Spring training is ending soon, so it is time to get a little bold when it comes to fantasy baseball! There are, of course, different levels of bold. For example, while I believe that Cleveland DH Franmil Reyes may end up leading the sport in home runs, I do not think he will hit 75 blasts. There's a big difference in degree of boldness there!
Anyway, let's get right to it, starting with the American League. (We'll voice our National League opinions tomorrow.) To be clear, most, if not all, of these bold predictions are not going to happen. Still, perhaps I am on the right track with some of them -- and that may be just as important as we tackle our final drafts before the start of the regular season.
Baltimore Orioles: The recovered Trey Mancini and the underrated Anthony Santander each smack 30 home runs, providing excellent fantasy value. Outfielder Cedric Mullins finally holds down the leadoff role and steals 24 bases, scoring 75 runs. Former Phillies Freddy Galvis and Maikel Franco both hit as many home runs as current Phillies Didi Gregorius and Alec Bohm. The staff ERA ends up on the wrong side of 5.00. (No surprise here. Avoid Orioles pitchers -- even John Means.) Nobody saves double digits.
Boston Red Sox: Video is back, so J.D. Martinez will also be back, hitting .280 with 35 home runs. Bobby Dalbec hits 36 home runs, though the "right-handed Joey Gallo" fails to hit his weight. Michael Chavis forces himself into the everyday left field role and smacks 26 home runs. Oh, the Red Sox will hit so many home runs. They will also allow so many. Nick Pivetta as a sleeper? Pfft. He ends up with a 5.55 ERA. Chris Sale unfortunately makes only eight starts. The Dodgers trade for Adam Ottavino in July.
Chicago White Sox: Luis Robert finishes one stolen base shy of a 30/30 season. Adam Eaton handles the No. 2 lineup spot and leads the club in on-base percentage. He also scores 90 runs. No member of the White Sox hits better than .300, including middle infielders Tim Anderson and Nick Madrigal. Newcomer Lance Lynn leads the major leagues in innings pitched, with 198 1/3. In mid-May, Jonathan Stiever replaces Carlos Rodon in the rotation and ends up winning 10 games. Overlooked Codi Heuer leads the team in holds with 26 and whiffs 105.
Cleveland: Reyes hits 44 home runs and knocks in 116. Andres Gimenez steals 30 bases. Amed Rosario winds up getting sent to the minors. Triston McKenzie cannot handle a starting role and moves to the bullpen, while Cal Quantrill emerges. Neither of the Logan Allens help fantasy managers. Emmanuel Clase becomes the closer by May and saves more games than wild James Karinchak.
Detroit Tigers: Surprising shortstop Willi Castro hits a team-leading 24 home runs, one more than double-play partner Jonathan Schoop. Isaac Paredes earns the third base job by May, but does not do much. We do not see Spencer Torkelson at all in 2021. We do see left-hander Tarik Skubal finishing with a 3.75 ERA and 145 strikeouts. Casey Mize finishes with a higher ERA than Nick Pivetta. Sorry, Casey.
Houston Astros: Kyle Tucker leads the club with 33 home runs, one more than Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez. Tucker also steals 25 bases, 22 more than Bregman and Alvarez. Myles Straw leads the American League with 38 stolen bases and takes over the leadoff role from struggling Jose Altuve. Zack Greinke proves he is not too old and wins 17 games with a 3.25 ERA. Luis Garcia becomes the team's No. 3 starter in the playoffs.
Kansas City Royals: Adalberto Mondesi struggles to stay healthy and hits .234 with 26 stolen bases in 124 games. Hunter Dozier leads the club with 27 home runs, two more than Jorge Soler and Salvador Perez. Whit Merrifield is the only member of the Royals hitting above .260, so he ends up getting traded to the Padres in July to handle second base there. Mike Minor bounces back with 178 solid innings and a sub-4.00 ERA. He goes to the Padres in the same deal.
Los Angeles Angels: Shohei Ohtani -- I mean, that's who you want to know about, correct? -- has an awesome April, winning four starts and hitting .380 with power. Everyone loves him! Then comes a sore shoulder and he becomes the everyday DH. Ohtani hits 24 home runs and leads the club with 18 steals. Jared Walsh hits 30 home runs, second on the team to that Mike Trout fellow. Dexter Fowler bats 460 times. Jo Adell bats 180 times. Why? Because baseball, that's why! Dylan Bundy lowers his ERA even more, to 2.99.
Minnesota Twins: Nelson Cruz wins the AL MVP award at age 41 with a .325 batting average, 41 home runs and a league-leading 124 RBI. The Twins win the World Series. Then Cruz retires. Byron Buxton hits 29 home runs and steals seven bases in ... 135 games. Kenta Maeda ends up finishing third in AL Cy Young voting after recording 18 wins and a 3.14 ERA. Alex Colome saves 39 games.
New York Yankees: I want to be optimistic that Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton each soar past 500 plate appearances, but that is just too bold! Still, I see 30 homers for both of them. Luke Voit swats 40 homers. I still think Gio Urshela is the underrated hitter here. Give him 25 homers and a .301 batting average. Give Gary Sanchez 25 homers and a .201 average. Reserve Tyler Wade leads the team with a mere eight steals.
Oakland Athletics: The Lizard breaks out! Jesus Luzardo chops that ERA down to 3.25, with more than a whiff per inning. Daulton Jefferies takes over a rotation spot in April and wins 12 games with a 3.50 ERA. Sorry, A.J. Puk fans. Take the under on 100 innings from him. Offensively, Ramon Laureano gets back to relevance with 28 homers and 18 steals. Elvis Andrus steals 18 bases.
Seattle Mariners: Jarred Kelenic debuts in late-April, hits .275 with 24 home runs, adds in 16 steals, and takes top AL rookie honors. Julio Rodriguez bats 75 times in September. Mitch Haniger hits 16 home runs by June and Cleveland trades for him. Second baseman Ty France makes the All-Star team as Seattle's representative. He hits .290 with 27 home runs. Yusei Kikuchi matches Marco Gonzales with 14 wins and a 3.75-ish ERA.
Tampa Bay Rays: Universal top prospect Wander Franco debuts on May 1, at third base, and goes on to hit .265 with 20 home runs and eight steals. He finishes a close second in the top rookie voting. Austin Meadows bounces back with another 33 home runs. Francisco Mejia hits only three and finds his way to Triple-A. Rich Hill makes 12 starts and lasts 2 1/3 innings in the wild-card game. Peter Fairbanks ranks better than Nick Anderson does on the ESPN Player Rater.
Texas Rangers: Nick Solak adeptly handles second base and ends up as the team's top hitter on the ESPN Player Rater by hitting .288 with 22 home runs and 14 steals. Joey Gallo hits .213. Rougned Odor hits .214. Khris Davis hits .215. You get the picture. Eli White emerges in center field, which is news because Leody Taveras struggles. Jonah Heim becomes a top-12 fantasy catcher.
Toronto Blue Jays: Hello, AL East champs! Look at this offense! Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hits .310 with 34 home runs, plays a reasonable third base over 80 games and gets MVP votes. Bo Bichette goes 30/30. Rowdy Tellez swats 30 home runs. Hyun-Jin Ryu wins 19 games and earns Cy Young votes. Robbie Ray finishes fourth in baseball with 220 strikeouts, and his reasonable 3.80 ERA works for us. Jordan Romano saves 34 games.