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The offseason is officially no more, but Spring training is here, and with it comes the daily influx of baseball news that fantasy managers have missed in the last few months. Lineup news, actual games happening, constant waiver wire moves, pitching assignments, and bullpen usage.
Baseball is back, and so too is fantasy baseball, with drafts either starting in the near or not-too-near future for many. This column aims to cover any and all fantasy baseball news, big or small, and how it pertains to your fantasy team. Spring training or the regular season, it's covered here.
Has a player who's usually been hitting in the middle of a lineup suddenly batting eighth or ninth for an extended period? The fantasy implications will be covered here. The same goes for injuries and injured placements and whether or not you should consider picking up a player who was recently called up. Basically, any kernel of fantasy news and its relevance to fantasy managers could be covered here. Today, the news of the day is the fantasy impact of Raisel Iglesias reportedly opening the season on the injured list and James Outman and Jason Heyward reportedly making the Los Angeles Dodgers' Opening Day roster.
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Fantasy Baseball Impact Of Raisel Iglesias Reportedly Starting The Season On The Injured List
Iglesias will reportedly start the 2023 season on the injured list, per a tweet from MLB.com’s Mark Bowman on Thursday. Per Bowman’s tweet, “Iglesias has a low-grade shoulder inflammation.”
Acquired by Atlanta from the Los Angeles Angels at last season’s trade deadline, Iglesias pitched to a 2.47 ERA, a 2.47 FIP, 78 strikeouts, and 14 walks in 62 innings of work last season. He also converted 17 saves to go along with 15 holds, though all but one of those saves occurred with the Angels prior to the trade.
With Kenley Jansen now in Boston with the Red Sox, Iglesias will likely see the bulk of the save chances when healthy for Atlanta. However, with the reliever now reportedly set to start the season on the injured list, it makes for a less-than-ideal early-season situation for fantasy managers who drafted Iglesias.
It’ll be worth monitoring to see how the saves opportunities are distributed while the veteran is on the injured list. Judging based on quotes from Atlanta manager Brian Snitker in an article from Justin Toscano in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday, this might not be a situation where one setup reliever steps into all the save chances. This potentially makes it an unideal situation both for fantasy managers who drafted Iglesias and fantasy managers who punt on saves and prefer to find them via free agency and waivers.
Snitker was quoted as saying the following in Toscano’s article:
“’That just happened,’ Snitker said. ‘The good thing is: (A.J.) Minter has closed. He obviously would be the obvious guy. Yeah, I don’t know. It may be a matchup scenario-type thing. You just got to audible a little bit with the guys that you have and see.’”
Later in the article, Snitker was quoted talking about fellow Atlanta reliever Joe Jimenez:
“’He’s pitched the leverage innings,’ Snitker said of Jimenez. ‘I think we’ll just have to wait and see how we get there. It’ll be kind of like, how do we get to the ninth inning? What’s the eighth inning look like, and what’s our best matchup for that? And deal with the ninth inning when we get there.’”
Minter and Jimenez shouldn’t see their fantasy value change all that much in saves+holds leagues, but for more standard-scoring leagues, this situation certainly has the potential to be some sort of committee approach until Iglesias returns.
Fantasy Baseball Impact Of James Outman And Jason Heyward Reportedly Making Los Angeles' Opening Day Roster
Los Angeles Dodgers outfielders James Outman and Jason Heyward are reportedly both making the National League West club’s Opening Day roster, per a tweet from MLB.com’s Juan Toribio on Thursday:
The news is obviously ideal for both players’ fantasy upside this season, particularly Outman, who made his major league debut last season. The 25-year-old collected five hits, including a home run and two doubles, in his first 16 plate appearances with the Dodgers. He added 15 home runs, six steals, a .292 average, and a .390 on-base percentage in 252 plate appearances for Los Angeles’ Triple-A affiliate in 2022.
Heyward, meanwhile, has collected four extra-base hits, including a pair of home runs, and five walks in 47 Spring training plate appearances entering play on Thursday. This comes after a down year at the plate for the Chicago Cubs in 2022 when he logged a .278 on-base percentage in 151 plate appearances.
Both are likely options in deeper leagues at the moment, but either player could have additional fantasy relevance in more standard-sized leagues later in the season given that the Dodgers’ outfield depth chart (outside of Mookie Betts in right field) isn’t quite as crowded as it has been in years past.
Trayce Thompson and David Peralta look set to start with Betts in the outfield this season. Thompson is batting just .074 though with a .354 OPS in Cactus League play this spring while both players struggled in general against left-handed pitching last season, opening up – at the very least – platoon potential for outfielders like Outman and Heyward.
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