Feb. 25th, Hour 1:Third Base preview with Matt Modica

listening to the Fantasy Sports Radio Network. Fantasy Best Friends Forever. M Do to Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do doo yeoh is as the Fantasy best Friends Forever. Here are the Fantasy Sports Radio Network alongside Frankie Stamfele and I am so excited to say alongside my buddy Maddie mo Ma moca the first time and way too long. I am Greg sug It's a Modica Monday here, very excited to have him on. I I do you understand like how far behind I am in baseball because I don't

talk to that every day now. He talked very often lost and I need to be found today, Malodeca, how are you, sir I'm doing good. Great to be talking. And are you surprised that Mexico is not paid for our wall yet? Oh? Man? Uh, Maddie writing for the Athletic of course, and uh, totally awesome. He wrote the third base pretty you for thirdays, fresks and whatnot for

the Athletic and we're talking at our basement today. So it really worked out well Automodica Monday to have madiemo um in studio where he guess on Skype with us, and uh, to really break it down, Um, Frank, how's your reeking money? My weekend was was very fun, Greg, A lot of a lot of wedding venue searching. I went to I went to one Saturday and Sunday, So I mean that's obviously not a lot of fun, um,

but yeah, I mean that was it. Baseball, man. The fact that we have baseball every single day now again is uh, it's pretty awesome. So I spent a lot of time yesterday basically from you know, one until I had to leave the house like four o'clock, just watching a ton of baseball. So that that's great, that's great, and it's yeah, that's fantastic. I did not I also did wedding stuff. Yesterday we were I was in um Hoboken at a restaurant trying to book a rehearsal to

her place. That was a free food so wasn't enjoyable. That's good. Modiquez like, yeah, I'm already married. Like he's just so far because like, I'm just gonna take pictures of my food and tweet it out, and you know, that's that's pretty much where I'm at. There's nothing wrong with that. Yeah, he's nothing wrong with that. That's what I hear. Man, you gotta eat. We I ate so much food off right, and I came it was disgusting

how much I'm gonna like. But even my friends who were like fat, we're just like like Jeff, who was like, dude, that's disgusting. Wow, Jeff, it's because you're the Jeff fan. It's not fair, Jeff. And Jeff like, he's never gonna say that. He's like a felt guy. I don't mean that he's fat. He's like a humongous dude. But he loves to eat. We all do. And Jeff was like, you ate too much, dude. I'm like, oh god, this

is bad. Picking out it was we we both were all right, let's start a third base guys, and it's really perfect person to start with, and that's Jose Ramirez. He's number one guy, number one third basement off the board according the NFBC in them of February, going around pick three or four. And it's really good to start here because Frank h the Great Fans Baseball Invitational started over the weekend and you grab Tosie Ramirez. And the crazy thing was you didn't grab him in the first

three or four picks. You grabbed him in eight and had to look all around the internet to make sure he wasn't dead. He's not dead. He's very much alive. And he's the first third baseman off the board in most leagues. Why the drop? Why are people scared of this guy who you looked at his numbers is really breaking awesome. I think people are scared about the second half.

I think that's really what it comes down to. I mean, the past couple of years, Look, Jose Ramirez, Uh, you know, he's kind of sacrificed some of his batting average and in order to try and hit for more power. Um, he's done so quite successfully. Look, you know, he's one of these guys in the first round that you know, even if he doesn't get back to his days of hitting three hundred, he could still give you thirty home runs and you know, twenty five stolen bases. You know,

there's a few select guys that can do that. It's you know, Christian Yellots can do that, Mike Trout, Mookie Betts and you know, Rondal Lacuna. After that, it's like all right, like you know, you're gonna try and find that as best as you could. But you know, he's actually one of these guys that still does have that upside. I do have some concerns about the Cleveland Indians lineup and the fact that Lindore is dealing with this injury.

So you know, I'm expecting the counting stats to come back a little bit last year a hundred and ten runs, a hundred and five RBIs. But look, he's still a super, super talented player, and you know, I was pleased to get him at at pick eight yesterday, especially in Rodo. Like I told you, Greg, I want to start, you know, I want to get my outfield. I want to get my starting pitching early. I took outfield and round two

I took starting pitching rounds three and four. It's not my ideal starting pitching, you know, you know what I would have expected coming into the draft. But again, this is what I told you, Like, if there are players on the board that you can't pass up on in the first or second round, and their hitters, and that's

kind of like where you have to adjust. So I end up with Jose Ramirez and Bryce Harper as my first two picks, and from pick eight in the fifteen team league, I'll do that every single time that you're really good at this way. I asked you here, like what happened and when you were real to figuring it out, and what happened in between the first and second half that Josie Ramier. Josie Ramirez struggled so mightily, had three and first half had thirty twenty basically homers and still amazes.

And then in the second half of the year he only bad to eight team down from twenty nine homers to ten. Uh the steels twenty to fourteen. And that's not a huge job, but half the amount of r b i s, not even close to the amount of run scored. What happened through the first half of the second half. That changed for Josie Ramirez, Well, yeah, I mean the obvious is the bad, but I think it

was like two oh eight net second half. The plate skills actually improved, So you know, That's why I'm not worried. The only thing I can think of was maybe there was an undisclosed injury. Was the only negative I saw in that second half as far as when you do a deep dive, was the hard hit percentage came down from you know, the other The counter argument would be, h, maybe he got you know, he faced a gay huge of breaking balls and couldn't square them up and stuff.

