Yahoo Fantasy Baseball Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Cold feet around starting pitching and injury-prone players Jul 14, 2020

Show notes

On this episode of the Yahoo Fantasy Baseball Podcast, Yahoo's Fred Zinkie joins Scott Pianowski as we make our way toward opening day of the 2020 MLB Season to talk rule changes they're implementing in a short season, why the recent focus on starting pitching early in drafts might be wrong and how they'll handle players who are recently injured.

[Create or Join a 2020 Yahoo Fantasy Baseball League for free today!]

To re-draft or not re-draft your leagues, that is the question. Scott and Fred discuss how they're handling their fantasy leagues that drafted before COVID-19 forced sports to go on indefinite hiatus. And, they'll share some of the more unconventional league changes they're looking at in a shortened season for keeper leagues and beyond. (04:15)

Should you focus on starting pitching early in drafts or take hitters? While the Yahoo! crew has called this year's top-line starting pitching corps the 'running backs of fantasy baseball' due to their scarcity, we'll examine whether we should pump the brakes and be looking at drafting a high-floor roster that leans toward hitting. (20:00)

And, what should you do about players that are already injured? In a standard season, the discount on draft day might be worth it, but 2020 won't be a standard season. (25:00)

Should we rename the universal DH rule after Howie Kendrick? Fred and Scott look at some of the other NL DH options around the league. (32:00)

What are you going to do about Mike Trout? Is grabbing Trout in the second or early third round worth the chance that he might miss a significant portion of an already short year? (40:00)

And, we'll wrap up the show with an homage to our friend Mr. Zinkie with a draft of our favorite things with the letter z.

Check out the rest of the Yahoo Sports Podcast family at https://apple.co/2Abi8jk or at yahoosports.com/podcasts

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Ranking Mike Trout, league changes, pitching strategy and bold predictions Jul 07, 2020

Show notes

On this week's episode of the Yahoo Fantasy Baseball Podast, Yahoo’s Andy Behrens sits in for Scott PIanowski and is joined by Razzball's B_Don to discuss what to do about Mike Trout in the rankings, league rules to consider changing during a shortened season, why relievers might be more valuable in 2020 and a few bold predictions.

[Create or Join a 2020 Yahoo Fantasy Baseball League for free today!]

With the news that perennial MVP candidate Mike Trout could miss at least a portion of a shortened season to be with his wife during the birth of their child, where should you place Mike Trout on your draft board? Andy and Brandon debate the merits of bumping Trout down to the end of the first round and even further. (03:43)

Let's be honest, a traditional 5x5 fantasy setup wasn't exactly created with a truncated 60-game season in mind. We look at a few of the other league rules and setups this year worth thinking about (17:02), and why H2H players might consider switching to Roto this year (26:56).

While relievers generally take a backseat to starters in fantasy rankings, could this be the year where an all-reliever strategy is viable? (35:09)

And to wrap up the show, Andy and B_Don throw out their boldest of predictions for the 2020 season. (44:42)

Please remember to rate, review and subscribe on your podcast provider of choice and send us your questions for future episodes on Twitter @YahooFantasy.

Follow Andy @AndyBehrens

Check out the rest of the Yahoo Sports Podcast family at https://apple.co/2Abi8jk or at yahoosports.com/podcasts

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Winners and losers in a short season Jun 30, 2020

Show notes

On this week's episode of the Yahoo Fantasy Baseball Podcast, Yahoo’s Scott Pianowski and Mike Oz, Yahoo Baseball Writer and proud Fresno resident, discuss the winners and losers from a proposed short baseball season, how they're shuffling the top of their starting pitching rankings, Mike's Old Baseball Card series, and more.

And with a nod to Mike Oz's radio show, we’ll wrap up the show with a draft of our favorite rap artists in history.

Please remember to rate, review and subscribe on your podcast provider of choice and send us your questions for future episodes on Twitter @YahooFantasy.

Follow Scott @Scott_Pianowski

Check out the rest of the Yahoo Sports Podcast family at https://apple.co/2Abi8jk or at yahoosports.com/podcasts

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Can baseball be fixed? Jun 23, 2020

Show notes

On this week's episode of the Yahoo Fantasy Baseball Podcast, Scott Pianowski and Yahoo's national baseball writer Hannah Keyser discuss the long and winding road to the 2020 MLB season, whether the increased focus on home runs is ruining the sport, why starting extra innings with a runner on second base is a terrible idea and how Sex and the City exemplifies our relationship with baseball

And we’ll wrap up the show with a draft of our favorite condiments. Do not be fooled by ketchup's ubiquity, you can do much better!

