Who Is This Year's Let Down Players?

God s Francis. All ladies and gentlemen, yours what is up? Everybody? Welcome inside Studio thirty four. This is the Fantasy Best Friends Forever. I am Frank Stanfeld. We're live on the sport Screen TV Network. Thank you for watching on Zumo, Pluto, Stir and YouTube as well. I'm gonna get into a lot from today. We have some fantasy baseball news and notes to talk about. Greg Sauceman hopefully will be joining me at some point here on the show as well.

Yesterday we played a little bit who is this Year's Blank? We did it from a positive perspective. We looked at some potential breakout players, maybe a closure that can surprise us late in drafts today. None of that not gonna We're not looking at the positive anymore. We've done the good stuff. Now we gotta get into the bad stuff. We gotta look at the other side. Who is this year's rank. Well, look at an early round hitter that might be able to let us down this upcoming season.

We might look into, uh, We're not might. We are going to look into an early round starting pitcher that might let us down here in as well. And we'll also get into an early round closer who could potentially lose his job early on in the season. Again, this is the Fantasy BFS live on a hump day here on the Sports Grid Network. We're gonna get into some of the news and notes in the Fantasy Baseball world. Franklin Barretto, Josh James, some Lorda's Guriel notes as well.

We'll do that all here on the Fantasy BFFs right after this news day update done by Sean Gstamon Sports Grade News Update, I'm John Blossomtia with your PFF news update. Alright, major League Baseball news. The Cubs are committed to batting Chris Bryant leadoff. The announced that Earlier this week, also some news that Red Sox have agreed to a minor league deal with catcher Jonathan lou Croix. Now some other

baseball news making waves. That is Rob Manfred, the MLB Commissioner, on Sunday with called Ravage of ESPN a long interview, he made some mistakes, notably calling the World Series Trophy a piece of metal. Well, Rob Manfred corrected that mistake, and he spoke about it today. In an effort to make a rhetorical point, I referred to the World Series Trophy in a disrespectful way, and I want to apologize for that. There's no excuse for it. Um, I made

a mistake. I was trying to make a point, but I should have made it in a more effective way. And again I want to apologize. Florida also making news, Lebron Jade's Los Angeles Lakers superstar called out Rob man Fred said listen to your players. He was upset about the cheating scandal. He went on say, listen. I know I don't play baseball, but I am in sports, and I know if someone cheated me out of winning the title and I found out about it, I would be effing.

I rate and quote that's Lebron James so not making it easier on rob Man tread. That's for sure, all right, some NBA news. It's official. Jonathan b Line is out as Cleveland Cavs head coach. He went forty losses. He had fourteen wins in just a half season. He did sign a five year deal, but they negotiated out he will be paid just for the time served in a little bit more on the first year of that deal. So Jonathan b Line out as coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. JB.

Bickerstaff takes over. That will be as soon as tomorrow when the players get BA. So that is your BFFs news update out back. So Frank standfold in the studio, take it away, Frank, thanks launch on. Appreciate the news update. You might have saw a little flash across the screen. The screen there, you know that was somebody consider him a superhero. I consider him my co host. It is Greg Sussman now joining the party. Greggy. I did you

sleep last night? But it's all right, man, I slept all right better than the night before, which is a plus. Feel good man, feeling good? How din to be here? A lot of fun to things to talk about today, and I'm decided to do so. Frank, Happy hump Day to you, but happy Wednesday. We got some Thursday, which is the frustrating part. I wish it were Thursday. I said,

that's frustrating. Not Thursday yet. No, not there yet. But a lot going on today, Frank and I wanted to get into some of it before we got into, uh, the players that we are avoiding this year. Not all the players were avoiding the whole show on that, like the players that really can pin appointment, Like you know what, this is the guy I don't want, probably not gonna have this guy on my team right exactly before we do that. The guy that I asked you about previously

was lorda Scariel. I know, Frank, can you tell me if I should like this player because he's in a line of that we like as Vladimir Gurero Junior has not Davi Chett Jr. And he's hit right in the middle of it, and he's gonna have multiple position eligibility. He's gonna hit third and now it comes out here maybe the first basement. Sometimes he's gonna play some second Mason outfield, Like dude, this guy could be good. People seem to like his brother Juley Gariel, So Frank, should

I like Lorda Scuriel. I am interested in Lorda Scuriel. You look at the lineup as you mentioned, Greg, everyone's excited about Bobichette and Vladimir Guerrero Junior as well as well as Cavin Biggio. Right, so we have a bunch of second generation players here on this team. It's a good line of good ballpark to hit in, and there are other really good ballparks to hit in in the American League East as well. I'm I'm slightly interested in Lord A's Greilo. The problem is the a DP where

he's going right now. There's a lot of players that I also like in that range. So in the month of February, he's going around pick one thirty five, so you're gonna have to take him. Oh that's you, Uli Gurio. Excuse me, Lord Gurria, Dan just command f the Guria can't do that one fifty three going right around Salvador Perez, who was a catcher target of mine, Greg, Not surprise, he's ancient. You know, I love my oldies. Orde Polanco, Scott Kingery, Byron Buxton, Like every other player, he was

