Ray Flowers hosts FSD, M-F at 11am EST.
Player Moving Up: George Kirby, Edwin Diaz, Oneil Cruz, Grayson Rodriguez, Blake Snell, Cole Ragans, Wyatt Langford, Sale, Logan O’Hoppe, Mitch Garver, AJ Puk
Players Moving Down: Ohtani, Eury Perez, Rodon, McLain, Montgomery, Holliday
Injury News: Friedl, Bradish, Wacha, Hays, N. Jones, T. Walker, Steele/Happ
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Welcome to fantasy sports daily with Ray Flowers Monday through Friday at 11: a.m. eastern standard time don’t forget to use the promo code f sd20 for 20% discount on the products over at Fantasy guru.com welcome to fantasy sports daily I’m your host Ray Flowers how you doing on this
Bright sunny morning we’re a week away from my birthday it must be a great time as they say April showers bring Ray Flowers yes my birthday was April 1st I’m a fool you probably guess that already again I’m Ray Flowers welcome to fantasy sports daily what you can hear
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Daily into your local podcast network uh whether that uh Apple iTunes whether it’s Pandora uh you know what do we got Google podcast you know check it out Spotify we’re available type in fantasy sports daily you can hear it you can watch the show and listen to it live on youtube.com
Elite plusnetwork and then you can always find it over at the website fantasyguru.com click the elite plus tab at the top yeah there you go rocking and rolling with fantasy sports daily okay what are we talking about today well here you go uh that’s what we’re talking about today we’re talking about players
That are moving up in the world um you know kind of in a reference to ADP and kind of the expectations as we get to the end of draft season with Major League Baseball really cranking up this week yes the games in Korea last week counted with the Padre’s and the and the
The the Dodgers we’ll talk about some players that are moving up some players that are moving down we’ll hit on some injury news as well so kind of just the landscape of where we’re at on this Monday we’ll see how long the show goes maybe it’ll be a 30 minutter uh we’ll
See uh but we got a lot of things to discuss so we’ll dive into that don’t forget to use that promo code fsd2 FSD to Zer for those discounts on the products over at fantasyguru.com there’s still time to get the baseball package maybe you just found us right and maybe
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Fantasyguru.com okay let’s dive in and talk some news and notes here and these are some again of the players that are that are moving up I termed it uh guys that you know the community in particular likes we had a lot of we’ve had a lot of drafts on sirusxm I’ll
Mention that the Elite Sport shows Monday through Friday from 3:00 to 6:00 Eastern with Jeff mans I’m on every Wednesday so I do this show Wednesday I do that show Wednesday from 3:00 to 6 and I do another show from 8 to 10 Eastern we have uh Elite Sports game
Time myself and Justin fensterman who you can frequently hear on the show talking Hoops we do a show Monday through Thursday Elite Sports Game Time 8 to 10 Eastern so on Thursdays I’m on for five hours six hours I can’t even count maybe that’s enough Ray Flowers
Maybe that’s more than you could ever dream of maybe it’s not good I don’t know you tell me but I’m on six hours that day again this show is Monday through Friday the elite Plus game time show is Monday through Thursday Jeff show is Monday through Friday and I’m on
With him on on Wednesdays okay on serus we’ve had a lot of I’m gonna have to blow my nose here geez Ray uh there’s been a lot of drafts I mean we probably done 20 drafts on Sirius XM and it’s been fascinating to see the shift in
Players uh some guys have have started to recede in value some guys have started to increase in value some guys have exploded in expectations let’s talk about some of those guys first of all it’s George Kirby he’s moving up and I think this has been a fascinating scenario that’s
Played itself out we have seen pitchers shockingly not be ready for the start of the Season we’ve seen pitchers still unsigned Jordan Montgomery we’ve seen pitchers get hurt hurt hurt Garett Cole what has really happened is that it seems like according to ADP a lot of
People don’t want to vary the way they build their team okay they’re going to build their team this way and it’s just a matter of fitting the players in now again we talk all the time here out the site about tearing and why that’s important so if people are
Drafting with the teering model this makes sense right because it’s not about getting pitcher A or B it’s about getting pitcher A or B right that’s your build a lot of people build earlier than they should in my opinion with pitching that’s why I wrote the series of
Articles which you can find at fantasyguru.com early pitching middle pitching late pitching how does your team turn out if you draft pitching early you wait until the middle or you wait very late uh there have been a lot of people that have seen some of the pitches go
Down at the top of their boards there’s some concern a guy like Kevin gausman you know where’s his shoulder at he’s goingon to miss a couple of starts that makes people a little bit nervous maybe some people are nervous because Logan web has had a rough Spring right so you
