What to Look for in QBs at the NFL Combine, A Rapping Second Baseman?

the Fantasy Sports Radio Network. You are now about to witness the strength of fantasy knowledge Fantasy Sports Radio Network. You are now tuned into the Speeds and Spitting Statistician on Fantasy Freestyle. Up next on that site book or the microphone. You know that the best yet motez. You know what it is. It's your boy, Dane Martinez a k A. Speeds a k A to Spitting Statistician a k A. The Stable Genius and vocal Minority. And you are listening to another episode of the Fantasy Freestyle right

here on the Fantasy Sports Network. We take you inside Studio thirty four here in Midtown Manattan Rock and Riley's We're making it pop pop off here on another Tuesday with my boys, the Stats Overbeat Cipher down there in the fantasy pit of misery. We got my man, Danny Auto down there. He's trying to make me sound good. Is that possible though, Danny, I don't know how we

sound right now. You're gonna make me sound good. Hotter than uh, you know, liquid hot magma, so hot that would blow up like a Samsung seven, so hot that we sweat steam. I got my fantasy best friend forever, Mikey Florio down there in the fantasy pit of misery as well. We got a good show for you on a Tuesday. Here's what we're gonna do in the NFL.

Let's and we've been doing little Bo Jackson, Dion Sanders, kind of two sport athletes at this point, and we continue like that here on the Fantasy Freestyle this week. Here's what we're gonna do on the NFL side. We got the combine popping off. Okay, they're down there in Indianapolis. They're doing you know, little drills in their underwear. They're running around cones. You know, they're putting up weights, they're jumping and slapping things. We're gonna talk about that specifically

the quarterbacks. Okay, we're gonna talk about all the high profile quarterbacks that are going to the compine this week, and I'm gonna give you my take on all of those quarterbacks and where they may wind up after the draft. The other thing we're gonna do is when we go to the Major League Baseball we are going to continue with our division by division previews. We started off on the Late Week pod last week on the Fantasy Freestyle with the American League Central. I talked a lot about

the backs in the a L Central. Okay, the Edward and Carnacions of the world, the Miguel Cabreras of the world. How bad it was for Detroit to lose Ian Kinsel. We talked about all of that already. We're gonna switch gears and talk about a pitching in the American League Central, and then, as always, we put the fun and Functional Sports Radio. If you listen to the Fantasy Freestyle and the Stats Overbeat Cipher, you know that we do a

little bit of things about rapping athletes. Well, we have another example of a rapping athlete, and me and my boys down there in the Fantasy Pit of Misery, we are going to critique the effort of a Minnesota Twins infielder. To give you a little bit of a hint. He's got a brother that was big news because he got traded to the Seattle Mariners. That will give you another little hint about who I might be talking about. We gotta pull question up as well. Hit me up on Twitter.

You can always follow me at Spit and Speed. You can always ask me questions. I do my best to get back to you at the stats over beat Cipher while my people out there know exactly what I'm talking about. But we gotta pull question up today. And here's the thing. When we talk about this combine, and we're gonna start talking about the quarterbacks that are going to this combine, I wanted to know from you guys, what do you think is the most important attribute for a quarterback to

be successful in the NFL? Here are your options. It's the arms strength, okay? Is it to be able to fit it into tight windows, that sort of thing. Is it accuracy? Is it actually being accurate? You know, because you could be Chad Bennington, Pennington or Sam Bradford and put the ball exactly where you want. But are there other things you need to do? For example? Is it leadership? Is it intangible. Is that kind of stuff that really moves the needle for quarterback play? Or is the mental side?

Is it having a high football i Q. Is it being able to read schemes, read defenses and know where the mismatches are where the ball needs to go. That's what I want to ask you guys. Hit me up on Twitter at spitting speeds and let me know what you think is the most important attribute in today's NFL for a quarterback, because it could also be mobility. You know, as time goes on, we see mobility being a bigger and bigger element of what we see needed from the

quarterback position. But let's get it started right here with some news and notes from around the NFL. And let's get it started. Since last I spoke to you guys down in Jacksonville, they have gone ahead and signed Blake Borders to an extension. It is a three year, fifty four a million dollar deal, twenty six and a half million of which is guaranteed. Here's the deal with Bordles and the Jags. Okay, he his fifth year was gonna

be fully guaranteed. They were gonna pick up his option if he couldn't pass a physical and he just had risk surgery. Okay, so they knew he wasn't gonna be able to pass physical So what they said is yo, mine as well doubled down on this and give him an extension. But here's the thing. I still think the Jags could be in the market for a quarterback. You say, what are you talking about? Speeds. They just signed Borders the fifty four million. I direct you to Mike Glennan.

At about this time last year, Mike Glennan signed the exact same contract, three years, four million. Then what did the Bears go out and do they still augmented their quarterback position number two overall in the draft getting Mitchell Don't call me Mitch Trobiski. Okay, So I actually believe, especially for a team like Jacksonville that had the cap space to spare, I do not believe that this is uh, you know, kind of takes them out of some of

the quarterbacks that are out there. I think the Jags can still go ahead and get a Tyrod Taylor, still be in the running for a guy like Kirk Cousins if they so choose. But Blake Bortles just got himself a little bit of cash. The Jags have also cut running back Chris Ivory. Listen, Ivory now goes, you know, on the scrap heap with a number of other running backs that we're reporting are gonna be looking for work. You know, we talked about the DeMarco Murray's of the world.