a fair range to be to be part of. Last year, he played just eighty four games and hit twenty whole runs. Frank, if he played hundred and sixty eight games, he would have home runs. That's what he was closed on pace four and he doesn't have to do that. He made essentially half a season at twenty home runs. If here's something we can get legitimately thirty five home runs at this spot middle linfield eligibility potentially, I'm interested. So you asked me the other day, why did he struggle in

the second half? That's correct, and I'm trying to figure that out of myself and I'm looking at it right now. The hard hit rate dropped a little bit in the second half, not enough to really make a difference. I mean, he was still over hard contact rate in the second half of the season. His line drive rate went down about three percent. He started hitting more groundballs that seems

like an issue. Went from thirty eight percent groundball rate in the first half to forty two percent in the second half, and his home run to fly ball ratio dropped massively in the first half ten point eight percent in the second half of the season, so it shouldn't have dropped off that much based on this hard contact rate. So there are there are, there are still questions when it comes to Lord as Guriel of this upcoming season, right,

so that I don't know that possible. I don't know what that's like, an indifferent that TBD TB d on on Lord of Gouriel to be determined to be determined on Lord. Okay, next for us here fright today, Chris Bryant, A hey, cool hit and leadoff? Is that changing any for you? Uh? Doesn't really? I mean he's a good O b P uh contributors, so I guess that makes sense. He obviously has a really good eye at the plate. Look at his career nearly twelve percent walk great, that

makes a lot of sense. Three five O b P in his career. The problem greg from a fantasy perspective, and I guess we kind of have to just accept it at this point is he's been batting second the past couple of years, so as RBI output has already been down recently last year seventy seven r b I. The year before that fifty two, of course, he was hurt, only played a hundred and two games in eighteen uh and then seventy three RBI back in seen. He has not had more than seventy seven ribbies in a single

season since. Interesting. I think that if you told the average baseball fan that about Chris Bryant, wouldn't you get that? Yeah, like they would get surprised that. So, um, that's something that you just have to keep in consideration. I don't think I'm ever gonna own Chris Bryant. Just you know where he's going in that fifth round range altar, get

a Manny Machado around there. I usually look at a first basement around there, someone like jose A Brew you know, I like jose A Brady a Ton and like he's a fine you know, three category contributor. Maybe gives your home runs, gives your runs, but to eight two Like it's a good batting average, it's not a great batting average doesn't help you in RB. I doesn't give you stolen basis. Chris Bryant is fine, probably a better points league player, probably a better O b P format. I

know that you played in ob P format. So where where walks count? Someone something in the league like that, I think that's where you should be targeting Chris Bryant, but did you go before the break? One more piece of news before we get to that commercial, and that is Frankly Briano four top prospect for the Open Age. We heard about him for years as a short stop prospect and he's just twenty four years old, and maybe it's gonna fits the Rafie Devers category we're talking about yesterday.

He's just twenty four years old and it's probably the favorites to be the starting second Nation. Jerrickson profile is now in San Diego. We talked off how we kind of like Jackson profile this year in San Diego. What about guy that's replacing only to potentially replace him in Franklin Rodo. It's like a base interesting power speed combination.

Look at what he did last year, nineteen homers in fifteen steels with the batting average in Triple A. He has played about eighty games at the major league level and has a one eight nine batting average. I wish the A's would just give him the opportunity they are just let him play. I think they are on little more about, you know, looking over his shoulder. Given an opportunity, it will be interesting to see what they do with

Jorge Matteo as well. He's out of options. All right, at good point there, all right, more on the way next, You're gonna havefs. Want to be the next Daily Fantasy Millionaire. Dunk on your NBA DFS competition with Daily Rodal dot Com and dominate on fandel and DraftKings this season. Compete with the pros with Daily Rodal dot Com optimizer and the most accurate projections in NBA DFS, plus line up alerts, breaking news, lake swap support, and much more. Save ten

on winning NBA DFS advice with promo code dunk. Visit Daily Rodo dot com backslash dunk to more. Frank and I finally another plan that we lived together. This is good. We like a lot of players together. We don't normally. The problem is, don't steal basis. If nobody steals basis, I feel like we don't normally like these many players at the same time. Um, I'm trying to be open mind. Best of these old guys. The year they were finally on the same page. Like last place, guaranteed, I don't agree.

Like last year. We thought we had a plan and we did very, very poorly. We didn't do poorly. We did. Actually looked back at the notes that I had for that auction going into that night. We wound up with a lot of those players, and we were prepared for sure. We had a plan. We extuecute. We had Ronald Dacunia pretty damn good. He was awesome. You know what. We also hadvor Bauer. We executed the plan. You can say a lot about us. We went in the auction of

the plan and we executed it. Yes, I'm pretty sure our plan was to piss eybody else in the off in the auction, not a year before exactly what we did. I let me piece the people off last year. Year before we pisched people off. I would do that last year. I was too nice last year. It was part of my problem. So we have to go full Carlos Correa. We got to go into the auction. And I think

it's told on he. I think I should just like walk in front of Collette and just like shut I mouth, like if he doesn't hear you, like just seven, that's not like that. Yes, let's walk right up to him. It's crazy right here. Later year in the industry, like you can't, I've said people like me. I don't care. I'll be the guy we like Frank, we don't like Greg? Alright, cool that works? You like the good cop backgup? Sure so, Mark Canna. But people I think are probably gonna start

to hate us just by associated. Hate me by association doesn't have a two years agoin anyway, Mark Canna, we're in, yes, fourth fifth outfielder in the Rodal League. Love. I'm mean Kell Martin, you're on him? Like Kell Martin, he's still basis. Mhmm about pen not many Greg? What about Adam burto Mondescy? Greg? You don't like him? Well? How about Time of the VR?

