Team Previews: AL East

American League East Team Previews

Editor's Note: Click on a team under Projected Final Standings to jump to that particular team's rundown.

Projected Final Standings

Tampa Bay Rays: 91-71
Toronto Blue Jays: 90-72
Boston Red Sox: 88-74
New York Yankees: 83-79
Baltimore Orioles: 77-85

Tampa Bay Rays

State of the Franchise

2015 could be summed up with a single item – an Ace bandage. Tampa Bay suffered a multitude of injuries on the roster highlighted by Alex Cobb tearing his elbow in spring training. What looked like a good team on paper ended up looking good for the healthcare industry. The 2016 team is revamped with new faces and the best offense (on paper) in the Rays era. Corey Dickerson gives them another power threat to help Evan Longoria carry the load in the middle of the lineup. Brad Miller gives them a bat that has sorely been needed in the bottom half of the lineup and the team has solid depth and will have multiple positions by committee to maximize platoon advantages. The starting pitching is still the strength of the team, and that's with super prospect Blake Snell stuck in the minors waiting for an injury to create an opportunity for him at the big league level.

Pitcher to Watch

Matt Moore was two different pitchers in 2015 as he came back from Tommy John surgery. 14 months after blowing out his elbow, he made six starts for Tampa Bay in July and was flat out terrible. He had a 8.78 ERA in those six starts as batters teed him up to the tune of a .362 batting average and he lacked velocity and command. He was sent back down to Durham to get things right, and he looked good striking out 36% of the batters he faced holding them to a .207 average and showed better command than he had in quite some time. He came back to the big leagues to make six more starts to close out the season and held batters to a .237 average and had a 2.97 ERA, a 1.16 WHIP, and struck out 20% of the batters he faced while throwing harder than he had in July.

Hitter to Watch

Kevin Kiermaier is going to be asked to hit leadoff against right-handed pitching this season, despite a .298 OBP last year. He is much better in the field than he is at the plate, but there are correctable flaws in his game that could boast his offensive production. Kiermaier is not a good bunter, so he isn't able to steal as many infield hits as other players with his speed. He only attempted eight bunts in 2015 and converted three of those into hits but had 16 other infield hits. The other flaw in his game is he will chase the high fastball and either pops it up on the infield (16 times) or hits those pitches harmlessly into the outfield. Those things are curable and his issues against lefties can be addressed by putting him in the No. 9 spot against southpaws, hoping for the best, and leaving his plus-plus defensive skills in the field.

Projected Lineup

vs RHP

Kevin Kiermaier, CF
Logan Forsythe, 2B
Evan Longoria, 3B
Corey Dickerson, LF
Logan Morrison, DH
Steven Souza Jr, RF
James Loney, 1B
Hank Conger, C
Brad Miller, SS

vs LHP

Desmond Jennings, LF
Logan Forsythe, 2B
Evan Longoria, 3B
Steve Pearce, DH
Steven Souza Jr, RF
Tim Beckham, SS
James Loney, 1B
Curt Casali, C
Kevin Kiermaier, CF

Projected Rotation

Chris Archer
Jake Odorizzi
Drew Smyly
Matt Moore
Erasmo Ramirez

Bullpen Hierarchy

Closer: Brad Boxberger
Setup 1: Alex Colome
Setup 2: Danny Farquhar
LH Specialist: Xavier Cedeno
RH Specialist: Ryan Webb

Riser

Brad Miller comes back home to Florida where he hopes to win the primary shortstop job (Tim Beckham will get the lefties). Miller has some pop and speed from a relatively shallow position league-wide this season and also qualifies in the outfield. That outfield eligibility came about when Seattle grew tired of Miller's defensive struggles at shortstop and wanted to see what Ketel Marte could do at the big league level. Tampa Bay's outfield is already crowded, so they will let Miller do as much as he can from the middle infield spot while mostly hitting toward the bottom of the lineup. He may end up batting leadoff against righties rather than Kiermaier as Miller is more accepting of his walks and gets on base at a slightly higher clip than Kiermaier.

