Fantasy Podcast: Top Prospect ETAs For 2027 Fantasy Baseball

0:00Welcome to the Baseball America Fantasy Baseball Podcast. I'm your host James Anderson and Jeff Pots is with me as will often be the case on this pod going forward. This is my first pod as a member of Baseball America. The exciting stuff. Excited to work with Jeff, excited to work with Dylan and the rest of the great crew at Baseball America. And nothing's really going to change about the stuff I'm putting out there. Got a lot of questions about like are you still going to be doing the top 400? Yes, definitely. I might even be a top 500. I'm going to still be doing all the dynasty rankings, redraft rankings, first year player draft rankings. But I'm going to be able to do more of it because I'm not going to have some of the same responsibilities I had at RotoWire. And to that end, the first thing I'm going to get going on is a big FYPD set of rankings

1:06before the end of the season here. And back at RotoWire, I didn't get to do that till January or so. So it's just a fun change for me. I'm really excited. I'm really excited to be pod with Jeff, man. How are you doing? Doing good, man. I'm excited to have you on to the team and kind of expand the fantasy footprint out there for Baseball America. When I started here, just about five years ago now in a couple of weeks. And we didn't have really have any fantasy content whatsoever, didn't do rankings. And it was a slow build, but we built up to a point over the last couple of years where we were able to take you on and have somebody full time who's dedicated to fantasy baseball. So it's exciting. And I'm excited to jump into this seat now and not have to host every week. It's really, it just couldn't feel like a better fit to me because like I said, I know like almost everyone on staff already. And like I was already utilizing baseball America before you even got hired there just

2:12for scouting grades on stuff that I couldn't find myself. You know, like I'm not able to scout minor leagueers defense, right? So until now, now I can because I have a synergy account, but like using baseball America's grades in my work was just something I'd been doing for, you know, a decade at least. So now I'm still going to be using all that stuff, but I'm like part of the crew just makes a ton of sense to me. And if you want to use code Anderson right now through the end of the week, you can get 30% off a full year at baseball America, a really good deal. So make sure you use that code Anderson before the end of the week if you want to sign up, going to be putting out a ton of content this off season, really excited about it. And like one thing I would say is like my, my process with, with ranking players isn't going to change except that I think I'm going to have just better information, better data

3:12to work with. So like more information, more data, better data is always a good thing when you're ranking prospects. And it's just going to be so much fun to not have to, you know, text, Dylan, like five names or text Jeff, like five names, like you get me something on this guy at AA or this guy at high A, like I just have access to all that stuff now. So, you know, the appearance of the rankings won't be the same, but I think the quality of the rankings will be better than ever. So can't wait to get to work on all that. But for this first episode with Jeff and I, we're going to cover a really important topic and a very fun topic. And we're going to look at the top non-dabued prospects with an eye towards when we see them in 2027. As you know, Jeff, once the regular season ends, the draft champions league start filling up, people start doing their slow drafts, their 50 round draft and holds.

4:16And so all the prospects we're going to discuss today are guys who are going to get drafted, you know, well within those 50 rounds. But last time at this year, Jeff, I already knew that I was going to want to roster Connor Griffin and Kevin McGonagall the following season. Like we obviously hadn't seen them in the big leagues. We didn't quite know exactly how those rosters were going to look on opening day of 2026. I already knew at this point last year that Connor Griffin was going to be a player I wanted to roster. Kevin McGonagall was going to be a player I wanted to roster. And I certainly would roster all the players we're going to talk about. But I haven't quite kind of figured out exactly who my priority targets are going to be. I don't know exactly how the market's going to treat these players. So we're going to start with Hazus Maday of the Brewers and then we're going to kind of work our way down and talk about eight of the best prospects in the minors who have not played in the big leagues yet and try to kind of figure out when we think these guys are going to be up and how much success we think they're going to have next year.

