Off-Field NFL Stories, AL West Fantasy Baseball Preview!

edition of the Fantasy Freestyle. I'm back with of course the hashtag stats over Beat cipher and you can hear us on the Fantasy Sports Radio Network. You could always subscribe on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts, and as always you can follow me on Twitter at Spitting Speeds. Check it out. I did the show on Tuesday. They're in Studio Dirty four. We had the Stats over Beat

side from my man Danny Otto. Today we're giving it to you on the radio side of things, because you know, you gotta stay out there, gotta stay relevant, and as always, we're gonna have a poll question up. Here's the poll question today is what issue do you really think is the priority for the NFL this offseason. Okay, we're gonna talk about all the player movements as always, but there's

some other issues that are definitely out there. One, if you know, because you've been listening to speeds and the stats over beat Cipher, because I'm talking about players safety, I've been talking about the concussion protocol. We talked about it all playoffs long as it related to Cam Newton, as it related to Rob Gronkowski, as it related to Travis Kelsey. And you know they're going to sort of quote unquote make some improvements. We're gonna see what the

enhancements are with additional unaffiliated neurologists. They're seeing if they can handle it centrally. Is that the biggest issue we need to talk about over the off season or is it how they define a catch? We almost talk about it free single week. Remember the big Steelers Patriots game late in the season. It even came to pass into Super Bowl with the touchdown that Zach Hurts had that people thought might have gotten overturned. Chris collins Worth certainly did.

Will we be able to redefine a catch or is it other pieces of say officiating technology we saw this year they break out index cards to try to measure was it a first down or not to see if it was you know, they could fit the index card. And do they have to get better with the technology. We've seen things like the overhead cams and pylon cams, all these next gen stats. Can they really take that

to the next place. If you want to get your verice hurt here on the status, over beat cipher and the fantasy freestyle, just let me know, hit me up on Twitter. Always be hollering at the poll. Some people always getting down Clayton Trey hand Liberty Finder and the like. But let's get into some of these news and notes around the NFL right now, because later on in the show, I'm gonna start doing my division by division previews from Major League Baseball. We're gonna kick that off with the

A L. West. But we do have some news and notes around the NFL. The first thing, and this is this is kind of hot off the presses in this could have impact in the free agent market. Uh. Former Bengals quarterback A. J. McCarron actually won his grievance with the NFL. This was about a two game stint that the Bengals put him on like kind of the non football injury list, thus affecting his service time. Okay, but he won his grievance. He does, in fact having enough

service time to be a free agent. He is going to be in the mix. Now. Remember, I think he's gonna wind up with the Cleveland Browns. And here's why. Because people are talking about or they're gonna throw all this money at Kirk Cousins. If I'm Kirk Cousins, I want to go to a team that's close, not Cleveland. I want to go up to Minnesota where on the final piece. I want to go to Denver where I

could be the final piece. I want to go to Jacksonville where I could be the final piece, not in Cleveland. All right, So if you remember back in the seasons, the Browns tried to trade for AJ mccarroen Hell, they did trade for a J. McCarron, but in true Cleveland Brown's fashion, they couldn't get the April work to the league in time and so it didn't go down. I think this time around his former coach, Hugh Jackson, remember he was in Cincinnati, he is going to make the move.

He's gonna make the offer and get a j mccaren I think to be in the quarterback mix. Notwithstanding, they still can go ahead and draft a quarterback coming up in April and the other news. Check this out. Johnny Manziel, Johnny Football is trying to make a comeback. He's first of all, you know, I want to give a shout out to him because I guess he's been diagnosis bipolar. He's kind of working through it. I think he's shown some maturity in this last time around, and he's saying, listen,

I know I'm gonna come back trail. I know I gotta work for everything. I get. He's gonna be in this spring league that the uh that football is doing. Okay, it's gonna be four teams. It's kind of a two week showcase. Johnny Manzel is gonna be in that. We heard rumors about him being in the XFL. The Hamilton Tiger Cats and the CFL have been recruiting him. But so we'll keep an eye off for the next uh you know move for Johnny Football. Also in Denver. It

looks like listen, if you listen to the show. I know my man Pete stan Island was loving us when we talked about Davontae Booker as that running back for Denver. I was on him. I thought he was the heir apparent. I said it was going to happen. There are now multiple reports out there that they really want Booker to be that lead running back in Denver. It looks like

c Jamison may be done with the Broncos. He was actually critical of them firing their runnings back coach previously, Eric Studsville, so he could be on his way out. Davontae Booker rising in value, especially in keeper leagues. The Lions may in fact be interested in Dion Lewis. Okay, this is something I mentioned. I mentioned Deanon Lewis on my last episode where you saw me Live at a Studio thirty four. I was talking about Dion Lewis may try to go somewhere else. I think the Lions could

be a good suitor for them. Remember the defensive coordinator Mac Patricia just went over there to become their new head coach. That do have a hole at running back. I fantasized about the idea of Levian Bell going back to Michigan, but Dean Lewis could be an interesting fit there. From my mom, Jim Bob Cooder. You know, I gotta get Jim Bob uterin anytime I possibly can to add him to the Merry Go round out there in Detroit. Also, last episode, I talked about how I didn't think Larry

