Fantasy Baseball New Team All-Stars: Juan Soto, Kyle Tucker, Willy Adames and More

The Major League Baseball offseason doesn’t usually move as fast as the NFL and NBA. Rather than jumping on big contracts on the first day, baseball’s top free agents linger into the holiday season and even the new year sometimes, waiting for the right offer to present itself.

Many of the top guys have begun making their decisions, though there will be more big moving pieces before Spring Training hits. It’s a good time to take stock of some of the top fantasy baseball players to switch teams.

ESPN has been following the movement of impact players by position, and I chose an all-fantasy value team out of those guys who have either signed with a new team or been traded since the end of last season.

I used ESPN.com’s scoring in “Points” formats for the past fantasy rankings referenced below. Stats are from MLB.com.

Catcher

Danny Jansen, Tampa Bay Rays

Jansen was C31 last season while playing in 91 games; that was his second-most games played (107 games in 2019), partly a function of being a catcher and mostly because of time spent on the IL (seven stints between 2021-2024).

He has been somewhat productive when on the field, hitting 41 home runs over the past three years with an average of one homer every six games and one every 18.6 at-bats.

Jansen is a low-end fantasy player who is dependent on matchups. He can credibly fill in at times, but his frequency of missed games and middling status make him better as a streamer.

Future Star(?): Kyle Teel, Chicago White Sox

Teel was acquired in the trade that sent Garrett Crochet to the Red Sox. Teel was the 14th pick in the 2023 draft and has stood out in the minor leagues: 138 games, 15 home runs, 29 doubles, 100 RBI, .301 batting average, .404 on-base percentage, and .848 OPS. He has averaged one strikeout per game, but 89 walks help offset that a bit.

Teel might spend more time in the minors, though the White Sox aren’t afraid to bring guys up early. He’s likely to have a few rookie struggles as he acclimates, but Teel is a possible future star at the position (something that’s probably still far away).

First Base

Josh Naylor, Arizona Diamondbacks

Though Naylor was traded from Cleveland for a modest return, he was 1B3 last season and ranked 19th overall among position players, behind just Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Freddie Freeman at his position and right in front of Bryce Harper.

Naylor is a masher: he set career highs essentially across the board in 2024, including 31 home runs, 108 RBI, and 58 walks (to go along with 105 strikeouts). He’s now joining an Arizona lineup that scored the most runs in the league last season; their 886 runs were 44 more than the second-place Dodgers!

Naylor is worthy of being drafted among the top five first basemen and maybe the top 40 overall.

Former MVP with Possible Upside: Paul Goldschmidt, New York Yankees

Goldschmidt had his worst season in a long time last year. His .245 batting average was the worst of his career; 22 home runs were his least in a season in which he played at least 100 games since 2014. Name a stat, and it points toward a career-worst performance for Goldy, including tying his career high with 173 strikeouts.

And yet there’s still intrigue because the 2022 NL MVP has been so good for so long that it’s reasonable to think he could see a bounce back. He will never reach his prime performance, but that MVP is only a few years removed, and Goldschmidt is joining the third-best offense from last season by runs scored.

The Yankees are missing Juan Soto, but they will still be strong, giving Goldschmidt more chances at RBI and scoring runs. In the middle of a pennant race rather than middling through a lost season in St. Louis, Goldy could see a little boost from his environment as well. He’s nothing more than a late-round fantasy flier, though.

Second Base

Jonathan India, Kansas City Royals

India was the NL Rookie of the Year with the Reds in 2021 but hasn’t hit those high marks again since. Injuries compromised both 2022 and 2023, as India missed 102 total games over those seasons. He finally bounced back a little in 151 games in 2024, the most he’s ever played in a season.

India hit 21 homers as a rookie and hasn’t topped 17 since. His batting average was .269 in that first year, but it peaked at .249 in the following three years, a steep drop. He also cut down on strikeouts from 2021 (141 down to 125 last year), helping himself in one area.

He’s unlikely to play significantly better than last year, so India is more of a middling fantasy second baseman. He can fit in and start most games when he’s healthy, but India isn’t a guy to chase in your fantasy draft.

Player moving to Coors Field: Thairo Estrada, Colorado Rockies

You can never argue with the fantasy impact of a player moving to play half his games a mile above sea level. Every team hits better in Colorado rather than away from it, and nowhere is that more evident than looking at the stats of the Rockies hitters last year:

• Colorado at home: 4th in runs, 2nd in hits, 5th in doubles, 11th in home runs, 3rd in batting average, 5th in on-base percentage, 6th in slugging percentage, 5th in OPS
• Colorado on the road: 29th in runs, 29th in hits, 16th in doubles, 18th in home runs, 29th in batting average, 29th in on-base percentage, 27th in slugging percentage, 29th in OPS

Do I need to say more? The Rockies as a team go from a top-five offense in games played at Coors Field to a bottom-five offense away from Denver. Any player who joins the Rockies has 81 potential games in the best hitter’s park in baseball.