We talked about the Frank Gore's of the world. We talked about Jeremy Hills of the world. You can go ahead and add Chris Ivory to that list. It's gonna save the Jaguars about three million in cap space keeping it moving in Miami. I told you about it last week, how Jarvis Landry got um the franchise tag. I talked about how the franchise tag it's really is is really um. You know, could be just an asset to them. He traded right because they weren't gonna come to a long

term deal with Jarvis Lantry. So now they lock him up. It's basically like kicking the can down the road for one year. But now you still have him as an asset just in case you do want to come around and flip him. There apparently are numerous teams interested in trading Jarvis Lantry, so you want to keep your eye out on that a trade was made though. In the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Rams did business sending Pro Bowl cornerback Marcus Peters to Los Angeles

for second and a fourth round pick. Now, let me tell you something. Marcus Peters is known as one of these top cornerbacks. But the thing is, really his game is such that he's a gambler. He gambles. Okay, he jumps routes because his interceptions. He has nineteen interceptions over the last couple of years, which is tops in the league. Right, But he's a gambler. He can also get burned. I've

seen him get burned. But this is a nice little move for the Rams getting a guy like Marcus Peters, because remember Tremaine Johnson, their high level cornerback right now, is likely going to be a free agent, will likely test the open market, so they're bringing in another cornerback right away. Also, you know, this is the time of year where you're gonna hear a lot of reports out there. There were reports that the Steelers are gonna trade Martavis Bryant.

Remember we heard that all season. Now we're hearing no, no, no, they are not trading him. Why would they? Why would they? When you think about it, he obviously plays a role there. Also, the Bills now are saying that they are not planning on cutting Tyrod Taylor. If I was t Mobile, I would I would defecate the mattress all over Buffalo. They didn't want me. They wanted to start Nathan Peterman in my place. If I'm Tyrod, I'm hoping they don't pick

up my option. I'm hoping that I can have some opportunity to test my wares, whether it be in Minnesota, whether it be in Denver, or a number of other places that maybe the case. Also, we're hearing Cincinnati Bengals or former Cincinnati mangle tighten Tyler Eifford. Remember I call him one of my keya guys, okay, because he's always my neck, my back. He's always got something going on with Tyler Eiford, it was his back. But he has now been cleared for O t a s that will

be going on. But he's a free agent. So my question for you is like, would you take the would you take the risk on a guy like Tyler Eifford? Would you go ahead and sign him knowing that he's made of whatever Chad Pennington's knees are made out of. I don't think I would. I don't think I would spend the money required to go ahead and get a guy like Tyler Eifford and then have him miss half the games. The other piece of news we gotta share is, uh, it came out as though Roger Goodell was gonna find

Jerry Jones for like two million. That's not the case, okay. What is actually happening is there's a law that's been on the books by laws for the NFL for about twenty years already that they just recoup and share and reimburse any kind of um legal costs. Okay. And so Jerry Jones put the other owners in a bind where they had to um in essence, you know, pay lawyers. They had to pay lawyers, um. You know, when he was threatening about Roger Goodell's contract extension, when he was

lobbying for the Ezekiel Elliott suspension. And so it's coming back on Jerry Jones. It looks like two million dollars. He'll be two million dollars lighter in his pockets, but you know he's got deep pockets. Competition Committee is also getting together this week, you know, with owners meetings and stuff like that. As the combine gets going in Indianapolis, Competition committee is looking at UM what is a catch?

We've been talking about this on Fantasy Freestyle for a while, and what it looks like they might do is do away with that um going to the ground portion of the catch rule, because you know, that's really what stirs up a lot of the controversy. Then being able to help possession as they go to and through the ground. Okay, so they're looking at that, they're also looking at something that I think it's very interesting. I think I might make this a pole question for the next episode of

Fantasy Freestyle. They are debating if they want to change defensive past interference and instead of making it a spot foul, making it a fifteen yard penalty, so that this way, even if it's you know, a bomb down the field DP, I'll still also just be a fifteen yard penalty. I think that's very intriguing. We'll get into that on the late week episode of Fantasy Freestyle. The last thing I want to tell you is, as I mentioned, the quarterbacks

are getting going into combine this week. Well, Sam Donald at the USC. He will not throw at the I'm binding most of the other top guys will. Sam Donald instead is gonna wait for his pro day and listen, in the pro day, everything stacked for you. Okay, it's your wide receivers, it's your field. You know, the wind conditions and that sort of stuff. So you obviously, uh probably put out a better effort on your pro day than you would out in the foreign areas of Indianapolis

for the combine. But Sam Donald is not going to throw. But that brings me to Sam Donald, because what we're gonna do here on this episode of the Fantasy Freestyle inside Studio thirty four, here at Rock and Riley's, come on by. We got the good bartenders over here. We'll buy you a drink. Make it happen with drinking on

a Tuesday, you know, the Fantasy Freestyle. I want to talk about some of the big time quarterbacks that are gonna be at this combine and give you my little thumbnail sketch on all of them, so you know a little bit about what you're looking for for some of these top guys that I think most will be first round picks. We're gonna move into the you know, second