Fitzgerald did want to come back. I thought that, you know, he probably could recognize that with a new coach, the new quarterback, that he would kind of be part of a rebuild. Why do that, you know, to to cap off your career. But reports are now coming that he has told his new head coach world Stick he will in fact come back to the Arizona Cardinals. So listen. If he's gonna come back, he's gonna be a very

productive receiver. It will be their number one receiver. I just hope it doesn't, you know, all um, you know, kind of fall off cliff for Larry Fitzgerald. Maybe he's coming back to go a little bit higher on some of those all time list. But here's what I want to do. I want I had the full question I'm there before when we're doing this segment here, you know,

here on the site for on a Fantasy Freestyle. What I want to talk about are some of these things that I think are gonna be big offseason stories outside of player movement. Okay, later on in the month before the draft, before the new league year, we're gonna preview everything. We'll we'll preview, you know, we'll preview the draft, preview the biggest injuries that you need to watch in the off season people coming back on the implications of those,

will preview free agent situations, maybe position by position. I gave you a little bit of insight in that on the last show earlier this week. But there's also some other topics out there. And the first one I want to talk about is, you know, the concussion protocol, players safety, the brain injuries. You know, you hear me talk about the pain medication that goes into this as relates to players safety, the tour goal and how I'm an advocate

for cashtag cat athlete. But there were actually a record number of concussions in the NFL reship, all right, there were two d eighty one concussions this year, the most ever, well at least in the last like six thoughts and ten years since they've actually been tracking the damn things. They've only started tracking them since two thousand and eleven. But here's my take on it. Okay, I don't get what the NFL is doing. The NFL is actually coming out saying that this is a bad thing, like they're

disappointed that the numbers are up. It's something that they challenge on. They want the numbers to go down. I think this is a better another example of why this is a poor way of looking at it. In fact, I think the fact that they had this many concussions is a good thing. You know why, because that means they're identifying them. Okay, that means they're putting a focus on them. The two eight one are more than ever, but the major increase was forty five that were found

in practice. We're talking about practice, Yes, we're talking about practice. This would have never been the case, you know before they would have just kept on running them out there. That is actual sensitivity two players safety. Okay, I think it's not about trying to get the number down. I think because we're putting an increased attention on it that it's actually a good thing. But the NFL shouldn't still

shouldn't have this combat if messaging around it. Later on this spring, we're gonna have back our licensed athletic certified trainer Um, Thomas Lowe, because we've been talking to him a lot about the concussions, about concussion protocol, about the tent on the sideline. So we're gonna bring him back. But I do think it's actually a good thing because they are now identifying concussions and they're teaching people how

to tackle, and they're finding them in practice. They're not letting them play in the game coming up, and that's actually a good thing as it relates to players safety. The other part here that we're gonna be hearing about left and right. Okay, We're gonna be hearing about this, um, you know, all the way through offseason workouts through because what we're also gonna have this, we're gonna have players retire out of nowhere. That's been happening the last couple

of years. Okay, Um, well, we're gonna also be hearing about is this idea of what is a catch? Okay, because we've been hearing about it in terms of you know, the Jesse James play in terms of it was a Sterling Shepherd play earlier this year and like Week two where he made the catch, took like four steps then rolled out of aunds kind of like almost by the

tunnel and then let loose is the ball. Then it's called the incomplete pass instead of a touchdown like it should have been in that game for the New York Football Giants. Okay, but here's the thing. It sounds like Goodell is open to actually I acknowledging that this is an issue that needs to be worked on, and I think this is the the first domino that really needs to fall for this to happen. Okay, check out what Roger Goodell said recently. He says, quote, I am not

just somewhat concerned. I am concerned. He said, when you know, when this was on Colin Coward Show, he said, it's particularly in going to the ground that I think it is creating a lot of the confusion. And here's the thing. It's this idea, the line of when do you become a receiver and when do you become a runner? All Right, And so for example, in the Jesse James catch in the Steelers Patriots game, they said he was still a receiver.

He had not turned into a runner. So despite the fact that he had crossed the plateau of the goal line, he is still a receiver. So because of that, you have to maintain it through the catch and through the ground. However, in the Super Bowl, made the catch and then because he you know, I guess the term was made tattoo step and made a football move, then he is then a runner. So as soon as crosses playing the goal line, you know, it is in fact a touchdown, and anything

that happens after that is no invoid. But they're gonna have to think about this. You show the Corey commends catch, They're gonna really have to look. They're gonna really have to look at this. But here's this is what I think is a funny part. Rogerodella said that he's established a panel. He has established the panel of five Hall of Fame wide receivers and coaches, and they're going to present um their recommendations to the owners at the owner's meetings.

That like the beginning of March, the middle of March, it's right around the start of the new league year, when the free agency buzz is going to be happening. You know, we're gonna see some player movement, but this is also gonna happen. So I want to drop people's attention to this. The you know, Hall of Fame wide receiver and coaches panel are going to present their recommendation

of what it is that makes a catch. I have a platform and it's very simple, and I guarante, damn tee you that it's going to be more simple than anything they come up with, because this has been a moving target for a long time. Here's what I think we do. You know how they talk about that they you're gonna centralize replay in New York and you know having somewhere else forget about that. You know how speeds used to uh practice pick playoff games against the kids.

