Feb. 15th, Hour 1: Fantasy baseball players we love, #LABR, and more...

listening to the Fantasy Sports Radio Network. Did we just become best friends? Fantasy best Friends Forever? Welcome inside Studio thirty four. This is the Fantasy best Friends Forever p G I F boy, Have I never ever meant that more? And Today Friday Maybear's been along long week, gonna go up for two hours today we meaning myself, Frank Standfeld,

and my good buddy Andy Singleton. You can follow him on Twitter over at People's Pen People's with a Z. Another day, Another start, which means I have to get something off my chest first and foremost before we get into the show. Look, we're gonna have a lot of fun today. We're going to continue talking about players that we love for the upcoming fantasy baseball season. For two

thousand and nineteen. We're gonna have Tim McLeod of Prospect three sixty one dot com on later on in the show to talk about his labor mixed draft team that he had drafting out of the two spot. But as I mentioned, first and foremost, is gonna give a shout out to my good buddy Scott Angle. Everybody knows the news. You've heard it. Uh, you know, I wouldn't be in this business if it weren't for Scott. You know, he gave me my first opportunity. So you know, look, I'm

forever grateful to Scott. They call him the King for a reason. I have no doubts that he's gonna land back on his feet. Just wanted to get that out there. First and foremost. I mentioned that we're going two hours today. What's up? Thanks for um. I mentioned that we're gonna go two hours today. That's gonna be, That's gonna be

the norm moving forward as well. We're not here on Monday, there's no programming on Monday, but starting Tuesday and moving forward, myself Greg Sousman, we'll try and get some guests in studio. We'll have some Chris Venture on the show. We're gonna be going for two hours. By no means am I trying to replace Corey Parson, the Fantasy executive. He's you know, he's one of a kind. Corey is one of my friends as well. I've spoken to him. We're on good terms.

You know. For anyone who's out there who might be saying, like Frank and Greg are behind this, by no means is that true? Um, you know, if you've watched the show, if you know my relationship with Corey, then you know the truth. You know that, you know it's all in good love. We're friends. So I just thought i'd throw that out there as well. Shout out to Corey Parson and Scott Angle. But that's it for the show. I don't want to talk about that for the for the

rest of the show. Today again, I want to have fun. Andy, How did you sleep last night? How is your Valentine's Day? My Valative's Day was fine? Final Times day was great. It was a relief, uh from the case I apparently walked into yesterday. I was filling a lot of tweets um that I like, I was quote on the cross here. So um, I'm happy to be back for two hours today to try to have some fun talks some fantasy baseball.

All the guys you mentioned, I spoke with them individually yesterday, so I'm wishing them as well as well Scott as you mentioned as landon now with fan tracks where I used to be. So congrats to you, Scott and everything else going on. But I'm I'm just here to have fun and talk some baseball and hopefully make some winners out of the people watching and listening to us. Today. I was getting good reviews. They liked the show we

had yesterday, were my FDNY baseball had today. Uh to keep us in the mood and the spirit I mentioned to you yesterday and keep it right at the top here. I failed to mention because we had a short time. But I just want to give a quick Not a lot of people know that I'm a firefighter in my main world and main life, UH do this fantasy stuff on the side, But I just wanted to put the cap to uh Detective Mark Simmonson, who unfortunate from PT

lost his life this week. UM, so just keep you know civil service workers and your thoughts and prayers on a daily basis. And UH, with that being said, let's let's let's get on to some more players we love for the twenty nineteen fantasy baseball season. That's exactly right, That's exactly what it's about today. Andy. You know, I want to have some fun. I want to talk some fantasy baseball. That's exactly what it's about. Let's jump right back in. You know, yesterday we was Valentine's Day. We

want to talk about some players that we love. I mentioned, you know, I want to do a segment with the Sweetheart candies. I couldn't find the Sweetheart candies anywhere, so I kind of threw a rent and everything, but I looked up the original sayings of the Sweetheart candies, and once again, you know, I was trying to find players that would match up how I feel regarding those sayings on the candies. Yesterday we did be mine. We also do a little bit of cutie Pie. We have a

lot more players to get to. I mean, you know, I build an extensive rundown. It's what I do, Andy, you know, so we have a lot of players so that we need to get to. I have no doubts that we'll be able to fill the time here. We'll get into those guys right now, cutie pie. Again, this was somebody who wasn't the hottest maybe last year, not the hotest this year. Maybe he went a little bit later on in drafts, but he has potential potential. You

say Kuchi, you don't say Andy Singleton. You're buying in on Kuchi, the latest Japanese import for the Seattle Mariners this season, going around pick one eighties. So you know, I think he's, you know, barely inside the top forty starting pitchers. I would say that's kind of like around the range that he's being drafted right now. The Mariners have already come out and said for this season there you know, they're gonna put a cap on his endings. You know he's not gonna go much more than one

sixty endings pitch. But I assume if you have him on the list, this list, you are thinking that he's gonna be pretty good in those endings that he does pitch. I do say, you say, and just real quick before we get into this, as as you mentioned with the candies, I got home yesterday, you're asking me how my Valentine's Day was? I said, had the show go? I said, great? But we couldn't find these candies to go with Tom. You had them at your house? No, she said, that's ridiculous.

