Travis d’Arnaud

Profile: We started writing about Travis d’Arnaud almost monthly here at FanGraphs after his return from Triple-A last year, and deservedly so. I personally noted from August fifth onward, he outdid Yan Gomes’ season line. A more aggressive approach per Nicholas Minnix was a big reason for his success. From pitch-type and discipline perspectives, TDA has little issue hitting breaking pitches; he swings less often than the league at pitches out of the zone and more often than the league at pitches inside the zone. His quality balls in play (line-drive) approach and batted ball spray should ensure counting stats. TDA should be a top 10 fantasy catcher next year. Last year, TDA had the ninth best catcher isolated slugging and contact rate. Only Jonathan Lucroy, Buster Posey and Brian McCann were top nine in both rates and Lucroy’s isolated slugging percentage (.174) was actually ten points under TDA’s. (Dan Schwartz)

Quick Opinion: Kevin Plawecki looming will hopefully motivate TDA. A healthier David Wright and the addition of Michael Cuddyer should mean more RBI-related counting stats for TDA. Batted ball spray and the ability to hit breaking pitches means batting average potential. 120+ games should mean 17+ homers. There is a good chance that TDA winds up as our seventh best fantasy catcher in 2015.

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Chris Iannetta

Profile: Chris Iannetta may be in for a bump in playing time now that Hank Conger is in Houston, and that could turn Iannetta into a useful catcher in OBP leagues. Iannetta’s greatest offensive attribute is his career 14.2% walk rate which has translated into an OBP north of .350 each of the last two seasons. Even if he surpasses 400 plate appearances for the first time since 2008, Iannetta is likely capped at around 10 home runs and 50 RBI and runs. Meanwhile, he has a .236 career batting average. Even in two-catcher leagues with standard roto categories, Iannetta falls a bit short of draftable. (Scott Spratt)

Quick Opinion: A possible increase in playing time with Hank Conger in Houston makes Chris Iannetta an intriguing deep league option in OBP leagues. In standard formats, he’s more of a mid-tier third catcher.

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Freddy Galvis

Profile: Freddy Galvis missed more than two months of the 2014 campaign because of the fractured clavicle he sustained when he slid into a barrier in foul territory. It’s not as if Philadelphia missed his offense (.176/.227/.319 in 128 plate appearances), however. A 25-year-old whose best season in three with the stick is .234/.283/.385 in 222 PAs (2013), with a minor league resume promising little else, and who plays, essentially, average defense doesn’t sound like a great fantasy bet. Galvis will have a chance to start now that Jimmy Rollins is on the West Coast, so the question is how long Philly will go without a viable alternative. The switch-hitting Galvis offers no power or speed and will surely hit in front of the pitcher when he’s in the lineup. It’s hard to endorse him as a warm body in an NL-only league, even, but maybe he’ll turn out to be one, if his owners are lucky. (Nicholas Minnix)

Quick Opinion: Galvis will have a chance to play shortstop every day, but he’s below-average in virtually all phases of the game on offense. He could be a lukewarm body in an NL-only league, but Philadelphia will probably be open to alternatives that present themselves.

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Manny Machado

Profile: For a while, it appeared Manny Machado might not be ready to hit at the big league level. His two years of full time play at the big league level featured long periods of terrible slumps book-ended by moments of inspiration. Still just 22 years old, Machado’s numbers were trending in the right direction before injury cut his 2014 season short. He might not walk enough to keep some folks happy, but Machado produces with what appears to be an Orioles model for success: high contact, low walk, high average and power to the gaps. Like Adam Jones and Nick Markakis, in other words. His age and still-developing body, coupled with what appears to be a full-time move to third base (thank you J.J. Hardy!), make it easy to be bullish on Machado’s ability to show off a little more power in 2015. With Machado, it’s all about value. His numbers over the last two years put him on a third base tier with Martin Prado, Chris Johnson, and Trevor Plouffe. But with youth on his side, Machado is capable of delivering much more than that group’s middling results. Staying on the field is the biggest hurdle for Machado to clear before he becomes one of the best third baseman in baseball. (Drew Fairservice)

Quick Opinion: Another season cut short by injury and spurts of great offense make Manny Machado a high risk, high reward player for 2015.

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Jordan Pacheco

Profile: The Rockies, one of the worst teams in baseball, gave up on Jordan Pacheco last season. Pacheco has a sliver of chance of working his way back up the majors, thanks in part to Arizona’s public refusal to sign a catcher. Even if he arrives, Pacheco’s game doesn’t transfer very well into fantasy. That’s pretty much all there is to say about that. (Landon Jones)

