๐ Published on: 2024-12-12 15:43:48
โฑ Duration: 01:10:23 (4223 seconds)
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James Anderson and Taylor Corso each participated in recent dynasty dispersal drafts, and they share their picks and strategies, plus why James selected Carlos Rodon and why Taylor selected Walker Jenkins in the recent Highlander Draft!
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00:00 Intro
01:15 Dispersal Draft strategy
37:35 Highlander Draft strategy
41:00 Highlander Draft results
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๐ต๏ธโโ๏ธ Transcript:
welcome to the rootwire prospect podcast I’m your host James Anderson and it’s that time of year uh past few years I’ve always had a podcast talking about the Highlander draft uh Dynasty discussion and I’ve got Taylor Corso with me this year part of the dynasty team over at prospects live and got to meet Taylor briefly at first pitch Arizona this year and Taylor took over one of the teams in the original Highlander Dynasty Invitational and he took part in a dispersal draft as part of joining the league because there were a couple open teams and then I actually joined the second uh Highlander League that was kind of a dynasty Guru project um so I was also in a dispersal draft uh this month and then Taylor and I obviously took part in the Highlander draft which is a one round uh draft in the Highlander Dynasty Invitational so lots of Dynasty drafts to discuss here with Taylor but first of all Taylor uh happy to have you thanks for joining me um ready to talk Dynasty yeah I’m always ready to talk Dynasty and thanks for having me on absolutely so um you took part in a dispersal draft as part of you know joining the the Highlander Dynasty Invitational um there was just so many different kind of strategy elements to this uh as I experienced participating in my own dispersal draft and uh for those who are maybe not that um seasoned in terms of Dynasty like dispersal draft we basically mean there were orphan teams and multiple orphan teams in the same offseason so uh we had three new owners Zack Beck Ryan erson and Taylor corso and those three took part in a dispersal draft to divy up the players on the three orphaned rosters um Taylor what what uh where do you want to start here I I think you guys might have done it a little differently than us um in terms blind bidding for the draft spot there at the time yeah I was curious how you guys determined draft order because that’s how we did it we did a blind bid of our highest pick we were willing to bid so for example if you were willing to bid a fourth round pick and no one else was willing to bid that high of a pick you would sacrifice that pick and then be able to choose your draft spot so I didn’t really know I I’ve never done that before so I didn’t really know kind of of how aggressive people were going to be there was one player who was really the clear outlier in terms of you wanted to get that player and that was gunar Henderson U because he had a special designation keeper tag which I’m sure we’ll talk about as we go um but for me I I I wagered a I think a eighth round pick and the person that that won the initial bid rap ra wagered their third round pick so it was like kind of surprising that someone was able to go like that aggressive and sacrifice their third round pick in a you know three player draft um to be able to to have their choice but that’s what happened and then the um you know me and the other person who didn’t win that initial bid then did a different blind bid to get you know second choice of draft position and the bid for that was a fourth round pick so I was pretty surprised again that it was um that heavy aggressive in terms of the bidding but I was perfectly fine drafting you know from the the third spot and I think I ended up with a pretty good team yeah that that’s a uh complicated calculus there I 100% agree Zack Beck took gunar Henderson first overall and as we’ll get into um I mean he would have been my first pick regardless of any designations if if those those were all wiped away but um the fact that you get him under one of these special Highlander keeper designations and he doesn’t count against your three franchise players is just a massive leg up there um and that was a part of the calculus I had in in the players I selected um in my dispersal draft but uh for my money I think you you did the right thing in being the low bid on those two spots um in our dispersal draft we uh randomized the draft order for the dispersal draft but we bid um picks in the dispersal draft for the three slots kind of in the the rest of our offseason drafts um so we we went about it a different way there so there wasn’t any bidding at the top in mine um but I I think you you know you ended up with Mookie Betts third overall and then you were at the turn so you you took Austin Riley fourth overall um Fernando tatis a logical pick there at at second overall um but yeah I mean after everything played out the way it did did you have any regrets about uh being the the low bid I guess to to kind of get the no um you know I went into it thinking I have no idea where because again blind bids this could go any number of ways I could either be the most aggressive or the least aggressive I had no idea where I was going to end up so I kind of mocked out the draft in the first like three or so picks for from each spot and felt pretty good about you know what that looked like no matter where I ended up and you know you mentioned you guys did the the blind bid for the actual uh draft picks that you would have um you know outside of the the dispersal draft we had it to where whoever got the last pick of their slot would get the best collection of picks in those other drafts so again like the penalty for kind of having the you know no choice of where you drafted was not that bad because you know granted I missed out on Gunner handerson I missed out on Fernando Tais but I ended up with the best collection of draft picks you know after the dispersal draft which I thought uh was a nice little consolation for not having to sacrifice any of my picks during the draft yeah I I think I think it worked out great for you um I mean I think it worked out well for all three teams but uh I mean you get to start things off with Mookie Betts Austin Riley Corbin Burns and Zack Gallen in a 20 team Dynasty League um I mean that kind of just gives you a shot to to go for it right away in year one right yeah and that that was kind kind of the that kind of set the stage for most of my draft because having you know I was of course going to pick mooki and Riley as my first two picks at the turn there because those were the best two players on the board but having picked two veterans and then I wasn’t really expecting Corbin Burns to make it back to me but he did so then having three veteran players I thought okay well this point forward I need to build a win now team because I’m already heavily invested with my draft capital in you know late 20s or early 30s players so I can’t afford to take the you know Prospect or win in three-year strategy um I got to focus on building a team rather than just picking value yeah uh 100 perc and I for my money and in the Highlander um just the way the Highlander Constitution is I think you should always be kind of trying to win you know like you can go for younger win now players whenever you can obviously but um I just don’t think the league is and the Constitution is set up in a way that there’s any benefit to just loading up on prospects I think you you’d like to have you know early Prime big Leaguers obviously but um I think just trying to win uh every year and and do the best you can every year I think is the optimal strategy to me in this this format so I think the way that things broke for you it’s going to be fine um now you you said you had a