2023 Fantasy Baseball Week 4 Trade Advice: Players To Buy Low & Sell High (4/26/23)
Welcome to Week 4 of the fantasy baseball season. With almost a month of the season behind us, we’re starting to get some real, actionable data that can help us make informed opinions on how players will perform for the rest of your season. Which, when I read (well, type) that, I think…TRADES!
NOW is the time to take advantage of strong-yet-unsustainable starts by players on your fantasy roster and target struggling-yet-still-good players on other fantasy rosters.
As you may or may not know, we have an amazing Trade Analyzer Chart here on the site that you can use to gauge players’ current values. You’ll notice a few outliers in there that the algorithm will catch up to as we go, but this tool is an absolutely fantastic way to look at sell-high and buy-low players.
I’ll let you go explore the chart (and an amazing Trade Analyzer Tool if you’re a premium member) on your own in a minute, but if you’re short on time, I jotted down a few trade values that stuck out to me.
Top Fantasy Baseball Buy Low Candidates
Fernando Tatis, Jr., San Diego Padres
This one might be a little tough because anyone who drafted Tatis did so relatively high and was patient enough to wait a few weeks for him. So they’re probably not looking to cut bait just yet. BUT, Tatis has struggled out of the gate (.182 with just two runs scored, one home run, and one RBI) and his fantasy managers’ patience might be running out. If you can find a deal where you’re not giving up too much (maybe even one of the guys in the section below!), you could be looking at a 30-home run player who provides multi-position (SS and OF) eligibility.
Blake Snell, San Diego Padres
Look, Snell is still struggling. BUT, he’s been better lately and I think there’s room to find some value here. After a really bad start to the year, Snell has a 5.48 ERA and 1.87 ERA through 23 innings. He does, however, have 26 strikeouts so things aren’t all bad. While I don’t love the fact that he’s given up a home run in four of five games this year, Snell is on a good team and should see his win total (he currently has zero) pick up while his ERA and WHIP start to trend downward.
Manny Machado, San Diego Padres
So many underachieving Padres! Machado is having an AWFUL start to the 2023 season and now sits at .213 with seven runs, one home run, seven RBI, and one steal. That’s…not good. However, this is Manny Machado we’re talking about. And he’s still only 30 years old. He’s averaged 30 home runs per season over his last two and topped 100 RBI in both of those seasons. The hits, home runs, and RBI will come. Get him now before they do.
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Top Fantasy Baseball Sell High Candidates
Adolis Garcia, Texas Rangers
Garcia currently ranks as a top-five fantasy outfielder with a .258 average, 20 runs, seven home runs, 28 RBI, and one steal. Those numbers got a nice little bump over the past seven days as Garcia hit .400 with three home runs and seven RBI last week. Will he keep his season-long pace up? Maybe. Is that likely? Nope. Garcia is a good player, but he’s 30 years old and has never hit more than 31 home runs in a season. And he’s a .244 career hitter. We could still be looking at a season of 30 home runs with 100 RBI, but he’s not going to hit 50-plus home runs (which is his current pace). See if you can get someone good in return while Garcia’s value is high.
Corbin Carroll, Arizona Diamondbacks
This one could leave me with egg on my face because Carroll is only 22 years old and could very well be on his way to showing us who he is. That said, I have a tough time believing he’s going to keep up his current pace. After hitting .260 with 13 runs, four home runs, 14 RBI, and two steals in 104 at-bats last year, Caroll is hitting .303 with 17 runs, four home runs, eight RBI, and 10 steals in 89 at-bats this year. That’s not THAT far ahead of his 2022 pace other than the massive jump in steals, but I think you can “market” Carroll as an up-and-coming star to your league mates who might be sick of a struggling early-round pick on their roster. I wouldn’t blame anyone for hanging onto Carroll and seeing where this goes, but I don’t think he’s going to end up with 50-60 steals on the year.
Joe Ryan, Minnesota Twins
Every year, there is a pitcher who comes out of nowhere and sits near the top of the player rater after the first month of the season. This year, it’s Joe Ryan. The 26-year-old is currently 5-0 with a 2.81 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, and 36 strikeouts in 32 innings. That’s REALLY good. And those numbers have him sitting on the player rater as the second-best fantasy pitcher. Does anyone want to make a bet that he stays there (or moves up)? Didn’t think so. This isn’t me saying the wheels are definitely going to fall off, but Ryan was 13-8 with a 3.55 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and 151 strikeouts in 147 innings last year. Sell high if you can because I think this is the height of Ryan’s value for the season.
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