You can find them everywhere. So I walk to the two nearest drug stores. They were both right age. Did you get him? No, they're sold out everywhere. So this is completely you know, I'm not calling you a liar, Mrs Singleton, No, no, no, this is well. She was shocked as well, shocked and dismayed that the candies we grew up on. This is this would be like Easter without peeps. And I know Howard Benda would be lived if that were the case. But I mean this, this

is this is a travesty. I think for Valentine's dates, you want to have these candies. But I thought I saw somewhere that they were going to be discontinued. Maybe that actually happened. It might happen. That actually would be a tragedy. Either that or you have to do the Valentine candies. You still gotta make them, even if they don't sell. I don't care if they sell it. You gotta make them Valentine. They might have made a limited quantity and they was sold out by the tenth who knows,

But you know, we're shopping on the four team. We're the last minute shoppers yesterday. But um, what do you like about? You said? The Mariners just released a video of this guy two days ago, slow motion video. His ball. Uh, the way he hides the ball is second to none. This is ridiculous, silky smooth lefty delivery. His numbers weren't spectacular. They don't jump out at the page that you from, you know, from overseas, but they weren't bad. They were

very good. We'll put it like that. Very good. Maybe a top thirty pitcher in America had he's done that in the major leagues. Now, he's got some injury concerns, everything like that. But he's a lefty. I love lefties. He's already the Mariner's ace. He's twenty seven. I was mentioning yesterday, I love that h window from twenty seven and thirty two. For athletes, in particular baseball players. There's just every a lot of things that scream out to me that I like. His His walk. His walk rate

has always been below three per nine. His k rate is just about nine per nine, which I think will slightly tick up just a touch in the majors. Um which makes him. Uhh, that top thirty to fifty window I'm looking for for a picture, and we were talking about the cap on him. There really is no definition to this. They said he's gonna make his regular starts. I don't know what that means. So I'm looking at

a hundred and fifty innings out of this guy. And if he can give me a hundred and fifty innings with a lower r A and the low referals, then I'm happy that he's gonna fall into that. Like I said, top thirty to fifty starting pitcher arrange and from where he's being drafted overall, that's right in my wheelhouse. Shout out to Perry in the chat informing me that the Sweetheart candies weren't available this year due to a changing

company owner. That's the latest on the Sweet Sweetheart candy fiasco. Here on the Fantasy Best Friends Forever By. You know what, we still got the saings. We're still gonna talk about the players. Be like, look, you say, Caucci, I saw the video. I encourage everyone to go out there and check out the Seattle Seattle Mariners Twitter and watch this slow motion video. What Andy said about him being able

to hide the ball is absolutely right. It was spectacular. Um. He also has little herky jerk uh delivery that we see from a lot of a lot of the Asian starting pitchers that come over. He's got like a little hesitation. He's a lefty. Um. You know it's really fun to watch too. You know I love watching uh you know those those weird deliveries, those hesitations too. So not only are we expecting some pretty good things of Cokuchi this year, Um,

he's gonna be fun to watch. So I think I think he's a better picture for for Rhodo than he is for like head to head points and head to head points. I'm gonna hammer on these, uh these points A lot is that you want ennings, you want durability. Uh, you maybe don't worry about how great a picture is gonna be on a per start basis. Obviously you want them to be good, but you want quality starts when it comes to points leagues, you want durability. You want

guys that are gonna go deep into games. Kakuchi strikes me more as a guy for Rhodo Andy because I think, you know, he might be around that eight kse per nine and he's gonna be a hundred and fifty two hundred and sixty ennings pitch. And you know, maybe he won't go super deep into games. Maybe he's you know, five six ennings pitch. But we've seen especially with other pictures, you know, in this I with guys, Uh what am I thinking of right here? From from the Dodgers, he

doesn't go Yeah, he doesn't go deep into games. He only go five six nis pitched. But what he gives you in those five six endings are really really great for for Rodo. So for me personally, I think Kikuchi is a better fit for Rhodo than he is for head to head points leagues. But there's a lot to be excited about there. Look, he doesn't plow you away. He's not gonna throw per hour, but it doesn't need to though, you know, you know, he he can hide the ball. He could throw his three mixed in his

secondary pitches as well. Uh, you know, over on fan graphs, the bat projections have him projected for you know, right around nine case per nine three point nine six e r A. Again, these can these projections tend to be a little bit more conservative, So if you're on the higher end of these projections. Maybe you think Kuchi could get to a three seven six e r A with you know, near a strikeout for ending. But that's what we have here on Kokuchi this year. That is one

of Andy Singleton's cutie pots for this season. Yeah. He he knows what he's doing. I like, I like what he's working with and I'm not worried. And that seems to be with driving the draft prices, the worry of the cap that you mentioned. I'm just looking for a hundred and fifty from him, and I think that's attainable regardless if he makes restart, if if he's pulled after five or six in those starts. Um, I'm not worried

about that. Give me a hundred fifty innings and I'll be happy with you, especially on for the return on investment at one eighty, you'll be happy with you. Say I will, I say I will look a hundred fifty, hundred sixty innings pitched. Let's just look at the nature of the starting position, uh starting pitcher position right now. How many endings are you realistically projecting for a guy like James Paxson. How many endings are you projecting for

a guy like Noah cinder Guard. As much as much as we love this guy's and as talented as they are, you can't really project them for much more than a hundred and sixty innings pitch. I haven't done it the past couple of seasons. Yeah, I would hope for for those two guys in particular, I hope for one eight and And don't get me wrong, Look, they're much better than Cokuchi, like on a per star basis and their talent wise. I'm just trying to draw the comparison to

starting pitching in general. There's not a lot of guys that are gonna go much more than a hundred and sixty innings pitch, right But we're talking about the difference, and that goes back to the draft price. So for sure, those guys you have to pay you know, third fourth round draft price, and rightfully so. But again, it's like there's not a lot of pictures that are gonna go that deep. Andy Mike Saroka is a guy that I've

been all over in Bestball Draft to this point. He's going at pick right now and N A B C A DP You're getting him super late. I understand that there's risk if you don't know if he's gonna start in the Braves rotation. As of right now, it looks like two Key Tucson and Mike Saroka are gonna be battling for that fifth starting pitcher job in the rotation

for the Atlanta Braves. But Mikesarroka was the guy that I was touting helly last year, and I look at those minor league numbers and you know, not huge sample size, doesn't miss a lot of bats, but he does induce a lot of groundballs. He has great numbers in the minors last year, five stars twenty seven, and he's pitched at triple A. Uh. He did have the capern over ten. Me personally, I'm not expecting that. But he had a

