The guys who can help you win it all.
Let's talk to the pros.
Welcome in everybody to Fantasy Pros. This is the Fantasy Baseball podcast. This wee joeyp Joe Pizafia with me today as my co host of Leading Off the Welsh, which, by the way, Leading Off starts this Wednesday. Get ready, boys and girls. Every day noon Eastern the Welsh, myself and a cast of lovable characters. We'll be talking baseball with you. It's gonna be absolutely magnificent. So if you haven't already, subscribe to our YouTube YouTube dot com slash
Fantasy Pros MLB channel. But today our topic is league winners because I believe there's some guys we've identified and talked about over the last two months. It really feel can be the difference makers. So if you still have drafts left, we're gonna go through twenty names for you. We each made a list of ten. Maybe there's some overlap, maybe there isn't. We shall see as all is revealed here later on the podcast. But before we kick things off, I want to remind everybody too that we have our
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us all these amazing things. So that's great. So today we're gonna talk about league winners. But first, real quick, I want to hammer out some of these headlines Welsh, because a lot of stuff happened this weekend. When the last week left, uh de gram was, well we're gonna get it a Marion. See well now we see he's gonna be out for a quote significant amount of time end quote. This stinks. It's terrible, it's horrible. I hate everything. So Welsh, where did you have to knock him down
in your ranking? So if anyone's drafted or tomorrow.
Oh, I plummeted him. I mean I put him down into the I'm probably not far enough to be honest with you. I put him down into the one fifties. It's kind of like a clump where I put Lancelain. We'll talk about Flirty had kind of been over there, Sale had kind of been over there. I kind of found this happy spot after the one fifties if you wanted to take an opportunity to take him, but it's brutal. I lost him in God, where did I take him?
I know I took him in tout done, and I think I might have gotten him in one other spot. I mean I was obviously people were doing a wellness check on me when he got hurt, because I was defending the whole time. Ads. Screw the injury stuff. He's the best pitcher, he's electric. All of a sudden, he's going two overall in main events over an NFBC, and then exactly the problem with him came up, and I'm well aware, like I'm holding my breath because it's the
same stuff I do with Byron Buxton. I'm like, don't even worry about it. Go with the talent. And these guys continuously get hurt.
It's brutal.
He's I'm not interested. I'll tell you one thing. Back in the day, I really really was interested in buying these injured guys for a playoff run. In head to head the only format I'm really interested in reaching for. I'll say, all these guys the Tatis, and I'm saying reaching and having a pay significant price, right Tatis Junior or de gram is in head to head simply because I can get them full strength for the back half of the year in a playoff run, and that gives
me an advantage. And that is a strategy. But I know some can make excuses in rodo.
I still just.
Don't want to do it. And points it's an it's it's a no go. It's an absolute no go. I'm not gonna eat no points for a significant price for you know, a month or six weeks or whatever it is. So I pushed him down. He's going post one twenty five. I had like three drafts. I did four drafts this weekend, and he never went above I think one twenty five in deeper leagues, So once you get into that one twenty ish range, you could start considering, but I wouldn't do it before.
Yeah, lance Lynn, who was gonna miss a month with a knee surgery. He's going, Look, I'm still I'm more apt to take lance Lynn than I am to Grom.
I drafted him as he got hurt. I literally drafted him as he got hurt in a really big I think it was our Roto league or in this league, Roto league, with like my fourth pick. It's it was a sixteen team league, and I took him, and then minutes later I saw the injury and I was like, oh my god. But to your point, it's not in the same.
Andrew Luck retired a couple of hours.
Oh yeah, I didn't that. Yeah, I think I remember that happened.
I remember that, and I lost my mind on Twitter.
Yeah, and then you still like win that league that year? Wasn't the one you won? Yeah, that was a crazy one. What was the quarter I mean, I'll say, well, continue you get like a great quarterback you picked up off the wire.
I believe. So, yeah, I think I magical. I'm trying to remember who that was. I have to go back, but this is the Baseball Show, so nobody cares.
Yay. Yeah, but to the same point though, that you can come by.
So it's like it's like lance Lynn, it's Bassett, it's Rodin. Like that to me is kind of where I live.
I know I'd rather have them hands down, Yeah, I have Lynn lower.
It's in that it's in that universe at least for me right now, like Zach Gallen or Lance Lynn. I kind of want the guy in the White Sox.
I'll I probably I probably go Gallon still, but it's close. It's in that range. Again. It comes back to what are you like? What league format? Okay, so here's one. Let me add this. I was thinking in a bigger league format of fifteen, I've been doing sixteen league drafts. If I'm in a ten team league, I'm actually more
likely to take these guys. I'm more likely to reach and take Tatis, Lynn and to Gram because the pool to replace them with is so much better and the advantage you get, because that's a hard part about ten sometimes is getting an advantage over other players. I actually would bump them up to try to get them, assuming
you got il spots. Maybe not all of them, but I would draft those guys higher than what the consensus thought process is right now, which to gram post one twenty lynn maybe around one hundred, and I've seen tattoos floating around like ninety to one hundred. I'd reach up for them in a ten man league.
Yeah, I actually took Tatis in the Black Book Challenge that we're running on fan tracks. I took him the ninth round. And it's only shortstop, so that also makes it easier. It's a twelve team league and you only have a shortstop. So I'm like, look, if you're gonna give me tattos and let me put him with Sodo and all these pictures I drafted, I'm gonna go ahead and do that until yeah.