But look, the guy's got Joey Vado's plate skills. He trade Turner's Ackerman on the base pads. I mean, and even if you're gonna go Wolf of last year, which being a career year, and you regress him like I will do it Yellow as well, they're both gonna be really good. I mean, I'm gonna put Ramirez at at least two eighty for the batting average. You could do

better than that, but at least that. And even if he's twenty seven homers and uh stolen bases, Look, he's gonna score runs, he's gonna drive an abist even if this lineup is an ideal, which I agree with on that, And I think the best part about Lindor's injury is that it happened so early and hopefully he's not rushed, and even if he misses a week or two, you know he's going to produce good is just producing bad

lineups all the time? I mean, I've heard that argument in the past, and I think that's kind of a foolish one. How about you know, Freddie Freeman, it was like three or four years ago in any way, every part in the Braids lineup was brutal. They can out here, you know, just firing away. You know, everyone wanted to, you know, write him off because the Braids line up

look terrible. But you know, the best players can you know, This is what we kind of say about fantasy football, right is like you draft the best players because they're gonna perform even in bad match. It's kind of similar here, where even the best players in baseball are going to perform because they're the best players in baseball. So I think that that, you know, is in line with Jose Ramirez. You know, since the start of p S over the

past few years fourth best in baseball. That would make you one of the best hitters in baseball w r C plus sixth best in baseball. Uh, the ops dropped off huge in the second half last year. Modica mentioned the hard hit ray dropped the home run the flyball ratio dropped ten too in the second half, So you know that those things kind of coinside you're not hitting.

He's still hitting a lot of flyballs, but you know, if you're not hitting them at as hard, you know, maybe those are just lazy flyballs or you know, balls that are dying on the warning track rather than going out. So he's not really a big do you don't like he doesn't have the stature. He's not some one that

you would expect to hit thirty five home runs. But I agree with that man, Like, even if he comes back to you know, I have its projection for two eighty thirty home runs, ninety five runs r BIS, twenty two stone bases, that's still a top five six player

in fantasy baseball. Absolutely, Absolutely, he's fantastic. What separates him from the second, second, third basement off the board, Nolan Aranado is that speed, right, he just has more speed than Eronado, who will give you the forty home runs it plays in cours like I get it could lead the league in RBI watch every year. He just doesn't

have the speed. And that's one of the reasons that Ramirez goes before Nolan Arronado, who right now, according to the NFBC in the month February is going pretty much about pick eight. Still see him in the middle of the first round. But Break, I do say this to you, whenever Nolan Aronado seems to be the top guy on the board, you're always kind of hesitant, like I know you've gone like Jacob deGrom Chris Sell direction when it seemed like Eronado was the best hitter off the board.

Is that a roster construction thing or do you have something gets the Seronado? It's something that pulls you away from him. Now, you know, I think there's a clear top eight players right now that I'm looking at, and you know, I got Joser mirrors at eight. But I think between Trout Bets Trey Turner. Now with this stolen base upside, a lot of people are getting excited about, you know this, this possibility of seventy eighties stolen base attempts.

He went third in my great fantasy based momentation, So people are buying into it. A Kuna yell at j D Martinez, Erzer and then Jose are mirrors and then the next man up. I mean I would say it is Eronado. I would take him over those starting pitchers. I know, you know, third base overall this year, I think it's a little bit deeper than it normally, as I think it's one of the deepest positions this year

in fantasy baseball. But again, it's like being able to set your watch to two eighty five thirty five home runs, a hundred runs, a hundred RBIs. Even if he doesn't give you stolen bases, that's great. That's something great to get there. And you know, Matt, I'll kind of get your take on this. We did the we did the second base in shortstop previews last week, and I said, I think there are two players that if you've taken the first round, they make sense as the players that

you can pair with. Adalberto Mondescy. Adelberto Mondessey one of the most polarizing players this year for fantasy baseball. He's going to like the third fourth round of fifteen team drafts, And I said j D. Martinez and Eronado because those guys are four category contributors who are gonna give you the safe batting average where you can kind of afford to take that risk with Adalberto Mondacy because you know he has that big stolen base upside and won't necessarily

kill you in the power department. So Eronado and me Eronado and j. D. Martinez to me, are the two guys that you can kind of pair Adalberto Mondescy with. What do you think about Ernado? Would would you take him if you had like the ninth pick and those top eight players are gone? Uh? You know, I can't say it's it's a bad move. Like you said, he's automatic. He's a fantastic four player him and j D. Martini, as you made the as you laid it out, they

are gonna leave you without stolen bases. But what they give you in your other four categories is you know, such stout numbers that you can go that. I mean, I'm not going to but a guy like Trade Turner to me is somebody that's up there too. So it's all about how you go into your draft. Whenever if you know your selection prior, you should be able to set up aboard. So if you're gonna go to the Arnado route, okay, where am I gonna get my first picture? Where am I gonna get speed? At what point do

I invest in a closure? I mean, these are things that should be prerequisites before you walk in the draft room, not when you're in the draft room. So you can set it up anyway you like. I mean, Arronado to me can be as high as you know, in the top five if that's how you want to go, and

I wouldn't have a problem with that. It's basically, how do you feel comfortable and where are you getting these guys and how how is your team gonna be constructed at most imperative the first five and if you can even go to the first ten rounds, it makes a lot of I think it makes a lot of sense. You can't, yeah, see it's wrong because it's not wrong, but there's you know, you have to worry about getting getting that speed, and it's hard. Um, it is hard

when everyone's kind of chasing after that same thing. Go to the next guy's Frank inside the top five NFBC d P we talked about the employment other spots, right, have your bias? And Alex Bregman, two guys that I do want to get Matt's opinion on what we have them here we did in second base and shortstop previous shows last week Modica where are you this year? And Alex Bregman and have your bias? Look, I think Bregman is you know, everything we saw in college and we've

seen in his early MLB career this kid can hit. Uh, the promise is there. I'm not thinking he steals twenty basis. I know some people get really excited about that. I would ever more towards ten we saw last season. I think from my June on he only stole like five. I don't think this is a team that really runs. I don't think they need him to run. Uh. With the injury, he's kind of slid down a little. I've think he's maybe a little high where he's going. But like I said, I think he's gonna give you a

very solid base. I can't argue it. My problem with hobby biases. And he's a guy that returned a huge prophet for me last year, and if you look where he was going in that seventh eighth round, and you know the season that he delivered on. I mean, the obviously is the batting average. Even if the batting average regresses to say to seventy, I'm more worried about the stolen basis. I think last year was an outlier. I

think you should be looking more towards twelve. If you look at the second half of the season, his base running skills was horrid. I mean he got thrown out like almost like ten times or something. So I don't think he's a lock to steal twenty or the high teams. This something we were talking about last year. He looked at the second half, I think I think in the second half, so still three got caught stealing seven times. Uh yeah. Look, you know when it comes down to Modica.