few different early strategies kind of Des depending on the spot so um did you want to touch on that at all yeah I mean one thing I did was made sure I knew like the player pool so looking at what was available like where were the scarcities so some I identified were first base there was really only one legitimate first baseman that you would feel comfortable starting even in a a 20 Team league and that was Vinnie pastino uh the the next best one was Zack disenzo so it was a pretty big fall off at that particular position there also was a scarcity of stolen bases I mean obviously gunar was going to provide several but after that it was really not too many you know stolen base heavy players so just making sure that I grabbed a few um during the draft later on where they appeared and made sure I had some stolen bases under my belt and then the last one was just you know guaranteed closers um there were quite a few decent relievers in the pool but only two that were actually guaranteed to get saves and those were uh Devin Williams and Ryan Walker so uh I you know took all those kind of player pool strategies to heart and ended up being really happy I ended up with VY pasquantino I ended up with both Devin Williams and Ryan Walker and then I was able to grab some of the stolen base guys like Nolan Jones Hassan Kim uh Jake McCarthy uh during the draft so you know I’m not strong in stolen bases by any means but I’m at least average uh I think in stolen bases in this league so uh pretty happy with with how that turned out and then you know I’m sure we’ll we’ll talk about a little bit more as we get into the designations but knowing kind of those pools for fan favorite for Underdog for Rising Star these are all tags for uh special Keepers that you can have and in this dispersal draft with three players there’s already three um you know players to pick that have those designations so if you miss out on the first one you have to choose between the next two if you miss out on the top two you’re stuck with which you know whoever was the third one so for me it was understanding where those TI were like was I okay with getting the third one for free or was it you know beneficial to prioritize the first one because the drop off was so big after that so just kind of understanding those things and ended up you know my my special designation keepers are not nearly as good as yours that you had in in your dispersal draft but uh I still ended up pretty happy with what I got based on you know the the players I had available to me yeah I thought that that was um the most interesting and kind of fun strategic element of of my dispersal draft was um now this League’s I think a year younger than than the one I was in is is a year younger than the original Highlander one that you joined so um we were only up to two fan favorites and two underdogs uh but I did look under you know each category uh of keeper and just where are the tear you know like do I care if I get Byron bucken Ryan Mount Castle and if I don’t then I’ll just not I’ll wait until one of them gets taken or um like at the rising star options in mine were Roman Anthony Cole Young and Ivan Melendez so one of the three of us had to roster Ivan Melendez and one of the three of us got to roster Roman Anthony in that Rising Star spot so to me that just made Roman Anthony you know all the more valuable right because of the um you know comparing him to the replacement level rising star which is I mendus in this case so um yeah I I thought that was just a lot of fun uh smada was was in the dispersal draft with me and like we were just commenting about just how fun this was um just because of the Highlander uh complexities and um you’re you’re looking position by position like you said and just and like category by category um there were you know a lot of um solid outfielders in mine um and I knew I was going to have uh at least one good first baseman just based on how many first basem were designated with special keeper uh designations but like you said uh in mine there was like two viable Short Stops and then there was just or three viable Short Stops and then there was just absolutely nothing at that position um beyond that so like just figuring out where the value was in those different distinctions I think was was just it was important but also a lot of fun yeah and then just figuring out like how to weight that value right like I noticed for yours you took two special designations right off with your first two picks right you had uh junior Camero as your Underdog 2 and then you had Roman Anthony as your Rising Star I believe well so I took I took Spencer Strider in between those two oh okay that’s right um but at least like prioritizing two of your top three picks for those design Nations I mean granted those are are great young valuable players but you probably might not have taken them in those same spots had they not already had those keeper designations right yeah yeah I mean to me it was so in my dispersal draft it went uh Sada had the first pick he he took Fernando tatis who’s just a regular franchise keeper um that count counts against like one of his three franchise keeper spots uh and then I took Junior cam second like you said he he had a underdog 2 designation so he does not count against one of my franchise spots then uh Drew took Cory Seager and Shane mclanahan and then I took Spencer Strider um smata took Trey Turner and Anthony sanand there and then I took Roman Anthony and so for me that that was the first eight picks and I had tatis cero kind of a tossup for first but then um I actually had Spencer schrier third and Roman athlete fourth so I got three of my top four guys um with those in those first State picks um but it like you said it just you know even like Roman Anthony versus Trey Turner if there’s no designation attached I might go Trey Turner but to me like Roman Anthony with a rising star designation versus tray Turner without one um I was gonna go Anthony uh no question there so um yeah just kind of figuring out like how much does this matter how much does this designation matter relative to taking a guy like Trey Turner Cory Seager who’s gonna have to take one of your franchise keeper spots that that was fun I I don’t know like if I did the right calculations necessarily on all that but it definitely made it more fun than just like okay take take the best player every single time yeah and I think you know I’m curious because again like I said for me it was like I kind of felt like I was my first few picks determined the build I was going to have right like I had to build a sort of win now team based on my veteran picks you kind of had three picks in a row where it was like you don’t like they’re kind of two years out picks right like we don’t really know what to expect from Strider this year how many innings we’re going to get obviously we don’t know when Anthony’s going to debut Camero still adjusting to the big league so like for you just having those three players be your first three players chosen that maybe are more likely to kind of hit their stride in two years versus one year did that impact the rest of your draft at all uh no uh well I I mean so so basically honestly like it’s a good question like but the the way I looked at it was I pretty much have to lean into just win now players regardless I I didn’t think the win Now options like compared to cero like to me like cero versus Cory Seager like I don’t even think there’s a big gap um in terms of what I expect from those guys this year because I just don’t trust Cory Seager to play more than 100 10 games um and like Spencer Strider like he goes behind Shane mclanahan but I would take Strider straight up against mclanahan for 2025 just because I don’t trust mclanahan coming off the second Tommy John surgery so like I would take a 100 Innings from Strider over whatever I’m