and third round with some of these guys. But maybe if your team is looking to replace you know, Ben Roethlisberger or Philip Rivers and Eli Manning, or if you're one of these teams that are just starved for a quarterback like the Jets, like the Cardinals, like the Bills. Um, these are some of the guys you may want to know about as we hit draft season. The first guy is Sam Donald, And if you listen to a fantasy freestyle, you know I've been talking about Sam Donald for over

a year now. I thought the Jets were gonna tank and hashtag suck for Sam. They did not. They won five games, But Sam Donald, listen, this was like an early shot called by a boy speeds and spitting statistician, because I was saying he was gonna be on the top of draft boards at this time. And he's only a sophomore. Okay, he had kind of an up and down season, but his up, his good is like French Montana, It's all the way up. Okay. Um, so he's good

is very good. He's only twenty years old, he's only a sophomore, and a lot of teams think that this kid is the prototypical guy that can be He has that kind of like leadership that it factor right, those intangibles. That's why I asked that on the poll questions got high football, I Q he can make all the throws, but the thing is he makes some crazy throws and he has them just dud games. Okay, um speeds. I think he's He's gonna take time to develop, but he's

the kind of the verbial mold of Clay. A lot of teams want to have that and then mold them for their organization. And I think Sam Donald is going to be one of those, not like true elite quarterbacks, but gonna be in tier two. He's gonna be a serviceable NFL veteran for the next eight to nine years. Sam Donald, You're not gonna go wrong. He has the pedigree, he has the skill set. Yeah, he throws some duds in there, but I think he'll be able to iron

that out. Sam Donald definitely going to be, in my opinion, a top ten pick at the upcoming draft in February. The next guy I want to talk about is Josh Rosen. Josh Rosen is out of U c. L A. This guy. He is the best in my opinion, pure passer, okay, footwork, mechanics, arm strength, accuracy. As a pure passer, Josh Rosen is the top of the list. Okay. But here's the thing. There's a couple of knocks against Josh Rosan that we gotta cover. One is that he's had a bit of

an injury history already. Okay, he's missed some time last year at u c l A. He also went through a couple of coaching changes at U c l A, so he never really had the time to fully digest list system, fully get his feet with. But the other thing where people are saying about Josh Rosen is that their concerns about his attitude. Maybe he's a little bit of a brat. There is one a f C executive that has come out and already said anonymously, of course, that he is just in fact a spoiled brat. A

lot of people wonder about his attitude. He has been a little bit outspoken. I remember, you know, during college football season, he came out talking about why college athletes should in fact be paid, that they're not really trying in school, and he was saying basically what was the truth. But people don't like that because he was pretty much outspoken about it. I'm gonna say this, he's getting comparisons

right now to Matt Ryan. And if you can grab, you know, draft yourself the next Matt Ryan, I say do it. I think the New York Football Giants at number two overall are gonna wind out with Josh Rosen. So giant fans out there right here in New York. I know the some outside right there and Rock and Riley's,

They're gonna be getting ready for Josh Rosen. In my opinion, you know, the injuries, the coaching change, the attitude notwithstanding, this guy has the tools arm strength, football footwork, mechanics, accuracy, and I've seen a couple of U c l A games this year. It translates. Okay, it definitely does. Josh Rosen is gonna be the kind of prize stud kind of like a Jared goff was. You know, that California kid type casted as as a quarterback. So let's see

how Josh Rosen does. The next guy I want to talk about, his quarterback out of Wyoming named Josh Allen. And this guy is gonna get you know, kind of um. There's a wide range of opinions. When it comes to Josh Allen, Okay, this guy is your prototypical like big, like you know, farm boy, country strong kind of kid. Okay, he's got a cannon attached to his shoulder, one of the best arm strength we've seen. So that's why arm strength is a option on our poll right there on Twitter.

You know, so he's got the arm strength. But here's the thing. You only completed fifty of his passes. Granted it was at Wyoming, Granted it was D two competition that he was facing, right, but there were a couple of games where they stepped up Wyoming and played uh, you know, Division one schools, and he defecated the mattress left and right. So I don't know if he was able to step up to the competition. This could be a case of a guy who dominated lesser competition. But

is he gonna be a Carson Wentz. I'm not sure that. Comparing him to guys like Carson Wentz, comparing him to guys like big Ben Roethlisberger, comparing him to guys like Philip Rivers because he's kind of unrefined with his notion, but he's a big you know, go get it. Kind of kid. Um. I'm not going to be the guy who takes a chance on him, and I don't want my Jets to do it either. You know. I think this is gonna be the exact, you know, type cast of a guy who has all the talent in the

world but then couldn't put it together. Whether it's like the defenses and schemes they see not in Division two, the step up in the speed of the game coming from Division two. You also asked my boy Emery Hunt at f game Plan, and he says that he does not like Josh Allen. He thinks it's kind of too much clay to mold and that it will take too much time. And then you know, the head coach and the GM that winds up drafting him, they're gonna get fired before Alan fully develops. This kid is a three

to four year project, okay. And if you're drafted in the top five, top ten, you are not a good team. You don't have three to five years to mold some kid. You're gonna get fired before that. I would stay away from Josh Allen out of this group. He is my fool Gazey, the guy to forget about. Let's go on to Oklahoma quarterback Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield. A lot of people are now starting to connect Baker Mayfield with