5:18So Jeff, the Brewers, you know, I tried to put together kind of rough lineups for some of these teams based on who's still under contract. The Brewers obviously have a ton of depth. They could go into the season with like Joey Ortiz at third base. He's been perfectly capable there. But it does seem to me that there's just nothing standing in Hazus Maday's way. Like if he, if he shows that he's ready early next season, maybe even in camp, like I feel like that third base spot on the Brewers is there for Maday to take. Yeah. And I think, you know, especially for hitters, there's not, and these, this, this level of prospect in hitter in the minors, there's not a whole lot for them to necessarily prove in AAA. It's a good run environment. I do think for pitchers, and this is a whole other conversation that, you know, that's stop off in AAA just because of getting acclimated to the Major League ball and the systems and how everything plays and just being able to get kind of instant feedback and make

6:20adjustments is good for pitchers. I don't know that it has the same value for hitters. I think the other thing that, you know, Milwaukee has shown, you know, some precedence with is, you know, it wouldn't shock me if they're already in the midst of a contract conversation. Right. And if that's something that can take place within the first month going into May, I think ultimately that's what's going to drive the decision of, you know, Maday coming up to the big leagues. Typically they can get those deals done. We've seen them done almost universally across baseball over the last like five years, you know, Roman Anthony, obviously Jackson, Turyo being other examples. So, you know, top prospects, signing these extension type deals and getting up to the big leagues a little bit earlier because of it, I think is kind of good business. We don't know with the upcoming CBA how things will change, of course. But it wouldn't shock me if, you know, things stay somewhat status quo in terms of contracts and control and all those sort of things.

7:22It wouldn't shock me if, you know, that happens sometime in the first month and he is up. Because I do think that the skills are there and I think we've said since he was 18 that he was probably going to move off a shortstop to third base, just the body type and, and it's not a bad shortstop. The hands and actions are good. The arm is excellent. Just more of a third basement. When you kind of look at these guys and the miners that play shortstop and then eventually move off of the position, I think you could be above average or better even there. But yeah, and I think probably early, the biggest boost is probably in like OBP and points formats because he walks a lot. He will run a little bit. There's some power, but you know, switch header and, you know, it's not sort of consistent angles on each side. So the power is going to be more of like a developing tool for him though. The EVs and the underlying raw is definitely there. And the left-handed swing will show a little bit more pop in the right. Yeah, and that's something to keep in mind.

8:23So if you draft Jesus Made in a league for 2027, he'll be, he'll open the season eligible shortstop. He'll presumably pick up third base. So that he'll have that same Kevin McGonigal corner middle eligibility that's so handy to have. Eventually, we would, we would assume Cooper Pratt, very good defensively shortstop, a good compliment next to Made. So you're, it sounds like you're kind of thinking, you know, four or five weeks, you know, under the assumption they're probably working on some sort of deal. Like do you, do you see it as like unlikely or more kind of like TBD as to whether you think Made is on the opening day roster? Yeah, I would say that that's probably more unlikely. We just haven't seen a lot of these deals done, you know, before opening day, right? It tends to be in those first couple of weeks where they can still get them up and get some,

9:28you know, potential PPI eligibility. And you know, once again, we'll see if that's still the case. There's so much like merciness with the CBA that some of these levers and mechanisms that, you know, either create leverage for the player or for the organization. We don't know if they're going to exist, right? Like all that could radically change. So that makes it a little bit harder to kind of predict this season. But I wouldn't expect it before opening day, especially knowing that we're probably going to have, even if we have a full season and everything goes as, you know, well as it could with the labor negotiations this off season, I still think that we're probably looking at like maybe missing a week or two of ramp up and spring training. So they're a little behind and yeah, I don't know if it's going to happen necessarily, right out the shoot, but could be a couple of weeks into the season. All right, Jeff, Leo DeVries, we got some rough news on him. He's going to be out for around eight months, right, torn, labor, very tough break for Leo

10:32DeVries and the athletics. And if I had to gas Jeff before this injury, I would have thought DeVries would have had the highest ADP of all the players we're going to talk about today, just because he's so well known. It's a very favorable offensive situation to be in and it does seem to me like a healthy Leo DeVries is clearly in the athletics starting lineup sooner than later at the keystone. But this injury kind of clouds that maybe we should just kind of like, let's just assume DeVries makes like a full recovery. Do you kind of agree that that second base spot is sort of wide open for him as soon as he gets healthy? Yeah, I do. You know, I think some of the names that you see kind of in the infield, I think are place holders, don't have an Walton, no disrespect to Donovan Walton or the Walton family.

