Roster Resource projected positions, rotation

[now]

With various debates ongoing here re. who mans what positions, and how the rotation and bullpen shapes up, it's interesting to reference what Fangraphs Roster Resource projects (pending further moves, of course).

They give the SS spot to Henderson, relegating Mateo to bench. Urias is penciled in at 3B, with Frazier the starting 2B. Rest of bench is Bemboom, Lewin Diaz, McKenna.

They list the rotation as Gibson, Bradish, Kremer, Wells, Rodriguez.
Bullpen is Bautista, Tate, Givens, Perez, Baker, Akin, Politi, Voth.

For minors they have reorganized the page by position, which is helpful as a depth chart at a glance. 

All of the above assignments for the Baltimore roster seem reasonable to me in terms of greatest likelihood (except I doubt we'll see Bemboom). Where I think there's the most wiggle room is the order of the rotation. I can see their rationale but virtually any other order of those five is plausible, at least once Rodriguez settles in. 

What do you guys think? Is theirs an authoritative guesstimate of where we're at?
 

[Tony-OH]

Based on what we have right now, as of 20 December, I can't really argue much here. I do think Mateo would be a in a rotation with Henderson, Urias and Frazier with Mateo being the priority play at SS, Henderson moving to 3B, Urias to 2B when Frazier gets a day off, Henderson moving to 3B when Urias needs a day off, or just replacing Henderson when they want to protect him from a tough lefty.

[Bahama O's Fan]

Do they list a starting DH?

[Aristotelian]

Interesting. I kind of like it. If Gunnar can play SS anywhere close to Mateo, I like this alignment because it keeps Urias at 3B instead of forcing him to 2B. Might lose a little defense but gain more offense. I like Mateo as a pinch runner and defense sub, maybe starting some vs LHP. I don't think it would hurt Gunnar's long term value at 3B for him to start at SS this year. 

[sportsfan8703]

I’d like to see us as Wacha, a better back up C, and some NRI to battle for the bench spots. Maybe even Luke Voigt for 1B. 

[SteveA]

2 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

Based on what we have right now, as of 20 December, I can't really argue much here. I do think Mateo would be a in a rotation with Henderson, Urias and Frazier with Mateo being the priority play at SS, Henderson moving to 3B, Urias to 2B when Frazier gets a day off, Henderson moving to 3B when Urias needs a day off, or just replacing Henderson when they want to protect him from a tough lefty.

I think I heard someone (can't remember whether it was Hyde or Elias) say that they planned to have Gunnar settle on one position to concentrate on next year.   Not sure which because the composition of the team is not completely known yet, but I don't think they wanted him to be bouncing between short and third a lot.

[SteveA]

1 hour ago, sportsfan8703 said:

I’d like to see us as Wacha, a better back up C, and some NRI to battle for the bench spots. Maybe even Luke Voigt for 1B. 

There's another free agent first baseman on the market too, some guy named Martini or Mancini or something like that?

[now]

1 hour ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

Do they list a starting DH?

Yes, Stowers. With OF positions Hays, Mullins, Santander.

[banks703]

I don’t see how Mancini fits into either the short term or long term plans but on a personal note, I think it would be awesome to bring him back if he would accept a limited role. What that looks like I am not sure though  

 

Aside from the obvious issue of him being redundant and not being left handed, his splits aren’t eye-poppingly better than Mountcastle’s. They are ‘better’ but to me, not to the level of wasting a roster spot on a 31 year old 1B who probably won’t regain the pop in his bat with the current dimensions of OPACY.

 

Both he and Mountcastle experienced so awful bad luck last year and there was the cancer remission scare for Mancini so it’s possible he rebounds some but he at this point in his career he is probably better served going somewhere that his power will play. Honestly he might be a fit in Washington.  
 

if you get to April and he hasn’t signed anywhere and you’re still looking for a bat, maybe kick the tires. I think they can swing something in a trade though or have enough roster/positional flexibility that they can insert several guys into several positions, including first, to field their best team on any given night, L or R opposing pitcher. 
 

I would be shocked if we don’t see both Santander and Stowers getting game reps at 1B in spring training. It makes too much sense with their current roster construction and need for a left handed hitting 1B/DH type to pair with Mountcastle. I could see one or both of those guys spelling Mountcastle at first once a week. Rutsch could get some run there to save his legs. There are a lot of options on the roster. Plus Frazier could play there if you want to match up against lefties:

 

C Rustch

1B Frazier

2B Gunnar

CF Mullins 

RF Santander

DH Stowers 

 

Or flip flop Gunnar and Frazier though as someone else pointed out, one of Elias/Hyde commented on Gunnar settling into one position.