*nudges the Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell, and it doesn’t move* “Oh my God, the Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell is dead!”
Drowsily, the Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell wakes on the couch, “I’m not dead, you idiot. I’m hungover. Could you please stop screaming?”
“Woo hoo! The Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell is alive!”
Rubbing temples, sitting up and asking, “What time is it?”
“Baseball season time!”
“Stop screaming, you moron!”
So, welcome back to another year of the Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell, or as I like to call it, “Pick up this player in your league if he’s available because he’s rostered in less than 50% of leagues, but only if you’re carrying a player who is worse than him” and “Trade away this player who is rostered in more than 50% of leagues, but only if you’re getting a fair price.” You can see why I went with Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell instead.
Last year my 1st Buy of the year was Jackson Merrill and I said to bet on him to win the ROY, but split your bet with Jackson Chourio and Jackson Holliday for the AL. As Meat Loaf once sang, two out of three ain’t bad. Meat Loaf also said, “Glaze me with ketchup.” That’s a different Meat Loaf. So, this first buy needs to be a walloper to stand up against my Jackson Merrill buy and, boy, do I have a walloper for you: Cam Smith. Let’s go! [runs through a wall] OH YEAH! Is Cam Smith the 24-hour running video on the guy in Lancaster, Pennsylvania who makes iron fencing? No, but I have been watching that cam and, while the guy sleeps, there’s no real need to video him. I just want to see him do ornamental iron doorknobs, I don’t have to watch him shower. Here’s what Itch said about Cam Smith, “The 14th overall pick by the Cubs in this summer’s draft, Smith skipped blissfully through the A-levels in just 27 games, blasting six home runs in 15 Low-A games and slashing .333/.421/.500 in 12 High-A games before rounding out the season with five games with Double-A Tennessee. Houston saw enough to target the 6’3” 224 lb righty in the Kyle Tucker trade. Smith gives the club a ready-soon third-base prospect in the wake of Alex Bregman’s departure, though with Isaac Paredes also in town, Smith may have to try some outfield. He might break into the starting lineup early if it looks like he can handle a corner outfield, and I’d like to hit Grey over the head with a pot handle.” What? So, if you haven’t seen Cam Smith swing, he’s a beaut. Big boy power that’s as easy as it comes, has yet to face pitchers he can’t handle, and can’t play 3rd, so bye-bye Chas McCormick. He is perfection at the plate and we might be looking at the number one prospect in baseball for fantasy. Grab him everywhere. Anyway, here’s some more players to Buy or Sell this week in fantasy baseball:
PSYCHE! This post was released a week early for Patreon members. It will be released all year early for Patreons, so if people are getting a jump on you, it’s because they paid the $10. Anyway, the Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell:
BUY
Drake Baldwin – With Sean Murphy sidelined, Baldwin’s for the first time I can remember. Wait, that’s Balds win. Baldcomesin2ndtohair usually. Don’t hate the messenger!
Hunter Goodman – Hunter Goodman at catcher for their 1st game today puts a moratorium on “Rockies are a joke” jokes for a full day. If he’s their everyday catcher and Stallings is the backup, Goodman could be a top ten catcher.
Luke Raley – What’s very funny, capital V, is how in drafts, we all want sexy, then you get to day one of the season and you’re like, “Boy, Roman Anthony sure does seem cool on my bench, but Luke Raley is actually playing, that seems better.” I fall for that in drafts too, you’re not immune. The greats at this thing we call fantasy baseball seem to fall for that less, I’m thinking of Rudy. He grabs a guy like Yandy Diaz, who seems wildly boring, then Rudy wins his league. Raley is Yandy-like.
Tyler Soderstrom – I’m dying to see how SacTown plays in the summer. Soderstrom, aka The Sparkling Water, could pop off in the heat. All indications are it is just like the Oakland Coliseum but with less fair territory.
Michael Toglia – You know what time it is? Time for me to remind you that I wrote sleeper posts for guys you’ve forgotten about, first up: Michael Toglia sleeper. Just think, if these sleepers don’t pay off, this might be the last time I mention them. If they do well though? Then I’ll never stop mentioning them. What do you root for here?
Kristian Campbell – Here’s my Kristian Campbell fantasy. At the end, I say he has a 70% chance of breaking camp. I wrote that in October, and it’s now a 100%. Also, one note on this Buy/Sell, there’s no way to include everyone for the 1st week. As the season starts, you drafted a team, you should not panic. Wouldn’t change a lot if I liked my team. With that said, Cam Smith and Kristian Campbell should be at 100% rostered.
Ryan Bliss – Who? SAGNOF! That’s who! See also Brandon Lockridge.
Matt Shaw – So, he has a pretty flawed bat, but he has speed and a spot in the middle of the Cubs’ order, so I’m a cyclops with a monocle.
Curtis Mead – Rays’ prospects, who are stashes, could have their own team. Change the Rays name to another fish and call them the Skates as in the Cheapskates.
Victor Robles – Gave you my Victor Robles sleeper and you didn’t even say, “It was a pleasure to read, thank you, my favorite handsomed-up gentleman.” The least you could say!
Brandon Lockridge – Who? SAGNOF! That’s who! See also Ryan Bliss, but if you’ve already seen Ryan Bliss, don’t go back there again, otherwise you’ll fall into a never-ending spiral of waiver wire additions.
Jung Hoo Lee – If you listen to the podcast for the top 100 outfielders, you can hear BDon and I start to like Lee in real time. He had some back issues of Men’s Health towards the end of camp, so it’s worth being a little conservative on who you drop for him, but he hit third yesterday.
