{"id":1534,"date":"2024-03-25T19:30:09","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T02:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/?p=1534"},"modified":"2024-03-25T19:30:09","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T02:30:09","slug":"2024-season-preview-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/?p=1534","title":{"rendered":"2024 Season Preview:  Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a id=\"owQm3o0hToZCA9zESFGMKw\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1565621732\" target=\"_blank\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>\/\/ <![CDATA[\nwindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'owQm3o0hToZCA9zESFGMKw',sig:'eabd5oO4w1s4mpH334_1GKjEov01MVPlZVdx9fT55vU=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1565621732',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><script src=\"\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\nBefore we get to the next part of the 2024 DTBL season preview, a very small spoiler about what is to come in the final two parts.\u00a0 The top six teams in the projected standings are all within six points of each other.\u00a0 Then there is a bit of a gap to the bottom four, including the pair of teams that will be covered here.\u00a0 That certainly doesn&#8217;t mean that those are the only six teams that should be considered title contenders, however.\u00a0 A quick reminder that the last two champions were projected to finish in eighth and ninth place in those season preview series.\u00a0 So maybe this is where you should want to see your team pop up.<\/p>\n<p>The two teams we will cover tonight actually have quite different projected standing point totals.\u00a0 Amazingly, the team slated to finish seventh is closer to the first place team than the eighth place team in points.\u00a0 So the eighth place team probably would have fit in better with the group covered in the first part.\u00a0 However, when trying to split this into four parts, it made the most sense to keep the *extremely* tight top six grouped together.\u00a0 Also, why not cover the entire Hosko household at time same time?\u00a0 Here are the teams projected to finish in the seventh and eighth spots for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Dan&#8217;s Diamond Dogs<\/h2>\n<p>Category &#8211; Projected Rank (2023 Rank)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Batting Average &#8211; 9th (1st)<\/li>\n<li>Home Runs &#8211; 4th (5th-T)<\/li>\n<li>Runs Batted In &#8211; 2nd (7th)<\/li>\n<li>Runs Scored &#8211; 7th (9th)<\/li>\n<li>Stolen Bases &#8211;\u00a05th (10th)<\/li>\n<li>Earned Run Average &#8211; 10th (6th)<\/li>\n<li>WHIP Ratio &#8211; 10th (10th)<\/li>\n<li>Wins &#8211; 9th (10th)<\/li>\n<li>Saves &#8211; 5th (9th)<\/li>\n<li>Strike Outs &#8211; 10th (10th)<\/li>\n<li>Total Batting Points &#8211; 6th (8th)<\/li>\n<li>Total Pitching Points &#8211; 9th (10th)<\/li>\n<li>Total Points &#8211; 8th (10th)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Summary:<\/p>\n<p>The Diamond Dogs are looking for their first non-last place finish in year three of their current ownership.\u00a0 This does look like a much improved squad that has an excellent chance of escaping the basement.\u00a0 It is a much different looking team this year in many ways.\u00a0 Last year, they led the league in batting average, but finished in the bottom half of every other offensive category (except HR, where they were tied right in the middle of the rankings).\u00a0 This year, batting average looks like their worst batting category, with improvement everywhere else.\u00a0 The big trade of Bo Bichette to the Kings to make room for Elly De La Cruz can pretty much explain that swing by itself.\u00a0 EDLC joins Trea Turner, Oneil Cruz, Yandy Diaz, Gleyber Torres and their other first round pick, Jake Burger, to make up a very powerful and speedy infield.\u00a0 The catching duo of Sean Murphy and Luis Campusano is much improved over last year&#8217;s Dogs squad as well.\u00a0 The outfield will continue to be led by one of the games brightest stars in Julio Rodriguez.\u00a0 Josh Lowe could be a sneaky great addition to the outfield should he get past his current oblique injury.\u00a0 Teoscar Hernandez gives the Dogs a total of seven hitters with PAR projections over 3, which puts them in more similar company with the teams yet to be covered than those down in the bottom part of the projections.\u00a0 On paper, this looks like the most improved offensive team in the league.\u00a0 The problem is, the pitching is still well behind most other teams.\u00a0 Staff ace Sandy Alcantara\u00a0succumbing to Tommy John surgery late last season really put a damper on the staff outlook for this year.\u00a0 2022 #1 draft pick Shane Baz has missed almost all of the past two seasons and it remains unclear when he will return this year.