11:35But yeah, I think that ultimately that's probably DeVries' spot, you know, and play alongside Jacob Wilson and, you know, pretty decent infield. They've had so many injuries this year just looking at this roster right now. But yeah, I think that whenever he's healthy and it's just a ton of uncertainty, I mean, like, I don't know the severity of it, but I know that I think it was an author's scopp at surgery on his labor for Otani in November of 24. And obviously he came back last year and was good. Anthony Santander missed pretty much this entire season. I think he's rehabbing with Buffalo now. It might be back like next week. He pretty much missed a year with a labor injury. So there's just so much uncertainty now in terms of when he'll be back. The timeline with this is typically, you know, eight months. So it's likely he's going to miss sometime, but I think maybe like a second half surger

12:37is probably more likely this year, which should probably drastically impact his ADP. Yeah. Yeah, do you think like the incentives, like unless they reach an extension would almost lead to him being down till like late August next year? Yeah, I, you know, it wouldn't be a shock because he would be ready for baseball activities in like late May early June. Probably would have to have a pretty extensive ramp up period because the other part of it too with like a labor injury with a guy like to freeze is he needed to add mass. He needed to add muscle and weight. You know, he's a tall athletic high-waisted guy. It's not like a bad body or anything, but he's pretty thin. Like having freeze a couple of times at the All-Star games, you're reminded of like how young he is. So maybe some of that stuff comes, maybe it's more like just work on his lower half and he comes back with, you know, bruised our grader all, you know, sort of like quad and

13:40hamstrings or something, I don't know. But I think that's another part of it. You kind of mix into this too is like there's some strength stuff that he's going to have to gain back over that first month or two and just see how everything reacts. So it might be the kind of thing where we don't see him until the end of next year now. Just simply because of what the timing is, I don't think the A's are going to be in a, you never know with the ALS, but I don't think the A's will be in a position where, you know, they're knocking down the door of the playoffs and need that, you know, additional bad or player that could add some impact. It's not out of the realm of possibility that they are competing next year. I mean, they have a good young core. So I think there's some things that have to happen, but I had to place my bets on it. I would say he might be a September column. Yeah, yeah, this is just a brutal blow. And it's, yeah, just terrible timing for debris.

14:42That lineup, like that full strength A's lineup, you mentioned how many injuries they've had, but like they could go Langoliers, Catcher, Courts, Debris, Galops had a nice break out season, Jacob Wilson, Butler's obviously under contract, but then Henry Bolte, Tyler Sodersroom, Brett Rucker, like just a really fun group of position players there, but we're going to have to wait on debris. I don't really think, I'm interested to see what his ADP is. I mean, I just don't really think he's a target at all anymore. That's kind of a bummer. All right, the Rangers, I want to talk about Sebastian Walcott, Jeff, you know, the hottest hitter we're going to discuss today, I think he's in the same tier for me with guys like Mata and debris for fantasy. And you look at the Rangers and the way that they can line up. Jack Peterson's got a mutual option that I think he will pick up, and that's a complication

15:49because you'd think maybe Corey Seeger, Josh Young, those guys could use some DH opportunities, given how much time they miss. But I do just kind of think one way or another given the fact that, you know, Young's always hurt. Seagr is always hurt. They're both kind of not really as productive as we would have hoped at this stage. I just think one way or another, there's going to be a spot for Walcott soon in 2027. How soon do you think we could see Walcott? So I would actually place my bets on this being the top prospects come drafts like February March. I think you look at the current structure of the team. Jack Peterson is a mutual option next year.

16:49I don't think the team will pick that up. I might be wrong. I don't think the team will pick that up. I think he's going to end up going to free agency. You could move Seeger to DH and I think with Seeger's health history and the fact that you have somebody dynamic like Walcott that could slide right into that third base, excuse me, into that short stop spot. You want to give Seeger some run-it short stop just to keep for fine, whatever, if they want to do that. You could do that. You could play Seeger at third base. You know, you give Josh Young some days off or DH him. I think there's a way that you can make this work with those three guys and I think it just comes down to Peterson being out of the mix, which I would anticipate. He's a platoon bat for them, doesn't hit versus lefties ever. So it's a part-time player. They have an option on its mutual. Dollars are kind of what they are. I would expect that they don't pick that up because I think Walcott is ready now. I think one of the reasons that he's obviously hasn't played the field.

