Ottoneu Position Eligibility Changes

While the 2023 season is still months away, planning for your 2023 Ottoneu season is well underway. On the Ottoneu community forums, you should check out Niv Shah’s “End of Season Megathread,” which is really an off-season megathread and includes updates on what is coming, when it is coming and more.

Now that you have read that thread (you read it, right?), you’ve noticed that a number of things have already happened, including positional eligibility updates. And that has implications on your off-season planning.

To start, if you want to validate that positions have been updated, go search for Fernando Tatis, Jr., who you will see is now Util only (more on that later). He’s maybe the most high-profile change, but far from the only one.

As a reminder, players are eligible to be used at any position where they:

1. Played at least 10 regular season MLB games in the current or previous season
2. Started at least five regular season MLB games in the current or previous season
3. Played at least 20 regular season minor league games in the current or previous season

What Ottoneu currently shows on a player page is 2023 eligibility, which means the “current” season has not started, so all eligibility is based on the “previous” season – which is the just-concluded 2022 season. Also note post-season games don’t count. If the Astros get creative and slot Yordan Alvarez in at SS for five starts in the playoffs, he still won’t have SS eligibility (though I would be very interested in seeing him try to play SS).

Below are 12 lists that show every player who gained or lost eligibility at a given position. Gaining eligibility, in this case, is something that happened during the season; there is no way a player could gain eligibility after the season ends. If you had these players on your team, you probably already noticed the new eligibility – it might even by why you added them. But I want to include those names, in case you missed it. Losing eligibility happens when a player earned eligibility in the 2021 season, kept it through 2022, but didn’t “renew it” during the 2022 season. Tatis is a good example of this – he started 2021 with SS eligibility and added OF by the end of the season. When 2022 started, he was SS/OF eligible. However, due to injury and suspension, he didn’t meet any of the three criteria above for either position, so he lost both those eligibilities and will start 2023 only eligible at Util.

Notes on these lists:

1. Players can (and do) appear on multiple lists. As an example, Trevor Story started the year SS-only, added 2B during the season, but lost SS at the end of the season. As a result, he shows up on both the “2B-gained” and “SS-lost” lists.
2. I created these semi-manually and I am merely human, so there may be errors. If you notice anyone missing or anyone included incorrectly or anyone in the wrong spot, please let me know via comment below, tweet @chadyoung, or in Ottoneu Slack. I will update these lists so this article is always as up-to-date as possible through the 2022-23 off-season.

Before the lists, a few notes on players who stood out to me:

• Tatis losing eligibility only hurts a little, but it does hurt. When he comes back, after a few more weeks of suspension, he will have to play at least five games before you can slot him in as anything other than Util. It could be more than five games, especially if he is playing multiple positions, or if the team eases him back by letting him DH on occasion early on. Pay attention to that – if you already have a player like Shohei Ohtani or multiple 1B or have otherwise “blocked” your utility spot, that decreases Tatis’s value for you, at least a bit. Also pay attention to the Padres plans – Ha-Seong Kim 김하성 has played well at SS and the team could use a CF. Tatis never re-gaining SS eligibility is certainly a possibility.
• Also follow the Red Sox MI plans, as the exit of Xander Bogaerts may mean they move Story back to SS, in which case he likely gains SS eligibility in early April, but then loses 2B after the 2023 season.
• Trea Turner has been bleeding eligibility over the years – he lost OF before this season and now has lost 2B, as well. We’ll have to see where he lands, but getting 2B eligibility back would be a nice boost for his value. OF wouldn’t hurt either.
• A couple of players who are now util only may never regain another position – J.D. Martinez and Dan Vogelbach are both guys who really belong at DH and their teams treated them as such this year. That is a pretty decent hit to their value, especially Martinez. 5.3 points per game isn’t great util production and the drop off from being OF-eligible to nothing is a big one.
• Some players lost eligibility that I don’t really care about for my lineups – Austin Riley lost 1B, JT Realmuto lost 1B, Kyle Schwarber lost 1B, etc. – but those hurt a bit for Ottoneu Prestige League. One of my strategies for OPL was to load up on 1B/OF or 1B/3B types and have fewer 1B-only types. Similarly, I tried to avoid carrying two C, preferring to carry C/1B or C/OF guys. These losses hurt there.
• Michael Conforto is now only eligible at Util, and I wonder how long it might take that to change. Given his shoulder injury, a team maybe happy to let him DH and not have to throw much. Watch his landing spot, as guaranteed OF time will impact his value.
• Managers with Eugenio Suarez on their roster were still benefitting from the Reds ill-fated experiment with Suarez at SS, but that is now over. Suarez is only eligible at 3B for 2023 and I suspect he stays that way.
• Brandon Lowe lost OF eligibility and while it may seem 2B is more valuable (and it is), OF isn’t as deep as you would expect in a 5-OF league, and Lowe was likely more valuable as an OF to some teams than as a MI, depending on the rest of the roster. Same goes for Ketel Marte.
• Josh Bell lost OF and this one hurts. He was an OF stud in 2022, but as a 1B he is more “good” than “great.” I had Bell on a number of teams and in most cases his shift to 1B-only means I need to make some trades to either clear space for him or clear him from my roster.
• Gavin Lux lost SS and is now 2B/OF. But if Turner leaves, there is at least a chance Lux is the plan at SS for 2023. I somehow doubt the Dodgers let Turner walk without getting in on Carlos Correa or someone like that, but you never know.
• Spencer Torkelson lost 3B eligibility. I still believe in the bat, but the bar will be higher for 2023 at 1B.
• Tommy Edman gained SS but lost OF and I am not sure that is a great trade-off. Yes, 2B/SS is nice, but I could already use him at MI and now I have lost the option to use him in the OF.
• Gio Urshela and Jose Miranda both went from MI-eligible to CI-only, as Urshela lost SS and Miranda lost 2B. Miranda is still a valuable 3B, but Urshela is far less enticing now.
• Garrett Hampson entered the OPL chat, assuming he has an everyday job. He was 2B/OF to start the season and is now 2B/SS/3B/OF.
• Josh Rojas went the other direction, as he was 2B/SS/3B/OF but is now just 2B/3B. Still useful! But less useful.
• Nick Pratto went from 1B-prospect to 1B/OF-eligible. Losing out on 1B to Vinnie Pasquantino will actually help his fantasy value, if he produces. Same goes for Juan Yepez, who was never going to displace Paul Goldschmidt and now has boosted his value with OF eligibility.
• For those looking for OPL targets – neither of them have totally clear paths to playing time, but Cooper Hummel is now C/OF and Spencer Steer is now 1B/2B/SS/3B. Oh and Brendan Donovan was already 1B/2B/3B but has now added SS and OF to his resumé.
• Brandon Drury traded OF for 1B/2B. That’s a pretty nice trade-up, I think, especially since he kept 3B.

Catcher

First Base

Second Base

Third Base

Shortstop

Outfield