Speaker 1Baseball has always been a game of inches, now it's also a game of seconds. T-Mobile and MLB have teamed up to bring ABS Challenge to all 29 ballparks across the US. This isn't a minor upgrade, this is the most significant new technology in the history of the sport. And it's powered by T-Mobile. With every pitch thrown, ABS Challenge uses real-time precision to verify the call, giving them the support they need. No delays, no guesswork, just accuracy at the speed the game demands. Thanks to ABS Challenge, T-Mobile is helping power the moments that define the game. When performance and reliability are non-negotiable, MLB turns to T-Mobile. That's not a coincidence. That's what happens when the most innovative network in the country powers the most data-driven sport in the world. T-Mobile powers MLB's most ambitious technology, and America's best network powers your connection to baseball. Home or away, every pitch, every game, every day. T-Mobile, it's better over here. Major League Baseball trademarks and copyrights. Are used with permission of Major League Baseball. Visit MLB.com. T-Mobile, best mobile network in the U.S. According to Ookla Speed Test, based on analysis by Ookla of Speed Test Intelligence Data First Half 2026. Ookla trademarks used under license and reprinted with permission. Baseball season is in full swing, and there's no better place to be than Calchi, America's number one prediction market platform. Atlanta is currently trading at 7% to win it all, meaning a $100 trade pays out over $1,200 with a win. On Calchi, you're trading against other people in a live market. No house, no odds makers. And as the odds move, you can buy in or out anytime throughout the postseason. Download the Calchi app and use code FAN to get up to $500 in bonus credits when you trade $25. K-A-L-S-H-I, Calchi, trade on anything. 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Calchi products are not available in all jurisdictions. Prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see calchi.com slash regulatory. Is it too early for 2027 draft content? It's never too early. Welcome in to Fantasy Baseball today on Sunday, September 6th. I am Frank Stample, joined by Chris Towers and a very special guest. We are here to break down the first official draft of 2027. And I hope everyone's enjoying the Labor Day weekend. Obviously, we will not be live today, later tonight, breaking down the weekend. We will be live again tomorrow on Monday night with a very, very long Labor Day weekend recap. Here to help us break down that draft, someone who participated in the first 15 of 50 rounds of that draft is Casey Bubba. What's going on, Bubba? How's everything going?
Speaker 2Everything's going great. Thanks for having me on the show to talk about this. I think it's, we talked about it off air, it's a great exercise to get our brains going into something maybe positive if 2026 isn't going so well for everybody. But it's an exercise is the best way. I can put it.
Speaker 1Yes, look, doing a draft in the middle of August for the following season is a near impossible task. But, you know, it gets the wheels turning a little bit, starts to get you thinking about where players are going to go, what the first couple rounds are going to look like. Obviously, everything after that, I think, is kind of a crapshoot. And then, you know, ADP will kind of take its place into the offseason and start to take shape and all that stuff. Obviously, if you listen or follow Fantasy Baseball content, you probably have a pretty good idea of who Bubba is. But you can find his work at BaseballHC.com. You can listen to him on the Bench with Bubba podcast, as well as Bubba and the Bloom, where he co-hosts with the great Ryan Bloomfield. You can follow him on X at BD Entric. And people don't know this, but Bubba and I actually watched game five of the 2023 World Series together. We were at the game in Arizona. We saw the game clincher, the Rangers winning the World Series when we were out at first pitch Arizona, which was amazing.
Speaker 2It was really cool. It was the first time. I've met you in person. We've done shows together. And it was one of those like, hey, we got these two tickets. Frank wants when you want one. You guys mind sitting together? No, we can watch baseball. It's fine. That's easy. And then we had we had a great time. So, yes, it is.
Speaker 3You know, that was only three years ago. And it is wild to remember that the Rangers and Diamondbacks played in the World Series three years ago. I had a whole lifetime ago.
Speaker 1I had to Google beforehand. What year did the Rangers win the World Series? It feels like a lifetime ago. I couldn't even remember what year it was. But yeah. Yes, the Rangers did win the World Series against the D-backs. So that was really awesome. Chris, have you ever been to a World Series game? That's the only one I've ever been to.
Speaker 3I went to Frank. You may remember this game. Game four of the 2003 World Series. Don't do that. Don't do that. Alex Gonzalez hit a walk off home run off of Jeff. No, Jeff Weaver, right?
Speaker 1Yeah, I mean, that would have been way too early for Jared Weaver, I think.
Speaker 3Yeah, that was an incredible game. It was, I believe, the highest attended World Series game of all time. Miguel Cabrera. Hit a home run off Roger Clemens in what we thought was Roger Clemens' final game. Turned out, I think he pitched another five or six seasons after that. And yeah, no, I have been to a Marlins World Series game.
Speaker 1All right. Well, hopefully later this year, we're going to a Yankees versus whichever team in the NL World Series. That would be great.
Speaker 3It's going to happen again. Yeah, yeah. Marlins are going to win the World Series in Yankee Stadium again.
Speaker 1No, no, no, no. I mean, I would very much welcome the Marlins making the World Series against the Yankees. That would work out pretty well for the Yankees. I think that would work out. All of this is a promo for those who haven't been. You've probably heard about it. Even if you've been there before. First Pitch Arizona is coming very soon. It is the first, second, second weekend of November. November 5th through 8th at the Sheraton Mesa Wrigleyville. And it's a great event every year. If you love baseball, if you love fantasy baseball, we go out. We watch Arizona Fall League games. There's live panels. There's live podcasts. We play a wiffle ball game. There's just a lot of... We do way too early. There's a bunch of people who are crazy about fantasy there. Hanging out, talking, and drinking, and having a great time. So that is my promo. If you haven't been, just go to BaseballHQ.com. And you can search up First Pitch Arizona. And that will pop up. Give you all the details there. So if you haven't been there before, please come out. It is a lot of fun. So the intro to this draft. This is the annual meatball draft. Hosted by Rob DiPietro at DeadpoolHitterOnX. He is a great high stakes player. And every year. This is the first draft for the following season. A very fun thought exercise. Gets the wheels turning for 2027. 15-team roto. Draft and hold. So it is a 50-round draft. There is no in-season waiver wire or trades. It's just you set your lineup. Obviously, pitchers on Mondays. And then you can do hitters on Mondays and Fridays. So the normal NFBC lineup. So, Bubba, you were in this. It was you and 14 other great players. High stakes players. Content creators. You drafted the first 15 rounds of this draft. And... I believe the draft was done a little bit over two weeks ago. August 19th. So things have changed even since then. But... How does somebody even prep for a draft in August for the next season?
Speaker 2It changes every year. Kind of the way we pencil it together. Everyone has their own way. Like Phil Dussault and Steve Weimer are in this. And they have their own like quasi projections for next year. Already put together in a computer. Which way past my pay grade. I'm more of a... I watch things. I kind of use my pad and paper and figure out. Things out. This year, they had those mid-season gladiators on NFBC. So I kind of... I used that ADP. I had the player rater for like the second half and the full season. I kind of had a conglomeration of things. But I had like 20 pieces of paper on my desk. I am not the gifted build-a-chart person out there. But yeah, everyone has their own way to do it. There's no perfect formula for this. Because we are trying... We already play a game where you try to predict the future. Now we're trying to predict the future with so many uncertainties coming in front of us. So yeah, it's... It's pretty good.
