LIVE Fantasy Baseball Experts Mock, Zion Williamson's Debut

Forever Show. Start listening to us or suffer the consequences. Listen don dunnit Yeah, welcome yours by Byron Fine god bro say Frances practice stand ball, ladies and tell in yours With that we walking you inside of Studio thirty four. This is the BFFs. Here is Frank Staffle. I am Greg Soman. What's happening, Franky, Greggy? What's going on? Buddy? There's a lot going on right now. Part taking in a Fantasy Baseball Experts mock draft and I'm currently on

the clock. So it's very stressful right now. I thought about stressful. Look at those people. No, no, no, no, no no, stop some mock draft. Stop. This is a mock draft people. I don't hate, right, I won't I won't. I don't trust you at all. Away. You have my words, A man of my word, give me a paper. No, no no, no, I'm man of my word. Frank, I don't know. I don't believe you. Go sit down on the side of the table draft. Would you like me to reveal people?

What if the people's going on? I have a listener wanted trying to prove a point. What's your pointing? Hell me tell me before, tell me before you I want to show how into a mock draft you are. But you're actually crossing names out. I'm serious, all right. I know that you're gonna not ripping it. You're gonna rip it. Do this. This is a mock draft on January twenty second, Frank, you don't make money for winning the mock draft. No,

you don't play it out? And how serious Frank is taking this cross I already missed a bunch of players on this Fantasy pros sheet on January is when he's second for a mock You don't think Frank Stamford is dedicated to fantasy baseball. Look at this, people, Well, thank you getting my word. I'm so happy that you didn't you didn't rip it. Now that I've I've missed every draft pick. Well this is I'm not gonna be able to pay attention to this anymore. So we're flying off

a cuff here, Greg, what's going on? Buddy? Unbelievable? Are you unbelievable? In a good way? In a bad way. I feel like you're mad at me. I feel like you want to make fun of me. Maddy, you I'm happy. You're happy. If you're happy, I'm happy. Are you happy? And just sleep last night not great? James are back? Maybe watching Zion Williamson's debut tonight to sleep a little

better tonight, Let's go. We're there, man, the the debut of Zion Williamson tonight in the NBA from time on EESPN, it's gonna be great, and Frank, we're gonna talk about it. Not by ourselves tonight. We will not be by ourselves. We have Christian Clark of Noah dot Com The Times picking you enjoining us later in the show to talk about the debut of Zion Williamson. What we can expect tonight, what we can expect for the rest of the season.

There's a bunch of people that have question marks about Zion Williamson, Greg, I am not one of those people that personally I think he's going to be awesome. You know. Maybe the only question I have is regarding his body type and the mass with which his body comes with obviously, and how that might hold up long term. So we try and get some answers out of Christian Clark later on in the show. I'm happy to do that, but

until we get there, Greg, we're talking baseball. We spent a lot of time baseball one second, but we spent a lot of time on UM the Grizzlies, righty talking off air on air, SMA, other stuff we do about what Memphis does and how they're in the playoffs at the moment. Belicians, who were the worst team in the league of the first month of the season, like Nicks, like bad three and a half games out. Now you're

eleven and five in their last sixteen games. Zion Williams is back, Drew Holiday's back, Brandon Ingram's back, Alonzo balls back. A Lonzo ball has been back, Greg, he's balling out in the month of January. No pun intended, but a Lonzo ball is playing really well. Drew Holiday just came back in his last game, scored thirty six points in that game. How you get Zion Ingram is playing at an All Star level? Brandon Ingram should be an All

Star too, Yes he should. I know that. You you're probably one of those people who last at people who vote for the All Star Game, and I'm one of those people. But I voted for Brandon Ingram. I think he deserves to be an All Star. So I don't. I don't think I laugh. No, you definitely don't. I don't. I don't think it's wrong with that. I just voted for a bunch of people that a I like and I think are deserving. So I voted for Bamata Bio obviously,

and like Jimmy. You imagine if the Pelicans see in the playoffs as that faced the Lakers, right, Alonzo, ball Ay Davis, the whole thing. How cool would that be? That would be very cool. It would be a lot of fun. Here, Greg, what's happening? Oh my god, I'm missing a bunch of draft picks here. Where's the focus here, Bud? The focus is on everything, Greg, That's where the focus is on. Come on, I know, but I want to see which players are going. I want to see where

everyone's being drafted. I haven't really participated in too many drafts in general yet. Oh, Nelson Cruise. You know I love Nelson Cruise. Greg had him on your list. I didn't get him. Sorry, well, you distracted me. I'm sorry. We're on a live show at the moment we are. Would you like to? Would you like talk about who I'm drafting right now? Really? So you don't want to do this at all? Why are we been doing this stuff?