For me with Xavier Bias is the plate discipline obviously scares me a ton, But I think we have enough of a sample size here where we trust it. Like, I know, his swinging strike rate is up there with guys like Joey gallow and like he's gonna chase them, like he's gonna chase pitches. He's gonna strike out a decent amount. But in his four year career, like, we have a big enough sample size now where his lowest

batting average every to seventy three. So I don't know that he's like, I don't know that he's a legitimate like hit or like last season, but I think, like, you know what his floor is, I think he's gonna live in that. You know, you're seventy to eighty range. You know what I'm saying. If you put to seventy and say twelve stolen bases as opposed to you know, above two eighties closer to two nine bases, I think,

you know, he would be further down draft boards. You don't think that he could still return second round value because I have his projection here he could he could return it. Here's my biggest grade. He could do it. I'm not paying for it this year, you know. You know that's what you got. Look at where was the last year? Can he do it? Absolutely? You know he can hit, He's got the power and stuff. But I have to pay for him to do it, and he

has to deliver those numbers. Yeah, it's true. You know, I think it's to me, it's somewhat similar to you know, some of these other guys where even if yellow and Jose Miraz take a step back a little bit, they regress a little bit, They're still gonna be worth their

first round value. I kind of feel the same way about Bias, where even if he comes back and you know, I had his projection at like two seventy homers, fifteen stolen bases, Uh, you know, counting stats are solid, like eight ninety runs scored, Uh, you know, nine y r bis in that range, I STI still think that he could be a second round player. But I don't disagree with Matt where. You know, last week I told you I have tremp for Story ranked ahead of him, Greg,

I have Manny Machado still ranked ahead of him. I have to you know, I would take Stanton over him. I would take Aaron Judge like, because that's more of like position scarcity. I like that Bias has the multi position eligibility, but I do like, you know, getting one of those outfielders there earlier in the second rounds too real a pick I mean, probab I think is one of the most exciting players to watch an m O big So I don't I don't like poking negative in

that range. I'm gonna be a little Bitterer. Okay, let's take a break here. When we come back, I'm really excited to talk about the next player off board with the NFBC, and that's Chris Bryant. That's a first rounder last year. Is that draft to the second or third one of these guys think about Chris Bryant. We'll let you know when we come back. Fantasy best Friends Forever, the Fantasy sports radio network from the NFL to the NBA. Daily Rohodo dot Com is the place to win millions

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Friends Forever. Fantasy Sports Radio Network, Frank Stafile, Map Modica and Greg Sussman with you, breaking down the third base position you heard from Maddie mo On, Alex Bregman, and Javier air Bias. If you wanted to hear our thoughts on that, check out last week's show when we went into shortstops and second basement. Those are the Thursday and Friday programs and just go back two hours each. Chris Venture of course joined us for the second hour in

each edition. He'll also do the same today, so check those shows out as well. Speaking of things you need to check out, Frank's got a Patreon available right now. It's and it's not gonna be free after today. Today is the last position that Frank Staffeld is giving away for free all around the infield captcher, first base, second base, third base, and shortstop. When you get the outfield and we get the starting pictures, he has put so much work and so much time into that, I'll charge you

for it. So if you want to get those outfield ranks and those starting pitcher ranks, please subscribe to Frank's Patreon. He's not asking for a lot. A dollar here, five dollars there, it's twenty five if you want exclusive access to him, So please take a look at Frank's Patreon. When do you can and subscribe, and he's one of the best of the business, so we strongly recommend doing that.

Also when it comes to recommendations, I'll just keep, you know, keep plugging away here Mattimo at the Athletic They do fantastic stuff over there, So check out what matt has uh done and will do all season long. Okay, guys. Third basement, as I said when we headed headed into the break was Chris Bryant's a really interesting name to me this year because I feel like he's a bit of a forgototten mad. Everybody loves the top four guys

that we mentioned. Everybody loves those guys, But last year Chris probably was one of those guys that everyone who's in love with it so much so that he was pretty universally a first or a second round pick. Now, after a down year, he's going off the board in the NFBC over the last month out a round pick number thirty three or thirty four. That puts him in a fifteen team league right in the early part of the second third round, and in the twelfth team league

you're looking at closure to the end of the third round. Frank, why have people fallen out of love with Chris Bryant, and was last year kind of injury related and do you expect him about his back? Yeah, it was definitely injury related last year. Uh. I read it awesome article about you know how his stat cast bad ball data completely just tanked like pre injury verse pro injury, uh

verse post injury, and it was. Look, his average eg velocity dipped to eighty four point five miles per hour in June, down from eighty eight point four miles per hour in April, eighty eight point six miles per hour in May, so pretty consistent, like he was hitting the ball hard in in April and May month and then

it just completely tanked in June. Once you know, he suffered from that that shoulder injury in July, two weeks after he was returned from the injured list no longer the disabled list, which I mean, we could probably do a whole segment just talking about that. His exit velocity went down to seventy eight point five miles per hour greg. So there's no doubt in my mind that, you know, like his launch angle fell like he was hitting a lot of groundballs, He wasn't hitting the ball hard, like

he was completely tanked by this shoulder injury last year. Uh, you know, on from the beginning of the season to MA he was batting three oh three with an ops over one thousand, and then from fromente on he was two fifty two. You know, he was slucking three eighty after that in two d and sixty seven plate appearances. So there's no doubt, there's no doubt that he was completely hampered by this injury. But I think I'm kind of similar to Carlos Correa. I'm kind of airing on

the side of caution here. And look, you know a lot of people are where can I find that that third fourth round player that can return first round value? Like, okay, if you trust that Chris Bryant is going to be healthy, like he's probably one of the main culprits like Chris Bryant there and in Carlos Correa in the fourth round. But you know, as I've continuously said, the first really four rounds, I want to build my foundation, So I don't really know how much risk I can take on.

