Speaker 0 00:00:03 What is going on? Everybody? Welcome into cash. And I'm Howard Bender. I've got Adam Ronis here by my side. Super Bowl in the rear view mirror. N F nfl. We can put it way on the back burner at least until we get to the NFL draft. It's all about baseball, it's all about fantasy baseball, it's all about you. What the NBA picking back up after the all-star break as well. So, uh, fully in the swing of things here. Adam, what's going on man? How are you today?
Speaker 1 00:00:29 Doing well, definitely in the heavy prep for fantasy baseball mode. Doing a draft champions league. Got the T G F B I draft kicking off on Monday 15. Team slow draft. That's N F B C style. I've had pretty good success in that league. I got pick number four in that one. They did the k d s today. Uh, then I got labor mixed league auction in West Palm Beach a week from Sunday, and then two days later tout wars. So already a bunch of drafts. And then obviously later in March I'll have a N F B C. Uh, I'm not sure if I'm doing the auction or main event or both, potentially in homely draft G S T. So a lot of drafts coming
Speaker 0 00:01:15 Up. <laugh>, you got it all dance card. Way, way full. I am. Uh, I had a, I had to step away from labor this year because I couldn't make it to the, uh, to the, the draft down in Florida. And, uh, and then, you know, they, there wasn't any room to, to move me out. I can't make tout wars either in New York, so I had to switch out of that al only, uh, auction draft and go into, I ended up in the, uh, the, the draft and hold, which is like doing a draft champions, uh, which it also makes for some nice prep for the T G F B I because, uh, 11th pick in the, uh, draft and hold for Tout Wars 11th pick in, uh, in T G F B I, which, uh, I, I, I gotta be honest with you, I'm not a fan.
Speaker 0 00:02:01 I'm not a fan of the, uh, of the, uh, the 11th pick. I kind of feel like it's, it's not terrible yet, but, so I, I'll tell you what, here you go. So for the 11th pick in Tout wars, um, Otani the hitter because in in Tout Wars folks, it's Tani's two players. He's not one, you draft him as a hitter and a pitcher. So I drafted him as the hitter there, uh, with the 11th pick, uh, Bob Boche, uh, Matt Olson, uh, Alec Manoa. And then I, uh, and then I went and I grabbed a little gunner Henderson kept myself a little rookie third base as that position, uh, was starting to, uh, to dry up. And you know what, I don't really know if I'm gonna have, you know, too many shocked with, uh, with, with grabbing Henderson. I've wanted to have him.
Speaker 0 00:02:48 I've always been a, a sucker for rookie third baseman. Um, and I feel like, you know, the draft and hold is at least a good spot for him because, well, yes, I'm throwing down a fifth round pick and, you know, getting him kind of right where his ADP really is. Um, you know, I figure that if, uh, if he does struggle and maybe they send him down for a little bit or whatever and they bring him back up late in the season, you know, it's draft and hold so I'm not, you know, killing a roster spot the entire year. You know, these things kind of just happen. I can't do anything more than with the 50 guys that I get.
Speaker 1 00:03:26 And that was what, round five?
Speaker 0 00:03:29 Round five? Yes.
Speaker 1 00:03:32 Okay. That's a little early for me.
Speaker 0 00:03:36 Yeah, I thought, I thought, I figured it was kind of like a round early, um, in, in this one here. But I'll, I'll tell you what, I <laugh> I'm glad that I did it because you, you, you know, you get validation on a pick, uh, when somebody dms you immediately after you make it and saying, oh, I really like that Henderson pick. He wasn't gonna make it back to you. Then I felt good about him. Mike Alexander, uh, at Rho Rhoda one on, uh, on Twitter, uh, it hit me up immediately after my pick. So I felt very validated with that move <laugh>, I mean, third base dude, third base is Gar. And I'll tell you what, we're, we're gonna actually, we're gonna be breaking down, uh, the catcher position in more detail. We're gonna go positioned by position for, you know, the next couple of shows and just kind of go through it.
Speaker 0 00:04:25 But at least from, uh, from, from this standpoint here, you know, third base for the draft, just not a really great spot. I mean, yeah, I could, I could definitely wait on, you know, on, on some guys take a shot with Matt Chapman, um, you know, who's just meh at this point. And he's, uh, he's struggled in, uh, in, in Toronto since going there. Um, AIO Suarez, Alec Bomb, I don't mind ka Brian Hayes. But again, sitting so far over on one side of the field, uh, when so many other people out there need some corner infield help, uh, I I, I liked it. I had, I, I felt the need to do it, Adam. I had to do it. And some, you know, I always say this to people, if you want a player and you don't think that he's gonna come back to you, are you worried about whether or not he's gonna make it back to you? I don't see anything wrong with taking a guy around early.
Speaker 1 00:05:18 No, I don't either. I just think, I do think third base is more top heavy and it does get a little thin, but I always believe that you don't need to reach on a position just because you think there's scarcity there. It allows you to maybe be better at a middle infield or corner infield spot if you feel there's a better player on the board. So I'm just not gonna reach on a position. That's just something I've learned. Um, cuz I think sometimes that happens to people. They're like, oh, this, they're so scarce, I gotta get this guy. And it pushes players up at the position that don't deserve it. I think it's happening with Alex Bregman, he's solid, but I feel like people are pushing him up because third basement is thin. Uh, I'm not gonna do it. I'm just like, okay, I'll figure it out.
Speaker 1 00:06:02 Like in, um, my last one I took, uh, Alec Bowman round 13 and I'm good with that because we started to see Bo crease his launch angle last year in the second half. If you look at last year's numbers, like ah, yeah, there's not much power there to that, but he's a young player that's improving in a good lineup, in good ballpark. So I feel like there always will be someone that you can find later in the draft. Uh, so if everyone else is gonna push players up because they think the position is thin, I'm just gonna go in the opposite direction and, uh, you know, if I like, should we, no, shortstop is deep, so maybe I'll have two short stops in the first six or seven runs. I don't care. That's, that means now I'm stronger at the middle infield spot compared to everyone else. And if you're in a 15 team league, you're probably gonna be weak somewhere you don't want to. But if you're in a very competitive 15 team league where a lot of people know what they're doing, you're gonna come out somewhere light, whether it's the catcher position, cuz you have to start two saves because they're so scarce. Um, so that's the way I look at it.
