The Atlanta Braves can say they have one dominant bullpen arm in Craig Kimbrel. Beyond that, and this year’s squad is a bit more iffy. Last season the Braves pen was middle of the road with a combined 3.8 WAR, but when accounting for their second lowest in baseball mark of just 440.2 innings pitched, the ratio shows how well the staff pitched. Looking to this season, the fantasy options are more limited with the departures of David Carpenter, Jordan Walden and Anthony Varvaro, last year’s top three holds leaders in Atlanta. After Kimbrel the value drops off considerably, but there are other mildly interesting options to be had.

Closer
Craig Kimbrel

Setup
Jason Grilli
Jim Johnson

In the Mix
Josh Outman
James Russell
Luis Avilan
Jose Veras

Also Rans
Juan Jaime
Arodys Vizcaino

Closer
It’s hard to overstate just how good Craig Kimbrel has been for his career. His ups-and-downs have consisted of a seasonal worst 2.48 FIP in his rookie season where he threw all of 20.2 innings. Sure, Kimbrel was a bit fortunate with a .235 BABIP and 0.29 HR/9 rate last year, just know that his 1.61 ERA and 1.94 SIERA were no flukes compared to his other seasons. If Kimbrel is your first pitcher — not just reliever — drafted and it happens in the fourth round, you can do just fine. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s time for our Depth Chart Discussions to begin. In an effort to suss out every team, we’ve divided them into four parts (infield, outfield, bullpen, and rotation) and will begin breaking them down for you over the next few weeks. You can find them gathered here.

It isn’t that the Baltimore Orioles lack a front end starter, they just lack one until Dylan Bundy makes his comeback. He is already set to hit the ground running in spring training, and given the rest of the rotation, Bundy is by far the most intriguing and highest upside stater in Baltimore. That he may or may not even pitch in the majors this season doesn’t speak well for their rotation. Looking at Fantasy Pros ADP — which utilizes info from Yahoo!, NFBC, Fantrax and RealTime Sports — the highest drafted Baltimore starter is Chris Tillman around pick 228 as the 62nd starter off the board. Before we beat up on the rotation too much, lets take a closer look at each hurler.

Front Five
Chris Tillman
Wei-Yin Chen
Kevin Gausman
Bud Norris
Miguel Gonzalez

Other Options
Dylan Bundy
Ubaldo Jimenez

On the Farm
Tim Berry
Mike Wright
Zach Davies

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The New York Yankees saw two of their starting three outfielders miss the end of the season due to injuries last year. Both Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran lost some time, with Beltran being limited to 109 games last year. Ellsbury did managed to play the vast majority of the season however, as both he and Brett Gardner posted over 630 plate appearances each, though Gardner himself is coming off of surgery for a sports hernia this off-season. When healthy, all three starting OFers offer fantasy owners various stats, but the outfield reserve for the Yankees could prove valuable as well.

Center Field
Jacoby Ellsbury
Chris Young

Left Field
Brett Gardner
Chris Young

Right Field
Carlos Beltran
Chris Young
Garrett Jones

In the minors
Jose Pirela
Tyler Austin
Mason Williams
Rob Refsnyder
Taylor Dugas
Ramon Flores
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While the Rays lack a clear number one a la David Price, the team has plenty of depth with SP2/3/4 types, all fantasy worthy for at the very least stream starts. There is value to be had in Tampa, but much of it will come in the later rounds/cheaper cost than previous seasons.

Episode IV, A New Hope
Alex Cobb
Chris Archer
Jake Odorizzi
Drew Smyly

Episode V, The Minors Strike Back
Alex Colome
Nate Karns

Episode VI, Return of the Injured
Matt Moore
Burch Smith
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 It’s time for our Depth Chart Discussions to begin. In an effort to suss out every team, we’ve divided them into four parts (infield, outfield, bullpen, and rotation) and will begin breaking them down for you over the next few weeks. You can find them gathered here.

The Boston Red Sox bullpen has a clear closer in Koji Uehara, but following him, there are some questions. Burke Badenhop, who led the Sox pen with 70.2 innings last season is currently a free agent and the club appears to be shopping the normally dependable Edward Mujica. Andrew Miller posted an incredible season in 2014 but he now pitches for the Yankees. There are holds to be had, but it is a question of distribution.

Closer
Koji Uehara

Setup
Junichi Tazawa
Edward Mujica

In the mix
Anthony Varvaro
Brandon Workman
Robbie Ross

Also rans
Alexi Ogando
Craig Breslow
Tom Layne
Heath Hembree
Drake Britton

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s time for our Depth Chart Discussions to begin. In an effort to suss out every team, we’ve divided them into four parts (infield, outfield, bullpen, and rotation) and will begin breaking them down for you over the next few weeks. You can find them gathered here.

The Toronto Blue Jays held on to just one outfield starter from last year’s opening day lineup, but when that person is Jose Bautista, the Jays still have some outfield production. The park plays up power — especially right-handed power — however outside of Bautista, don’t count on too many home runs. Rather than the long ball, expect speed from the Jays mostly new outfield.
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After how poorly my first mock draft went, I was more than a little excited to get back out there and try again. Howard Bender is kind enough to keep me in his Mock Draft Army and we held the first MDA mock of the year yesterday evening, with the tweets and hashtags to prove it. I outlined my “bats first, other than catchers” plan (side note: I’ve been tinkering with an acronym for this, calling it the EBEC plan: Early Bats, Except Catchers) on Wednesday and lets see how well I stuck to the plan, as well as what my team looks like.

Rather than split it up into a detailed breakdown of infield, outfield and pitchers like last time, I’ll display the mock in a different format today by highlighting certain picks and let the comment section decide which version they prefer. The full draft board can be found here with my team below.

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I want to start from the top
Maybe like a do over

Just like the song Re-do from Modern Baseball — topical band name, I know — I’m looking to get a complete re-do after my first mock draft. My rocky-at-best crack at the early off season mock draft is outlined in three parts, the infield, outfield and pitchers but I went away from my normal “Bats first, pitchers second” mantra. At the risk of having Howard Bender poach my players away from me, something he is wont to do, I’ll be outlining my strategy for my mock draft as part of Bender’s Mock Draft Army.
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With my infield and outfield already covered, let us move to the final piece of the puzzle, my pitching staff. Normally in 12-team mixed league snake drafts I wait on starting pitchers, unless the league has particularly deep rosters. I feel comfortable stream 2-3 starters per week and spend early and often on my hitters. Given the way my offense shaped up, clearly I veered off of my normal plan with semi-disastrous results for my hitters. Regardless of how the team ended up looking, I enjoyed going outside of my comfort zone in this mock draft.

SP — Stephen Strasburg, 37th
I broke my traditional mold early by grabbing Stras in the fourth round. He was the seventh pitcher off the board and two more starters followed within the next four picks. Given how the draft unfolded, I was thankful to lock down an elite starter to anchor my team.
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After displaying my less-than-stellar infield in yesterday’s post, today we’ll be highlighting my outfielders and utility hitter. Given that my first two picks both went to outfielders, I like the offense my green field roaming players bring much more than the infield.

OF — Carlos Gomez, 12th
With my first round pick I took a power and speed option in Gomez. While Steamer doesn’t believe in him maintaining a .284 average — something he has done for the past two seasons — it does project him to crack 20 home runs and nab 30 steals for the third consecutive season. As Steamer projects a .261 average, both his runs and RBI projection seems light to me as well. I’d take the over on his offensive stats, easily making Gomez worth a first round pick.
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