Minnesota’s bullpen is almost a twisted version of a stars and scrubs crew. OK, I guess it’s not even stars and scrubs, since you need bonafide stars for that, but they do at least have two very solid under-the-radar options for use late in games. Unfortunately for their fans, the currently mediocre starting pitching/offense figure to preclude them for having many leads late in games. Even when they do, the rest of their relief crop doesn’t appear helpful, either, being primarily filled with lots of slightly-above replacement level talent, but little else. Fantasy owners should only be interested in a couple names before moving on to other chum in the water.

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A preliminary apology is in order for the muddled depth chart. No, not necessarily from me, but just in general. I offer my sincerest apologies if you derive nothing out of this depth chart discussion, but this is just how I see it.

The Twins infield — much like the rest of the team — is a bit of a messy situation. Read the rest of this entry »

Buzz, your girlfriend, WOOF! – Kevin McCallister

When you look at the potential 2013 Minnesota Twins rotation, you’re likely to have the same reaction that Kevin did when he saw the framed picture of Buzz’s less-than-attractive girlfriend. The Twins rotation finished dead last in WAR and strikeout percentage last year and were bottom five in the league in just about every other category. Woof, indeed.

Scott Diamond, the staff “ace,” is scheduled to make his first spring start a little over a week from now and is questionable for the start of the season. And even when he does return, the Twins will be getting back a guy who had the fourth worst strikeout rate among qualified pitchers last season.

The Twins must really like low strikeout pitchers because their staff is littered with them. This offseason they brought in one of the three pitchers who had a lower strikeout rate than Diamond last year, Kevin Correia. And all but one of their potential starters has a career strikeout rate that is under 16%. Read the rest of this entry »

Last year, the Twins tied for 17th last year in wOBA from their outfield. Over the winter, they said goodbye to 1,211 plate appearances of Denard Span & Ben Revere — traded to the Nationals & Phillies, respectively — and imported no one to replace them. So as you can imagine, there’s a lot of work to be done here. Read the rest of this entry »

The 2013 version of the Cardinals bullpen seems to be littered with depth, specialists and flashes some upside that should make for an interesting year, both in real and fake baseball.

The Closer:

Jason Motte

Motte finished 2012 42-of-49 in save chances with a 2.75 ERA (3.12 FIP) and a 5.02 K/BB. His 42 saves and 5.02 K/BB were each career bests with a minimum of 20 innings pitched, and good enough for a third and twelfth place finish among qualified relievers respectively last year. The key to the righty’s recent success could be associated with the increased use of the cutter over the past three seasons. The flamethrower’s velocity and ability to induce swinging strikes have increased and his xFIP has decreased in each of those seasons. The Cardinals’ closer continues to get better and maybe the best is yet to come. He’s ascended into the top of the second tier of relievers and should be one of the top three from that position selected in your draft. He will continue to provide impressive ratios, whiff batters and tally the saves your team desperately needs — if you’re willing to pay the price.

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The Indians had a miserable finish to the season last year, though their bullpen wasn’t part of the problem. The team’s relief unit pitched to a 3.68 ERA (3.75 FIP) in the second half while working more innings (273.2) than any other non-Rockies team in baseball. GM Chris Antonetti remade his bullpen a bit this offseason, using some spare bullpen arms to finish the Trevor Bauer three-team trade and another to land Mike Aviles and Yan Gomes. Long-time Tribe reliever Rafael Perez was cut loose following shoulder surgery.

New manager Terry Francona has one of baseball’s best closer-setup man combinations in baseball at his disposal, or at least he did until injury struck last week.

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Obviously, if you talk to any legitimate stat junkie, they’d be able to tell you in a heartbeat, but ask any casual baseball fan which team bullpen was the most valuable to their team last year, and very few….probably none….would be able to tell you it was the Royals. With an overall WAR of 7.3 and such solid numbers like a 77.8-percent strand rate, an 8.5-percent HR/FB, a 3.17 ERA and a 8.58 K/9, the Royals pen was one of the team’s strongest assets. And this year probably won’t be much different as most of the components that made it so successful last year are back for more here in 2013. Read the rest of this entry »

The 2012 Detroit Tigers had a mediocre, middle-of-the-pack bullpen. Despite this year’s edition lacking in name recognition, it could prove to be one of the most exciting bullpens in the league. With no clear closer and a lot of high-powered arms, Jim Leyland doesn’t have a go-to guy to rely on any longer.

While Jose Valverde racked up 35 saves and kept his ERA to 3.78 last season, his strikeout rate also plummeted and he is still presently looking for work. The Tigers are unsure of exactly how their pen will be set up, but it appears bringing Valverde back is not in the plans, at least according to Leyland. There has been speculation that the Tigers may look to make a move to solidify the back end, but nothing seems imminent.

Behind Valverde last year were a pair of very solid right-handed relievers, both of whom have a chance at save situations this year. Joaquin Benoit continued his stellar run as a late-inning man, posting a 29.2 K% and a 3.29 xFIP. Home runs were a bit of an issue, but his HR/FB rate was nearly double his career mark and is due for some regression. Octavio Dotel, meanwhile, had a strong season overall but simply can’t be trusted against lefties, making him a ROOGY of sorts for Leyland. This five-year trend of being shelled by lefties and shutting down righties should mean he sees a more extreme split in terms of batters faced, although the lack of lefties in the bullpen could convince Leyland to leave him in against them anyway, splits be damned.
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Starting pitching is an area of strength for the Detroit Tigers as they enter the 2013 season, and from a fantasy perspective, Detroit is one of the rare teams that has value one through five. Four slots in this rotation are sewn up, and it’s debatable whether there’s an actual battle for the fifth slot in the rotation. But whoever loses that battle obviously takes a hit to their short-term value. The Tigers didn’t really bring in anyone else to push for a spot in the rotation during Spring, so the picture is pretty clear.

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The White Sox outfield is returning all three starters from the 2012 season and none of them seem to be in danger of losing any playing time, given the lack of experienced and/or talented depth behind them. That means we can focus primarily on their overall fantasy value rather than what they must do to maintain their current status on the depth chart. Obviously, should someone completely tank it, we can visit the ‘what if’, but at this point, that doesn’t seem necessary or productive. Read the rest of this entry »