Speaker 3I mean, it's hard enough when we're doing drafts in like October and November. Because you're in the draft room, but you don't have like update. Like if we do a draft on CBS, we don't have updated rankings. We just have last year's rankings built in. And so there's always guys that you just forget. Like it's always tough to do that. Let alone when they're still at the point you guys are drafting about 20% of the season left. You know, it's not nothing. I don't know how many players are going to draft. It's not going to drastically change their outlook between, you know, August 15th and the end of the season. But it's not going to change nothing. So yeah, it's going to be tough no matter what.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's basically there's no ADP. Ryan Roof, he creates the sticker board that does it for us. It's all by hand. We're all winging it essentially to your point of we don't like have anything to go off of in theory from like on a website or some browser to use. And it does make it quite challenging to do. But they're always... There will be some that fall through the cracks. So there's like strategies of when you take your KDS, some guys prefer the back because when we restart, they'll get the first pick. And they're like, oh, look at all these guys that we missed. And once like Tarek Skubal a couple of years ago was the first pick in the restart. Like that turned out to be pretty sweet. This year might be a little different. Last year, good buddy Dom Rello picked Randy Rodriguez. We found out he was the only time he was ever picked in an NFPC draft period because like a week later he had to get Tommy John surgery. So little things do happen for the most part. To your point, Chris, it's not nothing, but there's still uncertainty to be had.
Speaker 1Yeah, I mean, building off that uncertainty, right? Do you just... kind of blanket downgrade pending free agents just because a we don't know where they're going to land I think it's even harder with relievers and you actually drafted David Bednar which is an interesting talking point we don't know like the Dodgers might just sign him to be their seventh inning reliever for the next year but we also don't even know if there's going to be a next year
Speaker 2so there's just a lot of uncertainty right now yeah and the Bednar is the example I was doing go off if I kept watch like I have him this year he's been huge for me he's been amazing and I just kept watching him fall and follow him like the skills are still good but the uncertainty of where he's playing is the question now the Yankees they should resign him they might not who knows um a team you would you would imagine he goes to a team where you can pitch but to your point the Dodgers do Dodger things there's a few teams that can do that so yes that's why he fell and eventually gets to a point where you're like the million dollar man says everyone's got a price
Speaker 3this was the price for David Bednar how much does like one of the things we've talked a lot about is the just collapse of the entire first two rounds from the 2026 season and it was something that was in the back of my mind the last couple years when you go through the first round and especially you know the first two rounds how many of these guys were like in their 30s and we just were we kind of had like Jose Ramirez Aaron Judge are are in the point of their careers where the decline phase might be here now and how much does that impact how you're viewing the 2027 field right now because Aaron Judge is still out Jose Ramirez I think just by the time you guys were drafting he hadn't hit a home run since like June now that we're talking you know at the beginning of September Shohei Otani is going through it I think he hasn't homered in 12 games the the game on Wednesday night I think that was like the worst he's ever looked as a big leaguer um how does that impact how you're viewing the 2027 field it does affect a lot of things I think it does affect a lot of things
Speaker 2a lot of things it's a combination of there's potential upside if you can take a chance on certain players and then there's also a lot of falling like we'll talk about when you look at this board it's a whole different landscape in the early rounds because I was not alone in these thoughts but you mentioned J-RAM I love Jose Ramirez always have he is the model of consistency but as you said father time eventually will win that's just reality and J-RAM failed to pick 14 to my co-host Ryan Bloomfield and we were all in our stream going that could be a great pick or it's one of those like man if he keeps falling it is what it is but at the same time again could be a great pick uh as you'll tell with my picks I went a little more youthful early on to kind of go that direction to kind of play the upside card with potentially a floor where other guys fell off and if you look at the entire first round to your point Chris it's a lot of use like I wanted nothing to do Otani I get the love but outside like Otani and judge it's a ton of young players going through that first part of the round all right
Speaker 1so let's get into the actual draft and for those watching on YouTube you'll see here we have the draft board up it might be a little bit hard to see all the pics you might have to zoom in a little bit we'll try to talk through as many of the pics as possible for those listening on the audio side of things but I I do recommend if you want to see the draft board you can pull us up on YouTube as well and also I realize truly how hard it is for people to draft in mid-August for the following season so for anyone who's listening who might have been part of this draft I I don't want to sound overly critical it's just we're all trying to figure this out together so I just want to throw
Speaker 3that out there I haven't even cursor I haven't even started the process of ranking for next year so who the heck am I to say that any pick was right or wrong you know yeah I mean interestingly enough
Speaker 1Chris we had a conversation the other day and you're like you know Jordan Walker he might go around pick 50 next year and I'm like no no no no no yeah he went just took him in the first round
Speaker 3yeah no I I was kind of like can we delete that whole part of the pilot like that kind of sound
Speaker 2like an idiot it was it was so funny though because Ben Ted he he gets he's East Coast so he listens to you guys first thing every morning he texts me goes hey they were talking about you and hopefully Frank texts me like a couple hours later hey you want to come on the show that's been talking about the meatball draft I'm like sure why not that's right I know but but that's
Speaker 3one of the like he's mostly running through the finish line I mean April's gonna go down as Jordan Walker's best month of the season but he hasn't really fallen off that much you know he maybe doesn't look quite as elite as he did early on but he's gonna end up with what 35 25. it's an
Speaker 2awesome season yeah and that that's kind of where my brain went I guess if we want to go here for a second is um I'm looking at a guy that we have a 2020 floor obviously you want more than that with your with your first round pick but the also the potential to go 30 to 40 home runs but we haven't seen it all yet obviously it's a first year breakout out of nowhere but it's a guy that's 24 years old so I'm always like last year I had the 10th pick I took Junior caminero and everyone thought that was the craziest pick in the world now is he gonna is Walker gonna be as good as caminero probably not like let's just be real there but could Walker be that good it could be to me like Walker's could resemble like what we want Fernando d'Artes to be in my brain at least
Speaker 1yeah yeah no there are parallels there too because again like do you want to be the person to use a first round pick on a player who's only done it one year yet you just did it last year with junior caminero and it worked out swimmingly and Jordan Walker you know the start to his career was obviously slow but he was a huge prospect as well like it took him a couple years to figure it out but you know him and caminero were prospects like on the same level when they were coming up and obviously it happened a lot sooner for caminero but it looks like it's happening now for Jordan Walker as well so let's walk through the first round here and just start things with the very first pick Pete Crow Armstrong followed by Shohei Otani Bobby wood Jr and Aaron judge but uh Bubba it's like this was done a couple of weeks ago obviously PCA has just gone off since then but when it's all said and done this year he might wind up going 40 40 and hitting close to 300 and playing like Platinum glove defense it might shock some people to see him go first overall here but when you actually think about it from a roto perspective it's it's really not crazy it's not crazy at all and you said the word
Speaker 2shocked and that's one of the things we've talked about a lot a lot of this board is sticker shock that's what it is because we haven't seen these names here and when you first see PCA at one one you're like whoa like we got Otani we got like all these names we're used to in that profile but to their point you mentioned what he did we mentioned the age we mentioned the defensive skills that will keep him on the field even if he's struggling to hopefully work through whatever struggles he finds I think it's a great argument I don't see how people can absolutely say no he shouldn't be I can see if people want to put someone else there totally fine but what uh PCA is doing the year Acuna was the quote-unquote unanimous one of one was a 4040 profile PCA is in that ballpark right now with what he's doing I know it's only been one year to to your comment earlier and I totally agree with that but he is showcasing that he has improved he's built off of
