2015 Major League Baseball Preview

What’s New?

• It’s a new year, an odd year so following their path for the last six seasons this should be a down year for the team.
• The loss of Kung Fu Panda at 3B is significant as he provided the offense with consistency during the year. He is replaced by Casey McGehee, who won’t match his offensive output from last year.
• OF Norichika Aoki couldn’t beat the Giants in the World Series with the Royals so he joined them through free agency. He plays solid outfield defense and will be in the mix for the left field job in spring training.
• The team is essentially paying Marco Scutaro to not play for them this year by designating him for assignment.

What needs to go right?

• The pitching staff behind Madison Bumgarner needs to pull its weight. Jake Peavy, Tim Lincecum and Tim Hudson need to find the fountain of youth. Ryan Vogelsong needs to not pitch like Ryan Vogelsong and Matt Cain needs to stay healthy.
• The offense needs to find a rhythm and invent ways to score runs.
• The parade hangover needs to wash away early as they again won’t be favored to win their own division and will need to qualify for post season via the wild card.

What’s New?

• They poached GM Andrew Friedman away from Tampa and he immediately broke up the band by trading several pieces from last year’s division winning squad. Clearly the new ownership group recognizes the team is flush with talent and does not want to waste the prime years of Clayton Kershaw.
• Yasmani Grandal, Jimmy Rollins, Howie Kendrick, Joel Peralta, Brandon McCarthy and Brett Anderson were added in the off season. Kendrick could be the key to the new lineup as his consistency at the plate will set up the bigger names on the roster.
• The trade of Matt Kemp allows rookie Joc Pederson to step into centerfield after seeing 28 at bats in September. The problem is he struck out in 11 of those 28.

What needs to go right?

• Pederson needs to prove he can hit enough to stay in the lineup.
• McCarthy and Anderson need to stay healthy enough to put in 170 innings apiece. If they don’t names like Erik Bedard, Juan Nicasio and Joe Wieland come into play, which means they are in trouble. With Hun-Jin Ryu already ailing this is the Achilles heel of this team.
• Kershaw and his 211 innings pitched need to show he has some juice left for a post season run, an MVP is nice but with that contract he will be judged on his playoff runs not regular season win totals.

What’s new?

• New GM A.J Preller wasted no time in shifting a locker room losing culture by reshaping the roster and the real key is not selling whatever value he had in the farm system.
• The new outfield of Matt Kemp, Wil Myers and Justin Upton will pump life into the saggy stats the Padres racked up last year. New catcher Derek Norris was an All-Star last year and will help lengthen the lineup, new 3B Will Middlebrooks is in a make or break year in his young career.
• The team shipped out top hitter Seth Smith in a trade and got back Brandon Maurer, who could blossom into the 5th starter or be a reliable bullpen arm.
• Adding James Shields will help in the short term but 8 straight years of 200+ innings will eventually catch up with him, likely by year 3 of the 4 year contract. This year he lengthens the rotation but will he run out of gas come October again?

What needs to go right?

• The defense needs to help the pitching staff out, with natural centerfielder Cameron Maybin relegated to 4th outfielder status there could be some balls dropping for extra base hits.
• 2B Jedd Gyroko needs to take a step forward with the lumber to make the lineup truly intimidating for opposing pitchers.
• The rotation is solid if unspectacular as Tyson Ross and Andrew Cashner headline the group that has steady Ian Kennedy and a glut of journey men to average pitchers fighting for the 4th and 5th spots.
• With the All-Star game slated to be played in their park in 2016 the Padres clearly see a need to impress and spent on upgrades to the lineup which should help build fan support.

What’s new?

• Nothing on the field. New GM Jeff Bridich didn’t make as big a splash as division rival Preller in San Diego. They did give Jair Jurrjens a minor league deal to win a spot in the rotation, but he hasn’t been healthy in 4 years.
• Hope. Well, Bridich hopes that Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki stay healthy and given their home ball park advantages he hopes the team can slug its way into the playoff race.

What needs to go right?

