FAAB Targets (Week of March 30)

The first big waivers weekend of the year is here. We might have only seen one or two games so far, but this is the chance to add players who could help your team for a full six months.

The first big waivers weekend of the year is here. We might have only seen one or two games so far, but this is the chance to add players who could help your team for a full six months.

We'll share our 20 favorite pickups of the week here on the roadwire fantasy baseball podcast.

Hello, and welcome everybody to the Saturday waivers edition of the roadwire fantasy baseball podcast brought to you by fan tracks, Eric Halteren here with Ryan Boyer.

Ryan to your teams all need a ton of pickups already is the back half your roster a mess or are you only going to be trimming one or two players this weekend.

I just have a mic trout FOMO right now. We're getting a vintage mic trout so far and I have zero shares so hopefully he doesn't make me regret that too much or on the other hand, hopefully he does would be kind of nice if we saw vintage mic trout season again, even if it's not going to help me very much.

I'd take it. We will have a full show with 20 pickups everybody who was here in previous years knows the drill for this one we talk about 10 players that we call priority pickups these are guys who might be grabbed in some of your deeper leagues, but if they're not certainly get them right away and also you'll want to add them even in shallower formats and then later in the show.

We've got five deep league pitchers and five deep league hitters for you, but before we get into all that want to start with some of the top headlines.

We've got some injury news here which could be bad but could be a whole lot worse Jacob DeGrom is scratched from his start Saturday against the Phillies, but only next stiffness of all the possible reasons for Jacob DeGrom to get scratched.

One of the best probably not I'm not sure how into Jacob DeGrom you were this season Ryan I wouldn't have considered myself a huge fan, but I did end up with him on a few teams and I'm having a little buyers remorse now.

I'm someone who thinks he is past the elbow issues because he got surgery, but he's also pretty old and we've seen with other guys like say Mac Scherzer when you get to around age 37 where DeGrom is now.

That's when you start seeing these 30 start seasons drop to you know 23 24 due to a variety of minor ailments do you think this is maybe a preview of what's to come with the Grom.

Yeah and you mentioned Scherzer Scherzer actually had was a camera but was last year that year before he had a nagging neck neck issue actually as well.

Hopefully this is not similar to that but yeah alarm bells go off a little bit anytime you see injury and Jacob DeGrom but as you mentioned all signs pointed this being minor seems like at this juncture if you probably will avoid the I.

You get a we're getting a Jacob Lats start today in his place actually like Lats a little bit but looks like it'll probably just be a one off for him that's what the Rangers are hoping anyway but yeah fingers crossed that it's not anything more than that but all signs pointed being minor.

Yeah hopefully that's the case here an injury which is a little bit less minor is one to Andrew Vaughn who hit the I. L. this morning a hand injury the specifics I believe have not yet been announced but he exited the season opener Thursday in the sixth inning it's actually going to be catcher Jefferson carrow who was called up from triple a Nashville so maybe we'll see some Gary Sanchez.

Gary Sanchez starts a D. H. or something like that is Sanchez the big winner here is it Jake Bowers are there any potential pickups related to this brief potentially brief at least Andrew Vaughn absence.

Yeah well Bowers is I think because of the choreo injury he was already kind of locked into a pretty regular role.

Could open up more reps for Gary Sanchez could also open up more reps in the outfield for guys like Brandon Lockridge Blake Perkins.

Don't know that there's a ton of kind of fantasy value to take away from this for as far as new roles go with one out but Jefferson Kiro is known more for his defense I don't think he's going to play a whole lot I think it's mostly about seeing Gary Sanchez maybe more at D. H. maybe more little more at first base.

Christian Yelich could get a little more time in the outfield he is not outfield eligible currently in most formats so this could help him chip away at that a little bit that between that and the the choreo injury so that's something to could be a positive takeaway for yellowish owners.

Yeah it seems like I believe I read Vaughn I think he injured his hand on a and a bat but then stayed in the game for a while and it was eventually removed but yeah we haven't seen whether there's a fracture.

Spray or anything like that we haven't seen the D. H. they did confirm well actually brewers haven't confirmed but beat writers of confirm that he is going on the on the I. L. so going to be with the end of on for at least next couple weeks.

Right another player you'll be out we're without for at least a couple weeks or so is making Moniac who was placed on the I. L. Friday with a spring finger.

Moniac would have had at least deeply appeal if not maybe even some more widespread appeal in shallower leagues so far seems like the main effect here is the D. H. spots going to be open every day the Rockies do have enough outfielders to cover for his absence but there's a couple.

Fringey guys like your Edward Julian so we might talk about later who are the beneficiaries of this you hold non to Moniac in a deeper league with no I. L. spots are you letting go.

I would like to hang on to him actually wound up with a decent number of shares of Moniac I think he's.

Pretty interesting I liked him as a outfiller for outfield or five target hopefully the spring isn't that can be a finger spring is something that could kind of linger maybe take away a little bit of power from a hitter if it's in a bad spot but we don't know.

More more beyond what they've what the Rockies have said with the right ring finger spring I believe hopefully short term absence for him Julian as you mentioned going to get look more of a look at the age she's starting again today for the second straight game.

Troy Johnston I guess maybe get a few more reps.

But yeah until the Rockies get home I don't know that they that there's a lot to to like in the immediate future for playing time beneficiaries.

Yeah I think that's probably true there is a lot to like about the Cardinals lineup today or at least there's one thing that I like and that's Ivan Herrera is starting at catcher he's somebody who probably doesn't have catcher eligibility in your league I believe it was 14 games there last year.

Most leagues use a 15 or 20 game threshold if you happen to be in one that uses 10 games and congrats you've got Ivan Herrera as a catcher all year but for everybody else we're waiting either five or 10 games at catcher this season before he gets eligibility and if he's already catching in game two that votes pretty well right Ryan I think we could see him get his fifth game in maybe the second or third week of the season we could see him get his tenth almost certainly by the end of April unless there's an injury setback right.

Yeah I'm very anxious to go ahead and cut my Freddy for me and shares my catcher fill in while Herrera gets gets his catcher eligibility I was pleasantly surprised honestly that he was catching already in the second game he had that they eased him into catching and spring training because of the elbow surgery and then he had a knee inflammation which they said was brought about by kind of being reintroduced to catcher so.

