Jake McGee Poised To Be Colorado's Closer In 2016

McGee now brings his lively lefty electricity a mile above sea level for a 2016 campaign in Colorado. His fastball is his bread and butter (throwing a two or four seamer 90.5% of the time last year), though it is worth noting that his average velocity had sat above 96 MPH in ’13 and ’14 […]

Jason Motte: Reliable Rockies Setup Man For 2016?

Motte isn’t going to re-discover his pre-Tommy John form, but he did show improved control in his second year removed from TJ surgery. His K/9 used to sit around 9.00, and now it appears to have settled around 6.00. He can’t toy with hitters anymore, but he posted the best walk rate and lowest pull […]

Adam Ottavino Could Still Be Useful Late In 2016

Ottavino was just getting started on what looked to be a promising 2015 campaign when his UCL crapped out after 10.1 innings. Pending setbacks, the hope here is that he will return around midseason. Having high expectations for a pitcher in his first stretch back from TJ surgery is usually an awful idea, so I […]

Chad Bettis: Deep League NL Pitcher For Your Consideration In 2016

Chad Bettis won’t ever be the stud of your pitching staff, but in deeper or NL-only leagues he could prove to be a solid back-end guy. In 2015 he finally managed to bring his modest strikeout stuff from the minors to the major leagues. His K/9 was 7.67 after barely scraping 6-even in years past […]

Do We Still Care About Eddie Butler In 2016?

His minor league track record has been quite impressive, but it hasn’t translated to major league success in any tangible way. He’ll have just turned 25 when the season starts so it isn’t like he’s some old coot who can’t grow, but he really needs to wrangle in those walks and tweak some pitches that […]

Kyle Freeland Looks To Continue His Growth In 2016

Freeland has some fantastic raw talent, but he has suffered some durability setbacks along the way thus far and might be headed for bullpen duties as a result. What we know about Freeland is that he has a plus fastball, slider, and changeup, but that he has some issues putting it all together with command […]

Ryan McMahon Looks To Grow Into Colorado's Next Big Infielder

McMahon has been shooting through each level of the minors with a healthy power bat. His profile appears to be very clear as a prototypical powerful corner infielder who strikes out a lot, but also walks enough to compensate a bit. His OPS figures haven’t dipped below .860 for a season, though his BABIPs have […]

Raimel Tapia Looks To Start Strong In Double A for Colorado

Tapia is an intriguing young name who has been in the Rockies system since he was 17 (he just turned 22). He has extremely impressive contact skills, hitting for great averages pretty much every step of the way and flashing plus speed. The power hasn’t manifested yet, though it could be in the pipeline as […]

David Dahl: Top Rockies Prospect Heading into 2016

Dahl is one of the, if not the best, Rockies prospect right now. An outfielder that has some nice speed, he saw his 2015 cut into after his spleen had to be removed. I doubt that happens again. Dahl’s current bat seems to be a fantastic line drive/gap type hitter, but he isn’t down on […]

Mat Latos: A Fresh Chance in Chicago Means Fantasy Relevance

The White Sox just signed Mat Latos to a one year deal, shoring up the back end of their rotation. It’s a low risk maneuver from the Chi-Sox here to bring in Latos after a horrid end to 2015. Latos used to be good for 185 strikeouts in a full season (he's only 28), and […]

Wade Davis Looks to Entrench Himself as the Best Closer in 2016.

Wade Davis is poised to be one of the top, if not the top, closers in the game in 2016. Greg Holland is no more, as he is a free agent during his recovery year from Tommy John surgery. Wade Davis was given the keys to the ninth inning after performing very well in the […]

Kelvin Herrera: Not Just a Handcuff in 2016?

Kelvin Herrera might not be as impressive a setup man as Wade Davis was to Greg Holland, and he won’t rack up strikeouts like Carter Capps or Dellin Betances, but he’s still a very solid middle relief option that warrants ownership in deeper 5x5 leagues. Obviously the biggest piece is that he would get the […]

Ian Kennedy Poised for Strong Year with Kansas City in 2016?

Ian Kennedy’s 2015 was disappointing by many standards, as a subpar San Diego team led him to a 9-15 record with a 4.28 ERA and 1.30 WHIP. He is usually a very durable pitcher, though he did have a brief DL stint with a hamstring strain early in the year, leading to his lowest innings […]

Yordano Ventura: What Will His 2016 Look Like?

Yordano Ventura averaged the second fastest fastball in the league last year (just a tick behind Garrett Richards), but he still can be guilty of being a thrower rather than a pitcher for streaks. We’ve seen him lose command and rack up walks on his way to a blow up game, and we’ve seen him […]

Edinson Volquez Looks to Lead KC Rotation in 2016

Edinson Volquez came over to the Royals and has taken over as the de facto number one pitcher. Volquez doesn’t have #1 stuff, but he pitches for a team that can produce runs, has a good catcher in Salvador Perez, and has a great defense behind him. This is not to say that Volquez is […]

Can Kendrys Morales Repeat His Strong Year in 2016?

