Nearly five years ago I went live with a post entitled Nostradumba** which was a piece of software I developed to help make fantasy baseball predictions. At first it was a disaster, recommending I draft Reggie Jackson and other inactive players. Realizing that wasn’t going to cut the mustard, I made a few tweaks that seemed to get the system running more smoothly, enabling me to make some less ridiculous dart throws. Earlier this year I cleared out one of my MacBook Pros so that my daughter could use it for remote 2nd grade. The school gave them all sh!tty Chromebooks that might have been less powerful than George Michael’s Sports Machine. While getting the MacBook setup, I found Nostraduma** and decided to bring it back to life. Here’s what it had to say.
Anthony Rizzo will be a top five 1B. Rhys Hoskins will be a top ten 1B.
Cavan Biggio will finish outside the top ten 2B, but both Mike Moustakas and David Fletcher will not.
Ke’Bryan Hayes won’t do much from a fantasy perspective.
Corey Seager has the best chance of beating out Trea Turner as the best SS.
Mike Trout will have more points than any other hitter. Wait you say. That’s not a bold statement you say. I beg to differ considering he has never been the top points getting hitter.
Buster Posey will be a serviceable fantasy catcher. That seems like more of a statement. How many of you drafted Joey Bart? While we’re on the subject, how about Adley Rutschman?
Eugenio Suarez will lead all shortstops in home runs.
Gerrit Cole will win his first Cy Young award, never to win another. I did pick Lucas Giolito in the staff picks post, but this is me contradicting myself.
If he stays healthy, Stephen Strasburg will be a top ten starting pitcher.
Given his ADP, Kevin Gausman will be one of the most valuable fantasy pitchers.
Here’s a few other thoughts I can share.
Don’t sleep on Michael Brantley or Eddie Rosario. I realize neither are shiny new toys, but both will end up on a lot of championship teams.
In keeper leagues reach a few rounds for Luis Severino. The same could be said for Chris Sale and Noah Syndergaard, but I prefer Severino out of the three. In non-keeper leagues they all have a solid chance to produce at high levels later in the season. Could be just the thing a fantasy team needs for that playoff push.
I’m not sure who will be the fifth starter for the Dodgers, but I’m leaning Dustin May. Love his strikeout potential.
In leagues formerly know as auction leagues, don’t get blinded by the big names and spend a wad of cash on one guy. While I’d love to own Mike Trout, he’s currently going for approximately $50. Here are my projected stats for Trout:
43 HR, 112 RBI, 113 R, 111 BB, 148 SO, 11 SB, .284 AVG
Using the scoring system I generally use as a reference in my posts, that comes to about 530 points. That’s pretty damn awesome. But what is my value for $50? That’s 10.6 points per dollar. What if instead we got Manny Machado for $30 and Whit Merrifield for $20. Combined they are projected to put up 903 points. That’s 18.06 points per dollar. You make the call. I say throw in Eddie Rosario for another $12, take the 1294 points and call it a day.
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