Spell it out for them.
That’s the message this week – if you want to make a trade, you need to explain the benefits to the other fantasy baseball manager. Be sure to explain to them (in short… no one wants to read a novel when checking your list) how the proposed deal can improve your team immediately.
The process starts by looking at your rating. This is especially true in roto leagues, where each category tells its own story. Your goal should be to find a group of managers in a chosen category and offer some of them the chance to stand out by acquiring one of your players. For example, Steven Kwan appears in this week’s article. As a Kwan coach with some leeway in batting average, my goal would be to find the group of teams in that category and offer it to at least some members of that group. My proposal will begin with: “I realized that with a small improvement in batting average, you could outpace several other teams. Kwan could make that happen for you.” And then, you can finish your proposal by explaining why the player the other coach is trading is less vital to your success than Kwan.
This is not rocket science. Spending some time analyzing your league standings can lead to sensible offers where you improve the overall value, but your league mate gets someone who fits into their lineup. And now, let’s look at some men who are top-notch candidates for a variety of reasons.
Sell high
Steven Kwan (OF, Cleveland Guardians)
Kwan should be very attractive to those in a tight batting average race, as his .385 mark would make him the leader in baseball if he had enough appearances to qualify. There is no doubt that the career .297 hitter is effective at collecting base hits, but he will still experience notable regression when his .395 BABIP drops to a reasonable level. Kwan, who is useful but not special in the cumulative categories, recently participated in some important 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 based on the fact that he is a power producer who can help another team move up several spots in that category. Although the slugger ranks fourth in baseball with 21 long balls, the 62-point difference between his SLG and xSLG suggests he could see some power regression in the coming weeks. Camden Yards is definitely not a launching pad for right-handed hitters like Santander, and the slow .246 career hitter is batting .232, which makes him a fringe producer when he’s not pitching back and forth. 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 Crochê (SP/RP, Chicago White Sox)
Crochet has become the jewel of this year’s waiver wire, as he currently ranks second in baseball in strikeouts and sixth in WHIP. Heck, Crochet pitched so well that he even managed to win six of the White Sox’s 21 wins. But this seems like the best time to move the southpaw for King’s Ransom, as his innings count is already dangerously high. Crochet hasn’t thrown more than 65 innings in any NCAA season at Tennessee, and his season-high mark as a pro entering 2024 was 54.1 frames in 2021. He’s already 94.1 innings this year, and he’d be wise conclude that the last-place White Sox will slow their pace in the second half or shut it down completely. An early end to Crochet’s season would be devastating for the coaches, who would have to fire him during the playoff weeks. And while the situation is less dire in roto formats, there are still good reasons to trade Crochet for a player who has performed worse to this point in 2024 but has greater potential to maintain a stable value throughout the summer.
Luis Gil (SP, New York Yankees)
Gil got off to a disastrous start against the Orioles on June 20, but most managers will consider a 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 walking pace offers some reasons for concern. The right-hander ranks third in baseball with 41 walks, and the only player who has similar proportions and a bloated walk total is Tyler Anderson, who is the current poster boy for impending regression. Gil has a lot of value on the trade market as an exciting young pitcher working for baseball’s most iconic franchise. Additionally, he is supported by an excellent Yankees roster that has helped him rank fourth in baseball with nine wins. And like Crochet, there are inning concerns regarding Gil, who returned from Tommy John surgery in 2022 and has thrown fewer than 30 total innings in the 2022-23 seasons.