17:51We have to see how all that progresses. A much worried, he's an outstanding athlete, even if his arm loses a little bit of arm strength that was already a really good arm. So there's all these sort of elements with Walcott that I think just add up to him being their best short stop on opening day and kind of answering all the questions. His bat looks tremendous. I would presume in a week, I have to check on the Texas League playoffs, but I don't think that Frisk goes in. I would presume in a week that he's up in Round Rock and playing in AAA. Won't see the majors this year, but should finish the season with a couple weeks AAA and then maybe AFL wouldn't be a total shock. I think he's right on the cusp of potentially getting called up. And I think of all the names that we've talked about. We don't really have to shoehorn him in. He's a piece that kind of fits the puzzle. Yeah, this is kind of the guy that I was sort of, I was going to kind of say the same thing. I think he's sort of the target for me among these guys.

18:57I think he's just, I think he's a better athlete than like Made and Breeze. Just kind of a more explosive sort of superstar type of body. And he was just kind of out of sight for so long, but still just 20 years old was 10% better than League average last year at AA and 120 for games. So yeah, I mean, the AFL makes a ton of sense for Walcott. He was supposed to go there this past year. Yeah, I think that he's a target for me for Redraf next year. There's speed. Like the power, like I think you have to kind of project a bit more with the game power for Made. Like, you know, a couple of years from now, whereas I think like Walcott might be kind of closer to sort of actualizing it.

19:58So yeah, let's, let's say, well, actually before we take a quick break, Walcott, like his ADP, like let's say you're doing like a draft right now for next year. Are you thinking like you wait till like pick 300? Because it's always, it's always dicey, like those first drafts because you don't want to set the ADP too high. But you also maybe want to get the player. So it's kind of like a game of chicken where like you won't walk out. It's kind of like where do I have to wait till I get him in this first draft. I guess I'd maybe be kind of thinking like around pick 300 like in a draft and hold. Is that, is that seem like a reasonable to you? Yeah, I think that that's a, especially with like early early drafts, right? When you're talking about setting kind of the ADP standard on something like that, that would make sense for that range.

21:00You know, if I got aggressive, I would think I'd have to look like. You filled out your roster like your first bench hitter. What number would that be? Would that be like 250 to 300? Oh, would that be more like, are we 300 more like a util spot? So that'd be, you know, we'd be talking like more kind of mid 300s for like the first bench bet. Yeah, so I think that's that makes sense because I was going to think utility. Or like, you know, your middle infield spot kind of drafting it there. Yeah, so 300 then makes more sense to me. Yeah, I think that that number makes sense. I just don't think in terms of like, at if BC ADP all that often. No, I know. I mean, it's, it's, especially if he goes to the AFL, I do think that they're more buzz. We'll kind of build on him with the ADP. So wall cut, a target for 2027. Let's head to a quick break. And then when we come back, we're going to take a look at Franklin Arias's chances to make the red socks opening day.

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23:10All right, we are back and Jeff Franklin Arias. I think we talked before we started recording. I think his is almost like sort of the most obvious. Just plug him right into shortstop. He's ready. Like he's the best defender there. Like it just kind of makes all the other pieces make sense. Is that kind of how you see it for Franklin Arias next year? Yeah, I think when you look at this team and just how it's constituted, it wouldn't have been crazy for him to be up this year. And I think if you know, the labor situation was different because I think he's the guy that's been most impacted by, hey, he's not rule five eligible this year. Is there really a reason to force him up when we have other big league players in the roster that are, you know, kind of fringe average or better in terms of what they can contribute. This guy's young, doing well in AAA. I think in a lot of other years, he probably would have been up with the big league team.

24:15So I think he has been impacted by that a little bit. But I think you also look at this team. You know, there's a pretty easy spot to probably move Trevor story to DH long term, especially if you trade out one of their outfielders, whether that be like Jaren Durand, who they've been trying to trade for a long time. Now it seems don't think it will be a bra you don't think it will be Raffia, but I think long term that outfield is a bra, I think you can see that I'm going to play a good role in the Raffia, and Anthony, and they'd like to get him back into the field. Curtis, me I think he figured goes to second base like there's a lot of things to figure out here. That would open up a spot at DH, if Anthony moves to the outfield for Trevor story where I think he's best the bad is fine. He can still hit, he really can't defend any longer. And I think Rhaes's defense at shortstop to this to story is pretty substantial and I think Ranger Suarez and some of their other pitchers would probably be pretty happy to have a guy that's like a Hoover vacuum at shortstop versus versus story.

