth, ninth tenth round in Roto League. Probably take my first catcher there. I'll take a guy like Wilson Rommos. I love Wilson Rommos can't quitter. You can't take them with you to get to your drafts. Let's call Meds Gimman were by Michael Brantley. Uh boring, I'll say, fine, points, Corey and the Frenzies up next. You don't hear anything about Michael Brantley for fresh stample all Greg Sauceber lottery tomorrow, we hope