TJ Friedl – Talk about this in my 1st basemen to target post with Au Shizz, but some guys grow on me during draft season. Mostly has to do with where they’re going in drafts, but Friedl grew on me. Hopefully he’s not a fungus. Or even Christopher Morel.
Matt Wallner – Seeing him penciled into the leadoff spot for the Twins, and luckily a pencil is being used since Baldelli puts every hitter at leadoff for one week. Baldelli tried to hit Nolan Arenado at leadoff last year, and he wasn’t even on the Twins. Or good!
JJ Bleday – Gave you my JJ Bleday sleeper a while ago and everyone said, “That’s nice, I will ignore that,” but if you don’t want to ignore it, click the link.
Jorge Soler – He has 40-homer power. Find someone else who is free to acquire with that power, I can’t.
Jose Siri – Saw he stole a few bags in Spring Training and I was like, “I want to believe that’s a sign of things to come but just in case let me look to see what he did previous years in Spring Training,” and one year, he stole ten bags in the spring then only stole 12 bags in the regular season. Ha, Spring Training stats are so useless.
Casey Mize – Yes, the Streamonator is up and running and you can try to stream the first weekend, because the Streamonator is lonely and wants you check him out, but Casey Mize is just a Buy, in general. And Tylor Megill and a dozen or so guys from my starters to target.
Tomoyuki Sugano – This is fascinating, so last year the most talked about starters coming out of Spring Training were: Jared Jones, Casey Mize (again!), Louie Varland, Reese Olson, Jordan Hicks, and Luis Severino. I imagine this year will be equally hit and miss. For every “Griffin Canning looks great in the spring” there will be a “Cristopher Sanchez or Landen Roupp is going to dominant because of their spring.” Wait, all those pitchers could be bad or good. I guess that’s my point. Canning leaving the Angels is interesting, because the Angels make pitchers bad, and the Mets make them good, but those Giants prospects are equally interesting. What does this have to do with Sugano? Nothing really, but he could be good too. Honestly, I’m sorta just waiting to see how guys look in their opening starts, but ready to pounce.
Gavin Williams – Again: Streamonator, but, as I said yesterday, “Gavin’s been blowing gas in the spring and Gavin me heart palpitations if I don’t roster him in any leagues. Again, if the price is as cheap as it’s been, there’s no reason not to flyer. Also: Will Warren, Richard Fitts, AJ Smith-Shawver, David Peterson, Jackson Jobe, Kris Bubic and anyone who looks good to start the year. Keep your options open right now.” And that’s me quoting me!
Aroldis Chapman – Noticing he was basically free in every draft, unlike a woman chained to his bed. You might be forgetting AGNOF of SAGNOF. Saves are saves are saves.
Ryan Pressly – Expect him to be a top ten closer, who was being drafted as if he had some kind of risk. Well, I guess he could be traded at the deadline and lose a closer job at his new team, but, wow, that’s galaxy braining.
Jose Alvarado – Romano might be cooked, and not on like chicken parm, or Romano might get the next save, but Alvarado did look good in the 1st game.
Justin Martinez – The closers in this post do have some commonality: Are they the closer or are they something dot dot dot else? They are worth the price to find out. So, that goes for A.J. Puk too. Yes, there’s a lot of speculation in this post, but of course there is, it’s March.
Chris Martin – Bruce Bochy said Luke Jackson could close and he got bombed out yesterday. Someone else said, “Hold that thought,” and Bochy said, “Sorry, I’ll never find it again.” There’s also Marc Church. Singing Jewel, “Who will save your soul…of your fantasy team that needs saves? Me, Church.” That’s a Jewel B side.
Tyler Holton – Is he the closer? You + Me = No Idea. There’s also Tommy Kahnle, Beau Brieske and Will Vest, put your love to the test, you know, you know, you’ve got to make him express how he feels. For full disclosure, I only have Beau in one league out of all these guys. So, if you wanna grab a Brieske, say ahhhh.
Tony Santillan – There’s a lot of possible closers to grab and watch as they become “not closers” within a week. Though, some of these guys could be the closer for this week and that rolls into being the closer the rest of the year. Now is the time to speculate on handcuffs. Though, Part 2: One Of Thoughs, Alexis Diaz doesn’t sound out long, but, then again, he’s been awful for months. The hierarchy is not clear, either. There’s Santillan, Barlow, Rogers, Ashcraft, Pagan, and, no, I’m not making up any of these names, and that might be the order or not.
Jeremiah Estrada – Robert Suarez’s spring was: Footage not found. He hadn’t appeared in a game for three weeks in the spring, supposedly working in the back fields. Then, in the first game, he didn’t look great. I’m talking red flags up the hoo-ha. Also: ahem, Adam, Jason, I mean, Jason Adam. But Estrada is a middle reliever pickup, if nothing else.
SELL
Max Fried – Because the Yanks lost Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil, I sense people think, “Well, it can’t happen to Max Fried too.” Wrong. Not sure what psychology fallacy term that is: The Worst Case Scenario Fallacy? The Hangman’s Paradox? The Fall Guy’s Lead-In? Or if those were made-up and one of them is just a network exec in the 80’s talking about what show to put on before The Fall Guy. Fried is just as likely to have issues. People drafted him like a dog hanging its head out the window, without a care in the world. I was never close to drafting Fried, and I wouldn’t want him on my team now. I wouldn’t trade him for a Monopoly game board where if you go to jail, you end up in a cell block with Diddy, but I would go to our fantasy baseball trade analyzer and explore options.