• Keep their stars healthy! Cargo and Tulo haven’t played more than 140 games together in the same season EVER. Think about that, with both of their reputations for hitting prowess, it’s no wonder the Rockies are perpetually in a state of treading water.
• Another wave of young pitchers will try and solve the Coors Field puzzle, Tyler Matzek, Eddie Butler, Jon Gray and Jordan Lyles will support Jhoulys Chacin and Jorge De La Rosa .

What’s new?

• New GM Dave Stewart is clearly an old school thinker. He dislikes analytics but apparently really likes Cuban imports, and not just the cigars.
• Cuban3B/ OF Yasmany Tomas is the next big power hitter in the line of Yoenis Cespedes and Jose Abreu to hit the big leagues.
• Fellow Cuban Yoan Lopez was given the largest contract for an international amateur. It is telling that he got a minor league contract though as he is only 21 the team is betting big on his mid-90’s fastball.

What needs to go right?

• New pitcher Jeremy Hellickson needs to take the next step in his progression as he was acquired to compliment Josh Collmenter atop the rotation. Mostly because the rest of the rotation is putrid.
• Tomas has to supply protection in the lineup for 1B and potential MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt and forgotten slugger Mark Trumbo. The trio could account for 90 home runs this season.
• AJ Pollack needs to build off a solid but injury plagued season.

What’s new?

• The passing of Oscar Taveras set in motion the trade for Jason Heyward, and while they gave up Shelby Miller the team felt it dealt from strength in terms of the organizational depth at the position.
• Mark Reynolds was brought in to platoon at 1B with Matt Adams and hit left handed starters, which he does much better than Adams does.
• Jaime Garcia is back to attempt to return from Thoracic outlet syndrome. With Adam Wainwright’s abdomen and elbow barking he might prove to be a nice insurance policy.

What needs to go right?

• Heyward steps into the lineup but likely will not be asked to lead off like in Atlanta. He should hit around the middle of the order and be more of a counting stat (HR & RBI) value than in years past.
• Wainwright needs to be brought along slowly through the year, maybe skip a start here or there to ensure he is full go for a playoff run.
• The team tried to rest Yadier Molina last year to keep him fresh with Tony Cruz but the drop off was significant and then Yadi got hurt which just went to show how valuable he is to the team. Stay healthy big guy!

What’s new?

• A.J. Burnett is back to man the #3 role in the rotation.
• Korean import Jung-Ho Kang was brought in to provide an offensive upgrade over Jordy Mercer at SS.
• They lost Russell Martin in free agency which leaves them with two Yankee backups as their top two backstops in Frankie Cervelli and Chris Stewart.

What needs to go right?

• Gerrit Cole needs to take the next step and become the ace of the staff.
• They need to get more out of Burnett and Francisco Liriano, than 4th starter numbers.
• Pedro Alvarez needs to make a smooth (acceptable) transition to 1B, i.e make less than 15 errors.
• Andrew McCutchen needs to block out the contract extension talk and just play. He’s got 3 more years before he or the organization should think about a new deal.

What’s new?

• Adam Lind comes over and will be asked to play 1B against right handed pitching.
• Aramis Ramirez announced this is his last year playing the hot corner.
• Yovani Gallardo was traded to the Rangers opening a rotation spot for Jimmy Nelson.

What needs to go right?

• Jonathan Lucroy’s hammy needs to get right sooner rather than later, and being a catcher the team will have to be careful with him early in the year.
• The young arms in the rotation need to carry the vets (Garza & Lohse) who have become 5 inning and turn over to bullpen guys.
• Ryan Braun’s thumb surgery has to be a success, meaning his power stroke comes back and he hits at least 25 long balls.

What’s new?

• The team acquired Marlon Byrd to offer more thump from the RF position.
• Anthony DeScalafani replaces Alfredo Simon in the rotation.
• Nobody is injured!..yet.

What needs to go right?

• Joey Votto needs to stay healthy, so do about 10 other key contributors.
• Billy Hamilton needs to improve his OBP to continue his development at the plate.
• New rotation members Tony Cingrani and DeScalafani need to average 180 innings to offer respite for the bullpen.