I don't help this? Like Jonathan VR, I don't really liked really Okay, wonder what an I want to get to you before we figure out who this year's blank is? UH was Josh James. He was a hype guy for a litt while last spring, and then it was clear he wasn't really gonna be in the rotation on that I called Brad Peacock all Spring got that right, and unfortunately he couldn't survive as a star. He kept getting hurt and this year Dusty Baker is not even messing

with him. So Josh Jams to be the rotation. The cool thing now that Josh James could stay in the rotation if he wins the job. You know Dusty Baker's gonna throw him at the for a hundred, right. There's no like Eat England or Pitch liand It when it comes to Josh James this year. You don't think James Quick is gonna have any input on not wearing out the arm and shoulder of Josh James. G No, No, I don't. Dusty Baker, old school manager. We definitely couldn't

give an f man. Look. It'll be crazy to see if to actually do something that with someone like Lands of Colors, because the guy obviously has dealt with a lot of injuries. And I would be surprised if my Colors more than Josh James was great last year in a swing man role, more so in Release sixty one and pitched k per nine over fourteen last year. The underlying numbers three seven, seven x fit, sixteen percent swinging

strike rate and back in eighteen. Greg The reason why people liked him going into last year's season in twenty nineteen was eighteen made seventeen starts at triple a three forty er, a one o nine whip twelve point nine case per nine does struggle a little bit with the walks, and Craig Mish actually revealed this to me earlier today. Apparently he had a problem with sleep apnea, which they just figured out a couple of years ago, which is why he can throw harder. Now he can potentially go

deeper into games as well. So if you're looking for a deep sleeper, late round flyer, you're sleepers. He did there unintended of what I was going for. But if you're doing one of these drafted holds right now, I would look at Josh James as someone who does have massive strike out upside. And for reference, he went in the twenty first round of the NFBC Draft Champions Draft that I am doing right now. Greg, Okay, Josh James, I like it. I think he has a good spray.

I see the adv rising for him. Yeah, he's already on the move. He was, you know, I think probably outside the top thirty rounds last week when I did a draft, and again he went in round twenty one. We'll see what happens with Forest Whitley, because I think there's a chance you know, he could be called up early this season if he performs. He wasn't good last year, was not good last year, and he was hurt last year. So he does have some obstacles to overcome to get

into the Houston Astros rotation. But as of now, it looks like Josh James is the front runner for that five spot. Josh James somebody we are definitely looking at. I also just kind of stumble upon somebody named Harold Castro. You know who that is? Yes, the outfielder for the Miami Marlins. Greg That's incorrect. Harold Castro's one thing. He's an outfielder all the Detroit Tigers must be Harold. Who

am I thinking of? Hold Ramirez? Harold Ramirez the answer, So confidently I'm gonna get Harold Ramirez A Harold Castro mixed up. Harold Castro last year played nineties seven games with the Tigers. Is o BP was missed that one? It was three oh five? Is is it would be in the second half, like his average is nine one. He had five home runs. His strikeout totenter point three percent. He's one percentage. It was two point four percent. Great

open the second half. Harold Castro. There you go. Let's let's just do a whole show of Greg Suston finds things out on fangrafts that happened last year in the baseball season. It's a fun show. It's bunch of last I'm looking at the roster resource page for the Tigers right now. He is not in the lineup. He is not on the bench. They released Harold Castro. We're gonna have to do some Harold Castro recent Yes, crack about that.

Tomorrow on the show, I will ask him about Harold Castro. Alright, fantastic. Let me move on. Two names I do know and that includes a four Marlin, Jean car a little Stanton. Last year, he was drafting as a second round pick in his second season in the Ronson. A lot of people expect the huge things. They were wrong. He played like twelve games for this team and earned the ire of Frank Staffel forever Frankie Don. Carlos Stanton claimed yesterday

he's ready to rock. There are no limitations on him and says, yeah, well, the age of a bunch this year. Are you back in Jian Carlos Stanton, I am not in on Jihan Carlos Stanton. Again, I liked to target batting average and stolen bases early on in my drafts, and John Carlos Stanton is still going in that fourth

fifth round range. And look, if everything breaks right for him, you know, his ninety fifth percentile outcome is he's probably hitting over fifty home runs with a ton of RBIs in one of the best lineups in baseball, one of the best hitting ballparks in baseball. But I personally have question marks and skepticism when it comes to the health. How healthy can he be for this upcoming season and for the rest of his career. You know, he played

eighteen games last year. He has another season. He played a hundred and nineteen games the year before that, seventy four games from eighteen he missed a total of seven games. If you get that out of stating, then he is going to pay off his value. But I just have question marks about the health Greg. I mean, can him and judge guys that are built the way that they are, can they withstand the course of an entire season that with a shoulder injury last year and knee injury last year,