I think we can have a panel of kids. I think we can have a panel of like seven year olds watching the games and it could be like, all right, you know, was this to catch? And they just show it to and if the kids are like, yeah, of course he courted, then boom, it's a catch and that's it. And that rule was binding kind of like the U. S. Supreme Court and be binding to be the end. You

can't appeal anywhere, no replay, Just ask the kids. Or if it wasn't like seven year olds, right, what if we just ask you know, we could beat the panel at at the bar at the bar of you know, a neutral third city. You know, if it's uh, if it's the Cowboys against the Giants, it can't be a bar in New York, you know what I mean. You get a bar, You get a bar in uh, you get a bar in Seattle. And just ask seven people like, yo was this catch? Because I really think that we're

going way too overboard. And I was saying this throughout the football season where we had the hashtag game of inches and we had like the fumble out of bounds that becomes a touch back. I was saying that instant replay, the technology is actually a problem. It's getting too good. When you slow something down too much, you know, you're you're gonna see the ball moving, like in the Corey Clement play in the Super Bowl. You are going to see like, oh my god, yeah that ball moved just

a little bit. It becomes very very hard. And and when you have these chips in the ball, remember they had the chip in the ball um when they were measuring the one thing about narrowing the goal posts, and they did that experiment, and you've got chips and players shoulder pads, so they give you the next gence that being like tree Hill is running twenty three point four miles an hour, you know, or the path that he took. You know, if you have all of these enhancements, because

would be able to figure out what it catches. But I think if we're if we should be able to not have sixty six five year old refs that can't keep up with play, and what we should do is be able to uh have a kind of more authentic way because these replays are not cutting it. But what these what the technology is doing. What the technology is doing is providing a whole window of new stats, right, the whole window of of new data. I mean football

at first. You know, the guy over at Stats School Sports, this guy's named Emery Carry, He's a scientist. He said that three years ago he would have said that the sports science um in the NFL was behind compared to other sports. Okay, now it is catching up. Okay, we had chips into shoulder pads and it's kind of like

an arms race. You know. This is the next wave of getting the getting the leg up on the competition, right, getting more big data, getting more getting more information to work with to get that that little edge on other teams, you know, and that's what they said um Matt Barrios. He's the CEO of Catapult Sports. They they're talking about wearable technologies, video analytics. This is really the next wave. He says that once coaches realize they can get a

competitive advantage, any skepticism fades away very quickly. The same coach who only want to look at tape ten years ago now needs all their video loaded on an iPad so they can watch it on the flight, on the team flight. Okay, wearables, that's that's that's where it's at right now. But here's my question. My question is, like what happens to all the big data is that they're

gonna be used against players in their contract negotiations. You know, this is gonna be very interesting for the new collective bargaining agreement for the season. Okay, here's the other thing. The other thing I really like, boll is this virtual reality. You're seeing some teams use this. You're seeing some teams using this. This is like a completely different frontier like this, circling it back to the beginning here here in the

fantasy freestyle. This would be good for player safety, okay, because you're not getting banged around in practice forty five concussions that happen in practice, that won't happen if you were doing reps on virtual reality players that are rehabbing from injury, they can see still actually run more than just quote unquote mental reps. Right, everybody could get first

team reps. You know, the Giants might have been able to develop Davis Webb this year in a real way, you know, So keep an eye out on for that, and and you know, maybe maybe virtual reality I'll help us decide what what it catches? What a catch isn't you know? Check this out though. That's my football take real quick here on the Fantasy Freestyle. And like I said,

I got the poll question up. I want to see what do you guys think is the uh, you know, biggest issue for the NFL this offseason doesn't around player safety and the concussions, is the what is it? Catch? Is that? How do we really harness some of this technology in the right way or something else? Let me know, of course, how boy on Twitter at spitting speeds. When we come back, I'm gonna shift gears and go into baseball. What we're gonna do is we're gonna start to dive

into my division by division previews. I did it last year. I'm back to bring it again this year. It's gonna We're gonna kick it off with the A L West. Right after this is your Boy, Dame Martinez a k A. Speeds a k A to spitting statisticians, able genius vocal minority on the Fantasy Freestyle. We got the hashtag statue

with beat Cipher coming back strong. We're gonna go look into the A L West when we come back after this, Sis Boy, Dame Martinez be spitting statisticians right here on the award winning Fantasy Sports Radio Network College your boy. Did you know that you can listen to this show live on the award winning Fantasy Sports Radio Network. Listen on the I Heart Radio app to tune in radio app,

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show and ask your question. The number is A four four eight four f N T S Y. That's eight four four eight four three six eight seven nine the Post Radio Network you have free Fantasy Source twenty four hours a day. Welcome back to the Fantasy Free Style right here on the Fantasy Sports Radio Network, on Audio Boom, on the iTunes, so many ways to hear your boy. This spitting statistician and stable genius Dan Martinez on the

Fantasy Freestyle. I was talking to you that I was going to get into the division by division freeviews for fantasy baseball because check it out, all right, now that football is done, all right, We're gonna do is we're gonna give you insight on player movement and of course football is always gonna be covered here with stats over the cipher. I have the poll question up already, Like I said, what do you think would be one of the biggest offseason stories. We're gonna get into previews and

free agency and impact as well. But you know we're getting into fantasy baseball season, all right. So for the next couple of episodes, what we're gonna do is, we're gonna go into you know, division by division, but I'm gona do is I'm gonna give you kind of my offensive like scare ranks, which offenses you know, kind of ranked them scare me the most. And I'll tell you about, you know, the power in each lineup and you know may maybe some places you may want to go in

your fantasy draft. And we'll talk about the arms, we'll talk about closers for for overall, for the division. I'll give you my diamonds, I'll give you my full gazes. And then what I'll also do is I'll give you my projected standings kind of if you you know, you should put any shekels on any of these teams in the playoffs. And just to just to tell you, last year when I was doing this, the team that I was highest on was the Houston Astros. I said that,