What’s new?

• Hello Jon Lester and personal caddy David Ross.
• Miguel Montero & Dexter Fowler were brought in to bolster the lineup.
• Expectations. These haven’t’ been around the windy city in over ten years, the additions of Lester and Maddon only heighten he sense that contention is near.

What needs to go right?

• The rotation needs to be more than a one man show.
• The bullpen and closer probably need this year to shake out for real contention next year.
• Kris Bryant accepts his initial demotion to AAA so the franchise saves a year of experience and comes up in May and shows off his power.
• Maddon works his magic in the clubhouse and the team gels like the Rays teams of the past five years.

What’s new?

• Max Scherzer was brought in to make a dominating starting 5.
• Ryan Zimmerman will move to 1B to ease his defensive and health issues.
• Denard Span will miss sometime early due to core muscle surgery. Because he isn’t a power hitter I don’t expect this to impact him too much.

What needs to go right?

• Anthony Rendon paces his production from last season. He was the breakout star from last season.
• Jayson Werth has a fresh mindset and approach to the season
• Expectations are sky high for Nats fans, anything less than an NLCS appearance and likely a World Series run will leave a sour taste in fans mouths.

What’s new?

• The entire outfield will be different from last year come opening day. Meaning the lineup has lost production and length. To be fair they did finish 29th in runs and slugging percentage so a change was necessary somewhere.
• Shelby Miller comes over to help Julio Teheran form the nucleus of what the team hopes will be a World Series contender in 2017 when their new park opens.
• Nick Markakis and his surgically repaired neck will look to boost a team OBP of .304 or 24th in the league last year.

What needs to go right?

• Alex Wood needs to throw at least 180 innings which would mean he ascends to 3rd in the rotation behind Teheran and Miller.
• “Melvin” Upton (JR) needs to come back from his freak injury and not play like BJ Upton.
• The bullpen reverts to 2013 form. Jason Grilli and Jim Johnson have to find their late inning swagger again.

What’s new?

• Giancarlo Stanton signed the first $300 million dollar deal in baseball this offseason.
• Dee Gordon comes over to man 2B and add some speed to an offensively potent lineup. Whereas Mike Morse is going to try and stay healthy playing 1B.
• The team stole utility player deluxe Martin Prado from the Yankees and he will hold down 3B responsibilities this season but could also play 2B or OF should there be an injury.

What needs to go right?

• Jose Fernandez comes back from Tommy John surgery before the All-Star break and provides the team a lift for a playoff push.
• The bullpen holds enough leads for closer Steve Cishek to push for the league lead in saves.
• Stanton continues to grow his game and puts up MVP like numbers.

Fantasy Dud: Jarrod Saltalamacchia-C. There is power in the bat but just not enough contact to be anything more than an injury fill-in on your roster.

What’s new?

• Zach Wheeler having Tommy John surgery only reinforces the front office not dealing a starter over the winter as a good non move.
• Michael Cuddyer leaves Colorado for Queens, but will be expected to produce like he’s playing in Colorado.
• The team passed on trading assets for SS Troy Tulowitzki to keep the farm system intact and go into the season expecting solid defense from the position and having no expectations at the plate.

What needs to go right?

• Noah Syndergaard needs to show he is ready at AAA and come up in June and give the team a lift.
• Daniel Murphy and Jacob deGrom need to carry over successful 2014 seasons to 2015.
• The bullpen has to get someone out when they are given a lead.

What’s new?

• Cliff Lee has hit the end of the line, he just needs to admit it and retire.
• Cole Hamels is still on the team, which is only going to make the locker room more uneasy during the season.
• Jonathan Papelbon and Ryan Howard are also still on the team…..

What needs to go right?

• The haul they get for Hamels will go a long way in the amount of time this rebuild takes.
• If there are no trades made then the vets on the team are showing teams around the league they are washed up, that’s going to make for a long summer in Philly.
• Manager Ryne Sandberg needs to last the entire season, which means that the team is competitive.

What’s new?