It's like it's roster construction. If you trust your first round pick enough, someone that's been healthy, someone who's done it, maybe like no one Arronado. Uh, you know, maybe you can't afford to take this risk me personally. You know, these are the rounds, you know, the third round. Yeah, a lot of times I'm taking starting pitching. So I don't think I'm gonna end up with any shares with Chris Bryant. Like I was worried about the injury. You know,

I wasn't even worried about Hi last year. It didn't get end up with any shares last year. I think over the past couple of seasons he's kind of been sacrificing some of the power in order to hit for more contact and hit from more batting average, which is great from like a real life perspective, but you know, I'd rather the Chris Bryant that used to strike out more and you know whatever still hit two seventy with thirty thirty five home runs. Like that's the Chris Bryan

I won. So, you know, I didn't get any shares last year. I was kind of out, and I think it's kind of just carrying over this year. I'm worried about the injuries, I was worried about the performance already home in spring training over the weekend. So I mean, yeah, He's one of those names to follow during spring training where if he performs, then I would be more likely to go in on him to just making sure he's

healthy during the spring. But as of right now, I don't think I can pull the trigger in the third round. That harder percentage going down two years in a row, as Frank mentioned, because he changed his approach at the plate from in It was a left shoulder injury that bothered Chris Bryant all throughout the year last year, so much so that he changed his approach at the plate to a two handed swing because he he was in

so much pain. Frank talked about how he did hit that home run in spring training over the weekend he was back to his momental approach. Matt Chris Bryan is one of these guys. As Frank he said that you could draft in the third round and give you back first round of value. Are you interested? And I'm definitely interested.

I think how played a major role last year. I don't have any bright shares right now, and it's pretty much gonna come down to the fact where if I haven't taken a picture, I really have to hone on hone in on uh. The aces that are left on the board in the third round. There's also the other third baseman that going that round or so with him, uh with for me even and even all over you, even all over one of him. Yeah, hey, d ndone

is that is the guy for me. He's going more later in the third, early fourth, dependent upon league size and stuff like that. Everybody loves Vlad. I'd rather just take Rendone. I think you know you're hoping Lad season is what Anthony Rendone can do, and uh so, I

think you have to see it. How you started your first two rounds makes really an impact here be which for me, Brian is a thirty home run guy and in a perfect world and in a perfect season for him, you can hit forty, but I would shoot it more towards that to seventy five average, and I don't trust the base running skills in it. I think you're gonna see him go double this again. I think it's more

in that final the seven range being the hut. So we're gonna get into Vlad and Anthony Rendone in just a moment, frank Um, But what does Brian have to do this spring to get more on your radar? Because you look at the numbers, like he's obviously really really good. I know that's right. Oh about roster construction, that's like where he's drafting, Like yeah, sure he's interested, but he always winds up with his first picture potentially an outfielder. Way you need five of them. I know you're kind

of in the same boat as well. But what does he have to show you in the spring? Because you said he wants of the guys you're gonna watch, What does he have to show you in the spring to make you pull the trigger? Ultimately? Health, that's what it comes down to. Health. Yeah, he's got he's gotta stay healthy throughout spring, and you don't want to see him can like go back to lifting the ball a little bit?

Like again, you know he played over the weekend. He hit a home run already, so I mean, yeah, that's

already an encouraging sign. But you know, I want to see him, you know as spring goes on, play deep, prefented games and you know see that he's you know, he's throwing the ball fine and you know there's no solder issues and you know, lifting the ball a little bit, you know, pop a couple of home runs out here in the spring, like those are things that I'm paying attention to, paying attention to, and I want to see because like again, I've already had my concerns with Chris Bryant.

Uh you know, he went in the middle of the third round in the Great Fantasy Baseball Invitational. But I think the way that he went in the third round here is kind of a template as to how I would do it. Like if you take Max Scherzer in the first round and like you already have that that sp anchor, you come back in the second round and get like a Freddy Freeman and then couple that with

Chris Bryant in the third round. I think that's kind of like the template, like to me, that would yeah, like that would be I could see that being away that that it would work out where I can maybe get it on Chris Bryant. But you know, as of now, I mean again, like I started two hitters, so I was looking at starting pitching in the third round, and I don't know that was something that Modica was talking about.

I ended up taking Walker, butle little Chris Bryan wouldn't have even been on my radar, Like he's just not someone I was targeting Chris Bryant is third base and outfield eligible as well, which which certainly helps in leaves. Where do you need those five our fielders? Franky Matt also mentioned that a couple of picks later, it depending on where he picked around, Like Anthony round doings his guy this year. And I'm really excited to talk about

a second about why Anthony rend dolins this guy. But Rendon and vlad are going a little bit later on in the third and fifteen team leagues, uh, closer to the middle of the fourth in twelve teen leagues. Which of these guys do you prefer? And why? Yeah, I have Anthony Rendona ranked higher than Vladimir Gero Junior. I can't really argue with what with what Modiquez said in terms of you know what what Vladimir garera, what people want Vladimir Guerrero Junior to do is basically what uh

is basically what Anthony Rendon has done. Like the past few years, He's been at least at three oh one hitter in each of the past two seasons. Uh, you know the power, he's gonna be right around twenty five runs, you know, even with Bryce Harper potentially leaving the Nationals lineup. At this point, I don't expect them to be back with the Nationals. I don't think that their lineup is all is bad, right, Like they're gonna have Toredy Turner, like Juan Soto is gonna be at the top of

that lineup. If those are the first two hitters, you know, I think there's gonna be a lot of uh, you know, RBI opportunities here for Anthony Rendon't. So you know the past few years, ninety two rbs last year, hundred RBIs the year before. I don't know that he has huge power upside, but you know he did play a hundred and thirty six games last year, So if he plays a hundred fifties, he closer to the thirty home runs, he's home run hitter. You know me, just projecting, I

would say he's gonna be around three hundred hitter. He's gonna give you runs. He's gonna give you, you know, eighty five runs scored, and he's gonna give you bis. What more do you want at of Vladimir Guerrero junor there that Anthony Rendon't isn't giving you. You know what I'm saying well, right, Like, what can you expect as much fun as it will be? I think can hit

like three twenty with like thirty home runs. Like, he's not gonna be up till the middle of April the earliest anyway, So he's gonna you know, he's gonna miss some time. And it's possible, like Ronald Lacuna definitely is going in the first round this year. Definitely. Is it impossible? No, But again it's you know, it's the safety of Anthony Rendon versus you know, really, what is the upside of