Risk and no middle. So this so shortstop was probably you probably were able to get your boy Willie Domains or something to replace him.
I didn't get him. Uh, I've tried to get who I ended up getting in that one. I'll have to go look at the roster real quick. But oh there's that little noise. Oh it's a magical noise. I've just opened up my team.
Uh.
The other shorts up I ended up getting was Claybor Taurus. So that's fine, that's a good knowledge that. Yeah, what are you gonna do. But once again I was able to get at Verlander, Wainwright, Musgrove, Peralta Giolito as a pitching staff, and basically, by the time it's all done, I still got Austin Riley. I've got Fernando Tatis and Jan Soto to anchor that offense. So that would be that would be the ideal situation there if Tatis comes
back healthy. But you're right, you know the format you're playing in, know the structure you're playing in, and know how aggressive you can be or how much risk you can take on. Because I agree with you, some guys are not worth the risk. And the deeper the format, the more challenging that risk becomes, because the replacement value sucks. Can we talk about something positive? Sure, Bobby with Junior is gonna play opening day, Julio Rodriguez is gonna play
opening day. Welsh, I'm as giddy as a little school girl about this. I love it. I'm so excited we're actually gonna get great prospects starting opening day. Hooray for the new cbact.
I gotta tell you so. I mean, I've been calling the Bobby wit one forever, so this wasn't a big surprise to me. I'm just happy it happened. You know, go listen to betting pros if you want to hear what our Rookie of the Year bet picks are. But the Julio one had a really weird ride. So follow me here on what was this? I guess Sunday I had done a show with James Anderson the day before, roto Wire, who's a big Julio guy, and he had draftedly w insanely high I think in the main event.
And then all of a sudden, I get this text of a kind of what I'm trying to think of. What the word is one of those Instagram posts that's like it's like an inspirational Instagram post. It's like a lady looking off into the distance and it's like things happen for a reason and they make us better. And that Instagram post came from Julio Rodriguez, like it was like an adversity makes us better. And we were like,
uh oh. And then a friend of mine was at Mariners camp at the same time and said Julio visibly did not seem in a very great mood this tweet or this Instagram posts, and we all were like, oh no, the Mariners are going to send him down, Like there was this big thought process. People were tweeting about it, this is a gonna happen, and then beautiful magical news on Monday they did not. Scott Service did the right thing.
The team did the right thing, and Julio Rodriguez breaking camp with a sick outfield of count A Coulio and Winker with Mitch Haniger as at eh, that team is sick. Juli Rodriguez is exciting, and I if there's anything I could tune in for, I hope the Mariners and Royals are not playing at the exact same time, so I go watch the debuts of both. I as a prospect person am elated, and both really important fantasy assets for this year.
Yeah, very important, guys. Also, we have the Shamanya trade too, so Oakland continues the jettison. Guys. The impact of the Mania trade for you moving to the Padres, what are your thoughts on that certainly helps with win potential, you would imagine, right, Yeah, I mean putting out the rotation.
I also think it's kind of a death blow to everybody that was trying to make Mackenzie gore thing this year and the starting rotation yeah, well, I mean I just not I never was. They got a lot of armed If they wanted to go six man rotation, I think they could do that. I think we're still waiting in the wings for another trade. You know, there's been this rumored Dominic Smith Hosmer trade that's out there. Paddock has been floated around. I think they've given themselves more flexibility.
Seam and I are a great starter. Bat Projections absolutely loved him this year, very sneaky. I think from a depth perspective, it's the best rotation maybe all five, you know, because like the Dodgers are ridiculous, and there's a couple of other teams that have absolutely ridiculous. But to all five, it's really good depth and they can go further. But the fantasy application is Manaiah up Mackenziegre down right now.
All right, So that's the latest news and notes also had a good start from Noah Cindergard by the way, seven strikeouts at five innings. So Halla, that's good. Kalaah haala. I think I did. And we just talked about we just did a betting pro show together. So if you're looking to make some wagers. Go over to and listen to the Betting Pros podcast or go to YouTube channel for Betting Pros. Welsh and I just went through all the you know, win totals. We like the futures and
all these things. And one of the teams I thought had a shot at a division really is the Angels. If they get Cyindergart right, if Otani stays healthy, Sandobal pitches up to his you know abilities, and then all of a sudden, the Angels could be interesting. So this is good news that for that investment. So go check that out on our Betting pro sides and really good stuff there. So, Welsh, we've each made a list here of ten league winners this year twice. Let's start with yours.
I've picked guys from eighty two to three ten right now. In terms of ADP, I've tried to stick outside of the top seventy five. You have a couple of guys inside of the seventy five. So, Welsh, why don't you kick things off here with guys who could be potential league winners in twenty twenty two fantasy baseball leagues.
Yeah, I've got guys that are outside the top two hundred. I've got some inside the top one hundred because I think league winners are not relegated to final last picks. I think that's kind of the assumption. There are league winners in the fourth round, there are league winners in the eighth round. There's absolutely league winners in the fifteenth round. And I've talked about this guy at nauseam. The reason that a top fifty guy can be a league winner is when they can go from you getting them in
the fourth round and then producing first round talent. And that is why Byron Buxton is a league winner this year. I know you have him as a bust. I do not. He looks phenomenal in the spring forty seven on the consensus. I hope I do too. And if I am, he's a league winner, that you got first round talent in the fourth or fifth round, and top it off that there's all these like kind of injured guys spattered around.
