The 2014 Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide from Fantasy Alarm was epic. All of you that picked up a copy know that. For those of you that didn't, shame on you. In the Guide the staff predicted many a category winners for the upcoming season. Their answers to all the questions are listed below. I will review my predictions, which frankly, were about as impressive as Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part II. Yeah, I saw it. Not ashamed to admit it either. Something about Kristen Stewart just draws me in. On to my horrid fantasy baseball predictions.
AL MVP: Joe Mauer
The move to first base didn't help at all. Not only did Mauer appear in only 120 games he also suffered through the worst offensive season of his career. Check out the slash line. It tells the whole story.
2014: .277/.361/.371
Career: .319/.401/.459
NL MVP: Joey Votto
Just like Mauer, he was hurt and had his worst season. Votto fell from 161 games to 61 games played. His average went from .305 to .255. His OBP, though still impressive at .390, was his first mark under .414 since 2008. Oh, and his .409 SLG was almost .125 points below his career mark of .533. See how I managed to win the SiriusXM Experts League despite making Votto my top selection. I'm just that amazing.
AL Cy Young: Chris Sale
Sale isn't going to win the award, but a third place finish seems possible. Could he have won the award if he made 33 instead of the 26 starts he actually posted? Would like to think so, yes. Sale was 12-4 and only threw 174 innings. However, he was second in the AL with a 2.17 ERA as was his 0.97 WIHP (Felix Hernandez led both categories at 2.14 and 0.92). Sale also punched out 208 batters thanks to an AL leading 10.76 K/9 mark. Chris walked just 2.02 per nine leading to a career best 5.33 K/BB ratio that was 5th in the AL. He just didn't throw enough innings.
NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw
Duh. Everyone knew this was coming. Kershaw led baseball with a 10.85 K/9 mark, 0.86 WHIP, 1.77 WHIP and 21 victories. He only made 27 starts. If he had made six more starts... wowzahs. Best hurler on planet Earth.
AL ROY: George Springer
After swiping 40 bases in the minors in 2013 he stole five bases in 78 games with the Astros in 2014. You could blame leg woes, but still that's terrible. He struck out an unfathomable 114 times leading to a horrible .231 batting average but Springer was still on a full season pace of 40 homers, 100 RBIs and 90 runs scored.
NL ROY: Oscar Taveras
He hit a couple of big homers but about the only thing that was "big" about his effort was his wasteline as he reportedly gained 20 lbs., a result of ongoing ankle woes (at least that is the story). Exceedingly bright future, but 2014 was a stinker (.590 OPS in 248 plate appearances).
Fail to Match Hype: Adam Jones
He just won't take a walk, and he took 19 free passes in a stunning display of strike zone ineptitude. Somehow he still maintained his tremendous level of overall production. I wasn't wrong though, at least not completely. He lost four batting average points, four homers, 12 RBIs, 12 runs and seven steals from 2013 as he finished at .281-29-96-88-7. Was impressive, but did fail to live up to his own previous effort.
Exceeds Expectations: B.J. Upton
Hey, he had no expectations so technically 12 homers and 20 thefts isn't... OK, I was wrong.
20 wins first time: Chris Sale
Didn't get there, but as noted above he had a hell of a season.
200 Ks first time: Stephen Strasburg
Coming off seasons of 197 and 191 strikeouts, largely because he failed to reach 185 innings pitched, Strasburg threw a career-high 215 innings for the Nationals. As a result he punched out 242 batters, tied with Johnny Cueto for the most in the NL.
30 saves first time: Kenley Jansen
Other than a rough two week stretch the dude was murder on batters. Jansen not only hit 30-saves but he blew past 40 on his way to a season total of 44. Jansen also had a second straight season with 100-strikeouts as his 13.91 K/9 mark was just a tenth off his career rate (14.02). Also posted a K/BB ratio of 5.32, a 1.13 WHIP and an ERA of 2.76. Filthy.
1st time 30 HRs: Yoenis Cespedes
One of the most overrated players in fantasy baseball. Cespedes hit only 22 homers for the A's and Red Sox despite a career-high 600 at-bats. He did reach 100 RBIs and crossed the plate 89 times, but a .260 batting average and .301 OBP tell the story about just what type of hitter he really is.
1st time 30 SBs: Adam Eaton
He was injured a ton limiting him to just 123 games played. Only stole 15 bases in 24 tries. Had a solid season though overall hitting .300 with a .362 OBP and 76 runs scored for the White Sox.
20/20 for first time: Justin Ruggiano
He was hurt from day one and just never got on track. Finished his first year in Wrigley with a solid .281 batting average but only hit six homers with two steals over 224 at-bats.
.300 for first time: Christian Yelich
After hitting .288 as a rookie in 62 games Yelich hit .284 in 2014. He had a shot to hit .300 before slumping to .261 in the month of September. Hard to fault his overall year though as he was mighty solid: .284-9-54-94-21.
Cheap source HR: Todd Frazier
He hit a career best 29 homers, but he was more than just a big fly specialist. Frazier was one homer from a 30/20 season. He also hit .273 with 80 RBIs and 88 runs scored. You can make a strong case for him being one of the top-3 third base eligible players in baseball.
Cheap source SB: Drew Stubbs
Not only did he swipe 20 bases but he also hit a career best .289 while socking 15 homers and scoring 67 runs despite a mere 388 at-bats for the Rockies.
Cheap source Ks: Ian Kennedy
The Padres hurler won 13 games, posted a 3.63 ERA and 1.29 WHIP. He also twirled 201 innings while striking out 207 batters, a career best. Yep, he delivered all right.
Cheap source SVs: Jose Veras
Nope. Not even close. This righty ended the year with one save, five blown saves and six holds. With all the pitchers who came out of nowhere to find 9th inning success, I chose Veras?