The MLB lockout has ended, and baseball is back! As DFS players shift from winter sports like NBA and NHL to a summer mindset, Razzle brings everyone up to speed on who went where and what teams might be offensive juggernauts prime for some daily fantasy stacks anchoring those winning lineups.
We aren’t yet 100% sure what rosters will look like for every team, as there are still some free agents dangling on the vine. Below, I am going to start with a look at the AL East. I will give my thoughts on guys set up for big seasons when it comes to DFS MLB.
MLB AL East – Toronto Blue Jays
Jul 31, 2021; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays center fielder George Springer (4) celebrates with designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (27) after hitting a home run against the Kansas City Royals during the first inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Sousa-USA TODAY Sports
The Blue Jays were linked to a ton of guys this offseason, even flirting with Freddie Freeman. They ended up replacing Marcus Semien with Matt Chapman. While I do think this is a decent downgrade overall, I could be proven wrong with a bounceback by Chapman. The nice thing, from a fantasy MLB perspective, is that the Blue Jays did some uncluttering of everyday OF at-bats.
They let Dickerson walk away in free agency and recently traded Randal Grichuk to the Rockies. I realize they brought back an outfielder in Raimel Tapia but he strikes me as a clear 4th OF’er at this point. The overall lineup is going to be deep while containing plenty of power on a daily basis.
I am personally pumped to see Greg Bird try to resurrect himself a bit. He is having a strong spring at the time of this writing and it would be amazing to see him win a bench/DH role in Toronto.
When it comes to AL East pitching, I honestly really like what the team has done as far as the starting staff. In the DFS world, we love using a metric we invented called KScore. KScore combines strikeout ability of pitchers and compares it to the daily opponent’s strikeout percentage…spotting key matchups slipping under the DFS radar. (See how it works here.)
I am not as sold on the bullpen, but MLB bullpen arms are so volatile anyway. Gausman is a guy that I am a fan of but I do worry about how he finished 2021. Having Ryu as the #3 with the future ace of Alek Manoah in the 4-spot is a very nice luxury.
Overall, I think we are right back on stacking this offense on a daily basis. I feel confident in saying that Springer should be a bit healthier this season, while guys like Biggio and Chapman could bounce back a little bit. Bo Bichette should continue to develop more and more while also benefitting from Vlad Jr’s dominance.
The Boston Red Sox
Oct 8, 2021; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Boston Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts (2) and designated hitter J.D. Martinez (28) celebrate after Bogaerts hits a home run against the Tampa Bay Rays during the third inning in game two of the 2021 ALDS at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports
I will start out my discussion about the Boston Red Sox with a huge question mark. Why did they trade Hunter Renfroe for a package that involved Jackie Bradley Jr? I do not have an answer for that question, so we will just move on to the addition of Trevor Story. This is a great get while also getting him on board to play 2B due to the respect he has for Xander.
The overall MLB lineup is going to be pretty strong, with a couple of weaker spots near the bottom on a daily basis. Rafael Devers is everybody’s big-time step-forward guy (weird considering what he’s accomplished so far). Devers is absolutely destroying the baseball this spring and should anchor a ton of DFS stacks throughout the season this year. I suspect he will be featured a ton in our MLB Research Station Hot Stacks Tab.
Chris Sale needs to be the ace of this squad (dealing with an injury, again). The rest of the rotation is kind of a question mark overall, for various reasons. I am a huge Tanner Houck fan and would love to see him take a leap forward. I would not be shocked to see Whitlock end up in the rotation.
This Boston MLB squad is really up in the air for me this season. I can see a route to a lot of runs scored and a winning record but the pitching staff is enough to leave me worried. Where they slot Story into the lineup is going to be interesting to me. Dalbec’s growth is going to be important when it comes to lengthening the lineup and he’s been pretty strong this spring.
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MLB AL East: New York Yankees
Mar 12, 2019; Tampa, FL, USA; New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (99) is congratulated by left fielder Giancarlo Stanton (27) after Judge hit a two run home run during the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Yankees bats are hitting a ton of HRs this spring, but some of it won’t carry over to 2022. Higashioka has 4 HRs through 17 ABs. The big question for me is what do they do with their infield. The decision to re-sign Rizzo, while acquiring Kiner-Falefa, now creates a log jam of at-bats at the MLB level. Gleyber is having a terrific spring but do they trust him enough at SS? I do believe the Donaldson acquisition is a strong one for the lineup.
