Speaker 1 00:00:08 And welcome back to the latest edition of the Fantasy Alarm Fantasy Baseball podcast. But of course, this is the off season edition. First and foremost little teaser for the episode of the, we're going to be going over the state of the American League, but before that we did cover the National League last week. Make sure you check that
[email protected] or wherever you get your podcast. But of course with me as always at the sales man on Twitter. So Matt sells Other than freezing where you are, how is uh, everything going for you?
Speaker 2 00:00:37 Not too bad. Uh, currently I know the USPS and Amazon and whatever are all busy with the holidays. Hopefully everybody's having lovely holidays. Um, no matter what you celebrate, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Christmas, Festivus, um, you know, all sorts of stuff. Um, currently trying to sort out what exactly they're doing with some of my packages. Uh, and yes, I showed you video proof that my door, my front door is frozen, uh, here in Lincoln, Nebraska. So it's pretty, it's pretty cold. Um, but you know, it'll warm me up talking some baseball cuz we're like, what, three months from the start of spring training? Just about
Speaker 1 00:01:15 Somewhere two, somewhere right around there. Yeah, usually it's right around my
Speaker 2 00:01:19 Birthday. Three training games are February 25th, I believe. So we're like almost two months from spring training games.
Speaker 1 00:01:26 Yep. I mean, I'd love to make like a little, uh, free agency joke that everyone's probably heard before. Maybe the, I don't even know if we can call it the Hot Stove anymore cuz a lot of the big name players have signed and I think at this point any signs are more of like the, the lukewarm stove maybe. Cuz it's fine guys, couple ones that are interesting left, but you know, there's no more par boil
Speaker 2 00:01:45 Judges. Is it, is it a par boil stove? Is that what we're
Speaker 1 00:01:48 Yeah, it's not quite hot, but a little more than room temp. You know, it's not quite room temp, but couple signings, um, we have to touch on last week cuz of course Murphy's Law has, it is once you record about something, things must happen afterwards. So couple quick signings just to touch on from the National League. So once again, make sure you check out the full state of the National League podcast that Matt and I did last week. Check that out wherever you get your podcast or fantasy alarm.com. But arguably the biggest one, Dansby Swanson, heads to the Cubs, saw some tweets. Sounds like the Cubs were his kind of top spot all along. If it wasn't almost going to be Atlanta, just from what I've seen with some stuff. But we talked about the Cubs lineup and it needed another, I want to say impact back cuz Swanson definitely can be that as we've seen in Atlanta, they needed help. And at the very least, you know, if Windy City, the winds are blowing right? You gotta like that for Swanson's power production. But at the very least other bats in that Chicago lineup, you almost have to feel a little bit better about heading into the season. Cause there there's at least a little bit more help in that lineup. Now
Speaker 2 00:02:49 There is a little bit more help in that lineup. I was talking to a neighbor of mine who's a huge Cubs fan and um, he said he wanted Swanson over Cara anyway. Um, which obviously savings wise sure, but in terms of player, I think Swanson's game actually projects better long term than Correa's does. Um, just in terms of the type of player he is, I think he can stick it short longer than Correa can. Um, so yeah, I like that. I like that signing for the Cubs. They needed some help somewhere. Um, look, they're still not gonna be competitive for that division this year, even if everything goes right. Um, but it is getting the key signings in place now before some of their, uh, pretty good prospects. They do have a pretty good farm system in terms of bats coming up. So, you know, th this is setting the stage for that. But I still think they're a third or fourth place team in the central this year. Maybe closer to third now with the, with the signing of, of um, Swanson. But I they're still behind the Cardinals and brewers.
Speaker 1 00:03:56 Yeah, when you look at Swanson too, I wrote in the track in the MLB free agent tracker that we have pretty much breaking down all the notable signings that happened. Matt and I split that. When you look at Swans and some interesting things, he makes a ton of hard contact. I wasn't sure how much I was privy to the fact of how much hard contact he made. Like it is pretty impressive. And then the other thing you could say too, he's only a 2 46 career hitter on the road compared to, um, you know, when you look at his home numbers. But to his credit for his career, he has hit 3 0 7 in Wrigley Field. Small sample size worth, worth noting nonetheless. But I was so surprised with how much hard hot contact that guy makes.
Speaker 2 00:04:36 I don't know how much I take the, you can't, the, the home road splits, um, when people leave their, you know, cuz we all saw, oh, Nolan ado sucks on the road. Well, he was almost the MVP of the National League last year and he's not at court. Um, I think the problem with taking those numbers, um, for anything other than a talking point is that guys get out of routine when they're on the road, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, they're not sleeping in their own bed, they're eating, you know, still they, these guys still get pretty good food unless you're in the minor leagues, um, on the road, right? They get their stipend for going and getting food and they, but it's not home cooked. It's not, some of these guys have some chefs or some pre-made food or whatever they get in their routine, seeing the family, all that good stuff. So now that you're switching to what your home park is, I I don't, I don't take the 2 46. I mean, he is not gonna be a 2 46 hitter. He, he just, he just,
Speaker 1 00:05:42 No, and it's, it's one of those things too where it's not necessarily, it's a talking point that's, it's actually what it is, right? Allowed to put an extra sentence or two in a writeup and go from there. But it, it's more predicated on like the, the offensive game. So if Anado with a guy go back to Anado for example, you know, you hit 30, 40 home runs pretty much perennially. But if he was boosted on the back of course field and he had a 65% ground ball rate, you know, that offensive game isn't going to shift away. Swanson's offensive game will play in any park. He's going to be fine. So, and that's when it comes back to the whole hard contact that he makes. So I like it for the Cubs. I really like it for say Suzuki and other guys in that lineup as well.
Speaker 1 00:06:18 Good. So just something to note there with the Cubs, we head out to the west to the Dodgers, JD Martinez and Noah Cigar, head to the Dodgers reports on Twitter that JD Martinez took less money to go to the Dodgers. I didn't quite look into it, just saw the tweet about it, but interesting the Dodgers are kind of stacking up on veterans there. Quick thoughts from me before I jump over to you. JD Martinez still a professional hitter. He's going to be fine. Good lineup around him. Good park, hard due. Hate that. And Noah Cigar, I think what we saw last year is what he's going to be. Can he get maybe more electrifying on the mount? Maybe. But I think the, the early cider days are done. He is now a I'm going to look to go seven innings. If I strike out three or four guys, I'll be happy. But I'm going for quality starts and I'm not exactly going to be a guy that lights up the radar gun anymore. That's just not his game.