Start looking at these things and one of the guys that hasn’t had any issues one of the guys that everyone was liked anyway was George Kirby so he started to inch up uh partly because I think people like him and the more they investigate him the more excited they get about him
But again partly because of the space that been created at the pitcher position with some of the struggles and some of the injuries now Edwin Diaz is fascinating because Edwin Diaz I was very surprised by this you know we started really getting in the draft season about five six weeks ago on Siri
XM and we started doing these drafts and Edwin Diaz was routinely going as the one or two closer off the board we’ve talked about him over and over again 13 say 35 save season in his career it was like 2019 been a while he missed last year with the knee injury people were
Taking him as number one well not only was he being taken as a number one guy but he was being taken third fourth round like people were really aggressive with him and that has continued to be the case if not even inch upward a bit because Devon Williams is out with the
Back issue Yan Duran’s got the side issue he’s dealing with so a couple of the guys that were being drafted as closer ones they’re out of the mix at least to start the season so Ed Diaz continues to inch upward and again I’ve said this repeatedly I I think it’s I I
Don’t like the idea of taking a picture the first three rounds of any kind if I’m G to take a picture in the first three rounds it’s G to be a starting pitcher it’s not going to be a reliever some people disagree with that Edwin
Diaz as a result has uh really flown up draft boards to the point where you know it start to me it was always uncomfortable like I was like now it’s just straight uncomfortable like it’s not even you know oh my gosh what is it let let’s do this how about I do this
Since I’ll look at the last 10 days of drafts over at the nfbc and because it’s draft weekend that’s 189 drafts so it’s a lot of drafts where is Edwin Diaz in ADP Edwin Diaz in ADP is 48 and again these are most most of these drafts are 15 teamers so that’s
Third third round right at the start of the fourth super aggressive that’s what we’ve seen with Edwin Diaz O’Neal Cruz ADP interestingly enough is one spot ahead of Edwin Diaz the last 10 days at the NF VC Edwin Diaz is on the cover of our draft guide you know that right the
Cruise cruise control the cruise brothers who aren’t Brothers O’Neal and ell D Cruz O’Neal Cruz was a guy that we were three months ago getting in this eighth round of drafts now his ADP says he’s going in the fourth round and their drafts where he goes in the third
Round in very interesting because everyone anticipated that that O’Neal Cruz would be healthy to start the season that was fully the expectation all since December that was the expectation but people until they saw him out on the field and hitting home runs and remembered as we talked about
The very first day the draft guide was released the very first day 10 biggest questions answered was in there the first day this guy’s basically J Cruz and let’s not forget that he’s a 30 home run 20 steel guy let’s not forget that he just has been stopped from getting there
Because of Health well everyone all of a sudden has remembered that and it’s fascinating to see it it’s fascinating to see it occur because he’s now inside the top 50 overall Grayson Rodriguez is another guy and you know I’ve said this a lot with Grayson Rodriguez Elite Talent expected
To be at top of the rotation arm performed very well in the second half last season when it seemed like he figured things out after his emotion changed up how his pitch mix a little bit and all that kind of stuff you’re paying a price with him
Where he’s being taken around other guys that have done it and this is an issue that I have with the young players if you want to push a guy up 0p and go from 200 to 175 cool you want to take him from 250 to 210 cool when we start
Talking about guys being drafted in the top 75 picks right we’re in a Zone where you you’re being taken to not only be good you’re taken not only to be starting you’re taking to be a foundational piece of teams is ADP the last 10 days the NPC is
67s he’s really gone up so you’re taking him at a point where you you can’t project him to be this guy he has to be the guy are you comfortable with that a lot of people are you know we’re going to get on the train as that’s going up
Versus the train that’s going down I get it I get it but I’m just saying that’s the price point you know you’re going to need 170 Innings and you’re going to need 165 strikeouts and you’re gonna need 14 victories like you’re G to need that kind of stuff given the price
You’re paying for Grayson Rodriguez Blake Snell he’s moving on up because he’s finally got a team I mentioned Jordan Montgomery um he’s on the player down list for obvious reasons Snow’s moving up joining the Giants is a really good fit he’s comfortable in the NL West he knows the teams he knows the
Ballparks pitching in San Francisco is a big time bonus it’s a great place to pitch disappointing as we have discussed here on the show that he shows up and says I can only throw 60 pitches but he he’s up to inside the top 75 overall he was a little higher than
That when it started we started the offseason then he dropped a little bit then he’s coming back up again when he’s all back locked in and everything it’s a really good place to pitch in San Francisco so we’ll see if he can throw strikes that’s been his issue all along
