The offseason is in full swing, and we're here to provide the latest insights. Wondering how the latest trade or free agent signing will impact your Fantasy Baseball league? You've landed in the right place for that sort of analysis.
Here are our reactions to what's happened so far ...
Mark Canha signs with Mets
The Mets, sans Michael Conforto, would seemingly have an everyday role in mind for Canha. He may not have gotten such assurances from every team given that he slumped to a .206 batting average and .656 OPS in the second half while possibly still feeling the effects of a hip injury. He's been a bit all over the place since the start of the 2019 season, when he broke out with career-best numbers, but one thing he has consistently done during that time is get on base, which should keep him relevant even in points leagues. He'll get late-round looks either way. He did hit .257 with an .827 OPS on the road last year, so the change in venue can only help.
Eduardo Escobar signs with Mets
The Mets have been roughing it at third base the past couple years, so this signing brings them some stability while also keeping Escobar out of a potential playing-time quagmire elsewhere. Of course, it crushes J.D. Davis' value, but he had begun to look like a lost cause anyway after an injury-plagued year in which he was overtaken by Jonathan Villar. Escobar, soon to be 33, is limited offensively, struggling to get on base but putting the ball in the air enough to deliver a respectable home run total. He can be frustrating for Fantasy purposes, but given the state of the third base position right now, we should just be thankful he's landed in a place where he can deliver on who he is.
Steven Matz signs with Cardinals
The Cardinals in recent years have built their rotation on mid-grade hurlers with unimpressive peripherals, and Matz indeed fits the bill. The 30-year-old lefty ended his time with the Blue Jays on a high note, delivering a 2.91 ERA over his final 14 starts, but he also had a 1.29 WHIP and 7.5 K/9 during that stretch. His final numbers weren't bad but also weren't the sort that moves the needle in Fantasy. His 14-7 record tops the list of stats he's unlikely to repeat. Consider Matz nothing more than a streamer type, and if you were counting on Alex Reyes joining the rotation for the start of 2022, know that the odds are much longer now.
Wander Franco signs extension with Rays
No changing of hands here, of course, but the scope of the deal makes it no less noteworthy. The guaranteed number is $182 million over 11 years, but there's an option for a 12th year and escalators that could bring the contract to $223 million. It's the largest deal ever doled out to a player with less than one year of service time, nearly doubling Ronald Acuna's previous record.
Early returns back up Franco's two-year reign as the game's top prospect. He has yet to optimize for power, but his bat skills are already first-rate. He struck out three times in 16 September games, for goodness' sake. His production at age 20 puts him on a Hall of Fame trajectory, premature as it is to say, and the notoriously cost-conscious Rays are betting on it. For Fantasy, this deal could raise the already outsized hype to a full-blown fever pitch, making it more likely Franco goes too early (say, Round 2 or 3 rather than 4 or 5), but it's certainly possible he becomes an out-and-out monster in 2022.
Anthony DeSclafani signs with Giants
DeSclafani will stay with the organization that helped bring out his best, and between him, Kevin Gausman, Alex Wood and even Drew Smyly for a brief stretch in 2020, the Giants have developed a reputation for salvaging forgotten pitching talents. Their big ballpark likely has something to do with it, and it just so happens DeSclafani allowed 0.5 HR/9 there compared to 1.4 on the road in 2021. The 31-year-old faded a bit with a 4.03 ERA in the second half, and between his modest strikeout rate high-ish xFIP and xERA (both 3.95), I do think it's likely he overachieved a bit. Still, there's nowhere else we would have preferred to see him go. His return to San Francisco should get him drafted among the top 60 starting pitchers.
Justin Verlander signs with Astros
The Astros ended the suspense before it had a chance to build, giving the future Hall of Famer not only $25 million for 2022 but also the choice to come back for 2023 or test the market again. You could say it's a lot to gamble on a soon-to-be 39-year-old coming back from Tommy John surgery, but Verlander is the sort of generational talent who seems like he'll keep going forever. You see his numbers from his last healthy season (he also made one start in 2020), and by opening day, he'll have already had a solid 18 months to recover. My suspicion is that he'll slide too far in Fantasy drafts, but a big spring could build the hype.
Brandon Belt signs with Giants
Belt accepted the qualifying offer, perhaps with an eye on negotiating a long-term deal, thus ending the hypothetical of him finally leaving Oracle Park. It's true the cavernous venue has long stifled his power production and his Fantasy prospects with it, but it has played fairer the past two years, which explains him blowing away his previous career high in homers despite playing only 97 games. It's that latter number that's the real problem. Gabe Kapler prefers to sit him against left-handers. We can still hope for more playing time in 2022 -- Belt did have a couple lengthy IL stints as well -- but not as much as if he had gone somewhere else. He'll be drafted outside the top 12 first basemen yet again.
Noah Syndergaard signs with Angels
