A few weeks back I took a look at the biggest winners among NL East clubs if the league were to adopt a universal DH. The biggest and most clear cut winner in my opinion was Jay Bruce. He could be a cheap source of a ton of power in a shortened season. Today I am taking a look at a surprisingly clear division, the NL Central.
Cubs
The Cubs are probably one of the easiest teams to project in this division. The most likely scenario is Kyle Schwarber moves to the DH spot freeing up an OF spot for a better defender. Schwarber has done a good job improving defensively but the strength of his game will always be the bat. This opens the team up to make one of two moves. They could take presumed CF Ian Happ and shift him to corner opening CF for Albert Almora. For Fantasy purposes this is not exciting as Almora is little more than a good glove. However, they could also allow Steven Souza to take over in LF. The former Diamondback is coming off multiple devastating injuries but has 20/15 potential if healthy. I selfishly would love to see him get another chance to start.
Reds
The Reds somehow have built a roster that will still have too many good players for spots even with the addition of the DH. This is certainly not a bad thing but it does makes this tough to project. The biggest winner is probably Nick Senzel. The safe guess would be that Nick Castellanos slides to the DH spot regularly allowing the team to field a better defensive OF. Senzel likely finds his way into relatively full time at-bats in this scenario. The other potential winner is Aristides Aquino who could find more at bats than projected early on. The dark horse and my selfish pick is Josh VanMeter. My prospect model is in love with him and sees him as a fantasy asset but the at bats will be hard to come by. He is worth a late flier.
Cardinals
The most likely Cardinal winner is Tyler O’Neill. The big powerful right-hander has all the tools in the world but hasn’t been able to put in all together at he big league level. With this potential 2020 rule change, he should have every chance to get consistent at-bats. This will be a make or break season for him but the fantasy potential he holds is incredible. I already owned a lot of him but I will certainly be drafting more as we approach this 2020 season.
Brewers
For the Brewers the situation looks pretty clear. Franchise stalwart Ryan Braun was slated to be on the short side of a platoon mostly at 1B with Justin Smoak. However, he seems to the favorite for DH at-bats under this new scenario. This pumps him up as well as giving a boost to Smoak. Both players should be able to reach around 500 PAs making them viable bench or CI options in fantasy. While I will not be running to draft either I am willing to give them another look.
Pirates
Sometimes with bad teams theres an interesting veteran or AAAA player who could provide fantasy value if given a chance. On the surface the Pirates do not seem like that team. Their primary options for DH are slim to none with Jose Osuna looking like the favorite. Osuna could hit for a bit of power with a 250-260 AVG. That is not exactly a star in fantasy but could certain provide some injury fill in value. the other potential interesting options are guys who were not projected to make the 25 man. Will Craig, Cole Tucker, Ke’Bryan Hayes, and possibly Jason Martin are all guys who could find at-bats due to the DH spot. Craig interests me a lot as this is his easiest path to PT at the MLB level and he has potential for power and a bit of average. Tucker is a highly rated prospect who flopped last season but deserves another chance. He would be the most fantasy relevant player for sure.
As you can see the NL is full of potentially interesting fantasy options and the current state of baseball and the drafts have wildly changed the values of a few interesting players. While we do not know for sure when baseball will return we do know that right now we have the ability as fantasy owners to take advantage of the unknown to profit.
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