Next up is Cole ragins who I mean I think last night he was in the sixth round what’s his ADP maybe it was the fifth round his ADP is up to 80 I’ve written a player profile about him so go to the website go to the m Mo Tab scroll
Down you know I think it’s in the article section look for player profiles you can find it all the player profiles come up Mel Garcia his team teammate actually is is available today with the Royals I have a full breakdown of Co Ragin and all my thought there so check
That out at the website a lot more detail there than I could be able to share here on the show white Langford is the poster boy for this he was actually the reason that I wanted to uh go along this line of thought here the last 10
Days his ADP is up to 83 at the nfbc I don’t have this data written down but I’m gonna say that his ADP was 50 spots higher a month ago and I think that’s very accurate um and he’s he’s going in the fifth round now that even that ADP a of
85 five I think he went in the fifth round in the nfbc draft we covered last night uh he is and I’ve said this previously he could win rookie of the year he could hit 30 home runs he could steal 20 bases he could be dynamic he absolutely could be dynamic but when
You’re taking him in the 75th pick overall when you’re taking him in the fifth sixth round you’re taking him at a point where he’s got to do it you’re not taking him at a point where you hope he does it or you believe he can do you’re
Taking him to a point where he’s got to do it because that’s the investment cost I mean look at the the two guys right behind him boring yes stable and going to give you what you expect absolutely that’s Brian Reynolds and Alex bregman next guy’s Christian Walker like okay they’re not the dynamic
Piece that what white Lanford is absolutely true but those guy I mean Brian Reynolds Alex bregman and Christian Walker what do they get nine out of 10 in consistency 10 out of 10 they’re Elite at giving you what you expect white langford’s got this huge range of outcomes Rookie of the Year
Down to hitting 210 oh ra that’s ridiculous Mike Trout hit 2 t as a rookie I’ve said this over and over again this game is not easy Byron buckon was the number one or two Prospect in baseball for three consecutive years it’s not always that easy I know
He was great in Spring guys have great spring trainings and then the lights shine bright things change and they don’t I’m not saying White langford’s gonna gonna fail in fact I expect him to be very good I am just really surprised at this price point and I’ve said this
Last night on the draft and I’ll say it again here let me look it up you know um Riley green ADP is 144 you’re going to pay a 70 pick 60 pick premium to get Wyatt lenford over Riley green that’s a tough one for me man
That’s just a tough one for me uh look Chris sales on the way up uh I mean he’s healthy now how long does that last as Jeff man said it’s been years since he was really a guy in the fantasy space he’s in a good space mentally he’s in a
Good space physically he’s obviously with a great team with Atlanta like it’s all there um but are you willing to to take the risk at 108 overall the last 10 days you willing to take that risk that’s pricey that is really pricey for a guy who legitimately what is his over
Under for Innings pitched 100 legitimately like we can argue oh he can throw 150 he can if I said 100 would you take the BET over under would you do it which way would you go would you say all right that’s under I don’t know right I don’t know
Logan Oh happppy is is going up boards again people you know looking at the catch position and I guess thinking to themselves it’s not very good I will say this about the catcher spot it’s deeper than it’s deeper than it’s been we’re talking about this on the broadcast last night on
Serus you know there’s 15 guys at this position that yeah you know if they might catcher one I’m okay like it’s not just 10 guys there’s 15 guys it’s okay Logan Oh hopp is in that mix his ADP is up to about 150 uh you know you see guys like
Gabriel Moreno Mitch Garver Jonah Heim Bo Naylor taking you know a couple rounds after him so that’s kind of the Zone where people start getting their catcher if they waited in terms of ADP we’re projecting out again a lot he was really effective last year really exciting last year hurt his shoulder
Supposed to be okay all that kind of stuff um you know do you think that he’s worth a three round premium over kebert relise I don’t some people do Mitch Garver is another guy who was coming up we just talked about him where is Mitch Garver ADP I just had it uh Mitch
Garver’s ADP is up to 165 it was barely six weeks ago now it’s up to 165 it’s going to spend a lot of time at DH with Cal Ry catching right so the hope is that Garver will stay healthy even though he’s in a terrible Park to hit in
In Seattle it’s very reasonable to think if he’s healthy he can hit 25 home runs can he stay healthy with more time at DH versus at the catcher spot that’s the real question and then finally AJ Puck um AJ Puck has been named a starter he has 80ps surprisingly it’s only up to
246 the last 10 days that I don’t think reflective of what we see we’re starting to see him go inside the top 20 rounds AJ Puck as I’ve written and talked about he’s 28 years old he was the sixth pick in the 2016 draft he was expected to be