\u00a0 In the meantime, the Diamond Dogs will try to patch things together with a veteran heavy staff.\u00a0 Shane Bieber was a nice addition, joining returning vets Chris Bassitt, Nathan Eovaldi and Charlie Morton.\u00a0 The bullpen should be respectable at minimum with Josh Hader and Ryan Helsley.\u00a0 And if Kyle Finnegan and Will Smith can hold onto closer spots, they will have a good shot at finishing near the top of the league in saves.\u00a0 This really does look like a much improved team that has an excellent shot at moving up the standings.\u00a0 Their ceiling may be limited though\u00a0until they get their key pitchers back in the fold.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Kat&#8217;s Komodos<\/h2>\n<p>Category &#8211; Projected Rank (2023 Rank)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Batting Average &#8211; 2nd (2nd)<\/li>\n<li>Home Runs &#8211; 7th (5th-T)<\/li>\n<li>Runs Batted In &#8211; 6th (5th)<\/li>\n<li>Runs Scored &#8211; 9th (8th)<\/li>\n<li>Stolen Bases &#8211; 2nd (3rd)<\/li>\n<li>Earned Run Average &#8211; 8th (7th)<\/li>\n<li>WHIP Ratio &#8211; 7th (7th)<\/li>\n<li>Wins &#8211; 4th (4th-T)<\/li>\n<li>Saves &#8211; 1st (8th)<\/li>\n<li>Strike Outs &#8211; 9th (8th)<\/li>\n<li>Total Batting Points &#8211; 5th (5th)<\/li>\n<li>Total Pitching Points &#8211; 7th (8th)<\/li>\n<li>Total Points &#8211; 7th (7th)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Summary:<\/p>\n<p>As hinted at above, the Komodos are actually projected to finish closer to first place than eighth in terms of standings points.\u00a0 On paper, this looks very similar to last year&#8217;s squad in every category except for saves, and I&#8217;ll be throwing some cold water on that saves projection in a bit.\u00a0 It is not surprising to see little change from last year in the batting projections because most of the key players remain the same.\u00a0 Jose Ramirez, Yordan Alvarez, Cory Seager and Luis Robert are a great foundation to\u00a0build upon though.\u00a0 The first hitter the Komodos added in the draft was shortstop Anthony Volpe, giving them a bit more infield depth along with Ramirez, Seager, Christian Walker, Josh Naylor and Thairo Estrada.\u00a0 Cody Bellinger had a great bounce back season in 2023.\u00a0 If he is truly back to being an elite hitter, the Komodos outfield should be pretty dangerous with him, Alvarez and Robert.\u00a0 The main newcomer out there is Esteury Ruiz who almost single-handedly will make sure the Komodos finish near the top of the league in stolen bases, even though he adds very little in the other categories.\u00a0 While the Komodos finishing in the top half of the league in batting points a year ago may have been a bit of a surprise, it won&#8217;t be if they do it again this year.\u00a0 This is a very good offense.\u00a0 Similar to the Diamond Dogs, the questions for this team are mostly with the starting pitching.\u00a0 Also like the Dogs, they lost one of their aces to Tommy John last year (Shane McClanahan) and are patiently awaiting the return of another pitcher from TJ (Walker Buehler).\u00a0 They have slightly more intriguing alternatives though.\u00a0 First round pick Tanner Bibee will step into the mix right away.\u00a0 Framber Valdez has quietly been one of the best pitchers in baseball the past couple years.\u00a0 Getting Buehler back sooner than later could be vital to the Komodos chances this year.\u00a0 The bullpen looks strong.\u00a0 However, a couple recent injuries to their two best relievers make that first place saves projection pretty unlikely.\u00a0 Devin Williams will likely miss most of the first half of the season with a back injury.\u00a0 Jhoan Duran is currently dealing with an oblique injury that hopefully won&#8217;t keep him out more than a few weeks.\u00a0 Behind them are Craig Kimbrel and Carlos Estevez who are slated to be their teams&#8217; main guy for saves this year, so it is still reasonable to expect the Komodos to finish near the top of the league in saves, but maybe not the very top.\u00a0 There are enough pieces in place for this Komodos squad to take a big step forward this year, particularly if they get good news on the pitching health front soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images Before we get to the next part of the 2024 DTBL season preview, a very small spoiler about what is to come in the final two parts.\u00a0 The top six teams in the projected standings are all within six points of each other.\u00a0 Then there is a bit of a gap [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diamond-dogs","category-komodos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1534"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1536,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1534\/revisions\/1536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}