The Keeper Corner #184-170

Today we continue down my pre2015 rankings for a 6x6 league that includes OPS and K/BB. We reach players who supplied significant value to their teams, a few veterans, and the ultimate one category stud. With that, we return to the players and their preseason projections:

#184 Scott Kazmir, SP, OAK

$6.37, 158 K, 11W, 3.938 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 3.16 K/BB

Kazmir had a very nice season and was flipped to the Astros. This year he’ll be a free agent and I expect him to be a fairly average mid rotation guy for fantasy teams. He no longer has serious strike out stuff, but he can go out and consistently eat up innings while giving you solid production.

#183 Bartolo Colon, SP, NYM

$6.41, 122 K, 10 W, 4.00 ERA, 1.228 WHIP, 4.207 K/BB

Bartolo was Bartolo, he took the mound and fired nonstop strikes for 194 uneventful innings for the Mets. He’s not very helpful in any one category, and at age 43, he’s essentially a guy you pick up when someone you liked goes down.

#182 Lance Lynn, SP, STL

$$6.41 185 K, 13 W, 3.60 ERA, 1.249 WHIP, 2.643 K/BB

Lynn was great in 2015. He struck out batters at a better rate than ever, and kept everything else around his career norms. He could easily be a #3 starter on most fantasy teams next season in his age 29 season. I don’t have any fears about the elbow issue he had midseason as he came back from it just fine, and said its something he’s learned to deal with in his career.

#181 Addison Reed, RP, ARI

$6.60, 64K, 3 W, 35 SV, 3.60 ERA, 1.217 WHIP, 4.00 K/BB

While I will never trust Addison Reed after being a former owner, I can attest that his full season lines never tell the whole story. He goes on streaks of easy saves before barely surviving one, and then completely nuking the next. He had a 4.2 ERA as a Diamondback, and then a 1.17 ERA as a Met. In Arizona his babip went up and his strikeouts slipped, both things that are commonly associated with pitching in Arizona. In New York he greatly improved his batted ball profile, which lowered his babip, he also regained his former strikeout stuff. Next year he’ll be arbitration eligible, and I’d expect him to stay with the Mets. He’ll probably be what he’s been in his career with fewer homers because he’s finally in a park that caters more to his fly ball ways. I won’t rank him next year as I don’t see him becoming a closer.

#180 Brian McCann, C, NYY

$6.76, 60R, 24 HR, 79 RBI, 1 SB, .254 AVG, .752 OPS

McCann had a solid season for the Yanks by taking more walks, and despite the begs of Yankee fans, pulled even more balls, and managed to pop a few extra homers despite his second consecutive .232 season. This is what the Yankees paid him to do so we can expect more of this in the future. He also had the highest strikeout rate of his career, which is something to watch next season, as he already doesn’t do himself favors with the balls he hits, so more whiffs could push him in a dangerous direction.

#179 Billy Hamilton, OF, CIN

$6.84, 81 R, 6 HR, 47 RBI, 62 SB, .256 AVG, .651 OPS

Hamilton only played 114 games, but still swiped 57 bags. His speed is up with the all time greats, while his hit tool is middling. His problem isn’t contact; he just physically hasn’t managed to make enough solid contact to put the ball in places that allow him to leg out singles. He gets more pitches thrown in the zone to him than average because walking him is out of the question for opposing pitchers. Hopefully next season, with better health he’ll be a better hitter, because if you gave his legs anything to work with, he’d produce excellent fantasy numbers.

#178 Mike Fiers, SP, MIL

$7.06, 150 K, 9 W, 3.439 ERA, 1.191 WHIP, 3.191 K/BB

Fiers was one of the lone bright spots on the Brewers with Gomez, and they both were dealt away to focus more on the future. He continued to strike batters out, and had threw a no hitter. He’s a nice chip who can help your team in strikeouts, but you’ll have to deal with his walks as well.