Faller

It was only a few years ago when Desmond Jennings was supposed to be the next great prospect in baseball with his speed, power, and advanced plate discipline. He turns 30 in 2016 and while some of that materialized early, none of that has been present the past two seasons as he has been dogged by a bothersome knee. Whereas he would be guaranteed a starting job in years past, he now has to fight for playing time in a crowded outfield. He may be able to win the right field job if Souza Jr's side injury in camp doesn't heal quickly, or he could be limited to the short side of an outfield platoon with Corey Dickerson. Even if he does play, he still struggles with velocity from righties that challenge him up high as he doesn't lay off and can't catch up to the pitches.

Sleeper

Erasmo Ramirez was acquired very early in 2015 when Seattle decided they wanted a more controllable Mike Montgomery. Early on, the deal looked lopsided as Montgomery had early success for Seattle while Ramirez had a 6.62 ERA in his first five outings. He said his pitches were moving too much and his arm slot was down so his changeup suffered. Pitching Coach Jim Hickey and Ramirez worked to correct both issues and from Memorial Day to the end of the season, Ramirez went 9-4 with a 2.95 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, striking out 19 percent of the batters he faced while walking 5 percent and generated more groundballs than flyballs. He began stealing more first pitch strikes with an improved breaking ball so he could then get batters to chase fastballs up while swinging over changeups down.

Supersleeper

Steve Pearce is coming off a down year in Baltimore, but he is coming home in more ways than one. Pearce is from nearby Lakeland, Florida, but if you stare closely at the Tropicana Field lease, Pearce is listed as a minority owner. For his career, Pearce has hit 53 home runs and has batted .247/.325/.431 at the major league level, but has hit .288/.395/.644 at Tropicana Field and seven of the 53 homers have come while playing there. He's now going to be asked to play first base against lefties and work to find playing time a few places in the lineup, and could become a sneaky source of power even while leaving Camden Yards as his pull power can play in The Trop.

Toronto Blue Jays

State of the Franchise

Offense is fun – a lot of fun if your lineup is stacked with big bats in a cozy home environment. Seven of the nine regulars hit 12 or more home runs highlighted by the deadly trio of Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista, and Edwin Encarnacion who hit 41,40, and 39 homers respectively. The lineup resembled a softball team on most nights as they either took their walks or crushed extra base hits because only Kevin Pillar and Jose Reyes stole more than 10 bases and even Ben Revere ceased to run once he was acquired at the trade deadline. The pitching staff is revamped with the loss of David Price to free agency and the retirement of Mark Buehrle, but the bullpen got a much-needed shot in the arm with the acquisition of Drew Storen. Marcus Stroman is the only pitcher that is going to cost you on draft day, but this offense remains loaded with fantasy assets that will fly off the board early and often.

Pitcher to Watch

Marco Estrada was acquired last offseason for Adam Lind. On the surface, it was a puzzling move because Estrada was a notorious flyball pitcher that could not keep the ball in the park and was coming off a season in which he allowed 1.7 home runs per 9 innings and had a 4.36 ERA as a swingman for Milwaukee. Estrada used the tenets of the Theory of Effective Velocity and won 13 games for Toronto with a 3.13 ERA. He cut back on his strikeouts in order to create weaker contact and a combination of that with a very low batting average on balls in play and a career-best strand rate for baserunners led to the career year and his new contract. How much of that is sustainable in 2016 remains to be seen, but his ERA has nowhere to go but up yet the plentiful offensive support he should receive will still keep him in position to win games.

Hitter to Watch

Devon Travis had offseason shoulder surgery and is not going to be ready to start the season and may not see the field until later in May. Before he was shut down with injury last season, Travis was batting .304/.361/.498 in 238 plate appearances, showing an excellent approach at the plate. He could end up batting leadoff for this potent lineup once he is healthy because he has always been good at getting on base, and while he has run a little in the minors, that isn't something the Jays do a lot of these days anyhow. If you are in a keeper league, this may be the last time you'll get Travis at a discount as he comes off injury.