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Jarrod Saltalamacchia

Profile: Jarrod Saltalamacchia stretched the limits of Three True Outcome production in 2014, striking out at a career-high rate while walking more than ever before. Putting fewer balls in play, Salty saw his offensive value dip far below that which he produced in Boston as his power dried up, hitting just .220/.320/.362 with only 11 home runs. Saltalmacchia swung more freely than ever before, whiffing on more pitches and seeing significant drops in his contract rates inside and outside the strike zone. Moving to spacious Marlins Park from cozy Fenway, Salty lost more than 100 points of slugging percentage and, after posting a sky-high average on balls in play in 2013, he hit far more balls on the ground and saw his batting average drop. Pitchers challenged Saltalamacchia with more fastballs than ever before (65% of the pitches he saw were classified as ‘hard’ by Brooks Baseball, up from 57% the year before) and he couldn’t respond, as his meager numbers suggest. If his bat is slow, it’s trouble for the power hitting catcher. If a midseason concussion cost him at the plate and he can bounce back to the league-average hitter from a power-starved position, then it’s sunny days in Miami for the Marlins starting catcher. (Drew Fairservice)

Quick Opinion: After a disastrous season full of whiffs, ground outs, and injury, it’s up to Jarrod Saltalamacchia to prove he can still get around on big league heat.

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Dan Uggla

Profile: Needless to say, Dan Uggla’s 2014 [entire tenure in Atlanta] wasn’t quite what he planned, although he’ll likely be the owner of a World Series ring this time next year. That’s where the positives end, though. Atlanta finally, mercifully (for their fan base), cut bait on Uggla after he threw together a .162/.241/.231 line in 145 plate appearances. Outside of that one magical night in Philadelphia in which he smashed two home runs — the only two he hit! — Dan Uggla ddidn’t do anything well in 2014. He didn’t draw many walks, which used to be a hallmark of his game, and kept his on-base percentage respectable. He still struck out a ton. And, most importantly for fantasy players, his power cratered even further. Without power or walks, Uggla simply isn’t a fantasy option, and thanks to his waning production and bad defense he’s likely not an option in real life anymore, either. (Landon Jones)

Quick Opinion: If Uggla is able to make a roster this Spring, it’ll be somewhat shocking. Either way, his days as a productive fantasy option are over, if they weren’t already. Look elsewhere.

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Fernando Abad

Profile: Fernando Abad appeared to post a strong 2014 season for several reasons. His 8.01 strikeouts per nine helped, as did his low 2.35 walks per nine. But his 1.57 ERA was more smoke and mirrors than true talent. Abad was incredibly fortunate in the batted ball department, his .211 batting average on balls in play tying for fourth-lowest among 142 qualified relievers. With a career .291 BABIP, it looks like a lot of his fly balls stayed in the yard and were caught by the Oakland A’s defense, owners of the ninth-best outfield Ultimate Zone Rating per 150 games. Despite appearing in a career high (and nice) 69 games, Abad managed just nine holds and 13 shutdowns. If you’re in an extremely deep league which happens to count holds, Abad has some use. Outside of that, look elsewhere for your reliever stats. (David Wiers)

Quick Opinion: Probably the fourth or fifth man in the Oakland bullpen, Abad isn’t a terribly attractive fantasy option. He’ll get a few strikeouts and the occasional hold, but isn’t worth rostering in anything but the deepest of leagues.

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Trevor Cahill

Profile: Cahill’s 2014 was a mixture of good and bad. The soft-tossing righty allowed plenty of runs with a 5.61 ERA, but his 3.89 FIP and 3.83 xFIP point to better times ahead. Left-handed hitters went wild with a .404 weighted on base average against him. A .350 batting average on balls in play, well above his career average, contributed to the pain. He was substantially better out of the bullpen with a 3.04 ERA and 2.92 FIP in 23.2 innings. The lone bright spot is a healthy 10.1% swinging strike rate, which translated to 8.54 strikeouts per nine. Unfortunately, the good was offset by 4.47 walks per nine. With $12 million owed to him in 2015, the Diamondbacks are looking at an expensive swingman. (Brad Johnson)

Quick Opinion: Cahill will need to learn how to neutralize left-handed hitters if he wants to help out of the rotation. Otherwise, he’s a very well paid long reliever.

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Jeurys Familia

Profile: Jeurys Familia underwent successful hernia surgery in October: he and fellow Mets reliever Jenrry Mejia had similar surgeries. Familia is expected to be fully healthy by spring training while Bobby Parnell and Mejia will probably fill the closer role. Familia has the outcomes to remain an effective set-up man. He will only be 25 next year and is projected to improve his strikeout and walk rates. His sinker-fourseam-slider repertoire induced close to a 60% grounder rate, which was top 30 for relievers over 30 innings pitched. The “luck” statistics (5.2% homer-to-fly ratio and .264 batting average on balls in play) are likely to regress, which should knock his actual ERA (2.21) up closer to his expected rates of 3.21 (SIERA) or 3.49 (xFIP), but top 20 velocity could keep these outcomes grounded. (Dan Schwartz)

Quick Opinion: With Mejia, Carlos Torres, Vic Black, Josh Edgin, and a hopefully healthy Bobby Parnell, the Mets have an interesting, relatively cheap pre-arbitration eligible (outside of Parnell) bullpen complemented by Familia. That might also make it tough on owners hoping for saves out of Familia. 

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