[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back to another episode of the base bomber.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nancy podcast.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is your host, Jeff Ponce, alongside me.
[SPEAKER_01]: As always, is Michael host, Dylan White, up in the Great White North.
[SPEAKER_01]: He already had his Thanksgiving few weeks ago if I'm not mistaken.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're celebrating ours today, and we're putting this pot out for you just kick off the Christmas season, and all the crazy madness that is Black Friday.
[SPEAKER_01]: So Dylan, how are you, man?
[SPEAKER_01]: How's it going?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I'm good.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like I have had jerky because I'm a bit tired, but it's I'm feeling pretty good.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's snowed a bit earlier in the morning, so it's feeling like November, but feeling good feeling good.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and some of your your black Friday shopping already got kicked off earlier this week when the chase closed a deal for one Dylan sees it's seven years two hundred and ten million dollars.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, so pretty big contract, but I think all things considered you're not going to hear either of us probably knock this deal too much team spend money teams that want to win spend money.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not my money.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't care about the cost efficiency Olympics, frankly.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is a point where it's like, okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: But this is the cost of doing business.
[SPEAKER_01]: They bring in another nice rotation piece that kind of slots in between galsmen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Any a savage you would imagine and then maybe takes over that number one spot maybe it's a savage maybe there's somebody else they go out and get the next couple years.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think overall like this is a deep staff right now with some reinforcements in the minors that are in the upper minors.
[SPEAKER_01]: Personally, I like the move maybe it was a little bit of overpay in terms of dollars.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it certainly makes that rotation a little more fear some adding, you know, a consistent four-war pitcher, four to five more pretty much every season.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think maybe actually every season for the last five years.
[SPEAKER_01]: So ERA was bad this year, walks her up a little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the Jays have done a pretty good job of getting guys to target and zone pitches and strikes in the zone consistently.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's kind of been their thing in terms of their player development over the last couple years.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it will be interesting to see where this all goes.
[SPEAKER_01]: If they can kind of tighten up, see it a little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Be very interesting to see how that rotation kind of slots.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I'll shut up now.
[SPEAKER_01]: You are a resident.
[SPEAKER_01]: So talk to me about your feelings as a Blue Jays fan.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I love it.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's one of the premier targets in the fridge and market.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's Beaver in that rotation as well, too.
[SPEAKER_00]: So like that top four of Gaussman, C.S.S.A.O.H.
[SPEAKER_00]: and Beaver is pretty formidable.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, they spent money, which every fan likes to see.
[SPEAKER_00]: We went to the World Series.
[SPEAKER_00]: They went to the World Series.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're basically a ball lodge in the fence away from winning or whatever foil you wanna talk about, getting,
[SPEAKER_00]: Not sliding at home, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
[SPEAKER_00]: IE, they basically had the world series.
[SPEAKER_00]: They basically had like $50 million extra revenue.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're spending money.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're riding the momentum.
[SPEAKER_00]: The fan base is energized in the electric, and this is exactly what the fans want to see.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I love it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure, maybe in the year six and seven, it's underwater, but I don't think anyone cares.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the window to compete right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: It shows that ownership's willing to spend money.
[SPEAKER_00]: And,
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, when you attract free agent, big free agents, you attract even more big free agents.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, like to see, like to think this is just the beginning of some other high profile signings.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we'll see, or potential trades, I think there's some stuff that could be in the works would be interesting to follow.
[SPEAKER_01]: We did actually see a trade earlier this week as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: Might have been when the demon sees news drop and the red socks found out.
[SPEAKER_01]: They went from trade market and they sent Richard Fitz.
[SPEAKER_01]: and Brendan Clark for Sunny Gray is 35 36 so kind of in the twilight of its career it's 11 million this year he's got a 30 million dollar option.
[SPEAKER_01]: The cardinals did also send $20 million.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I almost wonder if that entices the red socks to kind of opt in to the second year and it's 11 and then $10 million next two years.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that will be interesting.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the reason the cardinals probably did that was to buy a little bit better prospects.