Speaker 3his skill set has gotten so much better for PCA that you know I mentioned this stat the other day on the podcast but I believe before May of 2026 I think he had never had more than eight walks in a month in his major league career the past four months he's gone 13 17 16 and 16. he has transformed himself basically overnight into not just like a pretty good plate discipline guy but like an elite one I I had no idea this was coming I I admit I thought this could be a struggle season for picro Armstrong and instead it's a reminder that young players can just get better and skill sets are not static and while I think you should probably bet on picro Armstrong taking a step back in 2027 relative to 2026 just anytime someone goes 40 40 I don't know if anybody's ever gone 40 40 back to back um the skill set is incredibly strong he's hitting lefties really well um I don't really think there's there's all that much to be skeptical about with picro Armstrong and when you're just lining everyone up right now I do kind of think he has to go one one just because your alternatives are 33 year old Shohei Otani I believe who we've always talked about the fact that he's a pitcher is going to increase the injury risk at least somewhat um and right now he he looks like he's struggling Bobby Witt incredible player but we're seeing now that the the ceiling outcome hasn't been there the last couple of seasons I think Aaron judge you you tell me he's going to play 150 games I'd probably take him one one but he's gonna be 35 I think and you know has now missed significant time I I do kind of think PCA is just the default one one maybe it's not maybe getting the one one isn't the huge Edge that that you normally hope it would be because there is some risk for PCA but I think it's the right pick there yeah I think that last point
Speaker 1in particular and credit to PCA for all the improvements that he's made this season but it doesn't feel like there's another slam dunk first overall pick for for all the reasons that you you threw out there like Aaron judge to me complete wild card at time of recording this he still isn't back with the Yankees yet this rib injury like is he going to make it through the postseason healthy are we going to find out something in the offseason that he actually needs a surgery and he's going to miss time next like we just don't know and a guy that big too it's like fair to question how his body is going to age and things like that so I don't think that there is a clear just like slam dunk one one and I think that's why PCA is is definitely in that conversation read off the rest of the first round again the top five picks PCA otani wit judge Junior caminero 6-10 we had James Wood Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr Jordan Alvarez and Jordan Walker to Bubba and then Eli De La Cruz, Jacob Miziorowski CJ Abrams, Jose Ramirez and Jackson Churrio so we spoke about Jordan Walker and Bubba's pick of that I think the other one that really stands out to me Jordan deserves to be back in the first round now obviously Tatis having a monster second half, Eli De La Cruz dealing with a quad injury now, we didn't know that at the time but I still think he'll be in that first round mix the Miz has the first pitcher off the board Bubba, CJ Abrams kind of stands out to me too because this is another one where like we've known for years that he's had, he has the talent, the power the speed, the contact ability, he was a highly rated prospect as well, he's never been able to do it over a full season now he did, but you have to pay the price of a first round pick to bet on CJ Abrams doing it again, what do you think about him going here towards the end of the first round?
Speaker 2I like it a lot if you want to knock like grab that shortstop outside of Eli you know, went earlier the more you look at this board, shortstop's still good, but it's not as dominating as it's been in years past, if that makes sense, as you look through it, still a good position but Abrams is that guy it's kind of like the Walker argument, I'll make arguments for others, it's the youth thing, he's still only 25 years old, feels like we've been talking about CJ Abrams for a long time since he came over on that Juan Soto trade from the Padres, and the power is just like slowly come together, but the speed's always been there so it has like a weird Bryce Terang feel to it, like he might not ever get to like the elite batting average of Terang, but maybe as he's developed and changed his swing, the power has followed, the speed will still be there it did help that the Nats had one of the best offenses in baseball for like two-thirds of the season that has dried up a bit towards the end here, but you're looking at a player gonna be 26 next year, he's got some nagging injuries right now to end the season hopefully that is not a lingering thing into next year, but that's the what ifs we do with the draft this early because we are crazy like that, but I think the skills are very very good, and it is an elite 30-30 profile I think with CJ Abrams
Speaker 1Alright, let's take our first break, when we return we will do a quick recap of the first round and then we'll jump around to other picks as well we'll recap Bubba's team a little bit later on as well but let's take that break, we'll be back right after this. Hey, before we jump back into the show let's take a quick break, but not just any break, this is a refreshing break with Snapple. We all know about Snapple is iconic, real fact, so let's take a minute to go over some of my faves Snapple, real fact, 14-17 before 18-59, baseball umpires sat behind home plate in rocking chairs. Snapple, real fact 14-83, more than 100 baseballs are used during a typical professional baseball game Snapple, real fact, 2-53, the first TV remote control introduced in 1950 was called Lazy Bones. Snapple, real fact, 21-05 professional athletes used to perform in vaudeville in the off season. So grab a Snapple, take a second and enjoy the moment, because let's be honest, this might be the most refreshing part of your day. Snapple, make your break more interesting. Alright, now let's get back to the show Welcome back, Fantasy Baseball. Today we are here recapping the first draft for 2027 with Casey Bubba and we right off the first round. Chris, is there anything to you that stands out in the first round as severely out of place or anything that you would like to make mention of before we kind of jump into you know, later rounds here and jump around to different picks? I mean,
Speaker 3I do kind of have like a maybe dumb question about Jacob Mizurowski, and this is not really serious, but like, are teams just going to start like watering the front of the mound right before he pitches every time? This is two starts in a row. I don't know if you guys talked about this last night, but this is two starts in a row where he's talked about how much trouble he's had on the visiting mound. It was in city field, two starts ago, then Wrigley Field last night. He really struggled when we were recording this. It was Wednesday night. That's kind of a joke, but it's also, you know, I do think first-round pitcher is always, you know, it's going to cause people some agita, I think, and that's the one that stands out. And then obviously, like I was a huge Jordan Walker, sorry, Jordan Alvarez booster this year because he was you know, you can get him like 40 in some drafts. Now he's ninth. This is something I always struggle with with injury risk guys. I think we saw it with Byron Buxton this year where he finally has the one healthy season and to a certain extent people are like, great injury risk is gone and it's like, well, no, the injury risk is still there. So I'm going to struggle with Jordan Alvarez this season. I think the price is fine. Ninth overall. Look, he might win the triple crown. He's an incredible hitter. I struggle with the price jumping that much with a guy like that. So those are the two that stand out to me. And then Jose Ramirez, I mean, the skill set hasn't really changed when you look at the underlying stuff. Strikeout rate, okay, it's the highest it's been since 2021. It's still 13%, right? Like that's still an incredible mark. His expected WOBA 342, identical to 2025. Pulled air rate, identical to 2025. All the stuff that we typically care about with Jose Ramirez looks the same as last year, except he's hitting 240 and he only has 11 homers. So the actual production that clearly has not been there. The skill set doesn't look that different. And I do think that's one, especially if he closes the season strong. I could see Jose Ramirez creeping back towards the top half of the first round if he closes the season strong. And he has
Speaker 1a pretty good excuse, right? Like having the hammy bone injury kind of sapping him of power, mid-season especially. It's really hard to come back from and just hit the ground running and go back to being the Jose Ramirez that we know and love. One point in his favor is that the third base position is god-awful. So if you want to push him up because of that in the first round, I have absolutely no problem doing that as well. Let's jump around to different picks here. And the very first pick of round two, pick 16. Connor Griffin, which will surprise some people, but man, I listened to different content around this specific draft right after it happened. And it sounds like everybody in the second round wanted the chance to draft Connor Griffin and didn't get that chance. So, Bubba, it might surprise some people, but this was the top prospect in baseball entering the season. Obviously, he dealt with the injury, but he flashed massive speed. We think the power is going to come. Obviously, good batting average profile as well. How high is too high for Connor Griffin?