• The team traded 2B Howie Kendrick and replaced him with Josh Rutledge.
• What they got for Kendrick was super prospect LHP Andrew Heaney, who got a cup of coffee in the big leagues with Florida last year but wasn’t ready.
• Matt Joyce comes over to offer insurance should Josh Hamilton miss time with another injury.

What needs to go right?

• Heaney develops into a serviceable back end of the rotation guy by mid-season. Ditto for Tyler Skaggs.
• Garrett Richards comes back from a nasty knee injury to be steady not lights out because Matt Shoemaker stepped up when he went down and needs to pitch like a number 2 again, because CJ Wilson forgot how to pitch to major league hitters.
• CJ Cron develops into a consistent long ball threat to support Albert Pujols and Mike Trout.

What’s new?

• This team needs a hello my name is sticker for everyone during spring training! Billy Beane shuffled the deck again trading away assets for more controllable and affordable ones.
• The Josh Donaldson trade takes out a major chunk of pop from the lineup in exchange for oft injured 3B Brett Lawrie. Beane also traded All-Star catcher Derek Norris.
• In addition to Lawrie, Billy Butler is the new DH, Ike Davis and his Valley Fever will man 1B, Ben Zobrist will play 2B and Marcus Semien is at SS.
• The back of the rotation will go with youth, while the bullpen was bolstered by the addition of Tyler Clippard as insurance in case Sean Doolittle’s elbow explodes.

What needs to go right:

• The lineup needs to come together and hit immediately.
• Semien must show he can handle every day at bats.
• Lawrie needs to stay healthy. Closer Sean Doolittle should be eased into action as he has a bad elbow already and spring training hasn’t even started yet.
• The rotation needs to hold the team afloat until the All-Star break when A.J Griffin and Jarrod Parker hopefully return to provide a boost for the stretch run. Barry Zito was brought in on a minor league deal to provide depth for this very reason.

What’s new?

• Nelson Cruz and Seth Smith were added to provide additional pop to an already blossoming lineup.
• J.A Happ was brought in from Toronto as a lefty mentor to James Paxton.
• For some reason the M’s decided to sign and threaten to play Rickie Weeks “a lot” in the outfield, this is not good.

What needs to go right?

• 1B Logan Morrison must stay healthy, no small task for him and provide a steady bat.
• The winner of the SS competition has to hit at least .250 because Brad Miller has some pop but contact is a problem, where Chris Taylor is the defensively better player and makes more contact but has nothing in the power department.
• Pitchers Iwakuma and Paxton need to stay healthy and provide at least 170 innings per man to save a solid bullpen.

What’s new?

• A.J Hinch takes over for Bo Porter who actually wasn’t that bad despite managing teams with less talent than a college team.
• Hinch will have the luxury of fielding Evan Gattis, Jed Lowrie, Colby Rasmus and Luis Valbuena over the minor league talent that the team fielded last year.
• The bullpen will benefit from Pat Neshek and Luke Gregerson helping to plug holes and stop opposing rallys. They still don’t have enough depth in the bullpen to win consistently.

What needs to go right:

• The kids need to grow up fast, especially in the lineup (Jon Singleton & George Springer). There is a lot of swing and miss producers (Colby Rasmus, Chris Carter & Jason Castro) who need to make contact for them to be competitive day in and day out.
• The rotation needs to find some depth behind starters Scott Feldmen, Dallas Keuchel and Collin McHugh. What’s there now could lead to a 90+ loss season if they give them 60 starts.
• They finished last year ahead of the injury riddled Texas Rangers. The Astros will need another down year from an expected contender to not finish in last.

What’s new?

• Jeff Banister replaces Ron Washington, who couldn’t keep himself on the straight and narrow in his personal life during his time in Arlington.
• Former phenom 2B Jurickson Profar is out for the season again. Which is only significant if you thought he would hit .270 and steal 40 bases, so both of you can now focus on the players who are coming back.
• Prince Fielder and Shin-Soo Choo return to the lineup while Derek Holland and Yu Darvish return to the starting rotation. It’s like adding four free agents to the roster that will be counted on to bring them out of the basement of the division.
• The team traded for Ross Detwiler and Yovani Gallardo to add to the rotation as Matt Harrison looks like he and Profar will be rehabbing together.