[SPEAKER_01]: Fits is interesting.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, there's velocity.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a pretty good slider.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's had success at times in the major leagues.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he still has to kind of figure out the pitchability
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, I don't think he's ever going to be like a true mid-rotation starter, but like a number four and number five could probably be pretty solid, has some value and very deep leagues and then bring to Clark, you know, kind of hit the NCC, like a ton of bricks in the first month, the season.
[SPEAKER_01]: The blister issues showed out on the promotion to high-a-green bill.
[SPEAKER_01]: He struggled there with command in particular.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wonder how much of that was driven by those blisters.
[SPEAKER_01]: We do know that like your feel and command kind of like Wayne's a little bit when your fingers are hurting.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it will be interesting to see if that's just like something he can figure out or if it's going to be consistent problem throughout his career.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've seen this before Josh Beckett was a guy that had blister issues at times in his command but sort of weighing and he missed starts because of it.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if that's something to get figured out.
[SPEAKER_01]: Clark does have unbelievable stuff, I mean it's one of the best sliders I've ever seen.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like a sweeper 88 miles an hour with like nine to 10 inches a sweep.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a crazy pitch.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he throws 98 to 100 miles an hour and you know he's got a sinker and a four seamer or four seamer kind of bad too seam is pretty good.
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll mix in a curb all we'll show a splitter.
[SPEAKER_01]: But like the development of the secondarys does need to come along, he's got a lot of raw talent and attributes.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he's a very interesting ball of clay, not about upside flyer, but also somebody that comes with a pretty significant amount of risk dealing.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, but what are your thoughts and the players in this trade in terms of where they kind of stack up for 26 fantasy value?
[SPEAKER_00]: I like the trade.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like it for both clubs, sunny gray, you know, maybe you're worried that the green monster and that kind of thing a different, less of a pitchers park than the, where the cardinals play, but there was a stat I saw on Twitter, ex-Blue Sky, that his
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, they may not, sorry, they may not hit it off the green monster as much, and he always just tends to stay in that like 9 to 10 K per 9 and ERA is like 3 to 4 and another guy like C, so gets like 4 war every season.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I like it for the Red Sox and they're there in the play I thought that I like it for the for the Cardinals there, you know, there's all this talk of their kind of tearing down rebuilding it a trade.
[SPEAKER_00]: friend and none of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tray, Lars, Newbar, Tray, Nolan, Arnado, kind of rebuilding.
[SPEAKER_00]: So getting the ball of clay like you say with Brandon Clark, like he also has like over seven feet of extension.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's got a bunch of raw stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: hopefully you can make it in a rotation.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he definitely has the weapons to do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're all getting reports beginning to season.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, this is the most electric start.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm probably gonna see all season, and it was like in the second week of season.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even if he's a high leverage weapon in the bullpen, I think he could be pre-effective.
[SPEAKER_00]: Throw some a low slot as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then like you said, Richard fits.
[SPEAKER_00]: lot of velocity doesn't get many k's it's kind of it's like the cardinals prototypical bit your like Michael McGreevy and Andre Palante these kind of guys that that get put the ball in play don't get a lot of whiffs but you know generate a bunch of balls in play and get a lot of innings so
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do like fits.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have him in a couple of leagues.
[SPEAKER_00]: Actually, I think he was injured at the end of the season.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so it's kind of like an injury stash type thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was like an elbow.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you're right.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's something.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, no, actually, yeah, it was, it was a bicep issue.
[SPEAKER_01]: It wasn't actually.
[SPEAKER_01]: It didn't impact his UCL this set.
[SPEAKER_01]: They said he's going to be, he's totally fine.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's back throwing now.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it was a bicep issue.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I forget what the exact condition was.
[SPEAKER_01]: You might have mentioned it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think, like Ross, the resource has him in the rotation right now, so like it doesn't look like it's going to stop is the beginning of a season.
[SPEAKER_01]: It kind of makes sense.
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't really have a whole lot of other options.
[SPEAKER_01]: And like internally, I think Quinn Matthews might be a big winter from this trade, too.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was looking at the rotation every day and he looks like a guy that, you know, is probably going to have an opportunity to to make the team on a camp.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's a great one.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't think of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know Kyle Leahy who is in the bullpen last year has some pretty interesting stuff to ease kind of penciled into the rotation, but yeah, Quinn Matthews would be a good one.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, in terms of fantasy value, I think it's like a lateral move for sunny gray.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think maybe maybe more wins for a better team, but like I don't think his ratios are gonna change that match.
