Aquarius - Astrology 2020 Valentine's Day Preview

If Valentine's Day falls during Aquarius season, does that mean Aquarius is the most romantic astrological sign? I know that it's the first sign, both alphabetically and also according to the calendar, going by the months in which each sign starts. I also know that it has historically been the worst sign by far at producing quality major league baseball players born under its constellation. At least in the past two decades for which I have data: it might surprise you to know that both Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron are Aquarians, so there was a time when the sign had some respectability. But then again, so were Vladimir Guerrero and Roberto Alomar, and the sign still faltered in the late 90's.

Either way, the 2020 Aquarius Water Carriers (or Water Bearers? Is that better?) look to continue the trend of Fantasy Astrology Baseball bottom feeders. This fact is illustrated in AQU's current 40-player roster, as determined by me, the commissioner of the only known Fantasy Astrology Baseball league on the Internet. As a Valentine's Day present to myself, I reactivated the league and started work on the rosters for 2020, the first results of which you'll see below.

First, the Aquarius pitchers, sorted by 2019 position (i.e. starter or reliever) and then MLB.com's fantasy player rankings. The first thing to note is that the top two scoring starters from 2019 (Jeff Samardzija and Marco Gonzales) don't even project to make the rotation based on the rankings. I'm honestly not sure what the pundits see in Adrian Houser to make them rank him ahead of those two, plus recent injury-returnee Johnny Cueto. While he's slated for a rotation spot this coming year, the "Position 2" column shows that he split last year between the rotation and the bullpen, and it's not like he performed better as a starter - 4.57 ERA in 18 starts (80 innings), vs. a 1.47 ERA in 17 relief appearances (30 innings). But for a sign that's been as hard up as Aquarius has been in the recent past, they surprisingly have plenty of starting pitching depth.

The relief pitching depth, on the other hand, isn't quite as impressive, but it doesn't need to be, since the starting lineups in my league are set up with five starters and just two relievers. Some signs don't even have two dedicated closers, let alone two star closers such as Roberto Osuna and Liam Hendriks, so AQU is very well set up in that respect. Of course it all falls apart if one of them were to get injured or suspended for some reason... but that's the case for many positions for many signs around the Fantasy Astrology league.

And now the Water Carrier batters, which is where things really start to slide downhill. A cursory glance will reveal just two position players in the top 100, and just one in the top half of the top 100: Whit Merrifield, who will likely spend most of his time in the outfield to make room for Rougned Odor at second base. Joining Whitley in the outfield are two center field capable players, Max Kepler and Bryan Reynolds, with former platoon player Mark Canha able to step in. As an A's fan, I hope the top brass gives Canha more regular playing time, even against southpaws, as opposed to throwing plate appearances to replacement level lefties like Robbie Grossman (ranked a toothless 766).

2020 is especially interesting for AQU, since it will be the first year with their "new" starting shortstop, Didi Gregorius - the resources I had previously been using to determine birth signs had incorrectly identified him as a Pisces. It's not like this sign has been lacking help up the middle, with Dansby Swanson and Brandon Crawford as mainstays, but it never hurts to have more talent on hand. Speaking of supplanted infield stalwarts, it seems likely that long time third baseman Todd Frazier might lose playing time to 2019 breakout performer Tommy La Stella, super utility type Jon Berti, or even up-and-coming prospect Ke'Bryan Hayes before the season is over.

* Baseball Tarot *

Many years ago, when I was going through a Tarot phase, I was gifted a Baseball Tarot deck, which replaces the arcane and occult imagery of the traditional Tarot with baseball concepts and metaphors. For example, the Major and Minor Arcana are renamed the Major and Minor Leagues, and the four suits comprising the latter are changed from Cups, Swords, Wands, and Coins to Mitts, Balls, Bats, and Bases. One of the most basic two-card layouts is called "Pitch and Swing" where the first card represents the situation you're facing and the second card represents your best course of action or attitude in response. Since fantasy baseball rankings and Tarot both share aspects of Divination, I've decided to do a reading as part my analysis of each sign's upcoming season.

For Aquarius, the Pitch was Assist (Twelve of Bases) while the Swing was Shake-Off (Three of Balls). My first impressions of these cards are that they're both defensive (a fielder makes an assist and the pitcher shakes off a sign from their catcher), indicating that now might not be the year that Aquarius will storm to the top of the Fantasy Astrology league. Referring to the book included with the deck, the entry under Assist starts with the heading "demonstrating reliability," which in this situation calls to mind the lyric in the song "Heart" from the musical Damn Yankees: "The team has been consistent." "Yeah, we always lose!" One aspect of this card is understanding expectations, which, for Aquarius, are understandably low. On the other hand, the entry for Shake-Off starts with "admitting unhappiness," knowing something is wrong, and realizing you must make a change. Something has decidedly been wrong with Aquarius's performance, based on their place in the Fantasy Astrology standings... but what exactly must change to turn them into contenders will have to come to light over the course of a long season.