Developed Teams 2015: Toronto Blue Jays

Through some smart roster construction, Toronto's front office created an offensive powerhouse, but their ragtag pitching staff couldn't tame the savage beast that is the Royals offense. The developed version of this squad has a very different look, but one that could still find less traditional or exciting ways to win:

The first thing to notice on this team is the predominance of excellent defenders. Ryan Goins routinely turned in gold glove quality plays in the playoffs and his middle infield partner Adeiny Hechavarria similarly turned heads in less meaningful games in Miami. Two of the three starting outfielders have the chops to play center field (Anthony Gose for the Tigers and Kevin Pillar for these Blue Jays) and they've also got one of the game's premier outfield gloves on the bench in Jake Marisnick. Yan Gomes has a sterling defensive reputation behind the plate to go with a solid emerging bat, and since this team has the luxury of two starting caliber backstops, Gomes and Travis d'Arnaud can switch off between catcher and DH. And they've also got enough quality backups (in addition to J.P. Arencibia, they've got non-roster options like Carlos Perez and Erik Kratz) to keep everyone fresh. In fact, the only gaping defensive hole is first baseman Adam Lind, but he's the team's best hitter, which covers all manner of sins.

More than anything, this pitching staff will rely on successful returns from all types of injuries and ailments to key players. Projected ace Marcus Stroman pitched like gangbusters after missing all but a month of the 2015 season with a knee injury. Henderson Alvarez only managed four subpar starts for the Marlins, but the year before he put up 30 starts of sub-3.00 ERA ball pitching behind an electric young ace (sound familiar?). Kendall Graveman ended the year on Oakland's disabled list and Daniel Norris was recently (and tragically) diagnosed with thyroid cancer. The only starter who is injury free is also the most mediocre, as Drew Hutchison severely underperformed his top 200 ranking prior to 2015.

There are depth options, such as veterans Shaun Marcum and Dustin McGowan, youngsters such as Sean Nolin and Matt Boyd, and replacement level types like Brad Mills. But the most intriguing option is Aaron Sanchez, who was used in the rotation early in the season, but then became the postseason long reliever of choice. If he stays in that role, Sanchez would join fellow rookie Roberto Osuna in the bullpen, the 20-year-old closer who I've nicknamed Roberto Poise-una for his staunch unflappable demeanor on the mound, even during intense high pressure situations. Brett Cecil and Sam Dyson had quiet but solid seasons as setup men, but the other two bullpen spots are pure upside plays. Miguel Castro began 2015 on Toronto's active roster with Osuna despite neither of them having any major league experience, but Castro didn't stick, and was later traded to Colorado in the Jose Reyes trade. Marc Rzepczynski is mostly on this roster because of his awesome name, but he does have a long history of being a quality LOOGY - however these last two spots could just as easily have gone to Ryan Tepera (296 / 9.3) and Aaron Loup (278 / 4.6).

Developed Teams 2015: Chicago Cubs

After dispatching their division (series) rival Cardinals in four games, the Chicago Cubs were beaten handily by the Mets - they never even once had a lead in the four game sweep. But with a savvy front office ready to supplement a crop of some of the game's best prospects, the real-life Cubs could find themselves at the top of the NL Central for years to come. Let's see how they stack up with their developed counterparts:

The presence of four rookies at key positions in this starting lineup is evidence of how weak this developed Cubs team was until recently. Kris Bryant should run away with the NL Rookie of the Year award and should also get serious consideration in the MVP conversation. Kyle Schwarber has shown a seriously potent bat in his first callup to the majors this year, but although he was a catcher throughout most of his minor league career, the Cubs used him primarily as an outfielder (and exclusively so during the playoffs). Maybe management wanted to let the pitching staff throw to familiar receivers behind the plate in such high stakes situations. Either way, with catching options such as the well-traveled Welington Castillo, Rangers projected starter Robinson Chirinos, and non-rostered options Geovany Soto and Steve Clevenger, leaving Schwarber in the developed outfield seems to make sense. Jorge Soler showed a knack for postseason performance in his rookie campaign, and could develop into the next Cuban slugging sensation. And fellow powerfully-built rookie Justin Bour (both have 6'4" frames) has hit for the same power he showed as a minor leaguer in Chicago since being giving a chance to start in Miami.

