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Our Ben Rosener takes a look at the fantasy baseball impact of Edwin Rios signing a deal with the Chicago Cubs and Donovan Solano signing with the Minnesota Twins ahead of the upcoming 2023 season.
Even though the Winter Meetings are now behind us, there’s still plenty of offseason left when it comes to baseball news and rumors – especially with a number of the offseason’s top free agents still without a team. And that’s all without mentioning potential trades as there hasn’t been an overabundance of deals made so far. The reports and rumors of free agent interest and trade interest, combined with actual free agent signings and trades, will continue to have significant ramifications for fantasy managers ahead of drafts this Spring.
The aim of this column is to provide you with the latest fantasy analysis on both rumors and reports, as well as official signings and trades, and how it pertains to redraft fantasy baseball leagues this Spring. Moves, or rumors and reports, tabbed as “Buying” are obviously good moves or potentially good moves from a fantasy standpoint. Moves or potential moves and reported interest that are filed under “Selling?” Not so great.
So, without further ado, let’s dive into the news with a bit of news pertaining to a pair of free-agent position players who recently signed one-year, Major League deals. One with a team in the National League Central and one with a team in the American League Central.
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Selling (For Now) For Fantasy Baseball
Edwin Rios Signing With The Chicago Cubs
Rios has shown plenty of power production early in his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
In 291 regular season plate appearances dating back to the start of the 2019 season, Rios is batting .219 with a .299 on-base percentage, 20 home runs, a .273 ISO, a 47% hard-hit rate, and a 15.5% barrel rate.
Unfortunately, due to injuries and Los Angeles’ quality depth, Rios wasn’t able to carve out a regular role.
With experience at first base and third base, as well as a few appearances in the outfield in his career, Rios has plenty of avenues to playing time. However, there isn’t an obvious pathway to regular playing time with his new team in Chicago. Rios signed with the Cubs on a one-year deal.
The Cubs can utilize Eric Hosmer, Trey Mancini, and Patrick Wisdom at first base, with Wisdom, Christopher Morel, and Zach McKinstry on hand at third base.
Wisdom and Mancini seem like the most logical candidates for plate appearances time at designated hitter, so perhaps that could open up more opportunities for Rios. If he can establish himself as a regular for Chicago, the former Dodger will have plenty of fantasy upside in deeper leagues thanks to his ability to hit for power. But for now, the Cubs’ depth chart is simply too crowded.
(Potentially) Buying For Fantasy Baseball
Donovan Solano Signing With The Minnesota Twins On a One-Year Deal
Solano, like Rios, joined his new club on a one-year deal. The veteran infielder and former Cincinnati Reds player joined the Minnesota Twins on a one-year pact on Thursday per a tweet from Dustin Morse from the Twins communications, market, and player relations department.
Solano appeared in 80 games for the Cincinnati Reds in 2022, hitting .284 with a .339 on-base percentage and four home runs in 304 plate appearances for the National League Central franchise.
The veteran has never been a reliable source of power, with seven home runs representing his career high and a 5.9% barrel rate since the start of the 2015 season. Still, he’s been a reliable source of production where batting average has been concerned, hitting at least .280 in each of the last four seasons, including respective batting averages of .330 and .326 in his first two seasons with the San Francisco Giants.
Thanks in part to reasonable strikeout and whiff rates and some high BABIP metrics, Solano owns a .301 average since the start of the 2019 season, the seventh-best among all hitters with at least 1,000 plate appearances during that span.
Donovon Solano In The Last Four Seasons:
- 2019: 228 PA, .330 average, .409 BABIP, 21.5 K%, 19.0% Whiff Rate
- 2020: 203 PA, .326 average, .396 BABIP, 19.2 K%, 22.0% Whiff Rate
- 2021: 344 PA, .280 average, .321 BABIP, .16.9 K%, 20.3% Whiff Rate
- 2022: 304 PA, .284 average, .349 BABIP, 20.1 K%, 20.9% Whiff Rate
That alone makes him someone to consider rostering in deeper, standard-scoring leagues, especially with the ability to play all four infield positions. However, like with Rios, there isn’t a definite pathway to starting on a regular basis if Minnesota rolls with Alex Kirilloff, Jorge Polanco, Carlos Correa, and Jose Miranda from first to third as the team’s primary starters around the infield dirt.
Still, Solano’s versatility could him garner something closely resembling regular playing time for when any of those four needs a day off.
Furthermore, in the event that Alex Kirilloff struggles at first base, or if there’s an injury somewhere across the infield, Solano could theoretically step into a regular role – at least in those hypothetical scenarios. If that’s the case, his fantasy relevancy in more standard-sized leagues would skyrocket.
The fact that he brings multi-position eligibility only adds to his potential fantasy upside should he play regularly for the Twins.
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