gonna get from mclanahan um so like I didn’t think I was actually you know taking a hit in the short term with with those first couple picks um obviously you know taking Roman Anthony um I took him eighth so like the next best you know established big Leaguers uh were like Justin steel I think was kind of Justin steel adley Rutman um I ended up taking Jordan Westberg with my next pick so like that’s kind of the caliber of guy uh obviously you would take adley Rutman over Roman Anthony just for 2025 but um I was willing to kind of take that that hit like the Anthony one versus a man or a Justin steel or an Alex bregman um just because I knew like after Anthony I wasn’t going to be making any more picks the rest of the draft that had anything to do with like prospects or long-term value um and so like like I said at the beginning like I just don’t think you can play this league um a couple years out um sort of like you were saying so like I I didn’t think I could like lean into that because I was just going to end up taking like really bad Prospect that I didn’t believe in that much so um it didn’t determine how I went about the rest of the draft but I think you could you could definitely say like like samata if you look at his draft versus my draft like he went more kind of all out for just winning this year but I didn’t think either of us had a realistic chance to actually win the League this year yeah um so uh I I don’t have any regrets but you know it’s it’s a it’s a fair question you know because like but there there’s the other aspect so my franchise Keepers end up being um Spencer Strider uh Jordan Westburg and Lawrence Butler I made a trade that we can discuss later but I also knew like cero and Roman Anthony once they shed those Underdog and Rising Star tags they’ll probably be kind of in their Prime at that point and they’ll be really good franchise options so um I didn’t think I was going to win this year anyway but um I do think I’m at least decently set up for 2026 2027 um if that makes sense yeah yeah makes perfect sense I mean you got a really strong uh young core there that you know hopefully depending on how your you know Keepers get managed and everything and how how you know aggressively you get poached will uh set you up for Success so um let’s talk a bit more about your dispersal draft um you know you took munaka murakami uh at pick 58 overall uh for those who don’t know murakami a very accomplished Slugger from Japan who is I think he’s 24 right now um so I mean he does have a like a 52 Homer season under his belt already but in theory his best years might be ahead of him um and he is coming over uh he’s going to be posted next year and um yeah I guess I’ll let you kind of take it from there what was your thinking you you took him I think the day before it was announced he was GNA come over next year um yeah what do you see in Mami how excited are you for the the skill set and and for him to come over next year I’ll be honest like this is my first open Universe League um which is you know I think one of the the fun elements of this league but I just had a really hard time when I was setting my sort of rankings pre-draft of like how do I how do I rank this guy right like 24 years old um I think he’s the youngest hitter to 200 home runs in npb history but he had these Monumental Seasons between um I believe it was like 2000 and 2022 and then had a couple of kind of down years for him in 2023 and 2024 and by down years I mean like 250 average you know 30 plus home runs 8 50ish Ops but was coming off a year in 2022 where he had 318 average uh 1100 Ops and 56 home runs so it’s like you know still just 24 years old but like why are we seeing a little bit of degradation of skills over the last couple years how you know when I did my research it seemed like it was already a foregone conclusion that he was going to come over next year but he hadn’t announced it in the same way that he did I think the day after the draft um so I feel like his value definitely went up after I drafted him but he was a very difficult one for me to Value but at that point in the draft I thought you know there’s a pretty the talent level is not that great he’s sitting out there and I kind of mentally had him as maybe equivalent to like a top 25 Prospect um here’s somebody who’s shown the ability at least hit for power in a professional League super young um might not have the the shine on him that he did a couple years ago but still probably going to get plenty of suitors when he comes over and uh at the very least be a good source of power so picked him um but curious to get like your thoughts on where would you value him in in this sort of League you know again like I had him as kind of like a top 25 Prospect but curious what your thoughts were yeah I definitely think uh top 25 is is good on on Mami I mean it’s it’s not a uh you know like like for instance I’ve got like Bryce Eldridge around like 15th overall like Mami versus Aldridge I I don’t know I think you could make a pretty good case for Mami just because you know starting in 2026 he’s going to be playing regularly I mean he might maybe sits against some lefties but um you know I maybe you could say Eldridge is just the fact he’s younger maybe he’s got a higher ceiling I I don’t know but like that I think you know you wouldn’t you wouldn’t value bami you know with guys in like the 30s or 40s that are just so like I just the state of the prospect Universe right now now there just aren’t even there aren’t even like 20 guys that I would confidently say are going to be you know everyday productive fantasy option so yeah top 35 Prospect for sure that that makes sense um I’ll just I’ll list some of the guys you took him kind of around to give people sort of the idea of um so like say like you took Andrew Abbott and a Hano Suarez 51 to 52 then Bobby Miller goes Chase dander goes Johnny Melo goes Brendan Donovan then you take Gavin Lux and then you take Mami and then Andy Rodriguez Kay Holmes South freix so like that that caliber of guy um so like Mami in 2026 versus you know Gavin Lux or Indy Rodriguez or South Fric like that’s not even close right exactly yeah it was a pretty easy call there and I will say for the Andrew abbit uh there he did have a special designation so I’m not like super into Andrew Abbott or anything but he was definitely the best option there uh let’s see what was it for Underdog 2 so uh I respect that you wanted to set the record straight on me yeah please please don’t like insinuate that you know I I absolutely love Andrew Abbott everything he’s fine but uh so um you made a kind of a a low-level trade after the draft what what was the thinking there yeah I mean for me I I felt like coming out of the draft a lot of my Keepers were pitchers right I had a pretty good floor of pitchers I knew I was going to keep Corbin Burns I had Zack Gallen Tanner H Kumar rocker Andrew Abbott all on um you know the specialty tags and then just kind of looking at what I was able to pull in later on the draft I felt like I had a lot of pitching depth where I felt like I didn’t have a lot of depth was on the position player side particular like I mentioned at first base I mean really Vinnie p is my only real first baseman I can count on so kind of talking over with samata who’s in this league as well also my my boss sort of over at prospects live uh was communicating with him back and forth about you know he was interested in some of my pictures um I had interest in getting somewhat of a young post hype first baseman so I traded Andrew Heeney for Tyler loer and I don’t know you know what your opinions on loer are but for me had a brief St the majors did not go well at all um the hit tool has kind of regressed a little bit uh last year but I still believe that this is a decent source of power um not going to be a star by any means but could be