Guardians traded Josh Naylor for Slade Cecconi and I have to assume Slade Cecconi knows where the bodies are buried. Nothing else makes sense. I’d happily say Josh Naylor was too expensive for the Guards, but he was the same-ish as newly signed Carlos Santana. What is [five minutes after downing ayahuasca] going on? This is such a bizarre move I’m not computing, need more of the truth peyote. So, nailed Josh Naylor being a sleeper last year! High five me! No? Why? Oh, because he only had a solid season because all the 1st basemen around him weren’t great? Okay, fair enough. Last year, Naylor went 31/6/.243 and that was the 3rd best 1st baseman on the Player Rater. [bugs eyes] Oh boy. He lost almost forty points on xBA and gained Ks. While they were still good, they went up. Maybe that’s why the Guards abandoned him. I don’t know. Here’s to him figuring out how he can stave off further losses and put to bed any concerns, like he puts to bed the imaginary baby he rocks as he rounds bases on a homer. 2025 Projections: 81/28/95/.261/7 in 559 ABs Anyway, here’s what else I saw this offseason for 2025 fantasy baseball:
PSYCHE! My 2025 fantasy baseball rankings are all on Patreon. Don’t wait for the rankings to come out next month. Anyway II, the roundup:
Slade Cecconi – Traded to the Guards. By the way, when I was trying to think why the Guards would want Cecconi and Santana over Naylor, I did consider Cecconi is better than I think. I quickly abandoned that theory. He does have great command, but his 6+ ERA relays a lot of information with how hard he gets rocked. Maybe they can unlock something, but I have massive doubts.
Carlos Santana – Signed by the Guards because it had been almost four years since he was there and they missed him. Aw, sweet. If I’m them, I change the team name to the Cleveland Supernaturals. So, Santana goes 23/4/.240 every year, more or less and, if anything, I’d expect less as he’s 39 in April. 2025 Projections: 61/20/72/.227/3 in 519 ABs
Christian Walker – Signed with the Astros. First, Jon Singleton is suspended for hotboxing the batter’s box and now he’s bumped to the bench for a Christian. Y’all and your Puritanical values. Let my man smoke balls and joints! Balls ‘n Joints is also the name of my very bad mechanic. “Looks like you have a…” Long pull off a joint. “…car problem.” So, Christian Walker’s batted ball profile looks better last year vs. the year before (when he was on the surface better), and I trust the Astros as much as any team. Until the Astros make a terrible signing that doesn’t work out, I’m on board. Being for real: You gotta trust something in this lil’ snow globe we call the world. Look at Walker’s HardHit% and only that from 2023 to 2024: 40.4% to 48%. Yeah, last year wasn’t a bad year, and I currently see him being drafted at a nice discount. 2025 Projections: 83/34/95/.254/3 in 579 ABs
Paul Goldschmidt – Signed with the Yankees, which felt inevitable. There is nothing the Yanks like more than a completely past-his-prime corner infielder. Brian Cashman, “Nah, I don’t think he’ll be Anthony Rizzo, Luke Voit, DJ LeMahieu, Chris Carter or Greg Bird. Think we might be able to get a 2022 Matt Carpenter year out of Paul Goldschmidt.” Off other people’s looks, “Ya know, when he was good for, like, 50 games.” So, I don’t think Yankee Stadium or their lineup is going to help him enough to revitalize his career. His peripherals have the standard look of the fading star. He might be good for counting stats, and won’t be as bad as Rizzo. 2025 Projections: 76/20/83/.247/8 in 581 ABs
Jose Trevino – Traded to the Reds. He faces lefties and lefties only and–well, what’s a LOOGY called for batters? A BOOGY? So, Trevino’s a BOOGYman? Well, not exactly. What’s a BOOGYman if they can’t hit lefties? How about we call him an OOGA-BOOGA? It’s not an acronym for anything, it’s definition is a scary thing that jumps out at you. Like his platoon splits. 2025 Projections: 28/9/31/.221/2 in 223 ABs
Patrick Sandoval – Signed with the Red Sox. He’s going to need at least a half a season to return from Tommy John surgery, then who knows how long to forget everything he learned with the Angels.