Speaker 2 00:07:10 Yep. I agree. It turns out that if you have a human being try to throw a hundred miles an hour at max effort for every pitch, you're, you break down. So it turns out if you only throw like 80% effort and you can still hit 95, that's pretty effective. Right? That's what we saw him do last year. He wants to stay healthy at this point and get, um, innings under his belt. So I think there's a little bit more strikeout game to come than what we saw last year. Um, but yeah, in, in general he's going more for quality starts. Um, and the Dodgers have been whizzes with pitching mm-hmm. <affirmative> of of
Speaker 1 00:07:50 Ladies. He even said that, he even said that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:07:53 We saw what they did with Tyler Anderson last year. Turn that guy to just, you had to play 'em every time he pitched it was unbelievable. Um, so yeah, I think he's, I think he's relevant for fantasy. I don't think he's gonna be dominating, but I think he's relevant. And JD Martinez, he's a professional hitter like Freddy Freeman basically, right? Like these guys are gonna take pitches, they're gonna swing at stuff that they can hit, they're gonna hit for decent average Freeman's probably got more pop at this point in his career, but you're gonna get a pretty good batting average and you're gonna get, I don't know, JD Martinez could probably still be worth 25, maybe 30 homers.
Speaker 1 00:08:34 Yep. Yep. I, I agree with you there. And one quick one I wanna get to jump jump into the American League, talk about the Al East. But one thing I do wanna read, I want one word, just one word, one word reaction to what I'm about to read you. So Matt Carpenter agreed to a one year deal with the Padres. There's a player option for 2024 per Ken Rosenthal carpenter's guaranteed 12 million and could earn a maximum of 21 million over two years if he again, exercises player option hits all of his escalators, hits every single incentive. So Matt Carpenter, the Reclamation project that we worked to swing went to the Yankees, played well, could get 21 mil over the next two years from the Padres. One word reaction,
Speaker 2 00:09:15 One word
Speaker 1 00:09:16 Mine was whoa.
Speaker 2 00:09:19 Yeah. I would go there to, my advice to cook there is keep the stash.
Speaker 1 00:09:24 Yes.
Speaker 2 00:09:25 Clearly the stash is working for the power and the, and the money. So, um, ke keep the stash there. I don't know, I think he'll probably be platooned in whatever configuration the Padres decide to use him. Yep. Um, I can't imagine he would play the field at this point. He's gotta be like a DH candidate, right? Has to be. Um, I don't know. Would you take a leap round flyer on him?
Speaker 1 00:09:51 Yeah, as long as my, as long as the league has daily moves, yeah. You'd have to do it that way. Yes.
Speaker 2 00:09:56 If you have weekly moves, you can't touch Mac Carpenter cuz he's only gonna play like half the games a week.
Speaker 1 00:10:02 Yep. And if, and even if, even if they have a week where they're gonna face seven righties come the sixth inning when they bring in a left eve, carpenter's getting yanked. So just not worth it. Not worth it there. But let's get to the American League and let's start with the American League East cause that's the one that's got a lot of headlines. The one we gotta talk about. So the Yankees, the way I kind of look at the Yankees off season is for the most part they did what they needed to do. So they brought back Rizzo, which was great for Rizzo's fantasy value. It's a, it's gonna be at its peak in Yankee Stadium. So that is good. They brought back Aaron Judge saved the fan base and brought in Carlos Rodan another ace that they needed six years, 162 million. If he stays healthy could be a nice, I hate to say bargain cause that's a lot of money, but a nice deal overall for a very talented left or left-hander. The only thing I don't agree with that the Yankees have done this off-season so far that I completely disagree with that you can't really sell me on is inking the general manager to another couple years. That is the biggest head scratcher I think from the Aussie Pay Judge. Blank check. Fine. 162 mil for Rodan. Bring back Anthony Rizzo. Cool. Resign Cashman for four more years basically because he hasn't had a losing season I think is what I saw. I don't know about that one.
Speaker 2 00:11:16 Yeah. Um, we all know how vocal I've been about Brian Cashman. I've been calling for a couple of years now for Cashman to be fired. I'm sorry, winning seasons don't count for anything in New York. It's Yep. World Series or Bust and two, you know, I I don't really count the late nineties World Series as his, even though he was GM cuz it was, um, you know, is predecessor stick, uh, who put together those rosters. Um, so I don't really count the three in the late nineties as his, I'll give him credit for, you know, the 2001 and then the 2009. But still he's been GM since 96 and he's got basically two titles he can account for. That's not, that's not enough in nearly 30 years at the helm of the uh, well what's previously been the richest organization in baseball now the team down the way in Queens is.
Speaker 2 00:12:14 Um, but yeah, my, so I agree with you on Judge, although the back end of that contract is gonna suck because anybody that's six seven is gonna go downhill faster than everybody else. We've talked about, I think we talked about on the podcast before that of big hitters. So guys that are six, six or above after the age of 30, uh, counting their offensive war. So this doesn't include anything but base running and what they do with a bat in their hand. Adam Wayne Wright is the fifth highest war <laugh> bat in baseball history of anybody that's six, six or above after the age of 30. That's not great. We're not talking about what he's done on a mound for the last 10 years. We're just talking about what he did in the, in the batter's box. Right. And that includes when he tore his Achilles running to first base.
Speaker 2 00:13:07 Right. Um, so that's not great that you can't find at least five active baseball players with a war better than like two mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, so look, if he brings our, our colleague James Grande said if he brings a ring, he'll eat the back half of the contract. Okay, fine. I guess. Um, the Carlos Rodan signing I think 27 mill year for basically a cohesive is perfectly fine in my book. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So the fact that even with all of the moves that the Mets made, there's a tweet I saw that put the Mets and the Yankees rotations up against each other and almost everybody said they would take the Yankees rotation over the Mets, which are anchored by Scher and Verlander. Right. So I don't know if I'm willing to go quite that far. I think some stuff has to go right for the Yankees. Um, but it's certainly a lot deeper than it was like three weeks ago.
Speaker 2 00:14:07 So, um, and there's, there's some concern in the writeup that I did about Carlos Rodan, um, both the separate writeup and in the tracker there's, you know, there's been some people that have been concerned about basically a two and a half pitch pitcher lasting in Yankee Stadium. And I comped him to Kevin Gossman who went from the Giants to the Blue Jays mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, last year and is basically a two and a half pitch pitcher. Uh, and he did fine. Like his, his e r a was mid mids, right? Not great, but if you look at fip, xFi, Sierra, whatever else you wanna look at, they were all sub three. Okay, that's fine. He had lower home run per nine than in either of the two years in San Francisco. Um, so I think Rodnell will be fine. Park factors. I think he's actually better in the a at least than he is in the nos.
