Tampa Bay Rays Storylines
Moore or Less in 2016? - Matt Moore had a mixed bag of results in his return from Tommy John Surgery in 2015 going 3-and-4 over 12 starts with 63.0 IP. However, it was from September 17th on where he showed why he was once regarded with Mike Trout and Bryce Harper on prospect lists. After being shelled by Boston allowing four homers in five innings (8 runs overall) he was 2-and-0 with 23 strikeouts and just seven walks (four in last start alone) while going at least six innings in every frame. Before this stretch, the most Ks in a single outing was four and he topped out at five innings in just three of his eight starts. His K/9 and BB/9 were both much better over those last four starts as it seems like he finally broke the post TJ funk off of him. He's in intriguing name on draft day who likely won't cost you more than a late round flyer and while he may not have elite upside anymore, he's certainly worth a gamble on draft day.
Souza has A Bruise-a - Well it's actually an intercostal strain but you try making a clever title incorporating either "Steven" or "Souza" with intercostal. Either way he's likely to miss the first few weeks of actual camp and there's some fear the injury may roll over into the beginning of the season. His MRI results should be coming in within the next few days. Souza was a trendy sleeper pick last season and produced in some areas, mainly double digit homers and steals, but hurt owners with a .225 AVG. That's .225 WITH a .318 BABIP. That's hard to do, but easier when you strike out in 33.8% of your plate appearances. He's swinging strike rate with the Nationals during his debut season was 11% but he saw that number jump to nearly 14% with the Rays last season. If he can't get his whiff rates down he's nothing more than cheap power and steals.
Atlanta Braves Storylines
Atlanta's Chosen Son Returns - Jeff Francouer is an Atlanta Brave once again and it feels like all is right in the world again (Huge Frenchy fan if you can't tell). The crazy thing is with Francouer is there are actually scenarios where he makes the roster without having multiple players get injured. There's a glaring lack of power potential in the Braves lineup with Freddie Freeman leading the team with 18 homers and Francouer hit 13 homers for the Phillies last season. He could end up making some sort of play as the fourth outfielder on the team and the Braves are always wheeling and dealing so name like Nick Markakis, Michael Bourn, and Nick Swisher could all reasonably be traded on way or another. You're not drafting him at all, but he's still just a name to watching this spring.
Is Freeman healthy? - We finally have heard more about Freddie Freeman's wrist injury this spring and in interviews he has said that he still wasn't healthy at the start of 2016. I wasn't concerned with his health coming during the winter but hearing that gives me a weird feeling inside. I would have understood if they just wanted to progress things slowly this spring but if it's because he's still feeling odd it's going to be hard to trust him 100% at my 1B slot this year. His numbers should have a chance to go up if he's healthy with more plate appearances and some more talent potentially hitting in from of him. Fantistics projects Freeman as the #9 1B with .285, 25 HR, and 90 RBI as his main fantasy stats.
Kyle Kendrick? - Reports are coming out of Braves camp early that Kyle Kendrick is impressing in his early work for the team. With the Braves lack of depth, ML ready depth, in the starting rotation Kendrick has a chance to battle for the fifth spot in the rotation to break camp. When it comes to fantasy though you just can't draft a pitcher who hasn't struck out more than 6.5 batters per nine in a single season in his career. In fact he only strikes out 2.34 more batters per nine in his career than he walks. There's a small argument for the fact he's only pitched in Philadelphia and Colorado which are both very hitter friendly parks, but he has just a 0.16 difference in his home/away ERAs. However the homeruns come way more often at home allowing 28 more homers in only about 10 more innings at home.
Jose Reyes, Colorado Rockies - Jose Reyes was placed on paid leave while his domestic abuse case runs its course, which virtually means he's been suspended indefinitely. The prospect of Reyes in Coors is intriguing, so intriguing that Fantistics ranks him as the #6 SS for this season despite the fact he's only projected for 128 games played. While this is more of a condemning of the SS position as a whole, to have him above names likes Francisco Lindor and Brandon Crawford shouldn't go unnoticed. Trevor Story of the Rockies could be a name to fill in for him as the teams' #11 prospect hit .277 with 10 homers and 7 steals in half a season in AAA last year. If Reyes's suspension does move to the regular season, Story is worth a stash in NL Leagues with his power/speed upside but I don't know that he's quite mix league worthy.
