Trader’s corner: reader’s choice edition
We’re four editions deep into Trader’s Corner this year, and I wanted to shake things up a bit this week. I’m opening it up to you, the faithful THT Fantasy readership.
Are there any players out there who have you befuddled? Anyone whose performance you’re having a hard time wrapping your head around? Curious if you should sell one of your players or try to buy someone from an opponents’ roster? Well, this is your chance to an expert’s opinion on the players you want to see covered.
Go ahead and drop some names in the comments section of this post, and some time in the next week or so, I’ll cover up to eight of your suggestions. I’ll give you my take along with the Oliver projections, and explain whether the players’ performances look sustainable or not and why.
Note: This will NOT be a space to discuss particular trade offers, but a medium to take a deeper look at specific players you may be curious about. If you do have a more specific question, I would recommend emailing the Roster Doctor. He’s a wizard with that sort of thing. I’m also happy to have more specific discussions in the comments sections, but for this post, let’s try to limit it to player suggestions.
The only other criterion is that players should be owned in at least 50 percent of fantasy leagues. This space is reserved for trade candidates, not waiver wire pickups.
As an aside, I’ve begun work on a review of the first four editions of Trader’s Corner. You can find the previous installments here: Week Zero, Week Two, Week Four, Week Six. I plan on looking at each player discussed and how he’s performed since appearing in this space.
Otherwise, go ahead and start dropping suggestions in the comments. After enough players appear, I’ll discuss your suggestions in a special Reader’s Choice edition of Trader’s Corner. If all goes well, I’ll occasionally interrupt the regular schedule to opening things up to you, the readers, once again.
Hitters: Miguel Montero, Bryan LaHair, Mike Morse, Edwin Encarnacion
Pitchers: Yu Darvish, Dan Haren, Jeff Samardzija, David Price
Chapman, J Zimmerman, J Garcia, C Lewis, Choo, N Cruz, Holliday, Bruce,
Choo and Kipnis please.
Matt Moore, James McDonald, Brandon Beachy, Brandon Morrow
Alexei Ramirez: does it get better?
Madison Bumgarner: More K’s coming? Velocity issues again?
Mike Minor: does it get better?
Logan Morrison…..ugh
I third James McDonald. I picked him up in one league, but missed him in another, and would love to know what it would take to get him, and if he’ll realistically continue to pitch well.
A lot of people thought Hammel might be the one to keep it going, but McDonald is looking more like that guy to me.
alex gordon. his peripherals say yes, but my gut says no.
should i dump Tex, or wait for his likely improvement in the second half? Is Beachy worth selling high?
Any thoughts on Altuve? Sell high? High (ish)? His avg. is dropping but his steals are coming through and weirdly a tiny (no pun intended) bit of power. I want to trade him but he’s sooo adorable! I own Kelly Johnson and by mixing and matching with Altuve (daily league) I dominate 2nd base… is that one-two punch worth keeping or should you never leave stats on the bench?
Derek Jeter—Should I sell now?
Some great suggestions here! Keep ‘em rollin’ in. I’ll cover as many as I can and if there’s a spillover and I have enough time maybe I’ll even double up and run two editions, though I also do want to get the review of the first four columns going as well so we’ll see.
Another note I wanted to make: I’m not going to re-cover guys I’ve already discussed, since I’m going to be doing that in the review piece anyway, and for the most part (with a few exceptions), my initial calls haven’t changed much. Guys mentioned that I’ve already covered include
Week Zero: Yu Darvish (Oliver’s Buy High), Mark Teixiera (My Sell High)
Week Two: Jay Bruce (Oliver’s Buy High), Matt Holliday (My Sell Low).
Week Four: Edwin Encarnacion (Oliver’s Buy High), Alex Gordon (My Sell Low)
Week Six: Bryan LaHair (Oliver’s Buy High), Adam Wainwright (My Buy Low), Logan Morrison (Oliver’s Sell Low)
Feel free to go ahead and check out what I had to say about those guys over the first six weeks of the year, and then be sure and check out my review article where I discuss how they’ve performed since.
@Joel
Hah, yeah Ubaldo’s been a mess, but my Upton advice from Week Zero didn’t exactly pan out yet, but I’m keeping the faith. More to come on that.
I’d say Ubaldo is probably droppable at that price, but it’s close in a 14-team league. Either way, it’s a short term decision. I doubt he’ll be keepable at that price, but you may not find a higher ceiling on the wire, though McDonald is definitely a consideration. I think you can drop him for McDonald, but I’ll hold off on going more in depth on the latter for now.
Kyle Boddy did a couple nice pieces on how Ubaldo’s issues relate to some mechanical changes he’s made. Here’s the initial one:
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/ubaldo-jimenez-a-quick-mechanics-review/
Grandal vs. Mesoraco is tricky. I’d probably have to go Mesoraco, but Dusty Baker is an awful manager for a young catcher. Still, he’s a more finished product and has a much better hitting environment. With Miller, Machado, and one of the catchers, you should have a nice foundation to build off of in the not-too-distant future.
@Jason
Not too lopsided, my preference would be Wainwright but it looks lopsided enough that I’d at least try to get another usefule piece as well. It would have been easier a week ago before Waino threw the shutout. If you can’t, it’s close. If you have depth on the offensive side but are shallow in pitching I’d do it. If vice versa, I’d hold.
Pitchers: Mat Latos, Chris Capuano, Tim Lincecum
Halladay… is he approaching a sell-low? Just off – and don’t see it coming back.
2nd request for Jeter. Of course he’s due for regression, but how much? What kind of return could I expect?