Speaker 2 00:14:58 Um, so I like that signing. But I agree with you. Cashman needs, needs to go and if you're unsure of Cashman, tie him to Boone Boone's contract expires at the end of 2024, have cashmans expire then and you can make a decision on both the manager and the GM at the same time. Why you're giving the GM a four year deal. It's not like a a a college football coach where you can't convince a guy to come to a team cuz the GM might leave in a year. Like once a guy assigned and paid, who cares? Who's running the league, uh, running the team. So yeah, that was a bad move by the Yankees.
Speaker 1 00:15:36 And when you look at it with Rodan, I I talked about it too in like the tracker and stuff is he's fastball, slider, that's what he is. He'll mix it another pitch here and there. But both of those pitches are so darn good. And here's the thing, right, these two sentences, like they both can be true. Rodan can experience a slight home run bump in 2023 pitching a Yankee stadium. It's also very possible that over the last two years his home run per nine is 0.7. That can go up to 0.8 or 0.9 and still be fine. Like that's not even a, that's not even a worry. He was, he was above one each year from 2016 to 2020 and he still can be the high strikeout guy and he's really honed things in. I'm, I'm not worried Ronan's still gonna be, he's gonna be a a coce.
Speaker 1 00:16:24 In reality, he's going to be a ace in fantasy formats in 2023 cuz he is so elite on a per inning basis. I just, I don't, I don't see the, the, the only issue I see with Rodan and it's not, it's not a necessarily a knock on him, but, but from the earlier years and just like pretty much any pitcher in the game home runs aren't gonna break this contract. It's gonna be if he can't stay healthy, that's the only way. If he lets up some home runs and pitches to a three five e r a and strikes out over a batter printing and the Yankees are winning games, that doesn't matter if he's hurt and not out there, that's when this whole 162 million deal is gonna go down the drain. This is all health dependent. That's all this is.
Speaker 2 00:17:01 Agreed. And also those of you concerned about, oh well Yankee stadium's a small park. Well, uh, San Francisco's better for right-handed hitters than Yankee Stadium is. Um, and so pitching from the left side lefties are basically have no shot the short porch in Yankee Stadium and right field doesn't come into play with a lefty on the mound. And if you're concerned about the other parks, well Baltimore has the deepest left field in baseball now. So righties have trouble hitting Homers, Toronto can be hit and Miss Tampa is not a very good hitters park, uh, to be perfectly honest. And Fenway has a 37 foot wall in left field. So like, you know, I think he's in a pretty good spot.
Speaker 1 00:17:46 He'll be just fine. And if you're worried about lefties against Rodan, you shouldn't be No, just go look at the numbers. Good luck. He's
Speaker 2 00:17:52 Unhittable against.
Speaker 1 00:17:53 Yeah. And it's his, his arsenal. Sure he's only two pitches, two and a half pitches as you want to say. But that fastball works against both. And if you're a right-handed hitter, he's gonna backfoot that slider to death and put you away. And if you're a lefty, he is going to make you look like, I believe it's, was it John Crook in the All-Star game against Randy Johnson just flailed up there cuz he didn't wanna be there.
Speaker 2 00:18:15 Well yeah, but Randy also threw a fastball behind truck the
Speaker 1 00:18:19 First hit <laugh>. That's true
Speaker 2 00:18:20 Truck really wanted nothing to do with Randy Johnson.
Speaker 1 00:18:25 There could be some swings reminiscent of that. Lefties against radon. That's how it comes. I
Speaker 2 00:18:29 Mean Pitch Pitfield loves Rodan. Like I put an entire clip of his in the writeup. Um, and it's just, it's just grows.
Speaker 1 00:18:38 Yep. Let's go to, let's go to Toronto, let's take a look at them before we talk about maybe the most polarizing team in the division but Toronto. It comes down to this Kevin Keer Myer won year deal, great defensive outfielder. See what does with the bat. Chris Bassett very good for that rotation. He's a new arm coming to uh, the American League East. He was with Oakland prior to the the Mets. So really when we look at the Blue Jays, this team is anchored by the bats. They got a couple good arms there, hopefully that they can continue to go. Does Toronto have enough horsepower or have they gotten better enough with really the only signings of Bassett and Cure Meer here this off season?
Speaker 2 00:19:14 Um,
Speaker 1 00:19:15 Not to mention some of the departures.
Speaker 2 00:19:17 Yeah, the tea. Oscar Hernandez one was interesting to me. Um, trading him out, that is um, and replacing him with Cure Meer who is great when he is on the field but it's when he's on the field. Right. The guy hasn't stayed healthy in a very long time. And if you're going well, Tampa's outfield is AstroTurf well so is Toronto's. Um, so that doesn't really help him in the way he plays. It does get George Springer out of centerfield, so that may help Springer a bit. Um, I don't know. They've got a pretty good rotation though. Mm-hmm <affirmative> when you, when you look at it, putting Bassett in there is probably their third starter. Um, maybe fourth Cuz they got Manoah, Gossman, Barios, Bassett and Kaci. And then by the way, reu uh, may be healthy enough to come back in the second half. He's coming back from Tommy John from June of last year.
Speaker 2 00:20:12 So he could be an August September guy. And then you gotta figure out what you're doing with the rest of 'em. And that bullpen's pretty good. Um, you know, there are some pieces out there available still that they could make some moves. Um, and you know, so right now I think this offense is pretty decent. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, I think there's a lot of pop there between Ette, Guerrero, Kirk and Chapman. Um, they do have three catchers so they could deal a, a premium catcher for some help at some point cuz they have Kirk Janssen and then they have a, a guy named Gabriel Moreno who's one of the top catching prospects in baseball coming up. Um, so yeah, I think look, they were going, they were picked to go toe to toe with the Yankees last year. They basically did. Um, and I think they can do that again this year. I don't see any massive hole in this lineup. I mean if Kier Myer gets injured, okay, but you've still got a guy like Kevin BI on the bench and Santiago Espanol who was decent, um, on the bench and you know, they can make some moves. So it, it's, it's pretty, they're look, they're starting pitching staff might be the best in the American League.
Speaker 1 00:21:29 Yes. And the thing is they might not have the star power of a Cole Rodan top, but you can make a case five deep if you're taking it from one to five. Toronto's rotation is very, very good. Like,
Speaker 2 00:21:43 I mean right now in the American League I would put Toronto, Houston and probably the Yankees is the top three rotations and
Speaker 1 00:21:51 Probably have to put New York. Yeah,
Speaker 2 00:21:53 I, I can't, I can't tell you who right now. I would put definitively number one maybe the Yankees for colon Rodan. But I mean Manoah was outstanding last year. Yes.
Speaker 1 00:22:06 So very, very much so. Okay. We have to talk about 'em.
Speaker 2 00:22:12 Yes.
Speaker 1 00:22:13 Because it's very interesting.
Speaker 2 00:22:16 Yes.
