The New York Yankees, willingly or not, have welcomed Alex Rodriguez back as spring training gets going this year. Assuming he stays healthy after serving a season-long suspension for performance-enhancing drugs, “A-Rod” may see time as a designated hitter and at first base along with occasionally spelling Chase Headley at third base during the coming season.
Playing time and at-bats should not be an issue for Rodriguez this season, again assuming he is healthy and productive enough to be in the lineup regularly. But what should fantasy baseball owners expect from the tainted former star in 2015?
Coming off a season away and turning 40 in July, Rodriguez is clearly not ever going to be the player he was in his prime again. When we last saw him during the 2013 season, he played just 44 games in the aftermath of left hip surgery and hit .244 with seven home runs and 19 RBI over 156 at-bats. Injuries have become a more prominent issue during the recent seasons he has played, but it’s worth noting that Rodriguez was fairly productive (.272, 18 home runs, 57 RBI) and healthy (122 games-463 at-bats) in 2012.
Based on where you can get Rodriguez in a fantasy draft and how cheaply he’ll go in an auction, I think he has a reasonable amount of value and upside for this year. Yes he can kindly be called a polarizing figure, but a player’s character should carry no weight in determining his fantasy value. Rodriguez won’t hit 30 home runs or drive in 100 this season, but I think he can be productive in two or three categories as long as he is healthy.
There’s no realistic way to set expectations for Rodriguez this year until we see him on the field when games count, but I’ll still take a stab at projecting his fantasy stat line. Call me an optimist, but here goes….
Alex Rodriguez 2015 Fantasy Projection: 450-500 at-bats, .260 batting average, 15 home runs, 58 RBI, 50 runs scored
Brad Berreman is a Columnist/Senior Writer at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter.
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