Speaker 2It's one of those that if he, I don't know what spring training we have, who knows, but if he finishes September strong, like as we're recording this, he could be back on Friday. So, I know we're kind of messing with dates here, but he's real close to making something happen in September. To me, everybody wanted him, to your point. It was a resounding, like we were all wondering when he would go, and I was very ready to take him with the sixth pick at round two. But with Griffin, to me, I compare him to, I guess you could say a poor man's Ellie, just because he's got so much speed. And it just matters, does the power follow? Because if the power follows with his speed, there isn't a big difference to me. I've also quasi-anti-Ellie at times. They're very similar at the shortstop position to me. And I think Connor Griffin, we haven't even seen the tip of the iceberg. So, it's a pure upside play, but one of those that he's going to go early in draft next year, unless something crazy happens.
Speaker 1Chris, it does remind me a little bit of Bobby Witt Jr. when he first came up, right? And he was just like, boom, thrust right into the first round right away. And in fact, we actually had more of a sample from Bobby Witt Jr., his rookie year versus Connor Griffin, but I guess people are just dreaming on the upside, and I can't really blame them with Connor Griffin.
Speaker 3And, you know, when you look at the season that Bobby Witt had, it was a .254 average, .722 OPS. He only stole 30 bases. Griffin had 20 steals in 59 games. He had a .736 OPS. He hit .276. Obviously, right now, as we're talking, he only played 59 games. Most he'll get to if he returns on Friday is, what, 80? Might get to 80? Yeah, I think that might have enough time. We're going to get a half a season where you might only get single-digit home runs in a half season, but you might get 25 steals, and it doesn't take much to project that out and say, this is a guy who debuted when he was 19, right? Or right after he turned 20? He will be 20 on opening day next season, I believe. Yeah. We had this conversation, I think, around the All-Star break when, or maybe it was when Connor Griffin got hurt, and Scott was pretty skeptical that Connor Griffin was going to be a top 50 pick, and I said, regardless of where you think he should go, there is no question Connor Griffin's going to be an early-round pick, and it's just a question of what your specific risk profile is and how much you're willing to take that on, but I don't think there's any draft next season, barring something catastrophic happening like the season not happening, where Connor Griffin isn't a second-round pick, at least. I think there's no way he falls outside of the second round in any draft next year. Maybe points late exam, that's a different, but we're talking about Roto right now, and I think he'll clearly
Speaker 1be that. So Bobby Witt Jr., his rookie season, 20 homers, 30 steals, You mentioned the batting average, his WRC plus 98 and Connor Griffin, at this point, his WRC Plus is 101. So just to put that in perspective, Bobby Witt Jr., the following year in 2023, the ADP was 10.56. So he was very firmly in the first round. And I don't think it would shock me if Connor Griffin even moves closer to that number that Bobby Witt Jr. had back in 2023. Again, we'll jump around to different picks here, but Sal Stewart might shock some people. The 21st overall pick in this draft. I absolutely love it. Yahoo! Bubba, he went to you, Sal Stewart. So what went through your mind making this pick? Sal Stewart over established players like a Kyle Schwarber, obviously a down season for Gunnar Henderson, Ronald Acuna as well. So why Sal Stewart over some of those names?
Speaker 2It comes back to the, you mentioned with J-Ram how bad third base is. Everyone sees Sal Stewart as a first baseman, and my brain goes he's straight to a corner infield. He can be flexible with this, but I'm probably playing him at third base when we're talking. And Sal Stewart, the other thing with Sal Stewart, and this will be an echoing statement of mine, 22 years old, super young, and he's still got 31 home runs to go, 12 steals, 266. Oh, and that 105 RBIs, no one's talked about that at all this year. But it just became, just got his second rookie of the month award. It's like the first time in Red's history. The kid is extremely good, is the way I would say it. And I don't know if we've even, and he almost got second base eligibility to top this off, just to make things even more entertaining. So I think it's another bat if Walker continues to, these are all big ifs, I get it. If Walker keeps his trend, Stewart keeps his trend, I like to get as many close to five category guys as I can. So I got 230 plus home run guys, at least 215 plus steal guys, averages that won't kill you. They both have over 100 RBIs this year. Oh, and Sal gets to play half his games in Great American Small Park. So that's a plus as well.
Speaker 3Yeah, as we're talking, he's played 158 games in his career. He has a 265 batting average, 36 home runs, 91 runs, 113 RBI, 12 stolen bases.
Speaker 1Sounds like a second round pick to me. Yeah, that is pretty awesome. And we've heard a lot. I've referenced this before this season. He's very close with Manny Machado, and Manny Machado is his mentor. He looks up to him. And I said before the year, I think like long-term Sal Stewart can turn into a Manny Machado-esque player. I didn't think it was going to happen in his first full season, but here we are. He very much so looks like a Manny Machado-esque player. Continuing on, Cam Schlittler went at pick 24 as the SP4 off the board. Here, behind only Jacob Mizurowski, Tarek Skubal, Christopher Sanchez, and ahead of Yamamoto, Jesus Lozardo, Chris Sale. Chris, what do you think about that price tag for Cam Schlittler, pick 24 as the SP4 off the board?
Speaker 3I don't really see anything wrong with it. The Yankees, the only risk, I guess, would be he's young and he might get hurt. But we said that coming into the season, it hasn't happened. The Yankees do not treat their starting pitchers like the Dodgers. Like, the Yankees ride their starting pitchers. They are going to let you go deep into games. He's going to end up making like 33 starts, probably get to 190, 195 innings, maybe. So workload is not going to be a concern. Yeah, there's some injury risk, but the skill set looks legit. Okay, he won't repeat a 204 ERA. His peripherals are all sub three, which is really rare. It's really hard to have a Sierra, a FIP, XFIP, XERA, whichever one you prefer, all be under three. So the skill set is extremely legitimate for Cam Schlittler. The workload is there. He's on a good team. I don't really see any argument against it. You know, you look at some of the other pitchers in that range. Yamamoto is awesome. He's going to make like 28 or 29 starts. The Dodgers are going to be a six-man rotation. Look, Luzardo is awesome, but that's a little scary as a top. Five starting pitcher, Chris Dale, same thing as Yamamoto. The end, the innings are even worse. So, yeah, I think Schlittler kind of has to be where he is.
