Taurus - 2019 Fantasy Astrology Baseball Recap

Last week, in honor of it being Taurus season, I posted a video about the how the Taurus Bulls Fantasy Astrology Baseball squad might look, as simulated by MLB The Show 20. I was going to follow up that video game-centric analysis with one focused on head-to-head fantasy baseball. But then it got depressing, looking forward to an MLB season that very well might not happen - and the depressing part is that it probably SHOULD not happen, given our country's response to the coronavirus. So instead, I opted to take a more retrospective look, focusing on the 2019 Taurus Bulls, as viewed through maximizing the fantasy points the players scored last year (as opposed to projecting the top points totals that the players will score in the coming year). Enjoy more of my patented color-coded Excel spreadsheets, and images from Lindy's magazine baseball previews.

In the video, I praised speedster Jonathan Villar's versatility, but the ironic thing is that he is best served in this team's DH slot. Looking down the positions he qualifies for, Jose Altuve is a fixture at second base (unless the aftermath of the sign-stealing-scandal is that he's simply not that good without cheating, but that seems unlikely), and Corey Seager had a decent, if injury-shortened, season at shortstop. It doesn't even make sense putting him in center field, like the Marlins were planning to do when they acquired him pre-pandemic, since Victor Robles plays spectacular defense, while doing just enough with the bat to land among the Taurus top nine 2019 point scorers. Narrowing our focus to the top five, Robles will be flanked in the outfield by Austin Meadows and Michael Brantley, the same as in the game simulation - ditto with Matt Chapman at third, whose top-flight glove is just a bonus where fantasy points are concerned.

Across the diamond, things get a little interesting. Going strictly by points, Joc Pederson should get the nod at first base, thanks to his newly (and barely) gained eligibility there. However, two spots under him, we get Miguel Sano, who scored fewer overall points (1,585), but had a huge advantage in points-per-game (15.0), showing that he mashed the ball during the brief stretches when he was healthy last year. He also hadn't yet officially transitioned over to first base, but I tend to lean more towards ability than eligibility when determining these retroactive rosters. Speaking of players who are good when healthy, the top-RATED Taurus on MLB The Show doesn't even factor into this roster because of injuries, but Aaron Judge racked up 14.3 PPG when he was on the field in '19. Also worth mentioning, the highest points per game amongst Taurus batters belongs to slugging outfielder Aristides Aquino (15.8), while '19 rookie utility player Tommy Edman actually surpassed Seager with 12.9 PPG.

Four of the top five starters projected by The Show also appear on this roster, although not in the order presented here: Lynn and Stroman are the one-two, but John Means is rated below Trevor Richards, despite a roughly 15-point differential in points per game. Ironically, Homer Bailey, who himself averaged more than 40 PPG, is rated below Zack Godley, who barely cracked 11. Other 40-pluses in the Taurus player pool include graduating rookie Jordan Yamamoto of the Marlins (42.0), and still-rookies Tony Gonsolin (45.0) and Jose Urquidy (41.6). The bullpen does include three players who served as closers for at least part of the 2019 season, but the top-scoring alignment only includes two of them: Emilio Pagan and Mychal Givens, with Sam Dyson earning the nod over Shawn Kelley, who put up a line of 699 / 13.7 as the part-time ninth-inning option for the Rangers, in his last season before threatening to retire.