just a solid like Ci and so for me getting him for a guy who I feel like is past as Prime and Heeney and was really sort of depth for my pitching staff anyway um I really like that deal yeah I think um I mean he need’s just not a someone I’m really really interested in uh anymore just you know he’s not he’s not like a replacement level starter in a 20 team Dynasty league but like he’s not someone you like you you’re never like happy to just be deploying him every week right so exactly Tyler lle you wonder just how many chances does he get um you know the Mariners are obviously I would they’re they’re never going to be all in but they’re also not going to just take poor play from a corner bat over an extended period of time so like he will have to produce but I I don’t mind that and um first base it’s just an absolute uh disaster of a position after the top I mean like you it’s it’s really kind of a mess after the top like seven or eight guys but like it’s really a mess after the top uh 12 to 15 guys so I think having depth there in a 20 team Dynasty league is something you definitely want yeah that was one of the the biggest lessons I learned doing some early drafts out in first pitch I think you and I did that first night Gladiator um and that was one of the biggest realizations is like first base just thins out really quickly of quality options and again that’s why I prioritized making sure I had Vinnie pastino in this league because the options were just awful so then uh yeah I guess from my draft um you had a question for me about uh a few um unclear roll pictures that I I saw yeah I I was looking through who you drafted and I noticed you picked up Griffin Jack Jeff Hoffman and Chris bbic and you know I was curious did you see them as quality relievers who could potentially get saves and stabilize ratios or were you buying into some of the narratives this offseason which I think Chris bbid is now confirmed that these guys potentially could be converted back to starting pitching yeah so uh really good question Griffin Jacks with the twins Hoffman uh obviously a free agent um TBD where he ends up and what role he’ll be in uh bit still with the Royals I I was confident they would stretch bit out uh so that that one I wasn’t really you know I just I I thought he was really impressive coming back last year um one thing all three of those guys have in common is they’re just they’re they have the chance to really help your ratios um regardless of the role but I think with bich I I’m kind of hoping for for sort of a good whip from him um you TBD on the strikeouts but I I did think he he looked really good um coming back last year so bbic I thought was goingon to be a starter for sure and uh starting pitching in in my dispersal draft was uh a major weakness um the the the first starters that went uh like I said Shane McClanahan went fourth overall I took Spencer Strider fifth overall Justin steel goes ninth overall um raldo Lopez goes 19th and then I took Griffin Jack at 20th so uh the next pitchers after Griffin Jack Nick Lolo um Erie Perez so I took Griffin Jack over Nick L Lolo had a designation but I I wasn’t interested in him because of the designation um there were fan favorite ones of Spencer steer Nicolo pastino I just looked at that group and I was like I know I’m going to be the last person to take a fan favorite one because I don’t mind ending up with any of those three um and so yeah iie Perez versus Griffin Jack I think a lot of people might be surprised I took Griffin Jack over iie Perez um then Jeff Hoffman was the next pitcher to go after I Perez so like that tells you just sort of how uh I think Brian beo was my next starter and like he was the next like true starter to go so like that’s that’s the caliber of pitchers we’re talking about here in my dispersal draft um so with Griffin Jacks and and Jeff Hoffman I just thought they were the um two best pitchers to just have in my starting lineup um and I saw a very high kind of upside if especially with ja if he gets moved into the rotation like I think that could be a big time windfall but then he doesn’t even have to go into the rotation for me to still like that pick um there were no like Robert Suarez was the only closer available in mind and he’s really old and just not not necessarily someone I was going to prioritize um so I think you know I’ll get I think I’ll probably get like 30 saves out of the Jacks and Hoffman spots and I’d love it if the twins stretch out Jack uh as I mentioned on last week’s pod with with DVR but um I just think ja you can’t go wrong he’s he’s an amazing pitcher he’ll either be saves or he’ll potentially have a chance to really break out as a starter so uh I just kind of rolled the dice on on Hoffman and Ja and just knew I’d kind of be happy regardless of their role and then with I just thought um compared to some of these other guys he at least had some upside based on what he showed after coming back from injury last year yeah I I definitely agree with those call outs um you know one thing you mentioned I think is is super interesting about this draft is if you don’t choose let’s say like an underdog two or whatever you will get the last one of the group for free right it’s like one of your last picks in the draft is just automatically given to you so when you see that there isn’t really a fallof there when you’re okay with any of those three options it really benefits you to just take whichever one Falls to you because you essentially save a draft pick right I noticed you did that um with a few of those designations so it seems like that was a conscious effort on your part yeah uh you’re you’re right on there yeah my last four picks no my last three picks were Willer Bru Spencer steer and Ryan Mal Castle um and I those were all free picks because they were the last guys remaining with their designation so you know the types of players that were going around there like Elvis pagero Bryce Wilson Hunter gtis and then like I’m taking Spencer Ste here and then Pedro Aila and Ivan Melendez and then I’m taking Ryan Mal castle and then smata did the same thing with Nolan Gorman who was the last guy with a a designation so that was something I kind of identified right away of just like one of the fan favorite twos it was Byron bucks and Ryan Mal castler or Cody Bellinger so I was just like I don’t I don’t like Bellinger enough to jump him when I know I can just get Mal Castle probably with like my last pick and then the next one was fan favorite one Spencer steer nicod Doo Vinnie pastino I definitely think pasano is the best of those three um but I thought steer was second so then ldo goes was actually the first of those three to get taken so I was just like all right fine I’ll just take whoever SM doesn’t want out of steer and pantino um the underdog 2 that’s when I take Junior cero with my first pick um and the other Underdog two options are no Marte and Nolan Gorman to me that’s like several legs up like several tear up cero versus noeli Marte um I thought that was a pretty big gap um so I wanted to get cero um the underdog one Bryce terang Robert Suarez Willer Bru I would have probably taken terang first of the three but again like I don’t I like will Brau just fine and if they wanted to give me Robert Suarez the end that was going to be fine too and then like I said the Roman Anthony versus I Melinda Cole Young another one where I think it just really tilted in favor the guy that I went with so I thought that worked out fine um but I you know I don’t know it might not have been something everyone was thinking about uh yeah I me it was something I identified pretty quickly of like you know for me I I felt like there was pretty big gaps in those designations so I wanted to make sure that I had players kind of either first or second on those list the big one for me was the rising star it was Kumar rocker