the Jets, calling him Broadway Baker. I think mel Kiper's first draft or latest draft came out, had him going number six overall to the Jets. Here's the thing, Baker Mayfield can make all the throws, had the completion percentage, had the intangibles, the it factor, the fiery leadership. Right. But here are the knocks on Baker Mayfield. One is that he's only around six foot tall. Okay, and if your name and Russell Wilson, if your name and Drew Brees in the NFL and you only around six ft,

people worry about you. People were like, oh, how will you be able to see over the defensive line and make throws? I think that's nonsense, Okay. I think if you got the skills, you got the skills, and I think Baker Mayfield does in fact have the skills. My question though, is he was in the Big twelve and all they do there is that spread offense. It's pretty much like a seven on seven drill. Nobody plays defense in that you know conference, And so my question for

you is very simple. What big twelve quarterback has come out and been successful. We heard like Bryce Petty put up video game numbers at Baylor. We saw a Johnny Manzel did in that conference, didn't do it in the pros. So is he gonna be able to take this step? I'll tell you what. I'd rather take my chances on Baker Mayfield than Josh Allen. But I also am a little bit skeptical about make Baker Mayfield to see, like, yeah,

he can make the throws. Yeah, he's done big game things in college like Deshaun Watson did, but also like Vince Young did and it didn't work out too well of Vince Young, right, so we will see about him right now, though I would have Rosen, I'm excuse me, I'd have Donald and Rosen as a tear. I'd have Alan and Baker Mayfield below that. Then we get into another controversial quarterback that we got to talk about, Louisville starter Lamar Jackson. This kid is basically the exact opposite

of Josh Allen. Josh Allen is saying, you know, his fifty six completion percentage, but he's got all the tools and he's a coach's son, and he's got the discipline, and he's Caucasian. Lamar Jackson has the athleticism, dynamic also the same fifty seven completion percentage played in the A

C C against better competition. Yet Bill Polian is out there saying he needs to be a wide receiver because of his athleticism and his uh, you know, his excitement, but that he can't develop to make the throws and be an NFL quarterback. I think that's a little ridiculous, right hashtag All quarterbacks matter, and so does Lamar Jackson. Someone's going to take a chance on him. And to

me in two thousand eighteen, you need mobility. Think about these guys, the Russell Wilson's, the Aaron Rodgers, even Carson Wentz had mobility. You know Cam Newton as well. Some of your top quarterbacks outside of Breezon Brady, they all have mobility. Matthew Stafford has pocket mobility. Avon Rodgers has pocket mobility. Yes, Lamar Jackson, in the same way as

r G three cannot just rely on running the ball. Okay, if we say that r G three is on one side of like couldn't hack it because he was just runner, and we say on the other side that, like Russell Wilson is a quarterback who uses his legs effectively, right, and maybe Cam Newton is in the middle. I expect Lamar Jackson to be closer to Russell Wilson then to r G three, And if he is, you have a fantasy asset because he's gonna run for four or five, six, seven,

eight hundred yards. He's to score some touchdowns running. Okay, so I'm actually on Lamar Jackson. If he's in a situation where he's starting from day one, it may not look pretty, but as a fantasy owner, I think Lamar Jackson is someone to definitely go out and grab. Um my boy. Emery Hunt certainly thinks that he is the top quarterback in this draft. But I want to talk about two other quarterbacks who you're gonna see this week in the combine in Indianapolis. First is Mason Rudolph. There

is a guy from Oklahoma State, another big twelve quarterback. Okay, this guy and only like about forty games, had two touchdowns and only picks. Okay, so the stats are get their video game numbers. Okay, straight video game numbers. But this is another big twelve quarterback, not even with the athleticism of Baker Mayfield. So the question is will he be able to kind of continue his development or will

he wind up like Bryce Petty. Will he wind up like Landry Jones and other people in the Big twelve who had huge college stats but never can make an impact at the next level. The next guy I'm gonna ask you about, though, and this is a guy that I want everybody to keep an eye on. Okay, Kyle Loletta. Kyle Loletta is the quarterback out of Richmond, the Richmond Spiders. Okay.

And if everybody's talking about Josh Allen out of Wyoming and how great Josh Allen can be even against the D two competition, then what about this kid, Kyle Aletta. Kyle Loletta was the m v P and best looking quarterback at the Senior Bowl a couple of weeks ago. This is a guy, Okay. He's six two to fift not the prototypical size for a quarterback. But he doesn't have a cannon army either. Not overly athletic. But here's

what he does. He understands the game. He's got those intangibles right, he knows schemes, he knows defenses, he does the film work. He's from a military family, right, he knows the game, that sort of stuff. He has the desire to get better. A lot of people are very much impressed with Kyle Loletta out of Richmond. So those are a few quarterbacks to check out. Sam Donald, Josh Rosen, Baker Mayfield, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen. Those are the five that I think are gonna go in the first round.

