Fantasy Baseball: 25 things that need to happen – CBSSports.com

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This one is self-explanatory, right?

Over the course of a baseball season, decisions are made that change a player’s value. Some we see coming. Some we don’t.

I could see these 25 happening. In fact, I’d very much like them to happen. It doesn’t mean they will, of course, and you shouldn’t act on mere wishes. But the heads-up will give you a leg up on the competition if and when a few of them come to fruition.

Alex Bregman
forces the Astros’ hand

The second overall pick in last year’s draft has yet to move beyond Double-A, but it’s hard to imagine anything slowing him down given his .311 batting average, 13 home runs and 29 walks to 20 strikeouts. His sporadic starts at third base show the Astros are at least keeping their options open.

Javier Baez
becomes a fixture in the Cubs lineup

Will he ever become the 40-homer guy he was hyped to be? We’ll never know if he doesn’t get to play every day. We’ve all seen enough of Jorge Soler by now, and Kris Bryant has proven capable in left field. Why not turn over third base to Baez? That’s some rare power potential for a shortstop-eligible player.

The Rockies begin a youth movement

While trading
Carlos Gonzalez
would have a negative impact on his value, it’d be a net gain in Fantasy if it opens the door for top prospect
David Dahl
, who has finally made good on his potential with 11 homers and 14 steals in 230 at-bats at Double-A. Coors Field is a forgiving place for a hitter to break into the majors, masking the flaws that might ruin him elsewhere, so catcher
Tom Murphy
still belongs in the discussion.

Steve Pearce
never runs out of places to play

He became the primary second baseman when Logan Forsythe went down with a fractured shoulder blade, and by the time Forsythe returned, Kevin Kiermaier had left another hole in the lineup. As starved as they’ve been for offense, I don’t see how the Rays could possibly stray from Pearce, especially after he flashed similar middle-of-the-order potential for the Orioles two years ago, but the uncertainty keeps me from getting fully on board.

Danny Espinosa’s bat goes back into hiding

It was easier to rebuke the Nationals for holding back top prospect
Trea Turner
when their incumbent shortstop was a black hole in their starting lineup, but now that Espinosa is homering every day — eight in his last 17 games, anyway — they have a leg to stand on. You won’t find too many shortstops on a 27-homer pace, and Espinosa is also superior defensively.

The Diamondbacks punt on defense

With
Peter O’Brien
now in the mix,
David Peralta
and
Yasmany Tomas
are left to fight for at-bats, with Brandon Drury on the outside looking in. The ideal solution for Fantasy owners would be for Peralta to play center field every day, freeing up right field for Tomas, and for
Jean Segura
to play shortstop every day, freeing up second base for Drury, but
Zack Greinke
owners might say otherwise.

The Dodgers don’t rush their pitchers back

The Dodgers have spent much of this year piecing together a broken starting rotation, but with
Hyun-Jin Ryu
(shoulder surgery) and
Brandon McCarthy
(elbow surgery) on the road to recovery, things could get really crowded really fast. I’d like to think they’d keep two spots open for
Alex Wood
, who was looking like their third-best pitcher at the time he hurt his elbow, and strikeout artist Jose De Leon, who’s only 11 innings into his Triple-A season.

The Dodgers turn
Julio Urias
loose

Knowing they’ll still have De Leon on hand later in the season, the Dodgers can ride Urias a little harder now, if they so choose. With 14 strikeouts over 9 1/3 innings in his last two starts, the 19-year-old is beginning to flash his potential, but he won’t amount to much if he’s limited to 80-90 pitches and rarely goes the minimum for a quality start, much less a decision.

Jung Ho Kang
puts doubts about his knee to rest

In terms of production, Kang’s surgically repaired knee checks out and then some, but in terms of playing time, the Pirates are still taking a conservative approach, starting him in just four of their last seven games. In his last 88 games dating back to last year, he has a .309 batting average, 20 home runs and a .947 OPS, yet instead of challenging for the top spot, he’s only the 10th-best shortstop-eligible player since returning.

The Pirates turn over their starting rotation

We’ve known for a while now that
Jonathon Niese
,
Jeff Locke
and, yes,
Juan Nicasio
don’t have a place in Fantasy. Ray Searage’s talents only go so far. So how long before the third-place Pirates realize those three are holding them back?
Jameson Taillon
may have finally secured a spot with
Gerrit Cole
‘s injury, but bat-misser extraordinaire Tyler Glasnow, who’s boasting a 1.90 ERA at Triple-A Indianapolis, may be the more exciting prospect for Fantasy owners.

The Rangers unload
Elvis Andrus

One way or another, we want more of Jurickson Profar, so if that means trading the man himself, so be it. But we’d rather him just take over at shortstop, gaining eligibility at the position while sticking in a hitter-friendly environment. First base is looking like a no-go now that Mitch Moreland and Prince Fielder are heating up, and you have to think the Rangers want Joey Gallo there in the long run anyway.

A.J. Pollock
gets a chance to play

The Diamondbacks have left the door open to the possibility, and with reports that he’ll resume baseball activities July 1, I think it’s only fair to reward the owners who’ve had the discipline to stash him all this time. Plus, an elbow fracture — particularly for the second time — is a pretty big deal, and we could all use the reassurance he’ll be a-OK heading into 2017.

The Phillies ship
Jeanmar Gomez
to a contender

Even if it puts him in a setup role, it’ll be worth it to get either
Hector Neris
or
David Hernandez
closing games.