uh Grant McCrae and Aon ARA who I really did not want aison ARA because the thing with the rising star is you’re stuck with them unless you pay a penalty until they exhaust their eligibility and he’s far away there’s no guarantee he even makes it to the majors and exhaust his eligibility like and the difference between kumbar rocker and Grant McCrae is Miles so that was one that I just want to make sure uh I grabbed there but but you know I think one of the other ones where I ended up with Tanner ha it was fairly you know evenly distributed uh of the options so I was okay with just waiting to whatever fell with me yeah so you and I you and I were just on the exact same page there with how to kind of play that um so uh I mentioned a I made a trade um so I initially it Spencer schrier and Jordan Westberg were clearly going to be two of my franchise players along with uh Spencer steer Ryan M Castle Roman athy Willer BR Junior kimero as my established keeper designations but then to me it was like between Xavier Edwards and peer Armstrong for my third keeper spot and I was actually GNA go with Edwards just because of how big the drop off was at shortstop between him and whoever I might end up with um I thought Pete C Armstrong was would have been a fine pick there too as well uh but after the dispersal draft I traded PCA and jock Peterson and mov down uh I think 11 spots in the um redistribution draft to get Lawrence Butler um who I obviously is is gonna have to prove it again this year but you know I think Butler and Westberg at least have the potential to be um guys I want to really build around and there was a pretty big gap there between Lawrence Butler and someone like Xavier Edwards um so what did you what did you think about that move I love that trade for you um I think you know first off you would have likely lost one of those guys anyway right in the in the Highlander draft so you you know consolidate your asset protect them and yeah Butler’s got questions but so do PCA and Xavier Edwards right like they have major questions and Butler’s got the added element of the the power ceiling there that the other two just don’t have to go along with with some stolen bases so really really like that trade for you yeah I guess yeah my thinking was sort of exactly like you said the power difference and then you know that I would it’s probably a less than 25% chance but like there’s a scenario where Lawrence Butler is a top 20 Dynasty option this time next year and I don’t really see that with those other guys so just you you got to take some risks in a league like this especially when you’re coming in taking over an orphan team the chips are kind of stacked against you so I you know I’m willing to kind of take on a little bit more risk like a guy like Spencer Strider I don’t think I’ll have any Spencer Strider in redraft this year but in this dynasty League you know I think it it made sense um let’s see so uh yeah what else what else should we uh talk about here before uh we get to the uh the results of of the Highlander draft after your dispers yeah um I guess I I have just some general questions this is my first time you know doing the Highlander what is your general strategy for preparing you know for a Highlander draft you know both after the dispersal and just in general and then again kind of that same question for the redistribution drafts yeah so I’m I’m a pretty low um a low effort and a low quantity Trader in Dynasty leagues so so I’m trying to build my team and make the pieces fit under the assumption I’m not going to be making further trades and then if I do make trades fine but uh we’ve got enough keeper designations in this league where I can kind of plan ahead and I’ve got you know I don’t have great options in every spot but I only have like a few areas on my roster I’m like that’s a hole that’s a hole so to me it was kind of um middle infield I I thought was a weakness but uh I also had guys like Coulson montgomry and Luke khaw coming um so like I you know I’m okay kind of like punting that if I don’t love the middle INF Fielder option I could get and then uh starting pitching has honestly been where I’ve gone in each of the last uh two Highlander drafts I took framber Valdez two years ago I took Kyle bradish last year and I took Carlos rodon this year and I like that strategy um again for for people unaware like the Highlander rules you keep three franchise players and then we do this Highlander draft where you’re picking from the best of the rest after all these keeper designations and to me um you know you’re not I don’t want to look at this pick in the Highlander draft as he’s definitely going to be a part of my roster going forward it’s more just kind of who do I like most just for 2026 based on my roster composition and that’s led me towards just who’s the best starting pitcher each of the last three years um because you know any young big league position player that’s shown like an exciting ceiling is is generally getting kept in one of those franchise spots or in one of those um other spots and you know we’ll we’ll talk about the exact guys that got taken there were some really good um position players who went off before I picked but but um generally I’m kind of looking for best starting pitcher available in this thing um that’s probably counterintuitive you know for dynasty strategy but um that that’s kind of how I’ve gotten the last three years that makes sense I mean the the weird thing for me is and and I totally agree with you I in terms of trading like for me it’s to supplement right I’m I’m looking to build my team via draft and Via waiver wire and trading is just really wherever I see value wherever I can supplement you know whatever the gaps are but but um you know for that starting pitcher piece that makes a lot of sense I think one of the the things I’m still trying to wrap my head around is like you can’t get attached to your players you only have so many that you for sure can keep and you’re gonna have guys who you want who fit well on your team that are gonna get taken yeah and that that happened uh in this this highland we’ll talk about yeah why don’t we go to that yeah uh so Kevin Hasting had uh the first pick and the second pick in the Highlander draft via some trading uh he took Mark Vientos with the first overall pick uh from Andrew sperling’s team and then he took Michael King with the second overall pick from Shelley bit’s team uh I can tell you that King was someone I I was strongly considering and Vientos I thought was the best position player available um so I definitely understand where Hasting was was going there uh what what do you think about those first two picks yeah I mean King was on my radar um Vientos I was a little bit more surprised he was the first pick I definitely agree the upside is there we saw everything we would want to see from him really in you know his rookie season or not his rookie season but like his breakout season um I just worry about the contact a little bit and what that looks like in a batting average League I think I have more faith in him in OBP League going forward um but you can’t doubt the power and like I don’t I don’t hate it uh like you mentioned like for you he was the number one position player there were a couple I think I had over him like uh Turner Altuve even though those guys are a little bit older uh again this league doesn’t really value youth I guess as much as you know if you’re keeping every single player so that’s the way I viewed it but yeah you know I think Vientos um it’s interesting you you said do you like it more in OBP uh I don’t I don’t know I I think he’s he might be one of those guys to me where I don’t see that big of a difference uh in the value between the two formats it’s just you’re you’re obviously buying the power and you’re um you know I think he could get to 100 RBI and 35 