And then you got Mason Rudolph. And don't sleep on Kyle Loletta out of Richmond. Someone is gonna draft this kid in the third or fourth round. And remember people in the third or fourth round pop off every couple of years, Russell Wilson, Dak Prescott. So think about Kyle Loletta. But if you ask me, I don't want the statue that is Josh Rosen behind the pocket. I think he's full gazy, even though his arm and his mechanics are there. You need to have some mobility. So that's why I'm

off Rosen, um off Allen. I don't think he makes the cut. But give me Baker Mayfield, give me Lamar Jackson, and give me Sam Donald. What I want to do right now before we switch gears and go over to baseball, is I gotta tell you about our friends and partners over at d k m S. Did you know that it only takes one minute to potentially save someone's life? No, seriously, one minute. That's how long it takes to just swap your cheeks and joined the donor list with d k MS.

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fantasy today and learn a lot more. How about you can you know, become a match for someone and potentially save someone's life. All right, let's keep it moving here though. On the Fantasy Freestyle on the Fantasy Sports Network. You know what your boy, Dame Martinez speeds the spitting statistician. What I want to do is get into baseball real quick. I'm telling you I feel like Bo Jackson. I feel like Brian Jordan's Dion Sanders, you know, doing the two sports.

You talked a little bit about football. I'm talking about the news and notes that we're going on there. I gave you my preview on some of the quarterbacks that are going in the Combine this week. As we go to base ball though, um, we got some news and we want to also preview the arms of the a L Central. So here's what I gotta tell you. First of all, in Minnesota, Logan Morrison has agreed to a new deal, a one year, six and a half million

dollar deal. You're gonna start to see a little slow drip drip drip of some of the veterans latching on places now that pictures and catchers and spring training has popped off. There are reports that the Toronto Blue Jays they have come to a deal with closer sing Uan. Oh. Remember this is a guy he had a deal with the Rangers that look like but then the Rangers saw we were doing his physical as m R. I, and

they saw that he had ucl damage. Toronto Blue Jays that were like, man, that's all right, come on in you could be down for us. Looks like, oh, may wind up. I need to have Tommy John in his future. But for now, they're gonna let him rock and he's probably gonna slay in there in the bullpen for Toronto in the eighth or ninth inning. Similar to Logan Morrison, the Indians have signed Mike Napoli to a minor league deal. This is not a guaranteed contract for six million like

Lomo got with Minnesota in Cleveland. The Indians have signed Napoli to a minor league deal. Okay, and this is what's gonna happen for some of these veterans that don't get to latch on. They're gonna have to earn their way in. Okay. Napoli's thirty six years old. He only hit one ninety four last year. Okay, so he probably is on his last legs. But he did bang twenty nine home runs. And everybody with these three true outcomes. So if you need a little bit of pop in

the Indians, listen, they have some power bats. We talked about them in the offensive preview of the Al Central. We talked about Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez as m VP candidates. We talked about Edwin Encarnacion with his second year walking the parrot in Cleveland, his streak of like thirty five home run seasons that will probably continue this week. Okay, we talked about additions, not additions, but we talked about supporting cast like Jason Kittness, Michael Brantley. Um, So you

can add Napoli to the mix as well. But what we're gonna do is we're gonna talk arms here. We're gonna talk arms in the A L Cent trill for a hot second. Um, As you know, I told you I think the Cleveland Indians are going to win the AL Pennant this year. I believe they will win the AL Central in a runaway. I believe the AL Central. I think the Cleveland Indians will actually have the largest division lead of anybody of any division. I think it will be the least competitive division in all of Major

League Baseball, certainly in the American League. Okay, I think the Indians, by you know, the fourth of July will already have something like thirteen fourteen game lead and they'll be in cruise control from there on in. And to be honest, they're pitching is the top of this division as well. You know about Corey Kluber, Okay, and by the way, your boys Peez has been in. Statistician called that Corey Kluber would win the a ls A young

last year. Okay. Corey Kluber then went on to have a two point to five yr a struck out two hundred and sixty five guys, and this is basically what he does every year since two thousand thirteen. So that's no big deal. Here's why I think the Indians are studely and it really comes down to starting pitchers two

through four. Okay. When you think about Carlos Carrasco, when you think about Danny Salazar, when you think about Trevor Trevor Bauer, when you think about Mike Clevinger, these are guys that I think are gonna be a competitive advantage in that division. Okay. These are guys like Salads or Carrasco is gonna be going up against other teams number twos and threes, Trevor Bauer is gonna be going up against other teams threes and fours. I think that is

an advantage. And here's the other thing I like, especially for fantasy. You know about Corey Klueber already. But the strikeout rates for these guys are out of control. Carrasco two hundred twenty six ks and two hundred innings pitched. That's over k per nine. Okay, that's over nine ks per nine. It's over a strikeout per inning. You gotta like that, okay. Salazar only one a hundred and three

innings pitch, but twelve point six strikeouts per nine innings. Okay, and he was heard a lot, remember, Okay, So if he stays healthy, he's gonna fan two hundred guys as well. That's what you're looking for in fantasy baseball, Okay, you're looking fine power arms that are not the kers saw and synder guards because those guys are gonna go early. Okay. So Carrasco is one, Salazar is one. Trevor Bauer would ten to eleven strikeouts per nine innings as well. Okay,