Pleasantly surprised that he's already catching in the second game I mean if it's one time behind the plate per week it could still take him while but that he's already catching is it seems like a pretty good indicator it could come before that so yeah positive news on the Ivan Herrera front.

Yeah I hope it's more like one's per series circling back real quick to the Jacob DeGrom news just saw this note from Beatrider Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News says the hope is that DeGrom would pitch Tuesday in Baltimore if they can get the neck to calm down so sounds like the ranger's not currently thinking that this is an IL situation so hopefully this one not a big deal but still a little buyers remorse on my end nonetheless we're going to get to our priority pickups but I did want to get that.

Obviously pickups but I did want to slip in a couple questions about drops here because I think it's important before we talk about the pickups to think about what would make you give up on a player already for example Kalman Zardo I would have no interest in dropping he's in the lineup he's just struck out five times and nine played appearances and you know after two or three weeks we might say man and Zardo doesn't look good this year but not at this point if anybody's playing I don't care at all how poorly they're playing not a drop for me under pretty much any

circumstances how about you yeah I agree I think you got to hang on to man Zardo at a little bit of a shorter leash I guess now that Reese Hoskins is in the mix but I'm not really worried about that I mean if you drafted

month Zardo you're not you're not cutting him at this point I think yeah there are shallow leagues where he would have been one of your last couple picks but even there it's got to be playing time related but related to that jag caglione is sitting against a lefty today or was it yesterday whenever the royals first face to lefty caglione was not in there

this is more something where you two could consider a drop if caglione if you're in a shallow enough league that he was you know one of your last couple picks then you really do want everybody in those formats be playing every day

I would still probably wait until we see two or three lefties right just because sometimes in this opening series managers want to get everybody into the game and if that means sitting one of your lefties against the south boss or one of your right handed bench guys can get a start

I would wait at least two or three lefties before we can really say jack cagliones being puttune would you agree

yeah I agree and I think we need to keep in mind it was Chris sale to so that maybe he's not going to it's just going to be reserved for the tougher lefties like that that cagliones going to sit which makes some sense would like to see him get every day run and I think he's hopefully going to ultimately get that so I would I would hold tight for now

all right and we also throw in this one about Justin sturner on the a's who pitched on opening day gave up the losing run to the blue jays but I don't think one poor outing would let me drop a reliever usage might but in this case the usage was pitching in the ninth and tie game I think that's close enough to suggesting that he might still be the closer that I wouldn't be moving on just yet although again shallow league where he's your last pick you see somebody else more interesting maybe

yeah based on what happened in that first appearance I would not cut him but I mean

there's still a lot to work out with that bullpen if you see more evidence and then his next appearance or the appearance after that

and it's the stocks is looking a little down I mean you're that's not a guy you're going to lose much sleep over dropping I don't think

still a lot to sort out with that a's bullpen yeah of course it's easy for us to say keep all your players we're not the ones we have to draft who have to drop somebody to pick up somebody on here but that's what I'd be leaning to thank you for those questions Luis

I do see Angelo here in the chat mentioning he dropped keglione for chase to lottery in a 10 team league I could see that happen in for sure

that is a league where keglione is borderline I still like him but he's borderline and chase to lottery

would have been one of our priority pickups this year I should mention before we start these that we use under 50% owned in yahu leagues as our general baseline for these first 10 players and in that case

guys like chase to lottery and commonly early at the end of draft season we're well under 50% but they've already shot up so quickly in just a couple days because these shallow

leagues tend to also be daily pickups leagues but if you are in a shallow weekly pickups league absolutely chase to lottery and

commonly early probably the two players to pick up before anybody else we're about to talk about right yeah early specifically for me I think it's pretty close between the

lottery and the first guy I'm going to be talking about I think I might lean more towards the well I'll just go and say it's going to be

Carson Bench it's going to be my first guy but yeah the lottery just because of the injury history I mean he needs to be rostered in all leagues while he's upright and healthy

but just that injury history is extremely long and concerning so I don't know maybe if you can sell high quickly on him that's something

I would consider but he definitely needs to be rostered while he's healthy

yeah so let's jump right into those priority pickups with your first guy they're Carson Bench I think I'd be picking up to

lotter first just because for these next couple weeks well the lotter still healthy I think there's a higher

ceiling there but it sounds like you are quite high on Carson Bench so sell me on this rookie Matt's right

fielder yeah very high on Carson Bench home run and a stone base couple walks couple runs scored and major league

debut it's hard to get off to a better start than that number 15 on James Anderson's top 400

prospects I think the general consensus and probably what you are alluding to is that Bench is more a high

floor guy than a high ceiling play that might wind up being the case I've seen a lot of like Nick

Marquacus comps that's would be quite happy if he turns into Nick Marquacus but also something to

keep in mind with him 2025 is his first year as a full-time hitter so I think there's a decent chance

that we have not seen his peak his ceiling obviously still very young had poor results after being

promoted to triple a last year but he also had a 188 bad up and he had a 52.8% hard hit rate at

triple a so I would not read much into that keep a close eye on potential platoon he could be in a

jack cag loan situation where at the very least against tougher lefties he could sit in the

meds could throw Tyrone Taylor out there in the outfield so let keep a close eye on Carson Bench

in that regard he did he was knowsably worse against lefties in the miners last season so that

would make sense to for him to be on the strong side of a platoon so might maybe some counting stats

deficiencies there but I do like the ability of Carson Bench both from a power and speed perspective

and because he's still relatively new to hitting I think there could be a little more untapped potential

there yeah looks like a nice well-rounded player who also has a pretty decent glove in the outfield

some speed some power good hit tool not sure there's going to be big power this year especially

with the city field not being a great place to hit but I do really like his strike out in walk

numbers in particular in the miners I'm a little worried if he is platoon that the end result will

look a little brand in marshy you know doing some of everything but without the full-time playing

time that leads to you know 15 15 more than 2020 and in shallow leagues that might not be enough

but I think with the upside potential here if he does take another step he's still quite young

think it makes sense to add him now and see where it goes but I would prefer a different NLE

outfielder and maybe this is my Philly's Homerism here but Justin Crawford is one of my favorite

players to draft this offseason and this is probably my last chance to talk about him on a waiver

wire show still available actually in about three quarters of Yahoo leagues Justin Crawford is the

son of Carl Crawford has a pretty similar skill set as somebody who's gonna hit for a high

average and run and not have many homers Carl Crawford eventually had I think a career high of 19

