In your more traditional fantasy baseball magazines, you get a section that offers player capsules on anywhere from 500 to 1,500 major league ballplayers. Each capsule offers a short write-up of what the player did last season, something about his skill-set, potential role with the team and maybe even some projections for the upcoming season. Sounds great, right? Sort of.
We’ve already established that this is not your traditional fantasy baseball guide. It’s better. Why? Well, let’s just take Manny Machado, for example. Scan through any 2019 fantasy magazine and Machado is listed as a free agent. You get a brief synopsis of what he did last year, an assessment of the 26-year old’s skill set and his projections for 2019. The first two sound fine, but how are those projections correct? They may have been a nice attempt when the capsule was first written, but where he ultimately signs certainly alters that projection. We’re talking about a new team, a new lineup, a new division and a new ballpark for starters. Those are some serious changes. Traditional magazines can’t keep up. We can.
As of December 30, 2018, there are still well over 120 free agents yet to sign as well as a number of trades which are still in the works according to recent reports. The player movement we’re going to witness between now and Opening Day is going to be abundant.
In addition to that, we also don’t feel the need to waste your time with player capsules you’re never going to need. It’s nice to advertise that you’re writing up 1,000 MLB players for your magazine, but how many fantasy baseball owners need to know or even care about what Nestor Cortes or Luis Sardinas are going to do this season? These are not players who are going to win you a championship. They are filler, some of whom will never see a spot on anyone’s roster, no matter how deep the league may be. We’d rather focus on players with actual fantasy relevance.
But we know you like your player capsules. We know you want to be able to look up certain players and see what we expect them to do in the upcoming season and that’s where this Player Profile series comes in. We may not be writing up 1,000 major leaguers, but you can bet we’ll break down the ones you need to know. Whether it’s a rookie set to make his debut in 2019 or a player who finds himself on his fourth team in five years, we’ll be diving deep into the analysis to offer you the most insightful opinions to take you into your draft as well as to reference throughout the regular season. Yeah, that’s right. It doesn’t end on Draft Day. The Fantasy Alarm Living Draft Guide will be a fantastic in-season tool as well.
The players you see below is our initial list of Player Profiles you can expect to see over the next two months. Some are marquee names while others are more of the role-player variety. We’ll break down their history, their skill-sets, their current situations and, of course, what we believe you can expect from them in the 2019 season. The profiles will be much more in-depth than what you’ll see in a traditional magazine. Why? Well, because you deserve more, but also, because we’re not limited by print space.
And because we believe you deserve more, this is also going to be an interactive list. That’s right. If there’s a specific player you don’t see listed but would like to learn more about, we’ll happily take your suggestion and add him to our list. Just email your desired Player Profile to howard@fantasyalarm.com and we’ll try to meet as many requests as possible.
Player News
Daulton Varsho picked up three hits, three RBI and a homer in a win over the Angels on Thursday.
Varsho has only played in seven games this year, but they’ve been seven good ones. He’s homered three times already, and his slugging percentage is a remarkable — and entirely unsustainable — .727 over 22 at-bats. Varsho has been a mediocre offensive player in his two seasons with the Blue Jays, but it’s possible at the age of 28 he’s having a breakout campaign. Far from a guarantee, but possible.
Taylor Ward hit a two-run homer in a loss to the Blue Jays on Thursday.
Ward, 31, gave the Angels a 2-0 lead with a two-run homer off Chris Bassitt in the first inning. He’s now gone deep in two of his last three games, and it ‘improves’ his slash to .181/.224/.391. Ward has been one of the most hot/cold players players in the sport over the last few years, so fantasy managers who can afford to make some roster moves may want to look at Ward while the going is good.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. picked up three hits and scored twice in an 8-5 win over the Angels on Thursday.
Guerrero also drew a walk. It gives the first baseman multiple hits in back-to-back games, and it’s the third time in May that he’s reached that mark. That’s helped raise his average from .268 to .295, and the only thing fantasy managers can be disappointed with is his .432 slugging percentage. That number should continue to climb as the season unfolds, but Vladdy Jr. has had some inconsistent seasons when it comes to power production.
Chad Green picked up his first save of 2025 with a scoreless ninth against the Angels on Thursday.
Green got the save after Jeff Hoffman worked in back-to-back games — and struggled — in the first two contests against the Angels. He struck out two and looked the part while needing just nine pitches to get through the inning. Hoffman should remain the closer, but Green is on his tail if the struggles were to continue.
Chris Bassitt allowed five runs — four earned — while working six-plus innings against the Angels on Thursday while picking up a win.
Bassitt allowed three runs over the first two innings on a pair of homers, but settled down over his next four frames. He came out to work the seventh, but ended up being charged for two more runs after leaving the contest. The 36-year-old veteran has forged a 3.35 ERA and outstanding 49/8 K/BB ratio over the first quarter of the season, but this wasn’t him at his best. He’ll get the Rays next week if the rotation order stays the same for Toronto.
José Soriano allowed three runs over five innings while not factoring in the decision Thursday against the Blue Jays.
Soriano left with a 4-3 lead, but it was erased quickly after his departure. The 26-year-old was not exactly dominant in his outing with eight hits allowed and four free passes, but he did strike out six to help balance things out a smidgen. Soriano takes an even ERA of 4.00 into a scheduled start against the Padres in San Diego on Tuesday. There should be better options for that one.