We still have questions about Gallo. His lack of contact in NY is a big issue. The health of Hicks in CF is a massive question mark. This lineup is always going to be capable of hitting HRs but they will go through a number of struggles while also showing questionable health. But, overall, it’s nice to see the Bronx Bombers finally add some lefty pop to their historically soft stadium from that side.
The Yankees are usually one of the more popular DFS stacks from the AL East, but this year, I’m starting to lean on them being a little overrated until they prove me wrong. My plan is to carefully watch the Domination Station Optimizer’s love of an MLB stat like ISO and prepare myself to cut down my exposure to them until the weather heats up a little in NYC.
Much like the lineup, the rotation has some injury concerns and question marks. If Severino returns to the hyped arm and manages to get 25+ starts, he helps to stabilize the rotation. I’ve always been a fan of Taillon so I do hope he remains healthy and shows his #2 starter upside. Montgomery isn’t a sexy arm but he has really strong moments and he’s somebody I am going to use in DFS this season. The bullpen is always a plus for the Yankees as Loaisiga is a future stud closer, in my opinion.
The Tampa Bay Rays
It feels like every year I predict the Rays to regress and I am proven wrong. I still believe they are going to regress but the way this organization is built, I don’t see it being anything major. All eyes will be on the Rays with a full season of Wander Franco.
There are plenty of holes in the MLB lineup as they will strike out plenty over the course of the season. The bats are struggling this spring as they have just 6 HRs to go with 99 Ks in 11 games. We know that the lineup will change on a daily basis and that probably keeps TB stacks pretty low from a DFS perspective.
I definitely do not want to bet against the staff for the Rays but Kluber as the #2 is a huge question mark for me. McLanahan is slated to be the team’s ace and while I agree he has filthy stuff, that’s asking a lot of him. The bullpen is always going to be a plus but they have dealt with injuries recently. Pitching is the spot where I would expect the most MLB regression at this point.
When it comes to DFS, I think the Rays are going to start out as a secondary stack option, a “value option,” if you will. You can rely on Zunino as a one-off power bat at the C position but the lineup isn’t going to be very deep on a daily basis. I can see myself relying on a mini-stack of Wander and Brandon Lowe a lot.
MLB AL East: Baltimore Orioles
I do feel sorry for the Orioles fan base at this point. The MLB team they are running out there this season is going to be really frustrating to watch. I say that even though guys like Mullins (MVP type numbers), Manini, and Mountcastle have plenty of ability and upside. The overall lineup is going to be one of the worst in all of baseball.
Adley is expected to take over at some point as the full-time catcher but he has dealt with an arm issue this spring. I wouldn’t be shocked if Mancini is dealt with in the first couple of months. That’s a tough one with how the city rallied around him during his cancer fight. The lineup has struck out 107 times through 11 games so far this spring. I don’t expect it to get any better when the regular season gets started.
When you rely on Jordan Lyles as your #2, you are in trouble. I love John Means but he should never be a team’s #1. Even if he did throw a no-hitter last season (Wade Miley threw one for god’s sake). The team has an ERA of 5.97 so far this spring. Generally, we assume pitching is ahead of hitting in Spring games but that’s not the case with Baltimore. The bullpen is a HUGE question mark as well and that’s not going to be a good thing in this division. I expect the DFS masses to pick on Baltimore pitching all season long.
This is going to be a dumpster fire of a season for Baltimore but I do think there will be nights where DFS GPPs are won by a mini-stack of Baltimore bats. The main key to that is Cedric Mullins continuing his rise with the power of Mancini and Mountcastle. As I pointed out, the pitching staff is going to be horrible and one that gives up plenty of runs.
MY PROJECTED ORDER OF FINISH
- Toronto Blue Jays
- New York Yankees
- Boston Red Sox
- Tampa Bay Rays (feels weird to put them at 4th)
- Baltimore Orioles
The start of the 2022 MLB season is just over a week away, thankfully. It was a long offseason with a lot of unknowns thanks to the lockout. After all of the struggles, we’ve gotten to witness a somewhat abbreviated spring training. Over the next week, I am going to preview each division in baseball and then I will finish with a DFS season preview. I should introduce myself, I am Eric Rasmussen (@Razzle11Grinds on Twitter) and I cover MLB and CBB for DFS Army.
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