A number one or number two starter at the big league level he was supposed to be a front of the rotation guy hasn’t happened with the Athletics tons of injuries tons of injuries tons of injuries they moved him to the Marlins the Marlins decided to do what the a did
In 2022 which is leave him in the bullpen going to take a sip of water leave him in the the bullpen and he was very effective I mean the last two years he’s thrown what 120 games has 154 strikeouts and 123 Innings and has a 116 whip very
Effective the Mariners need a starting pitcher he has always been thought of a guy who could go back to the rotation so they Marlin are going to give that a shot he’s looked great in Camp he’s expanded his pitch mix and you know we’re going to talk we’re in a scenario
Where we’re just going to let him go if you’re the the the Marlins now the problem with that is let’s look at his Innings pitch total 2020 officially zero 2021 about 60 Innings 2022 66 Innings 2023 60 Innings he hasn’t thrown 70 Innings since 2017 70 and he’s had injuries pretty much the
Whole way through until the last couple years out of the bullpen so you know like Chris S what’s a best case scenario for a guy who’s been throwing 70 innings for the last four years 110 115 you know is he going to pitch to the level of Yuri Perez last year I think
That’s unfair to expect is he going to be effective I’m going to say sure but you know if he’s making 20 starts throwing 112 Innings so be cautious with how aggressive you go with AJ Puck some players moving down we talked about this in great detail the other day go to uh
Youtube.com Elite plusnetwork you can also go to the website fantasyguru.com click the elite plus tab at the top scroll down to fantasy sports daily you can find the the log of previous shows chotani he’s supposed to speak to the media today I’m recording this you know
At 8:20 in the morning on the west coast right now he’s supposed to speak to the media today we’ll see what he says I can’t imagine he says anything significant uh social media is rif with rumors about Otani and the fact that the $ four and a half million dollars that
Was you know wagered maybe that number is five million maybe it’s 10 million maybe it’s 15 million like it’s you know there’s all this talk about you know people really being concerned about Otani what we know right now is there is an investigation as there should be and we’ll see uh otan is
Either the dumbest person who’s ever lived or he’s innocent I I don’t think there’s much I think there’s much of a middle ground here uh we saw him last night in the nfbc draft fall I think to pick what 1820 something like that middle of the second round maybe it was
Pick 21 two it was middle of the second round which is farther than we’ve seen him go he goes in the first round so again I don’t think the the news conference on Monday is going to tell us he’s not going to come out and admit he
Did anything let’s be honest about that he’s probably gonna come out and say I didn’t do anything which people are going to believe or not believe you know just just say this we don’t know what was done I’ve seen a lot of people on social media ban him for life and all we
Don’t know what’s come on like let’s be reasonable about this if the data shows that he has a $5 million gambling debt okay then we can talk about gambling Bing Banning him for life that would be legitimate right now we don’t know so let the information come in let the
Reports come it’s not like this is not going to be investigated I know a lot of people were like why is Major League Baseball not they were always gonna investigate this they have to and they this this line of thought that I hear that oh they can’t Major League Baseball
Will never do anything against oton he’s their number one player yeah if Major League Baseball doesn’t do something about this much like the black socks in 1919 if Otani is guilty and Major League Baseball doesn’t do anything Major League Baseball’s through forever they would lose the trust of the public
They have to investigate this so they’ll investigate it we’ll find out as of now you know I said this Adam ronus said this on the broadcast do we take Otani in the first round anymore ah do you take him in the second round we’re both
Adam and I both we still take that shot for what it’s worth Yuri Perez is a player moving down good news that his arm seems to be okay he’s going to do some throwing here the hope is that he’ll be back early in the season we
Don’t have a Target date yet we don’t know exactly there could be a setback remember he’s the franchise they they’re not going to blow his arm out so if he has any kind of setback we could be looking at him eight weeks without throwing like there’s a lot of risk here
For people like myself that already drafted him I mean what are you gonna do you know this is uh if you have a draft upcoming you can see the rankings at fantasyguru.com he is someone that I wouldn’t exceed what I have in the rankings I’m okay with you dropping him
Below where I have him in the rankings because we’re guessing on how the Marlin are gonna handle this and how his body is going to respond he’s obviously on the way down but again the reports are suggestive of things being okay with his arm Carlos rodon
People continue to draft him I think he went the eighth round of that 15 Team league last night that I was hosting he uh has admitted that he’s lost some confidence his performance in Spring has not been good the stuff has not been good the velocity’s down he was hurt