homers this year uh especially based on who he’s going to be hitting around and then I also think Vientos whether it’s this year or next year ages into first base and that UPS his value to me like the fact that they’re he’s either going to gain first base eligibility this year or he’ll gain it next year and then all of a sudden you might have a top five fantasy first baseman by that time so yeah that’s I guess my rationale there with the entos uh but I agree like you’re not getting a a great batting average there um although he did you know 266 this past year pretty good for a 30% K rate but yeah he didn’t he didn’t have the strongest OB this last year but just looking at kind of his minor league track record particularly in the higher minors like he always had pretty strong walk rates so I I feel like that’s going to tick up a little bit as he gets more you know acclimated to the to the major league level so I could see you know more of like a you know 340 350 OBP but maybe the batting falls down to like the 240 range or something like that and then uh the itch takes Jose Altuve from his own team um and that is gonna allow him to have a a pretty good fan favorite designation um I think he could go with uh Jacob deg gram or uh who’s the other one can’t remember um but there was there was definitely a method to the madness and like obviously Jose Al is a fine pick there the itch had several good options um and then smada takes uh Trey Turner fourth overall uh so two uh premium middle infielders who are a little past their Prime maybe but uh what do you think about Altuve third and Trey Turner fourth yeah I mean I really like those picks a lot I was hoping you know maybe because their age one of them may fall to me uh didn’t happen but at least from my roster middle infield was somewhat difficult to fill um based on the dispersal draft so if I could have ended up with Altuve at second base over my options of Gavin Lux and Brendan Rogers I would have been over the moon yeah and I I mean I would have been really tempted by both of those guys as well like I said middle infield was kind of the one uh position player spot I was open to taking here and if Turner had been there that would have been very tempting um Riley green Chris CLE takes uh second player in a row poached from last year’s Highlander Dynasty Invitational Champion Jesse roach uh so CLE takes Riley green fifth I think that’s a kind of a a chalk pick I think he would have been I think you can make a case for him being the best position player available I I wasn’t really looking at Outfield as much as infield but um I just think Riley Green’s just about as safe as it gets uh I don’t think he’s ever GNA be like a second round fantasy pick maybe not even a third round fantasy pick but he’s just he seems like he’s going to be you know one of the top 15 to 20 outfielders for the next five six years question on that do you feel like I mean obviously he went in this round so maybe he’s not that caliber player but is it is it an actual strategy to maybe pick players that have maybe a lower ceiling but a higher floor that you know are could fall past the Highlander round but then you know be safe from pick is that overthinking things or is that an actual strategy here um I don’t know I don’t think that would really apply to Green but I yeah I I I it it it’s part of my thinking with the uh going after starting pitchers thing is like I just think they’re less likely to get poached from me in future years like I I’m keeping Valdez as like a franchise keeper now but like um you know I think you I think I could sneak Kord on past next year and uh so that that’s something to think about I I think there’s um you know there’s something to be said for just like did Jesse consider like trading all of his like most desirable Highlander pieces before the draft just to kind of protect against that and just getting pieces like to me that would just be too much work um but you know there’s there’s all there’s all kinds of ways to to go about it um so I don’t think you can the great thing about Dynasty is like overthinking it is the fun right like yeah exactly you’re spending all kinds of time thinking about all kinds of stuff that that might not come to fruition might not matter but that’s that’s the fun trying trying to map all the multiverses right uh so then Shelly picking sixth uh she takes Tristan casus from Michael waterl um casus you know certainly a great OBP option this is a batting average league but uh I think he’s gonna hit for a fine batting average um once he kind of enters his his prime we’ll see if that’s with the Red Sox uh I’d love to trade for Tran cus if I were a smaller Market team or something like that but um Seattle seems to be uh the talk right now so we’ll see that that wouldn’t be great no nor for by Locker share for sure no I mean I guess kasus you need guys like casus if you’re going to get you know a 30 Homer bat in Seattle but um yeah that’d be kind of worst case scenario landing spot um then uh smata grabbed Dylan CE seventh overall uh third and final player poached from Jesse’s team and Taylor I will tell you uh Dylan CE was actually top my board um for the Highlander draft here uh just best I thought he was the best starting pitcher available um he went went second among starting pitchers behind Michael King um but yeah I think CE if you’re looking for a starter I think he was the best one to grab for my money but again like if if CE gets traded part of what I like about him is is the the home park there so um what do you think about CE going seventh overall I mean I’m kind of surprised a little bit he lasted that long um he was definitely my my top starter on the board I I was focused more on the position player side because I knew like that’s where my weakness was but I had told myself if CE fell to me I was going to take CE because him and King for sure I would have taken so then I’m picking eighth uh I’ve got a pivot after CE goes uh I was between Carlos rodon and Arin NOA there uh and I just you know it’s I don’t think taking arinola there is a move that like pushes me into contention it’s kind of just a you know hit like a four iron off the T boox sort of um and rhon you know at least has recently flashed you know top five starter type of upside so I kind of took the riskier of the two there but the guy that I thought had the higher ceiling and rhon um did you who who would you have been thinking about there if you were just looking for best pitcher available yeah I think at that point it’s Nola um rhon and obber I think were like the three I I I was curious about why you went rhon over those but I know because you know he kind of had overall a down year last year um and then a injury plague 2023 but like the height that he had you know 2021 2020 or 2022 um was like Ace level so he seem to improve towards the end of the year like do you made some adjustments like so it seems like you’re counting on him to kind of carry that forth and have a much better year this year than kind of what he had through all of last year is that what you’re thinking yeah I mean he was he was really up and down last year I remember uh I didn’t have him on uh any teams last year I don’t think but um you know he’s he’s projected for 200 strikeouts by steamer arinola 192 Michael King 191 obviously rhon you could argue is the biggest injury risk of those three so maybe you don’t buy steamer 176 Innings but um you know just kind of like I said like I I was kind of leaning into the volatility there because I don’t think I’ll enter the year as like a strong Contender on paper so um kind of chasing each guy’s sort of 95th percentile outcome was kind of the idea there because again like there’s no guarantee Ro rodan’s part of my team next year or Nola or King so um just kind of going after the most upside there but I did think about it like I think