Toronto Blue Jays

The most remarkable thing about the Jays as currently constituted is the excess of corner/DH types. Glaus, Overbay and Hillenbrand are the three that I expect will get most of the ABs. Fortunately for both Hinske and Koskie, they bat from the left side of the plate and could see ABs against right-handers.

With the trade of Orlando Hudson, Aaron Hill is the regular 2B entering the season. I expect him to match OHud's 4X4 production (10/60/5/.270). As a starting middle infielder, that puts his draft day salary in the $9-$17 range. Obviously, he slots at the lower end, but my experience has demonstrated that any available starter up the middle could go in the higher teens.

A player who could be poised to breakout this season is Alexis Rios. The past two seasons, he has stolen 15 and 14 bases. There is no reason to expect that to change in 2006. He could steal 20 with very slight improvement. (A success rate somewhere between his 2004 (86%) and his 2005 (61%) in the same number of 2005 attempts (23) would put him at 17.)

His 10 HR last season nearly matched his minor league high of 11. If he improves on 2005, he could see 15, and 15 HR and 20 SB is a very good Roto player ($17-25).

The closer role is set for the next few seasons with the signing of BJ Ryan. If he gets hurt, I'd expect a return the JP's hodgepodge closing mix with Speier and Frasor the leading candidates.

Josh Towers was surprisingly good last season. After several seasons of disappointing Roto results, he kept everything together to post an ERA of 3.71 and a WHIP of 1.27 in 200+ innings. His minor league K/BB ratio always kept him on the radar and, in 2003, his 1.15 WHIP with the O's teased Roto players into listing him as a sleeper for 2004. Unfortunately, he was Roto death then (5.11/1.50).

This bad taste colored his 2005 season. Some of that will linger into 2006 and will make Towers an undervalued pitcher on draft day.