Last season like I you know I said when the when he signed that deal the day he signed that deal I was talking to kylo Frank I said that’s a terrible deal Kyle said it’s a terrible deal was a terrible deal for them last year the Yankees what
Is it 6160 something like that didn’t perform last year huge expectations that he’ll rebound this year and maybe he will maybe the lights click on and boom it happens we just haven’t seen it we just haven’t seen it in 20124 so be very cautious with him he is rightly dropping
In the rankings Matt mlan we don’t know Matt mlan is just sitting there now in drafts ra he’s rounds later than he was being drafted like he was being drafted at 75 something like that let’s check out mlan if I could type that would help
A lot he’s down to 115 the last 10 days I’ve seen him fall past that in drafts so second base shortstop eligible Matt mlan he’s got the shoulder issue we are still unclear what the exact plan is is it rest is it you know therapy is it surgical intervention
We just don’t really know and so he’s draft with your own risk you might get a huge payoff it might be he’s back on the you know back on the ball field in 10 days and he’s back with the Reds two weeks into the season might that might
Happen he might have a shoulder procedure and miss four months but we just so he’s just a total wild card and it sucks at that point because you just you either get lucky taking him or you get screwed taking him I don’t really think there’s a middle ground at least
At this point Jordan Montgomery I mentioned earlier Jordan Montgomery I mean I he’s really stable and I like Jordan Montgomery as you could have told if you followed him in the rankings at fantasyguru.com but you have seen him drop drop drop in the rankings and he has to have dropped in the rankings
Because he doesn’t have a team you know the reports that he’s throwing 70 he’s up to like 75 pitches in his progression whereas Snow’s only at 60 so the belief is that when Montgomery signs there’s a legitimate chance he’s out there quickly I don’t know as we’ve talked about with other
Players including Snell when you miss all of Camp you don’t know your teammates you don’t know the agenda do you try to push and rush things to prove to everyone that you’re worth the money to ingratiate yourself to your teammates do does the pressure get to you a little
Bit at the start you know is there a huge side relief because you finally got your money but maybe you’re in the you know maybe then yeah great I got my money but then I don’t really want to be here I just took this job because I kind
Of had to who knows right so guy like Montgomery I mean you have to write off April as something where he’s contributing as Jordan Montgomery that’s the smart thing to do now maybe he shows up and he makes four starts in April and they’re terrific but you mentally and
Draft wise you should be wiping out April with Jordan Montgomery and hoping that he’s Jordan Montgomery on May 1st Matt holiday is another player look Matt Holly didn’t make the opening day roster it’s a little surprising that he didn’t because of who he is because of the
Tremendous spring he had but you know we’ve talked about this and it was I mentioned it in Discord last week when the news came out the Orioles ended up in a scenario where they’re kind of stuck they’ve got Ramone Urias and J Mato and they have to make the roster
Like there’s they don’t have an option with these two veterans they could just release them they could pay them money to go away do that someone else would then pick him up off the waiver wire and pay him the veterans minimum they could do that but why why not wait until
Someone gets hurt because if someone’s going to get hurt why not wait until someone underperforms and just call you know holiday up on April 20th or whatever it might be that I don’t look at this as a service time manipulation thing because Matt holiday could play
Five months and win Rook of the Year anyway like that you know that could still happen right so I’m little surprised I’m not surprised though that mat holiday uh didn’t open the air with the team as a result his draft stock has gone down of course because again it’s it’s tough to
Carry a guy depending on your league format and all that and it’s also tough to carry a guy who really I think needs plate appearances if he gets 470 plate appearances it’s not likely to be dynamic right he’s not gonna hit 320 he’s not going to hit 20 home runs he’s
Not going to steal 15 bases like I don’t see that happening in year one for Matt holiday so you know draft accordingly keeper Dynasty League’s different scenario uh let’s talk about some injured news let me make a note here um so I don’t forget later the joy of doing
A live show all right players moving down because of injury news let’s start out with TJ fre players moving because of injury news I should say sorry about that I misspoke by the way fantasy sports daily Monday through Friday 11 o’clock here use the promo code fsd2 at fantasyguru.com uh we initially thought
That TJ Fredo’s wrist issue was going to cost him a lot of time it’s still going to cost some time but it’s not as bad as we heard we heard mid-season kind of stuff being an expectation potentially for his return sounds like according to his manager David Bell that fetel could