I wanted stuff. I wanted to get to to be honest with you, because the biggest news in baseball yesterday, Well today it's Luis Rojasty, new manager of the New York Metropolitans, the son of Phelipe. Something crazy here, Greg, I keep going, all right, I'll take this guy for now. I just took Reese Hoskins in the eighth round. Greg, Let's do the great value, doesn't it. He's my starting first basement. Why wouldn't he be hoss like? Awesome? I gotta read you my team. I don't care if you

don't want to know. I want your reaction, Luis. It doesn't matter. This is what matters right now, Greg. Through eight rounds, my team is Reese Hoskins, Mike Mustakis, Javier Bayas, Bryce Harper, Mookie Betts, Shane Bieber, Luis Severino, and you Darvish. He's really awesome. Why you Darvish? Though? He was the last picture in that tier and it was about to end, and I wanted a third starter, so I but Syndergard was already gone. Grank, he was already gone. Charlie Morton

was already gone. I really wanted Morton. I just missed out on him to like that. Morton's your boy, Morton is Morton went at the end of the fourth round. He's climbing up, man. I saw him going to third round of a draft. Yesterday, Jesus saw Matt Olsen go in the third round of tweeting about that. Crazy. That's a little bit nuts. It's crazy. All right. Now you can talk about whatever you were talking about. The Mets new manager, that's Louis Rojas Feliu, brother of Moissy's alu Uh.

They stayed inside the organization. They hired a guy that they saw us a fast riser, somebody that interviewed the first time, and that's who they went with. Luis Rojas. The new manager was the quality control coach last year and doesn't have some kind of minor league experience as well. He's he's been in the minor league system for the

Mets doing stuff for a very long time. It's kind of surprising to me that Eduardo Perez made it to basically the finals between himself and Carlos Beltron, and he didn't end up getting this job. Well, maybe that's kind of weird. Maybe that's not true. We UIs Rojas was the other candidate. That's true, you know, give it Louis

Rojas here doesn't be a tough over Frank. I can see it's good already to show, all right, when we take a break here, when we come back, I have to ask Frank some stuff about the Atlanta Braves, in particular Marcelo Student, their newest signing, pitching, some other guys on the Braves I have questions about. Hopefully Frank has

answer that. Let me paying attention. Why no NFL season is now upon us and you can become the eighth person away one million dollars in a Fandeler Draft Kings tournament by setting their lineups using the Daily Order dot Com DFS line of optimizer. If you're playing Dailey Fantasy Sports and not using Daily Order dot Com, You're doing it wrong. Sign up now for the NFL Access with a faster optimizer, smarter DFS projections, and better results into

promo code action for its ten percent discount. That's promo code action for its ten per cent discount. Daily Order dot Com where millionaires are made. Last year, maybe not the unluckiest, but definitely one of the most unlucky players. Normally, when we look at prolific hitters in baseball, their numbers are the batting averages high, the home runs are high, the slugging percentage on base percentage is all high, and they're expected numbers are a little bit lower. That was

not the case with Marcelo Zuna. I mean, he had to forty one last year. His expected batting average was tight eight that is insane. His slugging percentage was four seventy two solid slugging percentage, expected slug five forty eight, three thirty six woll but expected woll but three eighty two. He was extremely unlucky last year, and now he joins the lineup where Ronald acuna, Azzi, Albi's and Freddie Freeman are hitting ahead of him. And you're getting him outside.

He's going around pick one ten right now in NFBC a DP. You know what he is. He's a four category contributor. Maybe he'll give you a handful of stolen basis, not much more than that. But he seems like a good value right now. It seems like someone that can Maybe he doesn't do exactly what Donaldson did last year at the Braves, but I don't see why he can't come close. Right, So the obvious question, who would you

rather have Marcelo Zuna or Reese Hoskins. Well, considering how I took Reese Hoskins over Marcelo Zuna in this draft, um, I guess the answer. The answers Reese Hoskins. But I think Reece Hoskins actually goes way after him. An ADP, Right, that's not true. Really, they're close. One oh eight for Marcelo Zuna one eleven Freeze Hoskins. Okay, the biggest difference is Zoona is gonna give a better batting average. Obviously, in the n OFBC you play rotal leagues. Those are

five outfielders. So if you look at position scarcity, um, and you're off that this year, right, after last year's I'm all over the place. The reason I just took Reese Hoskins because he's like the last first basement left that I liked. That was okay, it was like the drop off of it wasn't like you needed to take an outfielder in the first round because I have five. Oh my god, I'm gonna die. No, no, no, no no, no no. We did not last year that I did not do that, Greg Um. So look, I think you'll

get a better batting average out of Marcelo Zuna. I think you'll get similar power numbers, maybe better home runs out of Reese Hoskins. Both really good line up. They're going to drive in r BIS and the run scored maybe slightly in favor of Marcelo Zuna. Like, who's line up do you think is better? The Phillies are the Braves? Both really good braves? Is the first? Is my first inkling? Sure? Stand by the Braves? Actually, yeah, okay, I would take

Marcellos Doverese Hoskins. I like, I think they're close, and then they're close. Better lineup. Five outfielders could play when it's that close. Four no three category contributors. But Ozuna is going to be better in batting average. So in hindsight, yeah, I mean I think it Una is probably the better player in a vacuum than Reese Hoskins. You also know nothing nothing. You got twelve stile mass last year to Marcellosina.