Speaker 1 00:22:17 The Boston Red Sox, Justin Turner. Okay. Whatever. Kenley Janssen very, the bullpen was arguably the team's best, one of their top strengths. So it seems like a luxury to get Janssen depending on like the other line, how you look at their lineup. Uh, paid a good bit for Mata Yoshida one could argue that the, that
Speaker 2 00:22:38 Was
Speaker 1 00:22:38 Uh, the Mets guy, uh, Sega was probably worth the contract that Yoshida got. But
Speaker 2 00:22:43 Yeah, they should have flipped for
Speaker 1 00:22:45 Sure. Teach their own. And then the Red Sox now there's all this stuff coming. This is, I'm cheating a little bit here cause it's not exactly in this free agent class. I don't know if they're gonna re-sign devs.
Speaker 2 00:22:54 I don't know if they will either. I saw that report too. And
Speaker 1 00:22:57 Did you see the Galaxies apart quote?
Speaker 2 00:22:59 Yeah. The last time
Speaker 1 00:23:01 That, that's not a mincing of words. No,
Speaker 2 00:23:03 That was the last time I heard that about a player. Yeah. The last time I heard that about a player for them was Bogart. Um, yeah, this is gonna be like right now, and I don't reme I haven't checked since the Justin Turner signing, but I can't imagine it's changed. They are 18th in payroll for this year. 18th Boston. Everybody's, oh, they always go toe to toe with the Yankee. They are 18th in payroll, you know who's ahead of them? Detroit <laugh>. Detroit I'm pretty sure is like 7 million ahead of Boston and payroll or within 7 million either way. Right. Uh, Seattle's ahead of 'em like com Like what are you doing? Like also by the way, why are you signing Justin Turner? What position is Justin Turner gonna play that you,
Speaker 1 00:23:55 It it seems like Yeah, he, it sounds like he's gonna be the DH and then he is first base insurance for Tristan Costas.
Speaker 2 00:24:05 I mean Okay. Cuz you got devs. But like here's the thing. You didn't sign Justin Turner for like a two year deal so that you could then say Oh we have a third basement in case devs leaves. Like this is just a weird, their lineup right now is Masaaki. This is from um, roster resource, uh, Yoshito leading off, which probably happens although he may be a number two hitter. Um, Trevor Story devs, Justin Turner, Verdugo, Kik, Hernandez, Kaas, Christian Aroyo and Reese McGuire.
Speaker 1 00:24:41 Yep.
Speaker 2 00:24:42 And the bench is Connor Wong who great you got 'em from the Dodgers from Moki Bets great. He's like one of the only good pieces, uh, well unproven really we can't even say good cuz he's unproven and they let the other guy go cheater downs. Uh, lbeck couldn't hit a barn standing next to it. Um, Rob re Snider is somehow still in baseball and yet only 32 years old, which is shocking to me. Um, and we haven't even touched on the, the starting rotation's not great either.
Speaker 1 00:25:14 You don't, you don't like a rotation led by Chris sale for all 87 innings that we'll probably get.
Speaker 2 00:25:21 I mean Yeah. And then you got Veta as a number two and who knows if Garrett Whitlock's gonna stay in the rotation full year? Cuz they can't seem to figure out what they're doing with him between the pen and the rotation. Uh, and by the way, he was a key part of why the pen was good enough last year cuz he was fantastic. But like, is he gonna stay in the rotation or go to the pen Paxton? Okay cool.
Speaker 1 00:25:47 That's 70 innings. I'll be fun
Speaker 2 00:25:48 Brian Bellow like where's the rest of the, I don't know. And I'm not just trying to crap on 'em cause I'm a Yankees fan and whatever, but like this is our Boston sports fans on this staff will tell you it's been like John and Peppo is ready to jump out a window with the Red Sox. Like it's not, I have no idea what they're doing
Speaker 1 00:26:08 To me as I look at this and I don't expect this to be a hot take at all. When you look at that, the Red Sox finished last in the division I think last year. I think they do it again and it might, the the, the gap might be more than last year if we're being honest.
Speaker 2 00:26:23 Yeah. Cuz Baltimore's got guys that are coming up. They get a full year of Adley Ruman. They get, they have some improvement in pitching. John me should be back at some point.
Speaker 1 00:26:33 We should see Grayson,
Speaker 2 00:26:35 We should see Grayson Rodriguez who would've come up last year. He is not gotten injured. DL Hall should be better. Right. So like they've got guys coming and they've made some decent, I mean Adam Frazier will talk about this, but Adam Frazier is a pretty decent signing at second base. So like they got better and Tampa gets Tyler Glass now back.
Speaker 1 00:26:57 Yep.
Speaker 2 00:26:58 Like their offense is pretty good to begin with. Right. And then they've got depth for days cuz they can call up whoever the heck they want to from the minor leagues. And then their rotation, Zach Linn was signed to be their fourth starter cause they have McClanahan who could have won the Cy Young, uh, glass now mucin lin in Springs. That's a far better rotation.
Speaker 1 00:27:27 Well when you look at, when you look at the other teams in the Al East, like look at the fourth and fifth starters for each team. So you know, we look at Toronto Bassett would probably be what, the two in Boston?
Speaker 2 00:27:38 Yes.
Speaker 1 00:27:39 Okay. So then we'll go to, that's Blue Jays. If we go to the Orioles, I mean I just depends who you put in four. Let's just say for the sake of this Grayson Rodriguez, he's probably there at worst three.
Speaker 2 00:27:50 We
Speaker 1 00:27:50 Haven't and we've hardly seen him.
Speaker 2 00:27:53 Right.
Speaker 1 00:27:53 And then you look at the
Speaker 2 00:27:54 Rays. I mean, he's one of the best pitch if not the best pitching prospect in baseball.
Speaker 1 00:27:58 Exactly. Then the rays say springs, he's probably at worst Boston's three.
Speaker 2 00:28:02 Right.
Speaker 1 00:28:03 At worst. And then you go to the Yankees, uh, it doesn't matter whatever arm you take out of the back end of their part. At worst, at basically every team. I mean
Speaker 2 00:28:11 Right now it's
Speaker 1 00:28:12 Is at worst of three in Boston.
Speaker 2 00:28:13 Yeah. Right now it's Nestor Cortez who you can make an argument would be a number two in Boston.
Speaker 1 00:28:17 Yep. That tells you. And and then it's not even that we can say when you definitively look at Boston's offense, I'm taking Toronto over them. I'm taking the Yankees over them. I'm so high on so many of these Orioles youngsters and even the rays. Yeah. At worst they're even at worst there is nothing. I don't think there's anything that the Boston has the best of in this division. And they don't even have the best budget saving mentality because that's that Tampa of basement
Speaker 2 00:28:44 Be there. Okay. I will give them the best third basement in the division.