The former All-Star Starlin Castro was forced from shortstop to second base in the real-life Cubs' infield by prospect Addison Russell, but he's only the developed Cubs' second-best second sacker behind breakout first time All-Star DJ LeMahieu. This means Castro could be shifted back to short, unless he is pushed to the DH spot by prospect Javier Baez. And that's not even factoring in fellow stalled but potent prospect Arismendy Alcantara. Either way, this infield outside of Bryant is filled with enigmatic characters with high upsides but short and/or questionable track records. But fortunately they've also got two of the most versatile and competent backups (Marwin Gonzalez and Ryan Flaherty) should things go amiss.

Things have an even greater chance of going amiss in the rotation, and with a significantly weaker backup plan. The rotation set forth above assumes the top two arms will revert back to the mean between their excellent 2014's and disappointing 2015's. Prior to this season, Jeff Samardzija was ranked inside the top 100 players in baseball, and the previous summer he was valued highly enough by Oakland to give up 6 seasons of above-average projected production at SS (the above-mentioned Russell) for just 1.5 seasons of the Shark's work. And Andrew Cashner showed top of the rotation stuff for San Diego in 2014, averaging an amount of points per game that would have placed him in the top 40 in 2015. But both struggled mightily this year, resulting in mid-rotation stalwart Kyle Hendricks to emerge as this team's top pitching scorer. This is not an inspiring staff ace, as I would compare Hendricks's production to that of a healthy Ricky Nolasco type, who's on this team, but who hasn't been effective in a couple of years. But the most unexpected 2015 bright spot in this rotation was Rich Hill's magnificent four-start stretch, which could possibly have earned him a major league deal this offseason after being inked to two different minor league pacts in 2015.

Rotation depth is not pretty, as rookie Zack Godley had some encouraging results in his debut stint with the Diamondbacks, but Chris Rusin looked just as bad with the Rockies. Maybe these Chicago guys should stay away from the West Coast. Although that's not the case for rookie reliever Tony Zych who had another great debut for the Mariners. He doesn't, however, profile as a closer, which gives him something in common with all the other relievers on this staff. The one with the most MLB experience is longtime Tigers setup man Al Alburquerque, but he's hardly ever gotten a chance to prove himself in late and close situations with only 1 Save (in 2 opportunities) in his 5-year career. But despite its inconsistencies, this squad has a lot of personality and a lot of talent, and I predict big things for some of these ex-Cubs as we move past the failed prediction of Back to the Future.

Developed Teams 2015: Los Angeles Dodgers

In what could end up being Don Mattingly's final game managing the Dodgers, the only franchise that plays in Los Angeles lost one of the closest and tensest games in recent memory to Jacob deGrom, Daniel Murphy, and the surging New York Mets. Many of the players who contributed to that losing effort were developed by the very same team for which they now play, but many more weren't, so let's take a look at how the developed Dodgers stack up:

Let's start at the top of the order and examine the offseason trade that very well might have cost Los Angeles the chance to advance to the next round of the playoffs. The Dodgers top brass apparently thought Dee Gordon's strategy of slapping singles and using his speed to make a difference on the base paths was unsustainable, so they embarked on a flurry of moves that essentially boiled down to trading Gordon straight up for Howie Kendrick. That move didn't work out quite as planned, as Kendrick's late season injury prompted the acquisition of Chase Utley, who broke Ruben Tejada's leg on a needlessly reckless slide into second base during the division series, effectively poisoning whatever good karma Los Angeles might have stored up. Meanwhile, Dee Gordon won the batting title and led the league in steals for Miami. Another recently departed Dodger is Matt Kemp: he was traded to the Padres this offseason despite two balky knees, but ended up eclipsing the production of all six Dodgers right fielders combined in 2015 (they averaged 1,743 points and 10.8 ppg).