LoMo as well – power seems to have completely disappeared.
Who are some players to Target that are traditionally second half players, ie texiera…
Dan Haren – was, amazingly, dropped in one league I’m in, which probably indicates sentiment has reached a very low level.
Melky Cabrera, Yonder Alonso, Alex Gordon, BJ Upton
Adam Dunn, Gio Gonzalez, Edwin Encarnacion, Aroldis Chapman, Brandon Beachy, Andre Ethier, Ben Zobrist, Carl Crawford
Trout, Bourn, Morse and Moustakas
In a 12 team mixed points keeper (7) league, I have some great bats and okay pitching. Tulo and Ramirez are on my roster.
What sort of SP return should I expect for a 1 for 1 Hanley Ramirez offer. I am in need of another ace (best is Cole Hamels).
Thanks!
Alexi Ogando? Neftali Feliz?
Other guys mentioned since my last post I’ve already covered: Latos (buy low week 2) and Moustakas (sell high week 6), so they’ll be in the review.
I’ll definitely take multiple nominations into account as well and will try and have something up early or mid next week.
@jt
I’m not a big believer in consistent first/second half splits, but Tulo’s a guy who has that reputation on the hitting side and C.C. on the pitching side, though the latter struggled down the stretch last year. No one else immediately comes to mind.
@mcb
Craziness! Velocity trending down is a concern, but he’s far from droppable.
@Joel(another Joel)
Ramirez is someone I’ve considered covering virtually every week and decided to procrastinate on for one reason or another. He’s a bit tricky to figure out, but I wouldn’t want to sell him for much less than Hamels right now, though I could understand a Hamels owner not wanting to do that either. Tricky situation in general. Hanley’s been better so far, so if you can sell someone on Tulo’s second half reputation and get a better return for him, I might explore that as well. Keeper cost would factor into it too. But I’d want a true top 10ish pitcher for either one if it’s one for one.
Aviles – sell high or realising potential with opportunity?
Butler – breakout season?
@Mark Himmeistein
Thanks for the advice. So, not so much of a 1:1 but a guy who is not too attached to Latos made a fictional offer of my Hanley Ramirez and Jesus Montero for Latos and Billy Butler. Not a bad offer? Too little in return?
In week zero, you recommended selling low on Ubaldo, I should shave listened.
Apart from that, What should I do with Luebke? I can keep him for $13 into next year in a 14 team, 25 man dynasty league, $260 budget. Keep or drop? So far I’m way behind in the standings; mainly because of Pujols and J. Upton.
Antoher player I want to know about is James McDonald. Should I drop Jimenez ($12) or Vogelsong ($1) for him ($3)?
One last question: Devin Mesoraco or Grandal? I have Shelby Miller and Machado as prospects.
Looking to make a fair deal in non-keeper points league: I give up Adam Dunn for either Wainwright or Beachy. Too lopsided?
Jimmy Rollins, Chris Sale, Chase Utley, Curtis Granderson, Brian Matusz please.
Mike morse, jay Bruce, latos,
Ethier, A. Jackson, Trout, De Aza ROS
@Joel(another Joel)
I like Latos, but he’s one of the guys I really liked going into the year but have soured on a bit. I’ll have a lot to say on him in the review, but the short version is he has to throw more sliders if he wants to be more effective. He’s been doing a better job of this lately and the the results are improving.
I probably wouldn’t do that deal even in a redraft league. Absolutely don’t think you can do it in a keeper league because of Montero. His numbers may not be eye popping right now, but gotta put huge value on him in keeper leagues assuming the cost to keep is reasonable. That and Hanley’s the best player in the deal short term. So you’re giving up the best short term player and probably the best long term value. If Montero’s more expensive that I’m thinking to keep, it’s passable in your situation, but I’d aim higher.
@Jeff
So you’re getting Reyes and Halladay? I’d want that side in a heartbeat. I don’t trust Morneau and still kind of like Espinosa, but I’d still do it easily.
@MikeEl
Covered Lawrie in Week Six, he’ll be in the review.
@Corey
Since I’m not going to look at guys that deep in the article I’ll rank them here, but FWIW this is more or less off the top of my head.
Adams, Rosario, Greene. Greene’s value is mostly short term, but he could be useful if you can leverage his versatility and take a batting average hit. Rosario comes with the added cost of a timeshare in the short term, but could be a useful player long term. Adams has both potential short and long term value.
Peavy, McDonald, Paulino, but this could easily be backwards by the end of the year. Lot of risk in this group but a lot of positive potential as well. Peavy’s the obvious top dog right now but we all know what can happen to him. At the same time there are some real positives behind what McDonald and Paulino are doing, but they’ve both been considered breakout candidates forever, and in the latter’s case, there’s a decent history of arm troubles too. None of them gets any added appeal in the long term.
Brett Lawrie?
De aza, moustakas, morse, chapman, trumbo, beachy
Deep/dynasty league value for remainder of season?
Hitters: Wilin Rosario, Tyler Greene, Matt Adams
Pitchers: James McDonald, Felipe Paulino, Jake Peavy
I’ve been offered Halladay and Reyes for Fielder and Cahill in a league with a ton of categories (9 counting stats plus AVG for hitters, including Ks and BBs; 6 counting stats and 3 ratios for pitchers, including K/BB). Would be replacing Espinoza with Reyes, and throwing Morneau in Fielder’s old slot. Thoughts?
And bud norris
How about Adrian Gonzalez, please? He is killing us all, especially in deep leagues with lots of inflation. Venable? Fowler? Thanks much.
Because he’s bursting back on the scene and I’m stacked at of…Carlos quentin