Be out in six out 6 eight weeks which means he’s got a chance to return in in May so this is much better we could legitimately get 35 40 more games out of him than we were expecting so if you’re one of the people that took a shot over
The weekend at fedal you you know at some point in your draft you said look this guy you know almost went 2030 last year I’m gonna take a shot you got really good news with this report that indeed 68 weeks is the timeline that he’s progressing quicker than expected potentially returning in really
Good news for TJ frel the uh the Orioles said basically the following that John means and KY brish are doing well and that both of them will return in the first half of the season and then the the statement was something like early in the first half what the hell
Does that mean if it’s early in the first half say may say April is May is may even early in the first half okay let’s say may I think that’s kind of what the Orioles are hoping for he’s got the elbow issue does bradish he threw a BP session on Saturday he’s he’s
I guess progressing I saw a little short video of him throwing he looked to be pretty free you know velocity was there he wasn’t throwing at you know 70 miles hour he was pitching looked pretty solid he’s gonna have to go on a rehab assignment it’s gonna have to build up
The pitch count the stamina and all that so maybe we see him early May if there’s no setbacks again very nebulous discussion here from the Orioles in terms of anything validly I’m Excuse me anything solidly definitive they need pitching they need bradish and means desperately uh and we
Talked about this too that if they don’t have those two guys or either one of those guys had a setup they might make a trade for a starting pitcher which is totally something that they would need to do in my opinion and absolutely something they could do with all the
Prospects they have they could just a ton and they could get anything from a fist starter type in a trade to a middle the rotation guy like they could they could theoretically get like a two or a three if they wanted to move one of their upper end prospects so that’ll be
Something to see but right now little short on pitching uh if they go out and make a move the Orioles it probably signifies either means and or bradish even if they haven’t said it at that point had some kind of setback or had something that Mak them a little
Concerned because right now they everything’s cool everything’s cool unless you start out eight and 10 in in April and then things get uncool really quickly Michael wo has a right middle finger I won’t hold it up too much because that could be misconstrued yes you naughty folks um he has a contusion
Uh he was hit with a batted ball and this is something you know when the ball’s coming back at you at 100 miles an hour you either react to get it or you react to get out of the way and it’s not really something you can train for
Obviously it’s idiotic to have your hand get hit if the ball’s coming at your hand hide your hand the ball’s coming at you don’t throw your pitching hand out to get it it’s just reactions like no no pitcher wants to have their hand hit right WKA had his hand hit the early
Reports are strongly subjective that it’s not a big deal that it’s just a bruise but again you know your middle finger kind of important when you’re holding the baseball you know so I mean we don’t need Waka who in a best case scenario probably throws 125 Innings anyway we don’t need that guy
Missing time because he got hit by a ball right sounds like he’s okay keep an eye on it Michael Waka with the Royals a sexy undercover agent in the fantasy game not someone that anyone is targeting not someone that anyone is reaching for but really he’s damn good he’s damn effective
Just like Seth Lugo there’s a player profile about him another guy with the Royals sneaky good like everyone’s talking about Co Ragin I get it I get it but these other two guys Waka and Lugo you know can be really solid Innings eaters at a very moderate cost so keep
An eye on the situation with Waka going back to the Orioles Austin Hayes was removed uh because of a right shoulder contusion expectation with him is it’s not a big deal they fully expect him to be ready for opening day so just wanted to update you something to keep an eye
On but no concerns right now with Austin and hay Nolan Jones was removed over the weekend on Saturday because he had a hit a ball off his knee he according to reports thought his knee was broken it’s not it’s just a contusion just a bruise great news as someone who
Has if you’ve never played baseball and done this you don’t have any idea um you know my front leg I’m right-handed hitter so I took a swing my front leg was my left leg I hit it when it did one of those where the ball was a little
Inside and I was over the ball so I hit it right into my shin I just fell over like there was no like my my body gave out like I F over and it hurt so damn bad that like I it took me like three minutes to stand up like I couldn’t even
And so I know what it’s like to have a ball go off your knee or your shin it’s super painful and I think your shin is better obviously than your knee because your Shin’s just a bone I got a huge bone bruise on my knee it look like a
Golf ball but you know your knees got the moving parts and everything but the bottom line is with Nolan Jones he’s okay now this could or H hypothetically looking at this this could limit his his ability to run early in the season and I know we’re not expecting him to run this
