I’m nothing if not BOLD, baby! Just ask that first sentence. Or all the A1 steak sauce I put on my tasty burgers. It’s Opening Day, so what better way to kick off the season than with some predictions of things that will almost certainly not happen. The point of a bold prediction, in my opinion, is to use hyperbole to overstate your opinion of a player or event. It should be so ridiculous that it almost can’t happen. What follows is nothing if not ridiculous. Happy Opening Day, everyone!
There’s still time! Leagues are still forming at Fantrax.com, so head on over and start or join a league today.
Nathan Dokken’s Bold Predictions
Jesse Winker Leads MLB In Runs Scored
This one I actually sort of believe could happen. If you’ve been listening to the Nasty Cast this preseason (and I am judging you harshly if you haven’t) you already know that Jesse Winker is my “Target Supreme”. That means he is my favorite target in fantasy baseball this season out of EVERYONE. He is merely the 48th Outfielder off the board, at ADP213 overall.
A quiet spring training has cooled the burning loins of a lot of other pundits who were hyped on Winker, but not me. There is a lot of competition in Cincy for at-bats in the outfield, but I believe Winker’s immense OBP ability is going to have him batting leadoff or second in that order almost every day. He may take a seat against tough southpaws, but that’s perfectly fine considering he’s probably your fourth or fifth outfielder. If he gets on base at a .400+ clip while hitting in front of the likes of Joey Votto, Yasiel Puig, and Eugenio Suarez, Winker will be crossing home plate a TON. I also think his power ticks up a bit, but if it does that’s just gravy on top of the A1 steak sauce on my tasty burger. Which arguably makes it not-so-tasty, but it’s the gluttonous excess that pleases me.
Franmil Reyes Leads MLB In Home Runs
Not only is Franmil a fun name, but he is also fun to watch. Franmil Reyes has light tower power, which he has showcased this spring with several moonshots. Franmil came back to the Padres over the second half of 2018 a changed hitter. He was awful in his first go-round, but over the second half, he posted a .920 OPS. He has nearly matched that number this spring at .908. This is another crowded outfield which requires Franmil to hit his way into the lineup (his defense is not good) but is also keeping his ADP down. I think he will, and I think he hits a LOT of home runs, making him a tremendous source of power at OF50/ADP218. This is going to be a very fun team to watch in 2019.
Trevor Bauer Pitches 200+ Innings (Finally) and Wins AL Cy Young
The only thing keeping Bauer from notching his first 200 innings season in 2018 was a stupid little baseball-induced ouchie. The baseball gods giveth, the baseball gods taketh away. He’s going to go deep into a ton of games against lowly AL Central lineups (Tigers, White Sox, Royals) and pile up strikeouts with a sub-3.00 ERA. Maybe he even wins 20 games.
Byron Buxton Out-Earns Adalberto Mondesi
These guys are sort of the same player except one had a scorching hot second-half 2018 and the other had a lost season due to injury. Buxton has every bit of speed that Mondesi does and hits in a much, much better lineup. They’re both contact- and walk-averse, and Mondesi’s career ISO isn’t far from Buxton’s. While Mondesi is going at ADP49, Buxton is going at ADP182. One ADP is going to kill your team if it doesn’t work out, while the other is a drop in the bucket. If Buxton can actually stay healthy and play a full season, he still has the same 20/40 upside that Mondesi does.
Dustin Pedroia Installs A Cybernetic Knee That Becomes Sentient And Takes Brock Holt’s Wife Out On A Date To Enrage Brock So That He Quits The Team And Pedroia Can Be The Full-Time Second Baseman Again
It’s a well-known fact that Dustin Pedroia and Brock Holt have a savage feud raging on. Been that way for years. There have been stolen shrubberies, poodle haircuts have been sabotaged, and uncountable sunflower seeds have been in the jock straps of these two before being bestowed as a gift to the other at the end of the game. It’s not pretty. Kudos to Alex Cora for holding that team together.
Pedey, unfortunately, has had enough. He can no longer stand watching Brock Holt wabble around second base. He needs a solution. He needs a new knee. He finds Skynet’s Miles Dyson and demands a new cybernetic knee. Dyson sucks up the opportunity and the surgery is successful. Sadly, Pedey uses this knee for evil. I think the prediction tells the rest of the story well enough, but suffice it to say, Brock Holt will be a used microwave salesman by 2020. Pedroia also “mysteriously” hits a career-high 124 home runs and the Red Sox lose to the upstart Padres in the 2019 World Series.
Nathan Dokken is a member of the FSWA and has had his work featured in numerous books and magazines. He has also appeared on many podcasts and radio shows and hosts the Nasty Cast and Fantrax Dynasty Baseball podcasts. His written work can be found exclusively at Fantrax HQ, and his personal thoughts and opinions can be found on Twitter @NathanDokken.
Fantrax was one of the fastest growing fantasy sites of 2018 and things are only getting better! With multi-team trades, designated commissioner/league managers, and drag/drop easy click methods, Fantrax is sure to excite the serious fantasy sports fan – sign up now for a free year at Fantrax.com.