In November, the Braves were looking at an outfield composed of Justin Upton, Jason Heyward, Evan Gattis, and B.J. Upton. The latter Upton appeared to be tabbed for a part time role after two miserable seasons. It looked like one of the most productive outfield units in the game.

Instead, Atlanta audibled from JUpton and Heyward before they could leave via free agency, and they sold high on Gattis. They’re left with the weaker Upton and an entirely new outfield for 2015.

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There is a long list of things for which you will not find us useful. On that list are, among other pastimes, auto repair, ballroom dancing, cat sitting, and identifying with microscopic precision how good players whom the world already knows to be good are going to be this season. We mention this because we are starting to see articles identifying “sleepers” for the coming season, and most of the guys identified strike us as being wide awake.

For example: we like Kolten Wong a lot. Indeed, as we will come to discuss in the fullness of time, we drafted him in our slow draft. But he’s a good example of the players who are turning up on sleeper lists, when in fact he’s well known to anyone who played Fantasy Baseball or followed Reality Baseball last season.

Here’s a young, highly touted prospect with a good minor league record who’s given the starting second base job in St. Louis, craps out, is banished to Louisville, comes back refreshed, and performs well. Why wouldn’t you have him in your sights?

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Currently, Yahoo! rates Jason Heyward as the 28th best fantasy outfielder. To me, that looks light, and as a huge Heyward fan I am doing my best in putting that out there without bias.
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This post continues our Depth Chart Discussions. In an effort to suss out every team, we’ve divided them into four parts (infield, outfield, bullpen, and rotation) 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 Phillies project to be the worst team in baseball next season. While the bullpen can’t be blamed for the terrible projection, the outfield looks ugly. The team has seven players in the mix, all of whom combine for a whopping 0.8 WAR. Let’s run through the options.

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The New York Yankees saw two of their starting three outfielders miss the end of the season due to injuries last year. Both Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran lost some time, with Beltran being limited to 109 games last year. Ellsbury did managed to play the vast majority of the season however, as both he and Brett Gardner posted over 630 plate appearances each, though Gardner himself is coming off of surgery for a sports hernia this off-season. When healthy, all three starting OFers offer fantasy owners various stats, but the outfield reserve for the Yankees could prove valuable as well.

Center Field
Jacoby Ellsbury
Chris Young

Left Field
Brett Gardner
Chris Young

Right Field
Carlos Beltran
Chris Young
Garrett Jones

In the minors
Jose Pirela
Tyler Austin
Mason Williams
Rob Refsnyder
Taylor Dugas
Ramon Flores
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As you know, it’s mock draft season. It’s a time to be friendly with our fantasy drafts. Often, we’ll openly discuss how we view certain players or why we’re building a fake roster in a specific way. That extends to congratulating others on “good” picks. Avisail Garcia is one player who always garners a pat on the back. If you can’t tell, I don’t understand the love. I’d like to. I’m open to hearing explanations.

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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.

The White Sox had an aggressive offseason, adding plenty of fantasy-relevant talent to an interesting core. Two-thirds of their outfield was already drawing attention as mid-round guys with breakout potential. They added another mid-rounder – though he is of the established variety – this offseason making their starting outfield one of the more alluring fantasy units in the game.

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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.

Maybe Boston’s treating their outfield like most teams treat their starting rotation — their depth is astounding. They could fill the outfield twice over with players that could be above average given the time. The trick then, for us, is to try our best to figure out which ones will play the most. There might not be a lock in the crowd, but there’s a lot of talent.

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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.

Looking for offense? Join the rest of Mets nation, whose hopes for a productive lineup rely largely on two aging corner outfielders and a glove-heavy center fielder. That said, all of the three options here have clear full-time jobs — well, heh, assuming they stay healthy — and they all have the potential to contribute in standard mixed leagues, even if they probably shouldn’t be drafted with such expectations.

First, a quick word about Citi Field. Last year, the park favored pitchers slightly overall, though it was found to increase home runs a tad, particularly for right-handed hitters. We’ll see how the Mets’ decision to move in the fences, yet again, bodes for offense, but suffice to say, the ballpark shouldn’t be viewed as a major impediment to run production.
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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.

The Miami Marlins are known for roster turnover, but they’ll return their entire starting outfield for the 2015 season. Those starters range from 23 to 25 years old, and they possess the tools to be fantastic fantasy assets. The Fish traded away a few outfield prospects who might have served as valuable depth. Instead, they’ll depend on one old guy to back up three positions. It mostly worked for them last season with Reed Johnson.

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