Last week, key Executives for all 30 MLB teams escaped the brutal winter weather by heading out to the Winter Meetings being held in San Diego, where the weather is beautiful regardless of what time of year it is. The beautiful weather of San Diego did not deter from the action in the Winter Meetings, as a flurry of transactions occurring was fast and furious, even by Winter Meetings standards. Today, the discussion is going to be about the Winter Meetings fantasy impact and which individual players saw their stock go up or down.
Winners:
Jimmy Rollins:
Even though Rollins is getting older (36) and is well past his peak, he was already a player that was on my radar due to a relatively clean bill of health (except for 2010) and the continued demonstrated ability to hit double-digit HR & steal 20+ bases. Granted, the power numbers may take a hit going from Citizens Bank Park to Dodger Stadium. However, I think this should be more than made up for by spending 2015 on a much better Dodgers team which should help his Run & RBI totals.
Brandon McCarthy:
Prior to catching on with the Dodgers, McCarthy already had the looks of a decent sleeper pick as his 4.05 ERA was already hiding stronger underlying metrics such as his 3.55 FIP/2.87xFIP & a 5.3 K/BB ratio. One other thing to keep in mind is that these numbers were accomplished while playing his home games at Chase Field & Yankee Stadium do not tend to treat pitchers nicely. With his new contract with the Dodgers, McCarthy will now have an opportunity to demonstrate that he is better than his 4.05 ERA while moving over to the National League and pitching his home games in a stadium that helps pitchers.
Mat Latos:
Latos is looking to bounce back after a 2014 season shortened by injury and I think the odds of that happening increased slightly by being traded to the Marlins. While the overall park factors for Great American Ball Park & Marlins Park were similar last year, one major difference sitting within these numbers is that Marlins Park is a lot less welcoming when it comes to hitting Home Runs.
Even if the Marlins don’t make a major contending run in 2015, I still think the overall team situation (i.e. chances for Wins) should be better. While the Reds have thus far responded to a disappointing 2014 season by trading Latos & Alfredo Simon and their strategy appears to be to bank on a return to glory from aging stars such as Joey Votto & Brandon Phillips (which I personally see as a long shot), the Marlins have thus far acted like they are trying to contend in 2015 (though this could change at any time).
Losers:
Matt Kemp
To me, the most shocking development of the Winter Meetings is Matt Kemp getting traded to the San Diego Padres. While I think that Kemp’s overall offensive production should survive the move to Petco (he has hit well at Petco in the past), I wouldn’t be surprised if his Fantasy Value takes a step back.
Even with some evidence that his production is somewhat Petco-proofed, the reality remains is that the Padres offense looks to be abysmal in 2015 (barring any further shocking deals) which in turn leads to potentially less opportunities across the board than he would have if he was still in a Dodger uniform.
Ervin Santana:
Santana’s bank account may have 54 million reasons to think the Winter Meetings was a winning proposition; it just doesn’t look like his Fantasy Value is also seeing the same trend. While his 2014 numbers indicate some of the same metrics that would indicate rebound (3.95 ERA vs. 3.39 FIP & 3.47xFIP) he seems headed into the opposite direction when it comes to his particular situation.
Since he is going from a Braves team that acted like a playoff contender for much of 2014 to a Twins team that has struggled for the last few seasons, it may be difficult for him to repeat the 14 wins that he got last year. Another thing that doesn’t help is that Target Field was actually less friendly to pitchers than Turner Field last year.
Dee Gordon:
While Dee Gordon is getting out of Dodger stadium, I’m not quite sure this will be enough for his trade to the Marlins to increase his Fantasy Value. While I have been relatively optimistic that Gordon could hit something resembling his .289 AVG from last year, being in a strong Dodgers lineup allowed him to have more plate appearances and thus more opportunities to Steal Bases & Score Runs.
Even though the Marlins have made some moves (such as signing Michael Morse) to shore up their lineup, I’m a little less sold on Gordon replicating the exact numbers last year than I was at this time last week.
Join me at Fantasy Draft. Sign up and play today using this link https://www.fantasydraft.com/play/ryjdumouchel
LIKE us on Facebook!!
Thank you for reading. Follow me on Twitter – @LWOSRyanD Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport and @LWOSworld – and “liking” our Facebook page.
For the latest in sports injury news, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for?
