On Wednesday, we took a look at the most notable pitching moves, from a fantasy perspective, of the winter. Today, let's look at the 10 biggest-impact hitter transactions. Again, each player's new team is listed in parentheses.
1. Alfonso Soriano (Cubs): It's not so much that Soriano landed with a team that should make him better, as he's coming off a 40/40 season in which he belted a career-high 46 homers. It's more that he landed with a team that should keep him within range of his 2006 numbers, as while his contract-year status then might have motivated him to those stellar statistics, contract security this season might have caused him to revert to the less-extraordinary 32 homers and 24 stolen bases he averaged in his two years in Texas in 2004-05. Sure, Soriano still could return to 30/30 status, or perhaps a little less in the stolen-base department, in Chicago, but Wrigley Field's swirling winds and hitter-friendly confines should give him as good a chance as any park at challenging 40 homers again. Plus, the Cubs already have two good heart-of-the-order hitters in Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez, meaning Soriano should continue to serve as a leadoff man and be given the green light on the basepaths. He'll be the best bet in baseball yet again to at least be a 30/30 man.
2. Willy Taveras (Rockies): Anytime a hitter winds up in Colorado, fantasy owners go nuts, thinking the Coors Field factor will mean a noticeable boost in his power numbers. In the case of Taveras, a speedster with little pop, however, the reason he's so appealing for fantasy today is that many seem ready to compare him to Juan Pierre, the former Rockies outfielder who managed a .308 batting average and 100 stolen bases in two-and-a-third years there. That'll serve to make Taveras overpriced in a handful of leagues, as Pierre's simply a better player at using his legs to make things happen on offense, but a case can be made that Taveras in Coors might not be much less the player Pierre was in Chicago last season. Taveras' career batting average (.284) and on-base percentage (.329) are close to Pierre's .292/.330 numbers in 2006, and if he lands the leadoff spot during spring training, there's a chance he could challenge 100 runs scored and 40 stolen bases.