seventy ground ball rate. He had a two e r A. He had a fIF an xfit both below two point to one. So even though he's might not be in the rotation to start, uh, you have questions about his innings this year as well. This is a prospect in Mikesaroka that I really do like. He at at seven point three case per nine last year, but the swinging strike rate was up over ten. It was around ten point seven, so me personally, I think he could be in eight strikeouts per nine kind of pictured her with

a really good ground ball. Right. Do you like Sarocca as well or out here? No? I love the big Canadian and he is the bravest best picture. Now you mentioned the cape and nine. The power numbers are not exactly as sexy as some of the other players, but he's undoubtedly, let's just say undoubtedly, he's more than likely the braves best picture of of this crop of youngsters

coming up. In terms of being a complete guy. He's been the one that drew the maddox you know comps when when you talked about the trio from what was it the nineties that the Braves had with Glavin and Smoltz and all these guys. So, um, Siroca is that guy. He could be the anchor for this rotation going forward. And he's only gonna be what is the twenty one

in in August, so he's still a youngster. Uh. You don't like to see the shoulder injury that he had last year that shelved him and put him on the sixty D d L and everything like that, but all indications are he's recovered from that he's healthy. We had dr on yesterday talking about Lindor's calf and how you know youth serves to healing, so you take another five years off of Sarroka. I'm happy to say, yes, I trust that he If the doctors are saying he's fully healed,

he's ready to come back, I'm trusting it. I'm believing it for now until you proved me wrong a couple of times. I'll take your word for it. Maybe I'm a little naive in that regard, but fine, I'll believe it. And where he's going, the what the return that he can give you for where he's going doesn't even come close. So it costs you nothing to grab him at three hundred, and he can legitimately turn in the top thirty season as a starting pitcher. So yeah, I'd be happy to

take him everywhere I could. I'm looking at the hard hit rate from last year and twenty nine point four percent, so you know it's not like he was giving up hard contact. He got the groundball rate at you look at the arsenal here and you'll see on fan grabs, uh sixty eight point three percent fastball rate, And that might worry some people but if you look right below that the pitch Info pitch type, he throws his four seam or twenty nine point four percent of the time.

He throws a sinker thirty nine percent of the time, so he throws two different iterations of the fastball, but he also mixes in a slider and a changeup. To me, there's lots of like about Mike Sarroka. I'm with you that you know he's going right around pick three right now. He's a guy that could return, you know, top forty, maybe even top thirty if everything works out correctly starting pitcher value this season. Uh, let's get to this guy a little bit before the break, well, real, real quick.

Can we come back to Sarrocca when we have Tim on, because Tim, of course being Canadian, he might have some things he can share with us about Mike Sarocca. Hey, let's um, you know, we get Weet asked him about Sarroka for sure. Coming up later on in the show, Andy, the player that you have here as your cutie pie, your second cutie pie, was someone that Florio and myself got into screaming matches over last year because, as you know,

as everybody knows, who's ever owned this player. He does have loads of potential, and I can't dispute that at all. But we now have a near five hundred ending sample size which includes eighty nine starts, where this picture has a four point six five e r A. I get it. He has a three point six eight five. He has a three point five four x FIT, he has a three point six eight Sierra. The skills are there. He

gets strikeouts, he gets groundballs, command has gotten better. There's everything you want to like about a seven year old, potential breakout starting pitcher in John Gray. But unfortunately Andy and we'll just kind of like tease this up a little bit before the break, talk about when we get back. We don't play in x FIT leagues. We play in the r A leagues. That's fair, and that's fine to say. I'm looking at Gray's more of a points league guy.

I prefer points leaks personally, had to that points leave great? Great? Is that standout points league pitcher for me. We'll get back into him though, we get back in a little you know, I got I got a lot of much. I was yelling at Florial last year. Great different m when you I think he's closer to me, this is a Fantasy best Friends Forever. We'll be here for two hours. Say take you up until two pm. That's Andy Singleton. Follow him on Twitter at People's Fan I'm Frank Sample

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I can't tell any I mean maybe I'll draft Matterson when I have a few hits working. I mean, you're gonna be You're gonna be on the BFS. You gotta see a dance a little bit. Now, that's what you want with Dragonpol, that's what you want Grapol. I come in and try to try to just lay the facts. You know you guys, I appreciate, I appreciate the help as always. That is Andy Singleton. I am Frank sand

Bleu is the Fantasy best Friends Forever. On the NFC Sports Radio Network for the break, we spoke a little bit about John Gray, and look again, I'm just gonna say, I'm gonna echo a lot of the same things. I'll give you your piece and I understand you know you like him a little bit more for head to head points leagues, Um, he's thrown a hundred and sixty eight or more ennys pitched in two of the past three years.

Seen he was limited to add and ten endings pitch again in head to head points leagues, I like to get pictures that are gonna give me endings go deeper into games. I do think there's a chance that John Gray can do that. But it's just about how effective is he going to be when he's on the mound, when he's in Coors Field, when he's in Colorado. Because look, five point one to e r A last year, and

the underlying numbers look very good. I just worry that we've had enough of us sample starts here for John Gray. Maybe he needs a change of scenery. You know, with guys like her Man Marquez and Kyle Freeland, they've kind of learned how to pitch in Coors Field, and they've been they've been successful at doing so. It seems like John Gray hasn't really been able to figure it out

any well. You mentioned, you know, giving you innings. A third of his starts where seven innings and more a bunch more where six innings, a couple of six and two thirds. So he's right there. So I feel it comfortable that he's gonna give me the innings. I mean, let's be honest, this is more a gut field than anything else we mentioned. He's just turned seven. I can't reiterate enough how much I like that age window. So

he's right there for me in those regards. I don't think he's as bad as what he showed in twenty team. He did have that electric ro was a month and full of games. I don't think he's going to do that again and put it across the whole season. But as you mentioned, his control has gotten much better. He's under the three walks per nine. He does throw enough groundballs to to make you believe that that's a solid