Speaker 1Yeah, and I've talked about this a lot in previous years. It's kind of a mental thing in fantasy for me to kind of get over a mental hurdle. And I'm going to have to do it for both Sal Stewart and Cam Schlittler because I liked both of those guys a lot this year. But now that you have to pay a second round price tag to be in on them once again, it's like, can you get over that hurdle of, oh, I could have got those guys outside the top 100 in previous years. Now I have to use a second round pick to jump in. But the skill sets do look incredibly safe, as safe as it could be for a pitcher for both of those guys, for Cam Schlittler and for Sal Stewart. The two picks later after Cam Schlittler, we saw Gunnar Henderson go off the board. And I think this is an interesting one because obviously a down season for Gunnar Henderson. That's two in a row. And honestly, dating back to the second half of 2024, personally, I thought entering a draft like this, we might get more of a discount. And again, this is not gospel. You know, there are going to be a lot of different drafts in the offseason. And ADP will kind of tell us where Gunnar Henderson settles in. But, Bubba, were you surprised that there wasn't more of a discount here on Gunnar Henderson at pick 26?
Speaker 2I thought he would fall more because there's a couple of short stops that go in the next round and McConaughey will go in the door. I would take over Gunnar Henderson. I've been kind of off Gunnar for a couple draft seasons now. As you mentioned, the fall continues with him. Maybe something will click. Again, super young still. We know he does have the talent, but he's either playing hurt. He hasn't adjusted to the way the league adjusted to him. There's a lot of factors you can dig in and look at all the underlying metrics on when it comes to Gunnar Henderson. But to be a second round pick, to be the fourth shortstop off the board, or fifth, I guess, because Gunnar Griffin's there. Yeah, that doesn't do it for me with Henderson. I was kind of surprised. And again, Mike Mager is a Hall of Famer. Just got inducted into the NFPC Hall of Fame this past year. He knows. That's what he's doing. That's the thing. It's like you said, we're not critiquing picks. It's just what I would do personally. And I personally am not a Gunnar Henderson guy.
Speaker 3How many times in the four full seasons Gunnar Henderson has played? Do you guys think he has been a top 50 player, according to FanGraph's player rate?
Speaker 2Once. I'd say once, but with that question, it's probably zero.
Speaker 3One time. The 2024 season, he was a top 10 player, I believe. Other than that, the best he's finished is 52nd back in 20, or sorry, 62nd. Back in 2023. That's rough. I'm surprised that he's not lower, is the way I would put it. I'm not saying, you know, I don't know where I'm going to rank him. That's going to be one of the toughest players to rank. But it definitely feels early for a guy who hasn't really been that kind of player. I've pointed this out, but second half of 2024, it was like a 799 OPS. And then this year, the stolen base is not being there. It's really... It's really killing him.
Speaker 1Yeah. It's weird all around for Gunnar Henderson. Just the Orioles in general, the way their hitters have progressed or not progressed. I guess rather regressed over the past couple of seasons. But he's still like in the prime age of his career. It's still a good ballpark for left-handed hitters to hit in. And Camden, it's just very weird the way that things have played out here for Gunnar Henderson. So I do agree. I think he's a really tough one heading into 2027. The very next pick was Drake Baldwin, who went at pick 27. He was the first catcher off the board. Reminder, this is a two catcher. 15-team Roto League. So there is usually an emphasis on getting an early round catcher. And Drake Baldwin, you know, since coming back from the injury, the oblique injury, which there's a chance that it just kind of like affected him longer than we thought. But he hasn't looked as good. But Chris, still on paper, like the skill set looks really, really strong. Makes a lot of contact. Hits the ball hard. Hits near the top of a really good Atlanta Braves lineup. I don't know that it should be a second round pick, but I don't think it's crazy for him. I don't think it's crazy for him to be maybe the top catcher drafted now that Ben Rice does not have catcher eligibility.
Speaker 3Yeah. And I think one thing we're going to have to talk a lot about this offseason is the way catcher has kind of fallen apart in the second half. To the point where when I was looking it up the other day, I think Freddie Fermin has been a top 10 catcher in fantasy in the second half of the season. Like as like a less than a halftime player. So it's got. You know, we one of the big talking points in the first half of the season was, oh, my God, catcher is no longer a wasteland. All these breakouts. And then, you know, Langeleers breaks down. And I mean, obviously, Kyle Raleigh's kind of been terrible all season with the exception of, I guess, the time since this draft happened. So it's there is still an edge to be found at the catcher position if you are willing to pay the price. I don't know if I'm willing to jump that for drafts. Drake Baldwin. But he was I think he's played every single day that he has not been on the I.L. He's deaching a bunch in the second half since Sean Murphy came back. Like if he is what we think he is, what he's looked like this season, that's a huge edge. So, yeah, I think there's very, very much a defensible draft pick there.
Speaker 1Just for reference, where some other catchers went in this draft, Chailing Lears went at pick thirty nine as the second catcher. Off the board. Then in the fourth round, we had Hunter Goodman, Dylan Dingler, Samuel Basayo and William Gutierrez. All those names again in the fourth round at the two three turn. We see two names again who have I was going to say have not been drafted this high before. But now I'm remembering two years ago, Jackson Merrill actually was a second round pick. But Jackson Merrill back in the second round and Miguel Vargas here at the turn at the two three turn. So Merrill, since the start of June, he has been a stud and he is entering the prime of his career. Power and speed has been there. Love all that. And then Miguel Vargas, much like we've talked about with a Jordan Walker, with a Sal Stewart, this is a former top prospect. He is finally figuring things out. He plays on an ascending White Sox team, a pretty good White Sox lineup. And again, he has third base eligibility. So, Bubba, what do you think about these two? Again, we're not Merrill we've seen in the second round before, but Miguel Vargas, it's like, whoa, whoa. Now we have to use a second or a third round pick to get him on our teams.
Speaker 2Yeah, the Vargas was the sticker shock in this one because Merrill, I wasn't going to take him over Sal Stewart, but I was kind of sitting there like, he's a second round pick for me right now because we're seeing him come back into form to when he was an early pick, to your point. I'm still a believer, 23 years old, we're good there. Miguel Vargas was a surprise, but it was a combination of things. First, Rob really wanted Vargas. He wasn't coming back to him on the turn. So, you got that. You got to keep that in mind at this point. The third base thing is tremendous, as you mentioned as well, because in theory. If you don't put Stewart there, that's the third third baseman off the board, and there's not many more after that if you really want to get after it. But Vargas, we've seen the power. We've seen a little speed as well, which is interesting, a little. The average hasn't crushed you like it has in years past. So, there's like an avenue where you can see a lot of success with him. The quality of contact metrics from Vargas are outstanding. He hits the ball hard. His barrel rate, his hard hit rate, all the things you want to see are great. He's just finally getting that extension. He's getting that extended run that we've wanted to, that the Dodgers just don't do with prospects because they have too many players they pay for. So, now Vargas is getting his chance, and maybe there's another gear. Even if there isn't, though, that floor at third base, you can almost make an argument there that this. It still surprised me when I saw it. I'm not going to say it didn't, but the more I've looked at it and thought about it, it makes a little bit of sense.
Speaker 3I'm always a little wary of paying full price for the one-year breakout. It goes wrong pretty often. Jackson Merrill last year. But I love that Miguel Vargas is running through the finish line. I mean, look, there's still about three and a half weeks left as we're talking. Maybe he doesn't get another hit, although he had two more on Thursday. But entering play on Thursday, he had a .366 Wobbe in the first half, .366 Wobbe in the second half. That's what I want to see from my breakouts is, is it not just a couple of hot months propping up the whole line? No. He was fading a little bit in July, but even then, 741 OPS is not bad. He's still hit for power. He's had a .224 ISO or better in every month of the season. So the power has been there the whole time. And it's just kind of when things have gone poorly for him, it's just been the Babbitt letting him down. So this is about as legit of a breakout as you could hope for.
