January 7, 2022

Cincinnati Reds outfielder Jesse Winker and infielder Eugenio Suarez were traded to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for Justin Dunn, Brandon Williamson, and Jake Fraley in March. Seattle's newly acquired outfielder had a 2021 season that many fantasy managers had been waiting for. The 28-year-old slashed .305/.394/.556 with 24 home runs, 71 RBI, and 77 runs scored over 485 plate appearances. He was able to bring his strikeout rate down to 15.5%, which aligned with his career 16.5% mark much closer than his 2020 value of 25.1%. He also continued to hit the ball hard and produced a solid Statcast batted-ball profile across the board. The two lingering issues for Winker, which have plagued him throughout his career were injuries and the inability to hit left-handed pitching. He served several stints on the injured list with intercostal strains and slashed just .176/.288/.284 against lefties over 118 PA. The encouraging thing is that Winker was such a valuable fantasy option despite all of that, and he could be even more valuable if he stays healthy and/or hits even slightly better against lefties in 2022. Fantasy managers seem to be buying into Winker's potential, as his current ADP is about 102 overall, making him the 31st outfielder off the board. This seems like a reasonable position given his high potential upside and the relative lack of upside compared to other options around that point in drafts.--Connelly Doan