Fantasy Baseball 2018: Winners and Losers from Trade Deadline

The Trade Deadline has passed. Now that the dust has settled, how do all of the moves affect the rest of the 2018 fantasy baseball season?

There were a lot of rumors leading up to this year’s trade deadline. With many teams looked at as sellers, experts and fantasy baseball owners were wondering where some of the top names would go. There was even a moment when Bryce Harper was available to teams.

Now that there was time to digest all of the news, how do these trades impact the fantasy baseball landscape for the rest of this season and beyond?

The biggest trade, as far as surprises go, was the Pittsburgh Pirates acquiring starting pitcher Chris Archer for Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows and a player to be named later. The Pirates recent hot streak made them extreme buyers instead of sellers at the deadline. They are just 3.5 games back of the second National League Wild Card spot and get a controllable starting pitcher for the next two seasons.

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The other big trade was the Milwaukee Brewers acquiring second baseman Jonathan Schoop from the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles were guaranteed sellers based on trading away Manny Machado, Zach Britton, Brad Brach, Kevin Gausman and Darren O’Day previously.

The move was surprising for the Brewers. They traded for third baseman Mike Moustakas. Their infield seemed set with Jonathan Villar at shortstop, Travis Shaw at second base and the combination of Jesus Aguilar, Eric Thames and Ryan Braun at first base.

Now, the Brewers have an infield of Aguilar, Schoop, Shaw and Moustakas as Villar was sent to Baltimore. I like that lineup a lot in season-long and DFS leagues.

There were a few trades that won’t move the needle much for the majority of fantasy baseball leagues but could have a big impact in deeper or AL/NL-only leagues. Both leagues got an influx of talent to offset those that left.

Seeing guys like Schoop, Moustakas, Archer, Brian Dozier, Wilson Ramos, Eduardo Escobar and many others coming to the NL can change the dynamic for any owner who picks them up. The same could be said for AL leagues with Villar, Glasnow, Meadows and Cameron Maybin but on a smaller scale.

But with more trades to analyze, here are the fantasy baseball winners and losers after the trade deadline.

Man, you think Christian Yelich and Lorenzo Cain are happy they signed with Milwaukee?

The team was doing well before the trade deadline, sitting at 62-47, 0.5 games back of the Cubs in the NL Central. Now the team added a solid bullpen arm in Joakim Soria and two hitters in Moustakas and Schoop.

Looking at the Brewers batting order, they have Yelich, Schoop, Moustakas, Cain, Ryan Braun, Erich Thames, Manny Pina and Orlando Arcia. I like that lineup a lot. It could be the best in the division.

If you own any of the current Brewers, their opportunities for runs scored and driven in will go up. The new Brewers will benefit by joining a great time.

The bullpen features some solid arms in Corey Knebel, Jeremy Jeffress, Josh Hader, Taylor Williams and the recently added Soria. He won’t get many saves but can still provide value with his strikeouts and low ratios.

The Orioles traded away Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop, two key pieces in their lineup. They also traded Zach Britton, Brad Brach and Darren O’Day, three major arms to their bullpen. Throw in Kevin Gausman and the front office gutted this team leading up to the trade deadline.

What’s left isn’t anything to be excited about. If you own Adam Jones, and maybe Tim Beckham in a deeper league, there will be fewer opportunities to score and drive in runs. I wouldn’t look to add anyone off the waiver wire.

The starting rotation wasn’t doing well with or without Gausman. Dylan Bundy leads the team with seven wins. The Orioles as a whole have 32 wins. Without the reliable bullpen arms, don’t expect many wins or saves in the final two months.

If you play DFS, this is the perfect team to stack pitchers and hitters against.

The Tampa Bay Rays were very active at the deadline. They traded Wilson Ramos, Chris Archer, Matt Andriese, Nathan Eovaldi and some prospects. It’ll be interesting to see who the team throws out as their starter going forward.

However, looking at 2019 and beyond, the Rays look to be building towards something. In return for those players, the team acquired Tommy Pham, Michael Perez, Brian Shaffer, Glasnow, Meadows, Jalen Beeks and a couple of players to be named later.

That may not mean much now but the Rays are preparing for the future. Just like the Royals, Cubs and Astros, it takes a full teardown to reach success. The Rays are stocking up on prospects and seeing which ones pan out.

According to the MLB Top 100 Prospects, the Rays have five within the top 50 and one more at No. 67. The team still has Brent Honeywell recovering from Tommy John surgery.

While the team may not make another World Series run, I like the number of young players in their system. The Rays have had success in developing young players, especially starting pitchers.

The Cincinnati Reds didn’t make as many trades as we thought they would leading up to the deadline. Many thought Matt Harvey would be playing for another team.

The Reds traded outfielder Adam Duvall to the Atlanta Braves for Lucas Sims, Matt Wisler and Preston Tucker. The Braves have an excess of outfielders, making Tucker expendable.

This does hurt Duvall’s value in the final two months. With Ronald Acuna, Ender Inciarte and Nick Markakis locked in the outfield, Duvall goes from a starter to a bench option. Plus, moving from a hitter’s park in Great American Ballpark to a pitcher’s dream in SunTrust Park will hurt his value, too.

If you play in AL-only leagues, I wouldn’t spend much to pick him up. In mixed leagues, he may be still worth rostering as an off-day fill in but he’s droppable in shallow mixed leagues.

The Washington Nationals stacked up on bullpen arms over the last couple of seasons. They traded for Sean Doolittle, Ryan Madson and Brandon Kintzler last year and added Kelvin Herrera earlier this season.

Even with Doolittle on the DL, Kintzler was still getting middle relief appearances. Moving to the Chicago Cubs will give up more opportunities and maybe even a few saves in the August and September.

With Brandon Morrow on the DL, the Cubs have been using Pedro Strop as their closer. Kintzler had closer experience with the Minnesota Twins, racking up 45 saves in a season and a half.

I still think Strop will be used in a big capacity but will not get many saves going forward. If you own if, he doesn’t have much value anymore.

The Arizona Diamondbacks added depth to their infield by trading for Eduardo Escobar. He is expected to play third base while Jake Lamb is out.

However, whenever Lamb is ready to return, Escobar will likely move to shortstop. The Diamondbacks have needed an improvement at shortstop for most of the season. Nick Ahmed is hitting .241 with 14 home runs and 53 RBIs. Shortstop-turned-outfielder Chris Owings is hitting .199.

They’ve gotten some success from Daniel Descalso, .262/9 HR/44 RBIs, they see him more as a utility player.

Lamb’s status is unknown so this may all be a moot point. But, if you own a Diamondbacks shortstop, and only 9.1 percent of ESPN owners own Ahmed, you may have to look elsewhere.

As we’ve seen with the other Diamondbacks hitters, the humidor has stifled power. The team has 52 home runs at home, 18th in the league, compared to 64 on the road. Escobar may see a small drop in home runs in the final 50-plus games.

This was a very active trade deadline with a lot of top-tier pieces on the move. Some teams and players will see immediate success while others are a year or two away. I think those fantasy baseball owners in NL-only leagues saw a big influx of talent and will see a heavy bidding war on the waiver wire.