MLB
Fantasy Baseball: Potential Bust Candidates at Each Position
With the regular season approaching, which players could potentially fail to live up to preseason fantasy baseball expectations?

Relief Pitcher: Alex Colome, Tampa Bay Rays

Current ADP: 100.96

Alex Colome had a breakout campaign in 2016 for the Tampa Bay Rays after filling in at closer for the injured Brad Boxberger and never looking back. The right-hander produced an eye-popping 1.91 ERA with 11.28 strikeouts per nine innings and 37 saves in 56.2 innings of work.

Boxberger is once again injured and looking doubtful for Opening Day, so Colome will have ninth-inning duties firmly in hand for the time being. While he could have another stellar season, let's not forget that the Rays dangled him out on the trade market over the winter.

Tampa Bay normally does that with young talent they eventually won't be able to afford, but Colome isn't even arbitration-eligible until 2018. So, what gives? It was likely their shot at selling as high as they possibly could. He did outperform his FIP (2.92) and xFIP (2.75) by a considerable margin, but he also stranded runners at a rather high rate.

Colome's Left on Base Percentage (LOB%) checked in at 93.0% last season, with Andrew Miller's 95.7% being the only one better among qualified relievers. Without much history here to draw from (he posted a 71.4% LOB% in 2015 as a reliever), it's hard to think that can continue this year, even with Kevin Kiermaier roaming center field.

Our projections expect 28 saves from him, but a drop in strikeouts (69 in 67 innings) and an elevated ERA (3.36).

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