Vladimir Guaro Junior. Like if you think he can hit three thirty with thirty home runs, then yeah, you're probably one of the people that's taking him. I mean you gotta kind of temper expectations a little bit here when it comes to lad Yeah, I mean real quick though, like a lad He's ninety percentile projection would be three twenty thirty plus home runs and that's great. Could that happen? Yes,

there's to me, it's a small percentage of that happening. Uh. As far as Rendon goes, I do think there is some more power upside. As you said, he played a hundred thirty six he's been healthy for the most parties last three seasons. If he gets too closer to that one fifty range, I think he could hit thirty. He's got the battotball profile to do that. The flyballs are the hard hits getting better and better. He's you know, he's in that prime stage. I hate to use the

twenty seven age, but he's right there. So, you know, I think there's just a lot, like there's a lot to like about both of these guys. Obviously, like vladis tantalizing thing, and I think that's a perfect word for him and what he could give Anthony Anthony Rizzo in that any Rendon in the age twenty nine season has finally found that consistency, which I think is really cool.

I think early in the early in his career, he saw him put up the twenty old runs and they followed that up with five and he was hurt for the entire year, came back with twenty and now it's pretty consistently been around twenty five. He also, for the most part, he's a little banged up every year, which I think is kind of a concern, Like, yeah, he paid one with the six pack. It's twenty sixteen and twenty four He's missed an average of about sixteen games

per season over the last three years. So so I do you're in a factor in like one de Elston, But if you do it, but if you take that in him and Ladder probably close to the same amount of games, then theoretically right Yeah, yeah, and uh, you know, shout out to uh, shout out to Alex Fast on Twitter Alex Fast eight D. You know, he's part of the pitcher List and he tweets out some of some

great stats. He actually tweeted out earlier in the All season that expected home runs from last year Anthony Rendon's expected home runs were actually was supposed to be twenty nine. So I mean these are probably like ones like home runs that hit like all the top of the wall that ended up being doubles or whatever. So he's expected home runs for twenty nine and only a hundred and thirty six games. So yeah, I understand what Mordiq is

saying about. Okay, maybe there's a little bit more power upside here than we're actually kind of uh, we're actually kind of believing. You know, he's always always placed his top fifty in average exit velocity. So the battle ball data is there, Maddie mom with Like, since the start of twenty seventeen, Andy Rondoon has ps that's thirteen best in baseball. He's one of theteen best hitters in baseball.

And if you look at shares, you're like, over the four of the last five years, you're throwing five nineties seven. As far as playing appearance, and we will make that six hundred. I mean, he's pretty much you know, had six hundred plate appearances and five hundred playing appearances. You know, uh, he can get didn't for that, but look at the games the last three years. Six you know, that's that's pretty good. That's pretty solid. And he's great regardless of

format too. Right, Look, look he's a four category contributor. He's not gonna run whatever. But you know he's kind of like in that center he's like a Nolan Arronado light that you're getting in the third round. But you know, even for points leads, he hits a lot of doubles. He makes a lot of contact, so you're not getting penalized for strikeouts. He has a five point five percent swinging strike rate in his career near contact rate, so if you get you get dinged for for strikeouts. He

doesn't strike out. He's gonna make a lot of contact. I mentioned the bad ball data. You know, each of the past three seasons he's been top fifty and average eggs velocity, so you know he's he's making contact, he's making optimal contact. And you know even if he's not heating home runs, he's hitting double So helps you out in points lease. I think he's a fine player regardless of format. He's not one of the sexy picks, but he gets it done. Would you weird? Would you rather

have Chris Bryan r anthony're Endon? I think grand don't has I think Brian has more upside. I would I would take Grandon. You would say him you gonna that your rankings currently pulling them up. I might ever known even ranked higher than already because I wasn't a christ I wasn't in a big Chris Bryan fan. I actually don't have them up, so I don't know I was making that up. Have them back to back? You doing them back to back every day We've done this, by

the way, that changes rankings every single time. We've done this show every day. How do you really test the rankings just by doing you know, drafts right now, absolutely stuff. And when you see that guy that you just kind of have your next and you're picking the other guy instead, you know you're gonna pull that up. And that's just why that's why I believe in drafting early, and I think it can be a useful thing. There is risk when you walk out the door. Well, I mean, and

then that's the fact. Like to be able to do drafts from January or early February through draft season in the middle to end of March, it only made it totally makes sense because you just learn more, You learn more about players values, where you're going, like you're doing this is great Fantasy Baseball invitational in a champions league because you're one year last year and you're you're very surprised by what you're seeing here, and I think that

could be what is new piece certain guys being pulled up the board and it's a bit of a surprise. Yeah, I mean, look, you see this a lot in industry, right industry expert drafts, and you know, people want their players, like the value of everyone is being sucked out in this draft right now, Like y'all Ceque went with the second pick right fourth round, Like there's just no value. Like people who want their players right now are taking their place. Like Rohnas just took Jose Pros in the

fifth round. You want to stolen basis. If Jose Pros is one of his guys, you gotta get your guys to Jonathan R went in the fifth round as well. I mean, well that's because you know, you see these two guys go in the fifth round, people are freaking out about stolen basis. That's what it comes down to. Two is still on the board, ozzielb is still on the board. How can you justify taking you know, Jonathan VR and Jose Pros over Ozzie Albi's the only way

