Rotowire's projected rotation:

Marlins

1. 1. Sandy Alcantara (R)
2. 2. Trevor Rogers (L)
3. 3. Pablo Lopez (R)
4. 4. Elieser Hernandez (R)
5. 5. Jesus Luzardo (L)
6. 6. Edward Cabrera (R)

Rotowire's projected rotation:

Mariners

1. 1. Robbie Ray (L)
2. 2. Marco Gonzales (L)
3. 3. Chris Flexen (R)
4. 4. Logan Gilbert (R)
5. X. Justin Dunn (R) OUT
6. X. Nick Margevicius (L) OUT

Rotowire's projected rotation:

Guardians

1. 1. Shane Bieber (R)
2. 2. Aaron Civale (R)
3. 3. Zach Plesac (R)
4. 4. Cal Quantrill (R)
5. 5. Triston McKenzie (R)
6. 6. Eli Morgan (R)

Rotowire's projected rotation during the lockout:

Giants

1. 1. Logan Webb (R)
2. 2. Anthony DeSclafani (R)
3. 3. Alex Wood (L)
4. 4. Alex Cobb (R)
5. X. Tyler Beede (R) OUT

You have to love Logan's grounders. And his FIP.

But the entire Giants team is due for regression. You would think.

Rotowire's projected rotation during the lockout:

Dodgers

1. 1. Walker Buehler (R)
2. 2. Julio Urias (L)
3. 3. Tony Gonsolin (R)
4. 4. Andrew Heaney (L)
5. X. Trevor Bauer (R) OUT
6. X. Dustin May (R) OUT

Calling Clayton Kershaw.

Rotowire's projected rotation during the lockout:

Diamondbacks

1. 1. Zac Gallen (R)
2. 2. Madison Bumgarner (L)
3. 3. Merrill Kelly (R)
4. 4. Luke Weaver (R)
5. 5. Humberto Castellanos (R)
6. 6. Humberto Mejia (R)

Yikes.

Rotowire's projected rotation during the lockout:

Cubs

1. 1. Marcus Stroman (R)
2. 2. Kyle Hendricks (R)
3. X. Wade Miley (L) DTD
4. 3. Alec Mills (R)
5. 4. Adbert Alzolay (R)
6. 5. Justin Steele (L)

Smart bidders won't nominate Alec.

Projected rotation at Rotowire:

Cardinals

1. 1. Jack Flaherty (R)
2. 2. Adam Wainwright (R)
3. 3. Steven Matz (L)
4. 4. Miles Mikolas (R)
5. 5. Dakota Hudson (R)
6. 6. Jake Woodford (R)

Deep, healthy, iffy.

Waino will be healthy for the last month of the season.

Unless it's not the last month. I fear that could happen.

The first team we've looked at, going down the depth charts page at Rotowire, that seems to have depth, quality and no injuries in the starting pitchers ranks.

Brewers

1. 1. Corbin Burnes (R)
2. 2. Brandon Woodruff (R)
3. 3. Freddy Peralta (R)
4. 4. Adrian Houser (R)
5. 5. Eric Lauer (L)
6. 6. Aaron Ashby (L)

There will be fierce fights for Ashby whenever his name comes up.

Moving down Rotowire's depth charts page, looking at starting rotations...

Braves

1. X. Charlie Morton (R) DTD
2. 1. Max Fried (L)
3. 2. Ian Anderson (R)
4. X. Huascar Ynoa (R) DTD
5. 3. Tucker Davidson (L)
6. 4. Kyle Muller (L)

A little shaky, no, for the World Series champs?

The bullpen, as we saw in the postseason, is another story.

Closer

1. 1. Will Smith (L)

Other relievers

1. 1. Tyler Matzek (L)
2. 2. Luke Jackson (R)
3. 3. A.J. Minter (L)
4. 4. Dylan Lee (L)
5. 5. Jay Jackson (R)
6. 6. Jacob Webb (R)

Moving down the depths chart page at Rotowire, wondering who does and who doesn't have enough starting pitching in the middle of the lockout...

Blue Jays

1. 1. Kevin Gausman (R)
2. 2. Jose Berrios (R)
3. 3. Hyun Jin Ryu (L)
4. 4. Alek Manoah (R)
5. 5. Ross Stripling (R)
6. X. Nate Pearson (R) OUT

The first four are solid. Gausman might be the closest comp to Ray last year -- right down to what they fetched as free agents -- in all of baseball.

Manoah's the one we all covet, if we can just get him at the right price.

Moving down the depths chart page at Rotowire, wondering who does and who doesn't have enough starting pitching in the middle of the lockout...

Athletics

1. 1. Frankie Montas (R)
2. 2. Chris Bassitt (R)
3. 3. Sean Manaea (L)
4. 4. James Kaprielian (R)
5. 5. Cole Irvin (L)
6. X. Daulton Jefferies (R) OUT

Not too bad. It's all comparative, and compared to others, pretty good.