Not that you want to take the risk, but you know, what if you got Buckston and what if you got like Tatis way later a ten man league, you could you know, you could run ramp shot there where you get Buckston, you could have Tatis you just did.
I I haven't had a Welsh in a time where you make Welsh has a thing, and I've been doing shows a Welsh for like ten years.
I'm congested and I was trying to hold myself there and then I was like, I'm gonna say that.
I almost let you go on it. But then you Yeah, you did it twice and you made two different ones. It's run rough shot. What was he likes to, Yeah, you run rough shot. I don't know.
Carl Ramrod, Carl Rahmro. I think I was Carmen Ramrock Ramrod.
I don't know what it is. But she likes to create new sayings.
That don't I do.
It's called the Welshisms, and he puts them together and creates a new one, like instead of what I've turned remember one of the classic ones?
No, I know there's some good ones. Someone. We should have a we should have a we really should do is we should have like a journal of them? We should have Yeah, we should have the Welshism book. It's like baseball Ism but Welshism. And we should be tabbing out all the fake words that I say and then we'll just put them together like a dictionary. You know, and we could put those together at the end of
the year. But regardless of the point Buxton in a ten man league, that is the league winner that you could add on to other pieces, doesn't matter what format it is. Bucks into forty seven, probably no chakra buy it for anybody that I said that first run talent almost at fifty.
Well, it's no shocker for people to hear me talk about Justin Verlander eighty two. Overall, there's not a lot of guys you got a draft around eighty two that could be the best picture you draft in your league, and he could absolutely contend for a cy Young. We just talked about it. I think it was like what twenty two to one or something like that. I've already made the investment in him at cy Young because I
like him as a long shot. A couple of years ago, we're talking about a guy striking out three hundred guys, two hundred and ninety guys. We're talking about a guy who's era was ridiculously good, the whip was ridiculously good. He's always limited the walks. He is very far removed from Tommy John. I understand he's been away a little bit, but have we not learned that the layoffs sometimes for guys,
especially the older ones, are good. Adam Wainwright, Buster Posey, have we watched some of these older guys have a bigger break and all of a sudden I know some of those guys had injuries too, Posey did, but still like, let's realize that this break, this longer layoff, might be a good thing for Justin Furlander. And if he gets back to that form at eighty two, this guy be a fancy ace this year and at an absolute league winner.
So I would be very aggressive. And he started what at like one fifty I think we started doing shows that was at eighty two. Yeah, at the end of the day he might finish as the top ten.
Arm I love this one.
It's very possible.
Yeah, you've got a lot of one I really like on here.
Well, it's okay, we can we can agree. And I want I want Byron Buckston to be good now. I want nothing more than to sit here at the end of the year and go look at Byron bucks and go, finally it was what it was supposed to be. I just I can't do it anymore. If you can't, well, listen to many times.
I've got I will tell you I think the concept of league winner. Also, I want to explain some guys that could be league winners, even if I am big or not big on them necessarily because you know everyone's going to have different opinions and you guys may sit and there's context to team construction. Perfect example is my number two otibert Amandasi is the definition of a league winner and can be a league loser. He is maybe the most volatile player in the top one hundred, but
from volatility it's from bottom to top. If you are playing in a format where you can get an advantage on steels, you know, not points. But let's say it's a bigger a bigger roto league adwart Demondesse and the steals that he can have can set you completely apart. I mean he can single handedly win you that category. In a head to head perspective, he can win you
weeks alone. His volatility makes him tough. But if he were to be consistent on a team that looks pretty consistent now, if he could stay healthy and consistent, Mondacy would be a league winner. Do I believe he will be? I don't know what I target him. I actually would in deeper leagues. I've been trying to target him in smaller leagues. I'm not because I think I can make up the stolen bases in other spots, and frankly, I take his teammate Wit Mayfield a little bit more. But
he's the definition of a league winner. Not sure if he will be, but I think of all the guys we're going to talk about, every single player on your list, in my list, he could be the number one league winner because you are all cooled on him. He will have third and shortstop eligibility this year, which is an advantage,
and he could lead the league in stolen bases. He could put up twenty homers, he could have big, big runs, and then batting average and RBI if they come into play, he would be He might be the most valuable player in fantasy. It's a possibility, but it's the big marvel what if moment of fantasy this year. So he's a league winner.
He's definitely a what if. But you're right, I mean for the steals alone, he could be a huge game changer in rotal formats of any kind. Let's take a quick break in the action to tell you about manscaped. It's time for some spring cleaning, my friends. If you want somebody this spring to start looking for your Easter eggs, and you better take care of the forest that's growing underneath.
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the great products at manscape dot com. Head over to me Maandscape dot com right now and get twenty percent off and free shipping with that promo code Joey P. At manscape dot com. Again twenty percent off and free shipping thanks to me Joey P. So go ahead and find your Easter eggs once again. Happy spring, and now back to the action for me the second time. My list is Trevor Rodgers. Trevor Rodgers to me, it might be the next best left handed pitcher in baseball. I
think he's got that kind of upside. He is at eighty eight right now, right around that Verlander times. So if you miss out on Verlander, Rodgers is a great one to get. One hundred and thirty three innings last year. I think people forgot how dominant this guy was in the first half. One hundred and fifty seven strikeouts, forty six walks, so a three to one k walk ratio something I always look for. The whip is at one point one six, the era is two to seven to one.