Among the other high profile members of this offense to have left Los Angeles, Adrian Beltre and Russell Martin made solid contributions in a Dodger uniform, making a combined four playoff appearances with the club and a combined $75.5 million on the contracts they signed directly after leaving the club via free agency. Neither Carlos Santana nor Franklin Gutierrez made their debuts with the Dodgers, but received plenty of minor league seasoning in the organization before both being traded to Cleveland for Casey Blake and Milton Bradley, respectively. Gutierrez had a very successful 59 games with Seattle this year after missing all of 2014, which (along with his sterling defensive reputation) earned him a starting outfield spot on this squad, while Santana is slated to play first base. If Gutierrez can't maintain this level of production for a full season, Matt Kemp can shift to the outfield, Santana could DH, and James Loney could slot in at first. And last but not least are the current Dodgers rookies - if you could combine Joc Pederson's first half with Corey Seager's second half, you would have a Rookie of the Year candidate to rival Kris Bryant on the Cubs.

At the top of the rotation, you could not ask for a better pitcher than Clayton Kershaw, but after the lefty from Texas, things get a little dicey. Hyun-Jin Ryu, another special foreign import case, missed all of 2015 due to injury, but he has the talent to slot behind Kershaw in that rotation when healthy. Nathan Eovaldi and Rubby De La Rosa both ranked near the bottom of Baseball America's top 100 prospect list exactly once, and they've filled out into decent mid-rotation talents. I put Carlos Frias in the fifth starter slot because he saw some decent playing time in his rookie campaign, but he would definitely have some competition from former rotation mainstay Chad Billingsley or current Dodgers minor leaguer Eric Stults. Edwin Jackson, a starter for most of his career, found a new lease on life in the bullpen for the Cubs and Braves, so he's probably not an option. Let's just say I'm sure these developed Dodgers wish that Hiroki Kuroda didn't move back to Japan to retire.

Kenley Jansen is currently the Dodgers closer, and one of the best in the game at that. He's set up by Shawn Tolleson who blossomed into the closer for the Rangers this year, supplanting Neftali Feliz about a month before he was traded to the Tigers. Pedro Baez is perhaps better known for unsuccessfully entering playoff games in relief of Clayton Kershaw than for being the 9th-hardest throwing pitcher in 2015, but he could very well blossom into a good setup man as well. One pitcher who's not on this roster but has a good chance to bounce back given the right circumstances is Jonathan Broxton, a former setup man and closer who made his way back to the playoffs with St. Louis this year. Overall, the developed Dodgers look very top heavy in all areas (lineup, rotation, and bullpen), but given the best or near-best case scenarios for some of their prospects, and this team could be a force to be reckoned with.

Developed Teams 2015: Houston Astros

Nobody expected the Astros to be contenders this year, but they surprised the world by nearly winning the AL West and then taking the defending AL Champion Royals to within six outs of elimination before snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. But the point is that Houston's rebuilding effort came to fruition sooner than expected, helped along by some shrewd trades and free agent signings, so we can expect this team to be contenders for the foreseeable future.

The three key pieces of this lineup that are also the backbone of Houston's real life lineup are Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, and George Springer, all of whom have the potential to be perennial All-Stars. The best offensive outfield alignment features the athletic Springer in center field, flanked by recent breakout star J.D. Martinez (whose 38 home runs are all the more impressive when you consider he plays his home games in spacious Comerica Park) and Hunter Pence (who played extremely well for the short time he was able to take the field in 2015 due to injuries). However, given that both Pence and Martinez routinely put up negative defensive WAR, it makes the most sense to use speedy Rule 5 pick Delino DeShields (Jr.) in the outfield with one of the aforementioned sluggers moving to DH. For solid fifth and sixth outfielders, look no further than 2015 rookies Preston Tucker and Domingo Santana, or if you prefer the lower upside veteran route, there are names such as Brandon Barnes and J.B. Shuck.