These high strikeout guys with room to improve. These are guys that I like. So I love Bower, I like Carrasco, I love Salazar. And here's the other thing. They are playing the American League Central. So last week when I gave you my offensive preview, and I said that I thought the Royals might be one of the worst offenses in all of Major League Baseball. Well, the Indians get

eighteen or nineteen games against them. When I told you that the Chicago White Sox have a piss poor offense outside of like a Breyu and Garcia and Mankada, well these starters are gonna get to face them eighteen times. When I told you that the Detroit Tigers are gonna regrets this year offensively, well these guys are gonna see

them eighteen times. Right. So I like those starters, and I think that when you think about co Asco and Salazar and Bower, these are going to be guys that I think are very viable, that look like they're just SP twos or s P three's, but are in fact definitely viable for your fantasy team. Let's talk about the Minnesota Twins for a hot second. In Minnesota, listen, you got Burrios and then you gotta step down. But honestly, to me, Jose Burials is a fantasy foo Gazzi. He's

someone you need to forget about. In my opinion, this is a guy. This is a guy who three years ago had a hundred sixty five innings, then two years ago a hundred seventy innings, last year a hundred seventy five innings. Do you think he is ready in his age twenty four season to go ahead and put on a bigger load. I am not so sure. This is a guy who was out of control good in the first half, but then really kind of fell off in

the second half of the year. Okay. Will he be able to sustain that in the second half this year? I don't know. And here's the thing, this is why I don't like these guys, the same with Detroit Tigers like Michael Fulmer in years past. Okay, you get a guy remember that year when like Ubaldo Jimenez was something like fourteen and one in the first half of the season and then defecated the mattress for the second half.

That's what we could see in Burrios this year. So if you go ahead and get Burrios, do me a favorite. Just trade him in July, okay, because you don't want to have to try to win your Fantasy Baseball championship on the back of someone who's hitting the rookie wall as a twenty four year old. Okay, And I don't believe in the rest of these guys. Here's the other

thing that happens that's a problem with the Twins Arms. Okay, they got too many these other veterans that they have that are supposed to bolster this rotation and support a guy like Burrios. They're already hurt. Irwin Santana already on the d L Michael Planeta already, you know, dealing with injury. This guy is made of tissue. Okay, guys like Phil Hughes, you know, do you trust Kyle Gibson to really be like your number two or number three starter? I don't

think so. I think the Minnesota Twins actually regret rests a little bit because Irwin Santata had a great year for them, and he's already banged up. So that's a problem. I am staying away from Minnesota Twin Arms, including Burials. I think he hits the wall. He's one of the fool gazies. For me, I think you need to forget about him. Same thing in Kansas City. You got Danny Duffy and then not a lot else. Okay, I'm okay with Danny Duffy. Sure Danny Duffy can be your sp

three on your fantasy team. I got no qualms with that. But then there's nobody else there who do you like? Ian Ian Kennedy, Jason Hamill. I do not like these guys. And also remember this is also gonna be pictures that get no kind of run support because the Royals are one of the worst offenses in all of Major League Baseball. So you're gonna ask Ian Kennedy to go out there and hold opponents to one or two runs. I don't think he's capable of that. I don't think they get wins.

I think the Kansas City Royals take a dramatic step back when it comes to their win total this year. Remember they also lost Lorenzo king Osmer. These are guys that were bats in that line up to help with run production that are just no longer there. And it's gonna rely on the pictures and you got Danny Duffy and not a whole lot else. I want to talk about Detroit. I think it's the same thing in Detroit.

I know my boys over at the Fantasy BFFs today, they were talking about the Detroit Tigers, and they talked about guys like Matt Boyd. You know they talked about Mike Fires, they talked about Jordan's Zimmerman. I don't trust these guys. These are guys that are gonna sit with like a four point four e er, a a one point three whip. Jordan Zimmerman was great back in the day in the National League. Ever since he's been in Detroit with that fat contract, he has not delivered in Detroit.

You're talking about Michael Fulmer and nobody else. And in the same way I said it with Barrios in Minnesota. Fulmer the last couple of years has hit the wall after about a hundred fifty innings. Is this the year he gets over that hump and can be more durable? Maybe, but I'm not taking a chance on this. There are not many pictures that I like in the American League Central outside of Cleveland. One that I will take a chance on there too. In Chicago, though, that I'll take

a chance on. The first is uh Carlos Rondon. Now, I know, I know he's on the d L, you know, similar to Santana and Pineda and some other guys. But this is a guy who if he comes back, I think he's worth a statch on your d L spot because this is an effective picture. Okay, this is a

guy who I think can come back. It was him and Kintana about two years ago that we're both UM All Star caliber, right, and I think Rodon can in fact replicate that if he sees the mound again, he's already you know, likely going to be on the d L to start the season. I think he had like a triceps injury last year, came back but maybe reaggravated. It was a little too early for him to come back, so I would watch out for that. But the other

guy I like is Lucas Giolito. This is a guy who was in the I believe it was the Nationals farm system, and I think he came over to the White Sox maybe in the Adam eating deal. I have to have my man Mike Florio check me on that, but I think he came over in the Atom eating deal with the Nationals. And this is a kid that, you know, huge prospect at the level of some of those Pittsburgh Pirates prospects, you know, like the Glass Nows of the world. You know that you really have heard about.