and they weren't even the favorites to win the AL West. Okay, and I said, I thought they would go into the al C yes, if not beyond. Last year, similar in football season, I was giving you my previews. I talked about the Philadelphia Eagles. I said I was taking the overall the Eagles. I said they we go win the nfcas which they did. I said they'd be in the NFC Championship Game or beyond which thing or anybody who

consider stats open each side for those that cheesy. All right, um, and then we'll kind of finish it off, you know, in the next episode. So this will be part one of the Al West. Let's start with offenses. Okay, let's start with the offenses. And I want to start off with Oakland, you know, because they are looked at as being the doormat of this division and I actually do have them finishing in the basement of this division. I'll give you my full you know, projections, probably the next

episode of Fantasy Freestyle. But listen, Chris Davis. You know, I mean, this guy is an elite outfielder. Okay, I think you know he is under respected, especially in that ballpark. Okay, forty three homers a hundred and ten ribbies last year. That after forty two homers a hundred and ten Ribbies in two thousand and sixteen. This kid is one of the few consistent sources of our in Major League Baseball.

I know everybody's trying to change their launch angles, but you know, give me him, give me Nelson clues, give me Giancarlo Stanton, you know, as people who have done it year in year out. He's the guy like Chris Davis will hit thirty five home runs again this year. He's a He's a solid second outfield or for your roster. I like him. I like on offense. I like to load up on power bats. So Chris Davis is certainly someone I like in the Oakland line up. I also,

I'm telling you I like Marcus Simeon. I like Marcus Simeon. I really hope that he could be at the top of the lineup. I know the A's grabbed Fowler, but I really hope Simeon could be at the top of the lineup. Listen, I think Simeon has potential. You can get him as your middle infielder. I like him as your short stop. I think, listen, if you don't wind up getting you know, the seekers, the careers, the Lindors, right Like, if you wait and wind up with Marcus Simeon,

I am completely fine with that. I like Simeon. You know, much later in draft. And you know one guy that might be interesting in Oakland is uh, you know, Piscotti moving over from St. Louis, he'll get a chance to play every day. He could be someone to keep an eye on as well, But I still think Oakland is the worst offense in this division. We're talking about the

A L West. There's the fantasy Freestyle A L West season preview um up from there, I'll go to Texas as the fourth offense in this division US in I don't like. I don't like a lot of the hitters on this on this scene because their k rate is absolutely ridiculous. That ops is not where it should be. I mean, Elvis Andrews, this seems a third. You know, he's probably in the three whole for him, Yes, sure, okay maybe versus eighty rippies last year, those were career highs.

But I don't like my three hit or having a k rate. Andrews had a three five babbit last year. For those who don't know, if you're do the fantasy freestyle new to the fantasy community, we'll talk about babbit. That is adding average on balls in play. Okay, so it takes, like you know, it takes the strikeouts out of it. It takes you know, it takes it takes those things out of it to be it kind of a true measure, more of a uh more of a less than the three true outcomes. Shall we say, an

average for that is like three. So if you're hitting higher so high like that, like Andrews is at three, that shows that you were getting lucky overall, and that's gonna regress a little bit. Listen, Adrian Beltre, he's still stable. You know, he's now third, but third base is real deep this year, so you can wind him getting Madrian Beltre, I think even a little bit later, he just doesn't excite you. He's got to slow down eventually, even though

he keeps on climbing up all time ranks. You know, I do like on texts, I like no more Massara. I think Missara has potential in the five fold. But I talked about this idea that um, their k rates are just ridiculously too high, and Mizarre's kind of like that. He has like a twenty percent strikeout rate, which is he's something he's gotta fix as he matores. But if he does, I can see him, you know, being viable

at almost like two seventy seven eight five ribbies. And I think Missouri could be an interesting outfielder three for you if you can get hit, and you can probably get him late, but you know, I don't like necessarily Gallo. I don't like Oh Door, he's the guy who's ops and strikeout rate is also ridiculous. I don't like a lot of the type cast of of this of this offense, and that's why they are number four for me. Um Number three is Seattle. I think d Gordon at the

top of this line up is very very interesting. I liked Gordon. I'm I'm gonna have de Gordon on some of my teams because he can get. He could be my stolen base category, right. I think de Gordon in this line I can get fifties, can you know, steal fifty bases? I like that he's got eligibility at second base. Probably a hout field, you know, but the line up, the rest of the line of kind of feels the same. You know. You got to know there you got Victor

Cruz there. I actually think you might get you might get a little bit of a bounce back out of Um. You know, big brother Seeger. You know Kyle Seeger, not Corey Um last year. And I believe me because I had him on some of my teams last year. Last year he only hit like two forty. He hit two forty nine. Okay, he still had the power, but he still had twenty seven home runs dipping RB. I's only only seventy two. So I'm expecting something of a bounce

back from him this year. Okay, I think he You know, I talked about the babbit before with um Elvis Andrews. This is the other side of things, Okay, UM, Kyle Seger's babbit last year it was too sixty two. That means that he was getting lucky. Okay, So I could I could see him picking at average, maybe five ten points. I could see him having more Ribbies, especially with Gordon at the top of this lineup. Okay, So I'm intrigued by that. And also Ryan Healey I think could be interesting.

