Power Rankings Countdown: Giants land at No. 30 as fantasy baseball's least interesting team for drafts
Editor’s note: In honor of what would have been opening day, we begin our countdown of how MLB’s 30 teams rank in terms of fantasy baseball assets. At No. 30, here’s Dalton Del Don’s snapshot of the San Francisco Giants.
The Giants are in full rebuild mode, and their biggest offseason news was the team’s extreme pitcher’s park moving its fences in at “triples alley.” To reiterate, San Francisco has previously been by far the most extreme pitcher’s park in baseball, so the changes will be worth watching (and make cheap lefty bats like Brandon Belt and Alex Dickerson interesting in deeper formats).
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Buster Posey is reportedly feeling much healthier and stronger another year removed from hip surgery. He’s the rare catcher who doesn’t hurt BA and is projected to hit atop SF’s order, so he’s a nice rebound target (the new dimensions should help him too, since he hits to all fields). Few cleanup hitters are cheaper in drafts than Evan Longoria (who quietly posted an .870 OPS with 14 homers over 219 ABs on the road last season), while the position battles (Mauricio Dubon vs. Wilmer Flores at 2B, Billy Hamilton vs. Hunter Pence among others in OF) don’t offer much fantasy appeal. Presumptive No. 5 starter Tyler Beede recently got bad news that he’ll have to undergo Tommy John surgery.
Despite the favorable park, the Giants don’t even have a top-100 fantasy SP on my board, although I do like Tony Watson as a cheap closer (he looks like the favorite for saves in SF). Joey Bart is a nice dynasty option, while Marco Luciano has the upside to be the top prospect in baseball a year from now.
[Yahoo Rankings: Overall | C | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | OF | SP | RP]
Crazy Crab’z is delicious, while Yapson Gomez is going next level on Johnny Cueto’s shimmy. It will be a slow rebuilding process in the Bay Area, and while the Giants’ farm system is much improved and gives SF a bright future with the right management in place, this team won’t offer a ton of fantasy help in 2020.
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