Speaker 0 00:07:05 And I kind of feel the same way about second base. Like that's how I view second base. There are a number of second basemen, like later on, um, who I think that I can, uh, I can take and I can be happy with. Um, and, and I think I, I just, I like that I, I I pushed second base down like that, so I didn't feel like I was reaching on Gunner Henderson because of, you know, just because of the position. It's obviously he is also the player. He's power speed. He's also potentially, uh, gonna be able to throw me a, a three 50 O B p. Um, I think he's very underrated and non base percentage leagues as well. So, uh, multitude of reasons there. But yeah, I mean, looking at a guy like, you know, sec, you know, if, if I'm looking at second base and I'm looking at a guy like Jonathan India, you know, I'd be perfectly fine going after, uh, Jonathan India, you know, even like later on in the, uh, in the game, you know, like a, like a Tyro Estrada or, or even a Luis a Rayez, um, Gavin Lux down further.
Speaker 0 00:08:05 You know, I think that the, that's how I view that. Again, third base for me. I just, I've always been, you know, it's, it's the, like the kids at the hot corner. I mean, I could go through, man, I could go through like a string of guys that would just, I mean, you would laugh. I mean, you remember, um, remember Garrett Atkins?
Speaker 1 00:08:23 Yep. For Colorado,
Speaker 0 00:08:25 Hank Blaylock.
Speaker 1 00:08:26 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. He had some good years in Texas. <laugh>,
Speaker 0 00:08:29 Adrian Beltre, he was one of my guys.
Speaker 1 00:08:32 I mean, Beltre. Yeah. He had the great early se or rookie season, or was it the second year? He had 47 home runs, then he kind of slowed down and then he became really good again. And obviously he was a great defense supplier.
Speaker 0 00:08:46 Yes. Uh, defense doesn't matter, but there, but like those, that's like the run of third base, like the rookie third base. But then I just, I always lock in and I think I can get some good power speed there from, uh, from Henderson. And I like the, I like the fact that I've got guys who get a hit power, uh, for decent power and are gonna be able to steal some bags in, uh, in Otani and Bechet, uh, and now Henderson because Matt Olson ain't stealing any bags for me.
Speaker 1 00:09:11 He's definitely not. But elite, elite power,
Speaker 0 00:09:15 Elite elite power. And now I just made Liz, I just made my second pick here, uh, my a pick during the show as we were going on right now, uh, I followed up Gunner Henderson with another youngster. Little older though in Logan Gilbert. Very, very excited about what Gilbert brings to the table for sure.
Speaker 1 00:09:34 Yeah, a lot of those Seattle's pitchers are kind of going pretty early with Luis Castillo, uh, Gilbert Kirby. So there's excitement there for the Mariner staff.
Speaker 0 00:09:44 Yeah. This, this range of pitchers is, uh, is pretty interesting here. Glass now, uh, Tristan Mackenzie, hunter Green, uh, like you said, Gilbert Kirby Lalo. And that's like, that's before you even start tapping into the veterans. I mean, I'm just kinda looking down the, uh, the list here. And granted this is, you know, these are, these are the, the rankings as used by, um, by fan tracks that I'm just looking at right now, uh, where these guys are grouped together because that's also, that's a big deal for a lot of people. I think that, that some people don't understand that. And I think we've touched on this before, uh, when you draft on the same sites over and over and over again, you're so used to what their draft room looks like or whatever, that if you go into someplace new like this year's on fan, fan tracks, and I don't, you know, I'm not, you know, I don't really play anything on fan tracks at all anymore. Um, but yeah, I mean, you just have to look for, you know, which pitchers are, uh, or, or which players overall are kind of pushed down a little bit further.
Speaker 1 00:10:46 Yeah, I mean, what I do is I'll never draft solely on the software, so I'll, I'll a reikis on fantasy alarm.com, so I'll just print them out. I'm still a pen and, uh, pad and cross names off as they go, because you just don't want to be in a situation if you're just relying on the names in front of you. There's always gonna be players that are buried for whatever reason. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, especially younger players or maybe players that sign late, they're gonna be buried in, you don't want to be in a situation where you're in a draft and then someone makes a pick and you're like, oh shoot, I didn't know he was available <laugh>. And obviously that could happen in a slow draft even more because, uh, it's a, it's, you know, a two week draft and maybe you're not paying as much attention and you're like, oh damn, I gotta make this pick quick cuz I gotta go. And you're just kind of scrolling and, uh, you just need to make sure that you have everything in front of you. Um, because they're on every platform, every software, there's gonna be players that are buried.
Speaker 0 00:11:43 Yeah, no doubt about it. No doubt. I think you and I, I can't remember, we were, we were doing some sort of a, I think we were doing a mock draft at some point, and we were on RT sports and we just got hammered with like, you know, like we was just looking deeper and deeper. Oh, it was like, I think it was with a, with a bunch of closers.
Speaker 1 00:12:01 Yeah, they were all like solo,
Speaker 0 00:12:04 Right? Yeah. Like Taylor Rogers, I remember it was like Taylor Rogers was like all the way down at the bottom and like, not even like ranked. It was crazy, crazy. Um, all right. So I mean, that's what's going on right now here in, in this draft. Um, like I said, what Adam and I want to do is we kind of want to dive in a little deeper. You know, you can go to fantasy alarm.com and check out the, uh, the MLB draft guide. Um, like Adam said, his rankings are available, my rankings are available. This whole thing, it's, it's all free too. Um, and then, uh, and then, you know, listen, all the strategy articles that are there, um, we do position specific articles we talk about, you know, uh, you know, each position has a, uh, has a specific author assigned to it. And, uh, and they talk, they talk about everything from, you know, who the top five are to, you know, what the, uh, the depth that that position is, and then maybe some late round value ads at the, uh, at the end who qualify at the position.