[SPEAKER_00]: Richard Fitzs will probably get more ratings than he might have in Boston, because Boston has a lot of moving parts in that rotation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and Brandon Clark, I think, I think it's also a lot of relief.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, he's exactly what we said, like, huge raw stuff and maybe he's a bullpen beast, but he could also explode.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't think it matters what do you mean he's on?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I'm just kind of interested to see what St. Louis does with him.
[SPEAKER_01]: They actually, for the first time, maybe ever have a ton of really good stuff in this system, like,
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we talked about Quinn Matthews.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's like Eshan Hernandez, Henderson, who sort of fits in to like their old school, like lefty with pitchability.
[SPEAKER_01]: But you know, you look at like, Tink Hence, you look at Liam Doyle.
[SPEAKER_01]: You look at Tanner Franklin.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now they add Brandon Clark.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, Cooper Gerpy will be back at some point, Roby's gonna miss this season, but he's got big stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, they've slowly kind of acquired this kind of cash of interesting arms, even like Nate Dome and Frank Ellis that they acquired from the mats have really interesting traits and stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you're starting to see the high and bloom effect a little bit, just in terms of
[SPEAKER_01]: different types of pitching development, I think he wouldn't get credit for sort of pushing it over the finish line here with the red socks.
[SPEAKER_01]: I do think some of the stuff that they started to do a few years ago started to show up some of the guys that they had targeted and worked with starting to make their way to the major league.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it will be interesting to see what he can do with this cardinal system and I think getting a couple of pieces from Boston kind of make a lot of
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, like that trade.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's also funny how Bloom trades mookie bats gets back for do go over do goes and that for Richard fits Richard fits comes back Richard fits is then traded to the Cardinals.
[SPEAKER_01]: with high and blue.
[SPEAKER_01]: So in some ways that Boogie Betts trade just continues to follow them.
[SPEAKER_01]: But all right, we're gonna take a quick break, Dylan.
[SPEAKER_01]: When we come back, we're talking the top 42nd basement for 2026 Dynastee Baseball as we march on through all of our positional rankings here, we will be right back.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, and we are back.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are talking top 40 second base and dynasty rankings.
[SPEAKER_01]: Those are up on the website at baseballamerica.com.
[SPEAKER_01]: You can check all those out.
[SPEAKER_01]: As well as our top 500 list, kind of data backwards this year, release top 500.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we're giving you breakdowns and writeups to kind of explain our logic within the positional ranks.
[SPEAKER_01]: There might be some tweaks as we get up to the disparing training.
[SPEAKER_01]: But we figured, you know,
[SPEAKER_01]: leagues are drafting earlier on earlier dealing.
[SPEAKER_01]: There was no reason not to kind of get the the bigger piece of the information out there.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it could be utilized and then help folks out in their own research as we're digging a little deeper on ours.
[SPEAKER_01]: But let's talk a little bit about second baseman, Dylan.
[SPEAKER_01]: What kind of stuck out to me when going through these rankings?
[SPEAKER_01]: It feels like this is a position that is very much influx that we could look at this in a year and our top five could be different names.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some of the younger prospects on this list, some of those guys I think could certainly jump up.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to depend, you know, there's been a bit of a changing of the guard.
[SPEAKER_01]: Guys like Jose Altovay are getting older now and are sliding down the list a little bit more.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ozzy Alby's has never really been able to kind of recapture his magic, kind of the same for Glaver Torres.
[SPEAKER_01]: So overall, I like some of the young players on this list when I look at jazz as our number one.
[SPEAKER_01]: I kind of think he's keeping the seat warm for Kevin McGonagall a little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Am I wrong to feel that way?
[SPEAKER_01]: I know jazz had a big season last year, 30, 30 year.
[SPEAKER_01]: So where do your thoughts on jazz versus mechanical?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because there is a counting stat element that I'm not sure what got to go can overtake, though.
[SPEAKER_01]: I do think the bat will be more consistent in terms of producing batting average and on-base percentage, et cetera.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think I actually struggled in the ranking of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think Jazz has a couple things going for them.