Speaker 1 00:28:47 Okay. That, I mean, that's a little niche. Okay. I'll say it overall.
Speaker 2 00:28:53 Yeah. But I mean, I would take devs, I
Speaker 1 00:28:56 Mean yeah. Okay. But a year from now we're probably talking about Deborah signing somewhere else and he's the highlight of our podcast of that episode that
Speaker 2 00:29:02 Week. Yeah. I mean, Boston won 78 games last year. Do they finish under that this year? Yeah, because I think, so I
Speaker 1 00:29:08 Do too that they,
Speaker 2 00:29:10 You can't take Bogarts and JD Martinez out of this lineup and replace 'em with Justin Turner and like Yoshida
Speaker 1 00:29:20 Who's gonna need some adjustment. There's gonna be some time to adjust. So it, it might be a little slower start for him. But you look, Boston was five games behind Baltimore for fourth in the, a least last year. I think that gap is widened and it might not even be
Speaker 2 00:29:31 Might, it's the, the Orioles traded a starter and their closer Yep. At the deadline and their first basement. Trey Mancini is like the heart of their team. Right. They traded three key pieces at the deadline and still finished above 500. And were in the wild card running until maybe the last week of the season.
Speaker 1 00:29:51 Yep. Yep. Boston is b Boston is clear. Fifth, I don't wanna take too much time, much more time with the American Leagues League East by, do wanna touch on one thing. I talked about it in the free agent tracker, so go check it out. But Adam Frazier is a hell of a signing for Baltimore. Yeah. He's a quote unquote veteran bat. He can play what feels like five different positions and he, at the very least, if some of those youngsters have a s like maybe like a, a slower ramp up to the year or they're just trying to maintain some parts of that lineup, they can stick Frazier in a bunch of different spots. He'll help turn the lineup over at the bottom of the order. I think that's one of the better signings in this whole division, even though it's one 19th of the star power of some of the other names that we've seen. Inked deals in this division.
Speaker 2 00:30:32 Agreed. Like he didn't have the greatest year in Seattle last year, but that is also one of the hardest hitter parks in baseball. It's like the, one of the lowest Babbitt parks in all of the league. Um, typically speaking, he's a pretty high, um, average guy. He'll steal you double digit bags. He's a professional guy. He's not gonna get beat all that often on things that he shouldn't get beat on. Um, so yeah, I think it's a great sneaky signing. He's, he may not be hugely fantasy relevant, but in reality that's a great signing.
Speaker 1 00:31:06 Yep. Absolutely. Help. And like I said, help turn the lineup over. We'll come back, finish up with the al East at the end with the final question with them, but head over to the AAL, west Astros, they lost Justin Verlander. That's that, I mean that stinks. But if there's any team that could probably withstand to lose their definitive ace and still have a top two or three rotation in the American League, Houston was the only one that was going to be able to do that. So they're going to be just fine there. And one could argue that their lineup heading into 2023, hey, better just might be better.
Speaker 2 00:31:39 It's definitively better. Like Jose Abreu is a huge upgrade over Yuli Guo. Yes. Like Guo was great, but he was starting to age and you could see it. Jose Abreu is three years removed from being the A L M V P
Speaker 1 00:31:53 And the, the thing that gets
Speaker 2 00:31:54 Me, by the way, he's coming off of a season where he hit 3 0 4
Speaker 1 00:31:58 And you look at roster resource, the projected starting lineup verse right-handed pitching Kyle Tucker and Jeremy Penia are right now they're six and seventh Tater. Yeah. Now, I don't know if it'll actually be like that, but just to say that you're starting off with the top seven of Altuve, Brantley, Bregman Alvarez, Abreu Tucker Pena. Good fricking luck.
Speaker 2 00:32:15 And then Chas McCormick's, not terrible, he's a clutch dude. Uh, Martin Maldonado. Okay. It's a catcher, right. Like wh what are we expecting from them? But their rotation is Fra Valdez Christian, Javier, Lance McCullough's, Luis Garcia and Jose Erti is their fifth starter <laugh>. Not one of those guys had an e r a higher than 3.95 last year.
Speaker 1 00:32:39 Yep.
Speaker 2 00:32:40 And all of them, except for McCullough, started at least 25 games. So it's not like they're small sample sizes. Right. Like McCullough's was 2 27 and eight starts. Okay. But he was coming off of injury. The other guys Valdez 2 82 and 31 games, Javier two and 2.54 and 25 games. Louise Garcia 3 72 and 28 games. And your fifth starters, Jose Oria 3 94 and 28 games. Yes. That's, that's just lu ludicrous.
Speaker 1 00:33:10 And,
Speaker 2 00:33:11 And by the way, they got three dudes in AAA that could all come up and start in Hunter Brown, Forrest Whitley and Sean Sean Dubin.
Speaker 1 00:33:18 Yep. That's, I was gonna point out. And, and Brown looked darn good last year and
Speaker 2 00:33:22 Oh my god, brown is probably the guy I fell in love with the most last year. Yeah. In terms of like next ace caliber guy. He's he's that.
Speaker 1 00:33:32 Yeah. He, and then also too, their bullpen is still good. Like Yes. I don't know. I I mean to find a hole with this team, you're gonna ha you're, you're, you're poking, you're grasping at straws
Speaker 2 00:33:44 Like maybe catcher.
Speaker 1 00:33:45 Yeah, sure. And they've been pretty adamant that they're out looking stuff
Speaker 2 00:33:49 For everybody.
Speaker 1 00:33:50 Like Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And
Speaker 2 00:33:53 They've
Speaker 1 00:33:54 Lee that would've been cool.
Speaker 2 00:33:56 I mean Corey Lee is gonna be a great power bat when he figures out how to make
Speaker 1 00:34:01 Contact's a big, that's a big win. But agreed. Yeah. And but, and the nice thing is too, they they have the ability to wait for that
Speaker 2 00:34:09 Mm-hmm
Speaker 1 00:34:10 <affirmative> like
Speaker 2 00:34:12 It's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 00:34:13 Yep. This team, this team is, is loaded and they're going to be good. They, I mean they lost Orlando, added a brau, you know, brought back Michael Braley other than, other than getting Abrao, a lot of it was kind of maintain what we have, go out and get guys. I mean they have to be, they're, I mean I would say
Speaker 2 00:34:31 They're, and they signed, I guess the only questionable thing was why did Raphael Montero get a three year deal? That seemed a little steep,
Speaker 1 00:34:39 But Yeah. But
Speaker 2 00:34:40 You know, they got the money so may as well use it. Lock up dudes who you love. Um, they're not gonna have to pay Jeremy Paya very much money for the next like six years. So they're <laugh> they're fine there. Now two, is there long term bra use on a three year deal? Now Bregman I think is the next guy up for a big deal if I'm not mistaken. Um, and by the way, if Corey Lee can't figure it out, they have Ulner Diaz in AAA who he's a pretty good up and coming catcher, first base outfield prospect guy too.