Speaker 0 00:13:01 So lots of great stuff out, uh, over there. You're definitely gonna want to go and check that out. It's fantasy alarm.com/mlb draft guide. But you could also just go to fantasy alarm.com and you'll be able to see, uh, everything on there. So, um, all right. I wanted to, uh, I wanted to talk about the, uh, well, let's go to the catcher position here and we'll just kinda kinda highlight that because, you know, there are two things. I mean, there are my, I I've got my rankings up there and I've got your rankings up there as well. And then I always kind of look at that, you know, early N F B C, uh, you know, a d p that they've got just to kind of, you know, get some a, you know, some, some ranges, some number ranges for, uh, for guys. And, and I think it's just best to just kind of like, you know, break it down into tears overall, catch your position for you, Adam. I mean, you know, there's so many people who, uh, who, who talk about the, uh, the tight end position being the, you know, the catchers are the tight end position of fantasy baseball. I, I gotta be honest with you, I, I kind of agree with that statement for a, a certain amount, but first and foremost, dude, why are we still doing two catcher leagues?
Speaker 1 00:14:11 Um, I mean, it's been around and it does, it does make the strategy more important. You know, you gotta decide are you gonna invest? Are you not gonna invest? Are you gonna go with two crappy catchers? So, uh, I think it's just cuz it's been something that we're used to and it does create more strategy. If you did just one catcher, then I think you'd see people wait on the position a lot.
Speaker 0 00:14:38 Yeah, well with the, with, with a couple of minor exceptions, like a tight end position, there's Kelsey and then there's everybody else. So if you look at the, you know, the, the catcher position, if it's a one catcher league, I think you're still gonna see guys like Bill Muo, uh, VA show Will Smith. I think they'll still go, you know, early as well. I mean, you know where they're going right now. I mean, what, what am I seeing? I real muo third, fourth round in some leagues I guess. So I'm going the second round in the 15 team.
Speaker 1 00:15:05 Yeah, he goes second, third round VA show goes in round three. Um, cuz for our show also eligible in the outfield, but you're clearly using him a catcher, but he's gonna play the outfield. So you're getting a guy that's gonna be a catcher that's not gonna endure the wear and tear and will be out there quite a bit and steals bases.
Speaker 0 00:15:25 Yeah. So, uh, what, what kind of a player are you? Do you, uh, do you reach for the Cajun position or what?
Speaker 1 00:15:31 Nah, I want one if I can in the, um, Wilson Contreras, Alex, Alejandro Kirk, William Contreras range, I want to try and get one of those. I did in my first draft with Contreras. My second one, I didn't, I had to wait on the position. I didn't take a catcher until around 17, but ideally I'd like to get one solid one, um, if I can. And that's probably gonna wind up being around seven or eight. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Uh, so like I see in my recent draft, William Contreras went round 80, went before I went, but, um, I don't mind him, uh, Wilson, Contreras Kirk. So I can get one of those guys or Sean Murphy, uh, MJ Melendez too. So like that kind of ranges where I'm looking at. And then I'll wait on the second one.
Speaker 0 00:16:19 Yeah, I'm looking at the, uh, I'm looking at right now, I'm looking at last night, uh, labor mixed league draft also, and right there, William Contreras, Alejandro Kirk, Wilson, Contreras, MJ Melendez, all in the seventh round. That's a, that's a nice little spot there. Adley Ruman fell to the sixth round, which I was, I actually found a a little bit surprising cuz in my, uh, in my tout wars mixed league draft, he went, uh, early fifth round. So more than just a full round a ahead of him. So, uh, yeah, I, you know, I I kind of, I kind of subscribe to that philosophy too. I'm looking for, I'm looking for catchers who aren't gonna kill me in batting average, which is obviously something that, you know, far too many catchers do. So, you know, I look for somebody who's gonna have, you know, some pop don't kill me in batting average. And then of course, you know, you want it, you want, you want the guy on the, uh, on the heavier end of a, you know, of, of a platoon. You want him catching five days a week.
Speaker 1 00:17:22 So yeah, ideally for sure. Um, and you know, that's why you see like Ramu goes early because of the stolen bases. Um, and he's coming off a great year. He was 2020, um, mentioned Marshall going early because again, he's playing the outfield. Uh, then you get into guys that, uh, have some flaws.
Speaker 0 00:17:44 Uh, yeah, like a ton of flaws. <laugh> like a ton of applause. You know, who I do like, and I, I will say this, I was actually talking to, uh, Jim Bowden about it yesterday. He's Tyler Stevenson from the Reds and, uh, and, and i, I kind of like Cal Rawley from the Mariners as well. And those guys are kind of pushed, you know, relatively far down, like ADP wise, uh, if I'm looking at those guys, I mean they're 1 25 between 1 25 Stevenson at 1 25, uh, and uh, and Cal Raleigh at 1 52. Yeah, I wouldn't mind double a little double tap of the late guys right there.
Speaker 1 00:18:26 I like Stevenson. I had 'em last year. It's just, he had some concussion issues and injuries. That's been the big problem with him. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, and Riley, you, you do have to worry about batting average. The power is really good. I had him in a couple league last year, got him in some draft champions and he's really cheap. Um, but 29.4% strikeout rate, two 11 batting average last year. So yeah, 27 homers and 119 games is nice. Uh, but two 11 batting average. Um, and I really don't see how it gets better unless he cuts down that strikeout rate. He does walk quite a bit, but even in O B P league still just 2 84 last year. So that's the issue with him is you're gonna have to account for that batting average. Uh, and I know well as batting average balls player is 2 26, well, he's a guy that has a low batting average balls play cuz he hits a ton of fly balls, 55.7% fly ball rate. So if your fly ball rate is that high, you're gonna have a low babbit cuz you're hitting, you're, you're hitting into a lot of easy outs.