I think Ryan Healey could be interesting. He moved over from the Aids to the Mariners. I think he's gonna hit like six or seventh in this lineup. He has the potential if he gets five at bats, I think to hit runs as well. He's gonna get a good park shift factor. Coming from Oakland to Seattle. UM, you know you know the names there, the Hannigers. Um. I

think I think this is a solid offense. I think this is a slightly above average offense, but I do think there are two offenses in the AOS that are much much better, and so my number two offense in the a ost are the Angels. Um I think they're coming back, and listen, I'm gonna tell you right now, I'm gonna do my predictions on the next episode of Freestyle when I'm in Studio thirty four with the hashtags that's over beat Cipher because I want to get their

thoughts on it as well. But I'm high on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Okay, I think this is going to be one of my overall diamonds in the rough, certainly in the American League, maybe in all of Major League Baseball. And the offense is part of the reason I think to under under appreciated moves offensively in this you know, relatively lukewarm hot stove that we've been having.

I've already detailed kind of the idea of the collusion, the Boris candidate, the Boris clients, the two eighteen free agency class. The owners just not wanted to invest the hundred million dollar contracts anymore. The building from within model that has worked with the Royals with the Cubs with the Astros, but um to a few moves. The Angels have been busy. You know, when everybody else is sitting

on their hands, the Angels have actually spent money. I mean Ian Kinsler at the top of this lineup, I think is a huge get for the Angels. I like him at the top of this lineup. Remember, you're gonna have a full season of Justin Upton. Justin Upton over nine ps, thirty five homers, hundred ribbies. You're gonna get a full season of him. I think that. I think that takes the pressure off of alvit pool holes. I think that allows guys like c J. Crown and Angelton

Simmons to settle, right. I think you put Trout now in that two hole with Upton there in the three. And then here's the other thing they did. They went and got Zach Cozart from Cincinnati. This is an All Star. Okay, this is an All Star. He's gonna play third for the Angels. He was an All Star shortstop for since he's gonna play third for this team. Because Simmonson's glove. Simmons's glove is just ridiculous, right, But you're putting together

a pretty good line up here. When we talk about Kinsler, Trout, Upton, Pool holes, maybe a guy like Krawn, then a guy like coz Art in the sixth hole. You know, I think this this could be a team that can score some runs. When we get to the Arms a little bit later on, and I'm gonna talk about why I kind of I kind of like the Angels as well. But then we get to the number one offense in the Aos and quite frankly, probably one of the one at the top three offenses in all of Major League Baseball,

and it is the reigning, defending World Series champion Houston Astros. Listen, your boy's speech was high in the Astros last year, and that's because I thought we were gonna get a step from Carlos Correa, and we did. But here's the thing. I think there's room to grow for Carlos Correa. I think Carlos Korea can be an m v PEA candidate this year. I think he's gonna take a step forward. Remember last year with a thumb injury, he missed, you know, he missed like six weeks. Believe me, I had shares

with him on my team. Okay, we're gonna get a full season out of Korea. Bregman is gonna take a step forward. Okay, Guriel could take a step forward. You know, I mean this is we're You're gonna still have aut tuve A at a at an m v P level. Tuve A being a top three pick. You know, in my opinion, you know, number one second baseman Korea, top three, top three shortstop. You know, um Bregman is in the mix as a top ten third basement. You know, think

about Springer as a top ten outfielder. You know, you've got a guy like Marwin Gonzalez. Don't sleep on you get Marwin Gonzalez. Listen, this is gonna be, you know, one of my early diamonds or one of the talking points here as we go into Fantasy draft. The position eligibility of a guy like Marvin Gonzalez is absolutely ridiculous. Okay, you can literally get him and plug him ade at first base, second base, shortstop, or third base or outfield.

Gotta love Marwin Gonzalez, Okay. And I also I actually believe that you know, when you talk about the Astros offense, to talk about gaddis, you talk about mccan. These guys that are playing Catcher and d H. But the thing for me is, I actually believe that the Astros. You know, there's rumors out there and buzz that the Marlins aren't done selling off their pieces and that JT. Real Muto could be on the move to the Houston Astros only

to further fortify this lineup. Okay, so my my scare rankings offensively in the A L. West, I go um Houston one, I go Angels to Seattle three, Texas four, and the Oakland A's five. On the next episode of the Fantasy Freestyle, what we're gonna do is we're gonna take a look more at the pictures, right, We're gonna take a look a little bit more at the pictures, and I'm gonna give you, um, you know, my overall diamonds and fo gazes for the A L. West as well.

We're gonna do that on the next episode and that will wrap up, you know, the the A L. West preview. But I do want to talk about the teams and they're kind of their wind totals. Okay, here's how I have the wind totals for these teams, and listen, we start with the Oakland A's. We start with the Oakland A's. They were only gonna win, in my opinion, lost seventies. They wind total right now, is that seventy and a half. I think you know I would pass on this one.

I think they are going to be one of the dregs of the American League. Um so I don't That's not a big play for me. I'm low on the Texas Rangers. I'm low on the Texas Rangers. I just don't listen. I told you about their offense. I think there's a bunch of freest wingers. I'm gonna give you similar concerns with their you know, with their arms, with their rotation. Later on, I think there are maybe a five hundred team if they're lucky. But I think there's

teams much better than them in this division. Seattle is gonna be a team in my opinion, They're gonna be one of these teams that hang around. They're gonna be one of these second wild card teams. They're gonna be one of these teams that at the deadline, you know, there's gonna be the conversation is gonna be are there buyers, are they sellers? They're gonna be doing just enough to hang around. They'll be able to go on some good hot streets. They'll be able to go on some runs.

