Our Depth Chart Discussions are just about wrapped up here at RG, but plenty could have changed since the start of March. So I’ve doubled back to some of the more intriguing position battles for fantasy purposes, and we’ll hit on some of the others in the near future, too. Today, we look at the American League.
While pretty much the entire Fangraphs staff was in Arizona, your intrepid author eschewed the desert for the tropical breezes of Florida. Different teams. Higher chance of rain. Lots more driving!
Anyway, I traveled around the Sunshine State hitting up minor league camps, watching minor league games and also checking in on some of the best amateurs for the upcoming MLB Draft and International signing period. It’s very difficult to plan these things out ahead because teams haven’t really plotted much out by the time I booked my trip, but I managed to catch some of the better prospects in the game despite that. Today I figured I’d share some observations on players I saw:
Finally, we get to the starting pitchers, my favorite position. If you thought there was room for disagreement among the outfielders, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. The many disagreements of value among starters and the multitude of later round sleeper options is precisely why my strategy in every single draft/auction I participate in is to pay the least for my staff or wait many a round to draft my first starter. For this last episode of Pod’s Picks, I will only look at those I ranked in the top 84 as bullish picks, while the bearish group will include those in the consensus top 84. I went with 84 assuming about seven starters per team in a 12-team mixed league would earn positive value.
Today is Thursday, and that means tomorrow is Friday, which means the day after tomorrow is Saturday. Feel free to daydream about the near future while reading today’s Roto Riteup.
On today’s agenda:
1. Samuel Deduno and roto rotations
2. Shaun Marcum’s already hurt
3. Tons Of Projections
When we do this thing where we categorize players into tidy little compartments it tends to bring out the monsters in many of you. Had I given more attention to some of my cultural anthropology or experimental psychology courses, perhaps I’d have an explanation as to why. But nonetheless intrepid reader, I’ll attempt to put forth my best tiered assessment of the available third basemen to you on draft day.
As you no doubt know, the tiers shift. They move like like an Omar Vizquel with Arthur Rhodes on the mound. But I know that many of you like to aim for top three tier material at as many positions as possible, so perhaps this will help you assuming you haven’t already put together your squads. If you already have and your guy is in tier five, well, condolences.
If last year was any indication of what we can expect form the Orioles outfield, then fantasy owners are going to want to get in on the action again this season. The breakout season of Adam Jones was huge, the shortened but pleasant return to form of Nick Markakis was a nice surprise, and although injuries and match-up playing cluttered up left field most of the time, the O’s still managed to get decent production out of the spot on the whole. Jones and Markakis return again in 2013 and while left field is still being settled, should all go according to plan, the outfield should remain a quality source of fantasy production this year. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s easy to see the Red Sox bullpen following many trajectories. They have assembled a staff which could prove to be one of the league’s elite, with his strikeout guys littering the 6th-9th innings. However, red flags exist if they are not appropriately snuffed out as the season opens, it’s also easy to see some of these guys suffering continued regression from their career peaks and Boston’s pen instead being most useful if you had a time machine and could bring them to 2011.
The Boston Red Sox outfield went through some big changes during the offseason. Both corner spots will be filled by new arrivals. Both Jonny Gomes and Shane Victorino have been effective throughout their careers, but there are reasons for concern moving forward. Even with those worries, Jacoby Ellsbury might be the riskiest player in Boston’s outfield. The center fielder was one of the best hitters in baseball in 2011, but will need to prove he’s capable of those numbers again. On top of that, he’s received the dreaded “injury prone” tag. There’s value here, but only if you can get past some red flags.
Outfield. The position with a ton of required starters that gives us much room for disagreement. In fact, I try my hardest to avoid drafting them early in a snake draft because I know there will be a whole bunch in the middle rounds I think are being drastically undervalued. If only I was in a fantasy league with 10 OF slots. One can only dream. In the outfield, I will only look at those I ranked in the top 64 as bullish picks, while the bearish group will include those in the consensus top 64.
From 90 degree plus weather to shoveling four inches of lake effect snow (insert audible heavy sigh here) off of the driveway in the past 24 hours, this is today’s Roto Riteup.
On today’s agenda:
1. Tyler Skaggs‘ value this year
2. Josh Vitters’ 2013 fantasy impact
3. Cheap steals via L.J. Hoes, also an attempt to not make a sophomoric joke regarding his surname
Read the rest of this entry »