Justin's gonna get you single digits almost certainly but it's not because he's a weak contact

guy this is the thing about Justin Crawford that has me so in on him his hard hit numbers at AAA were

pretty decent not elite but pretty good I think slightly above average it's just he pounds it into

the ground his ground ball rates look like Christopher Sanchez is or they look like Framber of

All Deses he turns every single pitcher into a ground ball specialist and that means that there's

a certain throwback style of fan who's gonna be absolutely in love with Justin Crawford you know

that guy who says why are they trying to hit homers they should all just hit it on the ground and run

well Justin Crawford is that guy and that's gonna give him a high batting average grounders have a

higher bat bit than fly balls it's just easier to sneak them through and he sprays it all over the

field hard that gives him a real shot to hit at least 272 80 I'm not gonna call 300 for a rookie

just yet but it's got a better than average strikeout rate too I think Justin Crawford's gonna

really help you in average and if he ends up on first a lot because he's not gonna hit many doubles

or homers that's gonna give him a lot of chances to run out of the nine hole in a true everyday

role this is the other reason I like him over bench is the Phillies do not have anyone else to

can play center field on this roster other than Brandon Marsh who's also a lefty and as proven he

can't hit lefty so Crawford's going to play every day at least until Johann Rojas returns from his

PEV suspension so 30 steals shouldn't be hard at all and 40 could even be in play points leagues there's

really no reason to look at him because a lot of points leagues they really care about power and

don't really care about speed but in a roto league even a shallow three outbuilder roto league I

take Justin Crawford over bench are you on bench over Crawford still not worried about Dylan more

cutting into that center field time against not exactly no we'll see but no maybe a couple of

years ago it's been a it's been a downward trend for for Dylan more used to be pretty good against

against lefties not so much in the more recent past but yeah I mean I like Justin Crawford

I think a lot of people think he's this is going to feel like an insult I feel like but

closer to a Chandler Simpson and that it's just going to be a zero on the power department but

provide a lot in the batting average and steals and like it almost sounds like an insult but it's

not really right he is going to be stuck at the bottom of the batting order but I mean if you're

going to be hitting ninth in any in any batting order Phillies Phillies orders are pretty good

one to be in so maybe some counting stats deficiencies there but yeah I like the skill set with

Justin Crawford they seem quite committed to giving him some leash all right you've got another young

outfielder or at least a player who recently became an outfielder is the next guy on your list

tell me about Jordan Lawler right yeah Jordan Lawler finally getting that everyday chance it seemed

like for a couple years that the Diamondbacks were doing basically anything they could to

put up roadblocks for Jordan Lawler he didn't exactly help himself either really struggled and

his limited big league chances also dealt with some hamstring issues during his time in the minors but

getting that chance at the everyday roll now he had an awesome spring training to win that role

OPS over a thousand had four home runs in a stolen base almost as many walks to strikeouts

went one for three with a double in the opener also had a great catch and left field which

doesn't really help you in fantasy but it helps keep him in the lineup if he shows

to be adept at defensively in the outfield that's a good sign he also finally showed signs

of turning around offensively last season he looked back at September he slashed 308 364 487

in that final month seems like he's been around forever but he's still only 23 years old

the career numbers at AAA are awesome 328 414 576 that's a very

hitter friendly venue at AAA Reno but that's I mean those numbers speak for themselves

also 18 home runs home runs and 24 stolen bases in 91 games at the AAA level offers some power

and some speed pretty well a definition of a post type sleeper with Jordan Waller he's going to

get that additional eligibility in the outfield really like him as a as a potential post type breakout

yeah I think that makes a lot of sense he really has not looked good in his small

tastes of the big league so far just hasn't made nearly enough contact and hasn't hit it very

hard but I don't think this is a guy who's just broken and is not the guy we thought he was at all

because his numbers and the minors are still excellent as you pointed out so I think it makes

sense to grab Jordan Waller ignore those past brief major league stints and see where this goes now

he finally gets some regular run from a diamond back to a former diamond back my next guy here

is Jake McCarthy yet another speedy outfielder for me so again maybe not in all your points leagues

but I think in roto leagues even shallow potentially just three outfielder ones I'd be taking a look

at Jake McCarthy because he is the rocky's lead-off man at least against righties we haven't seen

their versus lefty lineup yet but a guy who's going to lead off in most games going to score a lot

of runs should steal a lot of bases he had three seasons between 23 and 26 steals despite playing

an average of few hundred fewer than 400 played appearances in his three good seasons as a diamond

back so if he gets to five hundred six hundred played appearances we're talking 35 steel potential

if not more McCarthy's coming off a really bad season where it was mostly just a terrible

Babib 233 Babib in 67 games for the diamond backs last year meant his actual batting average was

204 he's not a guy who walks either so it was a 247 OBP and he lost his job now that he's a rocky

though it's going to be a lot harder to lose his job that's why I like Colorado Rockies if you're

at least decent he can track down balls in that huge course field outfield and he'll get a nice

batting average boost somebody who typically had above average Babibs in the past because

he hits it on the ground and he runs fast it's not hard grounders like with Justin Crawford

but I think with the Babib boost from course field I think I feel pretty good about Jake McCarthy

hitting at least 270 ish and if he's going to be the lead-off man a lot of runs a lot of stolen

bases so I think Jake McCarthy should be a pretty good bounce back candidate this year to the

point where even though he's currently owned and I think it's only two percent of Yahoo leaks I

think that number is going to go way up sooner rather than later are you in on McCarthy less than

some of the other outfielders we talked about but are you at least in on him yeah I think it's fair

to say less but I'm definitely in as well I mean you mentioned the the course field boost that he's

it's got a sub 20 percent strikeout rate in his career the bad of ball did is not great but