Projected Lineup

vs RHP

Kevin Pillar, CF
Josh Donaldson, 3B
Jose Bautista, RF
Edwin Encarnacion, DH
Troy Tulowitzki, SS
Russell Martin, C
Michael Saunders, LF
Chris Colabello, 1B
Ryan Goins, 2B

vs LHP

Kevin Pillar, CF
Josh Donaldson, 3B
Jose Bautista, RF
Edwin Encarnacion, DH
Troy Tulowitzki, SS
Russell Martin, C
Michael Saunders, LF
Chris Colabello, 1B
Ryan Goins, 2B

Projected Rotation

Marcus Stroman
Marco Estrada
R.A. Dickey
JA Happ
Drew Hutchison

Bullpen Hierarchy

Closer: Roberto Osuna
Setup 1: Drew Storen
Setup 2: Brett Cecil
LH Specialist: Aaron Loup
RH Specialist: Aaron Sanchez

Riser

J.A. Happ comes back to Toronto a different pitcher. They sent him away to Seattle where he meddled about before he was sent to Pittsburgh at the trade deadline and blessed with the Ray Searage holy water. Searge got him to use his fastball more and attack batters with it and his slider and Happ went 7-2 with a 1.85 ERA in 11 starts for Pittsburgh. Happ had trouble with homers his last time in Toronto, but a lot of his damage came on the road rather than in Rogers Centre. In 2014, Happ had a 3.15 ERA at home and a 5.67 ERA on the road, so concerns about him coming back to a hitter-friendly park are a bit overblown. He will have run support, a solid bullpen behind him, and is a lefty in a division where most of the best opposing hitters are also lefty.

Faller

Chris Colabello was known as Chris ColaBABIP on social media last season because seemingly every other batted ball off his bat fell safely into play. While it wasn't 50 percent, it was darn near close as his .411 batting average on balls in play was the highest rate in the modern baseball era since Reggie Jefferson had a .408 BABIP with Boston in 1997. Jefferson went on to hit .319/.358/.470 the next season for Boston, which is what Colabello can hope for. The odds are greatly stacked against any kind of repeat, and he'll have to hit to stay in the lineup because he is a poor defender at any position and isn't supplanting the current DH.

Sleeper

On Father's Day last season, Brett Cecil allowed four runs in two-third of an inning and saw his ERA balloon to 5.96 on the season. At that point, he had allowed 15 runs (4 home runs) and 31 baserunners in 22.2 innings of work, blowing 2 saves and losing 4 games. Those four runs would be the last runs Cecil allowed all season as he went 4-1 with a 0.00 ERA the rest of the way, striking out 44 batters and walking four in his final 31.2 innings of work. Cecil essentially picked up right where he left off in 2014 but his truly awful start masked the strong performance down the stretch. The addition of Drew Storen along with the return of Roberto Osuna clouds Cecil's outlook for saves, but the skills are still there and he's a valuable middle reliever that could vulture his fair share of wins as well.

Supersleeper

Drew Hutchison was sleeper last year as he was coming off a strong 2014 and a lot of indicators pointed in a positive direction. 2015 is a year he would rather forget despite the 13 wins as he was hit hard throughout most of the season and ended up with a 5.57 ERA. He wasn't pitching to the score as much as he was just trying to avoid getting drilled by the rockets coming off bats, as he decided to change the slider that was such a weapon for him in 2014 and batters suddenly found it easier to make contact against him. This was especially true on the road where batters hit .329 against him and he had a 9.83 ERA (that's not a misprint!) on the road where at home, he held batters to a .262 average and had a 2.91 ERA. He is there for the taking in 2016 and simple regression should help because nobody can be that historically bad two consecutive years.

