A popular draft strategy in snake draft leagues is to go with "Pocket Aces," i.e. drafting elite starting pitchers with your first two picks. Derek VanRiper did so in the LABR Mixed Draft League, beginning his draft with Spencer Strider and Corbin Burnes. He and Jeff Erickson talk about the nuances, strengths and weaknesses of the strategy.
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00:00 - News & Notes
01:00 - Bello extension, Red Sox rotation
08:00 - Rodon velocity down, gets hit hard
12:00 - Michael King, Johnny Brito, Will Warren
17:00 - TB/CLE/LAD pitching development
20:00 - DL Hall
25:00 - Pocket Aces - Defined, Reason for Going that route
26:00 - Who qualifies as an "ace" for such purposes?
34:45 - How to follow it up
43:00 - When do you next go into the SP pool?
45:00 - Applied - DVR’s LABR draft, Jeff’s TGFBI draft
1:01:00 - Draft position matter?
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Pocket Aces, With Derek VanRiper

Jeff Erickson, Clay Link, James Anderson, Scott Jenstad, Todd Zola, Fred Zinkie, Erik Halterman and Ryan Boyer cover fantasy baseball year round, including draft prep, strategy and much more!

Sports

Baseball

Fantasy Sports

Paul Goldschmidt is off to an awful start to the season - what's our level of panic? Ryan Hallam (@fightingchance) joins Jeff Erickson to discuss Goldy and a handful of other struggling first basemen, the Cardinals, and even Fantasy Survivor!
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00:00 - I. Slumping First Basemen
01:00 - Goldy
04:00 - Matt Olson
06:30 - Vladdy Jr.
10:45 - Freddie Freeman* (sort of - a bit of a power drought)
13:00 - Ryan’s work for Spotlight
14:00 - Spencer Torkelson
16:00 - Jordan Walker
18:45 - Yandy Diaz
21:00 - Andrew Vaughn
23:30 - Jose Abreu
26:00 - II. Cardinals Talk
27:00 - 14-17, -30 run differential, 109 R scored
29:30 - Sorting out the OF now and going forward
33:30 - Rotation
36:00 - Manager / Front Office
38:35 - III. Check in on Tout, your other leagues
42:30 - IV. Fantasy Survivor
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Panic Meter - Paul Goldschmidt

Lazaro Montes

Roderick Arias

Sebastian Walcott

Brett Wichrowski

Jeral Perez

Ethan Salas

Nelson Rada

Colt Emerson

Jaison Chourio

Ralphy Velazquez

Nazzan Zanetello

Yophery Rodriguez

Alfredo Duno

Leodalis De Vries

Felnin Celesten

Joendry Vargas

Rayner Arias

Paulino Santana

Walker Martin

Welbyn Francisca

Robert Calaz

Jeter Martinez

Yoelin Cespedes

Starlyn Caba

Jose Perdomo

Enmanuel Bonilla

Brailer Guerrero

Dawel Joseph

Fernando Cruz


Vivid Seats Promotional Copy

This MLB season, knock it out of the park with Vivid Seats and score great tickets to the biggest games of the year. Every fast ball, every home run, and every eye-popping play of your favorite team, live and in person. Plus, with Vivid Seats Rewards, you earn rewards with every single purchase. Just buy ten tickets, then cash in your credit toward your FREE eleventh ticket. 

Sign up for Vivid Seats Rewards today!


PrizePicks

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The Next Great Prospects w/ Chris Welsh

If you could re-draft today, where would Corbin Carroll go? How about Ranger Suárez? Would Ronald Acuña Jr. still go first? We resolved to find these questions out in the Yahoo! Friends & Family draft on Monday night. Fred Zinkie and Jeff Erickson review the results and the shifting player values.
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Full draft results: https://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1/84482/draftresults
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00:00 - Recapping the Yahoo! F&F Draft. 
04:25 - Mookie Betts 1.1
06:30 - Elly De La Cruz 1.5
09:00 - Fred takes Corbin Burnes 1.8
11:00 - Jeff takes Gunnar Henderson 1.11
13:00 - First-round recap
16:30 - Yordan Alvarez 2.16
17:30 - Tarik Skubal 2.19, 3rd pitcher taken
19:00 - Cooling off on early pitchers
22:30 - Corbin Carroll 2.25
30:15 - Adolis Garcia 2.26
33:00 - Two more aces for Fred (Freddy Peralta, Aaron Nola)
34:20 - When to take closers?
36:20 - Mike Trout 3.32
39:00 - Slumping Blue Jays hitters
41:45 - Early positive outliers - Shota Imanaga, Marcell Ozuna, Ronel Blanco
48:15 - Fred’s Full Team
53:15 - Jeff’s Full Team
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This MLB season, knock it out of the park with Vivid Seats and score great tickets to the biggest games of the year. Every fast ball, every home run, and every eye-popping play of your favorite team, live and in person. Plus, with Vivid Seats Rewards, you earn rewards with every single purchase. Just buy ten tickets, then cash in your credit toward your FREE eleventh ticket. 

Sign up for Vivid Seats Rewards today!

PrizePicks

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Second Chance Draft

Jeff Erickson and Scott Jenstad discuss a busy weekend baseball, cover all the adds / drops in FAAB and discuss some surprising early stars in fantasy baseball. Follow us on Twitter: @Jeff_Erickson I @ScottJenstad I @RotoWire


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This MLB season, knock it out of the park with Vivid Seats and score great tickets to the biggest games of the year. Every fast ball, every home run, and every eye-popping play of your favorite team, live and in person. Plus, with Vivid Seats Rewards, you earn rewards with every single purchase. Just buy ten tickets, then cash in your credit toward your FREE eleventh ticket. 
Sign up for Vivid Seats Rewards today!



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Recapping a Busy FAAB Week / Early Surgers

Erik Halterman (@erik_halterman) and guest Chris Towers of CBS Sports (@CTowersCBS) discuss which first-rounders were drafted too high and which April standouts should have gone much earlier.
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00:00 Headlines
13:00 Ronald Acuna
21:45 Other First-Rounders: Julio Rodriguez, Corbin Carroll, Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge
42:45 Standout April hitters: Elly De La Cruz, CJ Abrams, Mike Trout
57:45 Standout April pitchers: Jared Jones, Ranger Suarez, Shota Imanaga
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Vivid Seats Promotional Copy
This MLB season, knock it out of the park with Vivid Seats and score great tickets to the biggest games of the year. Every fast ball, every home run, and every eye-popping play of your favorite team, live and in person. Plus, with Vivid Seats Rewards, you earn rewards with every single purchase. Just buy ten tickets, then cash in your credit toward your FREE eleventh ticket. 
Sign up for Vivid Seats Rewards today!

PrizePicks
Download PrizePicks today and use code ROTOPOD for a first deposit match up to $100! Sign up now! 
Pick more. Pick less. It’s that easy!
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Pocket Aces, With Derek VanRiper

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