The Reds are like the slowest team ever to rebuild. They sell off a piece every few months or so. “We’re getting rid of Cueto as we look to the future.” Dot dot dot. A month later, “Someone make us an offer for Leake. We’re rebuilding…kinda.” Dot dot dot. A few months later, “Okay, who wants Aroldis? For what it’s worth, he has a gun permit.” Dot dot dot. “Todd Frazier anyone? Everything must go…eventually!” Dot dot dot. “Hey, what do y’all think of Brandon Phillips?” The teamsters on three hours of sleep broke down the Titanic set quicker than the Reds. By August of 2016, Votto may be hitting between Kyle Waldrop and Cozart, and, knowing Votto, he will still hit .320. Any hoo! Moving to the White Sox doesn’t hurt Frazier, in theory. I say that because I feel like everything the White Sox touch turns to the wall of a Porta-Potty. Maybe it’s the Curse of Bill Veeck. Or just the Curse of the “Ill, Eek.” Capital I’s with an L next to it are weird, right? Okay, back to baseball! Frazier had 35 HRs last year and a 15.1% HR/FB, which is nothing. That’s around his career norm. He achieved this by hitting everything in the air. If he keeps that up — literally — in Chi-town, good things can continue to happen. Of course, every action has an equal opposite reaction, and more fly balls could hurt his average, which would hurt his runs and RBIs. Brucely, I’d take that trade off. Then throw in his 15-ish steals and you have a guy that should be near the top 25 overall for fantasy. For 2016, I’ll give him 86/30/98/.250/14. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this offseason in 2016 fantasy baseball:
Micah Johnson – Went one of the other ways in the Frazier deal. I get the sense that the Dodgers handle offseason trades like this, “Does this help move Alex Guerrero further down the depth charts? Then let’s try it!” Right now, the Dodgers have Kike Hernandez starting at 2nd base, but the Jews already have Hollywood, the media and the world banks, I doubt they get 2nd base on the Dodgers too. I’m guessing Micah unseats Hernandez this spring, but never really keeps the job full-time. For 2016, I’ll give Johnson 41/2/42/.237/19 in 300 ABs and a semi-platoon with Hernandez and Guerrero.
Jose Peraza – Went to the Reds because they really want to get rid of Phillips. I already gave you my Jose Peraza fantasy, but I’ll be updating that if Phillips is moved.
Johnny Cueto – Signed with the Giants. I know it might seem illogical that I went from saying Greinke, Samardzija and Price were overpaid to now saying Cueto really got shafted by having a subpar three months at the end of last year. Just not sure how he went from a top twenty pitcher in the majors to having a few bad months and only getting $130 million. I mean, he had a 2.71 ERA over the last five seasons. Well, I ain’t crying over spilled Cueto, especially since he seems like a bully. Then again, maybe Jason LaRue was the real bully. So, with Cueto going to San Francisco, they now have two of the top pitchers whose peripherals don’t jive with their ERA (Matt Cain is the other). Cueto took a rather large step back last year with K-rate (7.5 down from 8.9) and BABIP (.281 up from .238). A word (or 17+ words) on BABIP. Most pitchers have around a .300 BABIP, but Cueto always produced weak contact, which led to a lower than normal BABIP, until last year that is. His weak contact was from pitching efficiently to the edges of the strike zone, though that doesn’t full coalesce since last year he had an even better walk rate. His velocity was down, so maybe that coupled with less ground balls led to more runs. Whatever the case (Grey’s throwing out everything he just said!), I think AT&T Park and the NL West will stave off a lot of Cueto’s decline for at least a year. Will depend on where he’s being drafted, but I could see getting back in on Cueto if the draft value is there. For 2016, I’ll give him 14-9/3.31/1.09/186 in 210 IP.
Hyun-soo Kim – Signed with the Orioles to at least face righties and play left field. Looking at his numbers, and all Korean players in Korea, I’m left with one feeling, why are we not playing fantasy baseball in South Korea? The stats for Korean players over there are like the stats from the 90s here. If McGwire would’ve played in Korea in 1998, he would’ve hit 239 homers. No foolin’, I entered 70 homers into Google and hit translate to Korean. So, Kim, like Korean players before him, had great stats in Korea: 28 HRs, 11 SBs, .326, but Jung-ho hit 40 HRs in Korea, i.e., their stadiums are tiny and their pitching is weak. People have said Korean baseball is around that of Double-A, so Kim could hit 15 HRs, steal 10 bases and hit .270. Or he could be totally overmatched. If he does platoon, I’ll give him the projections of 54/14/43/.275/10 in 400 ABs.
Daniel Nava – Signed with the Angels. The Sciosciapath was heard screaming, “Did that get Cron out of our lineup yet?!”
Yadier Molina – Had his 2nd thumb surgery and might not be ready for Opening Day. In other Cardinals news, Randal Grichuk had hernia surgery but will be ready for spring training. Hopefully, it wasn’t the same doctor operating and, when Grichuk goes to the bathroom, he doesn’t look down to see Molina’s thumb.
Mike Napoli – Signed a deal with the Indians. Funny because his mom makes me pop a teepee. Nippoli should be the starting 1st baseman-slash-DH, depending on how the Indians want to play Santana. For 2016, I’ll give Napoli 45/19/58/.220/3 in 400 ABs.
Rajai Davis – Signed with the Indians. The King of SAGNOF will be used as a 4th outfielder and to welcome other SAGNOF dignitaries.
Steve Cishek – GM Jerry Dipoto said Cishek would be the Mariners closer. Dipoto also said that manager Scott Servais would act like the governor of Puerto Rico and Dipoto would be the United States. “You’re your own thing, just do what we tell you.”