skill in his bag. The caves are up there. He's still a power pitcher, averaging you know, ten plus per nine and with the emergence of Marquez and Kyle Freeland, but the pressure is a little bit off of him. He could be he's good point slated to be the third pitcher in this rotape. Now there's not as much expected of him. You know, I talked about Marquez yesterday. He's looking looked at as the ace. Now maybe that's

to his you know, eventual downfall. I'm open not but John Gray doesn't have that same weight on his shoulders. And again he had that month he was lights out in July. Do I think at one point six sixth year he went two and oh he limited opposing batter so one thirty seven batting average, seventeen strikeouts, it's two thirds, Yeah, it was. And and you saw though with those with those great E r A numbers that his strikeouts were down a little. He wasn't even at nine per nine

in that frame. So maybe maybe he'll take something from that. Maybe you'll see the caves come down a little, but the overall results will be better. So I either way, either John Gray, you get I think you're still gonna get production out of him. And again this is more so from a points league. If you're playing in a road a league, I'd be a little bit more hesitant, especially you know his his draft price isn't tremendous, but it's enough that maybe you'd prefer somebody else in that range.

And I couldn't fault you for that. But John Gred is just the guy that I'm in. I'll be happy to have you on my roster and in my rotation. And if I'm looking at you as one of the bottom guys, then hey, I don't have to uh, I don't have to rely on you too much in and I'd be able to cut bait with you if you know, we got off to a bad start, So I'm taking John. There are two sides to every coin, and there are two sides every story, as as we're obviously learning here.

July one point six six e r A. As Andy likes reference, I'll give you his ear a by month and every other month March six point seven, five April five point six, five May five point five seven, June six point zero zero, August four point zero one, September seven point zero and I'm not just trying to reign on your parade. I actually hope that Michael Florio is either watching or listening to this or listen to this at some point. Mike, please just don't draft John Gray.

From bottom my heart, I need to tell you that Valentine's Day just passed. Do not have John Gray. I'm with you, and Mike's a point guy too, So maybe that's why we both see the goodness in John Gray, because Mike and I share that affinity for at the head points leagues. This is our claim to fame. So there you go. Maybe that's why, uh, we're in the Gray wagon. Yeah, and what it's called the gray area there for John Gray. We got the next sweetheart candy

up saying that we have is is forever. You've seen the sweetheart candies, You've probably seen the forever saying on one of these, it's somebody you always draft and will never quit. That's what I want to focus on. How here you're touching on this guy a little bit yesterday, Andy, and that's Yuli Gurriel. Whether you play in points leagues or rhoto leagues, I think that he can provide value

because in head to head points leagues. He doesn't strike out, he makes a lot of contact, he's a little aggressive. Maybe he doesn't walk all that much, but you don't lose points for the strikeouts, and he hits a lot of doubles to all those things factor into being a pretty good head to head points league player. What I want him as my starting first basement and probably not. I probably rather have him as my corner infielder or utility.

But even for Rhoto categories I pick one eight, there are not a lot of hitters that are going to help you in the batting average category at that point. Julie Guriel is one of those guys that is going to help you in the batting average category. And he plays in a really good lineup, and he's gonna play every single day, so there are going to be counting sets there as well. I think that there's value to

be had here regardless of format. Andy Well, you look at the Astro's lineup and you think it's going to be better than what is what it was last year. It go back two years ago to their nobody was hurt last year exactly, so you get hopefully you get your studs back and get Karay back, who is right now. My pick for m v P Hot Take Bowl prediction, I don't I don't know what you'd call it, but I have Carlos Kay packed as my a l m

v P going into the season. Uh So, if the we can do the show, if the uh, if the lineup comes back to fruition, then then he's like you said, the counting sets is gonna be. There's not gonna get you much power. Fifteen home runs would be you know you'd take it. No steals, no speed. But he's a two nine d hitter with five RBI last year. I mean, he's gonna get you seven any hundred thirty six games, right, so even let's niney plus RBI upside and he has

he's a career hitter, right, he's major league level. He's most likely gonna miss when when when you added up a season a month over the course of the season and gave you that, you know, a hundred thirty hundred forty games. But he's going to help your averages significantly. Be your first base. Again, it's not deep this year, so you're gonna get a guy who's gonna give you to nine guaranteed and seventy five plus and runs an RBI, so you're you're going to get some of those counting

stats as well. He's a true three category contributor and at a at a position that's not deep. Whether you want to take him as your starting first basement later on or grab him as a backup or your your corner out fielder, I'm not corner off the corner infield and you see I. However, you want to get him into your line up. Getting him into your lineup is going to help you, not hurt you. And it's not sexy, but people pass on it for that reason. I won't. Yeah,

and it's a roster construction thing. That's what a lot of you know, we'll say that about a lot of players this year, especially for Rhodo. At that point in the draft, and you know you're drafting for upside, but you're also drafting the phil categories. You need to just keep track of your stats throughout your rotistory draft and you need to figure out, Okay, I need batting average, I need runs, I need URBI all right, I'm gonna I'm gonna look for Julie Guriel here. As Andy mentioned,

he's a three category contributor. I can't disagree with anything that you said, Carlos Correa. Maybe if you want to disagree later on in the show, we could do a whole Carlos Correa segment, but we'll see where he went in the labor draft and we'll kind of get into it there. But a guy that I just can't quit. And it seems like I have at least one share of this guy every single year, and I realized he's

a roller coaster. So you know, for for head to head leagues, whether it's points or category, head to head leagues, his weekly output is going to be frustrating. There are weeks where he might help you win, there are weeks where he might help you lose. The player I'm talking about is Justin Upton. You look at his month by month, like ops by season by by month. Within each season, it'll be, you know, one month he'll hit two hundred, I'll give you a six fifty p s. The next

month he'll hit three fifty of you ns. That's the nature of Justin Upton. But he's a perfect rotissary player in my opinion, Andy, because you can just kind of set your watch with Justin Upton. But he's not gonna give you a great batting average. He's gonna hit, you know, to fifty to sixty. Who hitt in that range. He's always had problems with strikeouts, but he hits the ball

extremely hard. The past three years, you can count on Justin Upton for thirty plus home runs, a d plus runs eighty five plus r bis and you're getting him at pick what do we have here with Justin up to nineties. It seems like a pretty good value, man, Like, you're getting this guy's your outfield, Bree, maybe your outfield too, Rodo.