[SPEAKER_00]: The speed element, like you said, 30 soul bases last year, and 40 year before.
[SPEAKER_00]: He also has dual eligibility, yes, third base as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think those two kind of indisputably has them at the top.
[SPEAKER_00]: for me, but it's pretty close.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not that old either.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's he's 28.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's not like he's 31 and you could see the wheels fall off soon.
[SPEAKER_00]: He kind of survived the the microscope of New York.
[SPEAKER_00]: That type of flashy player can kind of get, can kind of lose the swagger a bit under the bright lights there, but he didn't at all, in fact, he probably blossomed even further.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I like jazz there, but, you know, McGonagall is like seven years younger, so he's gonna have a long run away, he's gonna high floor, he's gonna be producing for a long time.
[SPEAKER_00]: I actually think there's more power in the bat than,
[SPEAKER_00]: people are giving him credit for and the projections, maybe have a little low.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think he's going to be high batting average, IOPP, 20 plus homeruns, and maybe five to 10 steals, but doing that for a long time.
[SPEAKER_00]: And probably it's second base for most of his career.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you can't really go wrong with either of them.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like McGon on the law obviously for the long term, but Jazz right now, just for the excitement fact
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think the other question that kind of lurks with jazz is just what the durability is going to be like he's been.
[SPEAKER_01]: As durable as he's ever been in his career the last two years and he still has missed some time.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's only God.
[SPEAKER_01]: One season in his career, I think, where he's exceeded like 540 plate appearances.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, there is some element with that where like, I know McGonagall had injury early in the year.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was like back on the field much quicker than anyone expected.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's got a little little little Pennsylvania, a fairly grittyness to him.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, he wants to get out there and mix it up.
[SPEAKER_01]: So,
[SPEAKER_01]: I wonder, you know, we'll see.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the McGonagall is a phenomenal hitter and I'm very excited for him.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is number two in our rankings and I think that says a lot like sight unseen hasn't played a single game in the major leagues.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we have this guy ranked second positionally.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have him ranked ahead of kettle Marta III, who actually this morning was mixing it up on MLB trade rumors with a little blue jays trade rumors.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what do you think about Marta?
[SPEAKER_01]: I have him on a couple spots in different dynasty leagues.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just super consistent production at this point.
[SPEAKER_01]: Even as he ages, I think he's still got a few more years of 25
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I love Tom Arté.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's, uh, he's been pretty durable, even though he's kind of tently wound up and I always, I feel, since I have him on my teams that he's always, you know, missing a game here there, but he had 556 plate appearances last year, and that was his lowest in four years.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's been pretty durable to be honest, and just the productions were
[SPEAKER_00]: three 70 on base both years and a 152 and 145 WRC plus like it's just ridiculous six war five war he's just a cog in a batting lineup switch hitter so like he's he's not flat two and he's not really in any danger of being platooned the only reason why he's he's third for me is just he's 32
[SPEAKER_00]: I could see like the skills are very good and they're going to hold up for a while, but you know 150 WRC plus becomes 130 becomes 150 and so you know eventually he's kind of doing 20 homeruns with you know a 270 batting average and so.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's, you know, that's maybe three or four years away, but, you know, you got to count that as, as mechanical ascending could tell my taste likely to be ascending.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I mean, I'd love to be on the J's.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was saying to you earlier when we were texting like maybe this is like a leverage thing for bow that maybe he'll take a discount because he's worried that the J's will sign or trade for
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, a hundred percent.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think, you know, the thing with Marta that I'd love to is it's really, really high skill low strike out rate.
[SPEAKER_01]: He walks quite a bit still had a career high walk rate actually this year and a career well, maybe not a career low strike out rate, but is at least among the power of Marta years it was a career low hit his hardest.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ballman play ever had a 119.6 this year.
[SPEAKER_01]: The hard hit rate was down like a touch, but still one of his highest of his career.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was his highest barrow rate.
[SPEAKER_01]: His 283 batting average under performed is ex batting average.
[SPEAKER_01]: His 517 slug under performed his ex slug.
[SPEAKER_01]: And his 381 will be under performed as ex will of course with those other metrics.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think that's saying a lot.