Boston Red Sox

State of the Franchise

Over the past four seasons, the Red Sox have either won the World Series or finished dead last in the American League East. Yet, the expectations for the club at the beginning of each season, as well as this current one is the same - win the World Series. Despite the last place finish for the team, the team did little on the offensive side of the ledger, but stepped up to address the pitching, landing new staff ace David Price and strengthening the bullpen by acquiring Craig Kimbrel and Carson Smith. The lineup includes a lot of youth with upside, two big question marks in Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval, and a swan song for David Ortiz. The offense, if it can remain healthy, and play to its potential, could once again be a force.

Pitcher to Watch

A fun exercise in fantasy baseball is to remove the name from the numbers and see whether your like or dislike for a player is related to name bias. If you remove the much-maligned name of Clay Buchholz from his stats, you have a pitcher with a 8.5 K/9, 1.8 BB/9, and a 2.68 FIP. Yet, few people target Buchholz for a couple of reasons, with his health being the primary red flag. Buchholz has never made 30 starts in a season nor has he pitched more than 175 innings in any season. When healthy, the problem has been consistency. Last season, he did well in spurts and did very poorly in others. For the most part, Buchholz is a bag of Jelly Belly's because you don't know what taste he's going to leave in your mouth until you bite into it. The Red Sox will go as Buchholz goes because someone has to step up behind Price in the rotation.

Hitter to Watch

Hanley Ramirez was hitting .293/.341/.659 with 10 extra base hits (all home runs) lasts season before he crashed into the Green Monster and injured his shoulder. He was never quite right the rest of the season and went on to hit .238/.277/.367 the rest of the way before shutting it down in late August. Boston is moving him to the end of the defensive spectrum and is keeping him far away from the Monster at first base. Ramirez is currently barely hanging on in the top 125 of the latest ADP reports, making him a bargain as that's well below where he was being drafted a year ago. He will have dual-eligibility early in the season and has already shown what he can do in that park when he's not trying to smash through the fences. He is the best option to protect Ortiz in the lineup and should have ample opportunities to drive in runs with the talent that will be in front of him in the lineup.

Projected Lineup

vs RHP

Mookie Betts, RF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Xander Bogaerts, SS
David Ortiz, DH
Hanley Ramirez, 1B
Pablo Sandoval, 3B
Rusney Castillo, LF
Blake Swihart, C
Jackie Bradley Jr, CF

vs LHP

Mookie Betts, RF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Xander Bogaerts, SS
David Ortiz, DH
Hanley Ramirez, 1B
Pablo Sandoval, 3B
Rusney Castillo, LF
Ryan Hanigan, C
Chris Young, CF

Projected Rotation

David Price
Clay Buchholz
Rick Porcello
Joe Kelly
Eduardo Rodriguez

Bullpen Hierarchy

Closer: Craig Kimbrel
Setup 1: Koji Uehara
Setup 2: Carson Smith
LH Specialist: Tommy Layne
RH Specialist: Junichi Tazawa

Riser

Jackie Bradley Jr had a terrible first half of the season as he drove between Copley Square and Pawtucket and was batting .121/.211/.212 as late as July 29 before he caught on fire. Over the rest of the season (217 PA), Bradley hit .271/.356/.548 with 30 extra-base hits and 41 runs scored. He had a double-digit walk rate during that time, but also struck out 27 percent of the time which limited his batting average. As a lefty, he has actually hit lefties better than he has hit righties, but the addition of lefty-mashing Chris Young would seemingly relegate Bradley to the strong side of the platoon. He is going to hit ninth in the order which means he will be on base in front of Mookie Betts and Dustin Pedroia leading to a lot of run-scoring chances that No. 9 batters typically do not see if he can get on.

