Fantasy Baseball Trade Advice: Anthony Santander, Shane Bieber, Bo Bichette, Alexis Diaz

Each week I’ll be taking a deeper dive into certain players who are worth buying the hype and who you should probably cut your losses with. Here are some players with standout performances over the weekend. Let’s take a look at some fantasy baseball trade advice for this week.

Buy High, Sell Low (Fantasy Baseball 2024)

Buy High: Anthony Santander (1B, OF – BAL)

Santander started his season slashing .250/.231/.833 with 3 XBH and 7 RBI in three games against the Los Angeles Angels. He has combined for 61 HR and 184 RBI with a .248 AVG while playing in 152+ games the past two seasons. He has yet to strike out this season or draw a walk as he’s been very aggressive at the plate without whiffing much. His aggressiveness could pay off as he’s batting in a prime run-producing spot in the middle of the Baltimore Orioles lineup. If the team has the season many expect from them, Santander’s first-career 35-homer, 100-RBI season could be on the horizon.

Buy High: Shane Bieber (SP – CLE)

Bieber was masterful in his first start of the season slinging six shutout innings of 4-hit ball with 11 punchouts and one walk. Yes, it was against the Oakland Athletics, but he still had 18 swings and misses, good for third most on Opening Day. Bieber had a solid spring and, most importantly, is completely healthy heading into the season. Since 2019, he has either finished top-7 in AL Cy Young Award voting or an injury derailed his season like in ’21 and ’23. The only question for Shane Bieber is whether or not he can stay healthy. If he does, he might just finish top-7 in Cy Young voting yet again.

Sell Low: Bo Bichette (SS – TOR)

In 2023, Bichette had his lowest totals in R, HR, RBI and SB since 2020. His AVG has stayed steady right around the .300 mark, but the counting stats haven’t been elite since the 2021 season. Bichette did have a great spring training batting .345 with 1 HR, 7 RBI, and 3 SB in 19 games, but that success hasn’t translated to the regular season, yet. He batted .167 with 2 RBI, no homers or steals and a 2:1 K: BB ratio over the weekend batting third. He should still be a solid fantasy option, but his ceiling as a 100/25/100/25 player will probably not come to fruition in 2024 for the shortstop.

Sell Low: Alexis Diaz (RP – CIN)

Diaz broke out in a big way in 2023 when he had 37 SV and 86 K in 67.1 IP, however, most of that came in the first half of the season. After the All-Star break, he had a 4.61 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 25 K in 27.1 IP and just 11 SV in 13 chances. It’s possible that he just wore down as the season went on, but his first appearance in 2024 wasn’t encouraging. Entering in a save situation, Diaz gave up two hits, two walks and three earned runs with only one strikeout in 20 pitches thrown against the Nationals. Given Diaz’s high walk rate and his home ballpark, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to see what his value could bring.