One Position Battle After Another

An Oscar-Worthy Survey? Sure: Best Casting

Mar 03, 2026

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THE AL EAST

Masataka Yoshida in happier times. Photo By Baylexs - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Red Sox Outfield: This isn’t so much an outfield situation as a DH issue. Can both Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela get full-time at bats? They can if Masataka Yoshida doesn’t play and Jarren Duran is the Sox designated hitter. Both Yoshida and Duran struggle against lefties, however, and Rafaela is still a better fantasy contributor as a hitter than a major league hitter. I think I’d play Rafaela at second base against lefties, with Duran in the outfield and Yoshida at DH, rather than platooning the so-far unproven Marcelo Mayer with Andruw Monasterio, but there may be a trade that switches things up before we get to that. That’s assuming Rafaela’s second half slump was a blip, not a feature of his game. LABR went $23 on Rafaela, $15 on Abreu, $26 on Duran, and not at all on Yoshida. Forgotten Kristian Campbell, for what it’s worth, went for $7.

The Rays Closer: The Tampa team returns to St. Pete this year with a couple of worthy arms at the back end of the rotation. Either Garrett Cleavinger or Griffin Jax could end up with a Pete Fairbanks amount of saves, or they could mix and match all season long. Edwin Uceta, who might have also been in the mix has shoulder inflammation and is expected to miss opening day, but if he recovers he could also confuse things when he returns. And there’s no reason the Rays couldn’t use Bryan Baker to close games if the situation warranted it. My assessment is that Jax is the best of the bunch, but in LABR he went for a closer-like $16 while Cleavinger went for $4. At those prices I’d lean toward Cleavinger.

The Red Sox Rotation: Garrett Crochet, Sonny Gray, Ranger Suarez, and Brayan Bello are set. Who is the fifth guy? The Sox have two prospects, Connelly Early and Payton Tolle, vying for the spot with Johan Oviedo, who the team picked up from the Pirates for Jhostynxon Garcia with others involved. Oviedo would seem to be a classic fifth starter, with some control issues but also used to irregular work. He returned from TJ last year and may have better control this year which might make him viable all season long, but then again maybe not. Oviedo and Tolle were unbought in LABR, while Early went for $5. I think Oviedo might pay off for buck but agree that Early has more upside. Tolle may, too, but with just 15 Triple-A innings under his belt the former TCU Horned Frog is likely spend much of the year in the minors unless an emergency occurs.

The Orioles Right Field: Like the Red Sox outfield, this is a messy situation involving a man with the big contract, Tyler O’Neill, a prospect coming off a good debut, Dylan Beavers, a vaunted prospect who struggled last year, Samuel Basallo, a third basemen who might have played first, Coby Mayo, and a frequently hurt incumbent third baseman, Jordan Westburg. As well as an overshadowed man, Ryan Mountcastle. If O’Neill hits the way he did in 2024 he’s going to play every day, but even then he wasn’t great against righties. He looks like part of a platoon with Beavers, who only had 20 at bats last year against lefties, so we’re not sure what he could do, but that would be a way for both of them to be in the lineup. As long as Westburg is hurt Mayo can play third base and when isn’t Westburg hurt? A lot depends on whether Basallo gains solid footing against major league pitching. He’s young enough that more struggle could land him back in the minors in a hurry. Basallo went for $11 in LABR, Beavers for $5 (I want!), and O’Neill for $3, which is cheap, too. Westburg went for only $2. You can’t own all these guys.

The Rays Outfield: As usual there are a lot of bodies out there. Cedric Mullins may be set in center field though the decline in his game the last few years seems insistent if not irreversible. Jacob Melton, acquired from the Astros in the three-way deal that sent Brandon Lowe to Pittsburgh, can play center, too. But if Mullins is okay Melton might take time from Chandler Simpson, who is a fantasy friendly base stealer but a defensive liability with absolutely no power. If Simpson is okay Melton could play right, but the Rays also have Johnny DeLuca, Jake Fraley, and Richie Palacios in contention for at bats. DeLuca is a solid outfielder with a weak bat. Fraley is good against righties and a zero against lefties. Palacios has a full season of career plate appearances with 12 homers and 27 stolen bases and defensive versatility. LABR said nix to Melton, $21 for Simpson, $11 for Mullins, $5 for Fraley, and nothing for DeLuca or Palacios. I think a small bet on Melton is a good one and a lesser bet on Simpson would be wiser.

The Rays Fifth Starter: The consensus seems to be that Steven Matz will be the guy but he only went for $2 in LABR. Sure, Ian Seymour went for only $1 and Joe Boyle went unbought, but I have Seymour with more upside than Matz and Boyle’s fastball is truly impressive if only he could cut down on the bases on balls. So, consider this less a battle than a war of attrition, with Seymour out of the picture until someone ahead of him breaks down.

Any questions about other AL East position battles, or actually any other battles in all of baseball? Send them here:

ROTOMAN’S GUIDE

To toot my own horn, I looked at the printed Guide after putting that position battle section together and it was very useful. Look at these profiles of the Rays starters:

There are similar profiles of more than 1, 000 players, which I hope will prove useful all season long. I’m rooting for Boyle but I have to admit that my bid price reflects more my rooting than a plain analysis. But we’ll see.

Thanks to those who ordered the Guide directly from me the other day. I still have some left, available for sale. Use this link to pay $20 using Stripe. I’ll ship for free, on Wednesday if you order today.

Rotoman’s Fantasy Baseball Guide A-Z 2026 is also for sale at Amazon, for $19.11.

The Kindle version is out, too! Price: $9.99

You can order your print and Kindle versions using this link.

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There is a non-Amazon version. Use this link and I’ll mail it tomorrow. You should also be able to order through your local bookstore, though I don’t know how long that takes for delivery. I see you can buy the 2025 edition on Walmart’s and Target’s websites. Don’t do it. If you want last year’s model it is much cheaper on Amazon.

HOUSEKEEPING

A reader asked for a list of hitters ranked by projected On Base Percentage. I filtered out those with fewer than 350 plate appearances and sorted by OBP. Members can access the Excel Sheet via a link after the paywall.

More Team by Team position battles coming up. Send questions about which position battles you’re interested in here:

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