#177 Salvador Perez, C, KC

$7.15, 61R, 18 HR, 75 RBI, 1 SB, .276 AVG, .732 OPS

Perez just had his worst offensive season while setting a career high in homers. His plate discipline is dissipating, as he just had the worst walk and strikeout rates of his career, his line drive rate dipped, and he gained more grounders. This isn’t ideal for a plodding catcher. Overuse may be the blame here, but Ned Yost doesn’t seem to have any public issue with it, and Perez obviously wants to play. He was worse in the second half, but he wasn’t good in the first half. Perhaps this offseason the Royals invest in a backup catcher who can handle a larger chunk of the action as his current pace of average games played behind the plate is unprecedented.

#176 Khris Davis, OF, MIL

$7.19, 68 R, 22 HR, 69 RBI, 4 RBI, .248 AVG, .789 OPS

Davis slugged 27 homers this season, and matched the profile he as been given for years now. His strikeouts are high, but this season he had the 16^th highest average homerun and fly ball distance, right behind Josh Donaldson. I think there is even more in the tank, and he could be a 30 home run hitter next season. The only warning I must give, is that he is exceptionally streaky, so you have to ride out all has bad days just to be sure you don’t miss the good ones. Think of him as a poor mans Justin Upton.

#175 Oswaldo Arcia, OF, MIN

$7.32, 66R, 24 HR, 78 RBI, 3 SB, .246 AVG, .767 OPS

Arcia was sick, and then had a hip injury, resulting in him playing only 19 games. He’ll be 25 next season, and I am not lowering him in my rankings. Hopefully he can let his power play next year along with the other potential sluggers in MIN in 2016.

#174 Alex Rios, OF, KC

$7.39, 65 R, 10 HR, 61 RBI, 24 SB, .275 AVG, .727 OPS

Having a terrible season at age 34 does not spell good things for your keeper value going forward. His walk rate was at an all time low and his ISO was .99, the same as Elvis Andrus and Brock Holt. I’m not sure he’ll have a full time job next season, and I don’t want to risk anything on him in 2016.

#173 Yusmeiro Petit, SP/RP, SF

$7.45, 126 K, 8 W, 3.727 ERA, 1.172 WHIP, 4.345 K/BB

I always wanted to see Petit get a real chance at starting for the Giants, but it was never in the cards. After absolutely crushing the MLB last season as a swing man, he pitched more like an average bullpen arm this season, and in one fell swoop that dream is gone. Don’t draft Petit as there are presently 3 better bullpen arms at AT&T Park.

#172 Francisco Rodriguez, RP, MIL

$7.47 64 K, 3W, 38SV, 3.028, 1.161, 3.200

I am going down with the ship when it comes to hating Krod. He’s totally changed his pitch mix, and has found a way to survive off of great babips for two seasons in a row. What I am questioning about him is that teams are hitting him hard, they are getting plenty of line drives, and 30% fly balls. I think one of these days the bottom totally falls out on him, and I do not want to be the person holding the hot potato when it happens.

#171 Jedd Gyorko, 2B, SD

$7.55, 63 R, 23 HR, 77 RBI, 3 SB, .254 AVG, .758 OPS

Gyorko struggled early and was demoted, but somewhat found his power stroke later in the year. His above average homerun and fly ball distance gives reason to hope, but San Diego is still a pitcher’s park despite dimension changes. He’s better than the 2014 version of himself, but I’m not sure he can replicate the 2013 version in San Diego as his batted ball profile is not improving, and he doesn’t have other tools to work with besides power. Think of Dan Uggla when he was bad but still playing, and you understand what I’m describing for 2016.

#170 Marlon Byrd, OF, CIN

$7.70, 67 R, 22 HR, 75 RBI, 2 SB, .260 AVG, .751 OPS

At age 38 Byrd continued the newfound slugging ways that revived his career. Unfortunately, his average has slipped for the third straight year, and it has starting to look like the Raul Ibanez 2.0 experiment is running out of juice as well.

On Monday you will see some huge names start popping up...