Last week, I mainly focused on first round picks and where the most players are being drafted from, as well as some positional distribution. I had mentioned focusing on individual MLB teams and how they have drafted in this concluding article. To start, however, is a map of where first round picks are coming from and what value they have had. This map does not represent the hometowns of first round picks. The map shows the location of a school where a player came from.

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Below is the Relief Pitcher installment of our 2016 Ottoneu FGpt rankings.

Previous Rankings: Catcher/First Base/Third Base/Second Base/Shortstop/Outfield

In the context of Ottoneu, perhaps rankings are a misnomer, because you really want to know the dollar value each player is worth. We’ve included this information for our benefit. In all, these rankings should help to give you a spread of four dollar values for each player, as well as a comparison to average prices (post-arbitration, pre-cut deadline) within the Ottoneu FGpts universe. Each player’s Ottoneu eligibility (5GS, 10 appearances) is included as well, though players are ranked at their most valuable position. If you have questions on a specific ranking, or a question for a specific ranker, feel free to let us know in the comments.

Consider this your very early, subject to change, Ottoneu pricing cheat sheet.
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We’ve started our annual Depth Chart Discussions, re-branded as Playing Time Battles for 2016. You can catch up on every team we’ve covered in the Playing Time Battles Summary post or following along using the Depth Chart Discussions tag.

Exciting, nail-biting position battles for the Giants are nowhere to be found. Buster Posey is the starter behind the plate, and working around the horn from first base to third base, Brandon Belt, Joe Panik, Brandon Crawford and Matt Duffy will fill out the starting spots in the infield. Prior to signing Denard Span in early January, an intriguing starting battle could have been in the cards in the outfield, alas, the starting spots are sewn up out there, too. Span will slot in center field, Angel Pagan will man left field and Hunter Pence will handle right field duties. The lineup battles for the Giants are reserved for, um, the reserves. Standard mixed-leaguers are unlikely to garner much value from this piece, but large mixed-league gamers and NL-only gamers might find some names to file away for watch lists. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve started our annual Depth Chart Discussions, re-branded as Playing Time Battles for 2016. You can catch up on every team we’ve covered in the Playing Time Battles Summary post or following along using the Depth Chart Discussions tag.

This time yesterday, there really weren’t any Cubs playing time battles to discuss. There’s always the token catcher chat, and we’ll flesh that out below. Some words could have been spilled regarding utility men Chris Coghlan and Javier Baez. Overall, it wouldn’t have been an exciting post. With Dexter Fowler’s stunning agreement, there is a real battle to address.

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I’m going to try something a bit different here.

Instead of analysis, let’s try an instructional piece about how to add a feature to your draft prep spreadsheet. In the instructions that follow, I’ll show you how to make a cheat sheet based on auction values. When you’re done, you’ll have something like this…

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We’ve been running a series looking at the potential top rookie producers at each position around the baseball diamond for a few weeks now. This series should be valuable for anyone participating in a fantasy league that allows keepers. It could also help anyone playing in more traditional formats who may need to fill holes throughout the season or may be in need of a little spark.

This class of freshmen outfielders has a chance to be a really strong group this year, although there are a lot of questions marks in terms of playing time. Today, we’ll look at the players with the best shots at regular playing time. Next week, we’ll look at the bigger questions marks — although they’re outfielders that could still have a fantasy impact in 2016.

Previously:
Catchers
First Basemen
Second Basemen
Third Basemen
Shortstops

Top Targets:

Byron Buxton, Twins: This former top pick had a tough MLB debut in 2015 but retained his rookie eligibility and will try and use last year’s experience as a springboard to bigger and better things. He’s all but assured of a starting gig in center field on opening day thanks to the off-season trade of Aaron Hicks. If he can get his contact issues ironed out, Buxton has a massive ceiling and could develop into a five-tool talent in a very talented (but young) lineup. The speed value will show up first, followed by the batting average, and then the power.

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• The MASH report will be going bi-weekly from now until the season’s ends. I will not have any reports the week starting on March 7th as I will be on vacation.

• In last week’s MASH report I reported the first player was placed on the 60-day DL. Some confusion always exists around the 60-day DL, so here are the basics.

1. There is no requirement for a team to put any player on the 60-day DL. A player can be on the 15-day DL all season.
2. The reason for the 60-day DL is to open up a 40 man roster spot. Teams will wait to make this move when they have a need for an extra spot when a non-forty-man-roster rookie is called up to the majors or a free agent is signed. Not before. Five more players were added to the 60-day DL and each move was so the team could pick up an additional player.

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In the real world of baseball, the Orioles recently agreed to terms with Yovani Gallardo on a $35 million contract. Then they ran their classic bait-and-switch physical, cried “shoulder,” and leveraged Gallardo down to a $22 million guarantee. This is not the first time the O’s have killed a player’s leverage. Usually they go on to sign with another team for much less money.

You’d be hard pressed to find any 30-year-old pitcher without some kind of radar blip in their shoulder or elbow. In his prime, Gallardo threw 93 mph. This was back when 93 mph rated among the hardest throwing starting pitchers. Now he throws 90. There’s a pretty decent chance that whatever’s wrong with his shoulder is already assimilated into his game. Furthermore, given the contracts signed by Ian Kennedy and Mike Leake, decline appeared to already be priced into the original $35 million figure.

Gallardo and his agent should have anticipated the Orioles. They should have laid groundwork to co-opt the false leverage gained by the Orioles with the physical. Before any figures are exchanged, it’s the agents job to say, “we know you’re going find something when you run your physical. Let me be clear, we aren’t renegotiating.”

That statement doesn’t mean what it says. Here’s the sub-text. If you, the Orioles, find something in my client’s physical, we’ll budge. A little. Like a very tiny bit. Maybe we’ll accept a small percentage of the contract as very easy to trigger incentives. It depends what it is too.

Put another way, do you think Scott Boras would have taken a $13MM reduction in guaranteed pay? Doubtful.

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A couple of months ago, I wrote an article about platoon options, and astute reader Tacocat pointed out that platoon hitters never actually realize their versus left-handed pitcher or versus right-handed pitcher splits that we frequently cite. Instead, platoon hitters start games with a platoon advantage, and then sometimes managers have to leave them in to face same-handed pitchers out of the bullpen.

Daily players use the same decision-making as actual managers. You can choose to start a platoon player because he is facing an opposite-handed starter, but that creates a chance that he could see a plate appearance versus a same-handed reliever later in the game. If you are relying on a split stat versus left-handed or right-handed pitchers to make that start/sit decision, then your platoon hitters will underperform your expectations on average.

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Two years ago, I shared with you an updated version of my xK% equation. The formula uses a trio of strike type rates found at Baseball-Reference.com, including a pitcher’s looking, swinging, and foul strike percentages, along with his overall rate of strikes thrown. With an adjusted R-squared of 0.913, it explains a very higher percentage of a pitcher’s strikeout rate. Its best use is early in the season when the plate appearance (the K% denominator) sample size is still small, as xK% uses total pitches as the denominator, so we can reach a reasonable sample size to analyze much more quickly.

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