Really yeah, it's got to be a career high. It is very much care okay, because I was the highest of his career previously was where he had five for the Marlins. Interesting, it's not nothing, Frankie, it is not nothing. I'm sorry, I'm on the clock paying attention. This is bad. Okay. Now, if this Max Freed is my fourth starting ficture, I'm glad Max. I'm gonna get into Max Freed. And that was part of the planning the show to talk about Max Free. We'll do that in a second. Not alright,

I'm back again. I had to make a draft pick. I got Max Freed. Okay, So you had uh last year was about at two forty three with an average Haskin's bed at two twenty six. But as you said, extremely unlucky was Marcello Zuna last year that could go up o b P a little bit less than um then Reese Hoskins last season. If you look at the hard hit percentage. So I'll pull up now forty percent or hit percentage last year, four more selos percentage. He

was really good last year. If he gets a little bit luckier, in a little bit better of a lineup or solos, you know, just steal where he's going at pick one O eight at the moment. Now, I want to get some Max freem. I don't want to do that yet because I want to talk about this line up for the Braves. Wish you love. I've run it up last week, but now that they're talking about the Braves and it's worth talking about again. Geraldakunia the number one overall pick. I said yes last week, and then

I'm going to stand by that. And it's because of the stolen basis Mike Trout. You know, eleven solen bases last year. He's been a little banged up the past couple of seasons as well. Ronald Lacuna in his first full season with the Atlanta Braves, he goes thirty thirty. Maybe the stolen basis come back a little bit, but I think he's going to come close to that. Trout's gonna give you a better batting average, but the stolen bases are so so so hard to come by. It's close,

you're splitting hairs. But give me Ronald D. CuNi over my Trout. It's crazy, It's absolutely crazy, And I get it, man, like he's got a better shot doing it's It seems to be Ronald Kunio is so much more comfortable in that leadoff spot than anywhere else. And I think that a Kunia, certainly in the conversation like Trout, is this the year he goes too? Not for me? I was thinking number one, probably Joe Madden reinfigorates him a little bit?

Is that what's gonna happen here? Greg? Why not? Oh? Man? So all right, I mean you're not taking yellows over Trout either, right, Like that would just be what's the point of that? Yellow says the knee injury as well, So I would go Trout trying to Kunia clearly, Uh, your first too. Now. I wanted to stay with the Raves lineup because in name that, and again I haven't you all over my research yet here, but I think I really wanted to know about Frankie. It was Austin

Riley when he got called up last year. He was a big deal, Like, oh my god, Austin Riley's coming out. We've been waiting, We've been waiting. We're winning. Got off to a fast start and then he went back down. He is he going to play every day? He's a starting third basement now with Josh Donaldson out, He's a d V currently in the NFBC. He's two seventy eight. That's costing me nothing. He's going around Brendan McKay, Garrett Richards, Phil Myers, and Dylan Bundy. So it's costing you nothing.

Did you have Austin Riley? Does you have a job as of now? I know you love Ross Resource, I think use But they have Johan Camargo as he's starting third basement of the Atlanta Braves right now. Then Johan Camargo is gonna stand in the way of Austin Riley. No, I don't think so either, right, I think you know, if Austin Riley plays well in the spring, I mean he had major deficiencies last year when he came up

to the Major league. Love I mean, he took the league by storm here the first month he was here. He was great, mashing home runs, Butcher and the outfield his natural position is third base, which you know, maybe that don't even help him at the dish. We've talked about that before, where you know, when guys have to change their position play the outfield. With Reese Hoskins as well, right when he had to play the outfield, Um, we saw the uh. We saw the production come down for

Reese Hoskins. So just where two years old, there was a chance Austin Riley breaks camp as a starting third baseman for the Atlanta Braves. It wouldn't surprise me if he spends the first month or so down while he works on his defense. If he's playing well in the spring, then I think he will have a shot. It also wouldn't surprise me if he look you want to find

lottery tickets late that have upside, especially power potential. This is someone that can hit over thirty home runs if he plays every single day in a really good Atlanta Braves lineup. Well, So he played eighty games last years you, um, I'm gonna say he hit eighteen home runs last year? Have an I haven't done any Austin Riley research yet, So he had eat eating homewards last year in eighty games. Pretty good. The problem, of course, is at the plate

with the discipline. He only walked five percent of the time in the Major League after walking ten percent of the time in Triple AT to start off the year. Over forty games, the strikeout percentage went way up from triple AT to the major strikeout rate in Triple A over thirty six percent in the majors, And that obviously affect that his average was just twenty six and his on base percentage was terrible given that he didn't walk

at to seventy nine. Is there any way to tell Frank Ken Austin Riley improves those areas you look at the hard hit percentage was good, forty two and a half percent. That's good. Line drivers at that's good too. When he made contact the ball went far. He just

didn't make contact enough. Is there a way? And I'm sure you're looking at swinging strike percentage and that kind of stuff to say, like, hey, if he's just a little bit more patient and he lets the ball has come to him and he isn't swinging everything because his chase rate was over forty one percent, for god's sake, why can't he be a lot better? Right? Like, no, the quality of contact is great, it's just how often does he make contact? That's what it comes down to.

I think in a sophomore year. This is someone who, you know, last year at Triple A was striking out twenty percent of the time. You look at every other season, however, you know eighteen and the years before that. You know he did hover around twenty percent the years before that. So look, he cut down his strikeouts at Triple A last year, which helped him, you know, bring his batting average up. He's got to do that at the major league level. He's got to become better in terms of

plate discipline. A lot of young players who come up have that issue. So you're right, when he makes contact. His quality of contact is no joke over hard hit rate. H he has the percent flyball that's maybe even a little bit too high as well. Maybe he's swinging for the fences too much. But if he can just cut down that strikeout right to his batting average goes up to fifty right there. First name of the sleeper list, you're in fair enough can knock you on that one.

