How many teams and is it 1 or 2 catcher?

12 teams 1 catcher

Marte, Puig, Rizzo, Tulo, Felix, Votto, Choo seem pretty solid to me. Choo has enough OBP and should rebound on the power front to be 800+ OPS which I assume is an asset.

Gomes I guess for #8. Unless you're in a shallow 10-team mixed with one catcher and you can just get the #11 or #12 catcher - then I might take a shot on Wheeler instead.

Where would be a good place to do research for some NL and AL only leagues that are pretty deep?

If Joc and Bradley are interchangeable as your prospect, it's a pretty easy decision.

I would keep Castro - he could return a career year - and try to trade Tulo. I mean, Tulo/Marte for Trout is pretty reasonable even though it would prob never happen... but maybe someone like Michael Brantley who is a MONSTER in your format.

Travis Snider shipped to Baltimore.
This should remove any doubt whatsoever about Polanco getting full time atbats in Pitt right?

Both lefties though, so not ideal platoon mates if that is their plan. I bet he gets a chance, though probably sit vs tougher lefties right off the bat, which is fine.

Ya, I wasn't very worried before, but this only helps.

this post is confusing

A left handed hitter that struggles vs lefties doesn't usually lose AB's to another left handed hitter, 2 left handed RF's makes for a terrible platoon option. My second point is that even if he does sit vs tougher lefties it's just as likely to help his roto value as he hit .171 vs them last year.

Ok but you realize Snider was traded away and not for right?

I think he's saying that shouldn't have an effect on opinions of playing time for Polanco, since they were unlikely to be platooning together anyways (as they are both lefties). In other words, if they had planned to platoon him then Snider wasn't going to be the one to do it with him and if they had planned to limit his games for some other reason then it'd still happen just with someone else.

That's my translation of his post at least.

I wasn't worried about Snider and Polanco platooning.
I was worried about Snider being given the starting job outright since in his second half last year he was one of the best hitters in baseball.

(fwiw I dont think that wouldve been a good decision to make by Pittsburgh, becasue I think Polanco is much more talented both offensively and defensively)

ok, lol, apparently I translated that wrong

I do not recommend the Baseball America Fantasy Guide.

My interaction with their editor-in-chief:

"You have to be a little embarrassed with the Fantasy Baseball Guide you released. There are tons of overlooked mistakes.

-SP rankings: Fister #11, Alvarez #12, Sale #14 - in what world? Then Sale #39 in top 100 and the others unranked.

-Jose Abreu 2015 projections: 17 HR, 54 RBI. That's your #2 1B? Steve Pearce #10 ahead of Pujols and Adrian Gonzalez?????

-Joc Pederson #97 OF projected for a .285/.388/.495 24 HR 27 SB monster season?

-Love the projections for Souza:

407 AB
.300/.378/.521 triple slash
68 R
20 HR
74 RBI
21 SB

Can you imagine if he got 600 ABs?! Let's take a look:

.300/.378/.521
100 R
29 HR
109 RBI
30 SB

Or... basically Andrew McCutchen's 2013 MVP season.

Hilarious.

There are more.

This is so poorly edited I want my money back. It's like you guys didn't even look at the finished product. I can understand an overlooked typo here and there, but how do you have Steve Pearce > Albert Pujols and actually send that to press? Surely, you don't stand by that ranking? If so, where can I sign up for your fantasy league?"

His response:

"Did you see the guy’s numbers last year in Triple-A? OPS over 1.000? It’s a projection system like everyone else’s, just the last 3 years averaged and spit out. The guy has hit in the upper minors.

I get it. You don’t like the mag. Duly noted. But you’re disagreeing with someone else’s informed opinion; none of the things you cited on Twitter or here are indefensible, to me, because it’s fantasy rankings, not reality. If you don’t think Chris Sale is going to get a ton of wins, you’d have him behind Doug Fister.

You cite one inconstancy that troubles me, and I’ve noted some inconsistencies in the rankings. But otherwise you’re just complaining about rankings you disagree with … I’m glad you bought it. Hope you enjoy it more when you read through it.

BTW, Pearce was quite good last year and Pujols is aging, the kind of guy who could fall off a cliff. It’s a prediction; they don’t all go right.
The pitching inconsistency bothers me, but that’s not enough to get you the money-back guarantee … You’re just kind of whining about things you don’t agree about."

My response to that nonsense:

"I appreciate your effort to defend things. It is your magazine - I would expect nothing less.

I'm sorry. Your projection system is NOT like everyone else's. No one is going to be projecting mid level prospects with less than 40 MLB at bats to produce at an MVP clip - not even Mike Trout in 2012. Well, no one that is supposed to be taken seriously anyway.