You're just setting You're you're setting your watch. You're getting thirty eight eighty and a two fifty to two sixty batting average in an okay lineup out there with the Los Angeles Angels. Yeah, you don't seem as as E said about Justin Upton as I do well only because he's a top hunter guy. Now, and I've mentioned in how first base is not the deepest position. Outfield is

right there as well. Outfield is not deep at all, especially when you consider are in bare minimum you gotta have three outfielders in majority leagues summer five most leagues are five, right, So it's done. I mean, you have to be conscious of this position at least three, most likely five. And it's already shallow to begin with. So when you talk about a guy like Upton, sure the problem.

I see what Upton and and he's like a he's like a lesser version of Chris Davis at this point with the average the power you're getting power Chris crush Chris, yes, because probably just say yeah, that's a that's a good way to refer to him in Baltimore. Doesn't even exist anymore so and I'm just wipe him from our minds. I can't even find uh. I can't even find Davis is ADP right now on NFPC, so if you can,

if you can, but it's definitely top fifty. It was one of Lord's favorite guys and rest in peace to La Michael's baseball legend. So he's going at the end of round three and fifteam leagues, right, So it's double what Justin Upton will cost to you. So if you miss out on guy like Chris Davis, then grab yourself and up then later on fine, But if you're one of these guys that's taken Davison, you don't want to double down on that same type of production with the

Justin Upton because it's just gonna sink your average. Now you have two guys to worry about. But again, you know, again, a lot of a lot in rohto is roster construction. So you need to be able to look at your team and say, all right, well, maybe I drafted a Joey Vado, or I drafted a Paul Goldsmith early on, or I drafted him now two bays, so I know I'm getting batting average from those guys. Maybe I can afford to take the hit with two sluggers like Chris

Davis and Justin Upton. It all comes down to roster construction. You have to you have to know what you're pumping into your team, and you have to have realistic expectations. In my opinion, you know, Justin Upton is not gonna hit higher than two seventy five, and that's like, and that's being he did it two years ago, he did in seventy three. But if I'm just projecting him, I'm

probably projecting for a two fifty five batting average. But I really just love the power production that you could just set yourself to and you know again, this was the forever sweetheart. Dustin Upton has always been my guy since he you know, me and him basically came into baseball together. And I say baseball and me fantasy and Justin Upton real baseball. You know, I started playing fantasy

baseball when I was in high school. I graduated high school in two thousand nine, so I think I started playing like my junior year two thousand and eight, two thousand nine, that's when Justin Upton really came into the league and started bursting onto the scene. So I associate me starting playing fantasy baseball with Justin Upton. Did you have BJ two? I did have a few shares of b J Upton early on in his career. Uh. And Andrew mccutcheons another one of those guys who I've always

you know, when I started playing fantasy. Um, I I broke in with you know, when those were the top prospects, and these guys were, you know, making a name for themselves and they took the league by storm. Now I'm not just gonna draft them because they were my guys, like there are still there's statistical evidence that shows you why I want to draft him and I just kind of like with Justin Upton, can provide that Godly, that

Godly is your guy, is your pitching forever. Going at pick two forty seven, you're getting him at a mouth later price this year. Then you were at this time a year ago, he was going around the Louise Castiles of the world. He was being drafted as the top thirty starting pitcher, and I was all over Godly. But it was a train wreck last year. Andy, what do you like about his bounce back potential in twenty nineteen.

It's not necessarily bounce back potential. I don't know that it was such a train wreck that people want to say it was. When you look at the overall numbers, they they weren't tragic, And I wouldn't say train wreck either, But just in the perspective of where he was drafted and what you were expecting at well, that's the problem. The expectations were too high for him. This Luise Castele didn't live up to expectations either. But he's younger exactly,

like I mean, we're talking a couple of years. We're talking two years difference between Castillo, but the the electricity of the fastball with Castillo and what you think of him as being the power on But Jack Eiley is over nine per nine. Hey, guy, he gets you the strikeouts. His control really lacked in teen and the walks were above four to the e r A being just below five.

You don't like the fact that he's in Arizona, human door or not, but I mean the numbers that he's still an elite groundball pitcher, which he fits my pitching profile. I want an elite groundball pitcher that's capable of getting me a strikeout perinning and and keeping the walks at a minimum. And that's what he does and he got fifteen wins as a result of it. How many pictures a getting you fifteen wins last year and he was at a hundred and seventy eight and a third inning.

So that's a hundred eighty mark we were talking about before I mentioned yesterday. There's only about a dozen guys getting you two hundred innings this, You know, in any given season these days, a hundred eighty is still a pretty behind number for starting pitching. So he's that innings either modern day innings eater. He's an elite groundball pitcher. He's gonna get you wins, you'd hope. I mean at the offense did a little in Arizona, but you're still

you still think they're gonna put up an offense there. Uh, and he's gonna get you the case. He's not gonna he's not gonna hurt you in anyone category. So if you if you're looking for him to be you're starting picture two or three, that, yeah, you're gonna be disappointed. If you're looking at him as more like you're four or you're five, you're gonna be excited because he's going to back up the back of your rotation with solid consistency.