[SPEAKER_01]: When you see a guy who's putting up elite numbers and it's like, oh, the stat cast numbers are saying that they actually could be a little bit better.
[SPEAKER_01]: You typically don't see that even with the best hit or so.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think this is a bad to believe in.
[SPEAKER_01]: At least, we look at this from like a three-year window.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that this power and skill probably ages pretty well.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then there's a point with age curves at like 34, 35, where you start to worry about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But age 32, 33, season and next couple of years.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm not on all that concerned about kennel mortality.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, let's move on to the next one.
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought this was an interesting cluster here.
[SPEAKER_01]: which is the four to six group, Jackson Holiday, Luke Kieshal, Bryce Tarrang.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every time I look at this, I could talk myself into lining it up a little bit differently.
[SPEAKER_01]: Personally, I may be a little lower on holiday.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I do understand the logic with keysholes inability to stay on the field for a full season.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then if you have some questions about rice to rang, though I have to say I thought that all of the underlying metrics, the power jumps, all that sort of stuff were very legit for to rang.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he still has the, I mean, this guy had still 50 the year before.
[SPEAKER_01]: So seeing more power production there, just better contact
[SPEAKER_01]: with the speed, with the, the, that's a volatility and the hit tool, I think I like to rank a little bit more than holiday, but talk to me a little bit about why you're higher on holiday.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's no it's too, and obviously age is certainly a component.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, that's a thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we had, I think, within 10 ranks of each other and in the overall like 69, 76, 77.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's really a kind of pick your poison.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think in a, if you're competing, you'll want to rank if you're an elite that doesn't value stolen bases then maybe you don't need to rank.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's it's really it's really just the the age component all the days still just 21 you had a 96 WRC plus 17 over 17 still basis like if you just wet sight unseen and heard that a 21 year old did that in the majors you would think this guy's going to be a star so I think.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like the luster has come off just because he's he's kind of struggled for a number one draft pick hasn't come out of the gate is, you know, the way we wanted maybe, but you know, I still think he's going to have a good average is going to have a good OVP is going to have 12 plus home run power and you know 15 to 20 stolen bases and like I said he's only 21 so I could see that happening for a while, he'd get the top of the lineup.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tarrang, like he said, he just added the back speed, which translated into power.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it was just kind of ridiculous.
[SPEAKER_00]: His defense was really good too.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he's five years older.
[SPEAKER_00]: So do you want, you know, ten years of of Jackson L at A or five years of Tarrang type of thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then Kiechel's kind of in between.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got great back to ball.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love his his batting average.
[SPEAKER_00]: His O BP is sluggings good too.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's kind of in between them both.
[SPEAKER_00]: He stole a bunch of bases when he got called up in his little brief cup of coffee, so there may be more speed than maybe we saw on the miners and he's going to have like 15 to 20 home runs to so it's kind of like which guy do you like the best he's also in between them in age he's like 23 so like you can't go wrong with any of them and I really like them all.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think that's well said, like all of those players, I would roster.
[SPEAKER_01]: I maybe have a little bit more faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that the floor, the risk is maybe a little lower of terrain, but maybe holiday has the highest upset.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it might be Kishalo.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, in his small samples, he has been so good.
[SPEAKER_01]: But like staying on the field and durability has kind of been an issue with him dating back to when he was at the University of San Francisco.
[SPEAKER_01]: I saw a key show very I actually saw a key show the first time I saw a key show he was playing in a game where Jackson holidays grandfather was the opposing manager that was the first and he was playing in the same team is chased a lot of So there you go
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, interesting team there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Orion Kirkering actually was also pitched in that game, came out of the polepen.
[SPEAKER_01]: So a couple of names there for you, Dylan.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been around the block.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's talk about this other tier here.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna say it's like seven to 12.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is Jose Altuve, Aussie Albi's Travis Pazana,
[SPEAKER_01]: I kind of added a whole, kind of shoe-horrid Nico into this one, point-intended.
[SPEAKER_01]: Al-Tubei, Al-Bi's Torah as we mentioned as guys that were kind of on the downswing, seemingly.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Zonatomy was one where we love the skills, I think the underlying data speaks for itself.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a guy, I think, that could jump up, and that's kind of what my question is here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Babies another one that had a really kind of a breakout season finally, where I think like Metz fans coming into the year wanted to see him just like traded.
