The Rangers gambled on Joe Nathan last season and won big. Nathan recovered from his worst season as a reliever, improving nearly all of his metrics, and finishing the year with a 2.78 FIP and 37 saves. The team took a similar approach this offseason, picking up former closer Joakim Soria and Toronto Blue Jays reliever Jason Frasor. Both players have been effective late-inning options during their career, but concerns about their usefulness kept their price down. Soria didn’t pitch at all last season after recovering from his second Tommy John surgery, while Frasor will have to contend with age-related decline as he enters his age-35 season. Those veterans will join a young, yet, otherwise promising bullpen in Texas.

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Last season, the Houston Astros’ outfield proved absolutely inept offensively. They compiled a league-worst .287 wOBA and combined for a paltry .221/.296/.351 slash line. That led to the departure of Jordan Schafer and Brian Bogusevic this winter. It has also set the stage for a crowded outfield competition this spring in Kissimmee, Florida.

No outfield position has been carved into stone. J.D. Martinez reportedly has the inside track in left field, despite struggling with a -0.2 WAR and .303 wOBA in 439 plate appearances last year. GM Jeff Luhnow, however, recently said that Chris Carter and Rule-5 draftee Nate Freiman could also see some time in left field to provide more thump to an offense that projects to lack significant home run power.

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Considering I just covered the A’s infield earlier this month when the team acquired infielder Jed Lowrie in exchange for Brad Peacock and Chris Carter, this one will actually be short and sweet. There hasn’t been any change in the two weeks since that last article was published. What I did do was a little more studying of the team and consulted with those who follow the A’s much more closely than I do and whose opinions I trust and respect. Read the rest of this entry »

The editors apologize for the title error. As reader Matt Bertelli notes below, however, “No one would read the post if it said Astros rotation.”

The Astros make the move to the American League this year and this switch is going to hurt their pitching staff. Of course, even in the National League this was not a staff that made fantasy owners very excited, but now it becomes even more of a struggle to identify anyone worth pursuing in shallower leagues.

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This past Winter, the Seattle Mariners were linked to Josh Hamilton, Nick Swisher, Michael Bourn, Melky Cabrera (sort of), Andre Ethier, and Justin Upton, among a handful of others. Their anemic 2012 offense and the vacancy of a corner outfield slot in their lineup pretty much guaranteed they would be kicking the proverbial tires on any outfielder available. What they wound up adding amounts to a reclamation project and a couple of designated hitters. But for fantasy purposes, the Mariner outfield presents a couple of interesting possibilities that you ought to keep an eye on.

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General Manager Billy Beane has done a magnificent job of acquiring depth in the outfield. Both he and manager Bob Melvin seem to have a firm grasp on the value of platooning positions, and the outfield that the A’s have built is exhibit A in this. With so much talent, the question is of course guaranteed playing time and starting roles.

After his breakout season last year, Josh Reddick should be a fixture in right field. He did struggle down the stretch (read: all of September). He did set a career high in games played in a single season by 10, almost 20 more games than he played in 2011. It could easily be chalked up to a mix of fatigue and pressing too much in a playoff hunt. Seeing his September/October triple slash of .164/.214/.295 was brutal to watch (although his home run in Game 2 against Detroit was amazing to see live). His .174 BABIP during that time frame speaks volumes about his real struggles, as his K% was lower than his seasonal average and his BB% dipped just a tick. His average will never inspire you, but his power is real and his counting stats should be plenty enough to warrant a mid round draft pick.
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If you were to pick an area of the Angels that was their Achilles heel last season, you’d have to start with a look at the failures of their starting pitching. Yet during the offseason, the Angels made the biggest splash in the free agent market when they opted to throw another $125 million into their outfield and continued to transform their lineup into a premium offensive juggernaut. For fantasy owners looking for both power and speed in the outfield, the Halos have become a one-stop shop that can easily satisfy all of your needs. Read the rest of this entry »

The Texas Rangers return virtually the same infield despite having the best shortstop overall prospect in baseball. For all the talk that’s bound to come focusing on the moves the team didn’t make during the offseason, the team did make some significant additions. A.J. Pierzynski takes over for Mike Napoli at catcher, in a move that made perfect sense for both sides, and Lance Berkman decided to stave off retirement to be the team’s DH. Almost every player in the club’s infield will have fantasy relevance this season, aside from Mitch Moreland. But the biggest question for fantasy owners will revolve around the team’s plan for Jurickson Profar.

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For the most part, the Athletics have an exciting young starting rotation. But with youth comes inexperience, so it’s a group that could lead the team to another playoff visit or break the hearts of Oakland fans. Enough with the cliches, let’s dive into the players.

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An extremely parsimonious rotation that turns winnable games over to a solid bullpen has been the hallmark of a Giants franchise that seemed to move from strength to strength without much of a hitch. But the status quo is rarely there for very long in baseball and things are changing by the bay. Do the Giants still have the horses in their rotation to make up for a lineup that won’t win many shootouts?

Projected Rotation

Matt Cain
Madison Bumgarner
Tim Lincecum
Ryan Vogelsong
Barry Zito

Waiting in the Wings

Eric Surkamp
Boof Bonser
Chris Heston Read the rest of this entry »