Note: This podcast was recorded before MLB’s announcement that it would implement a 60-game season.

Please remember to rate, review and subscribe on your podcast provider of choice and send us your questions for future episodes on Twitter @YahooFantasy.

Follow Scott @Scott_Pianowski

Check out the rest of the Yahoo Sports Podcast family at https://apple.co/2Abi8jk or at yahoosports.com/podcasts

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Baseball's elephant in the room and greatest letters draft Jun 16, 2020

Show notes

On this week's episode of the Yahoo Fantasy Baseball Podcast, Yahoo’s Scott Pianowski and D.B. Firstman, author of Hall of Name, discuss how they got started in their writing careers and broke into writing about baseball, fantasy baseball alternatives like scoresheet, how baseball can be more inclusive toward people of all genders and whether or not we'll see baseball before the year 2022 at this point.

And we’ll wrap up the show with a draft of our favorite letters. We promise it'll be more fun than it sounds.

Please remember to rate, review and subscribe on your podcast provider of choice and send us your questions for future episodes on Twitter @YahooFantasy.

Follow Scott @Scott_Pianowski

Check out the rest of the Yahoo Sports Podcast family at https://apple.co/2Abi8jk or at yahoosports.com/podcasts

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Short season debates, what to learn from football and best sports gear Jun 08, 2020

Show notes

On this week's episode of the Yahoo Fantasy Baseball Podcast, Yahoo’s Scott Pianowski and Dalton Del Don have a few debates around the (hopefully upcoming) 2020 MLB season.

First up, Dalton and Scott discuss the elephant in the room, what's our confidence level on Major League Baseball settling its labor dispute and starting a season this year? (03:00)

And, should we worry about the randomness and small sample size a shorter season will bring? (06:00)

Should we focus on pitching or hitting in upcoming drafts? (12:25)

Does the volatility of starting pitching mean we should ignore them until later or stock up early and often in drafts? (14:30)

How should you draft from a deep shortstop pool? (18:13)

Should you focus on younger players or established veterans in fantasy drafts? (23:23)

If you've already drafted in your fantasy league, should you press the reset button once the season's schedule is established? (26:07)

And finally, is it time to bump Houston Astros players up our draft boards if they will not have to contend with a bevy of boos around ballparks all season? (28:27)

And we’ll wrap up the show with a draft of our favorite sports equipment, will the mighty baseball glove take the crown? (31:52)

Please remember to rate, review and subscribe on your podcast provider of choice and send us your questions for future episodes on Twitter @YahooFantasy.

Follow Scott @Scott_Pianowski

Check out the rest of the Yahoo Sports Podcast family at https://apple.co/2Abi8jk or at yahoosports.com/podcasts

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Baseball's labor dispute and retro draft strategy Jun 02, 2020

Show notes

On this episode of the Yahoo Fantasy Baseball Podcast, Fred Zinkie stops by to discuss baseball's ongoing labor dispute and what they've learned about fantasy baseball strategy from their recent retro season fantasy drafts.

Scott and Fred also talk in depth about the current state of affairs and standoff between MLB and its players. Will we have an MLB season? And if so, with a likely season being shortened in some form or fashion, what are some strategies fantasy players can implement?

And how should fantasy players prepare for a potential season overlapping with fantasy football draft prep?

Next up, Scott and Fred describe the retro seasonal drafts they’ve been taking part in lately. If you're not familiar, you pick a season like 1999 and draft from the player pool like usual. But, since you already know the stat lines you'll be getting during the draft, strategy changes dramatically. Scott and Fred discuss how team composition and positional scarcity come into play.

Finally, our experts offer up some strategies behind punting, along with what we can learn in our 2020 fantasy drafts about steals, saves, and batting average.

Please remember to rate, review and subscribe on your podcast provider of choice and send us your questions for future episodes on Twitter @YahooFantasy.

Follow Scott @Scott_Pianowski

Follow Fred @FredZinkieMLB

Check out the rest of the Yahoo Sports Podcast family at https://apple.co/2Abi8jk or at yahoosports.com/podcasts

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dissecting Moneyball's legacy and the best Philip Seymour Hoffman movies May 19, 2020

Show notes

As Major League Baseball inches closer to a return to the field, we're taking a quick break from our usual focus on fantasy baseball for a class on sports films and baseball history.