Interestingly, the A's bullpen at this point is thing.

Closer

1. 1. Lou Trivino (R)

Bullpen

1. 1. Deolis Guerra (R)
2. 2. Sam Moll (L)
3. 3. Domingo Acevedo (R)

Just like us, the A's figure decent middle relievers come a dime a dozen.

A look at Won-Bin Cho, the Cards most recent signing. This clip was from two years ago, but as a 17-year-old my early thoughts are there's a lot to like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAD42KYikds

Having Cristian Javier on the roster and available to start is a big plus for the Astros and one we shouldn't forget. 

Moving top to bottom through the depth charts page at Rotowire, wondering who has enough starting pitching right now, here's the second team to consider.

Astros

1. X. Justin Verlander (R) DTD
2. X. Lance McCullers (R) DTD
3. 1. Framber Valdez (L)
4. 2. Luis Garcia (R)
5. 3. Jose Urquidy (R)
6. 4. Jake Odorizzi (R)

Just possibly the Astros are okay. Maybe more than okay.

But even if everyone else is healthy, a lot will be expected of Urquidy. At least 40 more IP and he'll have to keep the ball in the park.

I think he can do both. My bid won't be any higher than what he earned last year and I'll be very happy if I get him.

If I were a GM twiddling my fingers during the lockout I would spend most of my working day wondering if I have enough starting pitching to get through a full season if there is one.

Starting at the top of the page of depth charts at Rotowire, here's the first team to think about.

Angels

1. 1. Shohei Ohtani (R)
2. 2. Noah Syndergaard (R)
3. X. Patrick Sandoval (L) OUT
4. 3. Jose Suarez (L)
5. 4. Reid Detmers (L)
6. 5. Jaime Barria (R)

Ulcer city, no?

To start with, you need six starters if your No. 1 starter is Ohtani.

Your No. 2 starter hasn't pitched in two years.

Jose Suarez was great -- for 98 innings. Can he up that to 150?

160?

180?

What will they be like?

And so forth.

Outlook, if the season starts on time and these are the starting pitchers: next to hopeless.

We're still far from perfect on the minor league stats. Fangraphs has all the stats but provides only some of the BIS IDs. Without those, we can't import the stats into our database.

But I can hardly complain. Fangraphs is a great, great resource. I pay them something like $20 a year and I'm not sure I have to pay anything.

prospects1500.com has most of their top 50 lists up (six left to finish up), and Harris is their #1 Brave (though a Tier II (not a superstar, but very good)). Harris is #64 overall on their October 2021 major league list.

They say:
“Money Mike” has sky-rocketed up Braves prospects lists, and for good reason. Harris is an elite defender with more than enough plate production to be a top-of-the-order stalwart. With more speed than power, it’s easy to envision 15 HR/30 SB seasons. Harris also has the ability to show that he can hit in clutch situations, with a blistering .343 average with runners in scoring position during 2021.

Braves Top 50 List

And he started so far away that he's likely to be available in all but the deepest minor league teams. He does seem to be missing last year's stats though.

BP's top 10 prospects on the Dodgers were unveiled today.

• 
• 1.
• Miguel Vargas
• IF
• Born: 1999-11-17
• B: Right
• T: Right
• H: 6′ 3″
• W: 205 lbs.
• Signed September 2017 by the Dodgers out of Cuba for $300,000

The Report: Vargas just continues to rake. After losing a year to the pandemic, he looked bigger and stronger in 2021, and his all-fields approach is now all-fields power. He always had plus raw, it’s now looking like it will be at least plus game and there’s a chance Vargas’s pop plays above the raw power grade because of his ability to drive the ball from any part of the zone. It’s easy power from a quiet setup, although there is a bit of length which might limit his ability to keep hitting .300 further up the ladder. Defensively, well he is bigger and stronger now. His defensive tools at third remain around average—with more than enough arm for the left side—but there’s still the chance he moves off the position long-term. The Dodgers, being the Dodgers, have responded by getting him more games at second than first. He’s never going to have the ideal range for the keystone—or even third for that matter—but perhaps the plus arm allows you to position him a bit deeper. Vargas is probably as athletic as Max Muncy, so this might work well enough to give Los Angeles another option to get the bat in the lineup every day. That’s what we’re all here for anyway.

OFP: 60 / Classic no. 3 hitter, perhaps a less classic third baseman
Variance: Medium. The bat is low variance, the defensive/positional value is high. Let’s split the difference. —Jeffrey Paternostro

Major league ETA: Late 2022/2023

Mark Barry’s Fantasy Take: Know thyself. I’ve come to learn that I love dudes that can make a lot of contact. Typically when I’m fawning over a high-contact profile, however, said profile doesn’t come with Vargas’s power potential. And while I wouldn’t read too much into raw minor-league stolen base numbers, Vargas managed to snag 11 bags in 12 tries, an efficiency that foreshadows the potential for some success. For me, Vargas is pretty clearly a top-50 name, and he’s probably closer to number 30 than 50.