Bad Teams As Buying Opportunity

This article has happened before, and it will happen again. Every year, fantasy owners pour their resources into players on good teams. It makes perfect sense too. A “good team” scores a lot of runs, prevents runs, or both. That correlates nicely with most of the categories we track in the standard 5×5.

However, good teams also don’t take many risks on unproven talents. They start the season with extra depth, and they acquire more at the trade deadline as needed. Ryan Schimpf and Alex Dickerson wouldn’t have emerged as fringe-roto names if they had been in the Red Sox system. Today, let’s talk about some bad teams.

San Diego Padres

There’s opportunity all over the Padres rosters, especially at catcher, outfield, and wherever Yangervis Solarte doesn’t play. There’s been chatter about him playing more second base, but I think that’s just talk. Either way, Schimpf seemingly will get the first look, although he’s currently rehabbing an oblique injury. Cory Spangenberg (toe injury) is the next best thing. He offers considerably less roto value. Austin Hedges made mechanical adjustments in the minors to hit for more power. Whether he can actually do it in the majors is another matter entirely.

The club has four viable outfielders, none of whom are established major league regulars. My favorite for fantasy purposes is Travis Jankowski. He’s a speedster with a Victorino-like swing. He might discover Victorino-like pop too. Hunter Renfroe and Manuel Margot draw more attention. I’m not entirely sure Margot will offer much fantasy value right away. I prefer Dickerson for 2017.

The rotation is a shambles which opens the door for a surprise performance. At shortstop, Erick Aybar could reclaim his past status. Probably not. Should-be closers Carter Capps and Brad Hand would be extremely popular if they were in line to defend more leads.

Oakland Athletics

The A’s aren’t really a bad team per se, they’re just relatively worse than the rest of the division. Their path to contention depends on surprises. You’ll want to monitor Ryon Healy, Matt Joyce, and their pitching staff. Healy, we’ve talked about frequently as having made the Jake Lamb adjustments – leg kick and lowering the hands. He’s a factor in the first, third, and designated hitter battles. Joyce appears to somehow be in line for starting right field work after making similar adjustments last season. He quietly posted a 29 homer pace with over .400 OBP in 293 plate appearances. He even hit lefties fine in a tiny sample.

Sean Manaea and Jharel Cotton have breakout potential. They’re also quite popular – you might not get much value out of them. In the bullpen, I’m looking for Sean Doolittle to reclaim his closer’s mantle from Ryan Madson. His high fastball approach is the perfect counter to the adjustments hitters are making to hit for more power.

Chicago White Sox

The White Sox are one of the reasons why good players like Angel Pagan remain unsigned. They opted to leave multiple positions completely fallow. The club will turn to Tyler Saladino and Tim Anderson in the middle infield, neither of whom is a reliable fantasy option. However, there’s upside in the form of big steal totals with middling power. The Sox should run wild this year. Yoan Moncada could eventually enter the picture.

Aside from Melky Cabrera, the outfield and DH mix are chock full of the unprovens. Charlie Tilson should get the first shot in center field, although he’s struggling to stay healthy. His most recent injury is to his foot, and he felt more discomfort yesterday. Rymer Liriano and Avisail Garcia are the other notable options for center and right field. I don’t think very much of Avi. The club doesn’t have an obvious pure hitter for DH.

Philadelphia Phillies

I’ve been scraping gold from the Phillies for a few years. This time around, Tommy Joseph and Cesar Hernandez are my favorite sleepers on the roster. We talk about Joseph a lot around here, but I’ve yet to see anyone overextend to roster him. Hernandez has the raw speed and willingness to swipe 30 bases with a good average. Unfortunately, he’s a TOOTBLAN king. Sometimes that resolves itself with experience.

Maikel Franco should be a post-hype sleeper. I keep seeing him go before players like Lamb, Nick Castellanos, and Eugenio Suarez. So much for sleeping. Michael Saunders may be an Opening Day bargain while Aaron Altherr and Roman Quinn should be tracked for later in the season. In the bullpen, Jeanmar Gomez won’t hold onto the closer job for long. However, everyone’s favorite backup, Hector Neris, may not be the front runner to steal the role. Joaquin Benoit, Edubray Ramos, and others will be in the picture too.