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 2014 Arizona Diamondbacks rotation was….not good. As a staff they had the fifth lowest WAR total in the league and the fourth worst ERA. The staff’s xFIP was three quarters of a run lower than their ERA meaning they were slightly above average in that respect. But the main reason for that was the enormous ERA-xFIP gaps for Brandon McCarthy and Wade Miley, both of whom will play for different teams this year. There are still a couple of guys on the staff who may be in line for some positive regression, and there’s a whiff of upside from a couple of guys. But not one of the five starters projected by Steamer to pitch the most innings for Arizona has a FIP projection of 4.00 or lower. Read the rest of this entry »

Gone are the days where one of the strengths for the Minnesota Twins resided in the outfield. Well, one of the mainstays which hearkens back to that time is back, but is nearly 40 and merely a shell of his former self — at least defensively. By WAR, the Twins were No. 22 among outfields at 3.7. For some context, Baltimore was the runaway No. 1 team at 20.2, so there is considerable work to be done here.

But that leaf appears ready to turn in the very near future. The Twins have some very nice outfield prospects — one just happens to be among the absolute best — and a couple of the mainstays still have some untapped potential.

So what lies in store for this unit? Let’s go:

The Starters:

Oswaldo Arcia – LF
Torii Hunter – RF

Plenty of the misgivings directed as the outfield as a whole are directed at these two, though it is for good reason. The Twins were easily the worst defensive outfield in baseball last season, and this isn’t likely a good start. Hunter has tumbled from solid in center to mediocre in right while hitting each rung hard on the way down. He can still hit — 24th among OF in three-year wOBA over 1,000 PA — and the club believes he’ll bring something different in the clubhouse that’ll shake up a previously mortuous atmosphere. That’s all that’ll really matter to you, the fantasy player, who can probably grab Hunter in the late rounds of mixed leagues and see decent production. Leagues with OBP should take a step back from that. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a long, strange off season for the Atlanta Braves, and there aren’t too many positions around the diamond where fans will see familiar faces when the season starts in 2015. Despite a flurry of moving parts, the Braves rotation still seems to have plenty of stability and certainly enough relevance among the fantasy faithful as we’re now just days away from Spring Training.

Lost are Gavin Floyd, Aaron Harang, and Ervin Santana to free agency. The Braves faced some tough calls on major contributors from prior seasons in Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy but ultimately they lost both of them to free agency as well. They traded Jason Heyward and Jordan Walden for Shelby Miller and Tyrell Jenkins. They traded Chasen Shreve and David Carpenter for Manny Banuelos. They got Michael Foltynewicz in the Evan Gattis trade. They signed Chien-Ming Wang and Wandy Rodriguez to a minor league contract. Most recently, they picked up Eric Stults on a minor league deal with an invite to camp. Phew.

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.

I wrote about the New York Yankees starting rotation last week and — seeing as I’ve already spent plenty of quality time with their depth chart — I decided to tackle their infield as well. (I will not be including a separate designated-hitter portion of this piece; I think that position will be a revolving door of several guys who I’ll already be covering positionally.)

Read the rest of this entry »

This post continues our Depth Chart Discussions. In an effort to suss out every team, we’ve divided them into four parts (infield, outfield, rotation, and bullpen) and will continue to break them down for you over the next few weeks. You can find the Depth Chart Discussion posts gathered here.

Like their infield and outfield, the Red Sox’s 2015 rotation projects to look nothing like it did at the beginning of 2014. That’s probably not bad news: Red Sox starting pitchers were not very good in 2014. They placed 27th in FIP, 23rd in RA9-WAR, and 15th in fWAR. All told, the Sox gave starts to eleven different pitchers. Here’s a quick look at who started for them in 2014:

From that list, only Buchholz, Kelly, Workman, and Wright remain in the organization. At a glance, Buchholz seemed to be the victim of some bad luck. That might be true, too, of the starting version of Workman, though we might not see much of that version in 2015.

Joining Buchholz and Kelly in the likely “opening day rotation” are Rick Porcello, Wade Miley, and Justin Masterson. While the additions to the rotation are nowhere near as flashy as their signings of Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval, the Sox figure to feature an improved rotation in 2015. Between projected improvement (or more average luck?) from Buchholz and by replacing bad innings from Peavy, de la Rosa, Workman, and Webster with [at least] more average innings from Porcello and Miley, they’d be hard-pressed not to be better.

Unlike the outfield situation in Boston, however, there doesn’t seem to be much mystery in how the rotation will look to start the season (though anything can happen between now and then), so let’s look at those top five guys…

Read the rest of this entry »

As of this mid-February day, the Indians possess a coherent bullpen. They feature all the things you want from a relief corps – an elite fireman, lefty specialists, ground ball guys, and a long man with upside. There’s only one reason to worry. What happens if their best hurlers hit the disabled list?

Read the rest of this entry »

This post continues our Depth Chart Discussions. In an effort to suss out every team, we’ve divided them into four parts (infield, outfield, rotation, and bullpen) and will continue to break them down for you over the next few weeks. You can find the Depth Chart Discussion posts gathered here.

The Marlins bullpen finished sixth in WAR among all big league teams last year, thanks to one of the most underrated closers in fantasy and a collection of effective setup men. Heading into 2015, owners looking to pick up both saves and holds should find reasonably priced options in Miami.
Read the rest of this entry »

Trying to figure out who is going to play in the Orioles outfield besides Adam Jones is simply a mess. The talent is tightly bunched with no one standing out. To add to the mess, the Orioles designated hitter will likely also be an outfielder. Stepping through the available information sort of makes the situation clearer, but no one will know for sure until the season starts.

Center field

This position is set with Adam Jones. The 29-year-old righty has been about as steady as can be over the past three seasons with about 160 games, 30 home runs and a .285 AVG. His only trait on the decline over those three years is his stolen bases going from 16 to seven. His defensive numbers have him as an average to below average center fielder which means he is a safe bet to stay there for the entire 2015 season.

Right Field, Left Field and Designated Hitter Read the rest of this entry »

This post continues our Depth Chart Discussions. In an effort to suss out every team, we’ve divided them into four parts (infield, outfield, rotation, and bullpen) and will continue to break them down for you over the next few weeks. You can find the Depth Chart Discussion posts gathered here.

The Rays bullpen is confusing. It’s not that they don’t have good arms there—they have plenty of them;it’s just not clear whether management will deploy these arms in any predictable way to start the 2015 season. Things are further complicated by the fact that incumbent closer Jake McGee had arthroscopic elbow surgery to remove “loose bodies” in mid-December and projects to miss most of April. (Though he might return sooner than originally expected.)

Read the rest of this entry »

In November, the Braves were looking at an outfield composed of Justin Upton, Jason Heyward, Evan Gattis, and B.J. Upton. The latter Upton appeared to be tabbed for a part time role after two miserable seasons. It looked like one of the most productive outfield units in the game.

Instead, Atlanta audibled from JUpton and Heyward before they could leave via free agency, and they sold high on Gattis. They’re left with the weaker Upton and an entirely new outfield for 2015.

Read the rest of this entry »