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July 26, 2012

Resident Fantasy Genius

Rating the Fantasy Impact of the Week's Trades

by Derek Carty

It’s been a crazy few days for trades and rumors, so I’m here today to make sense of it all from a fantasy perspective.  There’s a lot to cover, so let’s dive right in...

 Hanley Ramirez | Marlins to Dodgers | SS/3B
Interestingly, the biggest trade of the deadline has perhaps the smallest fantasy impact.  Hanley moves from one pitcher’s park to another (his power may play slightly better in Dodger Stadium) and from batting fifth in one lackluster offense to another.  Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier figure to be a bit easier to drive in than Carlos Lee and Logan Morrison/Justin Ruggiano, but the overall affects of this trade will be small.  Those in keeper leagues should watch to see if Hanley gets any starts at shortstop while Dee Gordon is out, which could prolong such eligibility one more season.

 Omar Infante | Marlins to Tigers | 2B
Very little value change here for Infante.  He moves to the tougher league and down to the ninth spot in the order (from seventh), although he will have better hitters directly behind him to drive him in.  If I’m labeling it, it’s a very small net negative.

 Anibal Sanchez | Marlins to Tigers | SP
Sanchez isn’t as lucky as his teammate Infante, seeing a legitimate decline in value.  Anibal moves to the tougher league and onto a poor defensive team.  The good news is that he brings Infante along to help him in that regard, and his offensive support will be leaps and bounds better.  He also gets to stay in a pitcher’s park, so while he may lose some value, he’s still going to be quite good and perhaps one of the most valuable NL-to-AL league-switchers we’ll see this deadline.

 Greg Dobbs, Austin Kearns, Bryan Peterson, Donovan Solano | Marlins | OF
Following the Infante trade, Emilio Bonifacio has moved to second base and each of Dobbs, Kearns, and Peterson have started a game in right.  It’s anyone’s guess how the playing time will shake out until Giancarlo Stanton returns, and none project to have much value outside of the very deepest of NL-only leagues.  If I’m picking up one guy, it’d probably be Dobbs since he’ll also pick up some time at third base with Hanley out of the picture.  Solano figures to grab some starts at third and possibly in the outfield as well.

 Wade LeBlanc | Marlins | SP
After Anibal Sanchez was dealt, it was announced that LeBlanc would replace him in the rotation. He’s more than proven himself at Triple-A and figured to be a solid, underrated option in NL-only leagues and possibly deeper mixers, but the acquisition of Nathan Eovaldi in the Hanley Ramirez deals clouds the issue.  Eovaldi figures to take Sanchez’s rotation spot, but if he struggles (which is a very real possibility) or if Josh Johnson (or Ricky Nolasco) is traded—rumors of which are starting to heat up—LeBlanc will get his shot.  If nothing else, a huge obstacle has been replaced by a small one, so the net result of all this is an increase in LeBlanc’s value.