Fantasy Baseball Spring Training Roundup (2/23)

Spring training is a wild time for fantasy baseball players, as we see considerable overreactions to tiny sample sizes, changes in player value due to velocity jumps or drops and other big swings.

So as we head toward the start of the 2024 MLB season, we’re going to go around all the news from baseball to analyze what matters for fantasy baseball managers. We aim to cover notable news, value changes or other valuable nuggets. 

2024 Fantasy Baseball Spring Training Roundup (2/23)

AL East

Baltimore Orioles: Gunnar Henderson (3B/SS)

Gunnar Henderson oblique watch continues, with positive news this time:

Tampa Bay Rays: Amed Rosario (SS)

Amed Rosario signed with the Rays for a piddly $1.5M contract, which indicates that he may just be a placeholder for Junior Caminero and some additional depth to deal with the loss of Wander Franco, but it is worth noting that the Rays also value his versatility. Take it from Kevin Cash directly: “He’s going to play a lot, basically against all lefties, and then we will find opportunities to mix and match him around the middle infield. And we’re going to take the time in spring to see the comfort (level) in the outfield, likely in the corner outfield. He’s a really athletic guy that we think can take to it pretty quick.”

If Rosario gets anything close to 400 PAs in all of these roles, he should easily exceed his current 340 ADP while contributing some SBs along the way. 

New York Yankees: Aaron Judge (OF)

Aaron Judge has a toe injury. It is probably nothing but will also require constant maintenance for the rest of his career, according to Aaron Boone. Something to monitor. 

Toronto Blue Jays: Ricky Tiedemann (SP), Cavan Biggio (2B)

Ricky Tiedemann is looking good in camp and will be starting the Blue Jays’ spring training opener. Keep a close eye on his performance as he is a top prospect and even if he doesn’t break camp heading to Canada, he’ll be up sooner than later if he can be effective and avoid injury in the spring.

Cavan Biggio appears to be healthy and is competing for the starting 2B job, or a least the long side of the platoon.

AL Central

Cleveland Guardians: Deyvison De Los Santos (3B)

With the obvious and substantive roadblock of José Ramírez at the hot corner, the Guardians are giving Deyvison De Los Santos every opportunity to make the team at some other position, including both corner outfield spots and bouncing around the diamond on the infield. He’s far from a lock from making the team, but it seems that ownership likes him enough to give him some leash through some defensive speed bumps. A great late-round target on a guy who is nearly a 700 ADP in recent DCs.

Detroit Tigers: Tarik Skubal (SP), Gio Urshela (3B)

Tarik Skubal is not resting on his laurels after a breakout in 2023 and comes into camp reportedly throwing 100 MPH in a live BP session. Skubal is already going in the fourth round based on his NFBC ADP (15-team leagues) but if this velocity keeps up throughout the spring and is accompanied by command, he may push up into the third round. 

Gio Urshela signed with the Tigers for an Amed Rosario deal, and will likely be deployed similarly. This will be increased competition for the Tigers band of misfit toys at the hot corner and could lead to less playing time for either or both of Matt Vierling and Zach McKinstry. Colt Keith will still ply his trade at 2B and should be unaffected by the signing. 

Kansas City Royals: Austin Nola (C)

Austin Nola will be joining the Royals shortly after the Brewers released him in the wake of the Gary Sánchez signing, so he will provide depth behind Savador Perez and Freddy Fermin. It also means the MJ Melendez catcher experiment is likely done for good (but we probably already knew that).

AL West

Los Angeles Angels: The Lineup

A good amount to digest here as the Angels announced some key spots in their everyday lineup, which will include Luis Rengifo or Mickey Moniak leading off, Nolan Schanuel hitting second, Mike Trout hitting third and Grumpy Gus (Anthony Rendon) hitting cleanup, with Zach Neto ninth. 

The Angels will of course be terrible, so we ought not overreact to this lineup info being publicized so early, but I do think there is merit in pushing up Rengifo and Schanuel a bit from their respective February ADPs of 250 and 533. Setting the table for Mike Trout should be a rising tide that lifts all boats, even if the Angels won’t score a ton of runs overall. As for Neto, I would have definitely preferred to see him leading off, and maybe he’ll get there eventually, but he is probably a fade for me even a 295 ADP, the “second leadoff” hitter in a dreadful lineup just doesn’t do much for me. 

Texas Rangers: Jack Leiter (SP)

Bruce Bochy had this to say regarding the once prized highly drafted star out of Vanderbilt:

“It just got better as he went too. The offspeed and the breaking ball were really good. It was coming out really nice. He’s got the life on a fastball that you love. It has just gotten better with him each time, from the first bullpen to where he’s at now. I’m looking forward to watching him in these games. We’d like to find him as much work as we can.”