Speaker 0 00:19:29 Yes. Agreed. Agreed. Um, I, I will say this, as far as like the strikeout rate, um, he did have some really solid moments as, as the season waned on. I think, you know, I think he, uh, you know, he, if if you look at just like a month by month breakdown of, uh, of, of what was happening for him, you know, he definitely pulled back. June was a nice month for him. August was a great month, you know, and I feel like, I mean, if you just look at, you know, the, the the second half numbers, uh, slightly better than the first, but still, you know, I mean obviously, you know, the beginning of the season, once you, I mean he opened the season with a 32% strikeout rate, and then in the month of May it went up to 41.3%. So, uh, you know, obviously you're, you're dealing with, you're starting off major league in the hole <laugh> with regard to batting average right there.
Speaker 0 00:20:22 So to see him actually have some improvement as the season went on, slightly encouraging. I do like the power there as well. If he is gonna give me that low batting average, um, and a and a forces me to, to grab a guy who, you know, like a Luis Raez who doesn't really contribute all that much in power speed, but you know, gives you some decent batting average to sort of offset it. You know, if you're, if you're dealing with, you know, that, that big of a roster, then it's not the, uh, it's not the end of the world, but, all right. Who do you like, uh, down below here, if you're gonna pick on and grow the warts on my guys? What are you looking for?
Speaker 1 00:21:01 Well, I mean, Riley's the guy that goes top 12, so I don't think he's the guy that's down.
Speaker 0 00:21:07 Is he, is his ADP got him? Is it top 12?
Speaker 1 00:21:10 It's close. I'm trying to see where he went in my, uh, yeah, he went around 12 of one of my recent drafts.
Speaker 0 00:21:16 Really?
Speaker 1 00:21:17 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Speaker 0 00:21:18 Hey, I don't know if I wanna reach that much. Who you. Uh, all right. So you, you grab one guy in the, uh, in the Contreras Kirk Melendez range. Okay. How far down do you go for the, uh, for the second catcher?
Speaker 1 00:21:34 Um, really depends on the flow of the draft, but I mean, Christian Vasquez is okay. Uhhuh <affirmative>, um, I think, um, a guy like, uh, he's going really later, but Luis Campano from Nap Padres, I think he can wind up getting more at batts than, uh, a lot of people think, I know Olas there, but I don't mind taking him later on. Um, and you don't have to pay a high price tag at all for him. Uh, Logan o Hopi is an interesting name, but I don't know if he's gonna start the year with the Angels.
Speaker 0 00:22:07 You know, I've, I I don't know much about him. It really does. I should obviously dive in a little bit. What do you know about him at all?
Speaker 1 00:22:16 A pretty good hitter. I think he's actually a, a Long Island kid. Um, but there's talk about him, uh, potentially being up at some point this year. I, I thought that there's a chance that he makes the opening day roster, but pretty good strikeout rate. Um, good walk rate in the minor leagues, um, hit pretty well. Little power, even stole some bases. Uh, so there's a chance that he's with the big league club, if not at the beginning of the year, then maybe early on.
Speaker 0 00:22:50 Okay.
Speaker 1 00:22:50 So I did take him in one draft Champs league already, but I understand that he might not be re uh, with the team opening day.
Speaker 0 00:22:58 I mean, that, that fir I saw that you grabbed him in that first one, but I mean, how far down was that? I mean, that was really far down.
Speaker 1 00:23:04 Yeah, probably 2020 first round. I mean, a lot of the catchers after that, I mean, you got Nick Fortes from Miami, maybe l e s Diaz, because he is in Colorado, maybe he has a bounce back season, uh, Christian Betten court from Tampa. So, I mean, you know, it's, you're talking a lot of bad catchers at that point.
Speaker 0 00:23:23 It's a quiet position.
Speaker 1 00:23:25 Yeah, definitely a quiet position. It's better than it was last year though, at least. I think if you're, if you're in a league that starts one catcher, then you really don't need to worry this year. Like, I think there's enough good talent at the position. I mean, in a league where you start one catcher, you're good with Shaw Murphy, William Contreras as your starting catcher,
Speaker 0 00:23:46 Like what's, what's the advan like, how big of an advantage is it to, you know, and, and I think that, you know, it's kind of funny because, you know, even you just compare it to fantasy football and, and the advantage of having Kelsey over, you know, uh, Austin Hooper. I mean, it's, it's massive there. Um, but talk to me about the jump having real Muo var show Will Smith, you know, having the, you know, one of those guys versus having a Murphy or a Stevenson or a, or a Cal Raleigh type. Like how notice how noticeable of an advantage is it for you?
Speaker 1 00:24:22 It's not, I mean, just like anything, right? You, there are multiple ways to win championships. So I saw some teams last year, like in the high stakes leagues. I think the guy who won the main event, his number one catcher was Will Smith. So you go, okay, wow. You know, he had a, a good catcher, but then there were, there, there was a team that had Carson Kelly as their number one catcher, so that was in the top five. So <laugh>, it all comes down to, it's just if football is so different than baseball, because you don't have as big a starting lineup. So that Kelsey obviously makes a massive difference where you got 23 starting spots. So I can see a team that has one elite catcher, one diesel, one that can do really well. And I can see one with two some part catchers because they're so strong everywhere else. So I don't, I don't think it makes a, a huge difference, um, overall because it really comes down to the rest of your roster.
Speaker 0 00:25:23 Yeah, yeah. I mean, obviously yes, the, the roster size is, uh, is definitely significant that, uh, somebody who's, you know, like that mediocre catcher, like you said, you gotta be weak somewhere. Being weak at your second catcher position is probably the, the most ideal spot to be weak. Um, as long as, you know, and again, you don't have to wait too long for, uh, for a, a decent guy, uh, at that point. So just, you know, overall, I mean, to me it's just, it's not a position that I, that I, I like to overrate, like, you know, I'll, I'll be a, a full advocate of taking Travis Kel in the first round, a hundred percent in fantasy football, but I don't, I don't really feel the need to take G two ro Muo in the, uh, in, in, even, even in the two catcher lead, uh, to take JT Ruto in the second or, or, or third round.
