Trade market got you down?
One of the more nerve-wracking times for fantasy baseball GMs is when the MLB player movement starts to happen. You’ve got plenty of folks playing in AL or NL-only leagues worried about league-crossover trades, you’ve got closers being dealt and turned into set-up guys, and just the general concern that if a player of yours gets dealt, how will he respond? Will he continue to see the same amount of playing time? Will his numbers suffer? Plenty of questions to be asked. So with that, I’m going to start going over some of the recent transactions and give my two cents on how the action should unfold. And there’s also a few rumors thrown in there as well to get you prepped for the next wave of deals headed your way.
Cincinnati Reds trade OF Norris Hopper to the Chicago White Sox for C Corky Miller
New center fielder for the White Sox?
On the surface, this trade really doesn’t look like much on the fantasy front, but you might not want to dismiss it so fast. Miller will assume back-up back-up duties in Cincinnati behind Ramon Hernandez and Ryan Hanigan, so I wouldn’t expect much out of him. Maybe he passes Hanigan on the depth chart, but either way, the fantasy impact is negligible. For the Sox, though, they could end up with a little something here, and you could too if it plays out right. Hopper has been in Triple-A all season, but he’s hitting .280 with 13 stolen bases. The White Sox would kill for that kind of production in center field. With Carlos Quentin likely lost for the season, Scott Podsednik taking over full time in left, and the Brian Anderson/DeWayne Wise platoon sucking, Hopper could find his way into competing for a starting job in the second half. He’s got no power, but his defensive range and speed could get him some serious playing time.
Washington Nationals trade OF Ryan Langerhans to the Seattle Mariners for IF Mike Morse
This one is pretty innoccuous for fantasy purposes. The Mariners outfielder is saturated with mediocre talent, so Langerhans will fall right in line with the rest. He could start platooning with Wladimir Balentien in left with Endy Chavez done for the season, but he’s not going to give you any fantasy value unless he grabs a full time job. Morse to the Nats? I wouldn’t even give it another thought.
Cleveland Indians trade IF/OF Mark DeRosa to the St. Louis Cadinals for RP Chris Perez and a player to be named later
Moving to St. Louis and hitting behind Pujols means a serious bump in value
It looks like Tony LaRussa and the Cardinals have had enough of the juggling of infielders and Khalil Greene’s anxiety issues. Acquiring DeRosa does plenty for the the Cards and should soon have a solid impact on your fantasy roster. If you’re in a mixed league, then there are no concerns, but if you’re in an NL-only, well, hopefully you made the move. Withthe liklihood that Troy Glaus could be out all year, Greene back on the DL and the platoon of Tyler Greene and Brendan Ryan covering short, DeRosa should fall into the hot corner vacancy and resume the success he had with the Cubs last season. It also doesn’t hurt that the Cards will bat him 4th behind Albert Pujols, so you can imagine the pitches he will get to hit. His value gets an immediate bump with this deal. As for Perez, well, he’ll fall into the bullpen mix in Cleveland, but won’t sniff a chance at a save unless Kerry Wood bottoms out even further. And if the Tribe hasn’t replaced him yet, it doesn’t look like they will anytime soon.
Pittsburgh Pirates trade OF Eric Hinske to the New York Yankees for C/OF Eric Fryer and SP Casey Erickson
The bottom line here is that Hinske goes from being a bench player in Pittsburgh to a bench player in New York. Enough to make an impact fantasy-wise? Maybe a little, but not much. The Yanks pick up a decent bat for the bench and can use Hinske on days they want to give Nick Swisher off. His pinch hitting power should be on display a little more in now homer friendly Yankee Stadium, but unless he gets some regular playing time, he’s not going to be worth much. Fryer and Erickson are minor leaguers and neither will have any fantasy value this year. Go figure…a Pirate with no fantasy value…..who knew?
From the Rumor Mill
There have been reports the White Sox and Giants have been talking about a possible Jonathan Sanchez for Jermaine Dye swap, but nothing new has developed since that rumor emerged late last week.
The Phillies are said to have been scouting Chien-Ming Wang of the Yankees now that they’ve lost yet another starter to the DL.
Cleveland could be dumping more players like Carl Pavano, Jamey Carroll and Rafael Betancourt, but nothing more than just specualtion at this point in time.
The Reds are looking for another bat and Josh Willingham and Ty Wigginton seem to be heading their list of possible candidates.
The Brewers and Diamondbacks have been discussing Felipe Lopez and Doug Davis, but it doesn’t look like Milwaukee is giving in to Arizon’as asking price, which was not revealed….but you can only imagine…
Loading ...