Nola would have been a a perfectly fine pick as well um makes sense and Ron’s gonna get plenty of wins too um you know yeah I I think you know rodon um I want to say he he kind of rided the ship um kind of Midway through the year if I’m if I’m not mistaken so I don’t know he it’s tough to predict him and you know he’s he’s the type of guy that if he gets injured in spring training I won’t be surprised but that’s any pitcher though uh Brett Seer the uh The Mastermind behind uh the Highlander League uh took Brent Rooker then ninth overall took him from Ken berson’s team uh um I think uh someone was asking me about Brent Rooker earlier today um you know he is UT only in this league uh but yeah I don’t think there’s any like I’m looking at the hitters that went after Rooker and uh let’s just say I think he might be the only one that I would project for 20 homers this year and I I would project Rooker for over 30 homers but Power was not a category that was readily available here um I don’t know if you have any thoughts on that one yeah Rooker I I definitely had my eyes on him I would have picked him would he felt to me he’s one of those where like I would have felt like I had to pick him but I wouldn’t have really wanted to pick him if that makes sense like I think he’s you know obviously really good power hitter it’s just the strikeout rate scares me um you know he’s kind of playing with fire there and I could see it falling apart you know at any point but he’s been able to manage it for for two years was even better this last year so you know yeah I’m not I’m not like worried I think I’m not worried about the like I’m not worried about him like losing a role or anything um because of what he did in 2023 like you know he I kind of view I’m looking at like 2023 almost as sort of like his floor he had 246 um 33% strikeout rate 30 homers in 137 games and then he gets the strikeout rate down to three ticks to 29% this year um so I I he’s not going to come anywhere near that 293 average obviously but um yeah I think if you just kind of think of him as basically 245 30 homers I don’t I don’t think he’ll disappoint that yeah I mean that’s that’s a good point I just I worry about like those you know High strikeout rates how long can they sustain that you know if the the bat slows even a little bit you know does it fall off super quick um but I think you know he’s probably at least got a few seasons left before that happens so so now you’re in the you’re on Deck uh Alex Sanchez is up to pick at 10th overall uh what are you what are you kind of thinking I’m stared at Dylan Cruz thinking man this is exactly what I need on my team I’m a little shallow in the Outfield I’m a little shallow at stolen bases here’s this young guy who I could you know basically have this year and then I can keep him the following year right so um as one of my three Keepers maybe you know something happens with Burns or um you know maybe mookie slows down or something you know or I could trade one of those guys and and have Cruz but I really I like Cruz long term I think you know the power is still a little bit of a question but I think he’s going to get plenty of steals um particularly in that organization and he just really fit what I was trying to do this year so to see him go uh the pick before me was really disappointing um to Alex Sanchez but uh and then I kind of had to had to Pivot at that point yeah you know Cruz is a he’s a great fit in this Highlander draft especially if you needed Outfield or speed because I think the floor is really high because of the speed and just I assume they’re going to hit him high in the lineup so I think the runs will be there but um you know TBD on where the average is TBD on where the power is but in a best case scenario he’s someone that you just are excited to have as a franchise guy next year so yeah exactly definitely saw the appeal there uh and then you took Walker Jenkins off of your own roster but there was a an extra layer of strategy behind that yeah so Walker Jenkins ended up with him in the dispersal draft um you know I like Walker Jenkins I think you know he’s a fine prod aspect but I think I’m a little bit lower on him than a lot of people I think he’s a little bit overrated based on you know just kind of what we’ve seen in his small you know injury prone sample so far um so for me it wasn’t about keeping Walker Jenkins necessarily it was the knowledge that if I was going to get poached it was probably a 50-50 split between either Walker Jenkins and Vinnie pasano I felt like those were my two most likely players to be poached and I’ve already talked about you know the first base situation and how I really liked having pastino there I really didn’t want to lose pastino um there were some other options out there that I could have taken but I figured if I can choose Walker Jenkins and kind of lock my roster from additional poaching I get to keep Vinnie pasquantino and based on the rules I’m gonna have to do a fan favorite next year and Fan Favorite has to be somebody who you know was not um you know kept or picked in the Highlander in Vinnie pastino is by far my next best player it was like him and then it was it has to be someone who’s exhausted the rookie eligibility which I don’t think Jenkins would so it was like him and then the next tier you know the next best player was Devin Williams and I’m not making a reliever my fan favorite so it was like Vinnie pastino is really the only pick there and if I could lock up uh him as my you know likely fan favorite next year I’d be thrilled with having pasino for three years so um so that’s kind of how I viewed it yeah I think that makes a ton of sense I think you I I’m GNA just go out and say I think like 90% chance you lose Pas quantino if you don’t do that yeah yeah because I mean we’ll get to the rest of the Highlander draft but yeah I he’s a much better hitter than the other kind of hitters that went I think yeah and that was my thought too is like if so if I could fill in a first baseman there then whatever I lose Pas quantino that’s fine because I I picked a first baseman so I was like if I get cus to fall to me obviously that didn’t happen and my other option I was thinking about was Spencer steer because I think the the difference in value of like a steer versus pasquantino is is not that much different and steer provides those stolen bases that I I need but the key is if I would have picked steer there and PAs quantino went I wouldn’t be able to keep steer right as a fan favorite so that’s why I kind of had to to play it that way yeah and I had the steer vers pastito thing in my dispersal there was actually a lot of overlap between our two dispersals it was kind of funny tatis was on both yeah um so then you took Walker Jenkins 11th uh you know I like him a lot um but he there you are I am projecting power to show up in games that he hasn’t proven will show up yet but no that’s not say I dislike him I I like him quite a bit I just think like his value where it is right now a lot of people have him top three Prospect for for good reason but I could see a scenario in which his value is just as likely to fall next year as it is to to go up just based on where we’re already valuing him as an industry um and you know kind of what he’s shown so far like if he starts out next year and is fine but like not showing any power he’s gonna start to fall um whereas I think he can only increase his value so much because it’s already so high is kind of my thought process with him yeah I think top three is definitely too high just because of the proximity aspect um but I I think yeah I think I think that’s all that’s all fair um so then at 12th uh Ken balderson takes uh arinola off of Chris faris’s team uh Ryan erson at 13 uh this one this one was tough uh he poaches Bubba Chandler from my team and uh I’ll be honest I I was really hoping