You know, they'll end. You know, they're gonna be one of those teams that are like two games back of the second wild card in August and we're gonna, you know, do they make the nonwaiver trade deadline? You know, But I ultimately think they will fall just short of the playoffs. I'm telling you right now, I am high on the Los Angeles Angels. Take the over on their win total. I believe the Angels are a playoff team. This offense

is scary. Mike Trout is now only entering his I think justin Upton, a full year him is going to be huge. But ultimately, the Houston Astros are a team that everybody is chasing. Put me down for ninety five wins for the Houston Astros. Put me down for eighty eight for the Angels, Mariners at eighty six, maybe eighty five, Rangers at eighty one, and the Oakland A's at seventy two wins. In my book, I think the Houston Nastros

can get back. They might be a little bit of you know, the celebrity aspect that they were on the kind of the banquet circuit because of their you know, their World Series victory. But I think they'll obviously be in the mix alright, so check it out later on. What we're gonna do on the next episode of Fantasy Freestyle is I'm gonna give you more of the pitching perspective on the A. L. West and then we'll do my A L. West Diamonds and the Rough will do

my A. L. West fool daisies. It's gonna be big things because you know, you gotta get get ready geared up for uh, you know, fantasy baseball drafts are really get started after the Super Bowl. You know, you start to attention to turn your attention to college basketball, and you also start to turn your attention to your fantasy

baseball squads. And the other one thing I'll give you about baseball here as we close out this baseball segment here on the Fantasy Freestyle, which a boy Dame martinezpis spitting statistician Rob Manfred, the commissioner. You know, he talked about um, the free agents, and we talked about the Marlins and the Pirates and other teams that were kind

of racing into the bottom. But um, he did come out and say at the beginning of you know, the kind of kickoff for spring training, as teams are reporting across this fair land of ours in Florida and Arizona mostly, um, he says there are changes coming to pace of play, that there will be a new pace of play rules and that they will come out, um by the start of this season. So we're gonna keep an eye out for that. What do you think is the biggest way to change the pace of play? What I think needs

to happen, Because here's the thing. These teams study video and and and data and pitch charts and and all this stuff so much. Why in two thou eighteen is there any reason to have mound visits anymore? To have a coach come out and have a mound visit and like give them the scouting report on the player. Can't they like do that on a on a high watch or something you can't like, why does the coach? What is the coach coming out there to motivate him? He is a athlete who just got a six year, one

fifteen million dollar contract. Maybe not in this two eighteen negotiating season, but like you don't think this high price professional athlete can like you know, regulate his calm in a big moment. Isn't that why you're paying them twenty million dollars? Like you really think he needs a year old man to come in there and settle him down, offer him some sunflower seeds. Come on, eliminate mound visits. That's one thing you could do to speed up the game.

I also think you know they're they they're definitely experimenting thing with those pop up ads, right you saw them in the playoffs, you show them in the NFL season. I think they're gonna do some more of that. It's kind of shorten the commercial breaks, but then you'll also have many pop up commercial breaks, like after the four pitch walk, you know, as they're just throwing the ball around the horn. I think you'll haven't pop up that there,

so we'll shorten commercial breaks. What I think they need to do is remove mount visits all together. And then also if you've given somebody an intentional walk, you don't have to throw the pictures, just be like four it's on. I think that will shave off the mountain visits is the biggest thing. Okay, the Mountain visits. It is the biggest thing. I think you could definitely shave off a good you know, ten fifteen minutes off the game in

that way. Let me know what you think. You could always hit me up on Twitter at spitting speeds if you're hearing this and you uh, you know, and you want to holler at me about it. I think I would love to know how you think we could you know, quicken the pace of play. When we come back though here on the Fantasy Freestyle. You know how we always do it. We're gonna put the fun in functional sports radio.

That's what we do here on the Fantasy Freestyle, which a boy Day Martinez right here on the Fantasy Sports Radio Network. And of course wherever you download your podcast, I don't even know all the places you can download your podcast. I think it's iTunes, Spotify, audio Boom, and some other new fangled things the kids are talking about these days. When we come back, you know, we're gonna talk a little bit of fun some of the things I've been railing on, you know, uh, Stato the least Sctor,

you know what I'm talking about. You know what it is, Halifaxsta Martinez andr Fantasy sports Radio network. Have you ever wanted to have a fantasy expert in the palm of your hand? Were better yet in the pocket of your khakis. We'll check it out now you can. It's a fantasy sports radio network app. Download it down to your phone. We promised, no weird viruses, no strange tracking things, just twenty four hours a day, seven days a week of pure fantasy knowledge dropping all over your head. It's a

fantasy sports radio network app. Stop being a weirdo and streaming it online. Get it on your phone, take it with you every where you go. Welcome back to the Fantasy Freestyle. Which boy, Dame Martinez a k A Speed Decade, spit and statistician, you're representing the hashtags stats overbeat cipher. You could always hit me up on Twitter at spitting speeds and check this out. Um. You know, if you've been listening in all football season, you know how we

get down with d K M S listen. I was shocked to hear though, that every three minutes an American is diagnosed with blood cancer. Unfortunately, only thirty percent of patients are actually able to find to find compatible bone marrow donors within their families. But that's how you can help. Go to d k ms dot org slash fantasy today and sign up online to register as a donnor. D k MS will send you a swab kit, which takes legitimately one minute to do. You swab each of your

