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| Matt Garza (Mil - SP) |
Offense: JT's offense is led by Cuban masher 1B Jose Abreu, who was the team's bounty in the 1st round of last season's pre-season draft. Outfielders Carlos Gomez and Charlie Blackmon are borderline 20/20+ candidates with some question on wether Blackmon will be able to repeat. World Series champ C/1B Buster Posey ranks amongst top catchers and 3B Kyle Seager was one of the most improved players in the league last season. Speedster OF Ben Revere was a Top 70 fantasy talent while fellow-outfielder Kole Calhoun was a borderline Top 100 talent last season. Infielders SS Starlin Castro and 2B Kolten Wong both had creditable seasons with Wong ending the year on a high note. First basemen Eric Hosmer, who is better than he played last season and just signed an extension, as well as 1B Matt Adams, who now has 1B all to himself for the full-season while catcher Matt Wieters works to recover from TJ surgery. Prospect Mookie Betts was excellent in his 1st MLB trial but will likely lose 2B eligibility next season as he is slated to be in a outfield. Aside from Abreu and maybe Gomez, there isn't a ton of star power here though Seager might enter that tier at some point. Finding of drafting some insurance at shortstop and third base might be smart avenues.
Pitching: Ace Adam Wainwright is the obvious anchor of JT's pitching staff with Jeff Samardzija, who will be pitching for his third team in two years, as logical next best. Hurlers Homer Bailey and Matt Garza need to once again pitch to their talents while the surprising Matt Shoemaker remains unlikely to repeat last year's crazy success. Like Samardzija, starter Ervin Santana finds himself on a new team this season while youngster Tyson Ross finally tapped into his impressive potential with his 9.0 K/9 ratio. Rule-5 pick Mike Fiers is a possible keeper and prospect arm Alex Meyer is very close to contributing on a MLB basis which will be a nice boon for this team. JT also features some nice closers in Greg Holland, Hector Rondon and Joaquín Benoit which should help contend in saves on a weekly basis. JT's pitchign staff has some nice highlights and rosters some capable inning eaters but adding a few MLB worthy arms would benefit this team greatly.
Draft: With the inconsistency of Castro from year-to-year, drafting someone like Jung-ho Kang (Pit - SS) with the final pick in the 1st RD makes a lot of sense as he is slated to start from day 1 and has the power potential worthy of investment. If Kang is not the selection, Tim Anderson (ChW - SS), Michael Taylor (Tor - OF), Dalton Pompey (Tor - OF) or arms Kyle Freeland (Col - SP) and Touki Toussaint (Ari - SP) might be possible picks here.
Prediction:
RD 1: Jung-ho Kang (Pit - SS) - Korean import playing SS right away and intriguing power potential
RD 2: Justin Masterson (Bos - SP) - Playing for a contender, year removed from an All-Star season
RD 3: Kendry Morales (KC - 1B) - Healthy, powerful and received big contract from AL Champs
RD 4: Brandon Finnegan (KC - RP) - 2014 1st RD draftee made impact in majors, future starter
RD 5: Eduardo Rodriguez (Bos - SP) - Projectable lefty prospect with a good future for Red Sox
RD 6: Mike Fiers (Mil - SP) - R5 Keeper
Prospect Draft:
RD 1: Yoan Lopez (Ari - SP) - New Cuban signee throws hard and should move quickly to majors
RD 2: Adam Walker (Min - OF) - Keeper
RD 3: Mitch Nay (Tor - 3B) - Keeper
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