I get it. I understand that it's a tough division, but this is the kind of left handed arm that left handed hitters want no piece of, and that tells you everything you need to know about him. They're like, nope, I'm off today. Trevor Rodgers is pitching. I'm good. I think he should be good for probably around one hundred and seventy five innings this year too, So that I like a lot about Rogers. So Rogers another league winner.
I like these aces that you can draft after getting a whole bunch of offense early on and then looking for guys like Verlander Trevor Rodgers, maybe double tap those two guys and start a rotation that way. To me, that's the approach this season. Welsh, Who's number three on your list? Of league winners.
All right, so we're going to continue. I've got this and one more. These are my volatility guys. My top four are volatility league winners, insane upside, huge downside, and number three is pretty obvious. Dantasy Pro's consensus right now is at ninety nine. It is Fernando Tatis Junior. Just like we talked about, I don't need to get much more into it because I think we've hit a lot of the stuff. This is a guy that if you play in a head to head format, could win you
the second half. This is a guy on the rodo stats I could still put up elite numbers that are better than two or three outside of two or three at his position alone. He heals quickly. Then the rest of these guys, I'd be interested to see positionally if they do anything with him coming back. But Tatis Junior is a league winner, but he takes a lot of strategy and a lot of paying attention in your draft
to make him work on your roster construction. Because I think you can get you can get a little ahead of yourself. Just be like, ooh, I'm gonna go take Tatis and I'm gonna just take him and then all of a sudden, you've really kind of screwed yourself as far as a roster construction on what you're playing, but your league format, you know, know your targets and really pay attention and you can make it work and he can win your league.
Agreed to one hundred percent. I'm glad we had that conversation at the top of the show too, because I think people needed to hear that. I think that's important to understand. Yeah, you can do this. You can draft tattoos. You's gotta be smart about how you do it. Bobby Wood Junior, the next player TATIS is ninety nine ADP. Bobby with A Junior is one hundred and to me, it's all that guys out there that offer the power,
speed combination, the high batting average. This guy throttled the minor leagues last year.
I would have picked this one by the chance. You picked it. You're just so smart. You picked it ahead of time, and I couldn't do this. But I could not agree with this one anymore.
And I have to sometimes drink a second time to get back into focus. Here on the YouTube channel, that happens is this is the beauty of live podcasting.
So I wish that was a mug by the way. I wish that was like a hot tea mug and you were just like mm hmmm, Bobby Wit.
Well, there might be some moments with the tea, I think, because you know we had that conversation, I switched from the coffee to the tea. So we'll see. We'll see how that goes. And leading off just spoiler alert, there might be some segments built around off, seeing off on, leading off or spilling tea. Who knows, but thanks for the heads up there. Bobby Wood Junior to me is a guy that I think is gonna just the way throttle the minor league pictures. He's gonna throw all the
major league pictures. I think he's the real deal. I don't like they can't miss label because it's too much pressure. But this guys that we've seen come up and just rake, whether it be the Sodos, the Wonder Francos of the world, I think Bobby Witt's gonna come up and he's just gonna be Bobby Witt, and he might not reach the incredible, oh my god, superstar level in You're One. I don't expect that play at that return on investment Tatiste did,
and he might be closed. I think he's more in that ILK than he is in the guys that come up and struggle right away. That's my that's my inkling.
At least, this is not Dylan Carlson, this is not alexje He's built different, different dude. Yeah, and also the team construction really works well for him. I think the guys that are surrounded with him are really really good. He can handle the pressure. He's been doing it for a long time. He's looked fantastic out here. I was just at what I was at Royals Camp on Sunday.
I stopped over there and he was doing BP with Salvey out there, and he was just crushing balls, and you know, he did get I was also at Friday night. I was at Royals and Padres and you Darvis definitely got him bundled up a couple times. And I do expect some little hurdles, but I think push comes to shove at the end of the year. This is a major Fantasy impact guy. My only problem with this one, there's literally one problem. The consensus is not caught up
to what people are doing in drafts. We say one hundred. I see him going in the fifties right now. So there's a battle in there where, yeah, he went in the fifties in multiple drafts that I did.
You're going to say seventies or something like that. I think he did fifties.
Wow, it's fifties. So that's the battle of this one. But it is a great one, all right.
So that's another one on the list here. Let's go to number four on your list. Well, should he have.
Right last of my volatility, guys, Cody Bellinger. It's the most ridiculous one I could say. I have nothing else to give you, guys, because he has struggled mightily in spring training. He strikes out, he's not making great contact, He's messed around with his swing, which, by the way, is something if you're going to do it, you should do it. In spring training he's altered that a couple times.
He made some I think some big changes in the off season, maybe just some routine type of stuff that I could throw out there, say behind the scenes sources. But I still believe in Cody Bellinger. I believe in the team context as well. Incredible hitters that he gets to work with, you know, you're looking for slumpbusters with these type of guys being around Mookie Bets, Trey Turner and Freddy Freeman. To me can speak wonders, and if he can't get that back together, then he is officially cooked.
Maybe other people have already thrown him out. I haven't. He's risky, but it's post one hundred, post one hundred cost on Bellinger right now. And this is a guy that I still believe there's thirty five plus homers, and I believe there's a major impact bat that can be hitting between the Freddy Freeman's and the Mookie Bets. So I think again, is he a league winner? I'll make the bet. I don't know, but he checks the box of a potential league winner, Cody Bellinger outside the top one hundred.