25:24That lineup looks really good too. So they don't have to go out to free agency and like upgrade any positions here. They've kind of acquired a lot of those guys. And they're pretty deep in pitching. So I think this lineup makes a lot of sense and it gives them a few options in terms of what they want to do with Durand because they still have plenty of bats. I think they have another year on Yoshida. So they do they do have some positional depth as well. So yeah, I think it makes a lot of sense. And I think he's just plug and play because he is their best defender. So I think the best answer at shortstop just in the organization at present. Unless there's a trade and they they go out and they acquire a big name shortstop. I can't necessarily see him or anybody anybody but him being a starting shortstop for the Red Sox next year. This is another one that I would be pretty aggressive on in terms of acquiring it wouldn't shock me if his 80 p actually early is maybe even higher than wall cuts. I want to look at the like so short stops Jeff I did the the two early meatball draft about a month ago almost now.

26:35But looking at the available short stops that went in that trying to figure out sort of where Frank and Arya's might fit. So I don't think he goes he's not going to go in like that sort of Jeremy Pena auto Lopez area. Like how do you compare Arya's to say like Boba Shet or mooky bats or Corey Seeger for next year. You know on on the surface and maybe this is me prospect talking a little bit. I think I think I like Arya's better than all those guys. It's not going to run a ton. But I think your. Either those guys really but that's it right is like I think you're getting similar. Production potentially with more ceiling right because he's young and twitchy and he's been growing into more power. And we'll see if the power continues to play the way it has in the minors. I think there's a good chance that it does. Maybe it's not 25 or 30 home runs, but it might be more like 17 to 18 scores a lot of runs hits for you know a really high average.

27:43Get some base, which is certainly something that the shed has never really done very well. So I think like just from projecting out what 27 would look like just in a redraft setting. I actually think I would almost prefer him to those guys. Obviously there's a little bit more risk because there's no. MLB track record, but you know mooky is is clearly on the back nine right now. I don't think for shed has ever been the same player that he was the first couple of years. You know, he had that one outstanding fantasy season and really hasn't been. Top five at all even close to it has even been top 10 at like second base over the last couple of years. You know, I think that's that's a bit of a question mark. And then see her is just see her as a guy that I end up with in drafts because everybody else doesn't want to take the risk of like the injuries and then he falls to a spot that's like below is ADP and then I end up taking what's what happened in like every league I've ever had see her and so.

28:45I don't feel like there's a lot of confidence in him playing 130 games either so you know areas might just outpace him because he's healthy and in the lineup for frequently than see her is so yeah I think I think I kind of prefer him to those three guys but maybe that's just a prospect guy talking to I don't know. Yeah, I mean I think I definitely prefer him to the shed and see her. I think that's would be that's very sorry as I think is closer to me just because I think sure that's probably going to play like I think you at least can use the durability card to push him over see her. Yeah. What about what about like Arya's versus like Colson Montgomery like a totally different type of player. There's so much there's so much risk with Montgomery to right just in terms of like when how long can you keep on doing this I would probably still prefer Montgomery because there's 30 home run upside and neither of them are going to you know run that much.

29:53I think we're talking like Roto I would prefer Colson Montgomery I think in a point's lead you could you could maybe sell me on frankrenarius just because they deduct for for strikeouts and boost for walks a little bit so I think you got some trade off there. Even if I'm taking the batting average of the OBP hit with with Montgomery I think like the fact that he could hit 35 to 40 home runs in the season is you know tough to and you know in the infield is kind of tough but I could see a good way on that one but I think I would still prefer Montgomery especially considering like the plate skills could get batteries very young at 24. Yeah I mean frankrenarius is like a classic guy where like he's going to be lower in my rankings than he is on the B.A. top 100 just because he is a really good defender of short stuff and he doesn't run so like the not running part hurts him in my rankings it doesn't really hurt him in the top 100 the short step doesn't really help him in my rankings whereas it doesn't the top 100 but like even though I don't think he's like an amazing like fantasy superstar prospect.

