UPDATE: The weekend before the first games of the MLB season has come and gone. Why is that date important? Because it's when my lone 2014 fantasy baseball team - Babe: Puig in the City - was drafted into being. I know fantasy guru Matthew Berry is fond of saying that no one wants to hear about your fantasy team, but I'm going to write about it anyway because a) I have a blog and b) I'm pretty happy about how things went. So please check out this graphical representation of my team's projected starting depth chart, headlined by (you guessed it) the Wild Horse himself, Yasiel Puig!
Well, technically the team is headlined by Paul Goldschmidt and Felix Hernandez, my first two picks, but Puig is the spiritual leader. This is only my second fantasy team with a name based on a particular player - my fantasy football entry last year, Keepin Up w the Kaeperdashians, finished last in my division after I didn't pick up Colin Kaepernick - so I figured I could only do better by reaching slightly for the team's namesake in the top of the third round. Well, technically it wasn't a reach, as both MLB.com and ESPN have Puig ranked within the top 10 outfielders, and he was the ninth player at his position taken in our draft. But it felt like a reach to me, spending such a high pick on someone with less than 400 MLB at-bats to his credit. There are concerns about his full season projectability, what with his questionable plate discipline and all-out, no-brakes style of play. But no one can deny the upside presented by his electrifying rookie season, and if he does end up batting leadoff, hopefully the Dodgers brass will emphasize on base percentage in his continuing development.
The other two starting outfielders I drafted (plus one more on the bench) also show tremendous upside, while, coincidentally, all being projected as their teams' leadoff hitters. Jason Heyward has already fulfilled his 20-20 potential in the past, but has had trouble staying on the field due to injuries. Billy Hamilton has dazzled the minor leagues with his speed over the past four years, but there are questions about whether he will be able to get on base enough to steal the bases necessary to make him valuable. Heyward's CF eligibility allowed me to grab Kole Calhoun as an insurance policy in case Hamilton falters (goffabid). Calhoun first caught my eye when a) I heard that he was the frontrunner to bat leadoff for the Angels and b) I saw that he was ranked nearly 100 spots better by MLB than by ESPN, while also being named in the positive side of the latter publication's sleeper/busts column.
Speaking of sleepers, check out this color-coded representation of my lineup in list format. The light blue in the T100 column (short for Top 100 Prospects, of which only Billy Hamilton is a member) represents sleeper status - just Calhoun and Doug Fister, whose stock should increase with a move to the NL. I wouldn't draft a potential bust, but if I did, that column would be shaded orange. But what I really want to highlight (no pun intended) is what's going on in the very first column. The number indicates the player's rank on 3/15/14, the day before our draft, while the color represents the player's positional status, as determined by the ESPN fantasy staff. Let's take a look:
A green highlight designates the "Cream of the Crop," for which there are an average of less than three players per position. Again, that's just my 2nd and 1st round picks: "King" Felix Hernandez and Paul "Muad-Dib" Goldschmidt, respectively. (Okay, I just made up that nickname, but Dune has been in the public consciousness lately.) Blue represents "Next Best Thing," a category in which only my SP2 Chris Sale belongs. Brown is "Steady As He Goes," a rather boring but dependable category that describes two of my infielders, Aaron Hill and Kyle Seager. But the color that holds the overwhelming majority on my team is purple, which asks the question "Where's the Ceiling?" (This is opposed by the question "Where's the Basement?" a question you can ask of none of my fantasy players.) I've already mentioned all three outfielders, but to that list we can add catcher Wilin Rosario, who jumped 34 points in MLB's rankings since the start of spring training to pass the likes of Joe Mauer, Brian McCann, and Carlos Santana. There's also Giants 1B Brandon Belt, who is developing into a fine young hitter indeed, and two Cardinals 2013 rookie pitchers - Trevor Rosenthal and Michael Wacha - who will occupy the closer and fifth starter spot for the defending NL champions in 2014.
As you can see, I've made mostly strong upside plays this year, hoping for breakout seasons from those poised for them. And for the most part, I'm very optimistic about my choices, as my extensive research and super reliable gut feelings give me good reason to believe that enough of my choices have a good probability of panning out in my favor. The only regret I have is passing over A's phenom Sonny Gray in the 15th round, opting instead to fill my shortstop slot with Asdrubal Cabrera. Now, all the ranking systems that I've seen have Cabrera ranked better than Gray - he even projects to earn more points in my Astrology league - but something about the move made me instantly remorseful. This feeling was augmented upon reading what might be Matthew Berry's final fantasy baseball related Love/Hate column, which was released slightly too late for me to make use of it in my draft. I still hope Sonny Gray has a great season; he needs to after the announcement that Oakland's projected opening day starter Jarrod Parker will be out for the year. But I can only hope that A. Cabrera does even better in his contract year!
And here's also hoping that everybody in the major leagues stays healthy, plays to the best of their abilities, and has a great time doing it, while also putting on an entertaining show for the fans, all season long. Because the bottom line is, it's almost time for another baseball season. And whether you follow the action at the ballpark, in the newspapers, or through the digital lens of your fantasy team, there's no greater way to spend the warm-weather half of the year.
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