It's funny you mentioned about Bobby wits ADP being a little you know, not quite what it is in reality, right, I see the same thing, but the inverse of Cody Bellinger. I've seen him totally you know, ranked around here one hundred, and I've seen him go way later.
Dude, that's so funny you said that they're the complete opposite ends, where it's just rank on fantasy pros, they're within like six of each other, five ech other four me.
There you go.
But they are probably in actual drafts right now going maybe eighty to ninety picks separation between the two, and that's what can separate Bobby Witt from being really high cost to like, is it going to return production to a Cody Bellinger? Of like? Is it really worth not risking to take Cody Bellinger at one thirty at this point when he absolutely has top thirty upside, he has
first round potential upside. It's just how far gone are we from that spring training gave us nothing, But I'm willing to make that bet.
All right, Let's see what Michael Kopek can give us at one sixty one. He qualifies at RP and SP for those leagues where we have those mandatory RP spots. Electric fastball. We all know this, easy heat. It's the thing I love when I watch Kopec. The effort level doesn't look like a max effort kind of guy. This is the time to get in on him. This is the time to be bold at one sixty one. This is another picture where some of these other pictures already
dropping like flies, right de grom Lynn. We're gonna have other guys are gonna fall suit. But Kopec's that one where the eight arrow is going up for me, and he pitches for a great team. They're a good defensive team, they're good offensive team. It's a soft division for the most part. You's gonna get some really good matchups there against young offenses like the Tigers. You know, the Royals have a good offense, like Welsh pointed out. But still
there's some strikeouts in there that live for sure. And I think Cope's gonna be one of these guys that is really gonna, I think, emerge onto the scene as like a star pitcher this year. I think this is the year where it happens. I think we've been teased with it last year and then this year's in the full time breakout. So give me Kopek at four. Who is your number five league winner? Welsh on your list? All right?
Yeah, quicker list here a little bit more stunch on guys. We're going outside the top two hundred of consensus. And I've said this guy many times. I'm Ed Rosario two oh four on the consensus rank. Here give me Amed Rosario power speed five tool hitting. I think they've got him sloted at two in that lineup, and I think that he's a potential league winner in some formats. He qualifies it outfield in shortstop. So he's a guy tried to get everywhere, couldn't get every single spot, but I
do want him everywhere. Amenders reo league winner.
Well, Justin Upton got dfaid, which means Joe Adell skyrocket, baby, let's go. Maybe he has just figured it out. Sure, Brandon marsh is there too, but at one ninety four, Joe Adell is another player. If you're in roto formats of any kind, head to head categories or season long roto, I don't know how you don't want to be more aggressive. And this is probably another player, Welsh. I bet that it might say one ninety four, but you're probably going at what.
Like he went much higher in the drafts. Yeah, especially with the successful spring, he went much much higher. Yeah, this is another one of those all the rookies. I mean, that was the thing is people were I mean, I'd admit I chastised people in this league on our early early mock drafts of taking Julio Rodriguez cause it was like what are we doing guys like they just traded for Winker, Like he's got a lot to work through. There's been no signs that they would really be this aggressive.
Then collective bargaining agreement can it's fixed, you get rookie incentives, then you see him out there, then it kind of changed the whole game. But it was all speculation, same thing with Tor all these guys, and then now that you have confirmed jobs, rock it up well and jo Adell is a little different from that, but he did
get confirmation though I think people were worried. There was a legit time where people were like Brandon Marsh might unseat Joe Adell because they can't get They would say they can't get out from Justin Upton. They've got no DH spot and what if Adele got sent back down. Well that's gone now and Adele has crushed in spring training, so it's been great. Yeah.
The other thing that helped who Adriguez is Jared Kellnick not being able to square up a baseball very well, that's that's a problem. He's got to fix it.
But it's not at the don't it's not at the expense. No, Odio's not up at the expense.
Of no, no, but still it's it's it. Certainly want to pay attention, But Joe Adele, you want to be aggressive. That's fine. If people still aren't aggressive and shallower leagues be aggressive. Joe Adell has that opportunity and it fail. But if he reaches the potential of what this prospect was. I mean two years ago, this was one of the top five prospects in baseball. Everyone was talking about. We couldn't get enough Joe Adell. So let's not lose sight
of that. Let's try to have a longer memory because that's the kind of impact he might be able to make. And again, I keep driving this home. The power speed combination rotal leagues is something to be very excited about. All right, let's go to your number six on your list here, Well, should we.
Have a league winner is actually going to stick with the exact same team with the Guardians and a league winner Miles Straw. I know it's crazy. I've never been the biggest empty category chaser. And what I mean by that is a guy that gets a lot of one thing and then kind of sinks you in a couple other spots. But Miles Straw is one of the few players that could lead baseball in stolen bases this year, a very high likelihood I think from a projection standpoint,
to finish top five. And he's going post two hundred. He's also theoretically going to lead off for the Guardians. Not a big power guy can make contact. He would be a batting average run stolen bases guy post two hundred. You missed out, unwit, you missed out on mind to see. You missed out on the big stolen base guys. You should make sure you get Miles Straw. I did it this weekend in this giant eighteen team league we do our ITL Champs League, and I didn't have great stolen bases.
I reached up for Miles Straw because he's gonna put me over on stolen bases. And a post two hundred guy with thirty plus stolens and leading off, that might be a guy that can be a league winner.