What needs to go right:

• The team needs Colby Lewis and Nick Martinez not to combine for 58 starts this year.
• Of course for that to happen they will need better health from their pitching staff as a whole.
• The team will need something, anything from the catcher position. Robinson Chirinos and Carlos Corporan are journeymen at best.
• A return to form (.270/25/100) from Prince Fielder and an OBP from Shin-Soo Choo of .380 (his career average) will do wonders for the lineup.

What’s new?

• Victor Martinez and Miguel Cabrera are coming off major surgery, and starting SS Jose Iglesias is back from dual broken shins.
• Yoenis Cespedes was brought in along with Shane Greene and Alfredo Simon to remake the outfield and starting rotation.
• J.D Martinez enters the year with expectations instead of fighting for playing time.

What needs to go right?

• The bullpen needs to come together with the same cast of characters as last year (gulp).
• The stars need to come back from injury, and in Justin Verlander’s case a down year without giving too much ground in the division early in the year.
• Alfredo Simon needs to prove last year’s hot start wasn’t a fluke for the career reliever.

What’s new?

• The team let James Shields leave in free agency and thanked him for his efforts, which raised the Royals profile across the game. He is replaced by Edinson Volquez. The also added Frankin Morales and Joe Blanton to add to the rotation depth.
• Kendrys Morales and Alex Rios step into the DH and RF roles respectively. They just aren’t’ upgrades over what was there last year.
• Luke Hochever, a former first round pick is a year removed from Tommy John surgery and could add to the depth of the bullpen.

What needs to go right?

• The team needs to send post season savior Brandon Finnegan to AAA and stretch him out as a starter in case the rotation suffers any setbacks.
• Kris Medlen won’t be back from his 2nd Tommy John surgery before the All-Star break but could be a positive addition for a playoff push come September.
• The lineup, especially Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas, will look to build on positive post season experiences.

What’s new?

• Brandon Moss was brought in to add thump to the lineup.
• Gavin Floyd was brought in to add depth to the rotation.
• The team took a flier on Shaun Marcum and Bruce Chen hoping to strike gold on the scrap heap.

What needs to go right?

• Michael Brantley’s break out season needs to be approached, not duplicated to make the offense as dangerous as other teams in the division.
• Brandon Moss needs to get healthy and put 25 balls over the fence to force teams to pitch to Brantley.
• Carlos Carrasco has to take the 2nd spot in the rotation to take pressure off youngsters Danny Salazar and Trevor Bauer.

What’s new?

• The team went on a shopping spree adding closer David Robertson, 1B/DH Adam LaRoche, outfielder Melky Cabrera, pitcher Jeff Samardzjia and reliever Zach Duke.
• They also brought back old friend Gordon Beckham to fight for the 2B job.
• Chris Sale got hurt and won’t be ready for opening day.

What needs to go right?

• Somebody has to play 2B.
• Erik Johnson needs to earn a spot in the rotation out of spring training, especially with Sale slated to miss a couple starts.
• Avasail Garcia needs to get back to maturing into a solid middle of the order bat after missing most of last year with a shoulder injury.

What’s new?

• The Twins did something they don’t normally do, fire their manager. Tom Kelly and Ron Gardenhire combined for over two decades steering the club. Unfortunately most of that was steering to the basement of the division. Enter Hall of Famer and former Twin Paul Molitor.
• The team added Ervin Santana and Torii Hunter in free agency to add some veteran leadership to help steer the young guys trying to come up and make an impact.

What needs to go right?

• The Twins finished last season 5th in the AL in runs scored-Seriously. It’s going to be tough to bank on that again but if they want to contend that’s how they will have to do it.
• The kids need to develop and more importantly stay healthy right Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano?
• Joe Mauer needs to put his OBP back in the .400 range especially if he is to hit 3rd.

What’s new?