That's how I feel, at least, Zack Gotty some pictures that are going around, Zack Godley right now, just grow some names at you. A Zeus Luzardo. Look, he's a pitching he's the pitching prospect out in Oakland everyone's excited about right now. Um Uli Rinaldo, Little Pez, Jimmy Nelson. I mean there are some there are some guys here that that have some upside, like Ronaldo Lopez throws extremely hard but doesn't miss a lot of bats. Jimmy Nelson, we told we he did a couple of years ago.

He didn't pitch at all last year. There's definitely some concern there. This is this is a pretty good area for starting pitching. Andy like for you to just take shots on like upside guys here here, Godly, Hey, Zeus Lozardo, Ronaldo Lopez, Jimmy Nelson. That's a pretty good spot. That's a pretty good spot in the draft. You're getting these guys really late to after too forty. I absolutely love Lazardo,

and I'm right there with you. If it were between Godly and Lozardo, I'd still probably take Godly, just because I don't know exactly one Lozardo gets the call, whether you know he starts the season in pros, which likely not. They didn't call him up last year. He was having this great run throughout the minor leagues, got the Triple A where he kind of stalled a little, but was the PCO where you know, you get inflated offenses there, so I need pitching. They pitching bad, like Mike fires

in there. Still they traded for Marco Estrada, but you also have, you know, you you also have the the service time game. They can play with him now, especially since they haven't you know, tapped that seal yet, so I don't know that he's upright away first, and that's fair number, but I'm already missing out on range of innings at that point that I'm getting from Godly. So I would take the known with Godly. It depends on

the league. It depends if it's a keeper league, I'm taking Lozardo, if it's a if it's a redraft league or a money league. Not I shouldn't say money league, but like draft and hold something like that fastball. I probably take Lozarto because I'm not so worried about individual week to week. I want the best week, and mid season on Lozardo could provide that better week. Um the typical redraft league, I'd be taking the known quantity and Godly. We'll say this about Godly. I owned a lot of

shares of Godly. Last year. He burned me. He got the strikeouts. I hear what you're saying. He gets groundballs fifty six percent groundball rate for his career, so I absolutely love that. The past two seasons he's been up over a strikeout for ending. Last year the walks per nine were up over four, so he struggles with command. I watched a lot of his games last year. This guy throws this curball of the time. Yeah, that's that's what like other pictures like he pitches off his curveball

like he'll throw first pitch curveball. He doesn't care, but it's hard for him to control that curveball a lot of the time. So that golly man burned me last year. A lot of people are gonna go back to the well, I get it. He's going late. Coming up next, we'll have Tim McCloud of Prospect sixty one on to talk about his labor Draft fifteen team Mixed League Expert Draft, Andy Singleton Frank Sample Fantasy Best Friends for her Fantasy

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wipes and body cleansing needs, rains, make it rain. You might not have to worry about Anthony Davis moving forward. He's gone now. I don't think you'll ever ever see him. And it sounds like from the coach there and from other was around, they could not be happier that he might actually be heard and they won't have to deal with him anymore. Because when you got a college that has no problem coming out saying it's a dumpster fire, people,

then guess what. It's a dumpster fire. Week Days six and nine am Eastern 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, seven nine to join the Fantasy Sports Network. Welcome back to the Fantasy Best Friends Forever. Frank Stanfeld joined in studio by my good buddy Andy Singleton this week helping out with Greg Sussman out this week down in Florida. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what was going on,

but I would like to welcome in right now. Him McLoud of Prospect One had the second pick in the Labor Draft. That happened just the other night. Tim what's going on, man, how's everything? Everything's great? Frank, thanks so much for having me on and looking forward to him some labor love again. You can you can go check out some of Tim's work at Prospect three six one one dot com. I tweeted out the link of the draft if you want to follow along and kind of

see what we're talking about here. Tim had the second overall pick. Look, there's not much discussion there. I mean, if you want to get cute and take someone other than Trout or Bets or from fall to you, I mean you can do so. I mean Tim didn't do it, and I wouldn't recommend you doing so either. But he came back in the second round. Here again, this is

fifteen team mix. There's a rotisserie draft and you take wit Meryfield And he's a bit polarizing this year as a second round pick because a lot of people say, you know, I don't want to pay up for the speed. You know, he give me forty plus stolen bases, but I really want to get that base of power. Uh. He doesn't completely kill you in the power department. You know it'll give you a twelve if teen home runs. He also helps you out with the batting average. He's

gonna give you runs as he expect. It's a hit in the middle of the lineup this year too, so maybe we see an upstick in the r B. I s, how do you project a guy like with Maryfield this year? And did you plan before the draft to take him in the second round if you were if he were there, yeah, he was definitely in the plan. Where are my goals coming out of the first two rounds? Was to show up the speed category. When you're drafting in the two spot, it's a long way until things get back to you.

So I was looking at the combination of Bets Maryfield. I figure that gives me safely sixty to seventy stolen bases and basically takes takes that problem right off the table. You know. The other options I was, you know, looking at, were Starling Marte, Andrew Benn Attendee, Hey, you you want to go on, you want to go on a serious gamble, you know, you can start looking at Aldeberto Mondes STUDI. But my goal was to come out of the first two rounds solid and stolen base is them with Bets

and Merrifield. I the power isn't bad. Yeah, the power is not bad. Look, Bets is gonna give you, give you thirty plus home runs. You know, he's gonna come close to thirty stolen bases as well with mary Field. Look, everyone's going to attack the stolen the stolen base category a little bit differently this year. So you heard it from Tim what he wanted to do in these first two rounds was really, you know, shore up some of

those stolen bases. And there's really not much not many better options than to do so with Bets and with mary Field in the first two rounds, because again, at least those guys are not completely sinking your power. Again, we're speaking with Tim McCleod of Prospect three six one dot com. Make sure to check out the website and

find some great work from Tim McCloud. Over there. We're reviewing the Labor draft, the Labor minixed draft from a couple of nights ago, and kind of similar to speed, Tim, I wanted to ask you about, uh, starting pitching in general this year. It's a hot topic. Everyone everyone's gonna reference, you know, the workhorses kind of fading here. You know, we're not getting as many guys going to any picks, not even really going a hundred eighty innings pitched that