And I would agree. Now I had an Angel's picture on this list, I think I'm gonna change it after some of the weekend news, which is I gotta go from Patrick Sandoval, who's the guy we've talked about a lot. Let's go at Noasindegar, and let's go with a guy on a one year show me deal and if he regains the velocity of old, let's not forget when you're looking at high end velocity in the major leagues. Noah's inderguard was it for like a two to three year window.
He was the dude. He was so good and he's had a lot of injuries, and maybe getting out of New York is good, maybe a fresh start is good, but it's that one year contract. I love those guys in those one year deals. I remember when Adrian Belcher was on that one year deal. I wasn't in Boston that one year. I was like, oh, let's go, let's
get all in on that. Like there were just some guys where you know, when you know that they're in that spot where they have to kind of rebuild some value, you want to get in on that, especially when you've seen it can be good. And he's another picture that's you know, I want to say he's free. He does have a big name still, but in terms of ADP, he's free ish. And where is he right now ADP wise, I'm not sure because after this weekend, I'm sure it's changed.
After that start. But basically what I'm got.
Him at fifty in a draft by the way earlier, but like he fell fell, but I think it was before that performance. He go he's post two hundred. That's where he sits pretty firmly right now.
Yeah, and I think he's worth a shot because the rotation spot is his how many things can he throw? Look realistically, I think if you draft him even post two hundred and you get one hundred and forty innings out of him, that's cool and you say, well, how
is that a league winner? It is because what if you were the same team that drafted Lynn or Jacob deGrom and you don't have those guys in April and may potentially what if Cindergard can be that bridge to getting those guys potentially back healthy and then you run from there. So yeah, Cinderguard to me can be a league winner because of that, because he might be there early and dominant, and that gives you time to play
the waiver wire. That gives you time to oh, look there's Nick Lodolo on the waiver wire or somebody else who's gonna get called up and make some starts with the big league club. That's what you're gonna look for all right, So those are the number six guys for me, Well, she's next on your list.
Number seven. I mean, I might be getting a little nuts here with some of the young guys, but the cost Spencer Torkelsen. So here's the interesting thing about Tork. He's got a two thirty two. He isn't following the same trajectory as like Julio or a Dell or Bobby Witt to the same degree. Now he doesn't steal bases, which is part of that. But Tork was more prolific power guy that I think is being given credit for.
And he's made a real concerted effort I've personally seen in person over the last six months from the AFL to now where you can see him stop trying to destroy baseballs as much as he knows he can, and
he was hitting for more contact. He was really singles heavy in the AFL, and I think there was there was a purposefulness to that, and I think that's a good thing, especially for a guy like him, who you know, he understands the own book that's on him, which is you know, low breaking balls low or even fastballs really low, because he's aggressive lower in the zone he can attack. Baseball's high that I worry about some of the growing pains.
But post two hundred, a first baseman that can hit thirty plus homers and be at the middle of an order that's got Hovey, Baias and Meggi in there and some fast guys in Badou and Grossman, I really like that. You know, this might be a stretch as far as like league winner, but first base can get really ugly really quick if people hoard it. And guess what breaking news they do. They do like as much as I've preached Joey Vado, CJ Crown later, people aren't comfortable with
just the first basement. They want those guys as a corner infield so it can get away from you, and it can get away really quick. And Spencer Torklesen could be one of those guys that kind of brings you back and saves you. So again, I might be in a bit dramatic because I'm super excited about the rookies, but two thirty two, Spencer Torklesen, give me.
Gimme, how many games do you think Torkleson places this year at the big league level?
I mean, I don't I mean if he gets hurt or something like that. I mean, I I just like you. I don't think he comes out of the lineup. Let's say one thirty five, Okay, I mean I would say one. I think I'd be comfortable with one fifty as well. But somewhere in that range between one thirty and one fifty.
I think the thirty or the forty I feel pretty good about. I think that's kind of where I would live with him personally.
But I want to.
Talk about another guy, another big time prospect a couple of years ago that people sort of soured on and forgot about. And oh, let's say he's got nine to seventy one ops so far in the spring. I like that he qualifies at second and short stop. I like that he plays in Colorado. I love that that's the best. And last year he hit left handed pitching, he hit right handed pitching. And if you look at the splits too, which everybody always wants to kill these guys in Colorado.
Guess what if you look at Brendan Rodgers splits last year at home two eighty with a seven to twenty three ops, well that's not so great in Colorado. You think oh, this should be better away two eighty nine, eight seventy three. A guy can hit on the road. Eventually, the Colorado numbers are gonna propped up. It's gonna happen for Brendan Rodgers. So, Brennan Rodgers is a guy right now that if you look at the splits and you're worried about him, he say, oh, he's a Colorado guy.
He's already proven he can hit outside of Colorado. I'm not worried about that. And you know, the Colorado a factor over a longer period than fifty one games is going to rear its head. It's going to be a positive one. So to me, you have that dual eligibility. I think he's got a path to the everyday job there. I like Brenan Rodgers. I got him on all my teams this year. I'm a fan. So let's go to another guy on Welsh's list. Let's go to number eight on your list, Welsh, who do you.