Year but you know 2020 right that was basically what he did last year in 100 whatever games we’re looking at him to have the power and the speed so keep an eye on whether he moves well early in the season again not expected to be a long-term concern not expected to be a
Significant injury after there was concern at the start just giving you an update on the situation with Nolan Jones Orion kering has had an illness this spring he’s going to start the season on the injur list there was a lot of hope uh and a lot of excitement I guess in
The fantasy space that this young kid who throws hard could potentially work his way into the ninth inning mix for the Phillies still could happen but he’s GNA start the season on the inur list again nothing to worry about with him he’s just going to start the season
There I he’s just a little behind there is worry with his teammate Taiwan Walker got a shoulder issue the team is minimizing it saying they don’t think it’s anything significant and all that but it’s a shoulder issue and we talk about this all the time shoulder issues are infrequent minor in nature right
Especially for a guy you know it’s one thing to have a 22-year-old have a sler shoulder it’s like okay maybe they haven’t gone through this they don’t know what to expect the rigors of the pro game all that kind of stuff Walker’s been around forever he knows how to deal
With these things he knows what he needs to do in the offseason he knows how to take care of himself in season he knows how to do these things he’s got a shoulder issue so he’s gonna start the season on the injured list and then they’ll see from a fantasy perspective
Walker obviously is not someone anyone should be reaching for excited about etc etc this could open up an opportunity for the Phillies to potentially make a move if something is indeed wrong with the shoulder we’ll see how they handle things internally obviously Andrew painer being down this year he would
Have been a great guy to just slide in here they don’t have that option so we’ll keep an eye on the Phillies that rotation and what’s going on with Taiwan walker uh Justin steel speaking of a guy that hurt his knee Justin steel took a ball you probably saw the video if you
Didn’t there was a battered ball threw a pitch batt ball came back and hit him in the knee pretty hard and he fell over like again I I did when I hit a ball off my leg and he walked off the field uh there was some concern obviously when a
Pitcher takes a shot off his leg but the good news is that his leg appears to be totally fine they’re saying he’s still gonna make the opening day start for the the Cubs so our breakout pitcher of the year in 2023 apparently avoided injury here at the start of 2024 uh his
Teammate Ian hap I don’t know if concerning but a little more concerning than then Mr steel uh Craig Council the new manager of the Cub said that there’s still a left hamstring strain that Ian haap is dealing with now he’s not a burner or anything like that but
Obviously it’s very difficult to play through a hamstring strain his the report we got over the weekend was that the hamstring strain and the recovery from it for Ian hap it’s kind of plateaued not exactly what you want to hear because that that tends to mean
Right we’ve hit a point let’s what do plateaued mean right you’ve hit a point you’re not improving you’re not pushing through it the problem with the hamstring is you can’t really push through it this is not oh just tough it out kid you tough it out you you strain
It further right it’s it’s a really difficult situation uh the hope is that he’s back and available and on the field for opening day they haven’t ruled that out yet they also haven’t definitively said he’s gonna be playing on opening day Ian hap is a very solid performer
One of these across the board guys you know he does a little bit of everything without doing anything that excels he’s a strong option in points leagues he’s a strong option in on base percentage leagues he’s one of the players you kind of take to kind of stabilize things so
You feel pretty confident you’re going to get you know a solid effort for him and then you take more risks with other guys so keep an eye on that again nothing catastrophic is being reported at all at this point but the fact of the matter is that we just don’t know if
He’s gonna be available on opening day or not uh looking at some other notes that have just come in this morning yasmani grandall and giwan giwan excuse me Bay uh will start the season on the injured list for the Pirates not a surprise with either guy the foot issue
Grandal’s had has been dealing with for a while now the hip issue for Bay same thing both those guys obviously I would hope at least are NL only plays anyway so they don’t affect most people uh in mix leagues Jared Jones not Paul SK Jared Jones has made the Pirates opening day
Rotation uh he pitched really well this spring he throws very hard he’s kind of that quid essential power guy you know fastball slider kind of stuff he was coming into the season a top 100 Prospect in Major League Baseball SK is more talented SK is ahead of him on
Every Prospect chart SK is potentially the Superstar but that’s not the away from the fact that Jared Jones could develop into an All-Star level player so he is definitely someone laid in drafts that you can look at the arm and think to yourselves this is a guy worth