We'll come back. We'll hit on the braves pitching, and he just took Max Freed. He likes Mike Folton Evitch as well. Let's talk about both those guys on the other side of this. NFL season is now upon us, so you can be going the eighth person awayen one million dollars in a FanDuel Draft Kings tournament by settinger lineups using the Daily Order dot Com DFS lot of optimizer. If you're playing Dailey Fantasy Sports and not using Daily

Order dot Com, you're doing it wrong. Sign up now for the NFL Access with a faster optimizer, smarter DFS projections, and better results into promo code action for as ten percent discount is that's promo code action for as ten percent discount. Dailor Order dot Com where millionaires are made. All right back here, all the ffs, Frank Stample, reg Sausman, Graggy. We are here to remind the people, Hey, you want to be the next Naily Fantasy millionaire, then dog on

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dot com slash dunk Roda dot com. Millionaires are made, all right, Frank you a few moments ago to Max Freed in this industry mock and he told me that he is climbing. He's a guy I like coming out spring training last year because I believe it was like Freddie Freeman was like, this guy is the best picture we have and well for a lot of the season, eventually like it. Max Freed going one forty right now over on the nfb CE. What do you like about

Max Freed? Well, what I like about Max Freed was that, um, the strikeouts were great. The strikeout minus walk cread. I mean, this guy nine over nine case per nine, two point five walks for nine last year, four point zero two year A he was unlucky three point three two x fip greg in his first full season over a hundred and sixty five innings pitch last year. He's still just twenty six years old. There's a lot to like here. He's basically fastball, curveball. But his curveball is nasty. It's

one of the best in the league already. I would say that pretty confidently, right, So he's got some he's got the swing and miss curveball, he's got a mid nineties fastball, and he had he got enough under his belt last year. You know, he had seventeen wins a hundred and sixty five point two endings pitch. So with that team's offense, should get some wins as well. The problem is he's moving up the draft board right now. You mentioned where's he going one forty, So he's climbing.

You know, ideally you'd want free to as what your SP four, maybe SP five, and the one forty range might end up being your SP three, and maybe that's in deeper leagues like the fifteen teamers. But he's moving up right now. He's gonna end up being drafted as a top thirty starting pitcher. How much would you pay for him? And off the top of my head, let's say fifteen bucks. Yeah, a lot, it's a lot, that's you know, right, it's a top thirty starting pitcher. I

love to pay like ten bucks for him. I hope we have money to play with, and we messed it up this year. Greg probably me raising my hand. Are you yelling at man? Now? We we were good? Lesson we did the most part. We were good. We were on the same we're on the same page, you're on the same page. And then get yelled at by Frank at all It was great. I'm just gonna listen. I'm just gonna want pitching. You're gonna want all these players I don't want. I'm gonna want pitching. Yeah. Well, we

were already starting to discuss our our strategy. We're in a fifteen team, a very competitive I don't think I don't think we finished higher than twelfth. Ever, No that's not true. There's the first year, the first year we were inside the top ten at fifteen. Yeah, that counts right for something. Yeah, we have we haven't been in the It's a very competitively there's a lot of really good players in there. Ton is Net League, Anando and

Dane shared team. They don't really care, they don't really well. Colton and the wolf manner in that league as well. So it's a really competitive league. And we've already started talking about some some strategy, some some ways we want to go. Yeah, we have an idea of what we spend up for this year. I kind of have an I kind of have an idea of what we want to spend you know, you and I will. You're in on Max Freed as well. Yeah, like what you saw of him last year, And yeah, I I liked him

as a prospect. I liked him last year. I'm very very in on Max Freed. I you know, I retweeted something the other day from I believe it was sp streamer on Twitter which basically had a side by side breakdown of Freed versus so Rocca your boy, and Soroka is being drafted ahead of Freed. Soroka gives off a Kyle Hendricks kind of vibe, you know, where he gives you the good ear a, the good whip. He's not

going to get a ton of strikeouts. I think that there's room for the strikeouts to improve for Soroka this year. Maybe he gets up around like eight case per nine, slightly over that. And I like Sroka. He's guy. He's he's being drafted very high this year. And I don't like what walks for nine two point one one from Stroka. It's very good What are you talking about? Is that good? Who walks for nine? It's great? Great, you've been out of the game for a while. It's good too. Who

is great? Max reads max freees like two point five five. I would say anything that approaches three and over three is bad. Like Robbie Ray is like three and a half walks, He's the worst. Yes, Like Louis Castillo's over three walks for nine a very bad. He's very good. He's just walks. A lot of people stroke guys aren't great at seven way three eight. You know what, I'm actually mad at someone to Kyle Hendricks in this draft, you know, actually wanted Kyle. We're not doing that to that.

We're not doing Kyle Hendricks. No, I don't want well for what you for what you need, if you need. That's what Kyle Hendricks is good. It's absolutely not happening already. Alright, the extrait last year by Yeah, so that's high. That's

higher than max freeds. That's higher than max freeds. But that's why, Like if you put them side by side, what was Saroka's ear A two and change, people are going to see the sub three e r A and they're going to instantly react to Saroka there and Max Freed had an ear A over four, yet his peripheral numbers his ex fit was lower than Max Mike Sarroka's. He gets more strikeouts, a few more walks for Max Freed.

I do worry about whether or not Freed can the gains that he made in command and control last year, Greg can he keep those this year? And he maintained that this year. So that's the only question mark I might have because uh, in every other level in the minors and throughout his time in the majors, brief time he walked a lot of people. Max Freed, he was very wild so improved tremendously in that regard last year.