Speaker 0 00:26:12 I mean, I really, I, I, I don't, I I love Adley Ruman, and if he falls to the sixth or seventh round, then I'll be, you know, psyched to grab him. But yeah, I'm, I'm of that mindset as well that this is just, you know, you don't have, you don't have Joe Mauer with, you know, potential speed or, and batting average. You don't have, there's, there's nobody out there that's like really, you know, some sort of a, a, a true dominant force. And I never, I never was in on Joe Mauer for the record. I never drafted Joe Mauer. I never liked Joe Mauer. I just, I, I, I understood why people were doing it. I thought they were making a mistake. I didn't think that the advantage was that significant. And I think that's really kind of what holds true now. Yeah. A guy like j t Ru Muto steal a couple of bags, but you know what? I can get some, some fucking schlub outfield. They're like Tyrone Taylor to, to steal some bags and then I'll pick him up off the fucking waiver wire.
Speaker 1 00:27:07 I see why people take rbu. I can't do it. I mean, he was 2020 last year, so to get a catcher that's 2020, that bat's 2 76 over 504 at bats, it's a big deal. And he drove in 84 runs. So I see why. But like in that range though, I just feel like there's better players. So again, you could show me a team that real Mele helped win a championship and I could show you a team where someone waited on two catchers and won a championship. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, so it's really the totality of the roster. It's easy for someone to say, well, our drafting real Mele on the second, and I won my league by 15 points. I'm like, okay, well I had two catchers drafted after around 15, and I won my league by 12 <laugh>, you know, so <laugh>, that's the thing with baseball, there's just so many different ways to win. And that's the problem is you just don't wanna follow one. Like, oh, well this guy did it that way last year. Well, it's a different year and things change
Speaker 0 00:28:06 Wise words right there. Things change <laugh>,
Speaker 1 00:28:09 But I tend not to pay up for catcher. And the earliest I'll take one is probably round seven.
Speaker 0 00:28:14 Yeah. And I, and I, and I'm in agreement with that. And you know, as I'm sitting here watching the draft and hold going on and, you know, bunch of catchers, uh, obviously off the board here, um, I'll, I'll, I'll, I think I'll be okay. I think I'll be able to build up in, uh, in other spots. I actually have to start hustling my ass up on, uh, on some outfield that, uh, I kind of missed out on some outfield there with, uh, with Otani just being utility. And I was like, ah, shit, you know what? I should have probably grabbed some outfielders. That's a tough spot. Outfields a tough spot to get caught up in and not off.
Speaker 1 00:28:50 Yeah, it's, it's, it's pretty, I mean, cuz you gotta have a lot of platoons late. That's the problem. You're talking about a 15 team league where you start five, it's 75 right there and then utilities and bench. Uh, and there's 90 outfielders starting in baseball and a lot of them are platoons. So that, that's the biggest issue. It alfield gets, uh, thinner quickly than more than you think.
Speaker 0 00:29:13 Oh, no, no, I'm looking at it right now. And I'll tell you, we're, we're midway, you know, we're almost midway through the sixth. And if I'm just going by what the site has here, uh, Brian Reynolds, Byron Buxton, Yellich Mar Santander, uh, Jean Carlo Stanton, say Suzuki Tyler O'Neill. So you're already, you're already down. You're already down a couple of tears, uh, into this group. It's definitely down. I mean, it's still buildable, but shit, man, there's a lot, there's a lot of sinking feelings down there once you start looking. I don't wanna have a, uh, I don't wanna have my, uh, my, my outfield filled out by, uh, Brian De Cruz and Mark Canna <laugh>. Mark Marna. Is he still with your team?
Speaker 1 00:30:03 Yes.
Speaker 0 00:30:05 <laugh>. How psyched are you?
Speaker 1 00:30:07 About what? The Mets?
Speaker 0 00:30:09 Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:30:11 I mean, I'm not feeling it yet, but you know, I should be once we get around.
Speaker 0 00:30:15 No, no, no, no, that's fine. That, that is a perfectly valid feeling. You should probably hold on to that.
Speaker 1 00:30:20 I know. Yeah, thanks.
Speaker 0 00:30:22 You should probably hold on to that. Shit's just not going your way really.
Speaker 1 00:30:26 It's just not going, it's gonna be a bad year for the Mets is what you're saying.
Speaker 0 00:30:29 I I feel like it is gonna be a bad year for the Mets.
Speaker 1 00:30:32 Okay.
Speaker 0 00:30:33 And and that's gonna, that's gonna knock you into a fit of depression.
Speaker 1 00:30:37 Okay. What
Speaker 0 00:30:38 Would depress you, what, what would depress you more like the Mets just looking like trash the entire year. Right. Or knowing that I got to hang out and have drinks and, and conversation with Michael Irvin,
Speaker 1 00:30:54 The Mets. I'm, I'm over the Irving shit and you're a piece of shit for doing what you did.
Speaker 0 00:30:58 <laugh>
Speaker 1 00:30:59 Some fuck up of all the fucking years I've gone to, I went to two Fsgs last year. I know in 21 they didn't have it in person in 20, they had the first one before Covid and I was there. So I went to at least three in a row, maybe four. I don't know. I think Alarm has sent me to everyone except this fucking one. And then I fucking see Michael Irvin is there. And I've said this, I really don't get starstruck. I really don't care about meeting athletes of famous people. Maybe it's because I've been in locker rooms for N F L M O B, got to interview players in person, got to interview Chris Bryant, Mike Mustaches, drew Brees, you know, even famous actors. Jamie Smooth, George Lopez. I got to interview Kareem Abdul Jabbar. So I've got to interview and I always said like, athletes are just like you and me.
Speaker 1 00:31:53 The difference is they have seven figures on their paychecks, maybe eight. So it's like, whatever. I, I just don't really, I'm not that big. There's only a handful of people that I really want to meet that I would get excited about. Kobe Bryant would've been one. So that sucked that I never got to meet him or even see him play in person. But Michael Irvin was my favorite player on the Cowboys in the nineties. Uh, I have 88 in my email and certain numbers because of Michael Irvin. Uh, he was, to me, the emotional leader.