Speaker 1Yeah, I'm right there, too. I mean, there was a little sticker shock when I first saw it. But man, you dive in and it could. It could wind up being a 35-15 season. He's underperformed the expected stats this year. XBA says he should be more like a .270 hitter. The plate discipline is great. Makes a lot of contact. Good eye at the plate. He walks as well. Again, ascending White Sox lineup. I think they're going to be even better. They have more prospects coming on the way next year. So, yeah, it's a big price. But I think I would be in there on Miguel Vargas as well. He stole two bases today. He's up to 15 now.
Speaker 3He might even go 35-20, which is crazy. That's the biggest thing that I'm struggling with with him. Is the speed real? Agreed. He was a stolen base guy in the minors, I believe. Yeah, he had a 16-steal season. But that had not been there. He's like a 70th percentile sprint speed guy.
Speaker 179th percentile? That's pretty good.
Speaker 3Yeah. Maybe. Maybe.
Speaker 1Yeah. I like it. All right, let's take our final break. When we return, we'll jump around to some more picks again. We'll talk about Paul Skeens. Where did he fall in this draft? We'll do that right after this. Welcome back in Fantasy Baseball Today. We are recapping the first draft for 2027 here with Casey Bubba. And again, this draft, the annual meatball draft, hosted by Rob DiPietro at DeadpoolHitterOnX. Great player as well. And he was the one who drafted Miguel Vargas. A couple of other interesting fallers into the third round now. Ronald Acuna at pick 32. Nick Kurtz at pick 34. Francisco Lindor at pick 37. So, two veterans in Acuna and Lindor who down seasons injuries for both of those. I mean, just lots of injuries for Acuna in his entire career. And then Nick Kurtz, a younger player who looked awesome when he was healthy, but we just kind of have some indecision. It's kind of ambiguous right now, dealing with that thumb injury and whether or not he'll be healthy for next year. I think we all assume that he'll be fine. And obviously, one of the best sluggers in the game when he's healthy. Bubba, what did you think about those three names in particular? Guys that we typically see in the first round or around the first round falling to the third in Acuna, Nick Kurtz, and Francisco Lindor. Yeah.
Speaker 2The Kurtz fall was interesting, probably in line because of the injuries he was kind of limping to the finish line with. But in theory, still the second first baseman off the board, which is a whole other talking point for another day. That might surprise some people over the Rices and others. But Kurtz, okay, I get. Lindor annoyed me. I was so hoping he was falling to me because he just kept slipping and slipping. I love Lindor. I've had him for like five straight years, it feels like. And I was like, okay, a third round Lindor would be so sweet because that's not going to happen. I mean, now that he's healthy. He's starting to hit again. People are going to see this and be like, okay, he deserves to be back in the second round. That's just my two cents with Lindor. So that was a great fall. And then you asked about Acuna. Acuna is a wild card, guys. Like you started the show talking about Otani and his injuries. And I'm not saying Otani is not a first round pick. I'm just saying you got to get the brain thinking that it's maybe not automatic. And that's what Acuna is doing to people right now because he has not bounced back from these injuries the way you would hope he would. And honestly, the way he's playing right now, he's not a third round pick in my mind. And I'm not saying he can't get back to that. But his fall made sense. It was more like when was he going to get picked was the million dollar question because he's not running as much as you'd like. The power is not there. He's just the total package isn't there with Acuna. But he went early round three.
Speaker 3The one thing I will say is he does have five steals on six attempts, I think, since the start of August. So that's because I kind of thought after the second hamstring injury, it might just be done. And you'd need him to be like a 40 homer guy to justify the early round price tag. And if he's still going to be 20 steals, that does soften the landing a little bit. But I don't really know one way or the other about that. Stolen bases are, I think, the hardest thing to project because it's not just about physical ability. It's about how much you want to run. And this season, Francis Goulandour doesn't want to run. He's got three stolen bases. Is that just the new norm for him? And he's just a five steal guy? If that's the case, then I think it's gonna be really hard to justify a third round pick for a guy who has always kind of been, you know, a little weaker in batting average, maxes out around 30 homers. Good player. But if it's a, you know, five stolen base player, I don't know how valuable that is as a third rounder. But he could come out and steal 30 bases next season. I wouldn't be shocked. Acuna, there's a lot of volatility. There's a lot of volatility in the bat. You know, two of the last four seasons, I think, have been like a sub 750 OPS now. That's not good. That's not gonna get the job done. I still think he has number one overall player upside as long as the stolen bases are somewhat there. You know, if it's 20 to 25, I think he can still do it. But that's a big question mark. So I think this is where you start to see a lot of the guys where it's like, oh, I don't know how I feel. I don't know how I feel about that. But we're in a little bit of a transitionary period in the player pool. You know, a lot of the guys who have been stalwarts for the past decade are starting to fall off a little bit. And so how much do you account for that in Acuna's case? Because he's still relatively young. I think he'll be 29 next season. I'm a little more willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. But I think I also had him as a top four pick this season. And that's blown up in my face. So. At some point, maybe I do have a lesson to learn about my continued faith in Ronald Acuna. But that one's tough. I will say Kurtz is a little bit surprising how much he fell. Because I just think you can pencil him in for 40 homers if he stays healthy. Like, that just. I know he wasn't quite on that pace this season. But I think the skill set is a 40 homer guy. And he got a little lucky last season. I think the skill set is just as strong as it was. And he's cheaper now. I don't really have a concern about that injury lingering into next season. So I would guess Nick Kurtz, 30, 34 here. I think that's going to be closer to the floor for where he's picked next season. I think that's a good call.
