Fantasy Baseball 2018: Nationals Trade Matt Adams, Daniel Murphy

The Nationals traded away Daniel Murphy and Matt Adams. What do the moves mean for fantasy owners and the players involved?

The Washington Nationals were the likely favorites to win the National League East in the offseason. However, with the resurgence of the Philadelphia Phillies and rise of the Atlanta Braves, the Nationals find themselves one game under .500 and in third place.

As a result, the Nationals traded Daniel Murphy to the Chicago Cubs and Matt Adams to the St. Louis Cardinals. There is a lot of fantasy baseball fallout with this move, so let’s get to it.

First up, the Nationals have an opening at second base now that Murphy is gone. The likely candidate to take over is Wilmer Difo. He was getting playing time in the outfield but Juan Soto, Bryce Harper and Adam Eaton are holding it down. Difo is hitting .240 with three home runs, 29 RBIs and six steals.

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Adams, on the other hand, wasn’t getting much playing time after the acquisition of Mark Reynolds. He and Ryan Zimmerman have first base locked up so Adams was the odd man out.

The Cardinals have an abundance of players that can move around the infield and even play the outfield. Matt Carpenter has played the majority of the season at first or third base with some second base.

Jose Martinez has moved to right field in early August. Dexter Fowler was moved to the 60-day DL, making room for Adams on the roster.

Roster Resource has Adams at first base, Carpenter back at third and Martinez in right field. I would construct the roster a bit differently, giving the Cardinals the optimal lineup. Carpenter can play second, Adams at first, Gyorko gets more time at third base and Paul DeJong stays at short.

Adams gives the Cardinals another left-handed hitter in the lineup. He has 18 home runs with a .258 batting average. Busch Stadium limits power and the Cardinals have 19 of their 36 remaining games at home.

Murphy with the Cubs is a good combination. The Cubs will move Javier Baez to shortstop, leaving Addison Russell with a reduced role. Interestingly, Roster Resource has Baez playing third base, Russell still at shortstop and Murphy at second. That is, until Kris Bryant is healthy.

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Murphy is already owned in just under 91 percent of ESPN leagues. Adams was getting dropped because of the reduced role. He’s down to 24.1 percent ownership. With more playing time coming, I’d look to add him for the final month.

Difo is owned in 1.4 percent of leagues. His only contributing stat will be speed which is hard to come by. Don’t count on him for much else.

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