It’s time again to take a peek at Zach Sanders Outfielders End of Season Rankings and continue our exploration of fantasy value. If you scroll all the way down to number 37, a ranking that, personally, I feel is a little low, you’ll find White Sox designated hitter and both the Sporting News’ and MLBPA’s AL Comeback Player of the Year, Adam Dunn. Technically, he is no longer eligible in the outfield as he only played first base (52 games) and DH (93 games), but because he qualified there in 2012, we have him listed as such. Read the rest of this entry »

This time last year, as the baseball world converged on Dallas, the Twins were looking hard at re-signing Michael Cuddyer to be their right fielder in perpetuity. While it wouldn’t surprise me a bit to see Cuddyer back with the organization as a coach someday, the Twins lost out to the Rockies in the bid for Cuddyer’s services for the next few seasons, which left them with a hole in right field for the first time since Target Field opened. He didn’t replace Cuddyer defensively, but Josh Willingham was brought in to replace him in the order at a fraction of the price, which he did with production to spare.

Cuddyer cost the Rockies $10.5 million last year and hit just .260/.317/.489 with 16 home runs in the majors’ most hitter-friendly park. It was his worst season offensively since 2008. Willingham, on the other hand, made just $7 million for his .260/.366/.524 season that included 35 home runs in a park that tends to suppress them. It was Willingham’s best season both offensively and holistically. Willingham was worth nearly $18 million last year, meaning he’ll need to give the Twins just a hair more than one win over the remaining two years on his deal to have overproduced what he’s being paid. Read the rest of this entry »

Players don’t usually get better as they graduate to their mid-30’s. It’s just good science. At the ripe old age of 35 Carlos Beltran had his best fantasy campaign since 2008 from a pure numbers stand point. His end of season numbers — .269, 83R, 32HR, 97RBI, 13SB – were good enough for 11th place ($17) in our rankings , but how he ended up there is a different story.

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Josh Reddick broke out in 2012 and came in as our 28th ranked outfielder for the season. Not much was expected from him after he was traded to Oakland with their spacious home field. Instead, he surpassed all expectations including hitting 32 HR. The home runs did come with a trade off, a lower batting average.

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Andrew McCutchen is a toolsy Pittsburgh outfielder with a good eye at the plate that just put it all together and showed career bests in most categories in his age-26 season. He did it with a fraction of the flair of the last version of this Pirates phenomenon — unassuming dreadlocks replacing a the more ego-focused flash of the earring — but the timing and location of his breakout still lead to an easy comparison.

Yes, putting McCutchen up against Barry Bonds may dull his shine. As is usually the case with a player coming off a career season, a little scuffing up may do him some good.

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It was a crucial season at the plate for Jason Heyward. After turning in an extremely promising rookie season, Heyward slumped badly as a sophomore. Though he was just age-22, Heyward had a lot of pressure on him heading into his third season. He did not disappoint. Heyward hit .269/.335/.479 in 651 plate appearances with the Atlanta Braves, slugging 27 home runs and stealing 21 bases. He managed to re-establish himself as one of the best young players in the game. At an age where some prospects are still in the minors, Heyward has already managed to churn out two highly productive major league seasons. Though he took a slight detour, his career to stardom is back on track.

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Once upon a time, Colby Rasmus possessed an exciting power/speed combo in the Cardinals farm system. A potential 20/20 man, maybe even 30/20, who posted strong walk rates and decent contact rates given his power, Rasmus looked to be an intriguing fantasy outfielder. But after showing some glimmers of his potential over his first two seasons, he was shipped off to the Blue Jays in 2011 and has hit a robust .213 for his new team. Is this all we can hope for or is a true breakout somewhere in his future?

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The Diamondbacks signing of Jason Kubel was widely panned, including here at the mother site. And it was panned for good reason; what in the world did the Snakes need a stodgy, stout outfielder with poor defensive skills and a dormant bat? But a furtive glance at StatCorner proved enlightening; Chase Field was a launchpad for hitters like Kubel, while Target Field was a cemetery. Read the rest of this entry »

Some trades are firecrackers, started and finished in what seems like an afternoon. Some are slow burns that start as an idle comment and weeks later turn into a swap. And then there are deals like the one that finally landed Denard Span in Washington D.C. that happen so gradually, watching the whole process unfold would take so long, it would be best seen as a montage rather than an actual portrayal. Span nearly ended up in the District at the trading deadline, the 2011 trading deadline that is, in a deal for Drew Storen that was sundered by whether or not Steve Lombardozzi would be included in the deal. There were likely discussions on and off about moving Span to DC between July, 2011 and November, 2012, but that’s how long it took for the Nationals to finally offer the Twins enough to get their man.  Read the rest of this entry »

When Austin Jackson, the Tigers’ centerpiece in the Curtis Granderson trade, came out of the gates flying in early 2010, baseball was abuzz about the young gun patrolling the outfield grasses at Comerica Park. However, many savvy fantasy owners who had scooped him up spun him quickly, seeing a near 0.500 BABIP (with little other substance otherwise) was driving his gaudy rookie-year numbers, and Jackson subsequently sunk back down into the realm of average, but not spectacular outfielders. He sat there in 2011, watching some of his 2010 rates sag even further; here was the traditional case of a guy with a lot of buzz, but not a lot of early career numbers to back it up. Fantasy owners were (rightfully) wary headed in 2012. ESPN’s average draft position tracker had Jackson 18th among centerfielder, 50th among all outfielders, and 216th overall; in other words, a guy who was either selected at the tail end in most drafts or even saw some time on the waiver wire early in the season. However, most know the next line in the story — Jackson blew away his preseason valuation while seeing nearly across-the-board improvements in 2012 and climbing all the way to 19th overall (among OF) in Zach Sanders’ end of season FVAR rankings.

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