Welcome to the annual series: ‘A Minor (League) Review of 2015.” This series is a great way to receive a quick recap of the ’15 minor league season for your favorite club(s), while also receiving a brief look toward the 2016 season and beyond. It can also be a handy feature for fantasy baseball players in keeper and Dynasty leagues.

The Graduate: Joc Pederson, OF: The 23-year-old outfielder broke into the veteran outfield in 2015 and had an outstanding first half of the year. He came back down to earth in the second half but still had a respectable overall season. The youngster hit 26 home runs and played good outfield defence. His batting average was just .210 and he struck out almost 30 percent of the time so there are improvements to make — including improvement against same-handed pitching (and in his home stadium). Pederson stolen just four bases in 2015 but has 20-30 potential so there is more fantasy value in there.

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Three young outfielders who had vastly different seasons in 2015: one was excellent, but only for 350 PA, another has had an MLB-caliber glove forever but finally showed something with the bat, and the other failed to meet high expectations set by his 2014 leading to a demotion. Even with the positive aspects from two of the three guys, we’re still left wondering one question about all three: are these guys good? We’ll look at a couple key elements of their game and then give a recommendation.

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• It has been two weeks since my last report with almost no injury news updates. Hopefully, no news is good news.

• Ryan Braun doesn’t know how his latest back operation will affect his return timetable.

It was Braun’s first visit since undergoing surgery to relieve a bulging disc in his lower back.

“I feel pretty good, knock on wood,” said Braun, who is six weeks post-surgery. “The only surprise is the rehab is a little bit longer than I was anticipating, but other than that, everything went as planned and as expected. The first couple of days post-surgery weren’t fun, they were pretty painful. Other than that, I feel good.”

Braun is undergoing physical therapy four days a week. He downplayed the effect the prolonged rehab will have on his preparation for 2016, since he typically does not begin a throwing program until around Christmas, and he does not begin swinging a bat until January.

Asked when he expects his back to be 100 percent healthy, Braun said, “I have no idea. I’ll know when I get there. Certainly the goal is to be back to 100 percent. That’s my plan. I think it’s realistic, but until I get through the rehab and the physical therapy, I won’t know.”

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The Blue Jays played a different game than everybody else last season. While most contenders focused on elite relievers and athleticism, Toronto resurrected the PED-era quality offense. The team scored 891 runs. That’s not historically significant, but they did outscore the second place Yankees by 127 runs.  Yep, the Jays scored 17 percent more than the next best team.

The offense was carried by MVP Josh Donaldson and a couple familiar faces. Donaldson, Jose Bautista, and Edwin Encarnacion will draw early draft attention next season. However, a couple solid contributors may slip under the radar, and they’ll benefit from their elite counterparts.

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I opened up trade talks with my esteemed colleague Brandon Warne the other day, inquiring on one of his three elite SS in our ottoneu league.

“Any chance you are interested in moving [Manny] Machado, Xander [Bogaerts] or [Carlos] Correa? You can only use two at SS/MI and while you could play Machado at 3B, you have [Miguel] Sanothere.”

His reply was direct – “Probably will just start Sano at util.”

But I still need a SS and he still has a monopoly (those three plus Brad Miller and Starlin Castro), so how do I convince him to part with one of his prize possessions?
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In deeper formats, it can become difficult to find quality fourth and fifth outfielders because of how many players at the position are used in the league. Fortunately, outfield provides the most opportunities to mix and match in leagues, especially in daily games or in leagues that allow daily lineup changes. Much like the teams themselves, taking advantage of players with extreme platoon splits can provide the line of an expensive outfield for cheap, as long as you’re willing to put in the managerial work. Here are some platoon options I plan to use to help me fill out my deeper rosters next season.

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So it didn’t exactly go as planned for Jorge Soler in 2015. Rather than act as an integral part of an exciting young and powerful Cubs offense, Soler fizzled. Rather than make good on his sleeper/breakout/undervalued promise, he finished a pathetic 84th in value among just outfielders. That means he was worthless in 12-team leagues that start five outfielders! I did not see that coming.

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I had a conversation on Twitter the other day in relation to the latest DraftKings “scandal.” Don’t worry, this one is actually pretty bland. DraftKings pays some people to write about DFS and make recommendations. These same people also play and make money on DraftKings.

It’s the same thing a thousand writers do (including me on RotoGraphs). The affiliated writers don’t receive any inside information. The only difference between what I do and what they do is that DraftKings profits directly from their content. Also, one of their writers has made millions of dollars. I’ve made a few thousand. I suppose that’s a noticeable difference too.

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The last of the hitter Steamer and I reviews is upon us, as I recap how my Pod Projection compared to Steamer’s preseason forecast, and how both systems performed against what actually transpired. I was significantly more bullish about A.J. Pollock’s 2015 prospects than Steamer was. In fact, out of all full-time players, the difference between the two Pollock forecasts was the greatest.

Who knew Pollock would go on to finish as the second most valuable outfielder and overall hitter?!

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Episode 291.5

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live!

In this episode, Paul Sporer and Eno Sarris get together for an impromptu semi-episode to discuss the just-completed David Price deal. Then, Paul gets Jason Collette on the horn to get his thoughts on the Price deal.

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