Dexter Fowler, Baltimore Orioles - Fowler officially inked a three year deal with the Orioles this week and makes for an intriguing option now that he's back in a very hitter friendly park. I detailed in depth last week where I highlighted his consistency in both homers and steals with double digits in three of the past four seasons.
Yovani Gallardo, Baltimore Orioles - After an interesting saga involving Gallardo's shoulder he is officially an Oriole for two year and a team option for a third season. I detailed him last week in my post with the main focus being: "His contact rate has been on the rise ever since 2009 and last year he saw a 6% uptick in his contact on pitches out of the zone. Better said: Batters are hitting pitches off him that they aren't even supposed to be able to hit." He's maybe worth a flier in AL Only leagues but I'm not touching him in any of my mixed leagues.
Cliff Lee, Free Agent - Cliff Lee's agent says that Lee likely won't be able to pitch this season and now it sounds likely that we have seen the last of the former Cy Young lefty. He hasn't been on a mound during a game since 2014 after posting six straight seasons with throwing 200 innings.
Corey Seager, Los Angeles Dodgers - In fantistic news for fantasy owners the Dodgers have come out and said that they are moving forward with Seager remaining at shortstop. It doesn't change anything for this season but it means in dynasty/keeper leagues you can count on Seager being a shortstop for at least a few more seasons. Seager is the biggest prospect being drafted this spring as I've seen him in real draft going as high as the 4th round and Fantistics ADP has him as a mid-5th round pick. He absolutely tore the cover off the ball in his brief stint in the majors last season and all the numbers indicate he can be a top 5 shortstop option this year. We need to see a lot more at bats to determine whether he's going to be able to remain anywhere near his 45.6% hard hit rate from last season.
Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers - Everybody get ready to cringe with me.... Miguel Cabrera could play third base for the Tigers this season. While maybe I am overacting (and likely am) the idea of his playing any sort of defensive position besides first terrifies me for this season. He dealt with injuries for the first time in his career last season and moving back to third does nothing but put him more in harm's way for more injuries. His bat obviously will produce no matter where he plays, but for the Tigers they need Miggy in the lineup for as many games as possible.
Miguel Sano, Minnesota Twins - Sano is officially moving to the outfield full time and that is excellent news as he currently is only qualified as a DH in most standard leagues. So with him earning his OF eligibility should make him see a rise in drafts from here on out. He arguably has the most power potential in the league outside of Giancarlo Stanton (and maybe Bryce Harper) with a decent K% for such a power hitter. He has shown better contact rates in the minors than he has did in his 80 ML games, so we can hope for some improvement in those categories. He's already a 6th round pick according to Fantistics ADP and I won't be surprised to see him as a late 4th early 5th rounder at some point this spring.
Billy Hamilton, Cincinnati Reds - The Reds view Billy Hamilton as still potentially being a leadoff hitter for the team and that would send his fantasy value to potentially elite levels. Last season while primarily hitting in the 8th spot in the lineup he still posted 56 runs with just a .274 OBP and swiped 57 bags, one more than he did in 38 fewer game. That kind of stolen base production is unheard of and if he can just get on base at barely a .300 clip he can still impact the game in a similar fashion to a .330-40 OBP guy with his steals. If he can stop trying to hit homers every time he's up to bat he could win owners some leagues.
Jacob deGrom, New York Mets - After having some leg issues on Monday after slipping while running, deGrom was able to throw a bullpen session Wednesday and reportedly had no issues in his "outing." deGrom went from above average fantasy option to fantasy ace last season after closing in on 200 innings while maintaining his 9.5 K/9, lowering his BB/9 by nearly a full walk per nine, and upping his strand rate by a few percentage points. Adding on his 6% decline in hard hit rate against him plus an increase in his swinging strike rate, you have yourself a tier 2 ace.
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