30:58I think the lack of reliable death that short stop is going to lead to him potentially getting drafted as a top 15 short stuff next year like Corey that's was the 14th short stop taken in that draft the shot was the 13th short stop taken her although perdomo is 12 out of Lopas 11th so. The fact he won't run might prevent him from getting into that Lopas perdomo range but I think when you compare him to these other guys that probably aren't going to run and then you factor in that he gets to play half his games in Boston and what we think is going to be a pretty good lineup. I think I think Aryas may end up having the highest ADP just because of how confident we are in his role. Okay Jeff like the Dodgers we got to talk about. I'm going to call Mike Sarota you know this Dodgers lineup when you're looking ahead to next year obviously will Smith Freddie Freeman Tommy Edmund max Muncie Mookie bets.

32:35They don't really have a clear opening day center field there Tommy Edmunds been playing a lot of center field they kind of mix a mix and match these these infielders at second base but. You know I know i'm high on Mike Sarota relative to to most people obviously host way to Paul has had a ridiculous offensive season at double a how do you sort of see Sarota and Paul figuring into things for the Dodgers in 2027. It's a good question I mean De Paula doesn't fit the construct of the roster he's a bad defender in the left field you could never play him in center field you know no chance unless there's some some sort of like I mean they did have Andy pie a score from like a fringy you know corner outfield to a center fielder so you know that's all part of it he's obviously the center fielder I think the. The big question is like teosker right.

33:37You know does does teosker. I almost feel he get traded you know if he took on some money there's another piece the Dodgers want they're able to get maybe they got to get money down with the salary cap they get teosker off the books somebody else that needs to take on salary right like like an NBA trade forget the salary this could be what's happening. I think that one of them fits into that equation quicker like the funny thing is De Paula has to be added to the 40 man roster this off season and the declaration deadline to be added to the 40 man roster is prior to the end of the CBA so teams are still going to do that they're still going to add guys to the 40 man roster we saw it in 2021 going into the labor dispute in 2022. So like he's still going to get out of the 40 man roster so wrote a won't so that way he could play mind on the baseball she's more likely to fill in it at center they've had him playing a lot more center in in in AA.

34:45But I think you know maybe it's maybe it's De Paula that's the one that's up next year but it's it's going to depend on what they do with teosker Hernandez because the DH spot for the Dodgers probably isn't going to open up for a very very long time. Yeah I think I think next year is Freddie Freeman's last year yeah last year's or next year is Freeman's last year so maybe De Paula takes over at first base for Freeman in 2028. That's been I mean we've heard him you know discussed as a potential first baseman so I don't think that would be a shock. So yeah I guess it would be sort of De Paula's path to early 2027 at bats or a teosker Hernandez off season salary dump basically. Yep and then Sirota's path would basically be that they just think he's got nothing left to prove a triple A and like he would clearly help the big league team at some point but the fact 40 man doesn't like accelerate any of that major injury to Kyle Tucker would be like the hardest best path probably yeah.

36:06Yeah Kyle Tucker man I don't know I don't think I'm buying the dip. People are going to be excited to bet there's going to be other people too excited to buy the dip next year I think. It looks pretty bad like it's one of those things that just watching it looking at the numbers you're like this is about as bad as it could have bottomed out and and unless they have some explanation of like a major injury that he was playing through but the Dodgers typically don't have guys play hurt because of the kind of depth that they have in the organization you know if if Tucker was hurt I actually think there's a chance. Maybe it's not to Paula but you know it's one of those those triple A guys that they have getting around you know they might even be willing to burn some time on James tips because the time type of player is so like I don't you know they have enough options that if he wouldn't be playing like hurt I don't think.

37:06Yeah it looks like everything just really dropped off I expected the first two years to be okay and then I figured he would taper off with time. But just the nature of these kind of weird swings I think those guys are just more likely to have these real bottom out years and it's not like he had an injury and was young like a you know Cody Bounder where you could kind of count on the bounce back he's going to be 30 next year you know. Yeah he attempted he's attempted 10 steals so far and 136 games is 10 for 10 but yes worried about that for sure. Let's see all right oh I did want to mention I love Zach Erhardt as well but he doesn't even have to be added to the 40 men yeah. Yeah so there's like some names there that could be in the mix but depends what the dogs do it's very tough line up to break into.