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dot org slash fantasy. All right, check this out here in the fantasy freestyle. You know, we could be fun and functional sports radio. You know, whether it was rapping athletes. We have a new rapping athlete we're gonna get into on the next episode for sure, or the spies versus kids, or some of the things that we'd be talking about. Listen, I bring you some of the stories that you can't here anywhere else. And remember I was talking about the University of Central Florida u CF and how I think

they are the actual legitimate national champions. Forget the tide rolling in UM and check this out their practice field. They put two banners up at their practice field, okay, and they read two thousand seventeen champion only undefeated Champions UCF Golden Knights. And I'm with Dad Lias. And they beat Auburn thirty in the Beach Poll Auburn. Auburn was number one at one point of the season. Auburn beat

Alabama this year, Auburn beat Georgia this year. I've told you for a while that this conference is for real. You know, with Houston and Memphis playing well as well, you know they should have gotten the chance. They did everything they could have done. They beat everybody on their schedule. They played real teams, you know. Um, and there is no official NZ Double A champ anymore. Like this is just the playoff. This is just the BCS playoffs, right.

There are still polls out there. Actually, interestingly enough, the colleague and that's right, did rank UCF number one after all the bulls. You know. So I'm still on my on my soapbox riding with UCF college football team, and it seems like other people are as well. Certainly u CF is right and they they did like the practice banners, They're not the only thing, and I think it's cool. Okay, not only do they have banners up in their stadium, but they did a parade at Disney World. They had

a block party down Orlando there for the team. Um, they've been recognized as you know champions. UH UCF basketball games this year, UM, the athletic director named Dan Danny White says there will also be a banner raised in the stadium. And check this out. I'm into it because this is what forces change. Remember, they had split national championships and that was what uh you know, back like fifteen twenty years ago, and that's what kind of necessity

did the need for the original BCS right. And then it was when they realized that they had three undefeated teams that they needed the four team playoff right. And now you're seeing a situation like this where one of these kind of um, you know, nonpower conferences truly has no chance. So maybe this is the impetus to you know, why didn't it to uh to an eight team playoffs or to a sixteen team playoff. I think they need to go to sixteen And don't tell me you can't

do it because Division two does it. Division two. If you heard the last episode of Fantasy Freestyle, they're not gonna start doing it with Mexican teams who are able to be in the n C Double A. Did you hear this? N C Double A? D two is going to allow Mexican universities to be part of the NZ Double A. So if they can have a playoff system, why can't you want You could name you know, the semifinals the Peach Bowl, you could name them the you know,

the Cotton Bowl still have a rotation. You could fit it in December. You absolutely can do it. There's something like ten or eleven divisions. I think major divisions have them all in. Have Troy get in there as the sixteen seed. I don't care if they get stomped in a one sixteen game by Clemson or something like that. You get some reintriguing matchups, and you get in a wild card teams, you get the three teams from the Big Ten that were all great. You get you know,

weird matchups. You get a Georgia versa USC or something like that. It would be very interesting the second round matchups. And now like when they unveil March Madness, you know, it's awesome. I think they need to do that, and I hope then you CEF continues to count themselves as champion, so that maybe we could have the EMPUS though, to open up the field. Listen on the Fantasy Freestyle. We did like the Greatest Sports movie of All Time. We

did a whole bracket of that. We did the Greatest TV show, and um, I want to do it talk a little movie news here, but I think it's in poor taste. And that's uh, you know, I I gotta give you the real, I gotta give you the raw, right, That's what Speeds does. Remember a few episodes ago I talked about I played actually part of Ali Raceman's testimony right, Um, and in the case against Larry Nasser and Alie Raceman have great testimony. Um. You know, people give her a

standing ovation. It really brought to light, you know. And then obviously he's gone Jeff for a long long time, and we it's exposed. You know, the US gymnastics community just have have had resignations up and down their board. And then you know, Larry Nastar was also practicing at Michigan State and there have been questions you know now surrounding the Michigan State program. But to tie it back to this movie US, did you see the documentary that HPO is coming out with. They're coming out with a

documentary just called Paternal. They are finally going to do the Joe paternal story. And I think this is actually I think this is very poor timing for a Joe Pop biopic, you know, I mean, especially at this time with um institutional kind of negligence. You know that is going on right now, and you know, I guess people don't know anymore because it's been like six years. It's been six years since the scandal he was dismissed in

two thousand eleven. He died shortly after this, some two thousand and twelve, you know, after the Sandusky But like hasn't really changed, you know, Like if you look at the trailer for the Paternal movie that's gonna be on HBO, it portrays like the fan base and how they all rally behind them, and like, I wonder, is that what's

happening at Michigan State right now? Are they rallying behind uh tom Izzo, Mike D'Antoni, you know, apparently they actively hid you know, something like buzzens of football players are accused of assault, Larry Nasser being there. Has it really changed? And and what does putting this paternal documentary kind of you know, bio pic on HBO? Like are they are they just taking advantage of this timing? I'd love to

know what you think Stats over Beat Cipher. After you hear this on the podcast, after you hear this on the Fantasy Sports radio network, be sure to get at me and let me know what you think if this isn't poor taste by HBO to do this. But you know, in more and I guess in happier movie news, you know, it's kind of Oscar season and stuff. Check this out, you know, Kobe Kobe Bryant was nominated for an Oscar UH.