Yahoo's Scott Pianowski and Andy Behrens recently watched Moneyball, the Michael Lewis book turned Aaron Sorkin film about the 2002 Oakland Athletics and its General Manager, Billy Beane. It's worth your time if you haven't seen it, but there is a lot the book and film get wrong about the team and the time in baseball. (05:03)

Though the season that inspired the book is nearly 20 years old, its legacy can still be seen in current-day baseball, with every shift of the infield, the depreciating value of relievers, and reliance on empirical data to evaluate players. (31:37)

And in honor of Moneyball and Art Howe (hope you're feeling better Skip) who gets portrayed unfairly in the film, we wrap up the show with a friendly snake draft of our favorite films starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. (45:53)

Please remember to rate, review and subscribe on your podcast provider of choice and send us your questions for future episodes on Twitter @YahooFantasy.

Follow Scott @Scott_Pianowski

Follow Andy @AndyBehrens

Check out the rest of the Yahoo Sports Podcast family at https://apple.co/2Abi8jk or at yahoosports.com/podcasts

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The 'Greatest League' and the less great siblings May 14, 2020

Show notes

We got a bit of a throwback episode for you baseball history buffs, Yahoo’s Andy Behrens joins Scott Pianowski to talk about their draft with our friends over at Rotoworld for ‘The Greatest League.’

If you haven’t heard about the concept already, the basic idea is that you can draft the best individual seasons of any baseball player since 1980. Any player, any season, but a player can only be drafted once. Once rosters are set, Rotoworld plans on simulating an entire season on WhatIfSports. (02:12)

Scott and Andy break down their first round picks, 1994 Frank Thomas and Dwight Gooden from 1985 (03:37), why the shortened seasons of yesteryear provided some of the best seasons in history, and if we can look forward to big stat lines during a potential 80-game season (16:18)

And we wrap up the show with a friendly snake draft our favorite, let’s say, less famous siblings of some of the best athletes in history. Ozzie Canseco, this is your time to shine. (45:53)

Please remember to rate, review and subscribe on your podcast provider of choice and send us your questions for future episodes on Twitter @YahooFantasy.

Follow Scott @Scott_Pianowski

Follow Andy @AndyBehrens

Check out the rest of the Yahoo Sports Podcast family at https://apple.co/2Abi8jk or at yahoosports.com/podcasts

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A universal DH, the Rockies outside Coors, and fav fantasy strategies May 05, 2020

Show notes

Yahoo’s Scott Pianowski chats with Elite Fantasy’s Vlad Sedler about the growing optimism around a 2020 MLB season, how rumors of a universal DH could impact the fantasy landscape, and some of the big picture fantasy baseball strategies they’ve relied on over the years.

Leading off, Scott and Vlad look at some of the players they might bump up their draft boards if the National League adopts a designated hitter — either for the 2020 season or permanently. (01:17)

If baseball adopts a one, two, or three-state plan moving all games to Arizona, Texas, and/or Florida, that means a lot of players who deal with the extreme ends of park effects are going to have their values change. We’ll look at some of the players who usually play in Coors Field in Colorado and San Francisco’s AT&T Park that’ll be moving up and down our draft boards. (09:12)

Some fantasy mangers are trade tacticians, others scour the waiver wire for break out players. Scott and Vlad discuss some of their fantasy adages, like the importance of FAAB management, why it’s okay to make a mistake and the usefulness of an official co-manager. (13:53)

We’ll take a look at Vlad’s cheat sheet while he tells us the guys he likes and doesn’t like in fantasy drafts, including the Dodgers’ Gavin Lux (like!), and the Twins’ Jose Berrios (don’t like!). (25:03)

And we’ll wrap up the show with a draft of our all-time favorite Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, formerly knows as the Anaheim Angels, formerly known as the California Angels. A quick spoiler, this was one draft where Mike Trout did not go #1 overall. (48:48)

Please remember to rate, review and subscribe on your podcast provider of choice and send us your questions for future episodes on Twitter @YahooFantasy.

Follow Scott @Scott_Pianowski

Check out the rest of the Yahoo Sports Podcast family at https://apple.co/2Abi8jk or at yahoosports.com/podcasts

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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