Estrada played well in 312 games from 2021-23, hitting near .270 with 50 doubles, 35 home runs, and 153 runs scored. Injuries played a part in his ineffectiveness last season, as he played just 96 games and batted .217.

Estrada isn’t going to be on the fantasy radar for most owners and will be a guy you can grab late in your draft at a position that is sometimes hard to fill with real production. He might have eligibility at multiple infield positions, a nice little bonus.

Third Base

Isaac Paredes, Houston Astros

Paredes was traded from the Rays to the Cubs at the trade deadline and had a dreadful finish to the season:

• With Rays: .245 batting average, one home run every 22.7 at-bats
• With Cubs: .223 batting average, one home run every 59.7 at-bats

It was the same story in most stats. Rather than hope for a rebound, Chicago shipped him to Houston as part of the deal for Kyle Tucker (who we will discuss more). With Houston signing Christian Walker to play first base, Paredes is likely to man third most of the time pending more moves.

Paredes is a middling or worse fantasy option. He is probably a streaming-level player, but there is one thing in his favor: Paredes hits almost all his home runs to left field, pulling the ball at a high rate. The short porch in left in Houston might become Paredes’ best friend and make him a must-start player at home.

Star Yet to Sign: Alex Bregman

Bregman likely isn’t heading back to the Astros, so whatever team he ends up on will be getting a player that should help them win games at least at the beginning of his contract (which could stretch to seven or eight years).

Bregman has essentially had the same season each of the last three years: .260 average, 150 hits, 30-35 doubles, 25 home runs. He saw a curious drop in walks in 2024, drawing just 44 after 179 combined in 2022-23, but that seems more like a blip than anything else.

Expecting the same type of season out of Bregman means something like a top-five third base fantasy finish depending on the runs scored and RBI chances provided by the guys he ends up playing with.

Shortstop

Willy Adames, San Francisco Giants

Adames was one of the best free agent hitters on the free agent market after Juan Soto. Adames signed with the Giants shortly after Soto’s huge Mets contract, locking in over $180 million of his own.

Adames played 161 games in 2024 and set career highs in runs scored, hits, doubles, home runs, RBI, walks, and stolen bases (along with strikeouts). He was SS4 and the 18th-highest scorer overall. Adames is worthy of being a top-five shortstop in your fantasy draft and maybe within the top 30 overall.

There’s no fun second option here because ESPN only listed Adames as an impact player signed at SS, with a few middling remaining free agents mentioned. That’s OK, though: Adames is good enough to stand on his own.

Outfield

Cody Bellinger, New York Yankees

Kyle Tucker, Chicago Cubs

Juan Soto, New York Mets

This is the easy part: We have three stars to list here (or two and a half if you’re feeling stingy when talking about Bellinger). Beginning with the Yankees’ new center fielder, he was 50th in scoring among hitters last season and OF21.

Now playing with a short porch in New York’s right field, the lefty-swinging Bellinger might be able to approach 30 home runs, which he topped twice early in his career. Bellinger is a nice early-to-mid-round fantasy pick who has positional flexibility between the outfield and first base.

Tucker, a budding star, was traded to the Cubs by Houston as he enters his last year before free agency. That saga will define a lot about Chicago’s future, but they have a guy in his prime this year.

He was OF38 in 2024, but Tucker also played in just 78 games, tanking his year-long fantasy score. His rates were still up to star level, as Tucker had his second-best batting average and his highest on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS of his career. His 23 home runs were just seven shy of the 30 he averaged from 2021-23.

Tucker is likely to be a top-line fantasy player. He might be drafted among the top 10 hitters in fantasy leagues, a deserved honor.

And then there’s Soto. There’s not much to say: Soto was given a contract worth a maximum over $750 million, and he will be one of the top drafted players in fantasy.

Soto was the fourth-highest scorer last season behind Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, and Bobby Witt Jr. with Judge as the only outfield to outscore him.

The Easiest Return in Baseball: Teoscar Hernandez, Los Angeles Dodgers

Hernandez re-signed with the Dodgers after a dalliance into free agency. He’s back for three years at a $22 million average, and I just have to ask: Why would he consider leaving? Hernandez is playing for the best team in baseball in the lovely weather of Los Angeles, and his stat line is going to feel the positive effects of the stacked LA lineup.

I know there’s a lot more that goes into free agency choices, but it seems like an easy call from an outside perspective. Hernandez was OF13 last year and the 37th offensive player overall. Drafting him among the top 20 outfielders and the top 50 overall seems like a no-brainer, as Hernandez is likely to see a similar performance, even if he does regress a little.