much anymore. So just in general, you know, you you drafted Walker Bueller in the third round, you come back and take Mike Mike Clevinger in the fourth round as your SP one in your SP two. In general, what's your plan for attacking starting pitching? And had to change this year more so than things that you would do in the past. Yeah, I think my my goal this year is to come out of the first five rounds with four strikeodes, two solid pitchers, an ACE and a

near ace. I think if you look at the way labor broke down, by the time you got to your fifth round, most teams had two starting pitchers. All the high strikeout guys are gone, and you're into the middle tier where where you're starting to look at. You know, I'm German Marquez, Miles Michaelis, Louis Castillo. The options thinned very quickly. So I'm I'm big this year on getting some starting pitching early because I just stole think there's enough of it there. And did you move later on

into the draft? Frank, Timmy, what's going on in Tandy? Single thing? Buddy? Happy to have you here today. You was one of my friend. Um, I'm looking at your draft here and I'm a little curious because I was trying to see who was your your late round guy

last year. You're on our show and you're touting Matt Camp, who of course had the resurgence in the first year, and a lot of people are big on him now moving to Cincinnati with his his former Dodger team at y'all see up a weig and what they can do in that ballpark. But I noticed Trevor Rosenthal was the guy that you were taking. I was gonna ask you, is he the guy you're backing on becoming the closer, uh and taking over the duties from Doolittle in Washington?

But then I saw you took Rosenthal exactly one pick ahead of Matt Camp. And the reason this was interesting to me is because you only drafted five outfielders, so you passed on a guy that you've been big on in the past. Way you could have had him right there. So what was your what was you thinking behind that move? Well, you look at Sean Doolittle and I don't think he's

ever made it through a season healthy. Uh. There's a reason that Washington went out and grabbed TV Trevor Rosenthal, And I'm counting on ten saves minimum out of Rosenthal this year. As far as my outfield, one of my one of the other reasons that I liked with Maryfield is he qualifies in the outfield, Andy, So I do have a six outfielder. It's just sort of half hidden. I get it now. And when you put it like that,

then yes, that's uh, that's not horrible at all. And and Garett Garrett Hampson will be your second basement on guessing who's who's Who's who's leap frog frend the Rodgers in that organization. So what while while we're going with outlooks, what is what's your out with for Garrett Hampson. I'm expecting big things. But it was definitely a turning point and probably the biggest risk that I took in this

draft Andy. By taking Hampson, what it did was it reduced the odds of me getting a solid SP three and I was looking at guys like Pavetta Andrew Heaney. I got a couci E rod and I was really hoping Shane Bieber would fall to me. They all went, so I had to go and plan b on my pitching. And it's gonna be the one area that I've got the most work to do in season, but I just

liked the idea. I think, I think you can count on Hampson for thirty plus stolen bases, and he showed up my middle endfield in a big way, so I was prepared to take the risk of the pitching didn't come back. It didn't, So now I got some work to do. We're speaking with Tim Cloud of prospect one dot Com going over his labor Mixed League draft. He was drafting out of the two hole him. I wanted to piggyback off that Garrett Hanson a little bit because

he's going very late in draft. I'm trying to figure out why, because it's it's a great environment in Colorado obviously. I mean, even if he bats lower in the order, the stolen base upside is huge. I mean, this guy has posted some big stolen base seasons down in the minors, and I think he has a pretty good bat and play discipline too. You know, he walked a lot last year, um,

but I do think that the bat works there. The only thing that I could think of of why Garrett Hampson goes where he doesn't draft is because you know, Andy reference Brendan Rodgers being in the organization. Ryan McMahon can also play some second base if Garrett Hampson were to struggle. What are some of the other downsides that you see with Garrett Hampson outside of you know this, those other prospects that are in the organization, Because I think if he hits and if he runs well, he's

going to play. Yeah, I think he's gonna play as well. You know, Colorado had the opportunity last year to get Ryan McMann at bats and they get So I'm not anticipating Ryan mcmannon being a factor, and I think Rogers still needs a little bit of work at Triple A. So I think that the Rockies will give Garrett Ampsen a real solid addition, and I think he's ready. I think he can do the job. And I'm really excited to see what this kid brings to the table this year. Guys.

So I'm I'm looking at your catcher and I love that you backed up. You love for Danny Jansen with him being your your your battery mate for your pitching staff. But we were talking before about Mike Saroka, and this kind of felt like the perfect person to talk to you about being that Taroka is Canadian, he's still young in that prospect range blending into the majors. You're a prospect guy and a major league guy, and of course you're Canadians. So what what's your outlook for Saroka? Are

you worried about the shoulder injury? Are you thinking he's a full good to go this season? Are you are you buying into Saroka being that top thirty ish picture again. I think he'll be a top thirty pitcher. I don't know if it's gonna be in twenty nineteen. I think the Braves are gonna take it fairly easy with Sarrok. I don't think they're gonna work him overly hard. And there there's a lot of pitching in Atlanta. Uh, there's no doubt in my mind that he's got to be

near the forefront of their program. But there's a lot of options right now, and I certainly like his future. But if you're counting on big innings this year, I don't think he's going to be there for them. Uh. If he gets much more than a hundred and ten, hundred and twenty, I'd be surprised. Guys, speaking with Tim McCloud of Prospect three one dot com going over his

labor draft drafting out of the two hole. Uh, Tim, I wanted to follow up from before when we spoke about your SP one and your SP two that you ended up with their with Walker Bueller in the early third round and then Mike Clevinger in the late fourth round. Walker Bueller specifically, he had elite numbers, especially in that second half, but we also saw a huge jump in his innings pitch from We saw this potentially affect a