Speaker 1 00:35:16 Yep. So Astras are good enough set about them. Yeah. Mariners haven't been active in terms of signing people, but they're trading for what feels like everybody. So amidst all the deals, Colton, long Cooper, Hummel, te Oscar Hernandez led by, you know, their pitching staff, they didn't bring anybody in, but Castillo Gilbert, Ray and George Kirby is a hell of a top four as well. With all the moves that the Mariners made, are they better than last year's team? Do you think
Speaker 2 00:35:41 If te Oscar Hernandez has a better year than he did in Toronto, then yes. I don't think it's enough to overtake the Astros.
Speaker 1 00:35:49 Agreed.
Speaker 2 00:35:50 I don't think that they're like, it's a very good team, but Houston has given us no reason to doubt what they can do. Obviously they're the defending World series champs. They've been to six straight ALCSs. That's the only team ever in the history of baseball to do that. Um, it just seems like, um, they need another co like Seattle needs another contact bat to me. They have an awful lot of pop but not necessarily a whole heap ton of contact there. Um, and I think there's some lingering questions as to exactly what Jared Collinick is gonna be. Colton Wong had a heck of a season last year, see if he can keep it up. Um, Suarez look, the guy's gonna hit for bazillion homers and then not make a lot of contact for base hits. So overall, I think they area number two, I think they're second in this division, um, that starting rotations gonna keep 'em in a lot of games and the bullpen can just figure it out. So that's my view on the, uh, the Mariners
Speaker 1 00:37:07 Rangers have been a little quiet of late, but they came out with the, the big one of getting Jacob deGrom in from the Met. So he immediately slots in one healthy as their number one pitcher. So you look at Ross OSAs, it has Degra, Martine Perez and John Gray as the top three. I don't know if they're just doing that to put a lefty in the mix there, but to me John Gray is the two. I know Perez was solid last year, but I like John Gray as the two. Obviously they found a lot of money in recent years, now got semi in Seager. I love, love, love. I don't know if it's low or I think it's low. Nathaniel Lowe, I think he's the low and the guy in Tampa Bay is the Lao. Um,
Speaker 2 00:37:41 Yes. Brandon Lao and Nate Lowe.
Speaker 1 00:37:43 That's it. Yep. Nate Lowe.
Speaker 2 00:37:45 And there's Kolo in Tampa that's still there too. So,
Speaker 1 00:37:47 You know, and then, I mean you got Aise Garcia, the bottom of the lineup's a little bit concerning with Texas. I think they're going in for the splash moves. I have, the questions I have with this here are more about, not necessarily the players they brought in, but it's just, you know, can, based on the starting lineup, can a bottom third of Brad Miller, Leonte Tarvaris and Josh Smith turn over the lineup enough to get to your boys and Ken deGrom stay healthy? That's the big question.
Speaker 2 00:38:12 Yeah. I I I think they're a year away, to be honest. Look, they made some other splashes with Andrew Heini and Jacob DeRisi in the starting rotation. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Okay. I mean, Andrew, he's got a heck of a curve ball, but like nothing else. Um, odor, Izzy was good for Atlanta, but it seems like everybody's good for Atlanta. So we'll see what happens there. Um, I think this is about waiting it out for another year until some of their homegrown talent can come up. Like Sam Huff, uh, their catching prospect can come up. Um, they've got some other, you know, Justin f uh, FAS is a second base guy who's pretty close. Um, Louis <inaudible>, AYA, which by the way is the brother of Ronald Aya. Um, he's in aa. He could be a quick mover this year cuz he really seemed to put it together last year.
Speaker 2 00:39:10 And then, you know, they've got some, you know, Bubba Thompson is a, is a guy that I would be looking to add right now in Dynasties. Um, but they've got some starting pitching depths coming up too. So like you've got, um, you know, a couple of the guys they've drafted recently, like Cole Win, uh, Owen White, still a little far down in aa. Jack Lighter is in Triple A. They obviously just drafted um, lighter's college teammate there. I'm blanking on uh, on his name. The guy the Mets drafted and then oh, Kumar Rocker. Um, so they've got some, some, some depth. But I think these signings are about, hey, let's get a couple of key pieces in place and then we'll turn the roster over next year when the prospects come. But I know that's an awful lot of money to tread water.
Speaker 1 00:39:57 Yep. Yep. I, I couldn't agree more there other team in the a l West <laugh>. There is another one after the Angels, but I don't know what all this to be said
Speaker 2 00:40:05 Out town. I mean there's aaa like do like I put in the notes for the show, do we really need to talk about 'em? Like it's just embarrassing.
Speaker 1 00:40:12 And when you look at Yeah. And you look at the Angels Trout, Lata, there you go. Taylor Ward in there. Hopefully get a Healthy Rendo and Hunter Renfro and Elle at the bottom of the, or the bottom half of the lineup should be fine there. Otani, they or Otani they brought in Anderson, Patrick Sandoval. Okay. They're okay there. And the bullpen, they, Carlos Estevez just might close for them if they don't go to some of the other guys they have there. I'm just, at this point I'm just not sure if it's Angels. They have all the talent. It just seems like there's like an almost like an institutional curse that just does not allow this team to reach what it can be. I mean you have two of the premier players of this era, I guess you could say with Trout and Otani and you don't really have anything to show for it yet. So they just need health. It's gonna come down to health. And I still don't think it's enough for them in this division.
Speaker 2 00:40:59 I don't think so either. I mean, I, I I think it's a sneaky good lineup. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> one through nine. I think it's actually a sneaky good lineup. I really like Logan O Hoppy who they got from the Phillies as they're catching prospect last year in the deal that sent, uh, Thor to the Phillies for the second half of the year. Um, but I'm with you. I don't know that it's enough to look, it may keep them third in this division, which gives them an outside shot at a playoff chance given the expanded, um, playoffs now. But if Rendon doesn't stay healthy, I, I don't know that they make the playoffs. Right. It seems like an awful lot to put on one guy. But Rendon at his best can be a 30 home run, two 90 gold glove, third basement. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Right. We already know that Trout is battling some degenerative back thing, so he might move to left field at some point.