• Not much. Other than the loss of two outfielders (Nelson Cruz & Nick Markakis). The team got plenty of mileage out of Cruz in his one year with the team and Markakis, who was home grown but not worth the contract he signed with Atlanta.
• The team is again going slow with former top pick Dylan Bundy’s recovery from Tommy John Surgery. They are starting him out in AA this season.
• The team felt it didn’t need to add too much in the offseason with Steve Pearce in house to take over for Cruz in right field and new signee Alejandro DeAza to play left.

What needs to go right?

• Matt Wieter’s surgically repaired elbow allows him to catch at least 100 games. If it doesn’t he will be the DH which will shuffle into the lineup Caleb Joseph and Delmon Young.
• Ubaldo Jimenez needs to throw 200 innings with an ERA under 4.50, no easy task given his recent track record.
• The team finds a replacement for the production Cruz takes to Seattle.

What’s new?

• Bon Voyage Derek Jeter, hello Didi Gregorious. Hello Andrew Miller. Hello Nathan Eovaldi.
• Welcome back Alex Rodriguez. And Chase Headley. And Stephen Drew. And Chris Capuano.
• No spending spree to shore up the rotation during the winter? What’s going on here Steinbrenner family??

What needs to go right?

• The starting rotation doesn’t spend more than half the season on the DL. CC Sabathia is over three bills again, Masahiro Tanaka’s elbow doesn’t have a scar on it…yet, and Michael Pineda just doesn’t seem like he cares to be a steady contributor to a major league team.
• Speaking of elbow rehabs, Carlos Beltran’s elbow needs to allow him to be a regular again to both pull the outfield together and lengthen an aging and brittle lineup.
• The bullpen picks up the slack for a shaky rotation and makes it a 5 inning game.

What’s new?

• Russell Martin comes over to guide a pitching staff with plenty of upside. Justin Smoak has a chance to be the DH,
• Michael Saunders was brought in to play left field but he got hurt, Maicier Izturis will begin the year on the DL and Marcus Stroman is done for the year with Tommy John surgery.
• Josh Donaldson is a sexy pick for AL MVP after coming over in the deal that sent Brett Lawrie to Oakland.

What needs to go right?

• The lineup is actually kind of thin after the big names in spots 1-5. Which simply means that the top of the order carries them most days.
• The rotation behind veteran inning eaters Mark Buehrle and R.A Dickey is something to like with Aaron Sanchez, Daniel Norris and Drew Hutchison providing young power arms. The team added Marco Estrada from Milwaukee as injury insurance.
• Brett Cecil needs to show that he can handle the closer role on a daily basis and lead a suspect bullpen to consistency.

What’s new?

• Joe Maddon is now in Chicago, as he opted out of his contract due to GM Andrew Friedman moving to the Dodgers. These two were the corner stones of the franchise and will be missed.
• Steven Sousa and John Jaso step into a lineup that still has Evan Longoria but not much else in terms of stable contributors.
• Alex Cobb could win the CY Young but alas he’s injured and the season hasn’t even started yet, story of this guy’s career so far.

What needs to go right?

• Matt Moore could return from Tommy John and offer a boost to a young rotation at the All-Star break.
• The offense can’t finish 27th in runs scored again and expect to win games. If they struggle early to score Evan Longoria may be forced to swing for the fences more often than his game should.
• Cash needs to be able to make the clubhouse believe in themselves like Maddon did.

What’s new?

• The team opened up the vault to sign Hanley Ramirez, Pablo Sandoval, Yoan Moncada along with Justin Masterson and Wade Miley.
• The team has a glut of outfielders but is in no hurry to package any of them in a deal for a big time starting pitcher.
• Xander Bogaerts goes back to SS after a failed attempt at 3B.

What needs to go right?

• The new rotation averages 52% ground balls which could play well with the new infield.
• The outfield situation shakes out with a talented Rusney Castillo taking over in center and Mookie Betts earning the RF job over Shane Victorino.
• Closer Koji Uehara takes it easy in the early part of the season as his hamstring is balky entering the season.