Speaker 1Yeah. Yeah, I like that as well. I think in hindsight, it would make some sense for Nick Kurtz to maybe go where Gunnar Henderson went in the mid to late second round. I think it's kind of a marker. Once you see Kyle Schwarzenegger, I kind of feel like, all right, Nick Kurtz should probably go in a similar range. Obviously, Schwarber is util only. Way more proven. But I think it's a pretty similar skill set between both of those guys, Kyle Schwarber and Nick Kurtz. Back to Lindor for a second. I will just point out, I know the steals are down this year. He dealt with that cash train for a large majority of the season. And then once he was back, the Mets season was already over. So by the time he was back in late June, they were already pretty much out of it. So I don't think he really needed to push the envelope. I don't think he's going to get back to being like a 30 steal guy. If I had to, I don't think he's going to get back to being like a 30 steal guy. Guess now on whatever. September 6th for next year probably expect like 15 to 20 steals yeah from Lindor uh but yeah I think he'll probably provide I I will bet that he will provide more seals than he did uh this past season no mention of Paul Skeens just yet so uh we were already into like the end of the third round Paul Skeens went in the fifth round of this draft at pick 71 as the SP 17 off the board he went just after Garrick Cole who went to Bubba in this draft and he went right before Blake Snell and Logan Webb I have no idea what to do with Paul Skeens I'm pretty sure him going at pick 71 in this draft means nobody knows what to do with Paul Skeens right now uh obviously he has not looked great for the past like 10-12 starts his velocity has been down is he pitching hurt I feel like this is one Bubba that can go either way it's like all right if he has a strong September maybe he'll be able to go either way if he has a strong September maybe he'll be able to go either way he'll push back up into the third second second third round something like that or if he just continues to fall off he might even be drafted later than this or we'll find out that there's an underlying injury and then maybe he's not even being drafted at all yeah we started on the show
Speaker 2talking about uncertainty and when it comes to Paul Skeens he is uh near the top of that list when it comes to starting pitching like so many pitchers already have question marks about like is their arm going to fall off what when is there when they retire like sale he's old but eventually father time right so many questions but at least they're healthy right now like they're still dominating on the mound Skeens is technically healthy for all we know but that that lower velocity the six the the recent lack of success is is a massive question mark to Skeens now could he flip it to your point yeah he could turn the switch maybe just needs an offseason to relax maybe he becomes more of a pitcher than a thrower there's all those kind of philosophies out there I've seen a couple retired guys like Pedro Martinez and stuff tweeting about how he's he's fine you can work with this like who knows but uh Chris Sales even come out and said I'm not concerned about Paul Skeens everybody's going to be fine I'm not concerned about the way it is it's laughable so uh who knows what it is and they know way better than I do about the game of pitching um but you from a fantasy standpoint and a draft is taking place the middle of August those uncertainties in Paul Skeens where I can go and get other pitchers that to me are still you know maybe not sp1 ones but like really close to sp1s I'm going to take my chances there like I think Garrett Cole is on the verge of being back to one of those you know top pitchers that we want in baseball if his injury so I was willing to take that chance but I think it's going to be over Skeens that has so many question marks right now Chris we've talked a lot about Skeens obviously
Speaker 1like we don't know what's going on we have no idea I think the rest of September will tell us a lot uh heading into next season for Paul Skeens but you know just recently the other day we said we'll probably rank him as an sp2 in that you know 13 to 24 range but I honestly I probably will just rank him there out of respect I don't know that I will be the one to actually draft him in that range
Speaker 3it it feels impossible to say definitively anything about Paul Skeens right now he has the 397 ERA for the full season that's two runs higher than it was last season obviously he's been even worse in the second half and then the peripherals still look good you know like 10.8k per nine 2.7 walks per nine less than a home run per inning like on the whole he doesn't look broken but there are there was a practice at this point last week um that kind of looked into what's mechanically changed for Paul Skeens and there's some subtleties he's moved on the mound a little bit closer to the the first base side I believe and he just doesn't he doesn't look quite as fluid with his delivery whether that's um you know some kind of underlying injury I've seen speculation about like his conditioning he just doesn't he his he's not moving quite as well through his delivery in a way that uh he's lowered his arm slot and it's just kind of everything just looks a little worse in a way that's making everything worse um man I if we get through this offseason and there's no talk of an injury and and everything's fine it's gonna be really hard for me not to rank him as a top 12 starting pitcher we're talking about the best pitcher the best young pitcher since Dwight Gooden uh the guy that he had one good two-thirds of a season and was drafted as the SP1 and then two bad months is enough to drop him to you know outside of the top 15 yeah I mean I'm not even saying it's wrong it's just it is hard for me to wrap my mind around it one way or the other I think he's gonna be absolutely impossible to rank I think um I'm gonna guess whenever draft season happens next year there there are going to be a lot of uh very strongly declarative Twitter threads about Paul Skeens and this is a guy that I just I don't think it's going to make any sense to have a strong opinion one way or the other I just we don't know and I know that's an unsatisfying answer and the audience wants us to have the the strong tell me exactly what to do with Paul Skeens dude I don't know like this is I I'm not gonna be able to rank him as a top 12 pitcher I don't know if I I can remember a pitcher going from best in the league to unusable without an injury at 24 like it's like if Spencer Strider never got hurt but all the results were the same right like it's just it's so hard to make sense of um I wish I had a better answer and I think
Speaker 1again you see that in this draft kind of that you know uncertainty is Paul Skeens going at pick 71 as the sp 17 off the board these are 15 really really good fantasy baseball players who all passed on pulse Paul Skeens at least four times each and then obviously you went in the fifth
Speaker 3round so it's I will say so I think I feel better about Paul Skeens at 71 than Blake Snell at 73 that's fair I that's that's the one just I will probably I get the point I will never draft Blake Snell again I'm just saying I get it but man like whew the the the two good months every year it it's a big headache to get two good months out of a guy right yeah I mean I guess it's
Speaker 1uh I guess it's easier to do when the person who drafted Blake Snell also took Tarek Scooble in the second round so you insulate yourself with that uh speaking of pitching I'm just gonna very quickly run through the pitching landscape of this draft so Mizzy Arowski was the sp1 he went 12th overall Tarek Scooble the sp2 he went pick 18 Christopher Sanchez sp3 at pick 22 Cam Schlittler at pick 24 Yamamoto at pick 25 Jesus Lozardo at pick 28 Chris Sale as the sp7 at pick 29 those were the first two rounds moving into the next two rounds there was Dylan Cease at sp8 pick 33 Chase Burns went at pick 40 to Bubba Yuri Perez the 10th starting pitcher off the board to uh at pick 45 Gavin Williams sp11 pick 47 that went to your co-host Ryan Bloomfield and then Logan Gilbert sp12 pick 56 so that's the first four rounds only 12 starting pitchers off the board and then the 13th starting pitchers drafted Bubba it feels like the the room was kind of hesitant here to draft starting pitchers early which I totally get this early out it's like you know we could get injuries and and many things could change between now and and next year uh but talk to us about your Chase Burns sp9 pick 40 pick uh we know that he's you know being slow played for the rest of this season but when he pitched like a normal starting pitcher he looked like one of the best in the game yeah
Speaker 2this is an ant uh a an unlikely Bubba pick is what this was for anybody that's listened to my shows Ryan was shocked I took Chase Burns because um I've always scared of these guys to throw a million miles an hour and what's going to come of it situations and when it comes to Chase Burns it's like with Miz it's with with Schlittler and all these guys I keep saying it is you know you said uh Frank you need to change kind of your mindset on the price tags for me it's I always got to tell myself you know these guys are healthy now get what you can get out of them if injuries happen injuries happen we can't predict the future but I think it's going to be a tough one I think it's going to be a tough one I think it's going to be a tough one I think it's going to be a tough one I think it's going to be a tough one these things and with Chase Burns to your point when he was pitching the ratios were great the biggest concern entering this season was kind of like the walks with Chase Burns they're there he's got his innings next year he should be free to roam barring any kind of injury so I took a guy in round three where I figure if he puts together another good year next year it's around one or two pick and to real quickly you mentioned the hesitation yes this room has always had stint now because of so many questions leading forward you guys know come March or whenever our month leading in to draft emails a lot of these guys are going to go earlier in drafts so you just see it in this draft every time and then but you also if you just look at the board just look at the colors once it starts the faucet is on and it's go time for some people yeah and it's also worth noting relief pitchers
Speaker 3are way cheaper right now than they will be in January February March I do want to ask you went Jordan Walker South Stewart Chase Burns Andy Paz he's a little older and then Gary Cole do you what are those guys doing right now I think it's going to be a tough one I think it's going to be a tough one I think it's going to be a tough one I think it's going to be a tough one I think it's going to talk about Gary Cole's like 20 years older than the rest of your team like this is gonna be a
Speaker 2weird locker room dynamic Gary Cole's just gonna be telling to be quiet I need my nap that's that's about all that was gonna be but yeah I know it's a very weird dynamic because but then you throw Jeremy Pena in there and it gets a little a little better for a second yeah but uh yeah no that's always fun again I can go on sidetracks all day but I love how you mentioned that like when you build a team Jerry just physically think like what would these guys do hanging out together if they're a real team yeah that's Great point there.