Jesus Luzardo – Traded to the Phils for dynamic, but very young prospects. Not bad for a pitcher who was a top 20 starter two years ago, and seemed headed for an even better year in 2024, until injuries derailed him. In fact! (Grey’s got more.) After two straight years of promising results, Luzardo had a season last year that was perhaps the worst thing God ever spit up. From flexor muscle strain to lumbar stress reaction to, the worst of all, still having to pitch for the Marlins all season and not being traded. He was shut down in early August and I really don’t know what to expect here. He could be totally healed, and I trust the Phils to know that, so I actually moved him up in my rankings after this trade — all available on Patreon. I think at his draft price, it’s worth the flyer to see if you get a bounce back, and what better place for a flyer than Philly. 2025 Projections: 11-8/3.76/1.26/154 in 148 IP
Max Kepler – Signed with the Phils. This is one of those moves that doesn’t seem that exciting for fantasy, but there’s gonna be a moment in August when you’re like, ‘Should I bench JRod for Kepler? I really should stop drafting JRod in the first round every year because he’s only good in September.’ And I’m gonna say, ‘Sure, go with Kepler,’ then JRod will hit six homers in three at-bats (don’t ask how) and you’ll vow to never draft JRod again until you draft him again in 2026, but at a discount, you rationalize. Any hoo! Kepler is fine if he’s hot on waivers. 2025 Projections: 44/16/51/.246/1 in 372 ABs
Griffin Canning – Signed by the Mets. Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, someone free Jo Adell now! Griffin Canning, your 2025 NL All-Star Game starter! I’m somewhat kidding, but it doesn’t hurt to acquire as many 170+ IP pitchers as you can for real baseball. Last year, his walk rate ballooned to 3.5 but it was 2.6 BB/9 the year before, and if he can get back to that, that’s good. Something I’d trust the Mets to pull off more than the Angels. Canning could finally achieve the success that has eluded him on the terribly-coached Angels. For 2025, I’ll give Griffin Canning projections of 9-11/4.21/1.29/143 in 167 IP.
Chuckie Robinson – Traded from the White Sox to the Angels for cash. That’s why they call him Five-Buck Chuck.
Nathaniel Lowe – Traded to the Nats. I have a bone to pick with Nathaniel Lowe. If you go from Nate to Nathaniel, you have to increase your homers, not clock in with 17 and be like, “I’m good here.” More letters added for me to type, the more you have to make that worth my while. By the way, when you see the 1st basemen rankings — already on Patreon — oh man, you have never seen so many 1st basemen who can’t hit 20 homers even with 600 ABs. It’s like the 1st basemen are all time travelers from the Dead Ball Era. Skeets McCutty gonna lead the league with 11 homers, then die of consumption or what? 2025 Projections: 71/18/79/.266/2 in 531 ABs
Robert Garcia – Traded to the Rangers. This feels like one of those moves (Lowe for Garcia) where the Rangers know about a market efficiency (great relievers and how important they are) and the Nats are like, “Wheeeeee! A 1st baseman!” This gives the Rangers and Nats new closers. (Though, Kyle Finnegan is still a free agent, so maybe he returns.) Hesitant to do closer projections until last minute, but Garcia would be an excellent closer (and cheap for fantasy), if the Rangers go that way.
Gio Urshela – Signed with the Ath’s, which is how I see them abbreviated some places, which is so funny to me. Gonna start calling them the Ath’s so when Google’s AI steals my content they call them the Ath’s. Thall victories. Gio is undraftable in the top 500, so he gets no projections. Aw, thad emoji.
Rickey Henderson – RIP to the GOAT. A player could average 70 stolen bases a season over 20 years and still fall short of tying Rickey Henderson. It’s so rare when a player is so relentlessly exciting that it doesn’t matter what team you rooted for, you were a fan of Rickey Henderson, truly one of a kind. I’ll leave you with an excerpt from Mike Piazza’s autobiography about playoff shares (by the way, imagine being Piazza and admitting this):
