The Braves continue to add outfield help with the recent loss of Ronald Acuña Jr. by trading for Eddie Rosario and Adam Duvall.

• The Guardians trade Eddie Rosario and cash considerations to the Braves for Pablo Sandoval.
• The Marlins trade Adam Duvall to the Braves for Alex Jackson.

These two moves could have quite a few fantasy implications, especially in leagues where nearly every player is rostered.

The addition of Adam Duvall (.229/.277/.478 with 22 HR and 5 SB) creates a decent outfielder when he’s paired with Joc Pederson. Pederson has always performed better against right-handed pitching (career .834 OPS vs RHP, .609 OPS vs LHP) even though the numbers this year are similar. On the other hand, Duvall has been balanced (.775 OPS vs .755 OPS) and would be a nice platoon partner. It might not be Duvall who gets paired with Pederson, but Pederson continues to prove he can’t hit left-handed pitching (While the pair don’t completely make up for the loss of Acuna, it’s better than running out 30-year-old Guillermo Heredia and his .709 OPS every night. Read the rest of this entry »

Jeff Zimmerman and I will be covering the fantasy relevant deals this week, highlighting the winners and losers and pointing out the actionable items for you in your leagues.

NYY gets: 1B Anthony Rizzo

CHC gets: CF Kevin Alcantara, RH P Alexander Vizcaíno

When I heard that Luke Voit was on the block, I thought it was to fit Trevor Story in and put DJ LeMahieu at 1B. Instead, they acquire a second lefty power hitter in the same day as Rizzo joins Joey Gallo in the Bronx. They did add to their GIDP “problem” as Rizzo brings another 10, giving them five guys with at least double digits, but I’m not really sure why that has become such a talking point for Yankees fans. The Yankees are tops in the league with 97, but the Astros have 94 and they are 10 games better than New York so it’s not really a great measure of success.

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Jeff Zimmerman and I will be covering the fantasy relevant deals this week, highlighting the winners and losers and pointing out the actionable items for you in your leagues.

SEA gets: RH RP Diego Castillo

TBR gets: RH RP JT Chargois, 3B Austin Shenton

Maybe all the handwringing about the Kendall Graveman trade was misplaced after all. GM Jerry DiPoto made it clear that he wasn’t done and has made a pair of deals since dealing Graveman. At this point, your feelings on this probably depend more on how you feel about Abraham Toro and Shenton.

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Jeff Zimmerman and I will be covering the fantasy relevant deals this week, highlighting the winners and losers and pointing out the actionable items for you in your leagues.

TOR gets: LH RP Brad Hand

WAS gets: C Riley Adams

Despite the recent struggles of Hand, the Jays brought the lefty veteran in to solidify their bullpen and perhaps even take over the closer’s role. Hand was dominating through early July with a 2.43 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 16% K-BB, and 19 SVs in 21 tries. An impossibly bad 5-game stretch saw him allow eight runs (seven earned) thanks to 11 base runners in just 4.7 innings. He blew three saves and collected three losses.

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Just starting with the trade as it has been reported:

The Guardians trade Cesar Hernandez to the White Sox for Konnor Pilkington

While the White Sox filled a void at second base that was created when Nick Madrigal was lost for the season, the trade might be a linear move for Hernandez’s fantasy value.

So far this season, Hernandez’s fantasy value has him as the 28th middle infielder boosted by his 18 HR and 60 Runs (T25th in the majors). Hernandez’s biggest valuation gain will come from the other White Sox hitters. They are just better than those in Cleveland and should give him a better chance for at-bats, Runs, and RBI. So far this season, the White Sox have averaged 4.94 R/G while the Guardians are at 4.28 R/G. Also, the White Sox have not been at full strength. They just got Eloy Jiménez back from the IL and Luis Robert could return soon.

While the park is an upgrade on the surface, it shouldn’t make a major difference. The new park would not have allowed just one additional projected home run on the season. His value will hinge on where he gets slotted into the lineup. Read the rest of this entry »

Jeff Zimmerman and I will be covering the fantasy relevant deals this week, highlighting the winners and losers and pointing out the actionable items for you in your leagues.

MIL gets: UT Eduardo Escobar

ARI gets: C Cooper Hummel, IF Alberto Ciprian

Escobar seemed like a lock for White Sox before that trade was 86’d by the Nightengale hex:

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Jeff Zimmerman and I will be covering the fantasy relevant deals this week, highlighting the winners and losers and pointing out the actionable items for you in your leagues.

OAK gets: OF Starling Marte, cash (the rest of Marte’s contract)

MIA gets: P Jesús Luzardo

Now this is a deadline blockbuster!

This is essentially a rightfield upgrade for the A’s as their -0.3 WAR there is 27th in the league. Marte will likely assume center but then Ramón Laureano and his brilliant arm head to right, displacing the Stephen Piscotty/Seth Brown platoon. Piscotty wasn’t viable in any format while Brown has 12 HR and 2 SB but just a .199 AVG, so I can’t imagine he was being used in anything but AL-Only leagues. Speaking of AL-Only leagues, Marte is a total game-changer in those formats.

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Jeff Zimmerman and I will be covering the fantasy relevant deals this week, highlighting the winners and losers and pointing out the actionable items for you in your leagues.

HOU gets: RP Kendall Graveman, RP Rafael Montero

SEA gets: IF Abraham Toro, RP Joe Smith

On the heels of an amazing comeback win, the optics of trading your closer to team you just beat aren’t great, but optics don’t win games and this move makes a lot of sense. The Mariners have a 6% chance to make the playoffs, sitting behind Houston and Oakland, both of whom are unquestionably better than them at this moment. Keeping a 30-year-old free-agent-to-be with 33 good innings make absolutely no sense. Just because it angered fans and even some players doesn’t mean it was wrong.

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The Trading Episode of the Beat the Shift Podcast – a baseball podcast for fantasy baseball players.

Guest: Fred Zinkie

Strategy Section

Trading

• General Trading Philosophy
• When to look for a trade vs. playing the waiver wire
• Identifying what to trade for, and who to trade on your roster
  • High gradient categories
• How to negotiate trades
  • Should you make offers close to final, or low-ball with room to negotiate?
  • Sending out bad trade offers
  • Taking the time to explain trade offers to others
  • Negotiating with one team alone vs. pitting one team against the other
    • Never divulge trade negotiations directly
• Does standings position matter for trade needs?
  • Decreasing risk / diversifying when you have a lead
  • Increasing risk when far behind
• Fairness of Trades
  • Top teams trading with bottom teams
  • Instituting pay scales throughout the entire standings
  • Reinsurance’s take on fairness in fantasy sports
  • Moving up the league’s trade deadline

Fernando Tatis Jr.

• Were we wrong earlier in the season advocating to trade him?
  • Recap of Tatis trade advice from earlier this season
  • Trust the process, not the results
• Risk comparison to Luis Castillo (underperformance)
• Risk comparison to Adalberto Mondesi (health risk)
• League depth matters

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Every year I start looking for ways to take advantage of trade rumors as a fantasy manager. But, is there actually any reason to? Maybe if a slugger goes from a pitcher-friendly home park to a hitter-friendly home park. Perhaps if a base stealer, who has had his restrictor plates put on while playing for a team that doesn’t steal bases, gets traded to a run happy team. These are the situations that seem easy to identify and are most likely smaller transactions that savvy managers can take advantage of. But what about the big dogs?

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