For a change, this week’s pair of recommendations are not the result of injury. One of them could be usable in more than just deep leagues, depending on your specific format, while the other is truly for the deep leaguers.
It’s oldies week here on our dumpster dive as we look at two players who, at one time or another, have generated interest in fantasy only to flame out. But they’re back with playing time opportunities, and do enough well to at least place them on the radar in AL-only leagues. As a reminder, I’m using CBS for the ownership percentages.
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Chris Carter is off to a bad start. This is an unambiguously true fact. Jeff Sullivan, among other Twitterers (Tweeters?), have succinctly illuminated this unambiguously true fact:
selection of players with ISO of .000 Curtis Granderson Brandon Phillips Desmond Jennings Logan Morrison Chris Carter
— Jeff Sullivan (@based_ball) April 21, 2015
Carter has supplemented the zero extra-base hits with four singles, 21 strikeouts and nary a run batted in to speak of through 51 plate appearances. (FYI, that’s a 41.2-percent strikeout rate.) His atrociously bad start is the talk of the Twitter town, and it has Astros Manager A.J. Hinch dropping him in the batting order. As of last night, Carter’s ownership had dropped to 67.7 and 73 percent in ESPN and Yahoo! leagues, respectively, as owners have jumped ship.
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For the first time in a couple of seasons the San Diego Padres have a healthy Yonder Alonso on their hands. And for the first time in as long as I can remember, the Padres have mortgaged a decent portion of the farm in attempt to win now — or, at least put more of a competitive product on the diamond and around Alonso in the lineup. The former first-rounder’s health along with the idea that these newly acquired stars could be reducing some of the pressure from the Friars’ first baseman could be a recipe for the breakout season we’ve been waiting for.
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It’s my favorite time of the year here at RotoGraphs, the season of bold predictions. (My least favorite time, naturally, is late September, when I have to atone for these forecasts.) As usual, the trick here is to balance imagination against reality, the impossible versus the attainable, the speculative against the demonstrable. It’s a tough task that, for me, often results in happy predictions, but then again, it’s March — ’tis the season to indulge in some fantasy baseball fantasies, right?
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This post continues our Depth Chart Discussions. You can find the Depth Chart Discussion posts gathered here.
This might be the last time I rap at y’all wearing my depth chart hat. I put off discussing my home team, not because I feel that I’d be any more biased in my examination of them than I would be with other teams; rather, it’s because I wanted to avoid being depressed by what appears to be a closing window. But we’re talking fantasy value here, not playoff odds, so I’ll save my pouting for another post, or for another website altogether.
The 2014 Brewers infield produced a mixed bag for fantasy owners. Jonathan Lucroy continued to improve and was a top-three catcher; those that owned him likely had him at a bit of a value. Scooter Gennett proved to be a viable second base option, at least against right-handed pitchers. On the other hand, Jean Segura took a huge step back. Aramis Ramirez missed a lot of time and put up his worst season in years, even by rate stats. And then there was first base. To say that the Brewers failed to produce a first base option for fantasy players is putting it lightly. Without Mark Reynolds’s 22 homers on the books, it would look even worse, but Reynolds batted under .200 and finished with a .302 wOBA. To think that the team actually got significantly more production out of the first base position than they did in 2013 says more about how historically bad Brewers first basemen were in 2013 than anything about the 2014 squad. This past off-season they traded Marco Estrada to the Blue Jays for the rights to a year of Adam Lind. Lind should provide something of an upgrade, but we’ll get to that a bit later.
First, here’s an overview of what the Brewers infield is likely to be on opening day:
| Pos. | Starter | Platoon/Backup | Depth |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | Jonathan Lucroy | Martin Maldonado | |
| 1B | Adam Lind | Jonathan Lucroy | Luis Jimenez |
| 2B | Scooter Gennett | Luis Sardinas | |
| 3B | Aramis Ramirez | Luis Jimenez | |
| SS | Jean Segura | Luis Sardinas |
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.
It has been a whirlwind offseason for the San Diego Padres, who made blockbuster trades for a brand new, brand name outfield of Matt Kemp, Justin Upton, and Wil Myers. Between the new outfield, the free agent acquisition of James Shields, and the incumbent rotation talent, the Padres will make a play for their first postseason berth since 2006.
If they do reach the postseason, it will likely not be because of the exceptional player of their infield, which was left largely intact after a disappointing 2014 season. In fantasy, that unit is similarly unenticing, although there are a few bounce back candidates who could become fantasy relevant.
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I think the fantasy community at large has successfully rebelled against the word “sleeper” at this point. The major issue being that there isn’t really such a thing given the vast amounts of information freely available to any and all fantasy baseball participants. And yet, when someone says the word, you still have an idea of what they mean. Sure, some have greatly diluted the meaning of the idea by tabbing guys like Nolan Arenado (ADP of 58th overall) or Christian Yelich (84th) as sleepers.
This post continues our Depth Chart Discussions. You can find the Depth Chart Discussion posts gathered here.
The Mariners seem to be doing a variation on a theme here. The theme? One could argue that it’s “Recent Vintage Tampa Bay Rays.” Or, one could argue that it’s “Recent Vintage Seattle Mariners.” They have a lot of moving parts and some potential platoons. One might find it interesting, or one might find it a cause for concern. The difference between the 2015 Mariners and a team like the ~2012-2014 Rays is that the former have some very expensive veteran players—signed as free agents—slated for full-time roles. Again, cause for concern, or optimism?
The Mariners’ big move this offseason was signing Nelson Cruz to a four-year, $58MM deal.* Cruz could play some OF, but he’s likely to be the full-time DH for his stay in Seattle. Rickie Weeks was a late addition and could end up seeing a lot of time against left-handed pitchers, though that might mostly come in the form of a left field platoon with Dustin Ackley. Other than Cruz and Weeks, the names below are familiar, if not exactly household ones.
| Pos. | Starter | Platoon/Backup | Depth |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | Mike Zunino | Jesus Sucre | John Baker |
| 1B | Logan Morrison | Rickie Weeks | Jesus Montero |
| 2B | Robinson Cano | Rickie Weeks | Willie Bloomquist |
| 3B | Kyle Seager | Willie Bloomquist | Rickie Weeks |
| SS | Brad Miller | Willie Bloomquist | Chris Taylor |
| DH | Nelson Cruz | Rickie Weeks | Jesus Montero |
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 world champs might be without their longtime hot-cornerman, but they have enough impact players to keep them competitive in real life and relevant so far as fantasy owners are concerned. Up the middle the team flashes the game’s best catcher and an emerging double-play duo, while first base belongs to a solid sleeper candidate.
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