The Rays tend to field pitchers who have a multitude of fantasy uses. In recent seasons, they’ve featured aces, mid-draft talent, and undervalued prospects. It’s shaping up to be more of the same in 2014, although the specifics have yet to be ironed out. Some spring position battles could substantially affect which players have value, but owners who are drafting soon will need to gamble.

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The incredibly disappointing 2013 Toronto Blue Jays rotation made room for one minor silver lining – the bullpen. Because starters rarely went deep, the Jays bullpen had baseball’s third-largest workload (552.2 innings pitched). They checked in with the ninth best ERA, leading to the Jays getting the eighth most value (in terms of Wins Above Replacement) out of their relievers.

I know, I know, grasping at straws from 2013 for the Jays. This is played out. And the FIP was bottom-10, with the strikeout and walk rates both checking in at 13th. A mediocre defense and homer-friendly park didn’t make things easier.

But don’t let the team’s down 2013 or the lack of action on the market fool you; this is a very solid bullpen, one with several potential closers and some appreciable depth. The team will need it, too, because it looks like they’ll enter the season with more dice rolls than Farkle in the rotation. Should they have leveraged some of this bullpen depth during the offseason to improve other areas? Absolutely. But the fact that they haven’t leaves them with a strong closer and several speculative plays in the event they go that route later.
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Some of my fondest childhood memories stem from spending summers at my grandfather’s house on Long Island. The swimming pool was nice and some of the neighborhood kids were pretty cool, but one of my favorite things to do was to pull up a chair next to his beloved BarcaLounger and sit and watch the ballgame together. When I would ask why we were always watching the Braves play, he, a man of few kind words, was never afraid to share his feelings about the Dodgers and Giants moving west, his hatred for the Yankees and an inexplicable disdain for the Mets. He was one of the few cable owners in the neighborhood back in 1980 and when Ted Turner brought him the Braves games, he “turned injun,” so to speak. Every season, amid cries of how free agency killed the game, he would lay out the roster for me and shout a variety of expletives with each new name he was forced to learn. So when the Braves offered up virtually the exact same roster this year as they did in 2013, I thought of him and how happy he would have been on Opening Day. But while looking at this outfield, one has to wonder if the roster consistency is also good for fantasy owners. Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s start this off by saying that the biggest aberration in terms of fantasy production that Martin Prado will probably ever have is his 2012 season. I would put a good deal of money on him never stealing 17+ bases again in his life.
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Despite dropping 100 games in 2013, the Miami Marlins managed to unveil one of fantasy’s hottest young starters, though the rotation behind him offers no other obvious must-draft guys. Still, there’s some talent in this group, and as fantasy owners, we’d be remiss not to do our due diligence in examining the guys slated — or possibly slated — to take the ball every fifth day in Miami.

The ballpark

Welcome to Marlins Park, a third-year stadium memorably described by Orel Hershiser as a place that looks “like a cruise ship had a baby with a spaceship.” Whatever its architectural trappings, however, this is a place that favors pitchers — StatCorner finds it depresses home runs significantly for both left- and right-handed hitters, and ESPN’s Park Factors ranked it middle of the pack in regards to runs scored.

The defense

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It’s time now to start rolling out the rankings, as the drafts are starting to get scheduled and everyone’s prepping. Once we’re doing rolling these out, we’ll give you a spreadsheet with our rankings and steamer projections. That way you can erase my rankings and improve your experience, if that’s what you’re all about. You’ll notice that the ‘draft tools’ box to the bottom right is slowly filling up. And if you need a little ‘extra,’ there’s always FG+ to give you advanced fantasy research and player caps on 1250 player pages.

No more ado. Catchers!

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If you haven’t been playing fantasy baseball since 2011, it might come as a surprise that the Phillies have an old and injury prone roster. Around the infield, four of the players are in their mid-30’s while the other starter is a relatively unproven, mid-ceiling prospect. A negative perception of the Phillies team might allow several of these players to be a fantasy bargain on draft day. Let’s step through the options player by player.

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Well, I can tell pitchers and catchers reported, since there’s been about a ten-fold increase in the amount of injury news. Again, I will not be looking at ding and dent information and try to focus on major changes in an injury status. Make sure you check the injury spreadsheet for updates. About half of the players got updated information.

• Cole Hamels will be out until at least mid-April with left shoulder discomfort.

Hamels said he started to feel the discomfort in his shoulder around Thanksgiving. He said that after meeting with Phillies physician Michael Ciccotti and head athletic trainer Scott Sheridan, they decided he should push back his throwing program one month … Hamels typically begins his program on Dec. 1. He started throwing on Jan. 1. He did not have an MRI.

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Between unforeseen injuries and under-performances, the Blue Jays slogged through a season below expectations. The team won only 74 games after being a popular postseason selection in most preseason projections. Jose Reyes only played a half-season due to injury, while guys like R.A. Dickey and Mark Buehrle were unable to post ERAs under 4.00. In many ways, it was a season-long nightmare that wasn’t supposed to happen.

Heading into the 2014 season, Toronto could be flying under the radar due to their disappointing performance a year ago. The top half of the everyday lineup appears to be plenty potent, and if the organization can land either Ubaldo Jimenez or Ervin Santana, their starting rotation has a shot to be roughly league-average (assuming some bounce-back for Dickey and Buehrle). Such a combination could allow them to threaten for one of the two Wild Card slots if their bullpen performs well.

The fantasy outlook for the infield, on the other hand, is a bit of a mixed bag. Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Reyes should be high on fantasy owners’ draft boards, while players such as Ryan Goins and Dioner Navarro probably aren’t ownable in standard leagues.

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With an average draft position of 231 in Yahoo! leagues, Nick Swisher is absolutely undervalued in fantasy. Yes he plays at the best producing position and yes he does not provide value with his legs to support his bat, but he is without a doubt in my mind being undervalued on draft day.
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