guy like Louis Severino last year. We don't know if it was the entire reason, and you know Severino, there were reports about him tipping pitches, but he did see that huge jump and then he ended up struggling in the second half last year. There's something like that. Were you at all with Walker Bueller or you're just looking at you know, that second half and the strike out rate and in the great command and the fact that he gets groundballs, and you're just like, all right, I'll

take the risk. I don't really care about I don't really care about the inning Sjoe, Well, I think when you look at Bueller, Uh, he got a hundred and fifty three innings in in the regular season last year, and then we set all his playoff performance. I'm not concerned about the innings on Culer. I think we're gonna see a hundred hundred and seventy five to a hundred and eighty innings under the kid uh stellar peripherals close

to two hundred strikeouts. Um, if you asked me who the aces in Los Angeles right now, I'm not saying Clayton Kershaw, and I can't disagree with you either. I can't disagree with that. Look, we've seen uh Kershaw dealing with the back injury for a few years now. The skills have also, you know, dissipated there with Kershaw of

velocity is down. So again, we had Matt Modica on on Monday CTN Baseball now with the Athletic and he's a huge fan of Walker Bueller this year and and ether you know, there's not there's not really much that I can go against Walker Bueller with outside of the fact that he had that huge ennings jump last year. Yeah, I just worry about what the Dodgers do with their pictures, and I think that you might see a phantom, you know,

d Lston. But even if he pitches a hundred and sixty to a hundred endings pitched next year, those are gonna be elite innings. Well, that's that's just the thing with Walker Bueller. It's it's quality over quantity, and you hope to get some of the quantity because of how

good the quality is. I wanted to ask you about one more player you've taken here to him while we have you, and that is Jerks and Profile, who was the number one prospect and all of baseball gone back a few years, seemed to have washed out and then had this major resurgence. It's moved to Oakland. People think that's not a great ballpark for him. He showed some power last year. While it might limit the power, he did a lot more than just become a power guy

last year. Now he gives them added flexibility. He extends your fantasy line us with all the positions he can play. What's your hope for Profile moving to Oakland? Um, I don't think we've seen the best out of Jerks in Profile. He had a good year last year. I think better things are ahead. I'm not too concerned about the ballpark at all. When I look at the way I constructed my team. Getting Profile in the eighth round for me is absolutely huge because he qualifies at first, shortstop, third base,

and soon second base. Having a guy like pro Far that I believe will produce twenty plus home runs and the fifteen stolen bases in Oakland with upside qualifying as all those positions is absolutely huge because we know we're going to deal with injuries during the year and any way you can find a way to build some flexibility into your lineup. Hey, it's a good thing, a very good thing. Tim McLeod, he's from Prospect three one. I would be remiss if I didn't ask him about the

prospects that he drafted. You mentioned Jerks and Profile, one of the former top prospects in baseball, But Tim, I noticed you drafted Danny Jansen, who's expected to be the starting catcher for the Toronto Blue Jays this season, one of the top catching prospects in all of baseball. And then also Fernando Tatis Jr. Who has gained a lot of hype over the past couple of years. And rightfully, so we know what kind of you know, five tool

upside he has. So what can you tell us about those two specifically that ended up on your team, and when do you expect a guy like Fernando Tatis Jr. To be up this season? Well, you know, David Martin's gone out of Toronto, Danny Jansen has got the job, and I'm expecting ten to twelve home runs, UH, maybe six d r v Eyes Uh, a very solid batting average. He's demonstrated over the past couple of years that he

understands the strike zone very very well. As far as Tatis Jr. I'm expecting to see him in the second half. But one of the rules in labor is that, uh, once the draft is over, you can't pick up any prospects until they have time and in the major leagues one at bat or a third of an innings pitched. So when I looked at two tease, I just decided, I think he's going to demonstrate what I want and a great, great skill set overall, and I want him for the second half, and I don't want to be

bidding against fourteen other guys to get him. So with shortstop being so deep, I picked him up a bit early so I can stash. I'm much the same as I did with Mitch Keller and another young player that I like a lot. I'm looking forward to seeing as Merril Kelly in Arizona coming back from Korea. It was a very successful layer, so he's started in my wild card. Guys. Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned him because I was just about to ask you about Merril Kelly. You were big on

Miles Miklos. I hope I'm saying right. Always good names wrong. But you're you're big on him coming back to the States last year and now he's doing the same thing. What is your what's your outlook for Kelly and how can he be this year's you know, flashing the pen

revelation like Nicholas was last year for the Cardinals. Well, the thing I like about Kelly is, you know when he left the head over to Korea, he was pitching in the Raised organization and then he at that point in time, he was running a fastball eight and ninety two. Principal pitches were a splitter and a changeup. But even with yes those two pitches triple A. His e r A was under three his last year in the Tampa organization.

Now he goes to Korea all of a sudden on a good day, he can hit ninety seven with the fastball. He's consistently working at in the range limited the walks and the other two pitches are outstanding. So I think he's falling a little bit under the radar right now, a bit of a wild card. But if you're looking at a late round pick, I think there's some potential er and he is going to break camp in that

Diamondbacks rotations, so the opportunity is at hand. Guys. That is Tim McCleod of Prospect three sixty one, participated in the Labor Draft just a few nights ago. He had the second pick. Tim, want to thank you so much for coming on. Man. Thanks so much, Frank and any you have yourself just an outstandy twenty nineteen season. Thanks again for having me guys, Timmy you as well. We'll be in touch. That was Tim McCloud. Appreciate that you coming on. I got a little insight there into some

of the prospects really wanted to get. Asked him about Danny Jansen and uh In, Fernando Tatis, because look, when tribute for a website like Prospect one, I gotta get some of the prospects talking there right. Timmy is one of the best in the business. He knows his stuff and he always brings it. I always enjoyed talking but Timmy. I got to meet him my person last year at the tout Wars draft, so that was that was a unique honor. Coming up next will be our two of

the fantasy best friends forever. That's Andy Singleton. Follow on with at People's Pen. I am Frank Standford. Don't go anywhere, We'll be right back. M