Drafting in the reserve rounds of of a mixed League Draft it comes with all the caveats obviously that you have with young pitchers uh but he looked really good in Spring and he made the rotation for the Pirates uh let’s see here any other news and that’s basically it then
We just get into news reports about what has happened on over the weekend so that’s kind of where we’re at here uh I know that this podcast wasn’t as long as normal but we’re trying to get things all set up for the regular season at fantasyguru.com hopefully enjoyed what
We had to say here now in terms of getting everything set up we start the real game action this week hopefully everyone did their Fab last night if you’re in a league that runs them once a week like most of my leagues are hopefully you got that all set up you’re
Ready to go we’ll be helpy happy to help you you set lineups and all that at Discord over fantasyguru.com get the full season product for baseball use that promo code fsd2 fsd2 to get you that discount of 20% on the baseball product we’re here all season long um you know Doug Doug am
Saying Thank God to Elite plus to watch listen to YouTube whenever you got it you can you can watch it whenever you want youtube.com Elite Plus network you can listen to it whenever you want at fantasyguru.com in the elite plus section or at your favorite podcasting service so don’t forget that uh Joe
Wayan’s got a question here let’s last answer these joen Willie iar is he gonna get playing time over Tyler O’neal He will not get playing time over Tyler the question for Wy iar is what is the playing time situation exactly going to look like he is not someone that you
Should be drafting with high expectations in a mix League I know some people you know we were talking about him a couple of months ago as someone who could emerge he still could emerge but at this point he’s likely open the year on the bench I think he’s their
Fourth outfielder um I you know he he’s a lefty so there is a chance that there’s some platoon with some of these guys but again I think fully expected Duran to be in the Outfield with O’Neal rafaela’s made the team to play center field so you know O’Neal can’t stay
Healthy and that’s that’s an issue right he cannot stay healthy but he is a 30 home run bat he is a 1520 steel guy he’s a pretty impressive Talent right but the way that the roster shaking out I think iard is that last guy and you know let’s not forget
Yoshida now I know a lot of people were minimizing him there have been rumors about Yoshida potentially being traded but you know the Outfield Duran Yoshida O’Neal and rafala as a center fielder like Iber is their fifth guy and when you’re the fifth guy in the Outfield you
Can make the team certainly he’s a lefty which helps right let’s get some Lefty righty stuff there’s also the potential that you know he could be demoted as well so that’s something to think about with Mr iar uh so yeah get the get the product over fantasyguru.com you can see
It right there 20% off everything the promo code fsd2 uh the baseball product is available right now we’re rocking and rolling we’ll help you set lineups in Discord and all that we’ll have all that article and information uh there as well at fantasyguru.com don’t forget okay
That we have DFS and that’s going to start this week I write the cash game breakdown during the week um you know thousands of words about how to set your lineup there we have you know guys like Scott bonder and Chris Rose writing the GBP article Ted Shuster gets involved so
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All the DFS it’s a great value get the all-in package football we still have the franchise mode available now that includes the coverage of uh everything leading up to the draft all the rookie player profiles like I do in baseball the player profiles we do a same series
Like that for the football players for the youngsters leading up to the draft includes all our breakdowns and coverage of all the free agent movement and there’s been a ton of it the expectation is just to lay it out there Justin fenman will join me on Tuesdays moving
Forward to talk Hoops Thursdays we’re going to talk football Fridays we’re going to talk NASCAR so Thursday we’ll have a you know 20-minute visit with one of our crew to talk some football you get the package right now if you want to do that uh as well uh and then Elite
Sports Game Time Monday through Thursday 8 to 10 Eastern I’m on there with Justin fenerman the Elite Sports show is uh on Series XM fantasy sports from 3 to six Eastern that’s with Jeff mans I’m on there Wednesdays so you got me here five
Days a week you got me four days a week at night with Justin you got me one day with with Jeff that’s 10 shows of Ray Flowers right that’s a lot of Ray Flowers in a week hopefully uh I don’t drone on and drone on and drone on and
Cause you to cringe the sound of my voice moving forward appreciate all of you thanks for joining me today thanks for joining us all over at fantasyguru.com get over there get the stuff ingested well sign up for the product get the stuff ingested ask us any question questions if you want to
Get involved in the wagering with baseball if you want to sign up for the DFS with baseball if you want to sign up for one of the other sports we’re happy to help you at fantasyguru.com I’m Ray Flowers and this has been fantasy sports daily powered by fantasyguru.com
