With the Winter Meetings finally behind us, I wanted to give my opinion on the fantasy ramifications of a few recent signings which include A.J. Burnett, Raul Ibanez, and the less talked about Edwin Jackson for Matt Joyce trade.
A.J. Burnett threw 221.1 innings last season in Toronto with 18 wins and 231 strikeouts. While people may point to his 4.07 ERA as a major negative, Burnett dealt with a career high .327 BABIP.
With a career .293 BABIP, you can expect his WHIP and ERA to decrease, even though the Yankees currently are not a great defensive team.
But let’s not forget that he is going to have a better offensive team, replaces the Yankees with the Blue Jays on his schedule, and gets out of the surprisingly, hitter-friendly Rogers Centre.
All of this adds up to a positive fantasy value bump for Burnett in New York, not quite the size a move to Atlanta would have produced. As always, Burnett can be a No. 2 fantasy starter if healthy. Everyone knows his health issues, so no need to rehash them.
If he does repeat his 2008 season, you will likely benefit, but if he's out with injury again your fantasy rotation may struggle. Your call, because I have no idea what will happen.
Raul Ibanez has been a very consistent fantasy producer over the last few years—I will admit that—but I believe his move to the Phillies will cause people to overvalue him in 2009. My first thought is his defense, usually virtually irrelevant in fantasy baseball.
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