is you want stolen basis. That's the only way you can justify Greg. Yeah, I'm not gonna make that seed. Uh. One of the reasons w I've been saying this for a while. I've been in the belief well before the stole base attempts, which I'm not buying that. But like a guy like Trade Territor is just so safe. All you have to do is stay healthy. He'll still forty bases, score a hundred runs and then you have that speed there and you're getting you know, possibly fifty home runs

chipped in with with a good average. But I'm not going to you know, pull guys up where there's better guys based on speed, for like a Paraza or Jonathan Valar. Jonathan Vallar should play every day, but there's also we've seen Jonathan Vollar fail as well, and that has to be a counter absolutely, and that's why I'm not exactly the big John n v R fan this year. All Right,

we come back. We'll get into uh the second half of the top twelve third basements with Maddie Moe here on the Fantasy Sports Radio network, that Carpenter, and we're nine the NFC, despite the alsome year, we're back or after this from the NFL to the NBA. Daily Rohdo dot Com is the place to win millions in daily fantasy. You can get the best DFS NFL coverage all season long for a price of one, or dominate the entire daily fantasy sports around with the Elite package at month.

If you use the promo code f n t s Y, you get ten percent off your Daily Rohdo package. Go to Daily rodo dot Com pick your NFL Elite package, enter promo code f n T S Y, and you'll be on your way to becoming the next Daily Rhodo millionaire. Welcome back to the Fantasy Best Friends Forever, Frank Stanford, joined by Greg Susman and our good buddy Mett Modica. Followm on Twitter at CTM Baseball Maddimo. One of the

first things I gotta ask you here. I know we're doing the third base ranks, but I was talking to Greg about this during the break, right and you know, obviously everyone's kind of freaking out about the Clayton Kershaw thing right now. He's being shut down. No definitive timetable as of right now, but I mean this has superted people, and I think we're already kind of seeing it right A lot of these great Fantasy Baseball Invitational drafts are going on right now. Clayton Kershaw is a DP in

the NFBC. Before all this was thirty seven. We are at pick seventy three. He has not been drafted yet. Is the end of the fifth round, the beginning of the sixth round in a fifteen team draft. I mean, at what point do you just kind of say screw it? I gotta take the risk with Clayton Kershaw because I'm trying to figure it out myself. Like I'm trying to figure it out on the fly, right, Like, at what

point do you just say, like he's Clayton Kershaw. Yes, I'm worried about the shoulder injuries already He's been dealing with the back injuries. But like at some point the risks kind of, you know, it out, the value outweighs the risk is what I'm trying to stay here, Matt. So, I mean, at what point does that become apparent for you with Clayton Kershall right now? I mean he's pretty much been off my board from where he's been going, But as you stated, the free fall here, I think

it's somewhere. Suit. Look, my biggest gripe about curse your entering the season wasn't the back. I didn't know there's gonna be a I I guess I should say now for that back injury, it's the decreased velocity and the plummeating strikeout rate, you know, creating kersher If even throwse dred and sixty eting with you know, a strikeout rate,

that's not the picture I thought I was getting. But when you start getting into the sixth round or the seventh round, I think then you say, what the hell, and you know, you you let it right and maybe if you get a hundred and fifty hundred sixty and the velocity does stick up a little bit, you're gonna get a hell of a picture for that many innings. Yeah, I look, the velocity is concerning, Like the skills have conclined over the past couple of years for Kershaw, So

you worry about those things. A strikeout rate obviously, you know. Look, he's just he's pitched a lot. He's pitched a lot of endings, right, Like I think it's you know that, and injuries are kind of catching up to him. So like it sucks, but like you know, other time has never lost here Greggy, So uh yeah, I just wanted to shock the Dodgers gave him an extra thirty million dollars, so I thought that was a little nuts. But I

understand you're paying him for for his past achievements. I guess. Yeah. You know, someone laid that out to me too, like somebody in in college that I went that I went school with, said, you know, when you kind of think about it when you get players that kind of perform as awesome as they do on like their rookie deals or like during their arbitration eligible years, and then you end up like paying them this church like some of money.

It's like you're kind of paying for the production that they gave you in the past, which is a weird way to think about it, but like you're ultimately you're looking out for your players. It doesn't happen as often as you know, maybe we would like it to happen or what it should be, because you know, and that's why the Patriots whatever you mean, absolutely, that's exactly right.

You're absolutely right. Speaking of contracts, I think it's some time to ask you get third basement for a second about our Hicks's contracts seven years, seventy million dollars extension with the Yankees, which clapp get clapping. Yeah, look, I'm the guy deserves that. The Yankees were smart to do it. And you know, he's a hell of a defender, he's a better he's a very good hitter that doesn't get

the claim that he should. And you know, if he can stay you know, relatively healthy all season long this year, I think he can be even better than lationship. Yeah, that's that's absolutely right, And you're getting in, you know right now is what sometimes your outfield four. I mean, you know, I don't know if I want him as one of my top three outfielders. You could probably live with it based on like the way that your rest of the rest of your roster is constructed. But you're

getting this guy's your outfield four. He has you know, twenty five home run upside and you steal a couple of bases, you know, ten to twelve bases. Like, he has a good O b P, a good eye at the plate. He's a good fielder as not even a good great fielder of an arm too, like you've seen some of the stat cast data in terms of like him throwing the ball, like throwing people out at the plate, throwing the ball like a hundred miles per hour. So he has a rocket for an arm. Uh, you know,

seven years, it's a long deal. He's in the prime of his career. Well, I think we looked this up. He's twenty nine, turning thirty at the end of the season this year, so you basically lock him up for the prime years of his career. This hope he stays healthy. That's always kind of be in the bugaboo with Aaron Hicks. I think what's cool is um seven years, seventy million dollars, so he gets obviously gets paid, which is cool. Uh, And the Yankees have a very affordable contract on their hands.