Speaker 2 00:42:03 Um, Otani this is, he's a free agent after this year, so they gotta show him that they can actually compete otherwise that guy's gonna be gone for like a half a billion dollars, um, after the season. So, and I don't, I don't know that there's a whole lot coming from their, their minor leagues right now, like the Angels farm system. Try as they might, they have not been great at developing homegrown talent like Joe a Dallas still there in the minor leagues, but his taste of the majors did not really go all that well last year. Um, I mean he's still just 24 so he's got, he's got a shot but they need, I'm with you. They need guys to stay healthy and then maybe they eek into a playoff spot cuz they're the third team in the als. But that's about the best you can hope for with the Angels this year.
Speaker 1 00:42:58 Yep, yep. I agree. And last two in there, Oakland, just go look at their lineup and you'll
Speaker 2 00:43:02 See them and then throw
Speaker 1 00:43:03 Up. Yep. And we'll you'll see why we're carrying on here. Head to the Al Central. Obviously White Sox lose Jose Abreu, but Mike Clevinger won your deal. Okay. Andrew Bennett Tene five year deal. The, the, that's, that's the, what,
Speaker 2 00:43:16 That's confusing to me. Yeah,
Speaker 1 00:43:18 The annual amount isn't bad but I mean he's just a guy. He's, he's a corner out that hits 2 75, maybe 15 homers and like eight stolen bases.
Speaker 2 00:43:28 I mean he plays a very good defensive left field, but like, I mean I guess they're doing it so they get a lawyer Jimenez out of the outfield and they just have him DH so he doesn't go like rip his shoulder off on the outfield wall again. But I don't know man, five years for a guy who in the middle of a playoff run couldn't stay healthy and then also couldn't make contact once the Yankees got him. Like he, he could not make contact. It was, um, the, I don't, I don't know, do they have enough bats to win this division? Probably, probably. If Tim Anderson, Louise, uh, Robert Alloy, Jimenez, yo Kata, Andrew Vaughn, Isani Gral, Gavin Sheetz all do what they're supposed to do. I think they have enough bats. Will that happen? I don't
Speaker 1 00:44:19 Know. And there's enough talent in the rotation. I mean Dylan Ceases is a, is a stud maybe Leonard g Alito are fine. Clinger can be Okay. Healthy and Kopec obviously has, has an immense amount of potential. I think one thing we'll have to see what the White Sox is. There's a lot of teams poking around Liam Hendrix right now. So have to see if they deal him
Speaker 2 00:44:39 June. I would, I mean if they're off to a bad start, I would assume that they would deal Hendrix at that
Speaker 1 00:44:45 Point. So you don't expect him to get dealt before the season?
Speaker 2 00:44:47 No. Okay.
Speaker 2 00:44:49 I think they have every idea that they will compete with. Look, they've, they were leading the division for like half the year last year and then they fell off late and they don't have Tony La Russa in the, in the dugout, which is actually addition by subtraction cuz that guy can't manage for crap. Um, he should just go back to drinking and try not to drive. Um, like he, he was terrible. He intentionally walked Tre Turner a won two count like twice. Like who does that? Um, so I think they have enough to finish ahead of the twins. Tigers and Royals, the guardians seem to be on some sort of magical run last year, but I think they have enough to win. But if they're at, if, if, if, if they don't get off to a great start, I could see Liam Hendrix being a trade piece halfway through the year.
Speaker 1 00:45:44 Yep. Yep. I, well see there's teams poking around him now if they're doing it now and they don't deal 'em now come July
Speaker 2 00:45:49 Because here's the, don't they have Garrett crochet coming back at some point, right? He had Tommy John last April, so he should be back fairly soon. But other than that there's not really any prospects to speak of that are that close at this point. Um, like Oscar Cole is getting a lot of attention but he's still probably a year away I would imagine. Um, EZ again getting some attention but he's probably a year away. Hey, you wanna know who's playing outfield in AAA with those two dudes who, A guy named Billy Hamilton? Yep. The actual Billy Hamilton.
Speaker 1 00:46:30 The fast one.
Speaker 2 00:46:31 Yes. The 32 year he somehow he's still only 32, which I, I think, I think FanGraphs is lying to me on that one. Um, but yes, he, they signed into a minor league deal. Not that it matters but just find it entertaining. Yeah. So I think they finished second in the division.
Speaker 1 00:46:47 Am I crazy for loving what the Guardians have done this off season mainly with the Josh Bella, Mike Zino signings,
Speaker 2 00:46:55 I think the Josh Belt look I wanted the NASA to sign Josh Bell back. Like I thought they could have gotten him for not that much money. And it turns out you could have, cuz I don't think the guardians spent all that much on Josh Bell. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, two year deal to shore up first base. Awesome. Cuz they haven't been able to find a first baseman in like five years that's capable of playing first base and Zinos just there to keep Bo nailer from having to play every day so they can bring him along at the pace they want to. I didn't think they needed all that much help. I mean they won 92 games last year. Right. Like that rotation's pretty good
Speaker 1 00:47:34 So. Well Penn's fine.
Speaker 2 00:47:35 Yeah, I, I don't have a problem with anything They did and by the way, if you look at my prospect rankings, they have one of the best farm systems at baseball mm-hmm <affirmative>. So they got, they got people coming but yeah, I, I I think they're, I think they're perfectly fine. I think they win the division again. I don't see any reason why they shouldn't.
Speaker 1 00:48:00 Yep. I agree. I agree there. I love what they did. I love Josh Bell. I love what he's going to do provides uh, protection for Jose Ramirez in that lineup and just is gonna keep things going on another and
Speaker 2 00:48:11 Switch hitters back to back with Ramirez and Bell. So you can't even game plan against them in late innings cuz they can just face off with the opposite hand. Yep.
Speaker 1 00:48:22 Yep. Love what they did. Let's go to Minnesota. Gary Sanchez out Christian Vasquez in and Joey Gallo comes in on a one year deal. Um, just kind of on these, they're fine. I like the Vasquez one more than the Gallo one but I get it. You know, low risk, potentially high reward with Gallo and just see if he can return to form.
Speaker 2 00:48:42 So here's my question. How many thousands of dollars are they gonna pay per strike account for Gallo? Because it's like an 11 million deal, right? Like a one year 11 mill. Okay.
Speaker 1 00:48:53 Probably a lot.
Speaker 2 00:48:54 I mean the guy's gonna Yeah uh, I don't know. I don't even think it's like the shift that hurt him cuz he's not even making enough contact to hit it into the shift. Um, Christian Vasquez, that's an upgrade to me. A catcher. Yes. Um, like you might lose pop but you're gonna gain contact and defensive awareness and ability. Yep. Kyle Farmers a backup middle and fielder is nice. I like that move. Um, the biggest question for me is can their rotation stay healthy? If their rotation stays healthy then they can fight for anywhere between second and third. I mean I they might go toe to toe with the White Sox here for for second.
