Fantasy Baseball Trade Advice Week 18: Players To Buy Low & Sell High
It’s officially August – which means it’s time to start making some moves. The trade deadline for your league is close (less than three weeks for ESPN and less than 10 days for Yahoo!).
However, when you’re starting to look at making some trades, it can often be hard to figure out where to start. Who do you sell high on? Who do you buy low on? Which struggling players just aren’t worth buying at all? Besides me spending too much time looking at this stuff (more on that below), we have some great resources available to us.
As you may or may not know, we have a fantastic 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 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, here are some buy-low, sell-high players who are sticking out to me as of August 2.
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Top Fantasy Baseball Buy Low Candidates
Matt Olson, 1B, Atlanta Braves
This isn’t a knock on Matt Olson. The dude is a National League MVP candidate. But I’m going to use him as a stand-in for any elite fantasy asset – especially one who is on fire like he is. While there would be nothing wrong with keeping Olson, it’s worth dangling him (or any other elite player on your roster) out there to see what you can get in return. Maybe you’re in a rotisserie league where you need strikeouts and saves. Maybe you’re in a head-to-head league where you need an elite pitcher. See if you can use Olson to get back a HAUL (again, don’t sell him just to sell him) on the back of his home run pace as he could push 50. He’s also hitting .429 with four home runs and nine RBI over his last seven games so you’d be selling very high on him.
C.J. Abrams, SS, Washington Nationals
There’s nothing that brings more trade value than a buzzy fantasy prospect. And while Abrams is no longer a prospect, he’s a buzzy name and has been getting a lot of attention in the fantasy baseball world lately. Anyone who has been reading fantasy baseball articles has been reading about Abrams recently, and if they’re paying attention to him, they’ll see the 22-year-old’s great season-long stats (10 home runs and 25 steals) and his even-better stats over the past month (.327 with three home runs and 16 steals). I like Abrams a lot, but I don’t think he can keep up this pace and would be more than happy selling high on him if the return helped my fantasy baseball team over the stretch run.
Andrew Abbott, P, Cincinnati Reds
Opening caveat: wait until after his start against the Nationals on Saturday before you start sending offers including Abbott. He’s coming off a bad start and should (theoretically) put up some nice stats against a bad Nationals team. The 23-year-old has been fantastic this year (6-2 with a 2.35 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, and 71 strikeouts in 65 innings), but I’m starting to worry he’ll either be shut down and/or hit a rookie wall. Abbott gave up four runs in 3.1 innings in his last start against the Cubs, and while it might be nothing, it’s something to keep an eye on. Obviously anyone you’d be offering him to can see the same information, but I think a good start against the Nationals on Saturday would help assuage any concerns your trade partner might have.
Top Fantasy Baseball Buy Low Candidates
Trea Turner, SS, Philadelphia Phillies
Turner has had a disappointing season AND has been bad lately. That’s a perfect recipe for buying low! Now, you might be completely out on Turner, and I’d very much understand why. However, I still think he’s worth trying to buy low on because you probably won’t have to give up very much – maybe one of those great two-for-one deals where you give up two borderline waiver guys who are coming off a good week for Turner. Anyone who has Turner on their roster is disappointed that he hasn’t come anywhere close to returning second-round value (along with the fact that he just hit .218 in July) and is probably looking for a good reason to get rid of him. I get that he hasn’t lived up to expectations, but he still has 10 home runs and 21 steals on the year. There’s still some value here.
Nick Castellanos, OF, Philadelphia Phillies
Castellanos is another disappointing Phillies player who I think you can probably get dirt-cheap (I’ve even seen him on a few waiver wires here and there). He doesn’t have a ton of upside as his 34-home run season in 2021 was very much an anomaly compared to the mid-teen home runs seasons of the five years around 202, but Castellanos can still provide some fantasy value. He’s scored 53 runs with 15 home runs, 62 RBI, and six steals, but he also hit .162 during the month of July so his value is extremely low. He just hit a home run last night, so get in now before he goes on a hot streak.
Sonny Gray, P, Minnesota Twins
Gray has been annoying to roster this year as he started HOT out of the gates and has tailed off a bit since. After a ridiculous April during which he finished with a 0.75 ERA, Gray just finished July with a month-long ERA of 4.85. His season-long stats are still very good (3.14 ERA with a 1.26 WHIP to go along with a 4-4 record with 115 strikeouts in 117.1 innings), but those of us with Gray on our rosters are still yearning for the guy who looked like a fantasy ace in April. Throw out some lowball offers and see if you can pry Gray away for fifty cents on the dollar.
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