Fantasy baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. Unlike other fantasy sports, the season is long and drags as the weeks roll on. However, because it is such a grind, fantasy managers can lose focus on what’s important, allowing astute fantasy managers to take advantage.
We are very early in the season when people will make bad decisions in terms of trades because of the small samples. Hot streaks and cold streaks can scare your competition. Sometimes underlying numbers aren’t showing up in the surface numbers quite yet. If someone in your league is ready to overreact, take advantage of their impatience. Here are some players I would try and buy low and sell high on at this point in the season. Use our fantasy baseball trade analyzer to help with values.
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Fantasy Baseball Trade Advice
Buy Low
Yainer Diaz has started terribly, hitting .061/.139/.061 with zero home runs or stolen bases. Things don’t look good right now, but the underlying numbers are fine, and he will be, too. He has just been unlucky and struggling. Diaz is a great player to trade for at a reduced rate.
Marcus Semien has struggled to start the season, hitting .122/.189/.184 with one home run. He is coming off a down season, so some are worried this is the collapse for him, but I wouldn’t worry.
The underlying numbers are fine, as he is making league-average contact and hitting the ball as hard as he did last season. All he does is accumulate. There is no reason to think he won’t do that again this season.
It has been ugly for Dylan Cease to start the year. Through three starts, he has thrown 14.2 innings with a 7.98 ERA and a 1.57 WHIP. However, his xERA is just 3.71, and he has an inflated batting average on balls in play (BABIP) of .390 compared to a career .292 BABIP.
Cease has also gotten unlucky with a 46.3% strand rate when he has been a 73% pitcher in his career and 69% the last two seasons. He will be much better.
Chris Sale has struggled in his first three starts, throwing 14.2 innings with a 6.75 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. Sale has been unlucky as well.
Sale’s expected ERA (xERA) is 3.84 and his xFIP is 3.19. His strand rate is 20% lower than his career average and his BABIP is almost .100 points above his career average. Sale will be fine.
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