[SPEAKER_01]: Horter is very consistent with what he is, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: He'll hit for average.
[SPEAKER_01]: He'll steal some bases.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not going to hit for any power.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he's kind of the floor guy in this tier.
[SPEAKER_01]: would it be crazy to think that Bazana and Brett Bady could both be much higher in this ranking could potentially be the seven, eight, next year, or even challenge for that holiday key-shell to rank to you?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think that's absurd to think, especially of Bazana, who I think is maybe a better version of that style of player.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe a little bit less speed a little more power.
[SPEAKER_01]: What are your thoughts on how those guys will probably line up over the next couple of years?
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you think that those younger bucks can maybe overtake some of these guys that seem to be in the down swing?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think so.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it speaks to what you said at the beginning that it's it's in flux like Alby's was a perennial guy at the top of dynasty rankings for second base because he had like the 30 home run 20 soul base season when he was 23 or whatever it was.
[SPEAKER_00]: like scolding performance at a very young age and just never quite kind of kept it up or expanded on it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And people are just kind of getting tired and they're just sliding in redraft as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll always go in much later than you'd think and and Torra as is always a guy's huge value where he gets taken in like the the 15th round or whatever it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll toovay like what I'll toovay what saves I'll toovay for me too is the outfield eligibility.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and he might get it again in another year.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, but he's in his 30.
[SPEAKER_00]: So easily the walls, the wheels could fall off very easily.
[SPEAKER_00]: Terrang last year was not ranked high.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just the, the, the boost in skills and the power is kind of jumped him up so much.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's like that volatility is, is there.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Bizarna.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, very easily can be right up at the top.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he could, he could have a key shall type debut and then we're we're talking about him being, you know, one, two, three somewhere in there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, horn or like you said, yeah, it's it's definitely a floor guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't have the power, but he said gold glove defense.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's going to be in the line up.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to hit you at the top.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to have a good batting average and steal some bases.
[SPEAKER_00]: So.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're in a league that values stolen bases, then he's a guy for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And baby, baby is my sleeper, not to spoil the thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: He, he, he set a mark in max exit velocity and his last 200 plate appearances were basically on par with Katelmark to hit like 300 with nine home runs.
[SPEAKER_00]: If he's going to get run at second or third base for the meds with the
[SPEAKER_00]: Viento's goes across to first base because they don't sign a lawn zone, that type of thing, then baby can be a full-time player and you could be 25 plus home runs.
[SPEAKER_00]: Basically, I equate him to barger in the right up, Madison Barger, kind of a guy who'll hit 250 plus with a bunch of home runs and a bunch of upside because of the extreme exit velocities.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, I kind of covered them all,
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I think that's good.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Kisha was my target in our target sleepers, fades article, baby was yours.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I wanted to give you an opportunity to talk about that a little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Before we wrapped up the show, and we talked about some of our sleepers and fades that you did touch on, your fade a little bit already.
[SPEAKER_01]: Chase my broth, big Robo Scout guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: makes his debut.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was up.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was down.
[SPEAKER_01]: The defense was way better than we had expected.
[SPEAKER_01]: It would be talked to me a little bit about how you view my draw for next year.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because like I said, you view them as a sleeper.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's the guy, type of guy that I always like, if fantasy players don't like Stephen Kwan, know, a channel, well, like these guys who are Luis O'Reyes, who will have very high OBP or high batting average, but the counting stats aren't there, especially at the position.
[SPEAKER_00]: So like, Shen, you all doesn't have the power.
[SPEAKER_00]: My draw doesn't really have the speed.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have my drug that a couple spots already in two D.C.'s.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got dual eligibility, so that helps.
[SPEAKER_00]: But he should hit at the top of the line up the white socks line.
[SPEAKER_00]: He should get on base.
[SPEAKER_00]: He will hit double digit homerons, which is fine, and he'll get maybe 15 stolen bases, which is fine.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if he hits 280, like that's very valuable.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the fact that he played very good, better than we expected, like he said, short stop defense.
[SPEAKER_00]: means he would play excellent second-base defense.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's got a high floor.