I'm not gonna have any Jihn Carlos Statin. If you're swinging for the fences and you want to go for upside in your middle rounds, go ahead, But personally I prefer someone who is just safer than John Carlos. It's funny because he's a guy that really fits the mold of what you learned last year, right, a guy that can finish as a first round pick that everyone's down on for one reason or not. I got it. You didn't like him two years again, you didn't like him

last year. Um at the draft and there's so many injuries, Like he is that type of guy. He is that type of player like Clayton Kershaw last season. I understand why you're so down on him. Yet at Modica has pointing this out on Twitter too. How many seasons you you're probably looking at the stand grafts page right now. How many seasons? And again, if the names Greg would just want to strangle me. But of course when he does it fun How many seasons do you think John

Carlos Stanton has over forty home runs? Greg three outside one it was the year he hit fifty nine. That's like really interesting, stant So he hit thirty eight in his first season with the Yankees. He has another season with He has two other seasons with thirty seven. If you just haven't gotten enough consistency out of gian Carlos stan If you're somebody who likes to take risks early on in your draft and you're looking for someone who can you know, outperform their ADP, I'm not going to

doubt that from Stanton. He has huge upside. I also think that he is incredible downside as well. UM, I won't be targeting him. But if you want that upside in the fourth fifth round range and Stanton is your guy, But who is this year's gian Carlos Stanton? Who's going to let us down like Stanton did? We're gonna answer that question in a game. We like to call who is this year's Giancarlos Stanton? Familiar faces? One out place and there you got one out face its pay Who's

this year's gian Carlos Stanton? Frank, Yesterday we talked a lot about Aaron Judge and his injuries and how you're a little bit nervous about him. Is he's someone that could be this year's gian Carlos Stanton. I think that Aaron Judge can be in this category of someone that's going in the early rounds and the second third round range that can let you down this upcoming season. Not really a target of mind. But I'm gonna go in a different direction, Craig. I'm gonna go with jose Altuban.

It has nothing to do with the buzzers, with the cheating scandal, with tattoo Gate. Uh. Is it in script? Is it in print? I don't care about any of that stuff. I'm looking purely at the production from jose Al Tube last year, and there are things looking into his profile last night, Greg that stood out to me, and in a negative way. His fifteen percent strikeout rate last year was a career high for jose Al tub His seven and a half percent walk great was his

lowest since two thousand and fifteen. He did hit two ninety eight last year. His expected batting average was to a D two. That was the lowest it has been in any of the past four seasons. Uh. He's dealt with a ton of leg injuries the past couple of years. He had a knee injury, he had some surgery on that two years ago, had a hamstring injury last year. He missed sixty three games over the past two seasons, and I could see the knee, the hamstring one of

those injuries flaring up again this year. He doesn't run anymore, so it doesn't really contribute anything in stolen bases. I think he'll still be a fine player. I don't think he's gonna come back, you know, coming aywhere close to the power he put up last year, or anywhere close to the stolen basis that he used to give. You. So likely hit to ninety something like that. Twenty five home runs. He hits in a good lineup, so the runs and RBI should be solid, but maybe five to

ten stolen basis. I'm just really not depending on anything there. And I think that there's actually a pretty good chance that he misses time, which fits that mold of you know, an early round pick who lets you down because of production and missing time. I think Hosale two is one of those players you were'tay last year, as you said, because you didn't think he was going to run me because of that hipping jury that he was badly. He thought the power go down really like he had to

get a good year. He had a crazy second half, twenty two home runs with p s. Greg that was thanks to a twenty five percent home run the five ball ratio. We're talking about the juice ball. Zal Tova is someone who strikes me as a beneficiary of the juice ball. His previous season high was fourteen point six percent in terms of home run the fly ball ratio. That's second half to me from last year. It just looks a little bit flukey. Greg. I get it, man,

I get it. So for me, I know I thought you seconds before the break, but for me, I just want to point out for Nanotis, like I got, it's twenty years old. Save it for after the break. Creg will do it. Coming back, I'll tell you exactly why you're wrong on Fernando Tatis. This the break. Then oh oh, coming back after the break, we're gonna I'm gonna tell you why Fordano Taxis is not this year's don Carlo Stanton. We'll get into some pitching as well here on the BFS.

I want to be the next Daily Fantasy Millionaire. Dunk on your NBA DFS competition with Daily Rodal dot com and dominate on fandel and DraftKings this season. Compete with the pros with Daily Rodal dot Com. Optimizer and the most accurate projections in NBA DFS, plus line up alerts, breaking news, lake swap support, and much more. Save ten percent on winning NBA DFS advice with promo code dunk.

Visit Daily Rodal dot com backslash dunk to learn more. Alright, so during the break, for those wondering the names that I brought up to Frank for randomly in baseball, we're uh Yoska, Hernandez, Ryan McMahon, von Bigio. Is there another there? Yes, Tim Anderson, Mr Anderson. Visa's interesting. I like, come on, Visa. He almost hits too many flyballs, Greg. He kind of

has the Reese Hoskins syndrome. So here's two many flyballs, don't hit the hard and his hard in percentage um in the second half of like thirty three and a half percent. But the reason why you like him, which you have to remind everyone, because everyone's league is different, Greg, you play in the league where walks matter, where OBIP matters, and in a league like that, Cavon video is much better because he's probably going to hit two thirty five. So he hits two thirty four last year and his

o b P was three sixty four exactly. That is I was telling you this during the break. He's great about COmON, Frank, he had sixteen homers, fourteen stolen masis fourteen for fourteen. That's correct. I like, come on, Visia's gonna having He's gonna be He's just made the list. He has made the list. And again he is great for ob p leagues. Uh, he's a right in points leads because he's still going to strike out a decent amount.

