Fantasy Baseball Effects of Mike Jacobs / Kansas City Royals Trade

Now that the World Series is over, the time for big market franchises to throw money at coveted free agents is at hand. So, naturally, the first transaction of the offseason occurred between those notoriously big-spending Florida Marlins and Kansas City Royals.

First baseman Mike Jacobs is on his way to Kansas City in exchange for reliever Leo Nunez. Jacobs is coming off a career year in 2008, slugging 32 homers and knocking in 93 runs. He only hit .247 in 2008 and is a career .261 hitter.

Jacobs’ power numbers are more impressive considering that the Marlins ballpark favors pitchers. Unfortunately, so does Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

Jacobs will not have players of the ilk of Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla with him in the Royal lineup. Expect Jacobs’ numbers to decrease slightly in Kansas City, where he will remain a second-tier fantasy first baseman.

The biggest effect of this trade is how the Marlins will realign their infield. Jorge Cantu, who hit 29 homers as a third baseman in 2008, is likely to move across the diamond to first base. Cantu was a great option at the relatively thin hot corner, but he will be much less valuable with the depth at first base.

With Cantu moving to first, Dallas McPherson, the 28-year-old minor-leaguer who bopped 42 homers for Triple-A Albuquerque, has no roadblocks in his path to the hot corner in Miami. McPherson is a great sleeper in the latter rounds of the 2009 fantasy draft.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 2nd, 2008 at 7:55 am and is filed under Fantasy Baseball Sleepers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.