After opening up the season with a list of 10 bold predictions, I have face to facts, look myself in the mirror and deal with the aftermath of my thoughts. How off-the-wall or on-the-mark was I? Well, spoiler-alert, a little spotty outside of Mariners-related picks.
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Grading the Predictions
1. Robinson Cano Has His Best Statistical Season as a Mariner
Starting off with a bang! I nailed this one, even if I wasn't right with Cano's final stats. He was an absolute beast this year, hitting .298 with 39 home runs, 107 runs and 103 RBI, setting new career-highs for home runs and runs. This is the type of season a team pays a player nine figures for and is coming during a year many experts predicted Cano would continue his slow decline since joining the Mariners in 2014. Not this expert though. Grade: A+
2. Nelson Cruz Crushes Another 40 Dingers
Starting out 2-for-2, and both about my hometown Mariners. It's all I have since they failed to make the playoffs again, but that's a whole 'nother can of worms. Cruz hit 43 homers this year, giving him 40+ for three straight seasons while hitting .287 with 105 RBI. He was able to lower his strikeout rate to 23.8% after putting up a career-worst 25% last season while increasing his walk rate for the fifth straight season to a career-high (for a full season) of 9.3%. The health issues that plagued Cruz earlier in his career have yet to show up in Seattle, making him a great pick to keep the good times rolling in 2017. Grade: A+
3. David Price Falls Out of Top 20 Starting Pitchers
Whoops. While he fell out of the top-10, Price wasn't bad enough to fall past 12th-place according to Flea Flicker. A rough start to the season made this look like a slam dunk pick as Price ended the first half 9-6 with a 4.34 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 140 strikeouts in 124.1 innings. But with a strong team behind him, he had a slightly better second-half in terms of fantasy results, giving him a season line of a 17-9 record, 3.99 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and 8.9 K/9. That sure isn't what fantasy owners paid for, but it is still ace-like, emphasis on the "like." Grade: D
4. Ian Kennedy Returns to Ace Form in Royal Blue
This pick was quite a bit bold, but it didn't blow up in my face as bad as it could have. While Kennedy was nothing close to the true ace stats he put up in 2011 (21-4, 2.88 ERA with 198 strikeouts in 222 innings), he stayed healthy all season and put together a season not unlike his solid 2014 when he was the Padres' ace by going 11-11 with a 3.68 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and 8.5 K/9. Now, while I could lie to you and say that I meant "ace form" in any way that could be stretched, I meant him putting up 2011-type numbers so I'll just take a partial credit here. Grade: C
5. Another Rough Year Ahead For Jacoby Ellsbury
For a season in which he played in 148 games, Ellsbury did very little to improve over his disappointing, injury-filled 2015. The idea behind him every year is if he can only stay on the field, he'll be able to produce. But that simply didn't happen as he posted his second straight season with an OPS+ in the 80s with an 88 thanks to a poor second half. There's no reason to think he can't put together two solid halfs again, but the days of that being a certainty are over. Grade: A
6. Welington Castillo Establishes Himself as a Top Catcher
While "Beef" didn't break out quite how I was hoping, this pick isn't a complete bust as he didn't fall off the map. But top catcher, he was not. Over a career-high 416 at-bats in 2016, he hit .264 with 14 home runs (three less than last season) and 68 RBI (new career-high), go for 14th-best fantasy catcher of the year. Castillo has made sure he won't be drafted so lowly in 2017, but he's still just a mid-range catcher at best. Grade: D
7. Brandon Moss Holds Onto the First Base Job All Year
At the time, simply saying Moss would have a job all season was a bold statement. In retrospective, it seems silly as he returned to form at the plate...for the most part. Though he missed time with an injury, he hit 28 home runs and 67 RBI after hitting only 19 and 58 respectively in 2015. His batting average even rebounded into the .250s range as late as August until one of the worst slumps in recent fantasy times sunk his season and made enemies with every single one of his fantasy owners. But even when he was hitting .099 in September/October, the Cardinals foolishly kept playing him nearly every day. Grade: A+
8. Byung Ho Park has Jose Abreu-like Rookie Season
A popular early favorite for AL Rookie of the Year, Park played a fast start into the ground. And then when he was demoted underground, he continued to play himself further into the core of the planet. The power is very real, as he hit 12 home runs in the Majors and 10 in the minors, but he couldn't keep his weaknesses in-check and hit .191 in the Majors and .224 in the minors. Jose Abreu's magic isn't something we can use willy-nilly, it seems. Grade: F
9. Jose Berrios is the AL's Top Rookie
I really wanted this one to work for personal reasons as he was one of my minor league keepers in the long-standing AL-only keeper league I'm a founder of. I had tons of wonderful hitters as keepers but was lacking in pitching, especially potentially high-end ones. But it was not to be as Berrios was rocked over and over and over and over again, to the point that one has to wonder how he was ever a top prospect ever. He's still more than young enough to put this season behind him, but the AL's top rookie, regardless of position, is the division rival Tigers' Michael Fulmer. Grade: F
10. Yoenis Cespedes Gets Caught Up in the Spotlight, Production Suffers
Though he might not have been as blistering hot as he was in 2015, Cespedes was anything but unproductive. There was no indication that his boisterous personality and "big man on campus" air did anything but continue to allow him be himself, the monster baseball star that he is. Many apologizes for the doubt, Cespedes. Grade: F