Speaker 0 00:32:22 That's right. Your, you wear your Instagram handles Aron 88.
Speaker 1 00:32:25 Yeah, 88. That's my
Speaker 0 00:32:26 Number. <laugh>. I didn't even put that together. Yeah,
Speaker 1 00:32:29 I mean, and it's, you know, you got Des I mean, Michael Irvin, Des Bryant, CD Lamb. So 80 eight's a big number for wide receiver Irvin's. My guy, man, I loved Michael Urban. He was so emotional on the field. Like I felt like he was the inspirational leader for that team. I like his personality. He was my guy. Um, you know, and I ide I, I played wide receiver, so I always loved Michael Irvin. I identify with him and then to see him at the Fs g a and you sending me fucking pictures and Lisa Ann and then scrolling through. So, and I was on the air with John and Pep on the bed of sports. I was like, John, hold on.
Speaker 0 00:33:07 And
Speaker 1 00:33:07 That fucking went off <laugh>. I'm like, can you believe this shit? And you know John? Yeah, okay, whatever. I'm like, no, John,
Speaker 0 00:33:17 Look
Speaker 1 00:33:17 What they're doing to me. And at least Anne told me, yeah, let's take pictures. So we control Adam. And she's like, no, let's take pictures cuz we wanna take pictures with Michael. Orman not control Adam. So you're fucked up. So yeah, I was over it until you fucking brought it up. But yeah, I think were depressed about the Mets cuz that would be six months of misery where this is a week or two. And I thought I was over it, but you fucking opened up a wound.
Speaker 0 00:33:44 I, I thought. Yeah, there you go. That, see that, that's what I'm saying. You know, I'm gonna have to send you that picture at least.
Speaker 1 00:33:52 No, I'm blocking you now. Oh
Speaker 0 00:33:53 My God. You, you wanna know what's even can can, can I, can I rub salt in the wound a little bit more? Come on. Can I please, please. Can I,
Speaker 1 00:34:01 Yeah. Just kick me while I'm down.
Speaker 0 00:34:04 Nicest fucking guy on the planet. Like cool down to earth, like engaged in the conversation, not just like looking around and shaking everybody's hand and trying to figure out where, like right there, like you had you been there, you would've like had a full conver Like I had a conversation with him. I was talking to him about, um, <inaudible> Boden said to me, he was like, oh, I had a, you know, he preached at the chapel, the Reds chapel when, uh, when I had Deion there. So I brought that up to Irvin. He was just like, he's like, ah, boss man for the Reds. Yeah, I remember him. And we started talking and he was just like, he was just such a good easygoing guy. And then, you know, then he goes into the game room that, that trophy smack hat and there's fucking Irving shooting hoops. There's Irving playing fucking beer pong. I mean, it was just, dude, he is like literally like the nicest dude in the world. Like that was, you know, they say you do, you don't want to meet your heroes. He's, he wasn't even my hero. And I was just like really good fucking down to earth guy, man. I am, uh, I am definitely a fan of Michael Irvin. Not the Cowboys though.
Speaker 1 00:35:13 That's fine. But yeah, no, Irvin was absolutely my favorite player from the Cowboys in the nineties and definitely one of my favorite players of all time. I just felt like he was that inspirational leader. He brought fire to the team. He made big plays. Uh, he was the guy.
Speaker 0 00:35:31 Yeah. Oh, well, spectacular to meet him, you know, and he was just so nice about the picture. He even asked me, he was like, do you want want a picture? Of course I do, Michael. Of course I do. Why wouldn't I? I'm gonna send this. And we even said it, we even said it right there to Michael Irvin. We were like, we're sending these, we're, we're so happy to send these to, to our friend Adam, who is like your biggest fan. Lisa and I got a huge fucking kick out
Speaker 1 00:35:57 Of it. Yeah, I see that.
Speaker 0 00:35:58 That was the best mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Oh, see, I
Speaker 1 00:36:01 Feel like, I feel like this whole thing was a troll job by the company. Like, oh, Michael vin's gonna be there. Yeah. Don't send Adam
Speaker 0 00:36:07 This shit. <laugh> the company trolled you. That's, they're <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:36:13 So I was sending Adam this shit.
Speaker 0 00:36:15 They're trying to figure out ways to make you quit. So <laugh>. Yeah. They don't have to pay unemployment. So, so they're like, all this is what we're gonna
Speaker 1 00:36:22 Do. Are we sending Adam to F S G this year? We always said them. Um, wait, hold on. Is Michael Irv gonna be there? I heard that there are some whispers. Yeah. Don't set em in. That's his favorite player. Let's stick it to him.
Speaker 0 00:36:38 Oh God, that was great. Woo. Woo. All right, let's wrap things up with <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:36:48 I can't even, I'm glad you I made your day. Not you were not in a great mood before this podcast. Now you can't stop fucking happen.
Speaker 0 00:36:55 It's in the shittiest mood before this podcast. I'm
Speaker 1 00:36:58 Good, uh, to cheer your day. I'll make mine shittier. Thanks
Speaker 0 00:37:01 <laugh>. <laugh>
Speaker 2 00:37:09 <laugh>.
Speaker 0 00:37:11 Oh shit, that was great. That was great. See n now I'm like, you know, you're gonna have to go and do a show with, um, uh, with Fete and you're gonna be off for much
Speaker 1 00:37:21 Me more. Put me more in depression now working with Fete
Speaker 0 00:37:25 <laugh>. Now I'm gonna go off, I'm gonna do a show with Jim and I'm just, oh, I'm gonna, he's just gonna wanna talk baseball, baseball, baseball. And I'm like, no, I gotta tell you about this story again. I've already told it on this show once. Now, now I get the, the follow up to it. Oh my Lord. Oh, I'm crying over here. I'm crying. Ooh. All right. So yes. Let's, let's, uh, let's wrap things up with a little n b a talk. Uh, we're recording here on Wednesday, first day back from the All-Star Break. Um, was, uh, is is Thursday, so Big nine, big Nine Game Slate, uh, for Thursday. First of all, I mean, how was, how was the All-Star weekend for you? Did you watch any of this stuff? Did you watch the, I hear everybody's crapping on the slam dunk contest.