I actually don't think the Joc projection is super outlandish, but how are your rankings and projections BOTH supposed to be seen as legitimate when they seem to have absolutely nothing to do with each other? "Yeah, we think Joc Pederson is gonna approach a 30/30 season but... he barely cracks our Top 100 OFers." What?

Your argument that your rankings are for fantasy not reality seems a bit flawed. Fantasy baseball is... you know... based on real people playing real baseball, right? When we buy your publication we are looking for expert advice, not a bunch of wacky projections that seem to have no bearing on your rankings. You think Joc is a borderline 30/30 guy in 2015? Put him in your top 5 OFers.

Your Pujols vs Pearce argument is absurd. Sure, the former could fall off a cliff... but he's only 34 (maybe lol!) and he put together a .272/.324/.461 28 HR 105 RBI campaign a year ago. There's no real reason to expect him to decline drastically. Certainly your own projections don't expect him to - nor do they expect Pearce to outproduce him. If you expect Pujols to decline, don't you think your projections should reflect that? As experts?

Sale is a fantasy monster - in any format. He blows Fister out of the water in every category except wins - although you only have Fister projected for 13 W vs 12 W for Sale. I guess that's enough of a difference to outweigh Sale's dominance in every other category? I think Fister could win 15+ personally, but if wins is the deciding factor, how do you explain Henderson Alvarez at #12? In standard 5x5, I think one could argue Sale as high as #2 and I think it's pretty tough to justify him any lower than #7.

It's not that I'm whining. It's not that I'm disagreeing with your collective "opinions" - I mean, I am - it's just the total lack of consistency and thought that seems to have been put into everything. "Well, you can't take our projections seriously. We just use a lazy three year average and we don't care if all three years were in the minors, we're just gonna assume they will produce like that against MLB pitching. Hasn't every prospect ever?! How could we be wrong?"

Really?"


If anyone cares... lol... i just thought it was funny. I don't seriously want my money back I was just so disgruntled thumbing through this stupid magazine.

I was doing some prospect research using BA (among other sites) and clicked on the fantasy page. The last article is from December 11th, so it appears they don't care. Not a big mag/guide guy but thanks for passing on that it sucks.

Ironically their Pearce/Pujols thing might be the only thing they got somewhat right IMO

Pearce .270/.350/.465, 23hr, 3.1 WAR
Pujols .270/.330/.465, 26hr, 3.0 WAR

That's per Steamer. But Pearce could get crushed in the R/RBI counting stats if Baltimore doesn't get their crap together.

Everything else you cited, ugh. That's just embarassing.

It's prob closer than I was making it sound, but both Pujols and AGon are ranked ahead of Pearce in their top 100. Pearce had a breakout season at age 31 and I'm not really convinced he's an every day player for the Orioles all season long. Whether or not Pujols and Pearce have similar projections, I think it's pretty clear who the safer draft pick is.

Speaking of awful adp analysis, this article from fangraphs was unreal.

http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/fin...at-third-base/

Claims Arenado going in 13th rd, and Sandoval going in same territory, lol

Rendon in 5th rd???

Straight up one of the worst articles I've read

I mean WTF, he actually gets paid to submit that crap?

As far as Pearce v pujols I honestly buy into Pearce a whoooooole lot more than I buy into pujols at this point.

Pujols is 35 (allegedly) and in the last 2 years has only produced one half season worth anything (and it wasn't the most recent half season)

The concerns with Pearce are obvious and legitimate but all the same, players come to the Orioles and rake. Even his 40 games in 2013 were pretty legit and go a long way in suggesting the obp is sustainable and that even if his average drops its not unreasonable to think .270ish is a solid expectation

Ya I agree with that, or at least think it's close.

And Pujols is still being drafted near the fringes of top 50 overall while Pearce is sitting around 225 right now. Could do a lot worse at CI

Wow that Fangraphs article was an abomination. To the authors credit though he did show up in the comments and own up to the mistake, and promised to do a re-write asasp. (Mock Draft Central is completely ****ed up right now, mixing in last years ADPs for most players).

I dont know how he failed to realize what a joke MDC was though.

Those BAFG rankings are horrendous, but...
...I think the Pearce/Pujols rankings is the only defensible one you posted. Given the same # of PA's Id take Pearce all day, and be stoked to get that 10-12 round discount.

Yes, I understand the ranks he used were bad, but that is his job to know wtf he is looking at. I mean if I see some ADP where Darwin Barney is a 3rd rd pick, I'm not writing an article based on that unless its to bash the rankings.

At least he provided us some lolz.