Neris would make more sense since he’s 27 and more of a building block for the Phillies, but either would be an exciting addition to the closer pool, especially with the Phillies’ underrated pitching staff providing consistent save opportunities.

The Yankees trade one of their late-inning relievers

It’s hardly a novel concept, what with the Cubs and Giants reportedly showing interest, but the fact is
Aroldis Chapman
,
Andrew Miller
and
Dellin Betances
would likely be closing games for just about any other team.

Only one can for the Yankees, though, which translates to wasted potential in Fantasy. If any of these three goes anywhere else, he’s an immediate stud, so you’ll want to have your finger on the pulse.

Will Harris
lives happily ever after as Astros closer

The Astros have other candidates to step into the ousted
Luke Gregerson
‘s role, the prospect-draining chief among them, but as closers go, it doesn’t get any better than this:

And while it goes without saying a 0.61 ERA is unsustainable, it’s worth noting Harris was also the Astros’ most effective reliever. I could still see them making a run in the second half, which would give him top-10 potential at relief pitcher.

Michael Feliz
gets a shot at starting

He came up as a starter, so it’s hardly a radical idea, especially since so many of his appearances have been of the multi-inning variety. Plus, it’s not like the Astros are abounding in aces. Feliz has three true pitches, unveiling a wipeout slider this year, and in his last 15 appearances, spanning 24 innings, he has a 0.75 ERA, recording 35 strikeouts while allowing only 10 baserunners. It’s worth a shot, right?

Shane Greene
gets another shot at starting

Greene was a promising rookie starter for the Yankees in 2014, then bombed because of an atypical medical issue last year. But he had a strong spring and first start before getting bumped because of the blister that may well be his deathblow in Fantasy. Maybe he’ll return to the starting rotation with more value than ever, having gained relief pitcher eligibility, but I worry he’ll be too effective in the setup role to go back.

Vince Velasquez
stays on the DL just long enough

I’ll continue: just long enough to ensure his innings don’t run out. That’s what kept the buyers at bay after his 16-strikeout gem back on April 14, and while he took some lumps thereafter, there’s no denying he has been one of the most exciting and promising young pitchers of 2016. And if there’s a chance his biceps strain contributed to his more recent struggles, I’ll hold on to see what he does next.

Jon Gray
continues to buck the trend

Almost without exception, Coors Field ruins pitchers. But few have the raw talent of Gray, the third overall pick in the 2013 draft, and his career numbers on the road bear it out. That doesn’t usually last for Rockies pitchers, whose home struggles inevitably spill into their road starts, but the reverse seems to be happening for Gray. His last three home starts were as good as most of his road starts, which has me thinking 2010
Ubaldo Jimenez
all over again.

Matt Shoemaker makes a case for AL Cy Young

It sounds pie-in-the-sky, but the closer you look at his numbers, the more realistic it becomes. Granted, he has a 3-7 record, 4.76 ERA and 1.28 WHIP overall, which puts him well behind the eight ball, but I’m not exaggerating when I say he’s coming off the most dominant five-start stretch for any pitcher this side of Clayton Kershaw:

And it’s fueled by a Kershaw-level swinging strike rate. Shoemaker has averaged more of those in his last five starts than
Stephen Strasburg
,
Chris Sale
and
Jon Lester
have had in any one start this season.

Alex Colome
renders
Brad Boxberger
obsolete

By any quantitative measure, Colome has been a stud closer this year, but we haven’t been able to treat him as such in Fantasy because of the specter of Brad Boxberger, who manager Kevin Cash for some reason continues to back even though he was a disaster in the second half last year. If Colome can win over Cash during this second DL stint for Boxberger, he’s likely a top-12 reliever going forward.

Dae-Ho Lee
overtakes
Adam Lind
as Mariners first baseman

You get the sense the Mariners are inching toward this way of thinking, slowed only by fleeting reminders of what Lind has been and perhaps could be. But in addition to out-homering Lind in about two-thirds of the at-bats, Lee has performed even better against right-handers (who he doesn’t normally face) than left-handers (who he does). The 33-year-old was a consistent 25-to-30-homer guy in Korea, but with a much lower strikeout rate than
Byung Ho Park
.

The Reds overhaul their starting rotation

There’s a reason the Reds rank dead last in ERA this year. They’ve spent it cycling through every has-been and never-was they could get their hands on, not wanting their true assets to gain too much service time during what’s clearly a lost season. We’ve gotten a couple looks at the much-hyped
Robert Stephenson
already, but the real prize here is
Cody Reed
, with
Amir Garrett
close behind.

Dilson Herrera
finally gets his shot

The Mets taunted Fantasy owners with Herrera each of the last two seasons, when he wasn’t fully marinated and could only offer a glimpse of what’s to come, but of course, now that they’re desperate for infield help with
Lucas Duda
and
David Wright
both sidelined, he’s nowhere to be found. He’s doing what he always does at Triple-A Las Vegas, though, batting .298 with an .861 OPS, and at age 22, his future is still bright.

The Cardinals turn the page on
Randal Grichuk

Yeah, Grichuk was the more attractive Fantasy option coming into the season, but let’s face it: Last year’s numbers kind of came out of nowhere. So now that he’s struggling to repeat them, he’s a nuisance to the more proven players who are doing some of the things we hoped he’d do:

So … how comfortable are the Cardinals with
Stephen Piscotty
in center field?