How much does the Rangers giving up Yu Darvish for Willie Calhoun play into their wont to play Calhoun? Bigly, not bigly yet, bigly soon, or, like a chicken piccata’s side, big leek. Therein lies the sun, moon, and stars of Willie Calhoun’s value for 2018 fantasy baseball. My thoughts on this is you don’t trade a guy that is the face of your franchise like Yu for a guy who’s not going to play, but — and this is a Kardashian-sized but — Darvish was due to be a free agent, so maybe it doesn’t matter. How’s that for landing on one side or the other? Honestly, I don’t know, but the Rangers need to move towards the future and their outfield has room for Calhoun. Why does any of this matter? Cause Calhoun’s so butter I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter can’t tell the difference between him and butter, and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter’s “butter or not butter” radar is as fine-tuned as you’re going to find. So, let’s speak on him as if playing time is all but assured. So, what can we expect from Willie Calhoun for 2018 fantasy baseball?
If Giancarlo’s name wasn’t monopolizing all of my Trapper Keeper’s cover space, Willie Calhoun and a bunch of hearts would be all over it. I’m a little bummed he won’t be playing 2B (likely) any time soon, because I have the perfect comparison. Gonna put it out there for you anyway, Jonathan Schoop. Schoop, there it is! It’s not exactly analogous due to walk rates, physical builds and Ks, but it’s close enough. I will call him Horseshoe And/Or Hand Grenade Schoop. I can’t figure out a way Calhoun doesn’t hit at least 25 HRs and .280 in the majors for many years. He’d have to be one of the bigger busts — hey, Billy Butler, not that kind of bust — in a long time to come up short of those projections. In Double-A in 2016, he hit 27 HRs and .254 with an unlucky (for him) BABIP. Turned around all of it last year, literally and figuratively, with 31 HRs and a .300+ average in Triple-A. The steals are sadly about as present as they are in Schoop’s game. Calhoun *might* steal three bases in a good year. Asterisks for emphasis, not aesthetics. Calhoun looks like the makings of someone very special, and will(ie) make the Dodgers regret their trade for a long time. For 2018, I’m going to be aggressively after Calhoun. He’s likely going to be one of those guys I draft in all leagues and simply drop in shallower leagues if the Rangers do something stupid like hold him down until June. My projections for Willie Calhoun are 66/21/71/.277/1 in 434 ABs, which is very conservative.