Speaker 1Yuri Perez, I will just point out again, as the SP10 here, I think that's... Pat will catch some people by surprise, especially this draft that was done two weeks ago. His last two starts, he's had some blowups here. Chris, I lean towards, I think Uri is kind of wearing down a little bit here. He's up over 140 innings this season total. Last year it was around 120. So I think it's kind of acceptable to think he's wearing down a little bit. But for most of the second half, it looked like he's kind of stepping into that ace outcome. What do you think about him being drafted as a potential SP1?
Speaker 3It feels a little early, but then you look at the guys behind him and Gavin Williams has had an up and down season. Logan Gilbert has had his struggles. Zach Wheeler the last month has kind of been a disaster for him. I can't, like I don't know if I'm going to rank Uri Perez as my SP10, but there are certainly ace outcomes in his arm. And. If you can project him to get to 175, 180 innings next season, then yeah, I think the talent is certainly there. And it's not like there's anybody after him who looks like an absolute can't miss pitcher anyway. So it might be a little early, but anybody who listens to the podcast certainly knows I'm not going to be pounding the table for Gavin Williams to go earlier because that's going to be tough. So it's, it's. Um, it's a little, it's a little weird for, for the starting pitchers,
Speaker 1especially right now, I will quickly read off the, uh, SP 13 through 23. These were the pitchers in rounds, uh, five through six here. Zach Wheeler went at SP 13, followed by Drew Rasmussen, Peyton Toley up at SP 15. Uh, I think that's going to be a fun talking point as well. Garrett Cole at SP 16, Paul Skeens, Blake Snell, Logan Webb, Logan Henderson, SP 20, Kyle Harrison, Cade Anderson at SP 22 and, uh, Jacob deGrasse. Grom at SP 23. So just a very early look at the close to top 24 starting pitchers here, uh, being drafted in 2027. Let's wrap up with a quick recap of Bubba's first 15 picks. Again, they, they draft the first 15. This will be a 15, a 50 round draft. They'll pick it up again at some point in what, like November Bubba.
Speaker 2Yeah, it gets earlier and earlier. First, it used to be seven rounds. Now it's up to 15 and then it used to be November. Now NFPC opens their rooms in October. So pretty much once they open up the draft room. They create our room and we, we start drafting.
Speaker 1Yep. So your first five round picks, you had Jordan Walker, Sal Stewart, Chase Burns, Andy Pahez, this was before the fractured hand, uh, and Garrett Cole. We mentioned those five picks, um, just a couple of minutes ago, round six through 10, you have Jeremy Pena, David Bednar, Liam Hicks, Zach Gelof, and Cade Cavalli. Man. I love the Cade Cavalli pick. That is, uh, that feels really, really good. Talk, uh, talk to me about your, your top 10, 10 round picks here and, uh, how you built this out.
Speaker 2Yeah, we kind of talked the first five, but like the first four hitters, uh, it's all, you know, power speed floors, hopefully the average Steven Pius runs like we, we can work with that. Then we've got two ACE pitchers to, to go there with, uh, Burns and Cole. But when I went six through 10, Chris mentioned, he loves Jeremy Pena. That's been a player I've tried to roster everywhere I could this year as either a starting shortstop or my middle infielder, like I, I double up shortstop quickly. He's just been banged up a lot this year, but he hits for average power speed going that late. I'll take that for if I, without getting an, uh, you know, early round shortstop bednar, just a chance on late saves because it gets real bleak after that point, he felt cause he was a free agent. Uh, Liam Hicks cause catchers catchers, but I want to get Zach gel off as a player. I love multi-position out there. Power speed starting to click again this year, he'll be in that wonderful ballpark one more season before they make, maybe make their voyage to Vegas and then Cade Cavalli. Like I was over the moon that he fell, I was sitting there just watching the picks come down, fall, fall, fall, especially cause he's my SP three like to me, he's not an SP three in reality. Like when this, if this takes place in March, Cade Cavalli is not around 10 pick unless something horrible happens the last three weeks of the season. But uh, I love him. The, the, the strikeouts are legit. The ratios are getting there cause his, his command has gotten much better as he keeps going. And like the last two and a half months have been elite pitching from Cade Cavalli.
Speaker 3One question I do have is at the time of this draft. Bryce Harper had just moved to the outfield and now he's going to have outfield eligibility for next season in all leagues. I think he's up to 23, probably going to get to like 40 by the end of the season. Would you have taken him instead of pause there? If you had known he would have outfield eligibility or is getting the, the five re five category contributions, uh, more important for you.
Speaker 2For me at that point, it was the five category plus love Harbor. Don't get me wrong. Mm-hmm. We, we, early on, we talked to age, Harper's not as young as people think, and he's been banged up a lot in his time. And it's just been a thing with me. I think he's a steady Eddie. Like if you on boring is beautiful. Harper's one of those guys. But for me at this, at this point in the season, like obviously we're drafting so early, I was gonna take the upside with bias.
Speaker 1Sure. Yeah. But you gotta think about it like this. Baba. If you draft Bryce Harper, at least Gary Cole has someone to talk to in the clubhouse.
Speaker 2There's that. And I only draft elite players. So Harper's not, not allowed. Apparently.
Speaker 1Uh, I don't know, back over a 900 OPS, man, I kinda, I mean, I'm being fully sarcastic.
Speaker 2No, I know. I know. Like the, the GM saying that is like one of the more knucklehead things you'll ever hear.
Speaker 1Like, come on, man, back to Kavali. Hey, it worked.
Speaker 2It worked. It did work.
Speaker 1Well, true. Back to Kavali for just a second. Uh, Chris, you and I spoke about him recently and I was like, look, if he finishes out the season like this, he might be drafted as a top 24 starting pitcher. Mm-hmm and I, I still stand by that. I, I think if he just finishes out the season with what he's been doing, I think it's a quality start in seven. Seven straight seven or eight straight. Uh, I think he's probably going closer to that round six range with guys like Logan Henderson and Kate Anderson and Nolan McClain. I, I think he's more so in that as a, he's not as young as you think, but, um, not as well established pitcher who obviously flashed some really nice skills this year, strikeouts, ground balls, um, and obviously improving the walks as well. So I, I, I love that Kate Kavali pick.
Speaker 3Right. Kavali. I just wanna add. I believe. Cause Jacob is your house. The streak of three earned run or less starts ended last night. It did. Yep. Kate Kavali, I think he has three earned runs allowed or less in 27 of 29 starts to lead baseball. Wow. Wow. That's crazy. Wow. Some of those three are like, there was one where he gave up three and runs in two and a third inning. So it's like, it's not, they, they weren't all great starts, obviously, you know, he got off to a kind of rough start, but that is, that is one of the more surprising stats I've heard this season.
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