Have uptick in the rotation for the Marlins. He saw a two to three uptick in his fastball usage. Looks back. He's a command guy. I've talked about him. Don't mean to be boring. Hazus Lozardo. I literally, I don't usually do the like. I don't say like, oh I got them all my teams or anything like that, but I literally might have him on all my teams. I might have late Lozado and every single team that I could possibly have him on. He's been a major target because
he's free on the back end. He has got probably top thirty sp upside, maybe more. Maybe I'm just being like, you know, a little bit dramatic, or I'm like bringing him down a little bit, but major strakeouts command is where he used to be. I think he's a smart pitcher and it's a great rotation of really smart guys. And look at what the Marlins have done, look at what they have done with their pitchers. Hazus Lozardo is
already showing some of those signs. So he might be the retread of Trevor Rodgers and could be next year a top one hundred overall player. So Lozardo could be one of the linchpins of your rotation and could be a league winner.
All right for me. Another guy's Joe Ryan, a guy from the Tampa system, is now in the Minnesota system. He's gonna have a rotation spot. In fact, he's the opening day start, right, Did I read that correctly? I believe yes, that is the case. Sure, yeah, yeah, So that means he's gonna make a fair amount of starts. And not every league winner is a superstar player. Not every league winner has a career year. Sometimes league winners are guys that you can plug in there, you can
draft really late in terms of ADP. He's a guy that's going at two ten right now. To me, this is a guy that you can feel pretty good about that rotation. The Twins might be better than people realize. I think they might be one of the sneaky teams. If Buxton comes true and you get Kira Love healthy and you get Korea playing well, the Twins might be spunky like they might be this year's team that people say, oh,
I didn't really see that coming. It would be also on guys like Bailly over pitching well, guys like Joe Ryan. So Joe Ryan's another one of those dudes for me at number eight, let's go to number nine on your list of league winners. Well should you have?
All Right, so this is cheating. I'm gonna cheat on this one because I think there's a multitude of these guys and I'm going to just call it the late closer. So I've been adamant about taking you know, at least one of the top guys. Frankly, I'd like it if you had two guys that you can feel consistent with and you don't have to mess around. I think there's gonna be tons of money that's going to be spent fab wise and waiver claims on closers in the first
month or so. Not saying you don't want to be involved in it, but if you don't have to get there, great, But pay attention to the closer market, especially this week, because we've had situations that have worked themselves out, like it looks like the Nationals with Rainy might be a guy, So Rainy might be a player that you pick up. Alex Colome closing, that might be a guy that you
want to pick up. Watch the late closer market and pay attention to There are post two point fifty to three hundred guys that are going to be out there. I don't know for your own leagues, Paul Sewald, Rainy Cola MA pay attention to those. Pick up those guys because we can't not say a c because there's always a late closer. There's always a guy that comes off the wire that you get and as a league winner. So jump ahead if you possibly can, if you got a draft in the next couple of days, and take
one of those guys, and don't be afraid. This is another thing I would do. I would use bench spots because those last couple is where you take some shots and then you fix it waiver wires before the season, take some speculative save spots. Even if you've got two great guys. Let's say you got class in Kimberl Let's say which would be really high investment, take two more. Take a rainy and take a Colamet, or take a
Pierce Johnson or Danellis in Lamet. You know we're gonna all speculate who's gonna close with the potters until they announce it. Take a couple of those guys and see if you hit, Because then what you've done is you've taken that away from the waiverwear market. You might be able to make a trade. You might have just boosted your closers, and if it doesn't work, you just throw them back and go pick up a starting pitcher or a hitter that's out there. So I'm cheating, but I'm
saying the late closer is always a league winner. I just don't know who it's going to be.
Yeah, and they become fodder and trades too. People desperate for saves. You can flip them. You got them for nothing, and now all of a sudden you could sell them off for something that's waspially higher in terms of ADP.
Like here's an example, what was it TGFBI. The waivers just ran this past weekend and one of the top guys I saw every and this isn't the closers, by the way, but I'm just throwing it out there. To the same example, I saw one of the top like two players that was on everybody's list. One of them was Stephen Kuan with the Guardians, who is another guy that could potentially lead off and hit there. Everyone was
spending money on him. Guess what in my league wasn't available because I speculated and I drafted him for that potential high lead and leadoff spot. So the same idea can be had with the closers. Take those guys off so waivers can't run and people can't have the opportunity to pick up that guy, and then what happens is you get Fomo. Everybody is tweeting about picking up this guy.
Spend three, you know, thirty percent of your fab on this closer and all this, and he's not available in that league because you got him and you either have him to roll with or you've got extra trade bait to put out there, because he's got a whole big push from that week from everybody talking about him simply because he's available in getting safe, even if he's not
that good. So it's just a good strategy. Bench spot's getting some of the if there are any late speculative closers to do it all right.
Number nine on my list is Christian Xavier at two ninety six. Again he's free, he's got electric arm, great fastball, showed you last year. He gets strike out everybody in their mother. You're looking at this rotation here in Houston and vranber Valdez is there, and you got your koweedie there in Garcia and Verlander. That's good. I don't know what we're gonna get out of mc coulors, of anything.
There's certainly a narrative you could right that maybe Verlander does struggle coming back, maybe the age has caught up with him. Maybe I'm completely wrong. It's possible it's happened once or twice. Maybe that many times, that's it twice. But Jacob Derrezi, another guy is not special. Another guy's a little older too. I think there's opportunity here for whether it be some slop wins in early April or transitioning into making some starts. Eventually, somebody's going to get hurt.
