The other day I said that Jorge Soler was going to be your top rookie in 2015 fantasy baseball. Big words from a little man. At least I am a man, and not just an italicized voice. Joc Pederson would’ve been the top rookie if I saw the Dodgers committed to him out of spring training. There’s still time for that to happen. Like trading Andre Ethier and Carl Crawford for a middle reliever. I’m not being facetious. Shoot, I don’t even know what facetious means. If someone would take the contracts of Ethier and Crawford for a middle reliever, the Dodgers should jump around like Everlast. The Dodgers owe Ethier and Crawford almost $40 million for 2015 alone. And they’re signed through 2017! Maybe Magic can borrow some of the special sauce from one of his fast food franchises, squirt it on the $40 million and eat it. A’la a commercial jingle, “Two-overpriced-all-stars-from-2009-special-sauce-let-us-get-rid-of-them-on-a-seasame-seed-bun!” Without doing any actual research, I’m gonna say the Dodgers are paying about the same for Ethier and Crawford as the Marlins and Astros are paying for their entire teams. On the fo’really tip, the Dodgers could trade Matt Kemp, Ethier and Crawford for a middle reliever and be a better team next year. At this point, I have nothing but conjecture as to what they will do. My guess is the Dodgers trade Crawford or Ethier with the other becoming one of the highest priced bench players in the history of baseball. Right now, I’m gonna go on the assumption that Pederson isn’t up until June, but when making an assumption, you make an ass out of, um, ption? Anyway, what can we expect of Joc Pederson for 2015 fantasy baseball?
Let’s bask in the glory that are Pederson’s minor league numbers. In Triple-A last year, he hit 33 homers, stole 30 bases and hit .303. Hahahahahahahaha– Breathe, Grey, breathe! Wow, I lost it there for a second. Even his minor league numbers point to how stupid the Dodgers are. No one has had a 30/30 season in the PCL since 1934. Know why? Because teams call up hitters capable of 30/30, they don’t let them ferment in their own wonderful. “Hey, why are you bathing in a barrel filled with your own sweat?” That’s someone talking to Pederson while he fermented in his own wonderful. You seriously have to have someone ghost riding your whip to not call up a 30/30 guy to the majors. The PCL is like hitting with an aluminum bat on the moon, but it’s still an insane year. As previously mentioned on the aforementioned tip, Pederson would be my NL Rookie of the Year and the best rookie hitter in 2015 if he had a job, and not Soler, but right now Soler has a job and I have no idea on Pederson. Pederson could hit 20 homers and steal 20 bases in 2015 with a job right out of the spring. The only real concern in his game is his strikeout rate. There’s a real chance here for him to have a sub-.250 average. It does appear that he can control his strikeouts once he gets comfortable at a new level. So, he could be the kind of guy that hits .220 in April, then starts to come out of it and is terrific by June. Lots of unknowns here and, as of right now, I don’t see drafting him outside of NL-Only or keeper leagues, but that could change if the Dodgers move some of their dead weight. For 2015, I’ll give him the projections of 59/12/43/.257/16 in 380 ABs. You know what would really kill his development? The Dodgers put him on the Opening Day roster as a fourth outfielder. At that point, I’d ask someone in my entourage to retrieve my cardboard mat, because that would be my breaking point.