The Kendrys Morales renaissance was real in 2015 after a horrible 2014. Morales enjoyed hitting in the heart of the order for Kansas City to the tune of 81 runs, 22 homers, 106 RBIs and a .290 average. He should hit out of the five hole again for the Royals, perched around that sweet spot […]

Jarrod Dyson: Cheap Daily Speed for 2016

As of now Jarrod Dyson is penciled in as the Royals’ third outfielder, though he should mix in with Paulo Orlando as of now. In the past he has been the speed demon who could come in and pinch run for a guy like Kendrys Morales. Dyson’s speed totals are impressive when you consider how […]

Lorenzo Cain Looks to Build on the Breakout in 2016

Lorenzo Cain took some monstrous steps forward in 2015, becoming a strong five category contributor for Kansas City on their way to glory. His batted ball profile improved in almost every way, and while it might end up being a “career year” for Cain, there is little evidence that points to regression coming for all […]

How Strong Will Alex Gordon's 2016 Be?

Alex Gordon was putting together another solid year until he lunged for a fly ball and suffered a Grade 2 groin strain (ow) that took him out of play for a couple of months. He was able to return late in the season (but was given more rest than usual) and be a part of […]

Mike Moustakas 2.0 Is Ready To Be A Top 12 3B In 2016

Mike Moustakas threw together a pretty good 2015 when all was said and done, though it appeared he was really taking things to another level through the first half of the season. He was finally using all parts of the field and not trying to hulk smash everything down the first base line. This more […]

Alcides Escobar: How Strong Of A SS Option Is He?

Alcides Escobar is one of those shortstops that is going to feel like more of a “plug in player” than a producer, but the fact of the matter is that he hits atop a strong Kansas City lineup and does have some wheels. Escobar let his owners down in 2015, taking steps back in the […]

Eric Hosmer's Balanced Approach Makes Him A Top 10 1B In 2016

Eric Hosmer’s 2014 was a disappointment for many, but his 2015 saw him return to form with his best 5x5 year yet as he went 98-18-93-7-.297. Hosmer might take a few more modest steps forward in his career as he enters his age-26 season, but this is likely what he’s capable of. That makes it […]

Salvador Perez Is A Top Ten Catcher In 2016

Salvador Perez’s 2015 was rather impressive, as he ended the year with a line that had identical RBIs (70), SBs (1), and batting averages (.260) as his 2014. He upped his homers to 21, a career best, in 553 plate appearances (he logged 606 in 2014), so the power stroke was out to play. Ever […]

Early Fantasy Baseball Mock Draft: Maneuvering the Middle Rounds

Here are the usual suspects (in draft order): Jacob Bogardus, Brad Johnson, Alex Brock, Harris Yudin, Max Petrie, Josh Leonard, Ross Williamson, Andrew Miller (from The Fantasy Fix), Nick Mariano (myself), Tom Bellucco, Brian Dunshee (also from The Fantasy Fix), and Edward Suletan. Reminder - this was a traditional 5x5 redraft 23 round mock with […]

Arodys Vizcaino: Cheap Closer Comes With Skills

While no one actively roots for injury, when Jason Grilli went torn with a torn Achilles as he shot off to cover first base it meant that there was a void to be filled in the Braves’ ninth inning. This was initially filled by Jim Johnson, whose trade value was built up enough to then […]

Julio Teheran Is A Risky Buy in 2016

Julio Teheran took a few sizeable steps back in 2015 after an impressive first two full years in the majors for the Braves. Many people could see that the regression police was hot on Teheran’s trail after last year. It’s one thing to have your surface stats catch up to your peripherals, but his peripherals […]

Nick Markakis: A Deep League OF Option In 2016

Nick Markakis’ 2015 was his first season not in an Orioles jersey, and his first year for the Braves saw him barely able to hit a home run. In every season of his career Markakis had hit double digit home runs, and last year for Atlanta he hit a grand total of three. He had […]

Ender Inciarte Is Set To Leadoff For The Braves In 2016

An exciting addition for the Braves, Ender Inciarte comes over from the Diamondbacks after he hit six homers and stole 21 bases while hitting .303 in 561 plate appearances in 2015. Inciarte put the ball in play more last year, bringing his strikeout rate down from a healthy 11.9% to an improved 10.3% while also […]

Erick Aybar: Cheap MI Option in 2016

Erick Aybar has really settled into a role, seemingly unflinching in his quest to hit a few home runs every year alongside 15 steals and a .270s average. Of course he now comes to the Braves instead of playing for the Angels, so his counting stats may take a step back, but for now he […]

Adonis Garcia: Sneaky CI Power Bat For 2016?

If you scoured the web for 2016 Braves’ projections and saw Adonis Garcia slotted in at third base and batting fifth behind Freeman, your reaction may have been one of shock and dismay. From a “real life” baseball perspective, plenty might agree with you as his glove at third is subpar. What is keeping him […]