Catcher Sam Huff, who caught Leiter’s bullpen, was also raving about the velocity and versatility that Leiter was once so prized for showing up in a big way for the first time in a while. In the workout, Leiter was reportedly sitting 96-98, while also mixing in a 12-6 curve, a slider, a cutter and a changeup.

Houston Astros: Justin Verlander (SP), Cristian Javier (SP), J.P. France (SP), Jeremy Peña (SS)

All things trending in the right direction for Justin Verlander, who is showing encouraging progress and continues to trend in the right direction. Similarly, J.P. France threw without issue and looked good.

Cristian Javier likely looked good as well, not because of any injury (he is fully healthy), but because he shed 15 pounds in the offseason. 

Jeremy Peña retooled his swing to attempt to rediscover the power of his breakthrough rookie campaign.

None of this is necessarily ADP move-worthy yet but situations to monitor, in particular concerning Pena’s plate appearances during the spring. 

Seattle Mariners: Ty France (1B)

A Driveline disciple this offseason, Ty France may have gained enough bat speed to hit a big-league fastball this season, something he didn’t do much of in 2023. That would be welcome news for France and the Mariners lineup, which could use all the help it can get and a number of key departures this offseason. If France can become another formidable power bat alongside Julio Rodríguez in this lineup, there would be plenty of aggregate effects but also give France a chance to well exceed his February ADP of 318. 

NL East

Atlanta Braves: Spencer Strider (SP), Chris Sale (SP), Hurston Waldrep (SP)

Spencer Strider has a curveball now, and it is, uh, nasty. Just ask Matt Olson. Make Strider your 1.2 after Ronald Acuña or don’t, but the guy is going to be lights out this year. Whew.

Chris Sale is healthy and scaring dudes. Enjoy it while it lasts. There isn’t really any news about Hurston Waldrep, but I love him so here’s a video. Massive quads, compact, fluid delivery… remind you of anyone?

Miami Marlins: Tim Anderson (SS)

Tim Anderson is now a Marlin, and (I guess?) the starting SS. He and Luis Arraez will team up to pack the least punch of any 1-2 hitters in recent memory. The Tim Anderson market was not robust in either MLB free agency or in ADP, and I don’t know that landing on the Marlins improves things considerably. Being on a team is a great deal better than not being on one, but I don’t think not being on one was particularly priced in. Going in between DJ LeMahieu and Jake Cronenworth sort of feels right for Anderson, and while maybe he’ll get a slight bump because he’ll be hitting with runners on more frequently (hitting behind perennial batting champ contender Arraez), I wouldn’t push him up anywhere near a top 300 ADP pick. Would start to think about him closer to pick 325-330 now. 

New York Mets: Kodai Senga (SP)

A Mets pitching injury? Say it ain’t so! While it might not be sayonara to Kodai Senga’s entire season, this is definitely not what you want as a fantasy manager with Senga exposure, especially in high-dollar contests. 

If there’s a silver lining, Senga’s shoulder strain was to the posterior capsule and is considered mild to moderate, so for those of you not spending your February on WebMD attempting to diagnose pitching injuries, here is the best breakdown I could find from the depths of the sports injury corners of the internet. 

The fact that it is a posterior instead of anterior capsule works to Senga’s benefit, as an anterior capsule strain would be considered more serious. The strain itself being graded mild to moderate is also a best case within the context of injury. That’s all good news so far. The bad news is that if Senga isn’t shut down long enough, it could increase the chance of a flare-up up which would start the whole cycle of him needing to be shut down and then ramped back up over again. 

If this injury had to happen, early spring training is the best possible time for it, as he can be shut down without missing any game time for five weeks, and then start a rehabilitation program, begin throwing again in mid-April, and possibly be stretched out and ready for big league action by some time in May. That’s a perfect world, and this is the Mets, so June might be a more realistic scenario. If you’ve already drafted Senga then you just have to sort of hope things go well, but as far as where to move him on your draft boards, it’s going to be quite a tumble. Obviously, you can’t take him as your SP1 or SP2, and I wouldn’t fault you for moving him off your board entirely. That said, if you’re the risk-loving type and think that he will recover on roughly the timeline described above, I would say a pick in the 400 range would be reasonable. It will be interesting to see where the DC market decides to price him post-injury news.

Washington Nationals: Starting Pitchers

Everyone who is projected to be in the rotation will get 2 innings instead of the typical 1 to start the Grapefruit League, so for those of you inclined to play spring training DFS, you can either deploy these pitchers due to their increased workloads or stack the batters against them since they are the Nationals SPs. It’s all a matter of perspective.