Can he maintain that this year? I think that's a fair question when it comes to Max Freed, Max freak like, I'm with you though like him. I just took him in this mock. That's fantastic. The rest of the Braves rotation does potentially include Mike folton Evitch, who how did I take Faulty? Right now? Gregor shouldn't take Sean Maniah. I know I like mana atas talking about that right because my falton evit two years ago, really seconds to pick Jesus Christ. So we would spend time editing shows

and watching my FOLTONEVITG pitch. Everyone was kind of waiting from the fall off and he didn't. He was awesome two years ago. I like Luke Weaver too fat right now, all right, so you had to pick right now, Greg, I'll let you make my pick live on the air. He's so angry Bolton vits or Snai seconds. Right, it's done, great folding now, yes, you can talk about faulty. So two years ago he was awesome, right, Like, the strikeouts were great, the control was it was under under control.

He wasn't going deep into games. But you know, he was good last year, taking much earlier than he should have been, and he was a complete disaster. He was hurt early, probably never got healthy, but maybe that's part of the reason he wasn't great until the second half of the year. Right, He wasn't fully healthy. Is that possible? Yeah, for sure. I mean his first half was basically a wash. You know, he was dealing with the he was like a flexor mass's forearm, which normally is a prelude to

Tommy John surgery. So you were worried about the forearm and the elbow for Mike Fulton Eviage someone who throws extremely hard and relies on his slider a lot as well, So you have all those concerns over Fulty. But then in the second half, and I pointed this out to you the other day, we started scrolling through falties game log right and basically from August on, he starts going

deeper into games. He's getting more comfortable, the strikeouts are starting to come, the command is starting to come back for Fultonevitch. I'm not saying that he's gonna be the player that he was in eighteen, right, because the peripheral numbers say that he got lucky that season. But is he someone that can pitch to a I don't know, three seven e r A with a strikeout per ending at one point to five whip something like that. You're getting this guy pretty late in draft right now. Is

your SP five SP six? At times, I think that there's some upside there with Fulty, and I think he flashed that in the second half, So I'm with you. I think he's one of the guys that I'm going to be target targeting later on in drafts along with the Maniahs and the luke Weavers. Those, those are a lot of pictures that I'm here you need to know about. Foldonevitch six point three seven e r A. In the first half last year it was a wash. I told you two point six five e r A. In the

second half, that's how good he was. Man Strikecots fifty the first half fifty five second half of the strike Cats were still there on on both sides of things. I thought he was, as you just drive, so much better in the second half. Specifically, um, in the month of August and September. He didn't pitch the Mother of July other reason. The minors are he was hurt three ninety in August one r A down the stretch for the Braves in September and into October, Mike foltonevitch really

really good. Uh the second half over the season last year for the ELATBA, Brad's been a little bit unlucky too. Like old much very much on the radar once again for us. Yeah, I'm I'm in agreement with you here. UM. I don't really think there's much more to say about Faulty now until I deep dive and see what I find when it comes to Mike ful Tanvich. Absolutely, Mike fultonavit in very much on the radar for your BFFs here this season. Let's continue on, Frankie boy, about these

Atlanta Braves. What we're going to continue to do when drafting. And we've gone through the rotation, we've gone into Austin Riley. What about your boy Freddie Freeman? Right, Freddie Freman, your guy, he's been your guy at first base? Do you go back? Yeah? I mean, why would you go away from Freddie Freeman? Everything is legit when it comes to him. The batting average is stellar. Uh, doesn't hurt you at stolen bases either.

You know, he'll give you a six to five to ten, nothing crazy, but a legit four category contributor that doesn't hurt you in stolen bases. Great lineup that we've been talking about all day long now has Marcello Juna charting behind him the career year last year thirty eight homers, runs over a hundred and twenty r b i s as well the batting average to ninety for his career. You're I don't, I don't see any reason to go

away from Freddy Freeman. So yeah, I think where he's going, you know, at the end of the first round, beginning of the second round. It's a great the obvious question foundation you know what's coming. No On Aeronado or Freddie Freeman. Let's go knowing what we know now, if Eronado is in Colorado in course field, I will take Eronado over Freeman. Freddie Freeman versus Anthony Rizzi. Freeman versus Anthony Rizzo was the thing. Oh gosh, God coming up here on the grid.

We're talking Zion Williamson. Zion Williamson. He's back tonight for the New Orleans Pelicans, and we're gonna break it down how many minutes he's expected to play, what role he's going to provide both fantasy owners, betters, wagers, and of course New Orleans Pelicans. The Felicans are favored tonight by three and a half points at home over the Spurs. Telicans were the hottest teams gets the spread in the NBA.