if you make a lot of contact it it's I mean it's the recipe to hit for a high average and he's

already a 260 career hitter that's not great but I mean if he had been playing at Colorado he'd probably

be a 280 career hitter chance for that number to go up this year maybe batting lead-off as you

mentioned don't know how much power he's ultimately going to hit for even in Colorado but

there's a lot to like with with Jay McCarthy all right we've been seconded outfield for almost all

our pickups so far although Jordan Waller should still have third base eligibility as well

you've got a middle in-fielder though for us people are going to need some pickups in a spot

other than outfield so who is it yeah if you're looking for those stolen bases Naseem Nunez

looks like he's going to be the the primary second baseman for the national is actually starting

at shortstop today CJ Abrams is away from the team due to a death in the family but looks

like he's going to settle in at second base most days Luis Garcia is going to shift over to first

base reach base twice in the opener and stole base Naseem Nunez did looked great and spring

training with seven for seven and stolen bases drew as many walks as he had strikeouts look back

of the stolen base totals in the minors they're quite robust 45 in 2025 66 in 2023 70 in 2022

finally got some playing time with the national is last September and actually

hit pretty well at the plate 915 ops he had four home runs so maybe he's not going to be a complete

zero in the power department but I'm certainly not counting on him to provide anything much more than

stolen bases but if you need those stolen bases he's I mean almost surely going to run while he's

in the lineup even if the OBP isn't great he might just be a one category specialist but

should be very good for that one category and obviously the real rebuilding nationals

want to take a look at him I don't know if you've seen the nationals lineup for the first

first couple games of the season it's really really bad so a younger guy like Naseem Nunez who

might have a little upside every reason for the nationals to take a long look at him to see

what he can provide going forward yeah backup catcher drew millis I don't even know if I'm saying

that name right and I don't think I need to learn it given how unlikely it is that he's an

impact player this year he's the number two hater for the nationals in the second game of the season

gonna be plenty of opportunity for the likes of Naseem Nunez to play every day and potentially move

up the lineup we're going to move to our priority hitters our priority pitchers I should say

but I want to throw in a couple things from the chat here people worried about some pitchers maybe

we can set the line for whether or not we would be picking up any guys we're talking about

over say Mike Burrows who didn't have a great first outing believe it was what five earned runs in

five and two-thirds innings he was drafted I think ahead of most of the guys we're about to talk

about here and I don't think that just giving up a bunch of runs it was nine hits as well it wasn't

a good outing but from a strikeout and walk perspective six strikeouts two walks I don't think

I would be much lower on Mike Burrows after just one start and so if you were higher on Burrows than

any of these guys heading into the season probably keep them yeah I agree it's fairly close to

the guys we're gonna be mentioning but if you drafted him I don't think what he did in that first

start is gonna be enough to to cut him loose so I would I would stick with him for now all right

another commenter who seems to be potentially worried about a pitcher here asking if Emmett she

in for Jack Keglione who would win the trade we talked about Jack Keglione maybe not playing

every day like we hoped he would but also too early to say he's definitely in a platoon Emmett she

and his velocity was dropping over the course of four innings and it was really not good by the end

of that start but I think I'm holding on to she and not trading him for Keglione and not dropping

him for any of these guys I'm worried but the upside was she and is so high that I'm definitely

holding on for at least another start are you doing the same I am definitely also worried as well

I believe at least as last spring training outing maybe as last two he had the same velocity issues

where it was kind of really trended downward as he went along so that's a warning flag warning sign

but something to keep an eye on but as long as he's healthy I still really like Emmett she in

and I think I'm you know I'm sticking with him all right let's move to the players we have on

our list today our priority pitchers to pick up I will start with my top guy here for shallower

leagues who is available still in let's see 87% of Yahoo leagues is the guy who I'm pretty sure

we talked about last year around this time maybe once or twice even Max Meyer of the Marlins is my

top pitcher to add for shallower leagues and Max Meyer is exactly the sort of pitcher I want to

add this time of year if he's still available the type of pitcher who has shown promise but can't

stay healthy but he's healthy now the most important thing when it comes to pitcher health is how do they

look right now not how do they look a year or two ago and Max Meyer look great in camp he struck out

literally half the batters he faced in the great fruit league Max Meyer somebody who

has had a stop start career at the big league level he made two starts back in 2022 then

needed elbow surgery missed all of 2023 came back at 11 starts in 24 and they weren't very good but

that often happens to guys in their first year back from Tommy John surgery he started last year

very hot but then he hit a wall and eventually needed season ending hip surgery so I can't promise you

that Max Meyer is going to be useful in June or July but I'm pretty sure he's going to be useful

in March and April given the way he was throwing this spring this is the sort of pitcher again I

I want him now and I want to see where it goes he's somebody who's shown better than average walk

rates and ground ball rates and then a strikeout rate that's fluctuated and if the strikeouts are

high right now Max Meyer I think could help teams in pretty much any format are you on Max Meyer even

in these shallow leagues I am as you mentioned really really good start last year and you have to

wonder how much the the hip had been how long the hip had been bothering him and how much that

contributed to his really trailing off after that hot start but he's probably going to need a third

pitch at some point he really only throws two pitches I mean that can work if those two pitches

are really good and he has an amazing slider so maybe it will work but yeah I like the I like

the upside with Max Meyer hopefully you can get that third pitch but I think he's going to miss a

lot of bats with that slider all right who is your top starting pitcher to add right I have

Matthew Matthew Libertor so so in the opener against the raise he only went one up gaming

giving up one run but quite a bit of traffic on the bases velocity was up slightly from last season

also gave up no hits on his new splitter I think we still have to wait and see what

baseball survival is classifying it as a change up so there's a chance he wasn't throwing that

splitter but that was they were talking about that in spring training about a potentially new

weapon for him so we'll see if that's a classification issue or if he's ultimately just jump

that pitch because I do think that could lead to more bat missing ability from Libertor

but awesome in spring training 180 ERA 19-2 strike out to walk rate or 15 innings had a 23.6%

swinging strike rate former top prospect still just 26 years old got a great parked pitch in

believe he crossed 150 innings last year and has moved back to the rotation so there's no

workload concerns with Libertor some potential post type breakout with him don't know ultimately

how much swinging miss he's going to have his fastball as I know in spring training the characteristics

were a little different it's it's been a pitch that's been very hittable for him in the past

so maybe just a little adding a little grip change or something to that can help hitters get

off that fastball so I think there is some post type sleeper appeal with with Matthew Lovator

don't know how many wins he's ultimately going to be able to get on the rebuilding cardinals but

good home park he slotted into a rotation spot all season I think there's a lot to like about