The spectacular middle infield and corner outfield logjam presents a problem of how to get switch hitting super utility man Ben Zobrist in the lineup, who spent the better part of three years in Houston's minor league system as opposed to just 18 games with Tampa Bay's before making his debut. Zobrist has played everywhere except pitcher and catcher during his eight year career, but the two spots at which he has the least experience are the two open spots in this defensive alignment: first base (17 games) and third base (9 games). But with Chris Johnson and Jon Singleton the next best options at the corners, Zorilla is going to have to learn a relatively new position - something that hasn't been difficult for him in the past. Another trouble spot is catcher, where John Buck would have to come out of retirement in order to provide Jason Castro a backup with any major league experience whatsoever.

After Dallas Keuchel, who should win the AL Cy Young Award this year, this pitching staff is a bit of a mess, but it's not without promise. Lance McCullers took the baseball world by storm with his Batman cleats and solid pitching in his first appearance on my database (hence the green highlight in his Pos 2 column) and he's joined by fellow rookies Nick Tropeano (seven starts for the Angels), Vincent Velasquez (seven starts and 12 relief appearances), and Mike Foltynewicz (15 starts for the Braves). Jarred Cosart and Jordan Lyles are former top 100 prospects whose development has staled somewhat, but the dream is definitely still alive for the Marlins and Rockies, respectively. And then Wandy Rodriguez and Bud Norris are both veterans who lost their rotation spots this year, but who could still eat up innings for an inconsistent staff.

All these pitchers will have to jump back and forth between the rotation and the bullpen, because the handful of full-time relievers developed by the Astros leaves quite a bit to be desired. Matt Albers put up the best stats in 2015, but Chad Qualls is the only one with significant closing experience, and Fernando Abad has proven himself just "A-bad" pitcher... WHATEVER I'M AN A'S FAN, I COULDN'T RESIST. The fortunes of this staff might change if/when prospects such as Mark Appel, Asher Wojciechowski, Michael Feliz, and Rio Ruiz come to fruition, but for now this staff could be a good opportunity to experiment with mixing and matching pitchers in a designated short start/long relief strategy rather than a traditional five-man rotation. Now I just have to figure out how to program that strategy into MLB 15: The Show for my planned simulations using these rosters.

Developed Teams 2015: Texas Rangers

Both teams from Texas were eliminated from the 2015 postseason within hours of each other, but since the Rangers and Blue Jays played earlier in the day, here's a lineup made from the best homegrown players that came out of the Texas Rangers organization:

The first things to notice are that Texas has developed an abundance of both starting pitchers and first baseman. While you can never have too much of the former, too much of the latter can be a defensive liability, so let's talk about how to get them all in the lineup. Chris Davis is going to be the most talked-about first baseman of the hot stove season as he bounced back from a forgettable 2014 to lead the league in home runs in his walk year, but he's the most likely to spend the least time at first base on this squad. Not only did he play enough right field for the Orioles in 2015 to qualify as a fantasy outfielder (20 games), but if you turn the sample size clock back a year, he also qualified at third base while filling in for the injured Manny Machado in 2014. Even though Machado was healthy (and spectacular) for all 162 games last year, that doesn't mean Davis lost his ability (however questionable) to man the hot corner if necessary. Mark Teixeira was on his way to a season comparable to Davis's when he went down with a shin fracture in September, and he's also the most gifted defensive first baseman of the bunch, so it makes sense for him to get most of the work in the field when healthy. Mitch Moreland has very limited experience in right field (he hasn't played there regularly since 2012), so he'll likely occupy the DH spot for the majority of the time.

Second base is almost as equally stacked: Ian Kinsler is one of the best in the league, Rougned Odor proved that he has a very playable skillset, and there's also oft-injured superprospect Jurickson Profar waiting in the wings. The left side of the infield is spotty in that it relies on prospects that have yet to prove themselves at the big league level. Joey Gallo came up briefly this year when Adrian Beltre was injured, and played almost equal parts third base and left field (though not enough to qualify for either position), while the best option at shortstop is prospect Luis Sardinas who likewise didn't get enough games to qualify at either middle infield spot for the Brewers. There's also the curious case of Odubel Herrera who played primarily middle infield in his minor league career with Texas, but was used exclusively in center field after being taken in the Rule 5 Draft by the Phillies. Moving Herrera back to shortstop could be an option, but the lack of other impact outfield bats (the other three options, at least one of which would have to play, averaged just over 6 fantasy points per game in 2015) makes me question whether that move would be worth it.

Texas's number one developed starter wasn't developed in the minors at all, but rather imported from Japan; but since a healthy Yu Darvish would be an ace on most clubs (with the exception of the Dodgers, the Nationals, both Chicago franchises, and wherever Zack Greinke and David Price end up), he's simply too good to leave out of this project. The rotation after Darvish features a grouping of four pitchers with remarkably similar skill levels, at least where fantasy baseball is concerned: Edinson Volquez, R.A. Dickey, Colby Lewis, and C.J. Wilson all fell within two points per game of the 47.8 average between them. They're similarly stacked in the long relief department, where they have three more legitimate starters ready to take the mound. There is the injury factor to be concerned about - in addition to Darvish, who missed all of 2015, Wilson, Jesse Chavez, and Scott Feldman all ended the season on the DL, while Derek Holland didn't start pitching regularly until August. But just check out the depth this team has waiting in the "Developed Minor Leagues" - veterans John Danks and Aaron Harang, once and future real-life Rangers rotation hopefuls Martin Perez, Nick Martinez, and Chi Chi Gonzalez, and recently departed Jerad Eickhoff, who had a stellar debut for the Phillies after being involved in the Cole Hamels trade.

For the back end of the bullpen, Texas has Joaquin Benoit, who was projected to close in 2015 up until moments before the first game when the Padres made a last minute trade for Craig Kimbrel, and Robbie Ross Jr., who ended the season as Boston's closer, but will likely be relegated to lefty specialist on this team. Keone Kela had a solid rookie season for his homegrown team and Justin Grimm filled up some meaningful innings for the Cubs. And as for veteran depth pieces, they've also got former bullpen stalwarts Neftali Feliz and Alexi Ogando waiting in the wings. But what distinguishes this team is that all but three players on this roster - Rule 5 pick Odubel Herrera, reserve outfielder Jason Bourgeois, and long reliever Jesse Chavez - made their debuts for the actual Rangers, showing this organization's willingness to shepherd their homegrown players up to the majors.

Developed Teams 2015: St. Louis Cardinals

The first postseason meeting between longtime rivals Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals turned out to be the only 2015 Division Series that didn't go the full five games. And that small misstep by the Cardinals makes 2015's only 100-game winning team the next franchise to be profiled for my developed teams project:

Let's start at the top of the order because that's where we'll find the lineup's leading point scorer. Matt Carpenter doesn't profile as a typical leadoff hitter, but he started hitting for more power when he moved to the #1 spot, so I see no reason to change things. If Carpenter and Albert Pujols are the offensive leaders of this team, Yadier Molina is its spiritual leader, providing excellent defense and setting a great example in the clubhouse. Some young players who could benefit from this example (Kolten Wong, Stephen Piscotty, Tommy Pham) will likely be important parts of the Cardinals' real-life lineup for the foreseeable future, even if none of them project as superstars.

In fact, outside those three above-mentioned veterans, there's not a whole lot of star power in this lineup; despite Colby Rasmus's breakout postseason as the Astros' cleanup hitter, for which he'll collect a tidy sum in free agency. But the unspectacular lineup is offset by a consistently strong pitching staff. Each starter, one through five, has ace potential given the right circumstances, but none are without their significant question marks. Michael Wacha and Carlos Martinez both led the real-life Cardinals at points this season, but both also missed time with injuries. Jaime Garcia had the best 2015 of the group, but his inability to stay on the field is well documented. Shelby Miller had a dominant first half with the Braves but faded significantly down the stretch; maybe his lack of run support all season eventually took its toll.

But if (when some of the big names gst injured, there are solid backup options. Whether or not Dan Haren decides to strap on his glove for another year, and despite his propensity for giving up home runs, he's a great option for long relief / spot starter duty for our purposes. Then in the minors behind Joe Kelly (back from the Red Sox) is St. Louis's top actual spot starting option Tyler Lyons. I see a lot of similarities between this pitching staff and the one the Mets are using this postseason in that they have multiple starters available for quality work out of the pen.

These startets only make St. Louis's cadre of capable full time relievers all the more impressive. Very few closers in the game match up favorably against Trevor Rosenthal, including slider specialist Luke Gregerson (who spent the brunt of his minor league seasoning in the Cardinals system before making his debut with San Diego), but that's fine as he's also proved himself a dominant setup man in his career. The rest of the bullpen includes former closer Jason Motte (who rejuvenated his career with the Cubs) and future closer Adam Ottavino (once he gets back to action with the Rockies.) Even lefty setup man Kevin Siegrist closed a few games this year, in addition to leading the league with 81 appearances. I don't foresee a lot of lost leads for this club.

Developed Teams 2015: Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates are the next team eliminated from the 2015 postseason, falling victim to the brilliance of Jake Arrieta and the Cubs in the NL Wild Card Game. But it wasn't for lack of effort from a mostly homegrown roster, which many pundits believe is the best and most well-rounded in the sport. Check out how similar their developed lineup is to their current lineup in the chart below:

You'll notice that there's only one developed starting position player not currently with the Pirates, but Jose Bautista is a big time threat that can change the shape of any lineup. You'll also notice that there are nine position players in said lineup, despite the fact that Pittsburgh plays in the NL, which is because I've decided to include a DH for each team. I'm not shy about supporting the universal implementation of the DH, despite the protests from certain members of the Giants (which basically boil down to, "We have a good hitting pitcher, so it benefits our team not to change the rules"), and since I did all the work on this project, we're gonna do it my way. Meanwhile, Bautista will slot into the full time DH slot because the Bucs already have three pretty darn good outfielders.

The fact that this lineup is almost exactly the same as what they trotted out on the field for 2015 makes it one of the least interesting to analyze. I could simply refer you to an article such as Grantland's NL Central Preview (and keep in mind that Jordy Mercer would have a spot on this team if it weren't for Jung Ho Kang's emergence this year). They even reacquired third baseman Aramis Ramirez, who was originally a Pirate before spending most of his career as a member of the Cubs. Brock Holt and Rajai Davis are both great additions to the bench because the former can play litrally anywhere on the diamond and the latter's base stealing ability makes him a superb pinch hitting candidate. The only black hole in the lineup is behind the plate, where none of the candidates have even eclipsed 100 games in their respective careers.

The pitching staff is another story, and it's a sad one once you get past bona fide ace Gerrit Cole. Chris Young (the tall white pitcher, not the average-height black outfielder) had somewhat of a resurgence with Seattle last year, but found himself pitching in relief with Kansas City more often than your #2 starter should be. Jeff Locke has shown that he might be able to stick in a major league rotation, and while that doesn't sound like a glowing endorsement, it isn't. After those three, you're stuck with five options who started a combined total of one game in 2015 (Casey Sadler's winning effort on April 12, after which he landed on the 60-day disabled list. That's what the orange highlight in the Bat/Throw column is for, by the way - Tony Sanchez's blue means he is on the 40-man roster, but in the minor leagues). Bronson Arroyo and Brandon Cumpton were injured for the whole year and Tom Gorzelanny hasn't started a major league game since 2013.

One guy who used to start while with the Pirates is Zach Duke, but he moved to the bullpen full time four years ago and hasn't looked back (except for that one spot start he had with the Nationals in 2013). He's one of four lefties in the pen, including projected closer Tony Watson, who has never been a closer in real life, but his 41 holds in 2015 prove that he doesn't crack under pressure. This is not a terrible bullpen by any means, but it's not the type of lights out relief corps you want to support a rotation as spotty as this one.

Developed Teams 2015: New York Yankees

It's hard for me to blog regularly during the baseball playoffs. There are a lot of writers who are a lot closer to the action and a lot better equipped to respond to the real time momentum shifts of a tense postseason series than I, who tends to focus more on abstract, big picture topics. One such topic is one that I've explored at length several years ago (and teased briefly earlier this year), the Developed Teams Project. Now with the 2015 regular season in the books and my copy of MLB 15: The Show purchased, I figured this would be the perfect time to reboot this project, using order of elimination from the playoffs as a guide for which teams to profile first. Since the AL Wild Card Game occurred a day before the NL's play-in extravaganza, that puts the New York Yankees in the spotlight first.

Obviously the salary and free agency columns of this chart are irrelevant for our developed team purposes, but it's still nice to get a little perspective on where these players are in their careers. For example Robinson Cano, the heart and soul of this offense, just struck free agency gold, signing the largest contract in Mariners history, and is justifiably the developed Yankees' highest paid player. Number two on that list, Japanese ace Masahiro Tanaka, brings up the same inherent problem with this project that I touched on in the above-linked sneak peek. Seeing as Tanaka was already a star in his home country for seven years before he came stateside, the Yankees didn't have a hand in his development at all. But foreign imports like Tanaka are too important to the baseball landscape to simply leave out, so I've decided to give the importing team the same status as a more traditional player's developing team. So voila: instant $20mm ace.

These Yankees also have a pair of $10mm outfielders - Brett Gardner and Melky Cabrera (a star of this year's AL All-Acquired team) who would solidify the top of any batting order. The positions in left hand columns are based on actual 2015 stats, so you'll have to use your imagination to populate the depth chart sometimes - in this case placing Gardner and Austin Jackson to their secondary positions. Another brief word on the outfield, and to explain why I put three catchers on the roster: slugging DH Jimmy Paredes has played some RF and 3B in his brief career (neither of them well), but putting up with his weak defense would allow Dioner Navarro to log more time at DH.

If I were taking on this project prior to 2015 as opposed to after it, the infield corners would constitute gaping black holes, with failed catching prospect Jesus Montero the best option at first and Paredes basically forced into playing third. But two rookies - prospect Greg Bird for the Yanks and longtime minor league outfielder Adonis Garcia for the Braves, making his first appearance in my baseball database - stepped up and logged some pretty solid innings. Meanwhile Eduardo Nunez will be the first shortstop to start on a developed Yankees team in nearly two decades.

But rather than dwell on Yankees history, let's talk about the elements of New York's future that appear on this team. In addition to Greg Bird, whose immediate future is unclear with Mark Teixeira under contract for another year, Rob Refsnyder and Luis Severino look to be important cogs in the Yankees machine for years to come at 2B and SP, respectively. Severino will likely slot behind lefty Jose Quintana, who is an interesting case because he was neither initially signed nor did he make his MLB debut with the Yankees. However, given that he only managed 3 games in relief in the Mets system then spent four whole years in the Yankees farm system before debuting with the White Sox the same year in which he was acquired, his presence on this team is perfectly justified.

Once-vaunted prospects Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes underperformed expectations this year, but given that they occupy the four and five spots in the rotation with ample spot starter / long relief options lined up behind them, the starting staff looks pretty solid. But the real strength of this club is the bullpen, which features the legitimate three-headed monster of Mark Melancon, David Robertson, and Dellin Betances. There's no way all three of these relief aces equal their 2015 fantasy point totals with just one team's worth of save chances to go around, but they will give the starters an immense amount of confidence knowing that they only have to go six innings in a close game.