Faller

Pablo Sandoval is the low-hanging fruit here, but facts are facts. Just two of his last five seasons have been full seasons and his overall numbers continue to trend downward. His approach at the plate remains an impatient one that puts a lot of balls in play, which is not a good thing for someone who is making more soft contact and does not run well. His slugging percentage has fallen five consecutive seasons and his conditioning is already being called into question in spring training. Truth be told, there is not much further down he could go, but there is little in his metrics to believe there is a bounce back upcoming.

Sleeper

David Murphy was added on a late minor league deal in spring training to give the club some experienced depth within the organization. His running days on the bases appear to be over, but he has hit double-digit homers in seven of the past eight seasons despite not being a full-time player. He can hit for average and offer some pop and is a nice stash on a bench in case injuries hit the outfield. He accepts his walks and does not strike out much and if he does get a job, it comes on the strong side of a platoon.

Supersleeper

Given the team's track record, Boston will be relying upon several arms to come up and replace injured pitchers throughout 2016. Roenis Elias and Henry Owens are likely first in line, but don't sleep on Brian Johnson. He isn't a flamethrower, but he's used his assortment of pitches to hold minor league batters to a .199 batting average over 330 innings in his career. A nerve issue in his elbow ended his run in Boston after just one appearance, otherwise we would have seen more of him during the dog days of late summer in 2015.

New York Yankees

State of the Franchise

The "Evil Empire" Yankees and their big checkbook spent as much money acquiring players this winter as you did. Rather than go out and purchase high-priced free agents, the team went out and made several deals to strengthen their team. They purchased the much-maligned Aroldis Chapman on a discount and will do without him in April while he serves a suspension under the league's new domestic abuse policy. They went out and added youth to the outfield by trading for Aaron Hicks from Minnesota. The troubling part is that nothing was done to address the starting pitching staff. Sure, CC Sabathia is back, but the Ready-5 plan is still Ivan Nova. In a best-case scenario, Luis Severino continues to grow, Masahiro Tanaka fully recovers, Pineda stays healthy, and Sabathia looks like did at moments last summer. Worst-case scenario: not addressing the pitching staff comes back to haunt them.

Pitcher to Watch

Luis Severino was impressive in his 11 starts last season. He kept the ball moving down in the zone, missed many bats, but the command of his pitches wasn't consistent and he was victimized by the long ball nine times in 62 innings, allowing a homer in 7 of those 11 outings. He is 22 years old and threw 160 innings last season after throwing just over 110 the season before. While the Yankees haven't put a hard and fast number on Severino's workload, we have no idea how he will hold up over the full course of a season or potentially postseason at that age. A workload cap or a fade late in the season due to workload is a very real possibility.

Hitter to Watch

Which Brett Gardner will show up in 2016? In the first half of 2015, Gardner hit .302/.377/.484 and found himself in the All-Star Game. The second half was a complete 180 as he limped to the finish line with a .206/.300/.292 line as he played through pain in his wrist. The first half surge and second half fade is nothing new for Gardner, as he gets dinged up over the course of a season and plays at one level as long as he can. He did look better against lefties last year where in years past it was a futile effort, but if those struggles come again, he will lose playing time to Hicks.

Projected Lineup

vs RHP

Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Brett Gardner, LF
Carlos Beltran, RF
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Alex Rodriguez, DH
Brian McCann, C
Chase Headley, 3B
Didi Gregorius, SS
Starlin Castro, 2B

vs LHP

Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Brett Gardner, LF
Carlos Beltran, RF
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Alex Rodriguez, DH
Austin Romine, C
Chase Headley, 3B
Didi Gregorius, SS
Starlin Castro, 2B

Projected Rotation

Masahiro Tanaka
Michael Pineda
Nate Eovaldi
Luis Severino
CC Sabathia

Bullpen Hierarchy

Closer: Aroldis Chapman (suspended for first 30 games)
Setup 1: Andrew Miller
Setup 2: Dellin Betances
LH Specialist: Chasen Shreve
RH Specialist: Nick Rumbelow

Riser

Didi Gregorius had the unenviable job of replacing a legend at shortstop in 2015 and he easily did that in the field. What flew under the radar was how he did that at the plate as well. His overall numbers do not look great, but Gregorius batted .294/.345/.417 in the second half of the season while making solid contact and taking some walks. He is viewed as a glove-first shortstop, but the bat is starting to come around and he if got back to his 40-plus percent flyball rate of the previous two seasons, he would have an outside shot at hitting 15 homers in that ballpark.