38:07All right Jeff when I released my last top 400 update had a couple people take issue with the fact that Rainier Rodriguez wasn't number one looking at the Cardinals potential roster for next year. And a lot of their best young talent are guys who are catcher eligible Ivan Herrera is kind of moving off a catcher he still will be eligible there next year but mostly D Hing now Leo Bernal is up you know they got Jimmy Crooks hanging around. And there isn't a clear path I don't think for for Rainiel at least on the surface unless they can trade and even Herrera don't think they would want to trade Bernal but what do you sort of see 2027 playing out for for Rainiel Rodriguez. His catcher defense has really improved throughout the season to like that's a big takeaway for me like I do the Cardinals list and obviously that's more important from a real life standpoint.

39:18But I think from a fantasy angle the silver lining is he might catch enough to keep catcher eligibility but not have to endure like the daily rigors and wear and tear that catchers you know endure on their hands etc throughout the season. That's probably going to be Bernal Bernal's defensive chops are like well noted he had some blocking stuff that I didn't love last off season he had to clean up he's really done that in spades he looks great back there. I think that he's the catcher the future I think it's possible that pahace maybe stays in the roster is like their backup you know extra catcher. Burlson's not going anywhere if anything the Cardinals end up extending Burlson frankly he's been phenomenal this year I think he's the first baseman long term. But I do think that you know there's some space there for Rodriguez if Herrera is moved and you know I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that he could be moved and would be kind of attractive for a team because he can catch a little bit.

40:29It's not great but there is some catching ability he's still got another he's got he's pre-arred this year he's got his three arb years left those dollars shouldn't be awful either so I would think that he'll be an attractive you know trade asset they have a ton of prospects they could package with them this is a rotation that kind of needs to be upgraded. I would not be shocked if this is a team that's that's. Shopping some of their major league players he wouldn't shock me if they shop Mason win. I don't know about Jordan Walker I think I don't think they will if somebody called I think they would have some conversations about it because they have a lot a lot of depth here in the upper miners you know that double 18 is stacked. I think this is some good young pitching but I think this is a classic bloom roster where like he's gone through the acquisition period and acquired a ton of good players the last two years now he needs to formulate a major league roster and some of that might be trading out some of these big leaguers to open up spots for guys like Rodriguez I would guess that Rodriguez will spend a majority of his season with Memphis next year.

41:46And we think would be more like a June July maybe even August sort of promotion just with the catching stuff I think when you factor that in there's just a lot more to learn and refine at that position versus others because it's not just straight athleticism there's a you know there's a mental component to that and just kind of organizing your pitching staff and all that sort of thing so you know I think they won't necessarily rush him. He might force their hand though because triple A next year and just you know another year stronger and a little bit better than he is this year you could argue that he's the best bat in the minor leagues at the moment but I don't think there's a clear pathway to first half a 27 playing time for Rodriguez and let's come to camp and just blows everybody away. Do you do change that like do you change that ETA if they trade her hair before spring training.

42:52You know I could I could see it I could see it moving it up a little bit especially if he comes into camp like I said and and looks excellent and that's a division that you know the brewers have been dominant for a long time in your brewers fan I still think it's for the taking especially with you know the type of talent that they've acquired but yeah I would think Rodriguez would probably be the next man up that that would make the most sense you know I think he's used by as could be in the mix at third base as well that's another name maybe another sleeper on the outside would be like a Josiah Ragsdale or someone like that to potentially get up with the club. But yeah I think it's going to be Rodriguez when if they do make that her ordeal eventually at some point in the first half it will end up being Rodriguez then I think you know yeah he's he's such a of the guys we've talked about I think he's maybe the biggest wild card for fantasy next year because just the upside and two catch a leagues if he like if he's up in like.

