71 days until Opening Day ... 

Those of you who have been following along with the Fantasy Baseball Today Newsletter and podcast know we've been drafting all offseason long. We take time off to recharge our batteries and poke our heads out from behind our computers to say hi to our families, but the truth is, this is a year-round game for us. 

But we're the weird ones. Most people who play Fantasy Baseball don't check in until Spring Training starts, at the earliest -- and those of you who are following along all offseason have an edge on the competition. You could argue Fantasy Baseball Draft Prep season doesn't really begin until March, but for me, the official start has always been this week, every year. This is the week when CBSSports.com opens up new registration for leagues for the upcoming season, and the FBT team launches our Draft Prep content in earnest.

Which means our full rankings are live on CBSSports.com/Fantasy/Baseball for the first time today -- and you can check them out here! It also means some of our core content for the upcoming season is live, including Scott White's positional tier rankings and, of course, our first round of Sleepers, Breakouts, and Busts. And today's newsletter is all about that trio. 

I've got my sleepers, plus Frank Stampfl's breakout picks and Scott's busts for the 2025 season, and over the next few weeks, we'll have even more for you -- next week, I'll have my breakout picks right here in the newsletter for you, with my busts coming the following week. And, I'm going to start rolling out my 2025 Position Previews series beginning next week, and we'll have a whole bunch more coming for you. 

For now, let's see where Frank, Scott, and myself are planting our flags for 2025 -- but first, you can check out Scott's tiers below: 

• C Tiers 1.0
• 1B Tiers 1.0
• 2B Tiers 1.0
• 3B Tiers 1.0
• SS Tiers 1.0
• OF Tiers 1.0
• SP Tiers 1.0
• RP Tiers 1.0

For the first round, I got the most fun job: Sleepers! 

The fun thing about sleepers is, they are relatively low-stakes calls. I'm focusing especially on players being drafted outside of the top 200 in ADP right now, which you don't really have to worry about the downside for these players – chances are, you're dropping whoever you pick outside of the top-200 at some point in the season. Might as well make sure you're targeting players in that range with the upside to really turn into difference-makers in Fantasy. 

That's what I'm doing with my picks here, and you can see the full list below:

• Ivan Herrera, C, Cardinals
• Deyvison De Los Santos, 1B, Marlins
• Kristian Campbell, 2B, Red Sox
• Brandon Lowe, 2B, Rays
• Carlos Correa, SS, Twins
• Roman Anthony, OF, Red Sox
• Nolan Jones, OF, Rockies 
• Michael Conforto, OF, Dodgers
• Spencer Arrighetti, SP, Astros
• Nick Lodolo, SP, Reds 
• Quinn Mathews, SP, Cardinals
• Mike Soroka, RP, Nationals 

Now, to find out why I'm in on this specific collection of later-round targets? Well, you're going to just have to click here to see. 

When it comes to breakouts, there are always a few free spots on the bingo board, and this year, the resurgence of the outfield position is represented by a number of intriguing youngsters with star potential. Frank highlights James Wood and Wyatt Landford at the top of his list of breakout picks, and – spoiler alert – both will also be on my breakout list when I unveil my choices next week.

One who won't be on my list is Lawrence Butler, the A's outfielder who took the league by storm with a massive run in the summer. I can certainly see the case for Butler, who came back from a trip to the minors early in the season and was just terrific, putting up a .262/.317/.490 line with a 162-game pace of 29 homers and 23 steals. Especially since the underlying numbers exactly back up what he did for the season as a whole. Where I get off the Butler hype bus is with the expectation that he's going to take another step forward, something neither his underlying metrics nor his minor-league track record really backs up.

But here's the biggest issue for me: The price. I thought I liked Butler plenty when I ranked him as my No. 22 OF and the No. 80 player in Roto leagues, but he's been a top 70 pick in NFBC leagues so far in January. That's not quite as steep a price to pay as Nolan Jones' was this time a year ago, but the outfield position also feels deep enough that being this aggressive with an unproven player doesn't really make a ton of sense. 

But there's no denying, as Frank points out, that the upside is sky-high for Butler this season. To see who else Frank is tabbing as a breakout for 2024, head here. 

Scott drew the short straw and has to be the one who rains on everyone's parades first. And he's not pulling his punches this year, listing (among others) the reigning NL Cy Young winner and some of the biggest breakouts from last year on his list of Draft Day avoids.

Chris Sale is probably the most notable inclusion among Scott's bust picks, if only because Scott was all-in on Sale last year. Of course, there's a minor difference in price we're talking about here – Sale's ADP in NFBC drafts a year ago was just 132.6; he's up to 38.4 so far in 2025. Sale stayed healthy for more than 20 starts for the first time since 2019, though it's worth remembering that he did suffer a back injury late in the season that he ultimately couldn't come back from – how different are we talking about his season if that back injury happens in May instead of September? 

I'm hardly out on Sale, my No. 8 SP, and a top-40 pick in my Roto rankings for 2025. But there's no question that there's significantly more risk involved in drafting him this season than there was a year ago. I don't think Sale will make my personal bust list, but I probably won't be drafting him much this year, either. It just doesn't feel like a good bet to make on a 36-year-old with his injury history. 

For more of Scott's bust picks, head here.