Nine of ten games, they've covered four for you. Better's got to get on this, Frank, it was I almost liason. You feel the misty, you feel the aura, you want to bet on them, but is that the right move? I like the Pelicans tonight. They're playing good ball eleven and five in their last sixteen games straight up, thirteen and three against US spread in their last sixteen games, like the overnight game, so I know it's been climbing

currabing all day. It's a big number thirty seven, but they've been playing to the over as well, so have the San Antonio's. Give me the pells to cover tonight, and I like the over in that game and over in all. Maybe find out how many minutes next? Coming up next, Christian Clark will join us. You want the edge, get on the grid. We're back after this NFL season is now upon us and you can be going the eighth person away one million dollars in a FANDULA Draft

Kings tournament. My setinger lineups using the Daily Order dot Com DFS lot of optimizer. If you were playing Daily Fantasy Sports and not using Daily Order dot Com, you're doing it wrong. Sign up now for the NFL Access with a faster optimizer, smarter DFS projections, and better results into promo code action for as ten per cent discount. And that's promo code action for as ten per cent

discount Taylor Order dot com, where millionaires are made. You can make the case that's night is the most anticipated night in the NBA thus far. Right, You've got Christmas Day, you have Opening Night, and we'll get in the playoffs and I'll start weekending that stuff. But tonight is the return of the debut of the number one overall pick in the draft, one of the most hyped number one overall picks we have seen in sometime, and that is

the debut of Zion Williamson. And to talk about it with us, it's Pelicans beat refighter from Note Pete, Pelicans beat writer from NOLA dot com. It's Christian Clark. What's going on? Christian? Hey? Hey, how you guys doing today? We're doing fanstashtake. Of course, you cover the Pelicans for NOLA dot com, the Times Picking un as well as host the bird Watch podcast. We'll get bird Watch. Let's just call it the Zion Watch because it's here tonight.

And the number one question I know that I've had in regards to what I want to do with my money on the Pelicans is well, how much should we expect out of Zion tonight? How long is he going to play? For what do you think. Yeah, so I'm expecting Zion to to be in the starting lineup tonight. I think they're just gonna go ahead and throw them with the starters and see how it looks. They they've said that they're not going to place a hard minute

restriction on him. Um. What they've said instead is that they're gonna just monitor the bursts that he plays. Um. I this is just for me, But I wouldn't anticipate him, you know, playing it in more than three, you know, separate stretches, and I would probably even you know, bet onto. Um. I mean, look, he's missed the first four or four games of the season, so well, they say they're not gonna put a minute restriction on him. Um, I wouldn't expect it to be a lot. I mean I would.

I would probably guess somewhere in uh, I don't know, twenty minutes range, right. He also the Also, the thing is the Pelicans are playing really well, so it's not like you have to push Zion tonight in his debut, right like you don't. You don't have to force it anymore when they were one of the worst teams in basketball. You have to force it. You want to rush Ion. They didn't. Now they're in a position where the kind of use the playing without, no, they don't. They're playing

extremely well. Eleven and five straight up, thirteen and three against the spread in their last sixteen games are the New Orleans Pelicans, so you're right there playing well. Uh. The original timetable for this injury was six to eight weeks. Greggy has surgery on that tormaniscus. He misses three months. It's nearly three months of the day that he has had surgery. He had it back on October one. Christian, I know you spoke about, you know, what you expect tonight.

I've read a few things about maybe fifteen to twenty minutes you mentioned, you know, maybe he plays uh in in three stints tonight. What's the outlook moving forward as well, though not just for tonight. Are they how cautious are they going to be? Obviously this is their prize possession first overall pick the most high player coming out of college in a long long time. What's the plan for Zion for the future right now? This season? In the short term, is there gonna be I mean it's restriction

for the rest of the season. Is he gonna play back to backs. I mean, what have you heard regarding Zion Williamson for the rest of the season, not just tonight. Yeah, So I would say fairly cautious. Um, Look, they're they're trying, they're gonna try really hard to make the playoffs. Um, and they've they've already been overly cautious bringing Zion back. So you know it's gonna depend how it works in

the next couple of games. But I think you know, a handful of games with our restriction, and then you know, if he looks good next three or four games, then kind of let him do a sting and and maybe approach thirty minutes. Uh. They have set that they're playing to hold them more than likely playing to hold them out of back to back the second night of back to back, so that chops four games off right there. I believe they've four sets to back to backs. So

fairly cautious is what I would say. All right, great, So from a fantasy perspective, you know, if you own Zion, maybe a handful of games where he's under this minute minutes restriction, but you know, once he gets back in the flow of things, uh, maybe not no minutes cap there, but you should expect him to sit out the second night of back to backs moving forward, So, as Christian alluded to though, right, a lot of it's going to be based on feel and how he looks and how

he feels the good. The good part about Zian Williamson isn't like it's Kevin Duran has been. The league has a lot of miles on those knees. Zian Williamson just the freshman at Duke when he came out. He's young, he's ready to rock, and they have been overly cautious. You mentioned he's been out for three months for an injury that should have taken six to eight weeks. He's gonna be ready to go tonight, and I think how comfortable he is tonight and going forward will probably dictate

his playing time here. But my question for you, christianer again we're talking to Christian Clark NOLA dot Com hosts The Board, watch podcast times Picker Unit as well, and how does Zion Williamson being back affect everybody else on the Pelicans. I drafted Drew Holiday as the guy who's gonna really step up and be this leader both on and off the court for New Orleans. I drafted Brandon Ingram,

figuring he would have to step up without Zia Williamson. There, how do all of these guys interact and alongside Zion Williams and now, well, you know, I think that's really interesting. I mean, Brandon Ingham as the biggest story here through the first half of the season. I mean, he developed into a bona fide star, you know, leading scorer on the team, one of the most sufficient high volume scorers in the NBA. I'm I'm curious, you know, how Ingram

and Williamson meshed with the forward spots. Um. I don't expect, you know, becau Zion to take a lot from from what Ingram has been able to do, mostly because I kind of view Zion as a plug and play player. Like on that Duke team, he was the number two option. Arch Barrett attempted five pour shots the game again, and Zion was still, you know, able to get his numbers. He can. He's that guy who likes has to have the ball in his hands to really impact the game.

