Dynasty Due Diligence: Mid-April 2026
This series aims to help readers do their routine due diligence in their dynasty leagues. It makes use of up-to-date OOPSY Peak projections and my own arbitrary whims to suggest free agent adds and drops as well as trade candidates and targets. Each entry will highlight a handful of players, both prospects and major leaguers, who have seen their perceived value shift recently. For each player I will offer a “verdict,” an open-ended recommendation on how I would value the player moving forward. Forgive me as these suggestions may sometimes enter the realm of “hot takes.” Most of my dynasty leagues are 14 to 20-team 5×5 roto leagues, but this series aims to be broadly relevant for all keeper and dynasty formats. I’m planning to publish one of these every few weeks. Let me know in the comments if there’s anyone in particular you’d like me to weigh in on.
SP Tanner Franklin, 21, Cardinals. OOPSY Peak WAR Projection: 2.8
Pitching projections can move quite quickly, especially for players without much of a professional track record, like Franklin. He has been as good as can be in his first two starts at High-A, with a 46% K% minus BB%, while touching 100 MPH. He has elevated relief risk given he was a reliever in college, but the upside here is substantial. OOPSY Peak views him as a top 10 starting pitching prospect already despite his projection getting hit hard by regression considering his small sample of performance. Expect his projection to continue to fluctuate a lot after each start until he has compiled more innings.
Verdict: Add in leagues that roster at least 100 prospects. If someone already scooped him up, I’d be willing to trade Tanner McDougal for him.
OF Henry Bolte, 22, Athletics. OOPSY Peak WAR Projection: 3.1
Bolte fell just outside the OOPSY Top 100 Prospects this preseason, slotting in at 104. He has seen his peak WAR projection increase after I added his regressed 80 MPH average bat speed from spring training to the model. His bat speed ranked 2nd among 23-and-unders this spring, in between Nick Kurtz and Jac Caglianone. Our prospect team write-up highlights Bolte’s impressive raw power and speed, paired with hit tool concerns, and a lack of defensive polish. A low BABIP obfuscates Bolte’s progress at the plate in Triple-A so far in 2026, with a 16 BB% and a 23 K% over 62 PA, both of which would be career bests. He should get a chance in Sacramento sooner rather than later.
Verdict: Add in leagues that roster 100 prospects. If he’s rostered, I’d be willing to trade Braden Montgomery for him.
SS Jhonny Level, 19, San Francisco Giants. OOPSY Peak WAR projection: 2.6
Level was OOPSY Peak’s top Giants prospect entering 2026, just missing the Top 100. He has gotten off to a loud start this year at Class A, with two home runs and a 263 wRC+ over his first 30 plate appearances. He is likely to be a big riser on the OOPSY Top 100 prospects midseason update.
Verdict: Add in leagues that roster 100 prospects. If he’s already rostered, I’d be willing to trade Emil Morales for him.
SP Kade Anderson, 21, SEA. OOPSY Peak WAR Projection: 3.5
Kade Anderson has made quick work of Double-A hitters across his first two starts, with 17 strikeouts and three walks across nine scoreless innings. This performance has elevated him to OOPSY Peak’s third best pitching prospect despite the small sample. A few more dominant starts like this and he’ll find himself in the top pitching prospect slot, even though OOPSY Peak does not capture college performance. He has lived up to his draft pedigree so far and should be starting in Seattle before long.
Verdict: Add where available, including in keeper leagues with a shorter-term orientation, like Ottoneu leagues. Anderson is likely already rostered in most dynasty leagues, but I’d be comfortable sending out aggressive trade offers for him, e.g., I’d ultimately be okay with moving any pitching prospect besides Trey Yesavage for him.
CF Julio Rodríguez, 25, SEA. OOPSY Peak WAR Projection: 6.1
Rodríguez has gotten off to an extremely forgettable start in 2026, but his lengthy track record of excellence has kept his projections afloat. For instance, his slow start has dropped him from 7th best projected hitter to a still-elite 9th best hitter on the FanGraphs auction calculator using OOPSY ROS with Main Event settings. Similarly, he is the 10th best projected hitter ROS using Depth Charts or The BAT X, ranking only slightly worse than his preseason rank in each case. Dig into his statistics this year and you likely won’t find any fancy statistics that say he is underperforming unless you are a particularly intrepid spirit. The reason for optimism here, even though he has been genuinely bad, is his track record. It is not uncommon for superstars to struggle for two-ish weeks every now and then due to random variance alone.
Verdict: trust the projections and send out aggressive trade offers, e.g., I’d move Andy Pages plus Wilyer Abreu for him, two good players off to unsustainably hot starts who lack Rodríguez’s elite fantasy profile.
SP Taj Bradley, 25, MIN. OOPSY Peak WAR Projection: 3.2
Bradley has broken out in the early goings of 2026, with a 26 K% minus BB% over his first three starts. His Stuff+ has jumped 13 points this year, to 115, an elite mark for a starting pitcher, and he’s also throwing harder than ever before. Taken together, these changes have moved his OOPSY ERA projection from 4.11 to 3.68. His Steamer ERA projection has also improved from 4.23 to 4.06. He now ranks as the 50th best starting pitcher on the FanGraphs auction calculator using OOPSY ROS, compared to 89th entering the season.
Verdict: Bradley’s breakout looks real, at least real enough for him to be an SP3 in a 20-team context. However, if you can move him plus a sweetener for a pitcher with a lengthier track record of success, like Framber Valdez, Logan Webb, or Logan Gilbert, I wouldn’t hesitate to.