But if you play in a standard five by five rod or a categories league that counts batting average, he's going to hurt your batting average. And I was telling Greg this during the break. I mean, his approach is he's almost too passive. Greg. He has a really good eye at the play. He likes to take a lot of pitches. He likes to draw a lot of walks.

But at times he almost takes too many pitches, like he lets the good pitch go by in order of you know, working the count and getting the opposing pictures pitch count up. And because of that, you know, often times it leads to him striking out. And you know, he he doesn't have to hit less five ball as why I like to see him decreased that long a little bit. You gotta decrease oftentimes for begging guys to increase our launch angle. If you're out there watching what

you decrease the launch angle just a little bit. I do like the power speed combination though, Greg it we should draft him if we get solid batting average, you know, and sure I have no problem with that. I can. That can be our fifteen and twenty steals there, Greg. That's what That's what we're just talking about. That's what we're trying to find, all right, Vambizia, let's go potentially on the BFF list, but definitely on Greg se Definitely on my list, all right, someone that I'm a little

bit cautious about having on my list. I know it's not fun for Nanotatis twenty one years old. UH is what he will play at for UH. The season turn twenty one at the beginning of January, and now he's burst onto the scene. Last year he was absolutely incredible with twenty two home runs and sixteen steals, struck out about thirty percent at the time, walked about eight percent at the time, but only playing eighty four games as he did battle injury everyone's very very high on in

the hardy percentage, about forty two percent last year. I'm simply worried about his ability to stay healthy, Frank, because we have not seen we have not seen that yet at the major league level. I'm worried about the juice ball a little bit with him if he comes back down to earth here. I know in the minors obviously he's had a ton of power. I don't know. I just think when you're drafting him in the first round, he needs to give you. This is what you need

of him as I first round pick. Do you get that? Know? I mean, the average was he was amazing last Steamer likes that things so Greg Steamer has Fernando Tatis projected for thirty home runs and stolen basis that his first round with a two sixty five batting average. You'd like to see a better batting average, Greg. I'll just say two words when it comes to Fernando Tatis, Javier Bias. He reminds me so much of Javier Bias, because I know what you don't like about him. It's the plate discipline.

You look at the swinging strike rate, it's not good. He chases so many pitches out of the zone. You don't like the plate discipline when it comes to Fernando Tatis, but I'm telling you I have been burned by players like this before, doubting somebody like a Javier Bayaz, and Fernando Tatis just fits that mold where this is the

player who he is. He's going to swing and miss a lot, he's going to chase pitches out of the zone, but he's also going to make spectacular things happen just because he is an uber athlete and he is an extremely talented baseball player as well, So you can't It's it's tough, Greg, because you know, you kind of gotta pick and choose when you want to use the data and when you kind of have to just look at

the talent of a player in the prospect pedigree. And I understand, you know, there's no exact science to this on on when you can do that and when you can't.

But given as much talent as he has, the hype, the prospect pedigree, what we saw last year, you know, I almost kind of throw his plate discipline out the window, Greg, and I think he's gonna be good for a two seventy five to two eighty batting average this year, thirty home runs, close to twenty five steals and and again if he does that, you know he's going to pay off that first round price tag. All right. Last year, in the first round around the first tier of pictures,

did you have the Trevor Bower. We drafted Trevor Bawer. He was our ace, Frank. He didn't go well. He was traded mid season Cincinnati. It didn't get better. And now you could not be more off on Trevor Bower this year. I tried to talking you into him a bit because I told you you can't let your pass biases affect your team this year, and you're doing that. Let Trevor Bauer. Well, I'm also doing it with Trevor Bauer because he has one season where he hasn't had

an e r A over four. So you tell me what's the aberration when it comes to Trevor Bauer in he had a two to one e r A with a one o nine whip. Every other season in his career he has had at least a four point one eight e r A and at least a one point to five whip. So you tell me what's the aberration. What's the outlier when it comes to Trevor Bauer in his career, it's undoubtedly. I think that he is very talented, But I also think that he tinkers too much. He

thinks too much when he's on the mountain. He's a hothead. We saw last year he took the ball and launched it into center field over the batter's eye in Kansas City. The guys is absolutely out of his mind. He cares more about what Rob Manford is doing and what people are saying and the Houston astros cheating scandal than just honing his craft and becoming the best picture that he possibly can. I understand the upside is tantalizing, and you look at the swinging miss off and his strikeout upside.

I get all of that, but until you have owned Trevor Bauer, you do not understand what it means who actually lived through the experience that is Trevor Bauer. So I will say, Greg, the people who I believe are in on Trevor Bauer this year outside of you are people who haven't owned him in the past. Yeah, I don't. I just I understand the reasons you don't like Trevor Bauer. I I do. It's very it's very, very frustrating last year.