You know, you can kind of bast on like putbacks and cuts and and lobs. So I would say it's a it's a fairly seams fit um. You know, obviously the big factors of the health. You know, we see Alvin Gentry with his big man get a lot of productivity out of them. Julius Randowly got a marcial contract of the New York Knicks ekst Alvin Gentry. Even this year we've seen people step in jalil O big games. Dust Favorites has played well over the past month or so.

Come on, don't disrepect Derrick Favorits. Anthony Nave is obviously to be the example to Marcus Cousins who they traded for. We've got a lot of success with these bigger guys in this system. Levin Gentry and you know his Zion Lives is just the next guy. Yeah, and they played an extremely high pace too. I think that fits into Zion's skill set, getting up and down the court where he can catch lobs and he can be a rim runner as well. Christian, we know that he is a

freak athlete. Two d and eighty five pounds that is a lot of weight. What has the training staff been doing with him to ensure his health moving forward? You know, is he trying to lose weight? Because I've heard a lot of people say that, you know, him at that playing weight of two hundred and eighty five pounds, that much mass on his body, constantly jumping and as high as he jumps, that that's going to affect his you know,

long term health in the end. Be a. So, has the training staff been doing anything differently with Zion since he's you know, come to the NBA and joined the New Orleans Pelicans. Is there a plan for him to cut some of that weight or is this just the weight that he's comfortable playing at and they'll kind of manage it from their own Yeah. I mean, like you said, part of what makes him so interesting that he's just

an unprecedented player. There's never been a guy who's two hundred eighty five pounds and can jump forty five inks in the air. It's it's just ridiculous that he's able to do these things. You know, look at how it looks. I don't think that the Pelicans really, you know, plan on cut in a bunch of weight. Um. What they've focused on the biggest thing during this rehabilitation process is improving his flexibility. UM. I mean just the word they

throw around a lot is torque. I mean he generates so much torque, and I think they think that it'd be it'd be difficult to take a lot of weight off his frame. They gaven for new improve his flexibility so his frame can can endure all the forest that he creates. Another thing too, they focused on, is altering the way he lands. Um. They don't want like his his need to kind of jut inwards, which it has at times before when he lands. So a lot of the things that can do there the rehab process are

to prevent future injuries. We'll see if they can prevent those seuzure injuries and and keeps eyeing in the lineup. Certainly the biggest concern going forward for Zilids. Talking at Christian Clark here and Christian the team one of the teams that are above the New Orleans Pelicans in the standings. Memphis Grizzlies lead of course by rookie John morand the number two overall pick. What will Pelicans have to do?

I mean obviously playing really really well right now, but in order to cash Memphis and cash John Moran, what do what? What needs to happen here over you know the next two months or so. Yeah, I was actually in Memphis for the Pelicans Grizzlies game on Martin Luther King Day, must fun game to holiday bawled out. Um, you know. I mean if Pelicans are eleven of five in the last sixty games, they just had to keep

doing what they're doing and stay healthy. I mean, injuries, we're such a big story in the first top I believe they already these eighteen different starting lineups, and mean there's a lot of guys at beside the Guyana too, um. And I think they can also sea stune what a lot of different websites consider the easiest schedule in the n b A. I mean, they were dealing about those, all those injuries all they had a brutal schedule, and I think Basketball Reference has them with the easiest schedules

going forward. I think tank a time BASM is the second easiest. So I mean, I think as long as they stay healthy, they can sease and make it really interesting, you know, and you can call them that out Frank for a while now, it's like they can stay healthy, like seems talented. Yeah, And I've been trying to find that on sports books right where to find the odds for what the Pelicans are to make the playoffs because I think that they can make a jump the way

that they've played. Look, they got off to a really slow start. They had a thirteen game losing shriek. That is not who this team is. You look at their talent on paper, they are a really talented team. Brandon Ingram should be an all start of this year. Holiday has been has played an all star level throughout his career. Lonzo Ball is playing well, and now you add Zion

Williamson to the mix. I think that if you can find that right now, I haven't been able to find it on the books that I'm looking at, But if you can find the New Orleans Pelicans their odds to make the playoffs, I think that there's a chance that they can make that jump again. There three and a half games behind the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth seed. Christian, I've got to ask you again about tonight. I'm looking at player props for Zion Williamson. Greg His prop has

moved up. It was thirteen and a half points. It has since moved up to fourteen and a half. People are getting excited. They're getting Zion fever. His prop for rebounds tonight is five and a half rebounds as well. Christian, if you had to just give us a projected stat line for Zion Williamson tonight, in let's say twenty minutes of action, what would you project for Zion tonight? Oh? Man, I don't know, a little bit high to me just because in a minute. So I would probably take younger

on that one. What was the run run rebounds? Five and a half? Okay, I try to take the under a under a point and over un rebounds, all right, And that's where the juice is right now, it's this one thirty on the rebounds. Put our money where his mouth is perfect, all right. And then next time you're in New York, if there's a Pelicans next game, you know, if you can the beer that you cost them, yeah,