I think that ten million or so. It's about ten and a half million every year. The way it structure is this Serason only getting like six and a half. It's was ten and a half million almost every year the nine and a half of the end of the contract. It's very reasonable. It's like a very reasonable amount for a starting out fielder, especially a center fielder that projected one of the best center fielder defensively in all baseball. So I think of that perspective, it's good. I think

seven years a long time. It commnce Aaron Hicks, who seems to be always not always injured, but like always kind of banged up when he's out there. He's got a great eye. I think of the press release they talked about that, I and his ability to not to strike out. And you know, the Yankees got killed a lot after the playoffs for just being a team of strikeout guys and home run guys. Aaron Nix does not strike out, and I think having more guys like that

it was very interesting to them. And they clearly want to keep this cord together. I'm sure they're they've already, um it made a couple of signings, no doubt. They've extended Sevorino, and you have to imagine Aaron Judge and Did Gregorius or two the next guys that they'll probably want to extend. We'll see if and when that happens. Let's get back to third baseman, and I think the natural transition here is a guy that is it the next tier of guys. I'd say that's Miguel and you Are.

I know, NFBC, he's in the top ten. Um A handing a Sparez carpenter company for him. But we're talking about the A, so I think it's a good time to bring up Miguel and you Are, who had over forty doubles last year as a rookie. The biggest concerns with him as a baseball player is his fielding. We do not care about his fielding when it comes to fantasy baseball, not necessarily. I mean it could it could impact his playing time. You know if he if he's

a dreadful fielder. I mean, you know, they signed d Jail and make Hugh because he has the ability to be a utility, utility kind of player. You know, they say he could play second and can play third, he could play first base a little bit. So you know, if if Andrew Hart is really that bad at third base, and I mean he could lose some playing time, is

it a huge concern of mine. No, But I you know, I will say I don't think that there's necessarily no effect that his defense has on his fantasy value, because I do at least think that there's there's some effects here. Um, look twenty seven home runs. I think the power really kind of jumped off the page last year, more so than we thought he would. If you look at his minor league profile, he really hit a lot of doubles. He hit for a high batting average, pretty solid contact raids.

Doesn't strike out all that much either, you know, just sixteen percent strikeout rate last season in major league. So makes a lot of contact, a lot of line drive contact. But you know, playing Yankee Stadium and some of those other ballparks in the A L East, you know, the doubles are turning into home runs even sooner than we thought. You know, he's kind of he's a bigger stature dude. So seven home runs, all right, I don't know. I'm not sure that he gets back there, but I think

he's safe for at least in that range. He's one of these interesting cases, Greg, where he paces a lot of pitches. He's very aggressive, but he makes a lot of contact on those pitches. You know, shout out to uh to Garry and Thrown. I heard him talking about this. He kind of likened it to UH to VLADIMC. Guerrero senior, where you know this that was one of like the last players that we saw chase a lot of pitches but still make a lot of contact and pretty good

contact on those pitches outside the strike zone. So, you know, I thought that was a pretty cool comp But you know, I think to eight home runs, you know he's gonna be in the Yankees lineup, so the county stats will be there too. Is another guy where you know, he's a four category player, doesn't really doesn't give you anything in the speed department, but you know, if he does play every single day, you might have the upside for even more I mean he had nine d RBIs last year.

He plays every single day in the middle of this lineup. It's not outside the remo possibility that he drives in a hundred runs. That's still just twenty three years old. He'll he'll turn it'll turn to my four next week, So it's a twenty four year old player. I think he does have room to grill, like I don't know that. We saw the ceiling last year Miguel and har which is kind of scintillating. Saything bad about in Hard. It

was very good to be last year. And I think French right, we're about that batting average, not the three to think that will come down. I think you could go either way here. He's either really gonna, you know, turn it on and break that thirty Harmer and Barrier or hanging around. I think he's a solid player. I just think the position is so deep that I don't need to grab Andrew Hard where he's going. Uh, you know, there's just other guys there that can give me similar

skills or different skills at that position if I so choose. Yeah, and and no doubt that's fair. There's two guys go ahead of the NFEC that will mention and do Horr is going around pick in the NFBC, which puts him where frank than four him in the sixth round of fifteen team draft, early six team going so early early six, and he was going harder, so he's actually he's dropped

a little bit. He's dropped a little bit. So it's really him and like a hand O squarre Suarez going a little bit higher, like very firmly, you know, in that early early fifth round range. He's going a little bit higher than Andrew Harror. But when I look when I look at Miguel and Harror, as I mentioned, like, I see a player that I believes looking girl like, I think he gets over third and maybe a little ni even and Yankee bias or whatever, but I think

definitely a Yankee bias for sure. I think he gets over thirty home runs. I think that, Like the strike rate is the crazy thing to me, because he he has such great context that you look at his entire minor leage profile. He doesn't strike out because he swings in everything. This is a guy everything. Yeah, he doesn't walk at all, he never had. He's another one of these. You know, there are a lot of hitters like that

in the game. They're specific really don't walk a lot, but aggressive swingers they swing had a lot of pitches outside the strike zone, you know, like Starling Marte comes to mind as well, another guy who makes a lot of contact, doesn't really walk all that much. But that doesn't mean that they can't be valuable for fantasy purposes, like it could definitely work. And they will say this the second half for Andrew Hard, he did make a conscious effort to try and lift the ball a little

bit more. Uh. You know, first half he was you know to seventy nine eighteen percent line drive rate, uh, thirty three percent flyball rate. In the second half, you know, three nineteen batting average, five seventy five slugging. You know, he had fifteen on runs in the second half to fifty six isolated power line drive right, so that goes up four percent. His fly ball rate goes up six percent,

up to thirty nine percent in the second half year. Uh, and you know, the hard hit percentage right around the same the home run flyball ratio goes up a little bit. So based on that second half, if those kind of battle ball numbers carry over, this year. It's not necessarily gonna happen. A lot of people like to use second half as indicators. It doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna happen, but if it does, then that's where you kind of see like the thirty maybe even thirty plus home run

