Team-by-Team Fantasy Projections: San Diego Padres

Here are the 2016 MLB fantasy projections for the San Diego Padres (ZiPS projections courtesy Dan Szymborski; Steamer projections courtesy Jared Cross, Dash Davidson and Peter Rosenbloom; Zeile projections courtesy FantasyPros):

Hitters

C Derek Norris

After two years with solid offense and replacement-level defense in Oakland, Norris became a solid defender with replacement-level offense. There isn't much competition for plate appearances at C, but he isn't a solid option in season-long leagues. He should carry some DFS appeal against LHPs.

1B Wil Myers

Myers' poor outfield defense in cavernous Petco Park caught up to him and the 25-year-old is now on first. He only appeared in 60 games because of health issues and has never played more than 88 in a season, but if he can stay on the field, his rate stats suggest 20-HR, 10-SB potential.

2B Cory Spangenberg

Spangenberg was one of the Padres' few pleasant surprises and should get an opportunity to lead off in front of Norris, Myers and Matt Kemp. He started pushing the ball more to left field and his drop in fly-ball rate from 2014 to 2015 will play well at Petco. His patience at the plate and ability to hit both LHPs and RHPs will keep him in the lineup for 130-plus games.

3B Yangervis Solarte

Solarte loosened up at the plate in 2015, swinging at more pitches and pulling the ball to RF more, while making harder contact. His 14 HRs in 2015 may prove to be an outlier in Petco, but Solarte could warrant waiver-wire attention if he picks up multi-position eligibility.

SS Alexei Ramirez

After eight seasons with the south-siders in Chicago, Ramirez brings his plus-bat to SS with the Padres. He had a rough 2015 as his BA and OBP both fell to below-average levels, and his 10-plus HR-power will surely dwindle with the move from US Cellular Field to Petco, but he's still an intriguing stopgap at a shallow position.

LF Melvin Upton Jr.

With more than 30 million dollars committed to Upton through 2017, he's likely stuck in a semi-regular role with the team. With an awful 27.2% strikeout rate and little power, the Padres will try to hide him in the bottom of the order. He might swipe some bases but there are too many cons to justify rostering the veteran OF.

CF Jon Jay

The newly-acquired Jay couldn't hit lefties last year, though he has a career average of .279 against LHPs. His .246 BABIP in 2015 means his awful .210 BA is due to bounce back. His K% is slightly better than most, and he has a league-average BB%. He still has some speed but not enough OBP to lead off.

RF Matt Kemp

Kemp has the most fantasy relevance among all Padres batters, but turning 31 at a position as deep as OF, he's trending toward being more of a OF3 in season-long leagues. With as much power as Kemp brings, you can live with his strikeouts because of his 25-HR, 100-RBI ceiling.

Starters

RHP James Shields

Despite going to a more pitcher-friendly park in 2015, Shields' ERA and fielding-independent pitching worsened. There wasn't a discernible difference in his rate of line-drive hits, or much harder contact, or more opposite field hits, but his fastball velocity did fall from 92.4 mph to 91 mph. This is simply the start of his decline.

RHP Tyson Ross

With parts of three seasons as an above-average starting pitcher, Ross will look to fine-tune his approach. Expect similar strikeouts and walks, if not slight improvements in both as he reaches his peak. The big ticket here is that Ross will pitch close to 200 innings once again, barring injury.

RHP Andrew Cashner

Cashner's workload jumped by over 60 IP in 2015, and the hesitation to believe he can maintain last year's usage is reflected in the volatile projections above. At age 29 and with the velocity on all his major pitches getting higher last season, a potential injury lurks beyond the decent stats.

LHP Robbie Erlin

Erlin has pitched 103 innings in parts of three seasons with the big league club, racking up a robust 4.60 ERA with low K totals - but his career 3.69 FIP indicates a pretty decent pitcher. He isn't going to be a K/IP ace, but if he continues to increase his velocity and limit HRs, he has waiver wire potential.

RHP Colin Rea

Rea has pitched close to 130 innings across all levels in each of the past two years and should do so again at the major league level. Like Erlin, Rea is a low-strikeout, groundball pitcher that will be worth a look as a streaming option at Petco but hasn't proven he can succeed on the road quite yet.

Closer

RHP Fernando Rodney

After a long major league career in the AL, Rodney finally made his debut in the NL when he was traded from the Mariners to the Cubs. The trade couldn't have come sooner; Rodney had a 5.68 ERA pre-trade and a 0.75 ERA with the Cubs. Now with the Padres, Rodney will either prove that he still belongs in a closing role or that those 12 innings pitched with the Cubs were fool's gold.