Faller

A bone bruise ended what was going to be a return to yesteryear for Mark Teixeira. He was well on his way to hitting 40 homers for the first time since 2005 and driving in 100 runs for the first time since 2011 before a hard foul ball off his leg in August ended his season. He posted a career-best 24 percent HR/FB ratio in 2015, which was six percentage points above his career rate of 17 percent. 2015 was the second time in three seasons Teixeira's HR/FB rate eclipsed 20%, but it has been below that every season from 2006-2012. Some will say 40 homers is possible if he gets 500-plus at-bats, but that is assuming a continuation of a career-best rate of homers, and a plate appearance total he hasn't achieved in the past four seasons.

Sleeper

Aaron Hicks doesn't have a starting role on the team, but given the injury history of the starting outfielders on the Yankees depth chart, one does not need much of an imagination to figure out how Hicks will get his at-bats. Hicks made nice strides last season, making more contact than he had done in his previous two seasons while not sacrificing any power in doing so. The short porch may be inviting for him, but the switch-hitting outfielder has been a better hitter from the right side of the plate throughout his career, hitting for a better average and more power.

Supersleeper

The Yankees helped open a spot up for Gary Sanchez when they sent J.R. Murphy to the Twins in order to acquire Hicks. Sanchez could break camp as the backup, but given that he has very little Triple-A experience, the team may opt to let him begin the season there. He has shown pop in the minors and would be backing up a catcher that has played 140 and 135 games over the past two seasons. In order for him to wake up from a deep sleep, it would require McCann to be injured and he's been one of the more durable catchers in the league throughout his career. The more obvious choice would be Aaron Judge, but that would also require some serious M.A.S.H. machinations with the big league roster for him to come up sooner rather than later.

Baltimore Orioles

State of the Franchise

Baltimore apparently liked last season's 81-81 record so much, they worked hard to retain nearly every key component that helped them get to that point in 2015. The club was able to re-sign Chris Davis and Darren O'Day while Matt Wieters decided that taking the one-year qualifying offer to work on a full season of stats in the cozy confines of Oriole Park at Camden Yards was the best thing he could do for his career. Other than retain those pieces and the late addition of Pedro Alvarez, the team ended up doing little to improve their lot within the division. They tried to land Dexter Fowler, but a misunderstanding in contract terms ruined that pursuit. They did land the declining skills of Yovani Gallardo, but did so on a two-year deal after their rigorous physical methods gave them pause about his medical records. Whereas Fowler would have been an ideal fit to start this lineup off, the Orioles will instead let newcomer Hyun-soo Kim try to set the table in his rookie season. The team will count on him as well as perennial prospects Kevin Gausman and Dylan Bundy to take the next step up while trying to bludgeon opposing pitchers with their high-power/high-strikeout offense.

Pitcher to Watch

This honor goes to Kevin Gausman, almost by default. He is the only pitcher in their rotation with any upside to his projections, mostly because 2015 was so terrible for him with his surface stats. His ERA was 4.25 and his FIP was a close 4.10. He was victimized early and often by the long ball, allowing 17 home runs in just 112.1 innings of work – a 1.4 HR/9 rate. On the plus side, his strikeout rate surged from 7.0 K/9 to 8.3 while he shaved off nearly a walk per nine innings from his 2014 line. He's pitched fewer than 300 innings at the big league level but now, finally, appears to have a full-time job in the rotation for Baltimore.