slash thinking that I wasn’t going to have anyone poach from my team in this um and if I did I was thinking you know maybe it’d be Parker Meadows um and I it was it was a kick to the gut uh Taylor when I saw Bubba Chandler was not gonna be on my team anymore um and I know Ryan was talking about how he was a homer uh Pirates fan but honestly like I thought it was a good pick yeah no I mean you you called out that he got picked over like a Jackson job um and I know I work with Ryan at prospects live I know he’s you know big time pirates fan I know he loves Bubba Chandler and honestly I I think there’s very clearly a scenario where Bubba Chandler’s the the better pitcher um you know next season and even potentially going forward you know I love Jackson job I think they’re both um you know high quality arms but if you really like the Pirates and really like Bubba Chandler I think that that’s a a great move and they’ve kind of cleared some of their their arm depth out uh in the last couple days with the the trade of Luis Ortiz and some of their minor league arms in Pittsburgh there so I think Bubba Chandler is gonna rack some Innings up in the in the big leas this year yeah Bubba Chandler is going to be my number one pitching prospect on the January 15th update so I I definitely like it it was painful because of how right it was and it just I didn’t I didn’t expect it um so uh then at 14 Zack Beck takes Samuel Bayo uh off of Ryan epperson’s team uh Michael watero takes the AFF mentioned Jacks and job over off of Eric cross’s team um really you know I mean job obious just Elite stuff I think uh Chandler is just a little safer from a workload durability um going deep into games standpoint um and then baso you know obviously just very talented very high upside when does he start you know getting 450 plate appearances in a season tough to say especially after you know they bring in rutan’s backup already on a $8.5 million deal so you know I know they’re open to playing Bayo at DH but they also brought in Tyler O’Neal now so you know who knows when we see baso but obviously the talent’s there um and then Christopher Sanchez pick 16 to smada off of Zack Beck’s team smada had back-to-back picks he also took Ben Joyce off of Alex Sanchez’s team so this is like you can tell like the the caliber of player coming off the board here is um steeply declining because you’re only allowed to poach one player from each roster except for the defending champ Jesse roach so uh as these rosters are getting closed out people are having to go to the the the more Talent weak rosters and um so Christopher Sanchez you know pretty good starting pitcher to get at this stage of the draft uh Ben Joyce you know if you want to go after a closer sure why not um but any thoughts on the B joob Sanchez Joyce picks yeah I mean like you said it’s hard to critique it too much because the options were fairly limited once you get down to this point I I thought they were fine picks um you know I think Joyce has great upside as a closer if he can just stay healthy which is is no guarantee and then you know kind of Xavier Edwards we talked about him a little little bit and then just kind of the the finishing up there at the end of the draft was was a little bit interesting yeah I do like Xavier Edwards uh decent amount in Dynasty just because I don’t see any situation where the Marlins have four better infielders than him well especially when they they keep trading away the good ones they have right they just trade away burger for a really weird uh return so yeah that that was a great trade by the Rangers um yeah yeah I like I said like Xavier Edwards is entering his prime he’s just going to get all the play to appearer as he can handle he’s gonna rack up steel so I I dig it in Dynasty especially batting average Dynasty um and then uh Evan Carter goes 19 to AEM glasby off of Chris K’s team and Alex Sanchez wraps thing up things up with uh Brandon nmo who he took off of Jordan Rosen Bloom’s team so like I said said like you know Vinnie pasquantino sitting on the board as an option at like pick 17 18 19 like there there’s no way he’s not getting taken there so um I don’t know what what do you think about Evan Carter I I I’m just worried about the back I’m worried about like I wasn’t really an Evan Carter guy in the first place so like I’m just not really the one that’s gonna buy low on him at this point but um what do you yeah it It’s just tough because there’s so many questions right there’s like the injury question there’s the platoon question um there’s what is this ultimate power ceiling question um so it it’s just really hard like I get the appeal like there is a really nice ceiling there um but with all the questions he’s not somebody that I’m you know like you said I’m not looking to buy low on him at this point in the draft if he was sitting there I would have totally taken him though and I will say like I I I don’t think I would have taken him but AEM taking him did make me kind of take a second look because aem’s been a really strong player in this league um so I mean it’s just it’s a classic like you know you’re just buying a extremely depressed asset there um and then nmo like we got to start five outfielders there’s 20 teams nmo is gonna be very productive it’s not g to be sexy but um you know I don’t I don’t think you have to worry about like nmo getting poached from your team next year or anything like that yeah that was my thought too is like he he sort of barely made the cut this year probably based on scarcity of what was left uh he’s unlikely to really you know be be a heavily sought-after asset in the future I like that I think Alex is in the Brandon Nemo business now um so uh all right um yeah I think that that kind of covers everything uh do you have anything else you wanted to hit on Taylor um no I just wanted to give uh uh Jordan a shout out another prospects live colleague for being one of the most prolific trade offers I have ever seen so anyone that’s in highlighter probably knows exactly what I’m talking about but like I’m half convinced he’s just like a trade bot and like it’s just AI sending me offers all the time but uh super cool guy I just uh I thought it was funny because I was like halfway through the dispersal draft and he was already sending me offers and and everyone else who was participating so yeah shout out to Jordan we we love Jordan over here um this has been a lot of fun Taylor why don’t you let everyone know where they can follow your work and uh yeah whatever social media sites you’re using these days yeah you gota you got to mention a few of them these days um you can find me on both X and blue sky at Dynasty pickups uh I have a weekly podcast that I um co-host with my uh partner Kyle um he and I also both write for prospects live and the name of the podcast is Dynasty baseball pickups same with our article series over at prospects live um we focus primarily on kind of inseason waiver wire pickups for dynasty leagues so looking at um you know we talk a lot of prospects but we’ll also cover you know MLB players as well um and then right now we’re doing our offseason content so we’re kind of breaking down different um positions of prospects and looking at kind of where we have them ranked at prospects live versus where we individually have them ranked and kind of calling out some guys that maybe aren’t at the top of the list but but could definitely rise this year so that’s what we’re working on right now um You can find my written work over at prospects live and then like I said the the podcast is Dynasty baseball pickups on all platforms awesome man well it’s been a lot of fun love talking Dynasty and uh you’re a great guest so really appreciate it and uh good luck rest of the offseason and in the rest of your leagues thanks man you as well
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