But I do think he's smart. I do think he carries all these people that are praising he's almost too smart, All these people that are praising Garrett Cole for like the work he's putting in a Yankee camp and all these cameras, all these changes are making like you gotta appreciate what Bauer does too. If it works, it works for Gerrit Cole, it doesn't work for Trevor Bauer. He can tinker as much as he wants. It doesn't work.

It worked one season in his career. And Greg, let me remind you that when you stay over to Cincinnati, his ear ray with six point three nine in the Great American Small Park is where he's pitching this year, Greg, Cincinnati, But that was Trevor Bauer. And question that we need to ask for this year is who is this year's

very valor? Only a milliar faces? Look at that face, happ one face, I'm gonna get started here light It seems like he wants to all right, I'm gonna go with you, Darvish and Michael Florio is not gonna be happy to hear that because drafted him on his Tout Wars team. He tweeted out, He's gonna be higher on you, Darvish than anybody else. And I understand. You know what he did in the second half. And it's not just the second half, Greg, it was really the first eight

starts where he was god awful. I remember terrific downstairs in the pit us watching the start against the Miami Marlins where he had like five shutout endings. It's great he allowed to earned run, not shut out for one hit endings allowed and earned run because he had six. Remember I remember that vivids six the baseball seasons when Frank doesn't talk to anybody in the pit. He just sit there, like, Frank, we needed to work. He's like

watching watching you Darvish suck. That's exactly it. Uh. The walks were out of control his first eight starts. His walks per nine was eight point one walks for nine. I mean that makes uh, that makes that makes Robbie Ray look like massa harro Tanaka basically in terms of command eight walks per nine and his first eight starts, Greg, and basically after that start against the Miami Marlins, That's

where it all turned around. His final twenty three starts Greg two three six one e r A one point four six walks per nine, nearly twelve strikeouts per nine, groundball rate, nearly a fourteen percent swinging strike rate. I mean, his finals twenty three starts last year, he was phenomenal. The question is, Frank, why don't you like you Darvish? Why is he this year's Trevor Bauer? Well? Is he gonna be able to keep up what he did over those twenty three starts? Greig? Is he gonna be able

to stay healthy? That's a huge part of the equation. It comes to you, Darvish. Last year it came out that he was, you know, pitching through another injury. It was like a forearm injury laid on in the season. He also had all the success because of a cutter that he you know, used over at the time. Greg. He never used it more than seventeen percent of the time ever in a single season in his career. So is he going to maintain his gains in command and control?

Is he going to use his cutter as much this upcoming season? Is he going to be able to stay healthy? He also changed his mechanics up. He like had a different arm angle that he was throwing from last year and that really helped his success. Is that going to carry over? There's just there's so many moving parts. It's almost like everything came together for Darvish over those final twenty three games that he pitched Greg and I just don't know if all of those things, every one of

those aspects is going to come together once again. And because of that, I'm likely not going to have any of you darbish just here. I haven't in like one keeper league just because he's a late round keeper. But outside of that, in that fourth round range, I'll likely take a Chris Paddock or Louis Severina over him someone like that. I don't think I'm gonna own much two diversits. I agree to taking Seberino, I know, you know, like no Sergard. I take snider Guard over him as well.

Another name that kind of fits his Bill Frank. He is Clayton Kershaw and Kershaw had this bounce back year in many aspects. Last year did your hundred seventy innings and going sixteen and five. He started off the year slightly late. Everyone's very nervous, um saying that Kershaw was playing on Biden time, borrow time rather right, that back injury is gonna come back to bite him. He didn't walk? Were these what any batters? Ever? Last year? Two point

oh seven was the walks for nine? Last year the Kaper nine at a down right not or hyper senage rather Kiper nine. Yeah, nine point five four last season, I thought the if you look at the Babbage here sixty two, it's really low to Clayton Kershaw. The extrap had him at three point five. It's obviously very good. But for all the reasons that people didn't like Clinton Kershaw going into last year, and you can take the

same case that that doesn't change. He's still on that bar of the time with his back still, He's still with the Dodgers where they have all these other options that they will rest him. I think you could like Clayton k Shaw. That's fine, but you shouldn't think just jump back in both throttle and thinks the eastern he was from years ago. Kershaw and the closers. Next, I want to be the next Daily Fantasy Millionaire, dunk on your NBA DFS competition with Daily Rodal dot com and

dominate on Fandel and DraftKings this season. Compete with the pros with Daily Rodal dot Com optimizer and the most accurate projections in NBA DFS plus line up alerts, breaking news, lake swap support and much more safe ten percent on winning NBA DFS advice with promo code dunk. Visit Daily road dot Com backslash dunk to learn more. All right back here, vffs, we're gonna talking about anybody random. During that break, it was more Clayton Kershel lot Castle here