Hitter to Watch

Jonathan Schoop could be a tremendous boom in 2016 or a bust. Last season, there was plenty of boom in his bat as he hit 15 homers in half a season with a .203 ISO and a .279 batting average. Schoop makes plenty of solid contact and has hit 32 homers in just over 800 major league plate appearances. The issue with Schoop is a complete lack of plate patience as he has GIDP as many times as he has walked in his major league career (23). It is one thing to compare him to Alfonso Soriano, but Soriano had a 6 percent walk rate in his career while Schoop's is less than half that. Second base has a lot of positional depth in 2016 and Schoop is on the tip of many tongues, but there is a lot of risk to his profile that includes an 18 percent swing-and-miss rate.

Projected Lineup

vs. RHP

Hyun-soo Kim, LF
Manny Machado, 3B
Chris Davis, 1B
Adam Jones, CF
Matt Wieters, C
Mark Trumbo, RF
Jonathan Schoop, 2B
Pedro Alvarez, DH
J.J. Hardy, SS

vs. LHP

Nolan Reimold LF
Manny Machado, 3B
Chris Davis, 1B
Adam Jones, CF
Matt Wieters, C
Mark Trumbo, DH
Jonathan Schoop, 2B
Joey Rickard, RF
J.J. Hardy, SS

Projected Rotation

Ubaldo Jimenez
Chris Tillman
Yovani Gallardo
Miguel Gonzalez
Kevin Gausman

Bullpen Hierarchy

Closer: Zach Britton
Setup 1: Darren O'Day
Setup 2: Mychal Givens
LH Specialist: T.J. McFarland
RH Specialist: Brad Brach

Riser

When Nelson Cruz signed with Baltimore a few years back, the move paid off very well for the player and the team as Cruz had a monster year and parlayed that into a lucrative four-year deal with Seattle. Mark Trumbo is hoping to do the same for his career after two disappointing power seasons for the slugger. After hitting at least 30 homers in 2012 and 2013, Trumbo has combined to hit 36 homers over the last two seasons in just over 900 plate appearances. In taking his talents to the Inner Harbor, Trumbo moves to one of the more favorable parks in terms of park factors for right-handed home runs, making a return to 30 home runs a possibility.

Faller

Shortstop is not a deep position for fantasy purposes in 2016 and the decline of players like Hardy is a big reason why. From 2011-2013, J.J. Hardy was a reliable power source from the shortstop position who hit for a decent average, but over the past two seasons, the power has disappeared with no signs of it coming back. What we're left with is a player who lacks the speed to beat out hits and makes softer contact, which leaves his futures up to the BABIP gods. He hits at the bottom of the lineup and lacks the thump to drive in many runners and is now a batting average risk. Shortstops age quicker than most position players, but he's vanishing right before our eyes as a fantasy asset.

Sleeper

The deal and then no-deal with Dexter Fowler means Joey Rickard has a fighting chance of making the Opening Day roster. The Orioles have certainly been nice to their Rule 5 guys in recent years allowing Ryan Flaherty, T.J. McFarland and Jason Garcia to stay on the roster. Rickard played at three levels with the Rays last season as the team was constantly moving personnel around to cover injuries at a variety of levels. He ended up with a .321/.427/.447 slash line in 480 plate appearances, walking 69 times, striking out 75 times and going 23-for-29 on the basepaths. There's no power, but the ability to take walks, make contact and run well is what opened opportunities for Odubel Herrera last season in Philly. Rickard's main competition is the perennially fragile Nolan Reimold on the depth chart to serve as the primary backup to unproven corner outfield options in Baltimore.

Supersleeper

Dariel Alvarez, already 27 years old, has hit double-digit homers in each of the past two seasons down in the minor leagues. He doesn't walk much, but he also has not struck out much during his minor league career which is short for his age as he's a Cuban defector. If the team doesn't hold onto Rickard as a Rule 5 pick, it opens up the door for Alvarez to make the team as a reserve outfielder (he has the arm to be a defensive weapon in right field) and perhaps get some opportunities to hit on the short side of a corner outfield platoon.