there you go, no problem there. Yeah. So you know, Christian was, well, we'll get you out of here, um in just one moment. Of course, it's the New Orleans Pelicans take it on the Spurs tonight. Spurs are three and a half point underdogs, the totals at the two six and a half. You wanna make a prediction for the game, Oh um, I'll say the Pelicans win. I mean this building is gonna be on fire. They've been playing really well, so yeah, I'll take uh, I'll say

that Pelicans win. I don't know one to team cover the spread barely you need, man, it doesn't go that doesn't go over the number either, just barely barely stays it barely stays on. Sneaky, very very sneaky. You are Christian Clark. He's a smart guy. Christian Clark. He watch dot Com, The Times picking. You know, he's the host of the bird Watch podcast. Christian. We appreciate your time. Man, come back soon. Alright, guess thanks for having me right

there you go. He's Christian Clark. Follow him at see Clark three thousand on Twitter. A lot of great insight there. Mean, if it's gonna be a fun night, man, you can tell that when the Beat reporters are excited because they're just like, this is my job I gotta do. This is gonna write game store out here. You hear the excitement. He's excited. Yeah, it's cool. You know, I thought, Greg, what was the most anticipated debut like this? And so I saw what you wrote there and I think it

makes sense right. It was Vladimir Guro Junior last year, you had all these hype videos coming out Cooni of the year before because somebody had to sit on his damn phone watch you know, there wasn't as much hype though, dude, you sat on your phone Yankee Stadium. Me personally, I was hyped about Ronald the Kun. I don't know that the nation was. Everybody sat down to watch Vladimir Garrow Juniors first said bat last year. Probably the most hype, the most pressed that the Blue Jays got all season

now was that day now and rightfully so. So you want to watch the Pelicans will be on ESPN tonight ter time, going up against San Antonio Spurs. I don't want to take anything away from the Spurs. They played good ball recently in l and they're battling for a playoff spot. You know, I think if there's anyone that can kind of embrace the energy that's going to be in that building tonight, it's Gregg Popovich. It's the Spurs.

They've been there before. He's been in the playoffs what each of the past twenty years, basically past two decades. Greg very badly Game seven last year, though it's the Nuggets where he didn't foul it very stupid. All right, Well, you know what, he's had a long he's had a long he's old. You know, he's had a long run at it. You know, he's kind of tired of it now. You know he's tired of winning. You can say that about about the Knicks hosting the coach started livesteen this year. Awesome,

this summer nice, alright, pop with the Olympics. We'll come back. We've got three questions in three minutes, and we'll do that to right off the show. Next NFL season is now upon us, and you can become the eighth person away in one million dollars in a Fandueler Draft Kings tournament by setting their lineups using the Daily Order dot Com DFS line of optimizer. If you're playing Dailey Fantasy Sports and not using Daily Order dot Com, you're doing it wrong. Sign up now for the NFL Access with

a faster optimizer, smarter DFS projections, and better results. Into promo code action for its end percent discount. That's promo code action for its ten percent discount. Dailor Order dot Com where millionaires are made. Right there you go, Spurs Pelicans coming up. Thanks the Christian Clark for joining the

program today, Frankie, Yeah, great information there. Everyone's excited about the debut of Zion Williamson and I'm sure, I'm sure, Greg, that will be the most bet on game of the night, both from a side perspective and from a perspective Pelicans and the spurt. Alright, first question today, frank how is the team looking all right? So I gotta kind of figure this out myself. Um, as of now, my only catcher is Tom Murphy now the starter of the Seattle Mariners.

A lot of power there, Greg, don't sleep on Tom Murphy, Reese Hoskins, Mike Mustakis, Matt Chapman, Javier Bayez, Elvis Andrews. Is the middle infielder? Interesting, Bryce Harper, Adam Eaton, Mookie Betts, Kyle Tucker, and Willie Calhoun. Of course, staying on brand with the outfielders. And then with the pictures here we have Shane Bieber, Luis Severino, Max Freed, You, Darvish, Seanmaniah, Mike Foltanevitch, Liam Hendricks and Ian Kennedy as my two closes. Yeah,

what do you think about that? Right? And I just drafted this is crazy to me, Greg, it's around twenty. I just took Massa hero Tanaka in a round. That's crazy. I mean, it's never actually gonna happen, but I think people are looking at the sexy names and forgetting about our boy, Mata. You're really the final question. Have we got a minute left? Alright? What's your question? Do you know who what starting pitcher the worst left on base percentage?

You know all in baseball last year, qualified starting pitcher, qualified starting pitcher, and do you And here's the backup question to that is, there's a lot of pictures. How much does left on base percentage matter to you? Left on base percentage matters quite a bit because if the e r A is super low U and they pitched to a very high left on base percentage, that's likely going to regress the next season, no doubt. So this person's e r A was four forty four, left on

base percentage was sixty three. Can I get I mean, there's a lot of pictures out there. Can I get a passional league, national league? It's a starter. John Lester is not John Lester. He pitched on the cups. He does not pitch on the cubs. At who's in Katana is third. I was gonna say Kantana that was one. I will say, uh must grove. This is why he's the best people. Let's go. This is why he's His exit was four thirty one. Not good. I'm trying to find reasons to draft him, and I'm trying to prove

why you shouldn't. He's got to get better with play with runners on base, right, Greg, no, Frank, no draft something next, non BFF tomorrow over Frank Snapple. I'm Greg Sauceman. Will do it all again on Friday. We hope