Speaker 1 00:38:15 No, it was good this year.
Speaker 0 00:38:17 Oh, okay. I mean, like in general, people always did. I didn't check in on what was going on in the All-Star Break. I just figured I'd ask you.
Speaker 1 00:38:25 Yeah, no, they had, uh, so the Sixers recently signed this guy Mack McClung from the G League and, uh, six two white guy. And he was phenomenal. He won the dunk contest and you could see it, I think as people started doing research and saw some of his dunks, they said, yeah, this guy's gonna win. Cuz he was like an underdog. And then he finished like minus one 20, I think to win it. And he did. I mean, and he converted all of his dunks on the first try. So, um, they didn't have any big names in it. That's been the problem. Um mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But he definitely bought, brought some juice to it. Um, for the three point contest, I had given out three guys that I liked and I had three wagers. Um, I had Buddy Healed who had won it a couple years ago and I had money on him the year he won.
Speaker 1 00:39:13 And I had, uh, Larry Marketing cuz they were in Utah. Mm-hmm <affirmative> and I, I thought maybe he'd have a shot. And I had Damien Lillard who did win. So I got Damien Lillard at plus three 80 and he won. Um, I didn't bet on any of the other stuff. I wanted to bet Pal Gaal in the Rising Stars game. I think they were plus one 60 and they did win, but I didn't get it did. Um, and then the All-Star game obviously was not great. I saw the ratings were way down, you know, there's never any defense and people have been critical. Um, I know Mike Malone, the coach of Denver, said that was the worst all-star game he ever seen. Uh, LeBron had to leave with injury, Giannis had a wrist injury, did not compete in the, uh, skills challenge and then started the game, scored on a dunk and then left. Um, and then he went for, to get his wrist examined in New York and he's gonna miss some time. They don't think it's serious. There's just some swelling. Of course, he hurt it in the game on Thursday when I had him in a parlay. Um, <laugh>
Speaker 1 00:40:18 <laugh> and then DraftKings
Speaker 0 00:40:19 Repo. Wait, was that, that was the same, that was the same night that I met Michael Irvin.
Speaker 1 00:40:24 Fuck you, um, that night to uh, oh wait, can I get in trouble
Speaker 0 00:40:33 For saying fuck you? No.
Speaker 1 00:40:35 To you. Cuz you're technically my boss. <laugh>, right? So
Speaker 0 00:40:39 I'm gonna, many people get to Curse Sudden
Speaker 1 00:40:41 Podcast.
Speaker 0 00:40:42 I was, I was gonna just write you up for insubordination and handle it behind closed doors. Shannon,
Speaker 1 00:40:47 Please edit this out. We don't need any proof. Thank you Shannon <laugh>. Uh, she's not gonna edit it out. She hates me too. Uh,
Speaker 0 00:40:55 Yeah, I I think you would've been fired if you didn't say fuck you to me at that
Speaker 1 00:40:58 Point. Okay, cool. I just wanna make sure I shouldn't have said anything. Anyway. So that Thursday it was the t and t FanDuel Risk Free. Same game. Parlay. So I think they didn't offer a refund because they're like, well people are getting their money back. DraftKings offered a refunds for all bets of Ava Giannis that night. Um, yeah, it's so stupid. I've talked about this. It's like this is what they do. If it's a nationally televised game and it's a big name player, you get a refund. Otherwise you don't. I mean, it's so stupid. Um, and it's not good for new betters cuz they're gonna start, well, my guy got hurt, I wanna refu. That's not how this fucking works. Okay, <laugh> like, you lose, you lo it's bad luck. It happens. You lost it. Um, but yeah, I know we talked on the last podcast about parlays. I did hit a plus 4 0 9 parlay, but six of my last seven parlays that I have lost, I've all been wide One leg. So I had a same game, risk free parlay that Thursday night with the Clippers. And who did they play? I can't remember The Clippers in someone. And the one leg that lost was Kawai Leonard to Score 20, which oh, Kawai Leonard scored 20 Easy. He started the game Oh. For 10. He didn't score it in the first half. He wound up finishing with 16, but <laugh>. Um,
Speaker 1 00:42:10 But yeah, uh, the, you know, the NBA's like and a half should be exciting. You know, Kevin de Duran should make his debut with the Suns soon and obviously they're favored in the West now because of that trade. It's really bunched up. You got the Lakers, are they gonna make the playoffs? They have a tough schedule upcoming. They're two games out of the Tene. Uh, but they strengthened their roster at the trade deadline. You have the Luca Kyrie pairing, uh, what is that gonna do for Dallas? And then in the East, you know, Boston's in first, uh, only a half game ahead of Milwaukee. I still like Milwaukee in the East. Uh, but if Giannis misses time, maybe that prevents them from running the one seed. Uh, but it'll be pretty interesting. And you know, there's only like 20 games left for each team, so it's not like the midway point mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Speaker 1 00:42:54 So we're, we're getting close here to the end. Um, but yeah, the West is gonna be very interesting now because, you know, the Clippers made some moves. They're sitting in the four seat Phoenix, the five Dallas, the six. I could see both those teams, uh, specifically the Clippers and the Suns passing The Kings who have probably been the biggest surprise sitting at the three seat. No one thought they'd be there at this point, but the sons have already played better basketball recently before the acquisition of Duran. They've won seven to 10. Devin Booker recently came back. So, uh, sons are gonna be the team that I think everyone picks to come out of the West.
Speaker 0 00:43:30 Yeah, I I'm pretty sure, I mean that's, you know, when you talk to anybody about winners and losers at the trade deadline, everybody went bonkers over what the Suns did and uh, and put it together. What are they, uh, what, what's their line on not just to, what's their line on just to finish, uh, to come out of the West?