Speaker 1 00:49:35 Yep. Yeah. I they're just meth, they're fine, they're whatever they are what they are to be honest. Yeah. And then pitching-wise probably like their rotation the best amongst what they have on their team on, I like their bullpen a little bit too. Mainly just cause of Yoon Duran but Sunny Gray, Joe, Ryan, Tyler, Molly, Ken Tomato and Bailey Over's not a bad little rotation.
Speaker 2 00:49:58 No it's not but the question is like can they get everybody to stay healthy cuz you've got correct missed all of last year. Right. And then you've got, based on last year's numbers, the most starts made in that rotation was Joe Ryan at 27.
Speaker 1 00:50:14 Yep.
Speaker 2 00:50:14 Sunny Gray, 24 Molly at 23 and Bailey over at 11. Now he was kind of up and down and injured and whatever, but they just need health out of that rotation and I think they can be. Okay.
Speaker 1 00:50:27 And then lastly the Division Tigers get Matthew Boyd, Michael Lorenzen. Okay. Royals get Ryan Yarborough and Jordan Lyles. Okay. Um,
Speaker 2 00:50:35 Yeah I actually think the Royals, I actually like the Royals better than the Tigers this year.
Speaker 1 00:50:44 I think I would agree with you there
Speaker 2 00:50:46 In the offense for the Royals is sneaky good,
Speaker 1 00:50:49 Correct?
Speaker 2 00:50:51 Right. Like you've got MJ Melendez, Bobby Whit Jr. Who by the way is like one of the only rookies ever to hit 2020 <laugh>. Um, Sal is bad. Vinny PAs Quintino. If Albert Beardo Montesi can stay healthy, there's some sneaky good bat in the middle of the order. Edward Olivers, I don't know about yet, whatever, but I do like Drew Waters. Michael A has been pretty good for the royals. Agreed. Nicki Lopez was underrated last year. I thought so. Um, and you've got a guy named Hunter Dozier on the bench who was at one point the starting third basement that everybody loved. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, um, starting rotations bad. Well okay, so there was a tweet I saw the other day that said like, pictures with higher than 30% csw, which is called plus swinging strike rate, which is whatever. Like a lot of people like the stat, I'm not the biggest fan of it cuz the ums right now suck, so you're getting credit for ums being terrible. Um, and then so pitchers with higher than 30% C s w and lower than a 6% walk rate. Brady Singer was on that list.
Speaker 1 00:52:00 Yeah, I like
Speaker 2 00:52:01 Singer. I I saw him live in, my wife and I went to a game last summer. Uh, they were playing the Tigers actually. Um, and Brady Singer started and his stuff was pretty decent. I like now granted Detroit's offense was terrible and Javier BAAs I think struck out more than he made contact. Um, but he's got some sneaky good swing of his stuff. I mean he was a first round pick, right. He anchored the Florida Gators lineup that got like four guys drafted in the first round. Um, so you know, the look, it's okay, it's not full of star power. I do like the Ryan Yarborough signing a little bit, uh, for them cuz I think he's, he's sneaky interesting there. Um, so we'll see. But I do like, I mean, I'm not saying the Royals win the division by any means. I just think they beat the Tigers.
Speaker 1 00:52:56 Yeah, no, I, I agree there. So we'll go ahead. We're a little over time here so we'll go ahead and wrap up this episode. But one last thing to leave you with looking at the division, quick overlook of all of 'em, or I should say the, the whole American League. I'm probably going Yankees for the a L East. I'm a hundred percent going Astros for the als. And then I like the guardians in the central. Do you agree or you got anything different?
Speaker 2 00:53:20 Um, no, I would, I would agree. What's your easiest one to predict in which, like how are you ranking these in terms of easiest and hardest to predict? Finishing? Yeah. Spots
Speaker 1 00:53:35 I'm most confident about the Astros. I just, I think they're far and away better than every team in that division. They're so, they're just so good. So yeah, I, I'm the most confident about the Astros after that.
Speaker 2 00:53:48 I think I'm most confident in the order of the Al West, to be honest.
Speaker 1 00:53:52 Yeah, I think I would depend. I know the a I'm most confident in the Astros. I'm confident with that division, how it's gonna shake out. And then after that, I mean the central and the east are just, i, I kind of know the groupings of the teams,
Speaker 2 00:54:05 Right? I could put,
Speaker 1 00:54:06 I just don't know the order, like how they're gonna go. Like, you know, in the al Central Guardians and White Sox are one I'm, I'm going with them as one too. So I like the guardians to win it. White Sox two and then from there, twins are definitely, I
Speaker 2 00:54:19 Probably go twins. Royals Tigers,
Speaker 1 00:54:21 Correct. And the, that's, it's probably what I would do. And then the AL East, like it's Yankees, blue Jays one and two and then Raisin O's who's there. And then Boston's fifth, like for most of these divisions, I know one and five. It's just a matter of how two, three, and four shake out. And most of the time it's really how two and three shake out.
Speaker 2 00:54:39 Yeah, for me, I think the a l least is most akin to my NL Central where like we knew the reds would be last, well not that we know, but like we're pretty confident the reds are gonna be last. The Red Sox are gonna be last in the A at least, uh, pretty sure the Blue Jays are second. Pretty sure the Yankees are first after that third and fourth. I would say it depends on who gets the most out of their younger guys. And right now I would lean towards Rays being third and o's being fourth, but I could totally see it flip if some guys don't stay healthy or they get, or the o's get more outta their starting rotation than we think, um, that could flip. But I would, I would say that they're a O West. I'm going Astros, Mariners, the A's are clearly last. They're terrible. They're horrifyingly bad. I would be shocked if they won more than 50 games. Um, but I don't, I have a hard time trying to figure out if it'd be the Rangers or Angels in third place for me. Um, and the Al Central, it's the Guardians, the White Sox, twins, Royals, tigers. That's how. Yep.
Speaker 1 00:55:51 Yep. I think I would agree with you there. So while we continue to go through MLB free agency, checkout fantasy alarm.com, we'll be updating MLB free agent tracker as new signings roll in. So keep an eye for all the content there. And then, um, obviously every fantasy baseball season, there's a particular publication, online publication seems to come out. So keep an eye out for any news coming about that in the coming days, weeks, wherever it ends up being. But till then, check out all the great
[email protected] I'm on Twitter at Colby r Conway. Find Matt on Twitter at the Sales Man. Give us both a follow and I'm not sure when our next episode will be here. So keep an eye out on the, like I said, keep an eye for the MLB Free and Trackers. That's where we're updating everything. And just keep an eye out for any new episodes that drop. So for this edition of the Fantasy Alarm Fantasy Baseball Podcast, I'm Colby Conway. That's Matt Sells. And we will see you next time.