I talked towards the end, which is good. Johnthan v Are also got brought up, but it was mostly sticking to Clayton Kershaw and Frank as I had a dove in a little deeper here. His fastball velocity was the worst of his career last year at ninety point four miles per hour on average. Slider also went down from the year prior eight six point nine. Eighty six point nine was the average lassity, although he did get more

swinging stripes on it. As you told me. You know, I think for Clayton Kershaw he has to reinvent himself, and I know he said that he did last year. He has to invent himself because he's not the same picture that he was in the prime of his career. He's trending the wrong direction and if he does, he's going to be effective. But is he a Tier one starter? He's Is he the eleventh starting pitcher off the board? Is he should he be your ace? I don't think

so anymore. I agree I would not want him as my SP one, But where he's going right now in the fourth round, third, fourth round, around that range, if you get him as your SP two, I'm fine with that because I think he's still gonna give you. You have to Trevor Bauer as you're one. Last year, yes, and that was a mistake. And know what I'm saying, he's the same thing will happen with Kershaw. It will be a miss stake, not necessarily because again he reinvented

himself last year. As you mentioned the fastball velocity, he's you know, you look at the that that fastball velocity. It really dipped back down in eighteen and went down to nine point nine, which was the lowest of his career, and that was almost like a shock to him. He's like, how do I learn how to pitch right that? With a fastball velocity this low, and I think he figured out how to do that in nineteen. You look at

the other skills as well. The chase rate back up to thirty five percent, that was his highest mark since two thousand and fourteen. His swinging strike rate twelve point nine percent. That was an almost two percent increase from eighteen. Not where he was in his prime years, but it's still very good. Thirteen percent is a very good mark for a starting pitcher as well. The red flags that I have noticed, you still have to worry about the health.

You're right, like, that's not going away. But I wouldn't depend on him for two innings. If I'm projecting Kershaw likely a hundred and seventy two hundred and eighty innings pitched of a you know, three five r A, which is a very good picture. And again it's I think it's a really really good sp two. I just probably wouldn't want him as my sp one. The other red flag that I noticed, Greg was that the slugging percentage against both his curveball and his slider last year was

a career high. So with the fastball velocity going down last year for Kershaw and the slugging percentage going up on his breaking pitches. He's basically a three pitch pitcher, basketball slider curve. If people are starting to hit those harder and slug those a little bit more, and his fastball already is decreasing in velocity, and there is a chance that the performance could just take a step back. So I understand what you're saying. There are red flags there.

I wouldn't mind him as my sp two. I wouldn't want him to anchor my staff. I do think he's gonna give you a hundred and seventy very equality endings. But you have to keep in the back of your mind that there was a chance that he gets hurt again, or the production just takes a step back due to age and and the fact that people are starting to hit his breaking stuff a little bit better. As you said, Frankie Um, you don't on him as you were Ace, And you also mentioned in the past that you don't

really like that tier or starting pictures. You'd rather wait a round her too, and go into the Louis Seberino, Chris Paddock, no synder Guard, crop of guys, Aaronola, you darbish, Zach Grinky, That crew which goes a couple of rounds later than Kershaw, so you'd probably just not take a picture there, right, Yeah, in the third round, third fourth round range where you often have to take Kershaw. I

like a lot of the hitters there. Um, how your bios someone that I'm targeting a lot, someone like a Kettle Marte, even a Kessen Hero we were talking about during the break. I'll target a lot of those hitters and then you know, I wind up picking up like a Chris Paddock and Noah synder Guard, uh, Louis Seberino, someone like that. All right, so let me move on now to the closer that we're trying to figure out.

And this last year, at this time, one of the top closers off the board, if not the top closer off the board. Well, that was Blake China. Lake Tchina came over from Washington to Oakland the Shawn Doolittle Um Ryan Matson trade and late China was ever think we wanted it to be. For years with Washington, he was spectacular. For the Oakland A's down the stretch, he was immaculate, and then last year he got hurt and never refounded,

never regained it. And Liam Hendricks took over and was awesome in his place, but they train and was so bad that he got cut by the A's. They didn't want to pay him what it was going to cost to bring him back, so they caught him. He goes on the Dodgers to be the set up man for Kenley Jansen, and Janson goes down, all right, well, we know the handcuffs. It's clearly Blake China. But Frank, what

happened they China? And last year? Where did it go wrong? Um? Look, when it comes to Blake triinan last year, this is someone who we've seen kind of have that upside before pitching with the Washington Nationals, was never really able to put it all together, and then he did exactly that in eighteen. I mentioned earlier in the show that for you Darvish, in that second half, everything just came together

and worked out so perfectly. It was a perfect storm for him, and I think for Blake Trying, that's exactly what happened in eighteen, and that's why we really liked him in nineteen. But then these strikeouts went down massively last year, Greg the swinging strike create went from eighteen percent to twelve and a half percent you could not find. The strikes on the walks went from two point four

per nine eighteen two over five per nine. So a couple of those things together, you're walking more batters, you're not getting at swings as many swings and misses as many strikeouts. That means people are putting the ball in play. And when they're putting the ball in play with runners on base via the walk, Greg, that's obviously going to lead to disastrous things. And that's exactly what happened with with Blake Trindon last year. Al Right, fair enough, but

the question isn't it what happened Blake trying and last year? Frank? It's who shouna be late training? This year? In a game we like to call, who is this year's Blake tried? In familiar faces? Also realized for this board are s for who's this year's right? This year's in it? You're the grammar guy, so who's his years? Yeah? Noted for Sandra, understandable. Alright, So who is this year's plays Trina? For me? I

kind of already alluded to it. It's Liam Hendricks, the guy that actually replays Blake Trina last season as the closer for the Oakland A's. Listen, being a reliever, it's volatile. We know that. Being a dominant closer, it just doesn't have an offer often. Leam dricks is thirty one years old. He spent time with the Twins, he spent time with the Blue Jays, the Royals, and last year he was dominant with the Oakland Athletics. A cap for nine or

kid third over thirteen point one three. That was freaking awesome. Last year the walks will still over to not great for a closer. The r A was one point eight. What was the X fift you asked, three point to one. It was a career season for Liam Andrews, one where he finally stayed healthy for the most part and pitched over eighty innings as a closer for the A's. And my confident he could do this again, Well, he's really good. Ineventeen every other year he was kind of fine. So no, Frank,

