Spell it out for them.
That’s the message this week — if you want to make a trade, you need to spell out the benefits to the other fantasy baseball manager. Ensure that you explain to them (briefly……no one wants to read a novel when checking their roster) how your proposed deal can make their team better right away.
The process starts by looking at your standings. This is especially true in roto leagues, where each category tells its own tale. Your goal should be to find a cluster of managers in a chosen category and offer some of them a chance to break out of the pack by acquiring one of your players. For example, Steven Kwan appears in this week’s article. As a Kwan manager with some breathing room in batting average, my goal would be to find the cluster of teams in that category and offer him to at least a couple members of that group. My proposal will start with, “I noticed that with a small improvement in batting average, you could move past several other teams. Kwan could make that happen for you.” And then, you can finish your proposal by explaining why the player who the other manager is trading away is less vital to their success than Kwan.
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This isn’t rocket science. Spending some time analyzing your league standings can lead to sensible offers where you improve on overall value but your leaguemate gets someone who fits for their roster. And now, let’s look at some men are sell-high candidates for a variety of reasons.
Sell High
Steven Kwan (OF, Cleveland Guardians)
Kwan should be very appealing to those who are in a tight race in batting average, as his .385 mark would make him the runaway leader in baseball if he had enough plate appearances to qualify. There is no doubt that the career .297 hitter is effective at collecting base knocks, but he will still experience notable regression when his .395 BABIP drops to a reasonable level. Kwan, who is helpful but not special in the cumulative categories, has recently been part of some major swaps on the Yahoo Trade Market, and wise managers will try to move him while his value is at its peak.
Anthony Santander (OF, Baltimore Orioles)
Those who have escaped the middle tier of the home run category in their league could try to move Santander on the basis of him being a power producer who can help another team move up several spots in that category. While the slugger sits fourth in baseball with 21 long balls, the 62-point gap between his SLG and xSLG suggests that he may be due for some power regression in the coming weeks. Camden Yards is definitely not a launching pad for right-handed hitters such as Santander, and the slow-footed career .246-hitter is batting .232, which makes him a marginable producer when he isn’t launching round-trippers. Like Kwan, Santander should be quite valuable the rest of the way, but we may have already seen the best of both players in terms of 2024 production.
Garrett Crochet (SP/RP, Chicago White Sox)
Crochet has become this year’s waiver wire gem, as he currently sits second in baseball in strikeouts and sixth in WHIP. Heck, Crochet has pitched so well that he has even managed to earn six of the White Sox 21 victories. But this seems like the best time to move the southpaw for a king’s ransom, as his innings count is already trending dangerously high. Crochet did not throw more than 65 innings in any NCAA season at Tennessee, and his season-high mark as a professional entering 2024 was 54.1 frames in 2021. He is already sitting at 94.1 innings this year, and one would be wise to conclude that the last-place White Sox will either slow his pace in the second half or shut him down completely. An early end to Crochet’s season would be devastating to head-to-head managers, who would have to cut him during their playoff weeks. And although the situation is less dire in roto formats, there is still good reason to swap Crochet for a player who has fared worse to this point in 2024 but has greater potential to hold steady value all summer.
Luis Gil (SP, New York Yankees)
Gil endured a disastrous start against the Orioles on June 20, but most managers will dismiss one brutal outing as bad luck in a tough matchup, especially when it comes to a pitcher who has been outstanding this year. But Gil’s walk rate offers some reason for concern. The right-hander ranks third in baseball with 41 walks, and the only player who has similar ratios and a bloated walk total is Tyler Anderson, who the current poster boy for looming regression. Gil holds plenty of value on the trade market by being an exciting, young pitcher who works for arguably baseball’s most iconic franchise. Additionally, he is well-supported by an outstanding Yankees roster, which has helped him to rank fourth in baseball with nine wins. And like Crochet, there are innings concerns regarding Gil, who has returned from 2022 Tommy John surgery and threw fewer than 30 total innings across the 2022-23 seasons.