upside come into play. If he carries over that second half bad in ball data, it's just as long as you continue to make contact at the obviously the rate that he was in that second half, he's gonna be really good. I think he could be Like I know, Matts, it's a little rich for his blood. And there's a lot of guys. Yeah, here's war though at the end of that six the early seventh you do have other guys too, like saying you needed to feel something else,

you needed to get that closer. There's a Josh Donaldson, There's a Will Myers. There's Justin Turner, who's one of the best hitters in all the baseball We know he's getting up there and getting older. Or even if I wait, one guy who this is a bad help, like Frank said, you got gotta watch in preseason, is Matt Chapman. You look at Matt Chapman's road numbers, and you put Nolan Arronado's home numbers and Matt Chapman's away numbers side by side,

you're looking at it pretty much the same player. Chapman was ridiculous last year. He was, so I was looking at his numbers, and you know what I really found surprising if you won't even realize this, but Matt Chapmans scored a hundred runs last year. Scored a hundred runs, Like I wouldn't have even guessed that, But you know, he was the Oakland A's lineup like the first half of it last year, like was was very potent, like Chris Davis. Davis obviously one on that tear. I expect

Matt Olsen to take another step as well. The one the big his issue right now with Chapman is the injuries. So Matt, right, you gotta pay attention during spring, like if you're drafting right now, I don't know if I could pull the trigger like I think he's falling down draft boards a little bit because of it. But it is what they're like, they got worry some injuries. You know, it's the thumb, so that's ability to hold the bat and grip the bat and then it's shoulder to which

could affect his power. So as great as match Happman was, I thought he made huge tries last season. If he was healthy, you know, I think he might even be going around this and her range, to be honest with which is crazy to say, but he made that many improvements last year throughout the course of the season. But I'm I'm really worried about these injuries, I mean, shoulder and thumbs together, especially now that like you know, he's still dealing with him like he's getting a later start

in spring training than everyone else. It's it's not a little, it's a lot annoying, fair enough, because this is a guy that you know, we could have been all over like he would have been an active target of mine. We talked about um meal and horror, and you said, Frank that the person that you see him closely compared to that, compared to you, but it's similar, but he's pretty much higher than him is Hauarez, who's going off the board like picks ahead of him in the early

fifth round in those fifteen team leagues. What's up? Man? This is not gonna be a popular take, and some people, uh, some people might want to attack me for it. But I'm a little worried about au Henningo Suarez just because the price that you have to pay right now. Look, I love the Reds lineup, you know, I want exposure to ya c l P League, And you know, Joey Vado should bounce back as well, and Scooter Jeanette and all these guys, and I think I think it could

be a great lineup. It's a great ballpark. And he was otherworldly in the first half last season. You know, he three o ps. You know, he was one of the ten best hitters in baseball. Like he missed time last year and he's still drop runs. He was awesome. Uh, you know, fifty one percent hard hit rate in the first half last season. Second half last year, I mean he took a step back. I mean he you know,

the strikeout percentage goes up by nine percent. It went from nineteen and a half percent in the first half to eight percent. He was a seven eight five ops, so nearly lowers by two hundred points. Uh. You hit rates still at the ball extremely hard. So oh, I just worry. You know, people are kind of paying the premium right now, like based on what he did last year and he had an awesome first half, and you know, maybe this is just his natural progression as a player

and a hitter at the major league level. So you know, maybe you can kind of take what he did in the first half and do that over the course of a full season. Maybe that's like his next step in progression. I'm a little bit more worried. I'm a little bit more worried about the second half. I think you're kind of paying up in that fifth round range for what might be close to his ceiling this season. Um, and I know a lot of people might not like to

hear that. Yeah, I'm I'm always frank here. I think, Look, I think the power is real. I'm not doubting that. I think the average is more than that two fifty to sixty range for Matt I'd probably be more comfortable with Andrew Hard now and just saying Suarez is actually dropping down. He was going in certain spots third, fourth round a couple of months back. So I think his price is at least coming back to uh something that's more I don't know, more agreeable, though I'm not paying

that right now. The one takeaway I think you should get from third base is that the quarter at the quarter position. In most cases not at all, but in most cases this season, you're gonna be filling that corner with a third basement over a first basement. I think that's pretty obvious. Yeah, I think it's a really good takeaway, Matt. That third base is just is really plentiful. Like, we've gone through, um, what eight or n nine guys now with you, Matt, I'll do the rest of the venture

coming in in the next hour. I'm having like all of them. If there's none of these guys that stand out like I don't want this guy. And we've done a lot of these previews. Now, Frank, we got Suarez in a Best Ball draft, like I think I got him in the fifth, sixth round where you know, to me he was the best player left on the whole time.

I'm not necessarily opposed to taking him, but it kind of feels a little b high if he continues to drop a little bit, like if you start to get him in the sixth round, like I'd be more I'd be more apt to do something like I have no issue with any of these guys, Matt, before we let you go, because I know you gotta you gotta run um. We talked about Matt Carpenter during our First Base show. What are your thoughts on Matt Carpenter? We got under

a minute. I think it's more of the same. I love the Goldsmith a dish you that really helps him out in the tot On was drafted hold, which is o b P. I took him in the fourth round in a regular average league. I'm gonna wait longer. I do like the dual eligibility for the corners, but he's not a guy that I have to have. It sounds like it sounds like there's a lot of those guys like other than Anthony Rendon, But like, like I think the way to phrase it is, I'm not enamored with it.

Like you know, I don't love Matt Carpenter. If I end up with him, like, it's fine, Maddie, real quick before we let you go. Who has been your most uh I guess outside of Anthony Rendon because that's been I think like one of your most avid targets this season outside of him. Who who's the next third basement up that you're targeting most? Bits between Justin Turner and Will Mariles depending upon what I need you know that's one of these guys that will never quit. Anybody is

one of those guys. I mean, especially with the ad as well. Just called Wilmers, Sammy Watkins from Atladka. That's what. That's a good coming, alright, Mattie. Well we'll tell him next Monday on this very show follow us CCN Baseball. We're back with venta Ray after this very m