Change. It's the name of the game during baseball's hot-stove season, now taking place three months later than usual due to the lockout! To illustrate, let's look at two stints that lasted merely a day:
Isiah Kiner-Falefa's tenure with the Minnesota Twins.
Gio Urshela's time as the New York Yankees' starting shortstop, a proclamation made by manager Aaron Boone on Sunday morning.
By Sunday night, the Yankees altered both by supplanting the latter with the former, as Kiner-Falefa joined Josh Donaldson and the remaining two years (plus a mutual 2024 option) and $51.5 million of his contract, plus defensively oriented catcher Ben Rortvedt in coming to the Yankees in a trade in exchange for Urshela and catcher Gary Sanchez. And, like many of you, all I can say in response is, "Well, surely there's more to all this?"
Stay tuned, as there's a good chance both the Yankees and Twins are indeed up to something, along the lines of related free-agent moves or trades still to come.
The Yankees now have an infield (going left-to-right, third-to-first) of Donaldson, Kiner-Falefa, Gleyber Torres and Luke Voit, with DJ LeMahieu back to his entering-2019 role of everyday utility-infielder, slotting in at any of first, second or third base on almost every given night. That leaves first base as an obvious position of potential upgrade, with free agents Freddie Freeman and Anthony Rizzo and trade target Matt Olson still out there for the signing.
Naturally, any further hitting-oriented addition will only strengthen New York's overall lineup for fantasy, boosting the offense's runs and RBI totals. But for those wondering about the Yankees rotation, which seemed like an obvious area of offseason upgrade but is -- other than Luis Severino slotting into Corey Kluber's old spot -- the same as the one that concluded 2021, this trade did give the Yankees a stronger overall defensive infield, not to mention a considerably better defensive catching tandem, which can only help the pitchers' ERA and WHIP causes.
Donaldson is the fantasy baseball key here, an under-appreciated sabermetric value source, having posted at least a 13.6% walk rate, a .352 OBP and a .203 ISO in each of his last six seasons. True, he is now 36 years old and has averaged only 119 games played per his teams' 162 in that time. However, if you play in anything non-roto, he's in a better spot now, as a likely top-five-in-the-lineup bat with Yankee Stadium's good HR park factor boosting his run-producing potential. He was my No. 11 third baseman entering the lockout, but is now preferable to my initial No. 9 third baseman, Justin Turner (although my overall shuffling will now give Donaldson the 3B10 ranking for points leagues).
Kiner-Falefa won't benefit quite as much from Yankee Stadium's homer-friendly confines, his 54.4% ground-ball rate and sixth-worst (among qualifiers) 136-foot average fly-ball distance underscoring his fantasy value coming mostly from stolen bases and his contact ability. He's now back in my top 30 points-league shortstops, thanks in large part to a promised everyday role, but he's a very clearly stronger roto choice. The new Yankees catcher duo of Kyle Higashioka and Rortvedt, meanwhile, is similarly light hitting and frankly much more so than Kiner-Falefa, mostly helping the pitching staff and only warranting volume-chasing in AL-only leagues.
For the Twins, Urshela fits as a stopgap piece at shortstop and/or third base, depending upon the team's other moves and the development of prospects Jose Miranda (third base) and Royce Lewis (shortstop). Urshela should play nearly as often in Minnesota as he would have in New York, as it's rare for a pair of prospects to flourish in tandem so quickly, but he's still only barely a top-25 points-league third baseman or top-30 shortstop. Miranda and Lewis, meanwhile, are much more attractive deep-mixed (think 15-plus teams) and AL-only stashes.
The Twins maintain that they'll try to flip Sanchez in another trade, so the state of their catcher position remains fluid. He's a major defensive liability, however, and his vacillation between contact and exit-velocity struggles in recent years make it tougher to roster him for his home runs as anything more than a No. 2 fantasy catcher. Frankly, he's no longer much better a fantasy pick than Ryan Jeffers, who ultimately might wind up the Twins' starting catcher, even if Sanchez sticks with the team.
So what's next? For the Yankees, you might notice something with Donaldson's arrival: More right-handed, patience-plus-power redundancy, as well as the left-handedness of all those prospective first-base targets. That's this team's problem, a lack of righty/lefty lineup balance, which is why there's probably another move or moves in store. If you're drafting soon, even the hint that a Freeman, Olson or Rizzo could land in pinstripes should make each the tiniest bit more attractive a fantasy pick -- not that you needed any more reason with the first two -- or the team could pursue a left-handed outfielder like Michael Conforto instead.
For the Twins, one might think them to be rebuilders, except that Sunday's Sonny Gray trade appears to hint otherwise. I'd guess they fancy themselves contenders in a competitive AL Central, and they do have the flexibility to add a free agent themselves, perhaps an unexpected splash with shortstops Carlos Correa or Trevor Story? Unlikely as it seems, their next step might warrant even closer tracking than that of the Yankees. For now, their infield from third base to first appears to be Urshela, Jorge Polanco, Luis Arraez and Miguel Sano. For the time being, that's great news for all four in terms of prospective counting numbers.
But again, you must stay tuned as there's surely more to come.