Fantasy baseball owners are getting desperate.
That’s likely why I’ve fielded a few more trade offers in recent days than normal. Unlike some owners, I’m not a big fantasy sports trader. My biggest trade happened this past year in fantasy football season, when after week 1 I unloaded Jordan Howard for Doug Baldwin, thanks to a plethora of running backs residing on my team.
It worked out OK and I got tremendous value for who was still on my team.
If you’re going to participate in the trade game, what should you be eyeing as fair trade value?
Avoid starting pitchers
If you’re the one trading away a starting pitcher, have at it by trying to steal away a position player for a starting pitcher.
However, if you’re the one on the receiving end of an offer, with another owner trying to bait you into giving up a position player for a starting pitcher, don’t bite.
Starting pitchers are all over the place on the fantasy baseball waiver wire. This past week I was presented Freddy Peralta for Starling Marte. I’m not sure if that was a joke, but that’s ridiculous.
Marte is an everyday player who contributes in multiple categories, while Peralta is a rookie who has started one game. Even if the starting pitcher had a track record of success, I’d be hesitant to trade away a multi-category position player.
I comb the waiver wire every week for two-start pitchers and it’s often met with success. Unless somebody’s unloading Chris Sale for a position player who doesn’t contribute much, then pass on those offers.
Team need is important, but be careful
My fantasy baseball team is pretty good across the board, except the saves department. My closers aren’t good and I didn’t spend my draft capital on those closers.
To boost that department, entertaining an idea for a closer, while trading away another decent commodity could happen. Last season, I was in desperate need of some power, so I unloaded a quality asset in another category, to boost my power numbers.
The biggest issue, though, is to not completely sacrifice another category to boost another. If my team is solid in stolen bases, but terrible in saves, then it doesn’t make any sense to rid my team of stolen bases just to boost my saves.
Be careful in eliminating a fantasy team’s strength just to bolster a weakness.
Go ahead and speculate
Speculation can be disastrous, but it can yield great results.
Oftentimes, a veteran player, who is injury prone, may start off hot. You know it’s going to cool at some point, so attempting to unload him at his height of production can be a long-term solution.
It also works in the opposite, too. Fantasy baseball owners are notorious for losing faith in players too soon. Finding those players who have a track record of producing, but are going through a rough stretch, can be a nice long-term play, and could create great value.
With that being said, this can turn ugly, just in case you were wrong. If you’re in need of a boost, though, risks are necessary to be competing for a fantasy title in September.
