Ottoneu Position Eligibility Losers

Calling people losers seems unkind, but they did, in fact, lose positional eligibility. Is there a better word to use? Position Eligibility Forfeiters? Decliners? I dunno. I am rolling with losers. It was just yesterday that we looked at players who gained positions in 2025; today we turn our attention to players who lost eligibility.

Losing eligibility is sometimes harder to track than gaining. When a player gains a position, we see it happen in real time. They appear in a lineup. You turn on a game and see them in a new spot. The team announces the player will be used in the OF. And you can track their progress towards 10 games played or 5 games started at a spot. When they lose a position, it happens in the dark – suddenly it is October and you have a guy in your roster organizer at 2B who is no longer eligible to play 2B because they happened to not play there enough (or at all) this year. Every year, when I go through this list, there is at least one name that surprises me because I just didn’t notice this was happening. Let’s see if there was a surprise this year!

Before that, if you want to see how I built this list, you can check out yesterday’s article linked above. And with that, we are off.

There is a surprise for me in this one right off the bat: Ethan Salas! I somehow missed that he basically didn’t play this year, due to a back injury. A lingering back injury. You know what makes me nervous? A lingering back injury in a 6’1″ dude whose value comes from being able to crouch down for three hours a day. Ok, so he doesn’t actually have to crouch down for three hours, but you get the idea. Salas’s prospect pedigree is certainly down and while the positional eligibility doesn’t really matter (he will be C-eligible again sometime in April or May and well before he is in an MLB lineup, I would assume), the fact that he missed almost a whole year and still hasn’t really demonstrated an ability to hit pro pitching has me all the way out.

Soderstrom we covered yesterday, but losing C hurts. At least it is tempered by gaining OF, unlike Willson Contreras, who has gone from elite C to decent 1B/Util option overnight. Given his salary ($13.50 median), I expect he’ll be cut pretty widely. He was being paid to be a reliable bat, who plays everyday, and is eligible at C. Without that third element, he’s just not as useful.

Del Castillo and Fry are both interesting names, for different reasons. Del Castillo could still be a useful catcher if he gets regular playing time, but without that eligibility, he has no value. Fry is a useful small-side platoon bat, but he also needs to be eligible somewhere to have value. Fry is likely going to be back in the field in 2026, but he might be moving around and if he only starts vs. LHP, it might take him a month get to 5 starts or 10 games in any one spot.

This list includes a bunch of names who have taken a big hit in their fantasy value this off-season. And unlike the catchers, there is reason to believe at least some of these guys will never get that value back.

• Spencer Horwitz – He wasn’t bad this year, with a .344 wOBA, but limited HR and a low PA/G kept him from showing up as a useful Ottoneu points player. His home park didn’t help either. He played exactly one game at 2B this year and it seems likely he is a 1B-only player moving forward. If that remains true, he could be an interesting depth option, as a guy you can use on the road. If he were to get 2B back, or even 3B or OF, his value would jump.
• Jonathan Aranda – Aranda has some similar issues – low-ish HR totals that make his overall performance less valuable in Ottoneu than he otherwise might be – but was just so good last year that I am not sure it matters as much. Losing 2B will hurt his value quite a bit. Moving back to the Trop will hurt his value, as well. He was good enough (5.87 P/G) and cheap enough ($5 median salary) that none of this changes that he is a keeper, but I think he is less exciting than he seems on the surface, because of those changes.
• Sal Stewart – As a prospect who had an impact in his debut, Stewart is still mostly a low-cost upside play, though a very exciting one. So losing 2B doesn’t really change much in terms of what he will cost at auction or his trade value. If he was a guy you might pay $7-$8 for, is that now down to $6-$7? Those are hypothetical numbers, but I think the delta is about right.
• Connor Norby – I had high hopes for Norby coming into 2025, but I think there is a good chance that he just is the guy we have seen. That’s not bad and 2B is so weak that he might have had value there, but at 3B? I am probably out.
• Matt Shaw – I was also very high on Shaw, and I also worry that he has lost real value this off-season without MI eligibility, but his second half was strong enough that he is still an intriguing option at 3B. He also made four appearances at 2B, which isn’t close to eligibility, but maybe suggests there is at least a chance of him getting time there again in 2026.
• Christopher Morel – I have generally been low on Morel and while I see why people think he could break out, he’s just much less interesting without the ability to fill in at MI.
• Isaac Collins – I am not a huge believer, so the loss of 2B is probably enough to get me to move on completely. Not because he has no value, but because I think he’s little more than a $1-$2 end of bench guy, and I suspect most leagues will have someone higher on him.
• Oneil Cruz – This is a pretty simple one for me. Given how deep SS plays, the loss of MI hurts a bit, but if you expect ’23-’24 Cruz, you should still be in on him; if you expect ’25 Cruz, you should not (and SS wouldn’t change that).

 

This group is pretty boring. With the exception of Bellinger, was anyone here ever useful as a 1B? Maybe Paredes? But you want even those two at OF or 3B, respectively, rather than 1B. It is possible you were counting on some of these guys as 1B depth – you could throw Lowe in at 1B in a pinch, I guess? But losing 1B doesn’t change their value, with the exception of the guys on the list below.

We have covered all of these guys in earlier charts, so no need to go into much depth. But keep an eye on these guys. They won’t show up if you search for top guys as a position. They won’t fill an immediate need, as none of them are good enough to clog up your util spot. But Isaac and Salas are still worth watching as prospects, Fry could still have small-side platoon value, Del Castillo could be an interesting C2 option. You just have to watch the news and see where, if anywhere, they are likely to play.