44:03The 80% of the season left or something like that maybe he's like a borderline catcher one like pretty early on and then like he's playing a bunch because you know they they want his bat in the lineup like that could just be a big swing piece but then if. If if they're if they hold her era if like they just are getting you know production at D.H. they're getting production a catcher there's stuff from the work on like maybe you don't see him but the part you said about like him just kind of forcing their hand. I kind of think like I think it'd be tough to keep him down for like more than a couple months next year but I don't know I do think that her era piece they kind of have to organize the right. I think there's a lot of that in the roster just a little bit more yeah but Rodriguez like once people start doing their prep and seeing you know how he translates with projections and stuff I think there's going to be a lot of buy in.

45:03From the re jeff cloud on rain yo red regas. Theo Gillan Jeff is a one of my favorite prospects had a monster season for the raise. I was kind of looking at the raise lineup for next year and I don't know who's going to play some of the in field spots for them and they have a bunch of outfield bodies like you know Victor maces had a nice little post hype mini breakout for them I've always liked to look. I think saidrick mullins might pick up I think he's maybe got a player option or something Chandler Simpson is playing a lot of left field. But how do you sort of see the raise handling Gillan in the short term. Interesting question I don't know they haven't historically been. In aggressive team I would say.

46:05He who shall not be named their former shortstop that no longer plays in the big leagues is probably is probably the guy that they were most aggressive. And kind of pushing even came an air and I had a weird injury spent a long time that last year in triple A so it wouldn't shock me if killing is a guy that's in triple A for all of next year and then we see him in 28. I mean I just I have so little faith that they've raised will aggressively promote a prospect of the big leagues. When he says young is Gillan is but I do think like he's probably as good as a prospect that they've had on the position side since that guy that will not be named. Yeah I mean it's it's the raise like they just they don't really need Gillan like early next year like they just they're going to find a way to get value out of those outfield spots whether he's there or not so.

47:16Yeah it's it's tough because it's like part of me thinks like he would almost help the team right now but like you said it's just not really in their DNA to be overly aggressive with a guy like this. So and and one last guy like we we're not going to go deep on him but like I know I've got real people ask us ranked quite high. But first base is just so effing deep like it's it's kind of almost like even if Ralphie Velasquez was going to make the opening day roster next year like Vinnie Pasquantino was the 25th first baseman taken in that to early ball draft so like I love Ralphie Velasquez but you know he's going to be like a bench corner in a field there to stop the anyway so. Jeff it sounds like you know where we're digging Sebastian wallcott with the Rangers for next year.

48:17We like Jesus Made's chances of playing a good chunk of the season in the big leagues. So I think it's you know Franklin Arias we definitely think we'll be up all year and it's it's not the perfect fantasy shortstop profile but after talking through all this with you and then kind of reminding myself about the lack of sort of reliable depth the shortstop I do kind of think Arias may end up having the highest ADP of these guys even though he's not going to steal a ton of places. So I think that's kind of where you're at that's kind of where I'm at too and I think you know on the other side like he runs well enough. I'm probably hit at the top of the lineup with the plate skills that he has that could really contribute and batting average OVP and then runs I think he's a guy that could especially if you know that lineup. He takes another step forward etc you know that that lineup could you know potentially produce a lot of runs at the top and you know he could be a guy that's in that 80 to like high 90s maybe even touch it's 100 runs in the season.

49:29If he's hit one two in that lineup which I don't think would be outrageous I one of the struggles with the Red Sox lineup this year has been the lead off spot I think they have the 29th lowest OPS in the lead off spot of all. So it has been an area that's been a bit of trouble for them and if they got a guy like that and they can move you know Anthony down some more of a you know a run driving in kind of position I think that would probably change the surface of the roster. So yeah I think I think I lean on him probably be in the highest 80p guy at present I think that could change if things accelerate with Sebastian Walcott and extension something like that happens. He would be the guy that I think is the real gem of this class that could produce a top five round kind of value fantasy season pretty easily. Yeah Walcott Walcott vs Aria's vs you know Maday a lot of stuff can happen between now and you know opening day.

50:30But this has been I've got some ideas kind of formulating here Jeff now on sort of how I'm going to value these guys this is definitely helpful for me. And for the listeners again Anderson is the code for 30% off your baseball America subscription for the year and my first article is up on the side if you want to go check it out. Anything else you want to add Jeff? No great first pod. I agree it's great to be a part of baseball America great to be pod with you and hope you have a good rest of your week.