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Tristan H. Cockcroft 9y

Rendon, Baez, Crisp shift in ranks

Fantasy MLB, MLB

The final weekend before Opening Day is always a busy one for fantasy baseball owners, between final draft preparations and the drafts themselves, but it's also a key one for real teams; it's the week where final rosters and spring battles are decided.

Many of this week's movers were on the lower tiers, and resulted from the announcements of position battles. As you gear up for your weekend drafts, here's a quick look at the most notable changes in the ranks from the past week:

Anthony Rendon (down from No. 34 to No. 49 overall): With word that he'll begin the season on the DL and miss approximately three weeks of the regular season, Rendon is too risky a selection to make in the first four rounds of a mixed-league draft. He won't require surgery on his sprained left MCL, but the chance that he might be slow to get back to full speed after activation bumps him down another 15 spots.

Coco Crisp (down from No. 199 to No. 253 overall, and No. 52 to No. 63 OF): He'll have surgery Friday to remove a bone spur and chips from his right elbow, will begin the season on the DL and is expected to miss 6-8 weeks. Crisp might have an optimistic viewpoint of his timetable -- he joked that he'd use Windex and cold ice to shrink that to 2-3 weeks -- but it's wise to assume he's out until at least mid-May. With Crisp out, the Oakland Athletics will go with an outfield of Sam Fuld, Craig Gentry and Ben Zobrist, with Billy Burns and Mark Canha also on the roster to make occasional starts there. Burns is the one who moved up the most as a result; he's now a speculative AL-only $1-2 bid due to his stolen-base potential.

J.J. Hardy (down from No. 268 to No. 293 overall): Even if he's capable of playing on Opening Day, Hardy's shoulder problems are a concern with him coming off a disappointing year in the power department. Everth Cabrera could steal more starts from him early in the season as a result.

Kevin Gausman (down from No. 245 to No. 306 overall, and No. 67 to No. 87 SP): While I'm not convinced he'll remain there for long, Gausman's move to the bullpen does diminish his value by a noticeable amount, mainly because he could prove so valuable there that the Baltimore Orioles won't want to change his role midstream. He's still a worthy stash, even in mixed leagues, but to be clear: He's now a "stash."

Kendall Graveman (up from No. 476 to No. 377 overall, and No. 70 to 56 RP): He made the Oakland Athletics' Opening Day rotation, and thanks to his good-command, many-grounders repertoire, he's well worth a look in deeper mixed leagues.

Danny Salazar (down from No. 217 to No. 356 overall, and No. 59 to No. 104 SP): As with Gausman, Salazar's losing out on a rotation bid drops his value, but his plummets more because his resulted in an assignment to Triple-A. We'll see how heavily the Cleveland Indians use him down there, as conservative pitch counts have long been a problem with Salazar, but with a hot start he could be back with the big club quickly. The problem: The Indians' current rotation is filled at the back end with three intriguing sleepers in their own right, Trevor Bauer, T.J. House and Zach McAllister.

Vance Worley (down from No. 314 to No. 390 overall, and No. 91 to No. 119 SP): The third man on the list to lose out in a rotation bid, Worley, like Gausman, will report to the Pittsburgh Pirates' bullpen. It's a puzzling move, with Jeff Locke the winner of that battle, but Worley's value drops to NL-only bench stash at best, being that he was more of a low-end sleeper in the first place.

Mike Minor (down from No. 263 to No. 355 overall, and No. 71 to No. 103 SP): This is perhaps more of a correction to what was a generous rank to begin with, and with Minor still slow to recover from inflammation in his left rotator cuff and headed to the DL for at least the season's first month, he's now less of an option in mixed leagues.

Brandon Moss (up from No. 137 to No. 107 overall, and No. 18 to No. 16 1B): With Moss swinging the bat extremely well this spring, there is little reason to question whether he's at full strength coming off hip surgery. Moss' ranking would've been this generous in the first place if not for that operation, which had me thinking he might endure a sluggish April. Now, there's less concern of that.

Javier Baez (down from No. 246 to No. 313 overall, and No. 18 to No. 21 SS): That he was demoted to Triple-A along with Kris Bryant might have some thinking that the two will return sometime in mid-to-late April, but don't be too hasty; Baez is the one who has some major adjustments to make in the minors first, whereas Bryant is probably ready to play for the Chicago Cubs right now. I'm genuinely concerned that Baez might take the entire Triple-A season to get his swing straightened out, though he's still ranked as deep-mixed/NL-only relevant thanks to his attractive combination of power and speed.

Micah Johnson (up from No. 344 to No. 289 overall, and No. 27 to No. 24 2B): He's one of the sneakiest sources of speed you'll find late in your draft, and with word that Johnson should begin the season as the Chicago White Sox's starting second baseman -- we'll await an official announcement this weekend -- he's well worth taking to fill your middle-infield spot even in mixed formats.

Devon Travis (up from No. 411 to No. 395 overall, and No. 35 to No. 34 2B): He'll begin the season as the Toronto Blue Jays' second baseman, and with his combination of contact-hitting ability plus a hint of pop and speed, it's conceivable that Travis could contribute in deeper mixed formats. Expect something in the range of a .260 batting average, 12 homers and 12 steals.

Jace Peterson (up from No. 573 to No. 402 overall, and No. 44 to No. 35 2B): Another brand-new starting second baseman, Peterson has an appealing combination of patience and speed that could make him the National League's version of Johnson. Peterson could quickly force his way into a top-of-the-lineup spot, so this ranking might be low. Keep tabs on him in mixed leagues, as he has the potential to quickly develop into one of the first few weeks' hottest pickups.

Joe Nathan (down from No. 195 to No. 245 overall, and No. 26 to No. 36 RP): He has endured an up-and-down spring, his velocity wavering, albeit partly due to a thumbnail issue that bothered him in recent weeks, and at his age it's fair to question how effective a closer he'll be. That Nathan has Joakim Soria, a viable closer in his own right, behind him on the depth chart also contributed to his decline in rank.

Rusney Castillo (down from No. 145 to No. 180 overall, and No. 40 to No. 48 OF): His demotion Thursday wasn't entirely shocking, as Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell said at the onset of spring training that Shane Victorino was his starting right fielder, but it's interesting that the team will play Castillo at both center and right field in Triple-A. He'll therefore be ready in the event of injury or slow starts by either Victorino or starting center fielder Mookie Betts, and fantasy owners should anticipate a call-up to happen sooner than later.

Ryan Rua (up from outside the top 600 to No. 379 overall, and to No. 87 OF): The Texas Rangers named Rua their starting left fielder this week, and that makes him an attractive final outfielder in deep-mixed leagues, or a fourth or fifth in AL-only formats. He did, after all, bat .306/.378/.488 in Double- and Triple-A combined last season, then slugged .419 in a brief stint with the big club.

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