Fantasy Championship aren't won in February but I can state with certainty they are not lost. As the Spring Training games begin late this week knowing what positions are up for grabs is vital to your draft day success. A person can have all the talent in the world but if they fail to earn a roster spot out of camp you will be scouring the Waiver Wire looking for help. The Factory will weed out the notable competitions which should be monitored this spring and could produce solid fantasy gains. Today the AL East.
Baltimore
Closer- Jim Johnson doesn't have a long track record nor the skill set to suggest he can do it night in and night out. What he does have is brief success and Kevin Gregg and Matt Lindstrom as his stiffest competition. With that in mind Johnson would have to pitch his way out of the role. The biggest Wild Card could be Pedro Strop who has more of the classic Closer skill set but no closing experience at the MLB level that would seem to be more of a in season move than to begin the year.
Rotation- Jason Hammel, Tommy Hunter, Tsuyoshi Wada, Wei-Yin Chen figure to have four of the five rotation spots heading into camp and all should have a pretty firm grip. That leaves Zach Britton, Brian Matusz, Jake Arrieta and Chris Tillman all battling for the final spot in the rotation. Just two seasons ago Orioles brass had pegged these four as firm members of the rotation by this point. Outside of Britton's solid 2011 and a brief stretch by Matusz in 2010 this group has disappointed. Britton figures to have the best shot but like every other starter in the rotation he offers little to no value over a Waiver Wire replacement in standard leagues.
Brian Roberts Backup- It's been two seasons since Roberts has totaled more than 300 AB's with various ailments. Utility man Robert Andino figures to be the short term answer but with a solid spring Ryan Adams could find a roster spot and offer double digit HR pop from the keystone position should Roberts suffer another setback and not be ready for opening day.
Boston
First order of business for Valentine was banning alcohol from the clubhouse. While one could easily dismiss this as non-news from a fantasy perspective I like my players to be solid emotionally as well as physically. I could easily see this irritating many of the veterans at some point during the season.
Catcher
Saltalamacchia figures to be the favorite for the majority of starts but Lavarnway could easily hit his way into the better part of a timeshare. Regardless of how camp plays out I would draft Lavarnway ahead of Saltalamacchia as long as he breaks camp with the big league club.
SS
Mike Aviles is the front runner and likely has a healthy lead over Nick Punto who is the picture boy for Utility players. Aviles is only the favorite for his bat therefore should he struggle look for the Sox to go with the Glove Wiz Jose Iglesias who offers no significant fantasy value at this point.
Rotation
The 4th and 5th starters spots are up for grabs but from a fantasy owners perspective don't get to excited. The host of candidates include Carlos Silva, Aaron Cook, Josh Bard, Andrew Miller, and Rich Hill. Bard's name is certainly interesting and offers solid upside. Expect him to have a firm grip on the 4th spot with the ability to pitch his way out of it. Whoever wins the 5th spot will likely only have Waiver Wire value and will be ignored in all formats outside of AL-Only.
Rays
Position Battle
The Rays have a history of constantly rotating people in and out and 2012 looks to be no different. With the ability of Ben Zobrist and Sean Rodriguez to play multiple positions look for the likes of Brandon Guyer and Jeff Keppinger to get more regular AB's then most bench players but both will be ignored in all formats outside of deep mixed or AL only. The additional AB's will likely come at the expense of Sean Rodriguez who's AB's will fall somewhere in between a everyday player and a Super Utility option.
Rotation
Some believe Wade Davis could push Jeff Niemann for the 5th starters spot in camp but given Niemann's improved skill set last season the Rays would be more likely to go to a 6 man rotation than bump Niemann out completely. Naturally a 6 man rotation would decrease the value of all their Rays starters but with the talent featured at the top of the rotation why would you bypass it in favor of Wade Davis? Look for Davis to head to the pen.
Blue Jays
OF/DH
Edwin Encarnacion, Travis Snider, Colby Rasmus, Marcus Thames and Rajai Davis. All offer good fantasy potential if they can find close to everyday action. Encarnacion will also see occasional action at 1B and 3B therefore he is a lock for 400+ AB's and fantasy relevance. Rasmus would have to play his way out of everyday play with a terrible spring. That leaves Snider, Thames and Davis battling for the final OF spot. Snider and Thames have a better skill set as Davis at his best is a 260 hitter with speed something the Jays shouldn't value with their roster of big power. Therefore in my opinion it's Snider and Thames battling it out with them leaving camp in a timeshare of playing time and both failing to reach the 400 AB plateau barring injury.
Rotation
4th and 5th spots in the rotation will be a battle between top prospects Kyle Dradek and Henderson Alvarez and once promising injury riddled Dustin McGowan. Barring any setback look for McGowan to land one of the jobs with the two prospect battling it out for the 5th spot. Drabek is the favorite with a full, albeit miserable,m year under his belt but should Alvarez dominate or Drabek not excel the roles could easily be reversed.
Yankees
Rotation
5th Spot in Rotation- Phillip Hughes vs. Freddy Garcia. Hughes certainly has the better skill set the problem is he's also more versatile. Hughes has the skill set and track record of late game success therefore I think Garcia is certainly the favorite to land the job heading into camp. However we are talking about a 35 year old who's best days are behind him. Should Garcia land the 5th spot he would and should be dismissed in all formats outside of AL-Only however should Hughes land the job I really like him to resemble more of the 2010 version then what we witnessed in 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment