Astrology 2020 Top Ranked Players

As of today, pitchers and catchers from all but two MLB teams will have reported to Spring Training camps. The Dodgers and the Reds are the last to officially summon their battery-mates, which they do on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Given we're taking our first tentative steps into the 2020 baseball season, I thought this would be a good time to emerge from my offseason blog-cation, and look at the Astrology Baseball landscape, through the lens of MLB.com's fantasy player rankings.

Below you'll find a brief analysis of the top-ranked player in each sign - or more, in the special case of a sign having multiple players in the top 10 overall. Next to each player's name, you'll see his 2019 fantasy point totals and points per game average (the latter in parenthesis).


Sagittarius
1. Christian Yelich - 2,709 (20.8)
2. Ronald Acuna Jr. - 2,674 (17.1)

This special case applies to the top two players in the sport, according to MLB.com, as superstar outfielders Yelich and Acuna were both born under the Sagittrarius star sign. Yelich won the 2018 NL MVP award, and a late-season injury was likely the biggest factor that prevented him from taking home back-to-back trophies. Acuna also got some hardware in 2018, earning Rookie of the Year honors, and he followed up that performance with three stolen bases shy of a 40-40 season. With such a dynamic duo roaming the grass, could this be the year where the Archers win it all?

Leo
3. Mike Trout - 2,568 (19.1)

For years, Trout hasbeen the consensus best player in MLB, which is why this ranking is a bit perlexing to me. He doesn't seem to be showing any signs of slowing down, as the 28-year-old won the AL MVP last year (his third time in the last six seasons), although he has missed  time due to injuries in each of the past three seasons. Honorable mention for the Lions goes to starting pitcher Max Scherzer, who was ranked #11 overall, fresh off a World Series winning season.

Cancer
4. Cody Bellinger - 2,849 (18.2)

Bellinger won the NL MVP over Yelich last year, not only because of his legit offensive breakout, but because he was able to stay on the field for 26 more games than the defending champion. Belli settled into right field for the Dodgers, but his eligibility at first base and in center field will help a Crabs roster that is not particularly deep at either position. One position where the Decapods are particularly deep is shortstop, where Trea Turner leads the field at #13.


Aries
5. Nolan Arenado - 2,525 (16.1)
8. Alex Bregman - 2,739 (17.5)

The only other sign with two players in the top 10 is Aries, where Arenado and Bregman once again comprise the left half of the Rams infield. Despite his displeasure with his current organization, a trade sending Arenado away from the Rockies (and thus hitter-friendly Coors Field) seems unlikely, so his park factors should remain in place this season. If Carlos Correa ever has a full, healthy season aside Bregman in Houston, it would be bad news for Aries's ability to maximize its best players positionally: without the shortstop eligibility Bregman has from serving as a frequent backup, he would have to take up the DH slot.


Libra
6. Mookie Betts - 2,560 (17.0)

Bellinger's newest teammate in Los Angeles, Betts was involved the most dramatic blockbuster trade of the offseason, which not only helped the Red Sox duck under the luxury tax threshold, but also delivered a second MVP-caliber outfielder to the Dodgers (Betts won the AL MVP in 2018). The only thing that would make this saga complete is if Betts pulled a Paul Goldschmidt and signed a long term extension with Los Angeles after spurning multiple attempts from Boston. Libra has a fairly large gap between their top fantasy talents: the next Scales players on the list are Betts's former teammate Xander Bogaerts and Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty at #25 and #26, respectively.

Virgo
7. Gerrit Cole - 3,148 (95.3)

Before the Astros became mired in the infamous sign-stealing scandal, they had to watch arguably their best pitcher Cole depart for the Yankees, who forked over the largest ever contract for a pitcher in free agency to land the 2019 Cy Young award runner-up. Cole's durability (he made at least 32 starts in four of the last five seasons) and ability to miss bats (he led the AL with 326 strikeouts and 13.8 K/9) will be welcome for a New York team that saw a record number of injuries in 2019. Next after Cole on the Maidens list of top players is Atlanta's slugging first baseman Freddie Freeman at #14.


Scorpio
9. Francisco Lindor - 2,232 (15.6)

Like Betts, Lindor has shown no willingness to engage his current club in extension talks, so it's not unreasonable to predict that the Indians will ship him to another team sometime between now and the end of the 2021 season, his final year of team control. The switch hitter known as "Mr. Smile" will continue to lead the way for both the Tribe and the Scorpions with his electric style of play. In perhaps the worst positional logjam in the Astrology Baseball landscape, Scorpio's top two players are shortstops: Colorado's Trevor Story follows Lindor closely at #12.


Pisces
10. Justin Verlander - 3,235 (95.1)

Houston Astros teammates Verlander and Cole put up nearly identical numbers in the 2019 season, but it was  the veteran J-V who came away with second Cy Young award (the other was in 2011), while the Cole Train had to content himself with a huge bag full of money. Verlander turns 37 years old in a week, but he'll be counted on to lead a Houston staff and change the narrative from investigations into cheating to winning ballgames. His co-ace on the Fish for years has been Clayton Kershaw, although the Dodgers lefty has fallen on some inconsistent times as he approaches his early-mid 30's, dropping all the way to #42 in the rankings.

Gemini
15. Jacob deGrom - 2,495 (77.9)
16. Anthony Rendon - 2,673 (18.3)

The first of the signs to not have a player in the top 10, Gemini nevertheless has a very strong one-two punch in back-to-back NL Cy Young award winner deGrom and Mike Trout's newest supporting cast member Rendon. Both will play for their current real-world teams for the foreseeable future, as deGrom signed a five-year extension (plus an option) with the Mets prior to last year, and Rendon got a massive seven-year free agent deal to play in Anaheim.


Taurus
18. Jose Altuve - 1,915 (15.4)

I guess allegations of using an electronic buzzer to receive signs from his teammates didn't affect Altuve's fantasy standing, as the diminutive second baseman still finds himself ranked within the top 20. That was absolutely an unfair dig, as Altuve has been one of the best hitters in the sport long before the shadow of scandal darkened Houston's doorstep, even winning the MVP award in 2017, the year that the trash can scheme reached its zenith... wait a minute... maybe that dig wasn't so unfair after all! Looking down the Bulls roster, we have Aaron Judge next at #30, who won Rookie of the Year the same year that Altuve took home his MVP.


Capricorn
31. Fernando Tatis Jr. - 1,437 (17.1)

The son of the former major league third baseman with the same name never really got much Rookie of the Year consideration due to an injury-shortened debut season - Tatis Jr. only managed 84 games, despite the fact that the Padres bucked the service time manipulation trend and put him on the active roster to start the year. Unfortunately, the Mets used the same strategy with Sagittarius slugger Pete Alonso, and he went on to set the rookie record for home runs in a season. Next on the Goats hierarchy is Tatis's double play partner Ozzie Albies at #38.

Aquarius
49. Whit Merrifield - 2,154 (13.2)

Bringing up the rear, we have the always-hapless Aquarius, which has just one player in the top 50. Whit Merrifield is a tremendously talented player, with some versatility built in, but experienced fantasy drafters wouldn't pick him until the fourth or fifth round. Jose Abreu is next at #60, but neither is the type of player around whom you'd want to build a team. On an interesting historical note, this year I learned that not only are baseball legends Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron both Aquarians, but their birthdays are one day apart! (One calendar day, that is - Hammerin' Hank was born the day before the Babe's 39th birthday.) While the 2019 Water Carriers don't look too exciting, Aquarian baseball fans can look at this fact and dream of a time when their sign will once again rule the Astrological diamond.

All-Acquired 2019-20 - National League

In my last post, I went over the top new players acquired by American League teams during the 2019-only portion of the 2019-20 offseason. Today I'll continue with the National League version, after which I will lock myself in my room for as long as it takes to update my team-by-team baseball database with rosters current as of New Year's Day.

Going by both 2019 fantasy points and by prior MLB track record, the top free agent starting pitcher to sign with a new NL team this winter was Madison Bumgarner. The big lefty jumped ship within his division, going from the Giants (with whom he won three World Series titles as part of the even-year dynasty) to the Diamondbacks (presumably because of their hitter-friendly ballpark). In terms of contract size and future upside, the top acquisition was Zack Wheeler, who easily topped $100MM in his five-year deal with the Phillies. Continuing down the list of MLB Trade Rumors's top-ranked free agents (Stephen Strasburg of course being ineligible because he re-signed with his former team), we have veteran lefty Cole Hamels, who will take the Braves' rotation spot vacated by veteran lefty Dallas Keuchel who finds himself in the AL version of this list. Another veteran lefty, Wade Miley, will round out a quite strong 2020 Reds rotation, despite the fact that he was left off Houston's playoff roster in 2019.

The Brewers have three names in the All-Acquired starting pitcher pool, headlined (at least in terms of 2019 fantasy points) by Brett Anderson, who somehow managed to stay healthy enough to put up a full season's worth of starts for the A's. Milwaukee grabbed a second new southpaw starter, Eric Lauer, in a trade with the Padres, for whom they sent out righty Zach Davies. The third Brew Crew acquisition appears in the below image, since Josh Lindblom pitched 2019 in the Korea Baseball Organization. The former Dodgers prospect will try to follow in the footsteps of fellow KBO-returnee Eric Thames in Milwaukee, except for the part where the latter unceremoniously had his contract option declined after the past season. Speaking of imports from the KBO, the Cardinals picked up Kwang-hyun Kim (it's spelled "Gwang-hyun" if you're looking for his baseball-reference page), whose former team will receive a posting fee equal to 20% of his contract with St. Louis. The only team other than the Brewers with multiple starter acquisitions is the Mets, who picked up both Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha, with one of them presumably headed to the bullpen to start the year. 

At this point in the offseason, the NL has been much more active than the AL on the relief market, with two pitchers who served as their teams' closers for at least part of 2019 having changed hands already. The Braves are supposedly planning to have Will Smith act in a setup role in front of Mark Melancon (another pitcher late of the Giants), but I'm hoping for the sake of the Cancer Crabs Fantasy Astrology team that they change course and Smith gets to rack up saves all year. Speaking of the Cancer Crabs, Blake Treinen followed up his historic 2018 season with a total dud in 2019, although that didn't stop the Dodgers from taking a one-year flier on the hard-throwing sinkerballer. Former starter Drew Pomeranz blossomed into a star reliever after a midseason trade to the Brewers last year, and the Padres are hoping that improvement will be sustainable in his second stint with the club. And Dellin Betances was a bastion of excellence for the Yankees until an injury-ruined 2019, but his track record led the crosstown Mets to take a chance on a return to glory.

It's a curious coincidence that the NL All-Acquired first base pool includes both the new Brewers first baseman and the old Brewers first baseman. Justin Smoak hasn't been able to replicate a breakout 2017 with the Blue Jays, but a switch-hitting power hitter with plate discipline is always good to have around. Jesus Aguilar's own unsustainable breakout came in 2018, and his fall from grace saw him get traded to the Rays at the 2019 deadline, and then picked up on waivers by the cross-state Marlins this winter. Speaking of the Marlins, they also picked up middle infielder Jonathan Villar, after the Orioles let their top fantasy-scoring player go via the waiver wire. He's followed on the second base depth chart by a couple of intriguing possibilities: Jurickson Profar was traded from the A's to the Padres after failing to capitalize on his own 2018 breakout with Texas, while Eric Sogard (another former Athletic) found a statistically unsustainable power stroke in 2019 (who here is a believer in exit velocity?), but the Brewers brought him back into the fold as part of their infield mix.

Speaking of second base, the Reds signed Mike Moustakas to play there, giving the longtime third baseman the type of deal that he has arguably deserved during the last two offseasons. However, if I was building a lineup out of these players, I would put Moose at his customary position, given the depth of second base talent, and my complete lack of faith in Ryon Healy's ability to hold down the hot corner. It's questionable how much the Giants expect Zack Cozart to play at any position next year, as his trade was effectively a way for the Angels to clear some salary space for Anthony Rendon. Didi Gregorius was one of the handful of players whose astrological sign I had been misrepresenting over the past several years, but whatever his star sign, he'll be locking down the shortstop spot in Philadelphia, pushing his erroneous former Pisces teammate Jean Segura over to second base. Luis Urias was one of four players involved in the above-mentioned Milwaukee-San Diego trade, and he'll battle with Sogard for playing time in the Brewers infield. Jake Cronenworth didn't make it into the show in 2019 (the blue highlight in his Bats/Throws column indicates he was a non-roster invitee to Spring Training last year), and we'll explore the trade that sent him from the Rays to the Padres...

...now! Tommy Pham had a better overall season than Hunter Renfroe in 2019, but as an aging player whose earnings are slated to approach his actual value via the arbitration process, he was not the type of asset that a penny-pinching organization like the Rays prefers to keep on hand. Thus Tampa Bay sent Pham and Cronenworth to San Diego in exchange for younger, cheaper outfielder Hunter Renfroe and a pair of prospects. Such is life! Speaking of outfielders acquired by the Padres, Trent Grisham went over to southern California in the twice-above-mentioned Brewers-Padres deal, where he'll join a somehow still-crowded outfield picture in San Diego. A pair of lefty-swinging corner bats also changed hands via free agency, with longtime Angels right fielder Kole Calhoun landing with the Diamondbacks, and journeyman Corey Dickerson settling in Miami (at least until the 2020 trade deadline. 

While Avisail Garcia got some time in center field with the Rays last year, his true calling is as a corner outfielder, where he'll play opposite Christian Yelich in Milwaukee next year. The Mets picked up Jake Marisnick in a trade with the Astros to replace their former glove-first fourth outfielder Juan Lagares. But the biggest fish in the center field pond is Japanese import Shogo Akiyama, whose deal with the Reds hasn't yet been formally announced. As far as catcher is concerned, Omar Narvaez, Milwaukee's replacement for Yasmani Grandal is also the top catcher acquired by an NL team this winter... the top hitting catcher, at least. And the fact that he's left-handed makes him a perfect platoon partner with new Braves backstop Travis d'Arnaud. As with the American League, possible backup backstops abound: former A's folk hero Stephen Vogt follows MadBum from SF to ARI, Francisco Cervelli is going to try to stave off concussion-related retirement for one more year in Miami, and Luke Maile still plays Major League Baseball.

So that's how the two leagues' All-Acquired teams look as the calendar flips to 2020. In short: the AL had the more splashy acquisitions, while the NL has the edge in terms of depth (especially in the bullpen and the outfield). These rosters will surely look a lot different by the time MLB 20: The Show hits shelves in the spring, so we won't get to see an accurate simulation with these players as headliners. But it's fun to take stock of the baseball roster landscape, even as the worldwide political landscape hurtles into scarier and more unstable territory day by day...

All-Acquired 2019-20 - American League

With the 2019-20 MLB offseason moving quicker than the last two combined, the New Year's Day update of my All-Acquired rosters features more complete teams than I expected. With the calendar recently having flipped to a new decade*, let's start by taking a look at the top players acquired by American League teams (new teams only) after the conclusion of the 2019 World Series:

* Some might say the new decade won't technically start until 2021, but I think I made a pretty good argument for starting baseball decades with year zero when introducing the previous version of my All-Decade Teams project.

The most impactful free agent signing of the offseason was also one of the most predictable. Many assumed that the presence of bona fide ace Gerrit Cole on the open market would prompt the Yankees to return to the "financial powerhouse" status that they displayed in the G. Steinbrenner era, and they did not disappoint. Coming off a season where he probably should have shared AL Cy Young award honors with his former Astros teammate (and eventual winner) Justin Verlander, Cole signed a record deal for a pitcher, in terms of both overall guarantee and average annual value. Following Cole in the All-Acquired rotation is Korean lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu, who signed with the Blue Jays, meaning AL East teams have acquired the the ERA leaders from both leagues: Cole paced the junior circuit with a 2.50 mark, while Ryu led the NL with a pristine 2.32 while pitching for the Dodgers. Sticking with Toronto for a second, Canada's only remaining team completely revamped their rotation, also signing Tanner Roark, trading for Chase Anderson, and scooping up Shun Yamaguchi from the Japanese League (you can see his NPB stats on the next image).

Going by 2019 MLB fantasy points, the next pitcher on the list would be onetime Braves future ace Julio Teheran, who signed a one year deal to play in Anaheim, after they missed out on Cole, a southern California native and known Angels target. The Halos also picked up Dylan Bundy via a trade with the Orioles, although he's unlikely to make a hypothetical All-Acquired starting five. Another organization that went for multiple value adds, rather than one big ticket acquisition, is the Twins, which snuck under the end-of-year deadline by signing righty Homer Bailey and lefty Rich Hill in the same day. (This feature doesn't count Minnesota's re-signings of Jake Odorizzi and Michael Pineda.) The Rangers were also active on the free agent market, picking up Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles for their rotation, but their biggest acquisition (in name brand value, if not 2019 production) was a steal of a trade for Corey Kluber from the Indians. The two-time AL Cy Young winner had a lost 2019 after a fluke line drive broke his forearm in May, but he was not very effective when healthy, and who knows if such a key body part for a pitcher will make a clean recovery, but the price was right from Texas's perspective to take a shot.

The White Sox signaled that their rebuild is coming to an end in six distinct ways this offseason, but the two that involve the pitching staff center on veteran lefties Dallas Keuchel and Gio Gonzalez. Keuchel was famously a victim of the great 2018-19 free agent freeze, as qualifying offer-related draft compensation prevented him from signing a contract until June, but he made up for his long stay on the market with a three year deal (plus an option) heading into 2020. The last starter of note to change teams before the new year was the bargain-basement signing of Martin Perez by the Red Sox... unless you count the Mariners' pickup of Kendall Graveman, who signed a two-year deal to recover from Tommy John surgery with the Cubs, who surprisingly cut him loose after just two minor league rehab appearances.

The market for starting pitchers has moved a lot quicker than that of relievers, with Tyler Clippard being the most experienced setup arm who has changed teams, when he signed a one-year deal with the Twins. However the award for the most upside has to go to Emmanuel Clase, the main return for the Indians in the Corey Kluber trade. While a reliever might seem like a light return in exchange for an ace... it is, even given that this reliever throws a nasty 101-mph cutter. The Rangers replaced Clase in their bullpen with Joely Rodriguez, a former Ranger who spent most of the last two seasons as an elite pitcher in Japan. The only other notable relievers to change hands this winter were both acquired by the Mariners and both share names with their fathers: multi-inning threat Nestor Cortes Jr. (traded from the Yankees) and former Cubs World Series contributor Carl Edwards Jr.

Starting with the infield, we have the third win-now move made by the White Sox: the signing of first baseman/designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion. EE has been one of the premier power hitters of the last decade, but it's generous to call him anything other than a bat-first player at this point, which makes this move all the more curious, since the Sox also extended defensively-limited slugger Jose Abreu. If you don't trust Edwin in the field, you could always hand 1B over to C.J. Cron, who will be playing for his fourth team in four years, having bounced from the Angels to the Rays (via trade) to the Twins (waiver claim) to the Tigers (signed after being non-tendered). I did most of my research for this feature using this extensive article from MLB.com, although it's curious that Mike Petriello did not include an entry for the Indians signing Cesar Hernandez after he was non-tendered by the Phillies. I would pick Hernandez over Jonathan Schoop as the All-Acquired starting second baseman, even though it would be a nice story to have the right side of the infield filled with two players who moved from the Twins to the Tigers.

While I tabbed Cole as the most impactful free agent signing this winter, he's closely followed by the Angels' pickup of Anthony Rendon, fresh off a World Series win with the Nationals. As an A's fan, I must say I'm worried about what the Halos are capable of doing with a true superstar to plug into the lineup next to Mike Trout - I'm not counting Albert Pujols (who was past his prime at his signing) or Josh Hamilton (whose success was a bit of a flash in the pan). Behind Rendon on the depth chart is Maikel Franco, another infielder to latch on with an AL Central team after being non-tendered by Philadelphia. But the wild card here could be Travis Shaw, who had two great seasons with the Brewers before falling flat in '19 and signing a make-good deal with the Blue Jays to play first base. Shortstop is the weak spot on this team, with the only fantasy eligible all-acquired player there being light-hitting Jose Peraza, who was brought in by the Red Sox in case Dustin Pedroia's injury troubles continue.

If shortstop is this team's weakest link, the outfield is a close second, with barely enough players to fill the three spots. Left field belongs to Hunter Renfroe, a defensively gifted power hitter who was acquired by the Rays (along with a prospect) for a superior but more expensive outfielder Tommy Pham (and another prospect). The only qualifier in center field is Delino DeShields, the other piece that Texas sent to Cleveland for Kluber, although it's unlikely Delino Jr. will be anything more than a fourth (or fifth or sixth) outfielder for the 2020 Tribe. In right field we have the second-to-last big acquisition by the White Sox: Nomar Mazara. The lefty swinging former top prospect had run out of time to prove himself with the Rangers, but will look to capitalize on his potential on a promising Chicago team that just locked up their future centerfielder Luis Robert to a long-term extension today. I should also mention Yoshitomo Tsutsugo along with the outfielders, although based on what I've read about the Japanese slugger, he's best suited for DH duties.

To round out the lineup - and to cap off the White Sox's winter shopping spree - we have Yasmani Grandal, who wasn't just the best catcher available on the open market this year, but is arguably the best catcher in baseball right now. He can hit for average, hit for power, provide good defense behind the plate (unless it's with the Dodgers in the playoffs), and can even play a little first base, although he's unlikely to get a lot of time there based on Chicago's other moves. There's a plethora of catchers on the depth chart behind Grandal, headed by Austin Romine, who will vacate his spot behind Gary Sanchez in New York to back up a decidedly less exciting catching contingent in Detroit. There's also Alex Avila (who replaces fellow left-handed-hitting backup Jason Castro in Minnesota), Sandy Leon (a defensively-oriented backup to defensively-oriented starter Roberto Perez in Cleveland), Dustin Garneau (a bargain-basement signing by the reigning AL champion Astros), and Austin Allen (acquired by the A's based on his prodigious power in Triple-A).


Apart from a couple of slugging corner infield pieces, starting pitching ruled the day for the American League's pre-New Years acquisitions of new players. We'll see if that's enough to win the day in a potential exhibition series against the National League's All-Acquired team, which I will explore sometime in the future.

All-MLB Player Union Rep Team 2019-20

In honor of Netflix's The Irishman - which, if you haven't defied Martin Scorsese and streamed it on your phone yet, centers on Jimmy Hoffa's tenure atop the International Brotherhood of Teamsters - I'm going to take a deep dive into the players at the forefront of Major League Baseball's collective bargaining union: the MLB Player's Association. The terrific website MLB Trade Rumors dot com recently profiled the known player representatives for each team, with the caveat that some information is incomplete and/or subject to change. But given this snapshot, I thought it would be fun to organize these labor-minded players into a projected roster and see what it might look like. Here's the list, with player entries taken from my MLB 2019 database, sorted by position:

The first thing to notice is the abundance of shortstops in the player pool. What, a guy is named the "captain of the infield," and all of a sudden he thinks he can speak for his team in labor matters? The next thing I want to mention are the six stray players at the bottom. The first group is former player reps who no longer play for the team that they once represented. The second group are pension committee reps (with one alternate) who aren't also affiliated with a team. So without further ado, let's analyze a potential All-Player's Union Roster!

At the front of the starting rotation, Max Scherzer has not only been one of the most successful player of the last decade (because all-decade stuff is cool for another four days, right?), but also one of the most outspoken, making him a good leader for both on and off-field issues. Following him is recently-acquired Yankees lefty James Paxton, the man known as "Big Maple," due to his large stature and Canadian ancestry, who provides the perspective of a north-of-the-border hurler. Another pair of lefties, Marco Gonzales, of Paxton's former Mariners team, and Andrew Heaney, who plays in Anaheim, are just starting to come into their own. It would be a lot easier to round out this rotation if we could dip into the former player reps - Chase Anderson used to represent the Brewers, but he was traded to the Blue Jays this offseason. Otherwise we'd have to bank on a super-early return to health for Pirates once and future ace Jameson Taillon's elbow.

The pool for the all union bullpen (can we just start calling this team the Unions?) is made up of 75 percent Geminis. Matt Barnes was once considered the Red Sox closer heir-apparent, after the departure of Craig Kimbrel, but before the emergence of Brandon Workman. Andrew Miller was once considered one of the game's top lefty relievers, but could his chronic overuse in the 2016 postseason have hampered his future potential? There's no choice but to draw from the Executive Sub-Committee here, where Collin McHugh adds some length to the staff, as he has had both starting and relief experience in his career with the Astros. However, McHugh is only an Alternate member of the Pension Committee; full member Cory Gearrin was little more than a bit player in terms of 2019 fantasy points.

Not only do the Unions have access to three catchers, but the top two are uniquely suited to a platoon arrangement - Tucker Barnhart is a left-handed hitter known for his defensive prowess, while Tyler Flowers is a bat-first righty. Rounding out Gearrin's co-rep on the pension sub-committee, veteran free agent Chris Iannetta would be great to have in the proverbial labor minor leagues - or just as a third catcher. A roster can have a little third catcher, as a treat. Going by POS and PTS, Phillies slugging first baseman Rhys Hoskins would be the best bet to put up the most points at his customary position. You'll notice that there are technically no qualified second basemen in the player pool, but we can draw from our bumper crop of shortstops. My best solution would be to move Athletics MVP candidate, and highest-scoring All-Union player, Marcus Semien to the keystone, with Indians trade candidate Francisco Lindor remaining at short.

Speaking of Lindor, the Puerto Rican-born "Mr. Smile" is one of only three Latin American born players in the All-Union talent pool. The other two: both Venezuelan shortstops: Rangers veteran Elvis Andrus (from Maracay) and Marlins superutility type Miguel Rojas (Los Teques). Moving around the horn to third base, Kris Bryant is the top eligible point scorer there (no matter when he eventually becomes a free agent), but if you've skipped ahead to the dearth of outfield options, you'll see that he's needed in the grass. The good news is that leaves the hot corner for Justin Turner, whose 2020 position could be in flux, depending on whether the Dodgers score a big trade for an infielder. (Maybe Lindor, anyone? What would be the competitive advantage of hoarding player union reps?)

At the end of the official team reps, you'll see Michael Conforto of the Mets, the only eligible primary outfielder - who luckily also has secondary eligibility in center field, where he needs to play. Bryant can occupy another corner (let's call it right field), but how do we round out the outfield mix? Should we return to shortstop? Surely either Andrus or defensive whiz Nick Ahmed has the athletic ability to handle left field, despite a TOTAL lack of MLB experience for each one. We could look at Hoskins's 2018 as the primary left fielder in Philadelphia, but  we can all agree that experiment didn't go too well - even though that arrangement would leave 1B in the capable hands of the veteran lefty Daniel Murphy. But a more traditional solution lies in the former player reps. Gold Glove left fielder Alex Gordon used to speak for the Royals, before he hit free agency, and the consensus is that he'll either retire, or re-sign with Kansas City, in which case he would presumably return to his union rep role because why not? I hope the Aquarius outfielder comes back, because, to paraphrase Hanibal Lector, the league's more interesting with Gordon in it.


If you take into account Taillon's injury, which will likely keep him out of action until the summer, there are exactly enough confirmed union-related MLB'ers to make a 25-player roster. (Never mind that the limit is going up to an even (yet somehow infinitely less satisfying) 26 players next year.) I have no idea how a team like this would perform in a simulation against the rest of the league. (I recently had to uninstall MLB19 to make room on my PS4 for MK11, so I can't run the numbers myself.) But with so many players accustomed to life at the negotiating table, I'll bet the clubhouse chemistry would be off the charts... in one direction or another.

Star Wars: The Story of the Films So Far

As my wife and I contemplated seeing the latest Star War tonight, she says, "Sure, but I won't have any idea what's going on."

"That's OK, I'll tell you," I respond. But then started wondering at what a truly daunting task that was. Here's what I came up with:

* Star Wars: Episode 4 (1977) 

Back when it was released, it didn't have the subtitle "A New Hope," because they didn't flipping know that there were gonna be eight more of these things. It describes the conflict between the Empire, the evil rulers of the galaxy, and the Rebellion, who are fighting against them. Princess Leia is on a secret Rebel mission, but about to be caught by Darth Vader, the top enforcer for the Empire. At the last minute, she entrusts two droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO, with the maguffin: information about a secret Imperial weapon called the Death Star.

Artoo and Threepio head to a nearby desert planet to look for help - specifically an old ally Obi-Wan Kenobi. Instead, the droids run into Luke Skywalker, an orphan farmer who is a friend of "Ben" Kenobi, and takes them to him. Obi-Wan explains that R2 has important information about a big time Rebel mission, which Old Ben can't do himself, so he recruits Luke into joining him... but only after Imerpial troops slaughter Luke's family.

Luke and Obi-Wan enlist the help of Han Solo, a pilot/smuggler, and his first mate Chewbacca, who take them to their destination on their ship, the Millennium Falcon. The gang complete a daring rescue of Princess Leia, but Obi-Wan sacrifices himself in the process, throwing a lightsaber fight against Darth. Luke leads a heroic charge to destroy the Death Star and that's the end of movie number one.

* Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Some time later, the Empire discovers the new Rebel base, and our heroes are forced to evacuate. Luke follows a message from the ghost of Obi-Wan, and heads to meet up with Jedi Master Yoda, to learn the ways of the Force. Meanwhile, Han, Leia, Chewie, and 3PO are chased by Darth Vader to Cloud City, where Han seeks shelter with his friend Lando Calrissian. However, Lando makes a deal with Darth, and betrays his friends.

Luke, using his new Jedi Divination powers, gets visions of Han and Leia in trouble. He recklessly heads off to help them, against the wishes of Yoda and Ben's ghost, and is too late to help them anyway. Han gets frozen in carbonite and sold to the bounty hunter Boba Fett, but Lando double crosses Vader in order to help Leia and Chewie escape. Luke confronts Vader, who defeats our hero in a lightsaber duel, and then delivers the big reveal: "I am your father!"

* Episode 6: The Return of the Jedi (1983)

Frozen Han is in the custody of Jabba the Hutt, the gang launches a daring rescue mission, and that's all we need to say about that. Luke returns to Yoda to talk about the new shit that has come to light, Yoda confirms that Darth is Luke's dad, then dies. Later, the ghost of Obi-Wan explains that Vader used to be his student, Anakin Skywalker, who turned to the dark side. Then he delivers another big reveal: that Leia is Luke's twin sister!

Luke gives Leia the news while they're both on a mission to destroy... you guessed it, another Death Star. (They've already run out of ideas by the third movie, and there's six more coming!?) Luke surrenders and tries to convince Vader to abandon the dark side, but Vader turns him over to his boss, the Emperor. He reveals that the whole thing with the Death Star II was a trap to lure the rebels in, and to make Luke watch while they get destroyed!

However, Leia befriends the cuddly Ewoks, who help the Rebels turn the tides and defeat the Imperial army. Meanwhile, Luke almost succumbs to his anger, and defeats Darth in a duel. However, he makes his Wisdom saving throw, and refuses to turn to the dark side. The Emperor then goes to plan B, attacking Luke with force lightning! Vader, seeing his boss about to kill his son, lifts up the Emperor and tosses him off a railing, presumably to his death. Darth has a touching moment of redemption with Luke, who then burns his old armor on a pyre.

* Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (1999)

Probably about 30 years before the events of ANH, a young Obi-Wan and his boss Qui-Gon Jin are on some diplomatic mission for the Republic. They help the local Queen, Padme Amidala, who is disguised as one of her handmaidens, escape from an invasion, but end up stranded on Tatooine, the same desert planet where we met Luke in Episode 4. Qui-Gon meets young slave Anakin Skywalker (who in the movies is like nine, but the story probably would have made more sense if he was closer to 15), and finds that Anakin is very strong with the Force (and let's leave it at that).

They escape and go to the Republic's homeworld, where Padme fails to get support for her planet. At the same time, the Jedis take Anakin to the Jedi headquarters, where Qui-Gon requests to take on Anakin as an apprentice. Yoda refuses, however, saying that Anakin has too much anger, and is prone to corruption from the Dark Side. But Qui-Gon defies Yoda, and takes Anakin back with them to Padme's home planet to help stave off the invasion. Qui-Gon ends up getting killed by Darth Maul in the climactic end battle (who is later killed by Obi-Wan), leaving Obi-Wan in charge of Anakin's Jedi education.

* Episode 2: Attack of the Clones (2002?) 

10 years after Episode 1, Anakin and Obi-Wan are a Jedi comedy team that's down on their luck. Padme is now a senator in the Republic, and she's engaged in a power struggle with Palpatine, who is also kind-of-secretly a bad guy who we all know will eventually go on to become the Emperor. Anakin is assigned guard duty to Padme, and they eventually fall in love and get married, but not before Anakin sees his mother get killed by some desert-planet bad guys, and it messes him up good.

Meanwhile, Obi-Wan investigates a clone army, which is I guess was spearheaded by Palpatine? I think he convinced the Republic senate to authorize it by coming up with a false flag operation? Also the clones are based on Boba Fett's dad? Also Yoda is very good at jumping and fighting with a lightsaber, even though he can barely walk two movies later? I didn't pay much attention in this one.

* Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith (2005?)

Anakin starts working with Palpatine somehow - I think it's because Anakin was getting Force-visions of Padme dying in childbirth, and Palpatine reveals himself as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, and convinces Anakin that the Dark Side can prevent Padme's death. Meanwhile, in the senate, Palpatine seizes control of the clone army, and uses them to kill most of the exisitng Jedi. Notably Yoda and Obi-Wan escape, the latter of which confronts Anakin and tries to turn him away from his evil path, but from Anakin's point of view the JEDI are the ones who are evil.

Obi-Wan defeats Anakin, bisecting him and leaving him for dead. Padme does in fact die in childbirth, after giving birth to twins Luke and Leia, whom Obi-Wan decides to separate and hide from the newly-crowned Emperor. Speaking of which, Palpatine resuscitates Anakin, puts him in some Darth Vader-model life-support armor, and breaks the news of Padme's death in the least chill way possible.

* Episode 7: The Force Awakens (2015) 

Some 30 years after the original trilogy, the political situation is exactly the same as it was at the start of the original trilogy, only it's the First Order instead of the Empire, and the Resistance instead of the Rebellion. We meet Poe Dameron, a Resistance pilot doing a super secret mission on a desert planet (but don't worry, it's a DIFFERENT desert planet). Poe receives a map to the location of Luke Skywalker, who has gone missing, and stores it inside his droid BB-8. However, Poe's secret mission is interrupted by a guy in black with a red lightsaber, with Kylo Ren playing Darth Vader to Poe's Princess Leia.

BB-8 runs into Rey, just like how R2-D2 ran into Luke, but this one is totally different because R2 was BLUE and BB-8 is ORANGE. Meanwhile, Poe gets interrogated/tortured on Kylo's ship, until he is saved by Finn, a Stormtrooper who has a change of heart. Finn and Poe escape to the desert planet, but Poe is presumed dead in the crash. Finn tracks down Rey and BB-8, and the three of them escape in the Millennium Falcon, which is coincidentally in a scrapyard on this very planet.

Han Solo and Chewie track down the Falcon and befriend our heroes, helping them escape the First Order. On a random planet where they're hiding out, Rey stumbles on Luke's old blue lightsaber, which is also Anakin's old blue lightsaber, but is then captured by Kylo Ren. Han, Chewie, and Finn are rescued by Poe, who it turns out is not dead after all, who takes them to meet the Resistance leader General Leia. There it's revealed that Han and Leia, who had the hots for each other and the end of the first trilogy, did get together. The partnership didn't last, but they did have a son together, whom they named Ben, but who subsequently changed it himself to... you guessed it: Kylo Ren.

Finn, Han, and Chewie travel to the First Order's superweapon, which is totally different than the first movie, because that one was called the Death STAR, and this one is called StarKILLER. They make a daring rescue attempt, with Han sacrificing himself in the process - he confronts Kylo/Ben and tries to convince him to turn away from the dark side, but Kylo's demons win out, and he kills his own father. Finn and Rey escape after taking turns fighting Kylo with a lightsaber (Rey does better than Finn). The movie ends with Rey showing up at Luke Skywalker's private island.

* Episode 8: The Last Jedi (2017)

Luke doesn't want to train Rey in the ways of the Jedi, because he tried that once before and it failed miserably. The result of this failure is Kylo Ren, one of Luke's pupils who turned to the Dark Side, just like Anakin did when he was being trained by Obi-Wan. Luke recognizes the futility of the same patterns arising over and over again in this story, and decides to break from tradition. However, Rey is convinced that she can somehow convince Kylo to turn back (much like how Luke tried to turn Vader in ROTJ), and goes to confront him.

Meanwhile, Poe, Finn, and Leia are being chased by the First Order. Poe is unhappy with Resistance leadership, so he stages a mutiny and sends Finn and his new mechanic friend Rose out on a daring mission to save the Resistance fleet... which fails miserably. Poe learns a valuable lesson about not being reckless, and to trust the decisions of strong female leaders. Back to Rey, it ALMOST seems like she convinced Kylo to come back to the light side, when he betrays and kills his boss Supreme Leader Snoke (basically the new trilogy's version of the Emperor). However, Kylo clarifies that he was just staging a coup, and now sits at the top of the First Order hierarchy.

Rey escapes back to the remainder Resistance, hiding out in an old abandoned base, but Kylo has them cornered. He's about to obliterate them, when who should show up to save the day, but Luke. The bad guys' weapons can't harm him, and Kylo eventually realizes that Luke was using the 7th level Dungeons and Dragons spell Project Image to make an illusory duplicate of himself, acting as a distraction to give the Resistance enough time to escape. However, the effort of casting such an advanced version of the spell was too much for Luke (its usual range is 500 miles, but Luke was on a completely different planet!), who fails his Constitution saving throw, and dies.

* Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) 

And here we are! I've avoided trailers and spoilers as much as possible, and luckily the opinions I've seen on the movie are so split down the middle that I haven't even gotten a sense of what it might be like. Although I guess split down the middle is another way of saying 50/50, which is a pretty bad score on Rotten Tomatoes... But we were all fans of The Saga Begins, so I'm excited to see how the saga ends.

All-Star Baseball 2001 - 20 years later

As I was rooting around the video games in my old room at my parents' house this Thanksgiving season, I realized that we are approaching the 20-year anniversary of the second-greatest baseball video game of all time: All-Star Baseball 2001 from Acclaim Sports. While the title would suggest that we won't hit that milestone until 2021, ASB01 was actually released prior to the 2000 MLB season, based on stats from 1999. (Remember that the naming conventions of sports games were a little wonky until 2006 - that's why you have both MLB 2006 and MLB 06: The Show released in back-to-back years for the same franchise.) Since my Nintendo 64 miraculously still works, and we still have a lot of offseason ahead of us, I thought this would be a good opportunity to extend my Astrology Baseball project into the previous decade... not to mention the previous MILLENNIUM.

In addition to featuring state of the art polygonal graphics and a hauntingly catchy menu song, ASB01 provides letter grades for each of the 1,092 players in the game, with just 32 of which earning the coveted A+ mark. I'll go over each of those players here, noting which sign they belong to, and touching on the overall Astrology landscape as baseball prepared to enter the 2000's. This should be enough to tide you over until I manage to create Astrology-themed rosters and simulate an entire season, using patented Controller Pak technology.

Three different signs had exactly five players with A+ grades, but I'm starting with Scorpio because their crop of A-plusses is by far the most impressive. Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez actually finished second overall in '99 fantasy points, but he did lead all MLB in points per game (minimum 40 innings) en route to the AL Cy Young award. I guess the game developers didn't think Pedro's real-life pitch mix was scary enough, because they replaced his changeup with a devastating screwball, which breaks just like his curve, but in the opposite direction. Joining Martinez in the Scorpions rotation is Phillies starter (and generally despicable human being) Curt Schilling, whose points-per-game average would have put his total in the 2,200 - 2,300 range if he had pitched a full season. (Five years before the "bloody sock" incident, Schilling was plagued with shoulder inflammation in '99 that eventually led to offseason surgery.)

Moving to the offensive side, the October/November team is led by centerfielder Ken Griffey Jr., who missed his third consecutive 50-home run season by just two, although he still led the AL in that category. In the game, Griffey appears on the roster of the Cincinnati Reds, following a February 2000 trade from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for Mike Cameron and Brett Tomko, among others. Another offseason trade victim, outfielder Shawn Green took his power/speed combo (42 HR, 20 SB) from Toronto to Los Angeles, in what was the first blockbuster trade that I remember having an effect on my baseball life. ("With Raul Mondesi on the Blue Jays, we won't hear any more chants of RAUUUUUUUL at Dodger Stadium!?") In a roster-construction note, when I build these simulated lineups, I will likely put Green at first base, even though he didn't play there regularly until 2004, because SCO also has the likes of Griffey, Sammy Sosa (the sign's fifth A+ player), Gary Sheffield, Dante Bichette, and Johnny Damon available for the outfield/DH slots.

Sagittarius has the same amount of A+ players as the sign that precedes it on the calendar, but SAG's group totaled about 2,000 fewer fantasy points than SCO's in 1999. That's not to take anything away from Rangers catcher Ivan Rodriguez, who won the AL MVP award that year, with a 35-HR, 25 SB season. Pudge also took home the seventh of his ten consecutive Gold Gloves, and the sixth of six consecutive Silver Sluggers behind the plate. Or Rockies slugging right fielder Larry Walker, who led the NL in all three "triple slash" categories (.379 AVG, .458 OBP, .710 SLG) as well as OPS (obviously). Of course, Walker only made it into 127 games that year, and the rarefied air of the pre-humidor Coors Field might have had something to do with his production, but he's a top tier talent nonetheless. Rounding out the A+ hitters for the Archers is Astros second baseman Craig Biggio, whose inclusion really dates the piece, given that his son Cavan just made his debut this past season for the Blue Jays at his father's old position. Speaking of Sagittarius dads, Ivan's son Dereck Rodriguez came up a season prior as a pitcher for the Giants, but he struggled through a sophomore slump in 2019.

Moving to the pitching side, we have two Hall of Famers who were teammates on the Yankees for eight years. Last year, Mariano Rivera became the first player to be unanimously voted into the Hall following a career as one of the most effective and decorated relief pitchers of all time. While the ASB01 engine does not include a cut fastball, which was Mo's signature pitch, the game still finds ways to make him just as unhittable as he was in real life. Starter Mike Mussina was still with the Orioles, his original team, when this game was released, but he would sign a free agent contract with the Yankees the very next year, and stay there through his retirement in 2008. Despite finishing out the back half of a Hall of Fame career in New York, would you believe that 1999 was the last time Moose made an All-Star team in his career?

Of the five Leo players who earned an A+ rating from All-Star Baseball 2001, the majority of them have dealt with serious performance enhancing drug issues in their illustrious careers. Going by 1999 fantasy points, Mariners shortstop Alex Rodriguez nearly cracked 2,500 points on the year, despite playing in only 129 games due to knee surgery. Later he would be suspended the entire 2014 season stemming from his ties to the Biogenesis scandal. Giants left fielder Barry Bonds also suffered through an injury-shortened 1999 season, as he was limited to 102 games after surgery to repair a torn triceps tendon and bone spur. While his career didn't extend into the era where it was actually illegal to use steroids, his well-publicized link to them has kept Bonds and his thicc neck out of the Hall of Fame, despite holding the all-time records for home runs and walks. Yankees starting pitcher Roger Clemens is the most curious A+ player in the game, as his 1999 season (his first in New York) was decidedly pedestrian: a 14-10 record, 4.60 ERA, 7.8 K/9, and 4.3 BB/9 over 30 starts and 187.2 innings. I guess he was still dining out on his consecutive AL Cy Young awards in '97 and '98 with the Blue Jays. As far as his ties to PED's, Clemens was famously named in the 2007 Mitchell Report, which was released just months after what would prove to be The Rocket's final season.

Now moving to the (ostensibly) clean players, we have Boston shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, who won the AL batting title in 1999 (the first of two consecutive times he would take home the crown, but we couldn't possibly know that at the time this game was released). When putting these rosters together, Nomar's presence will push A-Rod over to third base, where he would later play for the majority of his time with the Yankees, starting in 2004. Interestingly enough, this Lions team will likely consist of an all-shortstop infield, as Edgar Renteria of the Cardinals will occupy second base. Leo's final A+ player is Astros closer Billy Wagner, who leads a lights-out bullpen that also includes A-grade relievers John Wetteland, Troy Percival, and Jeff Zimmerman, not to mention B+ closer Danny Graves.

Remember how Pedro Martinez finished second overall in 1999 fantasy points? He was eclipsed only by NL Cy Young winner Randy Johnson, in his first year with the Diamondbacks (but his 35th year representing Virgo). The Big Unit would go on to win the next three Cy Youngs, in addition to taking home a World Series title in 2001, where he shared WS MVP honors with fellow ASB01 A+ starter Curt Schilling. During this simulation, Johnson will pitch to an A+ catcher (and fellow Hall of Famer) Mike Piazza, who finally settled in New York for '99 after splitting the previous year between the Dodgers, Marlins, and Mets. To round things out, Virgo has two A+ outfielders who had polar opposite career tracks: Albert Belle was known for his volatile personality and played for three different teams in his career ('99 was his first with the Orioles), while Bernie Williams had a charming, soft-spoken demeanor, and spent his entire playing days with the Yankees.

Remember how Barry Bonds has been frozen out of the Hall of Fame despite holding a monumental home run record? The same is true for Libra slugger Mark McGwire, who was the first major leaguer to hit 70 home runs, which he did in 1998, breaking Roger Maris's long-standing record of 61* in the process. (There's not footnote corresponding to that asterisk, it was just a reference to the Billy Crystal TV movie of the same name.) There was never really any doubt that Big Mac was juicing, but the ASB01 developers don't care how you become great, just whether or not you have A+ level talent. Joining him in a power-packed Scales lineup is outfielder Juan Gonzalez, who went from the Rangers to the Tigers in a blockbuster trade following the game's platform '99 season. Libra's last A+ player actually did make it into the Hall of Fame, as there are no steroid accusations tainting the career of longtime Padres closer Trevor Hoffman, despite a '99 season that was more excellent than otherworldtly.

Three different signs had two A+ players, but only Gemini boasts two 3,000 point scorers among them. Astros first baseman and leader of the "Killer B's" Jeff Bagwell had such a great 1999 (he played in all 162 games and had a 40-30 season, while leading the NL in runs and walks) that he pushes fellow Hall of Fame first baseman Frank Thomas to the DH slot. Speaking of the Hall of Fame, Indians right fielder Manny Ramirez has been the victim of a PED-related freezeout, similar to Bonds, McGwire, Clemens, et al. Despite Aquarius's status as a perennial fantasy astrology bottom-feeder, the sign does boast some impressive talent at the top of its depth chart. Roberto Alomar was at the top of his power/speed game in '99 (although the jury is out on whether Manny's PED influence might have spread around the Cleveland clubhouse) and Vladimir Guerrero was in his prime as one of the game's best pure hitters. Aries has the curious distinction of having two A+ players who each failed to eclipse 1,800 fantasy points in 1999: Phillies third baseman Scott Rolen played in only 112 games after his season ended in August because of a back injury, but Hall of Fame Braves starter Greg Maddux has no excuse, having pitched 219.1 innings over 33 starts.

Of the four signs that had just one A+ player each, Taurus leads the charge with NL MVP winner Chipper Jones, one of six players who scored more than 3,000 points during the 1999 season. In a funny side note, despite Chipper's career-high 45 home runs and 1.074 OPS that season, the Braves third baseman was not named to the All-Star team, the only time he was snubbed between 1996 and 2001. Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter was the face of the All-Star Baseball video game franchise from 1998 through its end in 2005. 1999 was arguably the Cancer Crab's finest season, as Cap'n Jeets put up career highs in runs, hits, homers, and all three triple-slash line categories. Speaking of people who are the face of things, Pisces pitcher Kevin Brown made the cover of the 1999 Sports Illustrated baseball preview issue, after signing a seven-year, $105 million contract with the Dodgers, the first ever nine-figure contract in MLB history. Rounding out ASB01's A+ players is Mariners designated hitter Edgar Martinez, who didn't have a phenomenal '99 season (although he did lead the AL in OBP) and offers nothing in terms of defensive value (he managed only five games at first base that year), but it's nevertheless fascinating that all 12 astrological signs have at least one A+ representative.


So there you have it, a 20-year retrospective into the underlying statistics behind All-Star Baseball 2001, one of the best baseball video games of all time. As it happens, in the same trip back home where I rediscovered my N64, I also found a copy of MLB 10: The Show for PS2 lying around. Remember, by the time of that game's release, the titles of baseball video games had changed to reflect the year of the upcoming season, which means I have the means to do both a 20-year AND a 10-year retrospective as we approach the 2020 season. I guess I know what I'm doing with my weekend now...

Astrology Players Changing Signs 2019

As perhaps the internet's foremost researcher into Fantasy Astrology Baseball (prove me wrong, people!) I was recently quite disturbed to discover that the resource I had been using to determine star signs of major league players was very possibly inaccurate. I explain the situation in the above-linked post, along with a multi-part plan to set things right as far as my various baseball databases are concerned. I recently completed phase one, although as I cross-referenced the birthdates in my 2019 database, I basically threw out the sign-by-sign cusp comparison chart I made and checked everyone who was born between the 18th and the 24th of every month (with some 17th's and 25th's thrown in there for paranoia's sake).

The results weren't as earth-shattering as I might have feared, although I did have to change the signs of a handful of major league contributors based on my findings. Below are the seven players who saw MLB time last year whose signs were misrepresented in my previous databases:

Brad Hand: 3/20/1990 - Aries to Pisces
2019 Points: 1,687 (28.1 PPG)
Consequences: I had Hand as a major player in the Aries bullpen for the last four years (which includes the top five or six relief pitchers, with the sixth spot able to be switched out for a swing-pitcher or spot-starter). However, he wasn't in the "fantasy starting lineup" (top two relievers) in 2019. That honor was reserved for NL Rolaids Relief winner Josh Hader (2,149) and Kirby Yates (2,018). However, Hand would have cracked the Pisces top two this past year behind Aroldis Chapman (1,825), bumping Sergio Romo (1,165) to the proverbial bench. The Rams will have to scramble to replace those innings going back to 2016, but they've had a pretty deep bullpen crop recently.


Kyle Gibson: 10/23/1987 - Scorpio to Libra
2019 Points: 1,150 (33.8 PPG)
Consequences: Basically none, at least as far as 2019 rosters are concerned. As it stands, Gibson's point total put him well behind Scorpio fifth starter Masahiro Tanaka (1,337), and even if he had been in the Libra player pool, he would have finished just shy of Jordan Lyles (1,213). Going back to 2018, Gibson made the Scorpions rotation with 1,522 points, which is a high enough total that would have kicked Derek Holland (1,367) out of the Scales starting five. We'll see if his recent free agent deal with the Rangers will help elevate his profile, a la Mike Minor and Lance Lynn.


Didi Gregorius: 2/18/1990 - Pisces to Aquarius
2019 Points: 1,034 (7.9 PPG)
Consequences: Gregorius had four years as the Pisces starting shortstop from 2015 thru '18. The fallout isn't catastrophic, as Didi's presence pushed natural SS Jean Segura to 2B in all of those years (only one of which (2016) he actually played at the keystone), but there is the question of finding a replacement second baseman for those years, which will likely be the subject of another post. Or I'll do it later. I dunno. As far as Sir Didi's new sign, Gregorius would beat out Brandon Crawford for the second half of that four year stretch, but otherwise he's behind a crop of Aquarius shortstops that's surprisingly strong, given the sign's weakness as a whole.


Sam Coonrod: 9/22/1992 - Libra to Virgo
2019 Points: 330 (10.0 PPG)
Consequences: .... Surely you must be joking. I doubt if anyone outside of hardcore Giants faithful (he was the organization's #23 prospect heading into 2019) had even heard of Coonrod, who made his major league debut this past season. The only reason he was even on my radar prior to this year was because he appeared as a non-roster invitee to Spring Training camp with San Francisco in 2016 and '17. He represents the depthiest of fantasy astrology depth, but if I'm going to do this database correction, I'm going to do it down to the last player...


Josh Staumont: 12/21/1993 - Capricorn to Sagittarius
2019 Points: 100 (6.2 PPG)
Consequences: Alright, now this is just getting ridiculous. Ranked as the Royals #21 prospect prior to 2019, Staumont barely played in the bigs in his debut season, when he replaced experimental closer Wily Peralta. But he spent significant time pitching as a swingman/spot starter for Kansas City's AAA affiliate in Omaha, putting up 487 points and 15.2 PPG.


Brian Schlitter: 12/21/1985 - Capricorn to Sagittarius
2019 Points: 43 (7.1 PPG)
Consequences: Schlitter pitched 9 2/3 innings for the A's in 2019, his first MLB action since 2015 with the Cubs. Oakland apparently liked what it saw enough to bring him back on another minor league deal for 2020. But while he might be a fringe roster player for the Athletics, expect him to fall well shy of fantasy astrology consideration.


Chris Ellis: 9/22/1992 - Libra to Virgo

2019 Points: 5 (5.0 PPG)
Consequences: Ellis was taken from St. Louis (by way of Texas) in the 2018 Rule 5 draft, and his one inning of work in the Royals' third game of the 2019 season was his only MLB experience to date. He was promptly designated for assignment and returned to his former team, where he struggled in brief AAA action. If/when he returns to the majors, at least he'll be playing for the proper astrology team.