Padres’ great aunt passed away and left them with a fortune, but they had to spend it all by Monday at midnight. The way the Padres are going Chris Paddack is soon gonna be the long-man out of the bullpen. Okay, please comment below if the Padres have traded for, signed or spoke to you about acquiring your services in the last two days. I’m tracking all Padres’ moves. There’s only one team making moves this offseason, what an absolute mess. The only must-see MLB games this year are gonna Padres’ split-squad games. Can the Padres sign George Springer and J.T. Realmuto too (Realmutoo?), so we get this offseason over and onto the real stuff? Half expecting Rob Manfred to announce divisions will be taking turns, and only the NL West is playing in 2021. Just had a solid laugh thinking about the Giants’ lineup going into a four-game series vs. the Padres. Please, Alex Dickerson, don’t hurt ’em! So, Yu Darvish went to the Padres, because of course he did. The Padres are rumored to acquire (insert name of best player for your favorite team).
Yu Darvish in San Diego makes me want to draft a top starter so bad, but it will just make my practice of Starter Tantric that much more impressive. If you stop right in the middle of drafting a top starter, it helps with your self-control. I read that in a book that had Ganesha on the cover. Darvish is so well-known a break down of him feels besides the point, but here’s the general gist: 11+ K/9, barely-2 BB/9, low-3 xFIP, peaking out on SwStr%, and his O-Contact% is goofy impressive. He has a Zone% of 48%, which was highest in the majors last year for qualified pitchers, yet he had a top ten rate for lowest O-Contact. That means he throws everything around the plate and hitters still can’t hit it. That’s essentially the royal flush of what pitchers want. For 2021, I’ll give Yu Darvish projections of 14-8/2.79/1.03/237 in 188 IP. Anyway, here’s what else I saw this offseason for 2021 fantasy baseball:
Victor Caratini – Also went to the Padres, because he’s Yu Darvish’s personal catcher. Well, Darvish, you’re not the only one:
I too have my own personal catcher pic.twitter.com/KCsR9HB1tC
— Razzball (@Razzball) December 29, 2020
How many backup catchers for ‘rich’ teams would be the starter for a ‘poor’ team? Caratini isn’t just a vodka-straight-up-stirred-with-a-carrot, he’d also be the starter on at least 10 other teams. Though, one of those teams would trade for him, then bench him for someone like Tony Wolters. You know what team I’m talking about. For 2021, I’ll give Victor Caratini projections of 33/10/37/.261 in 231 ABs.
Ha-Seong Kim – Signed with the Padres. This sucks for my Jake Cronenworth sleeper, or the Padres know something about the DH being in the NL. My guess-slash-hope is the DH will be there in the NL, but, yeah, I don’t know for sure. As for Kim, we’re all making the same mistake we make every year with players, especially hitters, coming from the KBO. The pitchers in the KBO are not great. Dan Straily went there and looked like Dan All-Starily. Was that Dan Straily pitching or did Jacob deGrom pitch via Zoom on his days off in his place? Let’s grab a random pitcher, say, Jose Urena. He’d go to the KBO and be a 12 K/9 pitcher. I’m not exaggerating. Straily went from a 6.5 K/9 in the majors to 9.5 in Korea. So, Ha-Seong Kim’s KBO stats look great — 30/23/.306 — but Jung Ho Kang hit 40 homers in Korea one year. KBO is about the same competition level of Double-A. Stop getting roped into the “KBO hitter coming to the majors” narrative. Maybe Ha-Seong Kim sneaks into 15+ homers and 15+ steals, but a superstar, he is not. For 2021, I’ll give Ha-Seong Kim projections of 62/17/58/.254/15 in 519 ABs.
Zach Davies – Went the other way in the 1,000,000% dump trade by the Cubs. The Cubs are such a jizzoke. Hey, can the Cubs not compete in that small market of Chicago? Is this serious? Not going to blow my lid, but I have steam coming out my ears. What if, and bear with me here, you tried to be competitive because you’re a billion dollar sports team? What a crazy idea, huh? I’m turning into the Joker. Okay, to be the only levelheaded person online, no one will know if this was a good trade for the Cubs for five years. So, the problem with Davies is he relied so much on his change last year, and his fastball is goofy bad. That could work in sixty games, but will it work longer term? If you like guys who throw 88 MPH, then Davies will help you get your kinks on. For 2021, I’ll give Zach Davies projections of 7-9/3.93/1.28/122 in 161 IP.
Charlie Culberson – Signed with the Rangers. Culber Charlieson was not included in the deal, as far as I know.
