In the tumultuous world of relief pitching, where closers seem to come and go day and night, the San Diego Padres have stood as a model of consistency. For 16 years, Trevor Hoffman closed the door on opponents to the tune of Hells Bells, before giving way to Heath Bell’s three-season reign, until current closer Huston Street took over the ninth inning duties in 2012.

Street will enter 2014 entrenched as the team’s ninth inning man again, but whether or not he remains in that position all year may be less of a sure thing than it seems. Let’s dive in.

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For a team that is in full on rebuilding mode, it’s a little strange that the Astros infield is likely to be populated by the same players that were there last year. It’s a good thing to some degree because it means they’ve found a few guys who can stick at their position. The only bad news is that the guys they hope will stick at the remaining positions aren’t quite ready for the show yet.

The strength of the current infield is most definitely up the middle. Jose Altuve and Jason Castro had the most fantasy value on the team last year according to both our valuations and ESPN’s player rater. Despite the infield being stagnant, the outfield is going to look a bit different with Dexter Fowler now on the squad and George Springer on the way. That’s going to help the fantasy value of Altuve and Castro. Steamer projects Altuve to score 21 more runs than he did last year and projects Castro for 13 more RBI. Steamer is actually the most conservative of the projection models on Castro’s RBI total. Oliver has him at 78 RBI, and the fan projections have him at 74.

Aside from the shared benefit that will be the improved lineup around them, Altuve and Castro could actually be headed in different directions this year. Read the rest of this entry »

Remember that old fantasy baseball format that required you to choose a starting pitching staff rather than individual players? If that is still being played today, then give me the Mariners rotation. Intriguing arms abound in the Northwest with a nice mix of elite level veterans and exciting young hurlers.

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Talk about a bullpen with a lot of money tied up in it. While many teams supplement high-paid closers or setup men with some cheaper, pre-arb talent, the Dodgers eschew the “don’t spend too much on relievers” strategy (obviously not reading my fantasy draft strategy columns) and boast a $30+ million bullpen. To put that in context, it’s more than the entire Houston Astros squad will make in 2014. Holy macaroni. Guess Magic and Co.’s bottomless spending isn’t limited to buying half of Bobby Valentine’s Red Sox roster.

The closer
Kenley Jansen

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After a disappointing 81 win season, the Diamondbacks project to compete for the NL Wild Card in 2014. According to FanGraphs’ depth charts , the team is projected for the fifth most WAR in the National League, with the Rockies and Braves just ahead of them. And that tally could be a bit short, since Diamondbacks starters are only projected to throw 905 innings. For reference, that’s the kind of total posted by terrible rotations. Last season, only the Blue Jays, Rockies, and Twins got fewer innings from their starting pitchers, while the Astros edged by with 906 starter innings.

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One of the deeper units across baseball is the Dodgers’ outfield group, which boasts four big league caliber starting players and a top ten outfield prospect (per MLB.com’s 2014 rankings) who is nearly ready to ascend upon Chavez Ravine as well.

The Dodgers outfield on the whole hit .271/.339/.408 last year, and that’s with just half a season of Puig and Kemp each, as well as considerable amounts of playing time given to also-rans like Scott Van Slyke (.353 wOBA but limited track record), Skip Schumaker (.301 wOBA), and Jerry Hairston Jr (.244 wOBA). Read the rest of this entry »

The back end of the Arizona bullpen was a mess last year. They tied with the Astros for the most blown saves in the league. J.J. Putz was spotty early in the season as the closer, and Heath Bell struggled in the role as well early in the summer. Brad Ziegler finally brought some stability to the role as he saved 13 games and blew only two after taking over the role in early July. But the D’Backs front office obviously didn’t feel comfortable with Ziegler maintaining the closer job, so they acquired Addison Reed in the offseason.

The bullpen should be much better this year, in part because of the added depth Reed gives them. But they should also be better because of some positive regression for Putz and David Hernandez.

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Last year, the Rockies had three primary outfielders — Carlos Gonzalez in left, Dexter Fowler in center, and Michael Cuddyer in right — who started at least 99 games, with Charlie Blackmon and Corey Dickerson the primary backups during Gonzalez’ absences and Cuddyer’s occasional trips to first base.

Now? Now, Fowler’s in Houston. Brandon Barnes and Drew Stubbs are in Colorado. Gonzalez is a center fielder. Cuddyer was originally slated to move full-time to first base after Todd Helton retired, but then Justin Morneau arrived, and now Cuddyer may or may not be his platoon partner. And between Blackmon, Dickerson, and Charlie Culberson, they still have three guys with extremely similar names who I just absolutely can’t ever tell apart.

So let’s start with what we know:  Read the rest of this entry »

Continuing with our look at the depth charts of the NL West, it’s time to turn our focus to the Los Angeles Dodgers infield. Both first base and shortstop remain locked down by superstars while a lack of a decent free agent market, more or less, forced the Dodgers to stick with what they had. But the team opted to let veteran Mark Ellis leave via free agency and in walks a fresh face over at the keystone. There are likely to be a few question marks, but so far, all seems good in Dodger blue. Read the rest of this entry »

For many seasons, the San Francisco bullpen has been a source of pleasure for Giants fans. Unfortunately, the 2013 season revealed some cracks in the foundation. Bullpens are fickle beasts and can be easily brought back from the precipice, but there are some warning signs that dark days may be ahead. Perhaps that’s why our team depth charts project a combined -0.4 WAR from the unit.

Despite the gloomy prognosis from Steamer, a player-by-player analysis of the pen reveals some reason for optimism too. Like I said, bullpens are fickle beasts. This particular bullpen is split between the established old guard and an uppity younger generation.

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