Libertor yeah Libertor just needs to miss more bats as you said to really be interesting but

on that fastball stuff plus is a stat that does become relevant pretty quickly in the season and

for what it's worth his stuff plus his first four years on his fastball 89 87 87 85 in his first

start this year though 103 so that's pretty encouraging from Matthew Libertor he's got a better

fastball now maybe the whole picture hangs together a little bit better and he really is an all

formats pitcher not just a deeply guy my next pitcher here might be two pitchers I couldn't decide

between the two brewers trade acquisitions this offseason Kyle Harrison and Brandon Sprout

Kyle Harrison is the one I put down in our notes mostly because if you're listening to this and

you have a weekly pickups on Sunday night Kyle Harrison looks like he's going to get two

starts next week Monday versus the rays and Sunday versus Kansas City but if you were listening

to this and you're in a daily pickups league I would go get Brandon Sprout right now before his

start Sunday against the white socks both of them were picked up in trades this winter Harrison

from the red socks and Sprout from the mets neither of them have shown that much in the big league

level but they've both been okay in small samples and I just trust the brewers very much among all

organizations to tweak some repertoire is figure out the best pitches adjust some grips just a little

bit and take some guys who have prospect pedigree and again they've been okay they just haven't quite

been what they're supposed to be I think the brewers are the kind of organization who can get that

out of them and I think also pitching in that NL Central is a great landing spot so I would grab

Harrison or Sprout I'm really quite torn between the two of them and again I think in daily leagues

just go grabs Sprout tonight right before his start against the white socks and in weekly leagues

probably prioritize Harrison for that two starter next week do you have anything that separates

these two brewers starters Ryan I think I would lean Harrison in a redraft mostly just because

already some experience at the big league level he's also better from a strike throwing perspective

yeah I'm with you that I just place a lot of faith in what the brewers can do I don't know exactly

how they're gonna remake Kyle Harrison and he's gonna take off but I have a fairly high confidence

level that that's gonna happen not gonna happen with everybody they put their hands on but I like

the upside of Kyle Harrison still really young too yeah talk of a change up being added to his

arsenal I think it was the red socks that tried to add a cutter after they acquired him from the

giants and he spent some time in the minors and it didn't really work a Sprout had an up and down

career too he was a big prospect and then he struggled for a lot of last year but they did end up

showing more by the end of the season so again two guys who not have the straightest path but I

trust the brewers to get the most out of them for sure should we move over to the bullpen Ryan who

is your number one bullpen ad this weekend let's do it uh I got Paul C-Wall the Tori levelo pretty

much named him the closer um prior to opening day he was asked who the closer is gonna be and

C-Wall was the only name he came up with um didn't say that that's gonna be that he's gonna be

the closer but he said he would forget exactly what the quote was but he would be uh it would be

silly of him not to strongly consider C-Wall especially coming off a strong spring training for

the veteran reliever Vila was back up I mean that's all relative he's never been a high Vila guy

but last year it fell down till around 90 it was back up to around 92 in spring training that's

about what we've been used to from him at the major league level had a 225 ERA five strike out some

just one walk in the innings this spring Lavello also mentioned that I think it was when they sent

Braden Garcia down they he said that the thing they're looking for most in their relievers is

strike throwing ability and C-Wall's always been good in that regard 31.9% K-Rate and 8.1%

strike of walk rate since 2021 look he's a 35-year-old reliever coming off a bad season who doesn't rely

on velocity so you can't have a ton of faith that this is gonna work out but I think he's pretty

clearly at the top of the pecking order in the diving backs bullpen for what should be a pretty good

team so I think he's pretty close to must-roster even though admittedly don't have a ton of faith

over the long haul that's gonna work out for Palsy Wall. Yeah I believe the quote was I'd be foolish

not to strongly consider him I wish he said silly though it would be a little bit more

whimsical but same idea there should mention here were these closer ads that were in kind of a tough

position given when we are doing this show and most of the time this Saturday afternoon show means

we've seen you know 98% of the season that's happened so far by the time you get to your Sunday night

pickups but at this point we've seen a lot of teams play one or two games and if you're in a Sunday

night fab league oh by then everybody will have played at least three probably we'll see one or two

more unexpected saves I kind of don't think we're gonna see one from the diving back so playing

against the Dodgers seems not that likely so there will probably be another name or two who pops

up soon but with that in mind the surprising early save that I think you need to go out and chase

is Jordan Romano I am not at all excited about recommending Jordan Romano in the year 2026 coming

off a pair of seasons where he had a 659 ERA and an 823 ERA for my Phillies last year though the

underlying numbers were better Sierra for example was 393 and 366 these last two years not closer

if numbers too many walks a major home run problem but he's an angel and what else are the angels

going to do they had five interesting options but Kirby Yates and Robert Stevenson and Ben Joyce are

all opening on the IEL on opening day against the Astros the angels did get a save it was drew

pomerance who was maybe my favorite candidate among those five even though he is a lefty he's just

one of the only guys who actually pitched well last year he got the eighth inning it was against

the three four or five hitters so maybe this is a committee situation where pomerance gets the

toughest part of the lineup which means to end up with a lot of saves I think if you're in deeper

leagues you can try to pick up both of these guys if they're available I would still say pomerance

is worth the end of the bench shot just in case but Romano did get the ninth inning and got the

save so I think that says he's probably the guy here the velocity was lower than it was last year

which was in turn lower than the year before so again this is the the lukewarmest of lukewarm

recommendations here I just don't have any faith and Jordan Romano really keeping the job for

even half the season but we know how much managers care about having a guy with closer experience

in the ninth inning and Romano has 114 career saves so I think that means he's the guy I think you

got to go pick him up at least for now right yeah I mean I think you covered all the base as well

there I I'm worried about the velocity it was down in spring training as well even though he

got good results I still think curbiates is probably ultimately going to be the guy to roster in

that bullpen that doesn't seem like the knee issue is going to be a long-term thing I'm with you I

also think pomerance is worth rostering I think part of the reason why they they sign Joey