I'm not confident that he do this again. I'm not confident to take him where he's being drafted as one of the top tier closer as your first closer off the board. I'd rather go in a more short thing. I'd rather go to a different direction and trust and Manderson did it. I don't even think that I have to give you one, Greg, because I feel like this is the perfect dance. I mean, coming from Blake trying? Who is this year? Is Blake trying? And well, yeah,

it's the guy who replaced him in Liam Hendricks. I love this call as well. I will say, you know, how did he get as many strikeouts as he did last year? How did that swinging strike rate go to a career high seventeen per cent? Well, he didn't prove the fastball velocity by two miles per hour, right, So he was throwing ninety four miles per hour back in eighteen up that to nineties six and a half miles per hour in twenty nineteen. So he didn't make improvements

in the velocity. Uh, started getting more chases, started getting more swings and misses. But you're right, Greg, A one point eight zero e r A the year before that, ar A over four the year before of that, the area over four, twenty six, three seven six e r A. I have my doubts when it comes to Liam Hendricks for all the reasons that you mentioned. Can he maintain that velocity is he gonna get as many swings and misses this year. I don't know that they have great

options in the in the bullpen to replace him. I think it's like, use Merrow Petite, who's like the setup man in Oakland right now, pulling that up for you. Yet use Merrow Petite. They have Joaquin Storia who is a former closer. Remember the name lu Travino because this is someone who was a couple of years ago and he's still in that bullpen. So maybe you know he's someone who gets an opportunity here, Greg, are you sure

you want me to give you one? Because I feel like Liam Hendricks is just you know, if you don't want I can't even don't have to more Liam Hendris for a moment um. His nickname is Slider because he's Australian. He is Australian, that is true. So he got slide up. His fastball went up. He was he mentioned this, but it was the high velocity of his career last year. Has a hard He threw his fastball lastie over ninety six miles per hour. He had never been over ninety

four and a half four in his career. The most part or any four point nine, he got you, but ninety six and a half way harder than ever than the fastball before. So he did make some changes obviously to somehow get more velocity there. And he maintained that

that's the question. It's the only year that he's ever averaged more than ninety four point nine, more than ninety four miles per hour on his fastball, so can He maintained that, all right, Greig, I'll give you have to and it's all gonna come full certain don't have to in a second. Give you a random player if you want to tell me what you think about Teoscar who

names this year? Leam Hendricks is being drafted as a top five closer, but by Team BFF, right, someone was being drafted as a top ten closer, and someone who I've heard he drafted unfortunately um names Paxton is Kenley Jansen Emley Jansen of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and I kind of missed that first closer round. I'd like to get Ken Giles as my first closerre in a lot of drafts, maybe a Roberto Osuna, but those guys were already gone, and so I looked at the fallback option

when it comes to Kenley Jansen. What I'm worried about is if the strike house are down, Greg. They went from over fourteen case for nine seventeen down to ten in two thousand eighteen, and it bounced back up a little bit to eleven in two thousand nineteen. But he's not the player that he once was. One three two e r A back in two thousand seventeen. It's gone up to three oh one last year three seven one

e r A four Kenley Jansen. He also had a bad second half the r A in the second half over four one to five whip his line drive ry went up ten percent. And to bring it all full circle, Greg, you know who's going to take the job from Kenley Jansen's exactly right, man. So look, if you are jaking Kenley Jansen right now and you want to handcuff them, just make sure you get lake training, because this year's lake training is Kenley Jansen. Did you did you get

I didn't. I wanted to. He went a couple of picks before us, and then we end up getting Daniel Hudson, who, all right, there there might get some saves there out there in Washington. Get saves in Washington a lot of people think Shawn Doodle is also the closes are all of a sudden again yea Husson Hudson husband will still out the World Series. Yeah, it seems like pretty good. Yeah he was good. By the way, you're the second highest left on base percentage in baseball last year? Do

not you maintain it? Rafty veteran Greg, Come on, he can wiggle out of those damns. I don't think so. It's Farrell, it's coast to coast. I want to think Seawan and Alex Down's their Sandra as well, Frank Staff, Greg, Susan. What did it all get tomorrow? We hope I want to be the next Daily Fantasy Millionaire. Dunk on your NBA DFS competition with Daily Rodal dot com and dominate

on fandel and DraftKings this season. Compete with the pros with Daily rodal dot Com optimizer and the most accurate projections in NBA DFS, plus line up alerts, breaking news, lake swap support, and much more safe percent on winning NBA DFS advice with promo code Dunk. Visit Daily Rodo dot com backslash Dunk to learn more. H