San Francisco Giants Denard Span: Fantasy Fallout

The latest free agent piece came off the market today, as Denard Span inked a three year deal with the Giants. It seems like for his entire career Span has never gotten the credit he deserves. He has proven to be one of the best all-around outfielders in baseball, and fantasy owners have always valued the skillset he brought to our lineups.

Span usually gets the designation of a guy that is always banged up or battling nagging injuries each season. While that proved to be the case last season, it is not really a fair characterization of his durability. Span has been in the league since 2008, so if we exclude his rookie season, he has only played less than 128 games twice, last season and back in 2011.

Other than those two seasons and his rookie year, Span has been a steady presence for fantasy owners and the Twins and Nationals. If we specifically look at last season’s injury, it all started in December of 2014 when he had surgery to repair a core muscle injury.

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Unfortunately, he rushed back from that surgery and needed another surgery in spring training costing him basically a month of the regular season. He managed to return and produce nearly immediately posting above a .300 AVG till the end of April and all of May. He slugged his five total homers in that two month span and looked like the leadoff force that the Nats needed him to be.

That was until, back spasms got Span and halted his blistering start in June. Those back spasms would ultimately limit him to only play seven more games in 2015. Now we usually hear athletes say that when your body is injured, different other muscle groups start compensating in order for your body to keep functioning. His last injury in 2015, and the most serious, was a labrum injury in his hip which would require eventual surgery.

Hip injuries rank right there with wrist injuries as two of the worse problems that a hitter can have, so 2015 just has to be looked as a lost year where Span’s body was continually compensating for his multitude of injuries and never could recover fully. The encouraging sign was that during his limited playing time, Span always produced.

With his hip surgery behind him and looking primed and ready to go for Spring Training, the Giants seem to be confident that Span can be the dynamic leadoff man they have needed. From a fantasy perspective, the Giants seem to be a great fit thanks in part to their solid lineup.

With Span being a leadoff hitter, the lineup around him has to play a part in setting his fantasy value as he will need the steady flow of help for his counting stats. Span has never hit more than eight homers in a season, so to move to AT & T Park does not affect his limited power value that greatly.

Over his career we have come to know what to expect, solid AVG, 20+ SB, decent Runs production, and an above average OBP. His AVG has not been below .279 in four years, he has averaged just over 19 SB over the last four seasons, and his OBP has been above .340 three out of the last four seasons.

Overall, Span is a steady and reliable player that slots perfectly in the backed of fantasy OF groups. As of right now, it looks as though Span will have Joe Panik, Buster Posey and Hunter Pence batting behind him in the lineup. We all know the offensive exploits from Posey and Pence, and with Panik breaking out last season, all those options look like great support.

The Giants also have elongated their lineup now as well, with the 1-8 slots of their lineup all looking like capable offensive options which has not been the case in the past couple seasons. Span has entered the perfect scenario to thrive, as his surroundings offer plenty of chances of continual fantasy value.

Span is still an OF4 or OF5, just because he does not “wow” in any one category. But, he is one of my favorite late round targets because you can get him late in drafts and he can help mask some of your lineups deficiencies with his all-around skillset. He will not cause the draft-room to go into an uproar, but there is no reason to believe that Span will not go out and do what he usually does. Keep in mind this a guy that is only one year removed from leading the NL in hits!  So do not overlook him on draft day.