2020 Position Changes

[Kevin]

I'm just about done selecting the pool of players who will be part of the DTBL for 2020. With no early international games this year, we will go back to our usual Thursday start for the draft. The draft is scheduled to begin on Thursday, March 5, which is exactly three weeks before Opening Day. I hope to post my first draft of the player add/drop list tomorrow, or Tuesday at the latest. But first, here is the list of players who will be changing positions this year. This list seems to get longer each year. Note that it does not currently include Shohei Ohtani. As outlined a year ago, Mike will have until March 1 to decide if he wishes to use Ohtani as a SP, OF or 1B this year.

*** Edited to add Ohtani, who Mike has chosen to move to SP this year ***

These players will be switching positions for the upcoming season:

Cody Bellinger - From 1B to OF (Komodos)
Matt Carpenter - From 1B to 3B
Jose Martinez - From 1B to OF
Ryan McMahon - From 1B to 2B
Max Muncy - From 1B to 2B (Moonshiners)
Javier Baez - From 2B to SS (Mavericks)
Ketel Marte - From 2B to OF (Demigods)
Yoan Moncada - From 2B to 3B (Beanballers)
Daniel Murphy - From 2B to 1B
Gleyber Torres - From 2B to SS (Cougars)
Luis Urias - From 2B to SS
Lourdes Gurriel - From SS to OF
Garrett Hampson - From SS to 2B
Scott Kingery - From SS to OF
Manny Machado - From SS to 3B (Mavericks)
Jose Peraza - From SS to 2B
Jurickson Profar - From SS to 2B (Demigods)
Brian Anderson - From OF to 3B
Rhys Hoskins - From OF to 1B (Kings)
Shohei Ohtani - From OF to SP (Moonshiners)
Josh James - From SP to RP
Carlos Martinez - From SP to RP
Alex Reyes - From SP to RP
Julio Urias - From RP to SP (Mavericks)

[Kevin]

FYI, after completing the pitcher lists, I made a couple additions to the position change list. Josh James and Alex Reyes are now slated to move from SP to RP. Reyes is a pretty straightforward case. He only made four MLB appearances last year and all were out of the bullpen. So he is only eligible to be a RP in this league in 2020. While he is in the hunt for a rotation spot at the moment, I suspect he will wind up in the Cards bullpen... and potentially in a high leverage role.

James is a tricky case. He just missed my initial list of SPs for this year. He is definitely in the hunt for an Astros rotation spot, but could also wind up back in the bullpen where he spent almost all of last year. But he did start one game, so I could technically place him at either SP or RP. I reserve the right to move him back to SP later this week if I see anything that leads me to believe he is trending towards earning a rotation spot in Houston.

The initial player add/drop list is coming later tonight. Stay tuned...

[Mike]

If anyone is curious (or was looking into possibly trying to trade for him), I've made Ohtani a pitcher for 2020.