NL Central

Cincinnati Reds: Matt McLain (2B)

If you’re a young infielder who had a breakout in 2023 and are part of a young dynamic lineup, you may want to take extra good care of your obliques. Matt McLain is only shut down for 5-7 days and this seems precautionary, but he also had an oblique injury last year and this is something we’ll want to watch very closely, especially given McLain’s lofty early fifth-round ADP.

St. Louis Cardinals: Sonny Gray (SP)

Opening Day Sonny Gray… because why not? He gets the honor of facing the Dodgers behemoth. 

Milwaukee Brewers: Gary Sánchez (C)

I don’t love this as a landing spot for Gary Sánchez. Milwaukee already has one of the best hitting catchers in William Contreras and one of the best catching prospects in Jeferson Quero, so Sánchez is here as a depth piece and occasional DH, and is now taking a lower priced deal due to concerns over the health of his wrist. I’m probably out at almost any market ADP, which will move slightly now that he is officially a Brewer.

Chicago Cubs: Daniel Palencia (RP), David Peralta (OF)

Daniel Palencia was yet another arm to light up three digits on a radar gun, raising some eyebrows doing so in February. If this sort of velocity can be maintained and even increased, we could see Palencia in high-leverage spots, possibly even the closer role if his transition from starter to reliever has him eventually bringing Ryan Helsley-level heat. With the typically non-committal Craig Counsell stopping short of anointing presumptive closer Adbert Alzolay with the role, and Alzolay himself being somewhat injury-prone, closers have come to fruition in stranger ways. 

The Cubs also signed David Peralta to a minor league deal, which may in some small way be indicative of their lack of interest in Cody Bellinger. Or maybe not. Either way, maybe we’ll see Peralta at Wrigley at some point this year. 

Pittsburgh Pirates: Mitch Keller (SP)

Mitch Keller signed an extension, which means the Pirates think he is good, and probably means he is actually bad. As you know by now, the Pirates trade away their good players and pay their bad ones. Tough break, Mitch. 

NL West

San Diego Padres: Joe Musgrove (SP), Yuki Matsui (RP)

Yes, it is the first day of spring ball, but there’s no other way to put it — Joe Musgrove was molly-whopped by the Dodgers Thursday. The box score tells no lies.

Yuki Matsui fared quite a bit better in his debut against MLB hitters, striking out the side in his only inning of work. 

San Francisco Giants: Mike Yastrzemski (OF), Heliot Ramos (OF), Luis Matos (OF), Keaton Winn (SP), Bryce Eldridge (1B), Reggie Crawford (RP)

Lots going on here, but it isn’t overly actionable just yet (and the last two are dynasty-relevant only). Mike Yastrzemski has a shoulder impingement, but he’s pretty tough and will likely retain his Opening Day job. If the injury gets worse or he doesn’t hit well against LHP to start the season, we could see more of either Heliot Ramos or Luis Matos, both of whom have disappointed as prospects but showed up to spring training in, stop me if you’ve heard this before, the best shape of their lives. Ramos in particular gained some notoriety for a bomb he hit off of Jordan Hicks, which left me wondering if we should be excited about Ramos or worried about Hicks. 

Keaton Winn has elbow soreness but is probably fine after his MRI came back clean. Worth monitoring.

Bryce Eldridge and Reggie Crawford were both drafted as two-way players and given time to develop as such, but they have now moved on to a more focused era of their respective careers. Eldridge committing to be a 1B is significant as this should significantly shorten his path to MLB, whereas Crawford will be solely focused on lighting up radar guns. It remains to be seen how Crawford is best utilized (my money is as a high leverage reliever), but at least we know he will be pitching exclusively (for now).

Los Angeles Dodgers: Miguel Vargas (2B/OF)

Miguel Vargas earned some praise from Dave Roberts, we’ll let Dave take it from here:

“Vargy’s looked much better than he did last year. Last year was kind of just jumping in with both feet. This year in the offseason, he had a chance to prepare for it. Physically, he looks great. Very linear athlete, but his jumps on the ball have been great. And his effort, the work that he’s put in, it’s showing.”

And on how much, when and where Vargas would play:

“I don’t have the crystal ball, but I know that I expect him to be with us at some point. I don’t know when. I don’t know if that means breaking with us but I hope that’s his goal. Just sort of control what you can control. But we still value the player, the bat, and just continuing to improve in left field is important.”

Not bad stuff for a guy pushing a 500 ADP. 

Colorado Rockies: Tyler Kinley (RP), Justin Lawrence (RP) 

Because the Rockies are dumb and terrible baseball team, “Rockies closer” might be the least valuable role in all of fantasy sports, but it is still a role, and so this is a spring training battle to pay a modicum of attention to.