And this maybe the year because the White Sox they are in kind of, you know, rebuild mode. They want to see what they have in the kids. And so what you gotta do with a kid like Lucas Giolito is you gotta let him go out there. You gotta have this be the year where he throws a hundred thirty innings, so that next year he could go one fifty and then two years when you're ready to contend, he's ready to be your number two starter or something

like that, because it will not be small game. James Shields, Okay, this guy hasn't pitched in one in a big game since about two thousand eight with the Tampa Bay Rays, So there you have it. Okay. In Chicago, I like Geolito Rondon. In Detroit, I'm wary of them. In Minnesota, Barrios is a fool gazzy for me, you need to forget about him. He hit the wall. And in Cleveland, I love these arms. Listen. I love Corey Kluber as well. But if you can get yourself a little Salazar, a

little Bower, a little Carrasco, I like. I like it's very much like it's very very much and closers out there. I like also, I like Herrera in Kansas City. But how many chances will he get? You know, because Royals aren't gonna win many games. I like Shane Green in Detroit, Tigers aren't gonna win many games. Yeah, Sauria in Chicago, White Talks aren't gonna win many games though. But when you look at Cleveland, you also have you have the Cody Allen, but then got Andrew Miller, right, I mean

Andrew Miller last year. Check this out. Thirteen point six strikeouts per nine innings. Okay, he is an absolute beast, and I love how Terry Francona uses him in the right situations, in the highest leverage positions. I love what they're doing in the bullpen in Cleveland and in Minnesota. I'm staying away from it because you got you got um Addison Reid and Fernando Rodney. Fernando Rodney has made a career out of being like, not the best pitcher

in that bullpen, but getting saves. And I don't know how they're gonna play in Minnesota. I can see, I can see saves getting mixed in with a number of pictures. So I would stay away from that situation all together. But there you have it a little bit of a look at the arms in the American League Central. When we start, when we do the late week pod on Fantasy Freestyle, We're gonna go to another division. It will be the n L West. We're gonna go out to

the NL West. I'll tell you surprisingly, which uh contract year Colorado Rocky I actually think could be a fool gazzy And I'll tell you which rotation I like the best. I'll give you a hint, and it is not the one that flaunt Clayton Kershaw at the top of the rotation. I go elsewhere and I have another surprise team that I think might come out um and actually make the playoffs in the National League from the n L West. A lot of people are not giving this team love.

So keep it locked and tune into the late week pod of the Fantasy Freestyle. Let you know who I'm thinking about there in the National League West. All right, here's what I gotta do before we put the fun and functional sports radio. I gotta tell you about my peep over at Fantasy factor dot com. Fantasy Factor is the perfect daily fantasy site for the casual recreational player. There are flatter prize pools. There are smaller fields. And

here's the thing. Single entry contests. Okay, so you don't have to go up against these big boy sharks that have their algorithms and computer programs that are putting in fifty lineups a night. Single entry contests over at Fantasy Factor and Fantasy Factors running NHL and NBA free rolls every week. It is a free entry. All you gotta do is sign up and enter. Check them all out over at www Dot Fantasy factor dot com. All right,

here's what we're gonna do. Tell them, my guys down there in the fantasy pit of misery down there, who we're gonna do is put the fun in functional sports radio.

So I got a couple of things I want to ask you guys about, and I want to hear your you know, your feedback, Danny Otto, because Danny, as you know, one of the things we do here on the Fantasy Freestyle is, um, we engage with athletes who think that they're rappers, right, and we've heard everybody from Lonzo Ball to lave On Bell, to Damian Lillard to uh, you know, Marvin Bagley, the third Cole Beasley have been out there.

All of them are better than our boy, Chris Venture the analyst, and we've established that and none of them can do what our boys can. A cashman over at road, aware my my bench better than your starters or young cos the effect the trap game. My estros who will holding me down on the stats over beat cipher all football season long. But we have another entry that we're gonna get into, and I would love to We're gonna play a little bit of it. This is Nick Gordon

a k a. G. Sinco. He's a middle end fielder for the Minnesota Twins. He is the brother of d Gordon, the newly minted center fielder of the Seattle Mariners. That's right center fielder, not second basement. And so what we're gonna do is this song is called I Do It All. We're gonna play a snippet of it for you, and then uh, Danny and Florio down there, I'd love to get some of your reaction about Nick Gordon, also known

as g Sinko. We're about to play a little bit of I Do It All from Nick Gordon down there in the fantasy pit of misery. Let's make a pop. It's for my city, from It's for my squad. We're never gonna fall. My boy's gonna ball. This is how we're moving. You see my phone and cars zinco with stars. Do you know who you are? I do it flex all and so hard. I do it kid before a new car. I do it. I kip Daddy with me. I do it, and I'm true to the team. I

do it. I'm gonna flex. I read through with Jack and I got my knee come all right, all right. So that's a little bit of it's a little bit of Nick Gordon, also known as g Sinko. I do it all. I gotta tell you, I wish I had my man, the manimal, Chris Bavona, because he coined the phrase that I think I'm gonna have to use here when we talk about all these kind of like Southern drawl rappers and this kind of He called it lazy,

you know, And I think, listen, it's not horrible. When Nick Gordon did it wasn't horrible, But I call it lazy rap, you know. Uh. And he's got that auto tune down there? Hey, who do I have down there in the fantasy pit of misery? Do I got any Florio? Do I got any Danny down there? How you guys doing is busy at the moment. That's fine, that's fine, Danny. What do you think about Nick Gordon? Ge Sinko? What do you think about that track? I think it was a little I call it that lazy Southern rap. A

lot of auto tune involved too. I don't know you're a musician. How do you feel about auto tune? Danny? Um? Well, when used to like move things just right. I'm I'm for it because it works. But if you if you go crazy, but you can't make a whole song auto too, Yeah, don't don't fake being able to do any right? Right? But so, what do you think about Nick Gordon? Here? What do you think about Gie Sinko? In terms of some of the other rappers that we've heard, the leavy