Lucacy's so they could use another left-hander in a more high leverage role and use Lucacy earlier in

games yeah I think you pretty much covered it it's all signs point to Romano being the guy in the

ninth inning right now but not a ton of faith that it's gonna hold up over the long haul but saves

her saves and he could get them now so he needs to be roster yeah I mean remember how little faith

most people would have had about Emilio Pagan last year and he turned out to be one of the biggest

pickups of all season and this was the weekend you had to get him so think with that in mind you

probably do need to get Romano if you're chasing saves there are a couple other relievers who are

mentioned in the chat who we're actually going to talk to talk about not talk to that'd be

interesting and we'll be talking about some deep league pitcher ads in just a minute right after

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first Saturday fab pickups edition of the year here on the photo rotawire fantasy baseball

podcast aircalksman here with Ryan Boyer we've covered the priority ads who you should grab

everywhere they're available now we're talking about some players who you probably only want in

deeper formats starting on the mound with your first guy Ryan who is it going to stick with the

angels which you could argue that this is not the way to go with the sticking with that organization

but I do like Ryan Johnson in deeper formats one rotation spot with a great spring training at a

23 to five strike out to walk rate over 22 thirds innings guy who was largely ignored during draft

season I actually drafted him in two super early draft champions leagues and not with a thought that

he might get a rotation spot that but that he could be used eventually in the angels rotation

at some point this season happened earlier than expected also nabbed him in our rotawire

staff league feel like he was kind of unfairly dismissed due to struggles last season but the angels

you might remember took him from a small college drafty in the second round straight to the majors

last season so you can hardly blame him for having struggles and once you went down to the minors at

an age appropriate level dominated at high a one eight eight year a had a whip under 0.9 65 to 10

strike out to roll great over 57 and the third innings at the high a level this is a legitimately

good pitching prospect the angels could very well screw him up like they do a lot of things but

I do like Ryan Johnson's arm he's probably gonna have to get off to good start to keep that rotation

spot but there's a lot of upside there I would probably stay away from him at least initially

until for matchups but I think the idea of rostering him and just seeing how it goes early on

I think is a good play yes somebody here you're going to have to ignore those surface stats on

if you are going to take a chance on him but hey I'd notice his stuff plus and location plus

were both better than average last year not bad from a guy who again made his professional debut

in the majors strange strange organization over there but I guess we'll take it if he gives us

an interesting season for deeper formats this year my first deep league pitcher here is Carmen

Majinski of the pirates that's MLODZ INSKI find a Polish person near you and have them explain

that one if you need carbon Majinski last year pitched out of both the rotation and bullpen

and in 99 innings he was pretty good 355 year a the whip was a little elevated at 130 but I don't

think that he looks like a high whip guy to me given that he had a pretty good 6% walk rate

compared combined combined that excuse me with a 21% strikeout rate which was right around the

garage and slightly elevated ground ball rate as well now he was a swing man and his numbers were

better out of the bullpen which happens with a lot of swing men but should note that he was not

ever really airing it out over just one inning just a single one of his 34 appearances last year

were of the one inning variety and 31 of the 34 appearances were at least two innings so he was

having to preserve his arm not not going all out chasing strikeouts over 15 pitches or whatever

and he earned a spot in this pirates rotation this year after a pretty good spring had a 25%

strikeout rate to go with a 3.6% walk rate in an ERA just under 3 in spring training it's a nice

pitchers park in Pittsburgh as well I don't trust the defense at all I think everybody in the

world even Joel and Bede was watching O'Neal Cruz drop some fly balls in center field and

tweeting about how he needed to move to DH but that aside I think Majinsky is an interesting

enough arm who will at least have the starting role to start the year and I think he might be able

to keep it despite there being some other interesting younger pitchers there it's just a pretty

well-rounded statistical profile here for Majinsky who also like Ryan Johnson was above average in both

stuff plus and location plus last year so some of the fancier newer stats like him as well

I think he's worth an ad in deeper formats I wouldn't necessarily push for him in shallower

formats yet though can you get behind Carmen Majinsky yeah but I think you you can you can definitely

get behind him I know James is high on him as well he's a guy to trust with the young the young

pitchers so yeah like taking a taking a shot on Majinsky another guy pulling out of the archives

Stephen Mats is gonna be my next recommendation cemented a spot in the raised rotation with 11

scoreless innings the spring eight strikeouts and three walks he's gonna call Trappocana Field

home for his home starts that's a very good pitchers park always been an elite strike

thrower and I think that's probably a good fit for the the raise they're known as an organization

that really focuses on pounding the strike zone could be kind of a left-handed version of

Zach Latel maybe this season for the for the raise as a guy who just throws a lot of strikes and

it's gonna get out give up his fair share of home runs but probably a good whip option

look at his first three of his first scheduled four starts for Stephen Mats the very positive positive

matchups you got the cardinals the twins and the white socks that fourth start is against the Yankees

but it is at least at home so I do think there's a decent chance that Stephen Mats could carry over

that strong spring into a good start not gonna tell you that he's gonna have fantasy viability

all season but I do think he's worth rostling as your ninth pitcher right now yeah I think that

checks out to me the raise know what they're doing with pitchers I think we can still say that