Dear Basketball was nominated for the Best Animated Short Movie. UM. It was originally from a poem that Kobe Bryant wrote. He did it for the Player's Tribute back in two thousand fifteen. UM. You know kind of it was his journey,

you know, in essence, through life, through his career. UM. You know, and if you don't know about Kobe, I mean, come on eight teen All Star Games m VB to out a third all time leading scoop score, you know, his career, abdul var, there's uh, I believe Karl alone the second and Kobe is that his third in NBA history in terms of scoring. But it's really about like his entire journey of life, his career, you know, in

this this movie, Dear Basketball, it already won awards. It won the two thousand seventeen World Animation UH Celebration Award. It was at one awards at the two thousand and seventeen Tribe Back a film that's the so big shout out to Kobe, big shout out to Kobe. UM. You know, kind of branching out into uh, into all all forms of expression, you know. The second act for Kobe. I'm sure it's gonna be just as strong as the first. Last thing I want to do here is I want

to ask some questions real quick. Got a question from the stats over Beat Cipher and and and you know, shout out to everybody because I was I was off air for about a week, week and a half, you know, I had to take a little bit of break after Super Bowl and and and many yeah on the Stats over Beast Cipher help me down checking for me on Twitter. Big shout out to everybody. All right, So just to just to get it straight. But we're gonna be doing is on Tuesday's. We're gonna be doing it live from

Studio thirty four. We're gonna be doing it so you can see the video live on YouTube, on Facebook, on Twitter, you know, so if you're subscribed on YouTube, you'll be able to check it out. Be part of the Stats over Beat Cipher, engage in the in the chat with my man Danny Auto on Tuesday's right, and then that's also being released as on a podcast okay on on the Fantasy Sports Network right and now, and then we're also doing the show at the end of the week

that's gonna be on the radio side. It's gonna be uh, you know, it's gonna be on the Fantasy Sports Radio Network. But you'll also be able to hit that up as a podcast. So the fact that both shows a week are going to turn into podcasts eventually, right, if you're subscribed on iTunes or on audio Boom, or on Stitcher or on you know, Spotify, wherever you download them, all right, you'll always be able to get the ross. And then

you could always engage, you know, aspen and speech. You could always on Tuesdays, you'll still be able to high at your boy if you wanted eight four four eight four three six eight seven nine. Okay, But um, I got a question from dev on Twitter as Devin Wilch, who does an eighteen. You know, he's one of the status of beat Cipher. He was asking about like formats for fantasy Baseball. He was asking for platforms for fantasy

baseball as well. And I was telling him listening, you know, I like just to to win that cash because you know how we do here, right, Fantasy Freestyle. We're gonna leave we win that cash. You're trying to find out how to how to how to organize your stuff. I just played, I played the DFS. I'm we'll be giving you dfsn vite so you know you could always keep it locked the line up block live. My boy Tony Sincada always giving you everything you need to win your

leaves and when you get cash, getting it done. But I actually, you know, like to just set leaves with my friends and then just make you know, put a little bit a couple of shekels on it there so you don't need to do it within the website. Because he was asking me, like what websites can I do it with? I just you know, I just make gentlemen's agreements and you know, hold to honor with my people. But he was also asking like different formats. And I gotta tell you, I like, I like head to head.

I like five by five over rodo because I like being able to be against somebody. You know, I like being able to be against somebody. And I'll do them in categories I like, I personally like it better that way. And and what I'll tell you though, here's my little tip for you on offense. I like ops over batting average. You know, I think that's a much more true representation. Well, you don't gotta go too crazy into deep stats, but I like ops over batting average, and I like quality

starts over wins. If you're gonna go with a traditional five by five head to head, all right, so um, I think because listen, I don't like relievers picking up winds. I don't like my guy, you know, pitching it jam and in the bullpen giving it up and not getting a wind. So I think quality started is a better measurement to check this out. What we're gonna do is we're gonna always take a question from Twitter throughout the week and answer them here on the late weak condition

of the Fantasy free Styles. We're dropping the status over the beach. It beats in the background, you know what it is. You can really just a little tribe called quest eats today. We're gonna bring that back, you know, on our late week episode as well. If you're a real fan, an old school fan or the Fantasy freestyle, you know about that, but tribe, make it in bounce right now. The last thing I gotta do is let you guys know we always tell you a bottle on

the Fantasy Sports Radio Network, UM Fantasy Factory. Fantasy Factor is the perfect daily fantasy site for the casual recreational player. Okay, Flatter prize pools, smaller fields, single entry contests only, Um, especially if you're just trying to dip your toe in the water. In perfect place to start. Okay. Fantasy Factor runs NHL and NBA free rolls every week to free entry, all you gotta do is sign up and enter. Check it out at www dot Fantasy factor dot com. All right,

that's the way to get it, yo, So listen. I'll be back uh next week. Lost from Studio thirty four. We'll keep talking about the A. L. West. I'll be giving you all the things you need to know about, you know, the NFL offseason. We're gonna profile some injuries and you know then that's couple episodes. We're gonna have some guests that talk to you about, UM, Thomas Lowe coming in with the concussion protocol. We're gonna have some of my boys come on, you know them. Some award winners.

Remember how Fantasy Freestyle was finalists for Best Radio Show. We're gonna have some fs w A Award winners on the show uh coming up in the next couple of episodes as well, but keep it locked on iTunes, on stitching, on audio Boom, on all those places, and hit me up on Twitter if you want to get down statute of Easie from maybe I'll read you a question out

on this show. But that's about it now. It's the Boy Dave Martinez a k A Speeds a ka to Speeding Statistician a k a. The stable, genius and vocal minority of the Fantasy Sports Radio Network. And this has been another edition of the Fantasy Freestyle. I'll check for y'all next week, DP Bob and I I'm out.