[SPEAKER_00]: His back to ball and his on-base ability will keep him in the line up, I believe.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't have power, he doesn't really have that speed.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's just a slap hitter basically.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if the key to hit my thing is to stolen bases, if you can maintain 12 plus stolen bases, he's a guy that I like
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think that was a good call out, um, not the biggest my drought guy, but I do think at this point, make maybe the shine is off a little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, so the price is down from where it was like a year ago, where he certainly had, you know, quite a few proponents.
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, my sleepers actually ought to low pass, which I was surprised.
[SPEAKER_01]: That this was the guy that I picked frankly, but, you know, we do the research, we dig into some of the numbers and you start to realize like, oh, wow, like
[SPEAKER_01]: Lopez made some really good development last year, even though maybe from like a WRC plus standpoint and slash line standpoint, it wasn't great.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a 15, 15, 16, 15 on runs, 15 stolen bases, decent counting staff at 66 runs, 70, seven RBI's.
[SPEAKER_01]: He batted mostly three, four, five last year.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have them in roster resource at like seven or eight in the lineup.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if he actually hit seven or eight because when you dig under the hood, there was a lot of positive development hit his hardest ball by quite a bit of his career hit a 11.2 is hardest before that was 108.8
[SPEAKER_01]: average EV went up the launch angle added quite a few degrees.
[SPEAKER_01]: So way more lofty than it had been 7.1% barrel rate was as high as barrel rate of his career.
[SPEAKER_01]: His heart hit rate, which was up the year before stayed the same with better angles.
[SPEAKER_01]: He actually is another guy that under-produced all of his expected numbers, expected batting average 271, expected slug 426, x-woba 328,
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he hit a lot more fly balls at a 25% fly ball rate 24 bump that up to 34.1% this year started pulling the ball in the air more.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you look at the skills like his Oswing went down.
[SPEAKER_01]: He stopped chasing as much.
[SPEAKER_01]: He made more contact overall.
[SPEAKER_01]: He made more contact in the zone.
[SPEAKER_01]: His swing strike rate, 2024, was 10.2% and dropped to 7.9%.
[SPEAKER_01]: So to me, I look at a player like this who has pretty outstanding shortstop defense.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's probably penciled into that position for the Marlins going forward.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think this is a really sneaky guy that you can get for almost free and probably like average mixed leagues or even in like shallow or diastee.
[SPEAKER_01]: People probably don't value auto-lope as that much and you could get some really good production and there's even a chance that the 15 home runs turns into 17 or 18.
[SPEAKER_01]: The 246 batting average is more like 265 but 275 and you know
[SPEAKER_01]: You end up getting another top 10 season on a low pitch and I mean, even from a fantasy perspective, if I'm not mistaken, I'm going to double check this on Raspberry right now and five by five mixed leagues.
[SPEAKER_01]: He rent pretty highly a month's second basement that if it wasn't in the top 10, it was pretty close to the top 10.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I've got a well here right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: 12.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, second base.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, 13 is what I have actually.
[SPEAKER_01]: So just outside of the top 10.
[SPEAKER_01]: But was equal value to Galerator is equal value last year to Ozzy Alby's.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm telling you, I think it could have been a little bit better than that.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I think Lopez for me is kind of like a fun sleeper.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love on a Lopez, like you said, the short stop defense.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just like we said, if I might drop the short stop defense is outstanding.
[SPEAKER_00]: So his floor is high.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to be in the lineup.
[SPEAKER_00]: His sprint speeds in the top 20% of the league and he, like, is good on the base.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's value there.
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't strike out.
[SPEAKER_00]: So like he said, the batting average will be like 270 or so.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I mean, when we were making this list, you know, a month ago, I saw everything you're saying and I offered someone to my retailer ward for auto Lopez and like I turned it down.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was very upset and very surprised to be honest.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because of everything you said, I see auto Lopez is a guy who's going to be a contributor for a few years.
[SPEAKER_00]: Good power, speed and batting average
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a fan and I'm a fan a wrap it up this podcast and the thanks given night so we can get back to our level of our feast and got leftovers to eat Dylan.
[SPEAKER_01]: For Jeff Ford Dylan, this has been the baseball American fantasy podcast.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for tuning in and let me be the first to say Merry Christmas.