As we hit peak draft season, it is important to monitor where players are being drafted on a regular basis. Throughout draft season, I will be doing that work for you with regular updates on the Average Draft Position on NFBC up until Opening Day.
One of the only decent things to come out of the lockout is the compressed timeframe for teams to get their rosters ready for Opening Day which will create an NBA/NFL-esque free agent and trade frenzy in the next weeks. I will posting these regularly until the season starts.
Covered in this article: Cruz, Olson, Winker, Suárez, Williamson, and Dunn
Previous editions: March 14th Pt. 1 |
Nelson Cruz to WAS
Was his time with the Rays a BABIP-fueled blip (96 wRC+, .252 BABIP) or the start of legitimate decline? He also struck out in 27% of his 238 PA after being traded over. Maybe he hated the Trop, too, because that’s where he really struggled, posting just a .603 OPS in 101 PA. Even a Cruz who is more his 2021 line (122 wRC+) than the guy who put up a 164 in 735 PA from 2019-20 is totally fine. The top half of that Nationals lineup is coming together with Lane Thomas, César Hernández, Juan Soto, Cruz, and Josh Bell giving them a strong top five while Keibert Ruiz could give it a bit more length in the 6-spot. His bat plays everywhere, and Nationals Park is a bit of an unheralded offensive gem, giving righties a 103 Park Factor (5th in MLB) over the last three seasons. At age-41, it is worth planning for fewer plate appearances, but anywhere north of 450 should be enough to be an impact bat.
Bottom line: Premium slugger aging gracefully at age-41 and all of sudden this Washington lineup isn’t so bad, either.
One of the only decent things to come out of the lockout is the compressed timeframe for teams to get their rosters ready for Opening Day which will create an NBA/NFL-esque free agent and trade frenzy in the next weeks. Even as I was writing this, several other moves happened including the big Matt Olson deal or Nelson Cruz inking with Washington. Don’t worry, I’ll have another piece out covering that move and others soon! But first, let’s catch up with the weekend moves.
Covered in this article: Rodón, Kershaw, Bassitt, S.Gray, Garver, IKF, Donaldson, G.Sánchez, Urshela, Colomé, Kikuchi, Simmons
Rodón is coming off a breakout season as he stayed healthy and posted a 2.37 ERA and 0.96 WHIP in 132.7 IP. Some saw the White Sox not giving him a qualifying offer ($18.4 mil) as an indication of his health – or lack thereof – but the Giants are giving him $44 million dollars over the next two seasons which likely assuages some of those health-related fears. It doesn’t mean he will automatically stay healthy but seeing a team like the Giants that has done well with reclamation projects ponying up for Rodón is encouraging.
Angels
• The Angels are going with a six-man rotation.
The Halos will have a six-man rotation again in 2022, so they could look to add another starter.
• In the shortstop battle, Joe Maddon thinks Andrew Velazquez has a leg up on the competition.
Outside of pitching, the club’s biggest weakness is at shortstop. Maddon said he sees Andrew Velazquez as the current leader there, ahead of Luis Rengifo and Tyler Wade. All three will compete for the job, but there remains a chance the Angels acquire a shortstop.
Projected wOBA for the three shortstops
Velazquez: .290
Rengifo: .304
Wade: .281
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As of Sunday, all TGFBI leagues have completed drafting! We can now see the complete ADP from the largest industry fantasy baseball contest ever with 465 participants in 31 leagues! For a look at the complete ADP and all the draft boards, click here.
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3/13/22
The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live. Support the show by subscribing to our Patreon!!
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3/11/22
The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is live. Support the show by subscribing to our Patreon!!
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INJURIES/TRANSACTION NEWS
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Earlier this week, I examined some of the reserve round picks in the AL LABR auction. Today, I’ve moved to the NL auction. To put it simply, the player talent took a significant step down from the AL options. So many players were rostered who will never make it to the majors this season or are just plain bad. For example, Nomar Mazara, who has yet to sign with a team and never had a productive major league season, was rostered.
Here are all the reserve picks
The Relief Pitcher Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.
Guests: Greg Jewett & Eric Samulski
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As we head into primetime drafting season, I will be rereleasing my positional ranks. Here are my current ranks for relief pitchers for 2022, my third of the offseason. I will post updates as things change with signings, injuries, or news in Major League Baseball. On the Sleeper and the Bust Patreon, you can see the rankings updated live.
You can review my ranks for other positions here: https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/category/rankings/