I don't know how many more good seasons former raise minor league or Christopher Sanchez needs to have

before we start saying the raise have no idea how to identify pitcher but for now I think we can

say good disease Stephen Mats go the way to squeeze Christopher Sanchez's name in the podcast don't

yeah we don't get to talk about him on the waiver show for conventional reasons but we should

be talking about him at least once per day so I got it got to find a way to get him in there

moving to the bullpen though for some deep league ads I've got Ryan Stannick of the cardinals

and neither of us put this guy in the priority as despite the fact that like Jordan Romano he was the

one who emerged from a crowded closer competition to pick up the save on opening day

and I'm curious to hear from you if you at least considered him as a priority ad or if you deliberately

left him for this deep league section for me I do trust him less than Romano in part because he

didn't look good while picking up that save I believe you walked the bases loaded now it is clear

from the usage that he was very much given the chance over all of Matt Sponson who pitched in the

sixth or JoJo Romero pitched in the seventh or Riley O'Brien who finished the seventh and got the

eighth it was a four-way competition with Stannick as the least interesting name in there at least

according to fantasy drafters and can we conclude after one game Ryan that Stannick is the closer

or do you still view him as maybe the committee lead and somebody who doesn't really look good

enough to keep that job for more than a week or two were you pretty set on leaving him for this

deep league section yeah I think he is more of a deep league play I mean my biggest takeaway from

that bullpen usage in the in the first game is that Marmel's probably not going to settle on one

guy at least not anytime soon Sponson as you mentioned he came in and he was warm up in the fifth

Libertor wound up one up finishing that inning I tweeted out I think Sponson's biggest

potential issue to save is that he showed last season and he's comfortable getting

four plus outs so that could lead to Marmel using him earlier in games which was proven true

in the first game of the season I still like him best in that bullpen over the long haulage

like he's got the best skill set. Stannick needs to be rostered certainly in deeper leagues I

mean he's a extremely hard thrower he's already pumping 100 mile an hour fastballs in the first

game of the season but as you mentioned can definitely be a headache with the lack of control he's

also an extreme fly ball pitcher who could have home run issues even even at pitcher friendly bush

stadium so my biggest takeaway is needs to be rostered but I don't think we're anywhere close yet

to figuring out what the exact hierarchy is in that bullpen. Yeah Adam here in the chat back

and that up with they quote from Marmel in an interview today where he said no need to put a label

on 789 in the bullpen that'll work itself out as we go so Stannick in the lead but not more than

that so save him for those deeper leagues you got another deeper league closer ad for us Ryan

I do yeah I don't know how much closer but potential saves for Gregory Soto Don Kelly had a quote

the other day he's not going to be committed to Dennis Santana in the night thinning

mentioned that he could use it earlier in games to get out of sticky situations and Soto's

certainly got his warts but he's still among the elite in the game in terms of velocity

he also noticed that he was I think get the at least the last I checked I mean I might not have

checked after all the games are over but he was top tops on the stuff plus leaderboard in the opener

so that the repertoire is still there in terms of velocity way too many walks for Gregory Soto

that's not going to go away but he gets strikeouts he gets ground balls he's a veteran reliever with

the quote unquote closer past it's definitely a deeper league play but Soto could grab your

stray save and going to get you a decent number of strikeouts so I think in your deeper league

options he's one to target yeah gotta be a foreman where it's worth starting players who aren't

quite full closers but I can certainly see once you get into a league that deep Soto makes some

sense and this also might mean I probably want to wait and see how the usage actually plays out

but if you draft a Dennis Santana as what you thought was a safe closer in a shallow league there's

a chance he's going to be your cut for a true closer who pops up somewhere else we usually

do five deep league pitchers and hitters I'm gonna throw out real quick Cole Sands just in case you

want to throw more potential save sources out there we don't yet have any reason to believe he's

the guy well we have a reason which I'll get to in a minute Taylor Rogers would be my favorite for

saves in this bullpen but he was used in the eighth inning while the twins were down one run against

the Orioles and it was Cole Sands who was warming up in case the twins took the lead in the ninth

that didn't happen but if you're desperate I think I would throw Cole Sands somewhere in your

waterfall if you're looking for somebody who might get saves I think this could be a situation

though where the twins go with a committee early on until somebody else emerges but just wanted to

get one more name in there because I know people are very desperate for saves this time of year

any quick thoughts on that situation or should we move on to the deep league hitters right

I think we can pretty much move on I mean the twins bullpen situation is pretty close to the

Rockies for me and that I just kind of want to stay away I don't I just don't have a good read

on how they're gonna be used and I also just don't think they're very good yeah I think that

pretty much sums it up we are gonna move to some deep league hitters now starting with the

Casey Schmidt the first baseman for the San Francisco Giants that is not at all what I expected to see

from the Giants but that is where Casey Schmidt has started the first two games of the year

is the weird one because he's really a glove first utility infielder this is a team that signed

a second baseman in Luis Arias who really should be a first baseman or DH yet Luis Arias has been

the second baseman for both games to start the year and Casey Schmidt at first now there is

a complicating factor here that Rafael Devers is dealing with hamstring issue which has forced

him to DH so maybe once Devers is ready to play first then Schmidt will hit the bench and Harara

and Karna Cione will be the DH or something like that but Casey Schmidt is not actually that bad

of a hitter even though the result so far for his career haven't totally been there but

if you look at his strikeout rates all three seasons that he's played they've been

right around league average the worst 23.9% that's fine and that came with a 9% barrel rate last

year for his career he's basically a league average strikeout rate and a league average barrel rate

guy he comes with second and third base eligibility already I believe and he's now maybe gonna

add first base as well so we'll see whether or not he keeps that playing time but he's got it

surprising already right now and he's an okay player even though we haven't really seen all

that much and he stuck in San Francisco so wanted to mention him there as a guy who surprisingly

got what could be everyday playing time at least in the short term any interest in Casey Schmidt?

Not particularly I mean he does have multi-position eligibility already eligible at I think second

and third base and he could could pick it up at first base as well as you mentioned probably

deserves better results than what he's gotten so far we'll see what the the hamstring situation

is for Devers I think they want to play him at first base but just not quite ready to do that just

yet all right you've got a deep league outfielder for us I do Joey Loper Fido my deep league

hitter recommendation started in left field batted fifth for the Astros and the opener got a

couple hits in that game he did sit against a lefty in the second game but came off the bench to

pinch hit beat out Zach Cole for the left field job in Houston with a strong spring training had an