On Bells, the Cole Beasley's, the Chris Ventres of the world. Um, what do you think? I hear a little bit of laughing out of my fantasy best friend forever right there. What do you think about? What do you think about Nick Gordon? How does he stack up for some of the other ones we've heard so far? He's definitely not the worst, He's not the worst. Fair enough, fair enough, but uh, is he the best? All right, so we got him somewhere in the middle as well. Danny, check

this out. I got another topic I want to bring to you as we put the fun and Functional Sports Radio here for another few minutes, right here on the Fantasy Freestyle, right here on the Fantasy Sports Network, which your boy, Dame Martinez speeds the spitting statistician. I don't know, um, And I asked you, Danny, because I know you're you know, you were in the market for love. We were talking about your Tinder profile the other week. And um, I don't know if you saw, but there was a dramatic

episode of The Bachelor last night. I did not. I guess I missed this. Are you aware of what took place on The Bachelor last night? Oh? My god? Let me tell you. Okay, so they're down to two women. They're down to two women left right, And first of all, the bachelor is Ari lion Dyke, former Formula one race car driver. Okay, so they're all, you know, going after his affections and whatnot. And they're not in these two girls that are going on there like fantasy dates or whatever.

And check this out there down in Peru. Okay, him in one girl. Her name is I think Becca. Okay, they're down in Peru and get this, her ex boyfriend of seven years. She had a seven year relationship. Her ex boyfriend found them in Peru and stormed the set of The Bachelor. I was like, nah, I'm coming to win her back. And they had a whole scene where this this other dude just like finds them. He brings flowers, and the woman wanted no part of it. Check this

out though. The guy's name is Ross Gurgle. He's an assistant coach on the Stanford football team. So sports coming together. It's a very sporty season of The Bachelor. You got a Formula one driver and you have that one of the coaches of the Stanford football team thought that he was gonna make a grandiose gesture and kind of win his girl back. Danny, I'll give you one guest. Do you think it went well? I do not know. It didn't go It didn't go well. She like threw his

flowers away, said get away. He started crying and was like, I don't know what I'm doing here, and then bounced and they're in lies. You're a Bachelor. Update to to next week to find out who takes Ari Liondike's affection. What's going on and popping off this week? Danny? Uh, this week is actually the week before Comic Con season kills. I know that's big for you, Comic Con. It's gotta be uge for you guys a little bit. Yeah, Emerald

City Comic Con happens this this upcoming weekend. Now we're gonna be previewing a bunch of stuff there and uh, it's still going over reacting to Black Panther and and other movies like that. All right, fair enough, sounds good. Sounds good, and check this out Danny. You're gonna be with me next Tuesday. I'm gonna give people a little bit of a plug. Okay. You can still get the late week pod of Fantasy Freestyle and do me a favorite.

Subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Audio, Boom, Stitcher wherever you get your podcast, okay, and always you can check me out on Tuesday's the video version right here inside Studio thirty four, whether it be on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, all those places the kids go these days for all their fun video content. Um. But next week, because because you know, Danny, we talked about the quarterbacks, right they're gonna be at the combine

throwing and all that stuff. But one of the biggest things that happened also in preparation for the draft is uh the Wonderlick Test. And this is a test that all the football players get to see kind of like their i Q and to see if they can be a football smart, you know, because some of those guys not too smart. So so Danny, would I want to do on some on next week's episode of the Fantasy Freestyle video is uh, I want you to take the Wonderlicks text live. How do you feel about that? I

am nervous to see how I am. I think you're gonna do better because here's the thing, Danny. After after you take the test, it gives you like a percentile. So we'll get a we'll get a response right away and we'll see exactly how dumb or smart you are. Okay, but you're in for it right. Sounds good. So next week on the Fantasy Freestyle, we're gonna have Danny doing the Wonderlick Test. We're gonna have the n L West preview.

We're gonna talk about what we had out of UH, you know, out of the combine News and notes as well. Will be almost starting at the Free Agency, so we'll preview some of that as well. But as we get out of here. You know, Danny, I didn't realize, you know, we were talking rapping at eats. I don't know if people notice that the last couple of weeks to outro music, you've been using um Haw's your Boy Speeds and Spitting Statistician in it too. Uh. Do people know about drinking

on a Tuesday from Chronicle? It's it's our it's our new favorite song down here. Yeah, all right, we'll check this out. It is Tuesday, we're gonna be drinking. It's my time to get on out of here, but check it out. I'm gonna let you guys know. This is uh, you know, friends of the show. Dilley, Dilley, I'm out of here. Catch me on the Late Week Pod, catch me on at Spitting Speeds, hit me up, shout out to the stats over Beat Cipher. I'll see you on later this week. Listen up.