And I think Christian Javier is going to get another opportunity at the starting gig, and when he does start, I think he's gonna be worth having. So I think that's a guy, especially that again sp RP eligibility. I love those deeds because they play in those kind of formats. I love that. And the last guy on our list happens to be the same guy. So I'm just gonna
give up the floor. It's a group, it's a group effort here at Fantasy pros MLB, and the last guy we're going to talk about, who's our league winner number ten for both of us, Julia Rodriguez, I'm gonna yield the floor to the Welsh. Take it away.
I mean, I talk about it all the time. This is a showover we just say hully only just in the show. Frankly, people probably want to hear your take on it because I talk about him so much. But just you know, my only thing to tell you is he is a superstar and I've held firm I find. Here's what I will give some people insight on whatever you think I am. I don't want to say expert. Whatever you think I am a talking head of anything
of fantasy. I find it very hard to stay with someone for a long time when times are tough, and I think most people do as well. I think some people won't admit it. It's very especially when you talk about prospects. It's very hard to stay locked into something when everybody else feels a different way. And sometimes that can be the case. I can be affected by Sometimes
just negative results can move me away. But if there's one thing I stayed consistent with for four years, maybe five, I don't remember now, it is Julio Rodriguez whenevery human being loved Jared Kelnick because he was in the majors. Over Julio Rodriguez prospect people had him number one. I had Julio over him. I've always been a Julio guy. I think he's a superstar. I think he has got immense raw power. He told me in the AFL. I
I'm very proud of that moment. An interview I had on field with him where that AFL in twenty nineteen or eighteen, he wanted to steal more bases. He told me that he's like, I want to steal more bases. He was pissed that he got caught thrown out in the AFL in a game, and that he was like, I didn't get thrown out. And he had two stolen bases already in the AFL. He proceeded to have three or four more, and now he's become a stolen base threat.
That's part of his game. He physically looks like one of the most impressive baseball players in all of baseball. He's taller than me, six foot five, sixty six rock. He's an absolute right. He looks like the rock. He's going to hit big power, He's going to steal bases. He's a five to a player. He's gonna have some bumps and bruises along the way, which I'm a little bit worried about and why I didn't think he would
be called up. But if they believe he's ready to go, I've seen the bat live all offseason, and I gotta tell you might try to even hit them today before I you know, before it's all done. Julia Rodriguez is a league winner because he can do it all. I hope he doesn't go to the kill Nick route, but I'm willing to make the bet he doesn't cost post three hundred right now. After this, He's gonna cost it, probably inside the top two hundred. But Joe, you put
him on this list. I kind of stole this because I agree with you. So is there any last things you have on Julio.
Well, the only thing is the caveat is I think there's gonna be some strikeouts, So in those head to head points leagues, I think you have to take that with a grain of salt. I do think there will be some of those ups and downs, as you're saying, but I think the opportunity there, and I might even say that he's a player in redraft leagues. If he gets off to a hot start, I would absolutely consider selling for the moon. Like if you could turn him
into a player. I agree with that, Like if I could turn Julio Rodriguez after an incredible six first six weeks into Fernando Tatis Junior in a redraft league, I
make that trade every day of the week. So I think that's something to think about, is if he gets off to a hot start, as more tape gets out on it, you get figured out a little bit, things happen, and I do worry about that, So I'll just caution that there is a downside, but once again makes you a league winner, because if you get off to that heart start and you are incredible to begin with, that's great.
If I flip you for an asset that's more tried and true that ends up carrying me into and through the playoffs, that's awesome. Julio Rodriguez just helped me win my league. So on that note, there's lots of different ways to win a league, and I think we gave you a lot of different names with a lot of
different ways. So my names were Verlander, Trevor Rodgers, Bobby Wit Junior, Michael Kopek, Noah Sindegard, Joe Adell, Brendan Rodgers, Joe Ryan, Christian Xavier and of course, Julio Rodriguez, Welsh had Julio Rodriguez, Byron Buxton, Adolbert Delmandici, Fernando Tetis Junior, Cody Bellinger, Ahmed Rosario, Miles Straws, Spencer Torkelsen, Hayes, Lusiszardo, and the elusive Late Closer. So there you have it.
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to get things off right, Wednesday will be there. Leading Off is back the Welsh Joey p Wednesday noon Eastern. Come get some join us, be part of the community here at Leading Off and a shout out too. I've seen our subscribers. We've gone well over five thousand. We're almost at six thousand subscribers or ready for the YouTube channel. Keep them coming, Welsh. We're super popular. Did you know that?
So popular? It's so popular? Actually yeah, I mean numbers are fun. I'm close to an elusive Twitter uh one, the only Twitter follower account that I've ever cared about. I'm very very close to it, and we might hit it by opening day, which would make me very happy. And I'm very happy to see the YouTube has oh I know, no correlation or anything like that that I joined the show and it has an exponential growth. It totally has nothing to do with me. I'm very happy. I'm very happy about it.
Well, go follow Welsh before opening day? At is it the Welsh? Because it is the Welsh, so well follow it always makes that It's always been make a milestone, make a man happy, do something.
We're like sixty away. We're like sixty away from the only milestone because I don't do the whole life sixty four followers away. So let's do it.
Come on that. That's nothing, It's a drop in the bucket. Follow it is at the Welsh and let's get baseball going. We come back on Wednesday. Baseball will be just about here. So in the meantime that'll do it for us. But the story of the game goes on for the Welsh. I'm Joey P. We'll see you next time, kids.
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