OBP over 400 one home run in three stolen bases during great fruit league play really good last

season when given a chance for the blue jays slash 333 379 500 at four home runs and had a stolen

base in 104 played appearances strikeout rate was at 26% last season which if Joey Loper Fido can

keep his strikeout rate around there I think he can be pretty successful that's his biggest issue

you look back at 2024 his strikeout rate was at 36.3% over 262 played appearances has some swing it had

some swing and miss issues in the minors as well but he also went 25 25 in this last full

minor league season so this is a real upside in terms of power speed combo you can just get that

strikeout rate to an acceptable level and the Astros don't have a lot of outfield great outflow

options especially if they consider you're not Alvarez mostly designated hitter although he did

start in left field in the second game but yeah Loper Fido not super confident he is going to

be one making of contact he's probably gonna sit regularly against lefties but there's some power

speed intrigue there and good spot in the lineup and in the opening day lineup for the Astros

yeah looks like very likely to platoon but I think he should be useful enough when the Astros

have a week with a lot of righties that they're facing I think it's worth a shot there on Joey

Loper Fido my next deep league hitter is TJ Rumfield who has indeed been mentioned in the chat here

by Uncle Ted we're on the same page on this one uh TJ Rumfield is probably a quad A player he's

turns 26 in May and just made his major league debut yesterday but he had pretty good numbers in

the Yankees system last year in 138 games hit 285 16 homers you'd like a little bit more than that

but I think he's gonna make good contact the strikeout rate typically in the high teens for him

and I've talked about before how Colorado actually boosts the batting average even more than it

boosts the homers because they make the outfield huge in order to have the homer numbers not be absurd

so he'll get a boost to his homers but if he's putting the ball in play at a better than average clip

that's somebody who could really hit for a pretty good average in Colorado I like that they're

going for this type of player now rather than the Michael Tollios of the world because if you

don't actually ever make contact with the ball it doesn't matter what park you're in I think

guys who put the ball in play should be able to take advantage of the park factors at course

field more often the Rumfield is a left handed bat and he's been in the lineup for both games so far

for the Rockies starting at first base on both occasions and batting near the heart of the order

hitting fifth so I think TJ Rumfield I love picking up Rockies who have playing time and I think

TJ Rumfield is one who's pretty widely available and looks like he should be useful enough should

give you some average some power not really any speed but regular enough playing time at course field

that's gonna do it for me Uncle Ted points out that he struck out just once all spring too which

is pretty remarkable a 3% strikeout rate in spring training so he's certainly seeing the ball well

right now I go grab Rumfield while he's hot although I'd keep him as a deep league guy for sure

yeah my final deep league hitter recommendation not a guy who makes a lot of contact that's his

biggest issue I think you could say but I already liked Jake Bowers I had him in this section before

we found out about the the Andruvon injury he was arguably the best spring training player either

in the grapefruit or cactus league 462 571 1154 that's a that's a slugging percentage not an

OPS from spring training hit seven home runs also stole three braces in spring training walked more

than he struck out kind of a carryover from what he did last September as well he had an OPS over

a thousand couple home runs three stolen bases again that's kind of surprising a chip in a way at

those stolen bases as well in addition to the power went two for four with a three on home run

in the opener hits the ball really hard look at the barrel rate since 2023 Jake Bowers it's up at

14.1 percent he also had a 14.7 percent walk rate last year kind of an a similar boat to

Loper Fito that it's just can he make enough contact he did cut that strike out rate to 27.1

percent last year that should be good enough would like to get to get a little bit lower but I think

he'll take that from him if as long as he keeps hitting the ball that hard he's not going to play

against lefties but I think he's going to play even after Andruvon comes back he should play

pretty regularly against righties between the outfield first base and designated hitter for the

brewers still just 30 he's been around a long time but former high school draft he used to be

the top one under prospect back in the day but yeah it's the ball really hard can he make enough

contact I think he's obviously training up given what he did the end of last year and in spring

training so I think there's some stuff to like with with Jake Bowers yeah I think Jake Bowers it's

a playing time it's going to be there even more than normal in the short term it's a good chance

to add him and see where it goes I've got one more name for you but I want to throw in a couple from

the chat who I think unfortunately just don't actually fit into either our shallow or deep league

segments Owen Casey for example is interesting enough should be at least a strong side platoon

bat with power but he's already owned in pretty much all of these deeper leagues we use TGFBI

ownership there that's a 15 team mix league and he's almost universally owned there and I'm not

sure I'd get him in shallower leagues yet also Reese Hoskins falls into a similar category here

he's somewhat surprisingly maybe one a roster spot in Cleveland looks like he's going to be

potentially an everyday player as a DH maybe occasional first baseman but he also has been snapped

up in a lot of the deeper leagues and I'm not sure there's enough there for shallower leagues

so would you agree on both those guys Ryan I would yep there's some contact concerns with Casey and

probably not going to play it all against lefties but definite upsides with the power so I would

scoop him up where he's available and depending on your depending on your format but there's definitely

power upside there all right so my final actual name for deep leagues is going back to the

Colorado Rockies is Edward Julian did I put him on here only so that I could attempt to pronounce

French I don't know but I do think Julian is a decent hitter he actually for his career is a

slightly above average bad it's a 103 WRC plus now that was mostly because he came up and was

pretty good as a rookie for the twins in 2023 and then hasn't really worked out a couple years

since then he's somebody who strikes out too much it's a 32% strikeout rate for his career but

he hits the ball hard enough a 12% barrel rate and he walks enough 13% walk rate that the

overall picture should work especially if you get a nice boost from course field now again

I prefer guys who actually put it in play at course field to get that boost from the park factors

so I don't love that Julian whiffs this much but he has been in the lineup both games so far

batting in the bottom third as the DH so I worry that he's probably the guy who could lose his

playing time once Mickey Moniac comes back but at least for now Edward Julian is somebody who

is going to be eligible at both corner and middle and is going to be playing a lot in a really

nice park so I think you could do worse for your bench spot than somebody who can fill in a bunch

of spots and at least you'll like using him in his home games right yeah guy really really like

a couple years ago had that great rookie season with the with the twins ultimately just hasn't been

able to make enough of contact or the battle ball date has kind of fallen off as well but still in

his 20s just 26 and in a great situation with the Rockies the leash isn't going to be long but

he's playing regularly now and still some pedigree so you can do worse in your in your deeper leagues

for sure all right that's gonna do it for the fantasy portion of today's show thank you for

everybody hung out in the chat and shared your questions before we let you go do want to

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