Speaker 1 00:43:47 I think it's like plus one 50. Okay, let me see. But I
Speaker 0 00:43:52 Know there's the trade deadline. Think it after the trade deadline, it was like plus three 50 or something like that.
Speaker 1 00:43:58 Still they till the, the day of the trade deadline, they were plus 1900 to win the title. So if someone saw the, had the foresight and say, Hey, they're gonna make a big move, put
Speaker 0 00:44:08 Something on would crazy, right?
Speaker 1 00:44:09 Yeah. And I did see a couple people say, yeah, I just may, you know, the books obviously are very quick with that stuff, but I think there might have been a couple that were up there and, uh, some people like, yeah, I just grabbed plus 1900. They are plus 4 25 to win the title on DK Celtics of plus 2 75. I take the Bucks at plus five 50 over them, um,
Speaker 0 00:44:30 Over both of them.
Speaker 1 00:44:31 Yeah, I like the Celtics, they're good. But I like the Bucks man, when the Bucks are completely healthy with Giannis and they haven't really been the whole year they've been playing without Barbie Portis. Chris Middleton is still on a minutes limit. He has not played more than 25 minutes since he's come back from injury over the last couple weeks. So once this team is whole and they acquired J Crowder a good veteran presence, um, you know, Joe Engles missed a lot of the year with, uh, coming off a torn acl. He gives them a, a nice three point shooting presence. So I still like Milwaukee, um, to win the conference. The Suns are the favorite at plus 2 35, then Denver plus three 90 Clippers plus four 50. I mean, people are gonna talk about the Warriors. I look, I will not bury them and not kept them out.
Speaker 1 00:45:11 But they have been mediocre all season long. They're 500, they're 22 and seven at home. Seven and 22 of the road. Curry's still out. Yeah, they're dangerous, but you know, they just haven't shown much this year. They're not the same team defensively. Uh, and right now they're in the playing game, but they're only, they're only a game out of the six. That's why the West is so interesting. Like it is so bunched up from the, the three seed and the 10 seed are separated by four games. And the three and the Lakers who are 13th are separated by six. So there's gonna be a lot of movement and that seating's gonna be pretty critical, uh, to see how far you go in the postseason.
Speaker 0 00:45:55 Alrighty.
Speaker 1 00:45:56 The, the east is not as interesting. Like, I, I'd be stunned if we don't get the top four teams in the semi-finals.
Speaker 0 00:46:03 Okay. All right. So the chalk plays in the east and it can kind of get a little mixed up being a little crazy in the west.
Speaker 1 00:46:10 Yeah, I mean, you could
Speaker 0 00:46:11 Have bad, it's exciting. You could have a watch. At least
Speaker 1 00:46:12 You could have a first round matchup of Phoenix, Dallas, Kyrie Irving verse Kevin Duran.
Speaker 0 00:46:18 Huh? There you go. <laugh>. Little, little added drama to it there as well.
Speaker 1 00:46:24 Yeah. So I think the West will be a lot of fun.
Speaker 0 00:46:29 Nice. Nice. All right, well, I guess we'll, uh, we'll, we'll wait and see how everything kind of ramps up. As always, you guys can check out, uh, Adam's prop article
[email protected], uh, to get your N B A on in there. Um, and then keep an eye out. I think we're, we're gonna also, and in addition to breaking down positions for fantasy baseball, um, I think it's also a good time to maybe talk about some wins, totals, uh, that we wanna look at for, uh, for the season coming up. I don't necessarily know about, I mean, we can, we can, we can sprinkle a little Cy Young and M V P early talk there, but I'd rather talk wins totals, uh, based on what we are, uh, what we're seeing from these teams right here in the beginning of, uh, of spring training. So lots more to do it then we'll, uh, we'll make sure that we, uh, we leave some time today. We're up against our shows, uh, and recording them there. So we'll figure it all out peoples, we'll figure it all out. But in the meantime, Adam, any final thoughts, parting shots? You wanna, you wanna see some? Uh, nah, nevermind. I won't tell you anything. I won't tell you any anymore, Michael Ivin stuff.
Speaker 1 00:47:38 I won't Yeah, thanks. I
Speaker 0 00:47:39 Won't be, I won't be mean to you.
Speaker 1 00:47:40 Uh, yeah, you were mean enough this entire podcast.
Speaker 3 00:47:44 Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:47:45 And I, yeah, I'm just lashing out, man. That's, that's really what it comes down to. It's my own, my own demons, my own inner frustration with things going on in the world, and, and I'm just lashing out on you, Adam. That's, that's kind of what happens. That's what I, I, I'm pretty sure that's what love and Friendship is all about is, you know, you being able to accept those moments where I, uh, where I'm just lashing out.
Speaker 1 00:48:07 I'll do my best
Speaker 0 00:48:10 With that kind of an attitude, man, that I am not going to send you the, uh, dear Adam letter that Michael Irvin wrote out on a cocktail napkin for
Speaker 1 00:48:18 You. Yeah, I'm sure he did. You would've sent it by now?
Speaker 0 00:48:21 No. Why would I do that? Oh, I gotta like laminate this shit. Put it in there. Imagine Michael Irvin's handwriting saying Dear Adam Ronas.
Speaker 1 00:48:29 Yeah, I can put that on my wall.
Speaker 0 00:48:31 You could, you could indeed. That way when you're doing like live streams, we can see that handsome mug of yours on one side and boom, right over your shoulder.
Speaker 1 00:48:42 The playmaker
Speaker 0 00:48:42 Best present you ever got. I didn't, I didn't get it for you though. Sorry.
Speaker 1 00:48:47 Yeah, I know you did it
Speaker 3 00:48:49 <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:48:50 I can't count on you for anything.
Speaker 0 00:48:52 Uh, <laugh>, that's not true. You know, you can count on me to give you a fucking hard time. That's what it's all about. All right, we'll catch up with you guys all next week. As always, thanks for listening, liking and subscribing to Cash It podcast. Adam Ronis. I'm Howard Bender. We'll catch you next time.
