Fantasy Baseball 2020 Running Thread

I don't like any of those guys for Hader. May is the only one I would consider, but after reading a recent article somewhere, I'm not sure I'm sold on him. If he figures out a few things, he's going to be disgustingly good. He seems to have the best upside of anyone on your list.

Given Hader's track record, I would not do any deal for any of them straight up unless you are out of the playoffs and have no hope of keeping Hader.

FYI, I love Hader.

 

I wound up trading Happ ($2), Polanco ($3), and Strasburg ($8) for Fried ($15) and Trea Turner ($20). I'm in 2nd place and position to win this season and, with Bichette on the IL for probably two (or more) weeks, Turner is a big improvement over Polanco. I like what Happ is doing, but I'm set in the OF with Acuna, Soto, E. Jimenez, and Wil Myers as a backup.

I had executed a stunningly awesome drop/add of Strasburg that dropped his salary from $36 to $8. I planned to ride that out for a few years. However, I'm in contention to win this season. Strasburg's recovery may go great and he may become the next Scherzer or Verlander for the next four years. If so, I lose this trade. He has not shown that kind of durability throughout his prime years, so I gambled.

Hoping it works out better than my trade of Ohtani ($11)/Conforto ($5) for Strasburg ($36).

EDIT: I say Myers is a backup, but he's basically my best OF right now.

 

I have no shot at anything in that league. Everything from injuries to COVID to cancer has wiped that team out. One positive rule change the league made is player salaries won't go up for next season, so I can keep Hader at $18.

I wasn't thinking of Hader straight up for May. I was thinking May and Madrigal, who will retain rookie status in that league, and maybe I'd throw in some roster filler. We keep eight veterans and five rookies, so Madrigal's rookie status adds to his value. My rookie keepers would then potentially be Lux, Madrigal, Spencer Howard, Carter Kieboom, and one from a bunch of decent fifth options. This also assumes Kieboom's demotion sticks and Howard doesn't get enough innings, which are both decent bets at this time.

Hader is a jackass, but the production is hard not to love.

 

I like that trade, mostly because the only thing I trust Strasburg to do is get hurt again.

 

My money league has a tiny trade window that ends in four days. People keep sending me insulting offers for Gerrit Cole just because his salary is $33. Of course, an elite starter will go for a heck of a lot more than that in our auction, but too many fo these guys shy away from keeping salaries that high.

Some guy offered me four prospects for Cole and Hader. Sure, they were good prospects like Royce Lewis, but that's still just insane.

I countered with Cole, Grandal (he needs a catcher), and three filler types for Vlad Guerrero, Jr. ($4) and Chris Paddack ($6). Paddack has been giving up way too many home runs this season, which is why his ERA is 5.15 despite a solid WHIP and strikeout numbers. My team is toast, so I'm only interested in keepers right now. I'd be losing one, Cole, and gaining two relatively cheap guys with big upside.

Thoughts?

 

That deal went nowhere. I've got two ideas in mind with my league's deadline coming Tuesday.

One is Cole ($33) for Voit ($8) and catching prospect Adley Rutschman ($1). At some point, we have to start taking Voit seriously, right? The guy has shown good power and gotten on base at a high rate since he got to the Yankees. Rtuchschman won't make his debut until next year, but he's one of the top prospects in the game.

My other thought was Cole for Dustin May ($7) and Nick Madrigal ($1).

Then again, maybe I'm just trying too hard to get something done.

The funny thing is, they might both get shot down. People in my league seem way too wary of that $33 price tag.

 

My money league's trade deadline is midnight tonight. I ended up making a couple of deals. I think I overpaid in one and got a bargain in the other. Combined, here is how it worked out.

I traded away: Yasmani Grandal ($18), Carter Kieboom ($1) and Spencer Howard ($1)

I received: Ian Happ ($1), Drew Waters ($3), Austin Martin ($3) and Dan Jansen ($4)

Jansen is irrelevant. I only took him because he was part of the offer. Grandal had no chance to make my team, but Happ will be one of my major-league veterans. I'm not 100 percent sold, but at that price, I like the risk.

Kieboom and Howard are safer prospects, but Martin and Waters have more upside. There is also a chance one or both of Howard and Kieboom could lose their rookie status, though it would likely take an injury on the Nationals for Kieboom to get enough at-bats.

I'm fairly set in my keepers now, though Lux's at-bats will be a factor. I have to keep him as a veteran if he gets 44 more at-bats, which seems likely if the Dodgers play him regularly for the rest of the season.

Either way, I cut about $11 from my keeper list and added some upside to my minor leaguer list. That ain't bad.

 

I haven't checked this in a few days, so I missed giving thoughts on your previous posts. I think you made out well. Happ looks like he's figured things out and entering his prime.

I think you did better by keeping Cole. I know in my auction league, he costs $53 and, while he's pitched poorly of late, I wouldn't worry too much about him.

Just a thought on Voit— I agree he needs to be taken seriously. I can't quite remember the stat, but I think they said on the broadcast the other night that he has hit more home runs in the latest incarnation of Yankee Stadium than anyone except Mark Teixeira. And, if you look at his spray chart, his home runs have been hit to every part of the field. Oh, and he's slashing .308/.368/.701. He's really a very good hitter.

 

No worries. I was just talking through ideas as I took a very aggressive approach to my league's trade deadline. I may be buying a little high on Happ, who is on fire right now, but it was certainly fun to watch his first day on my team yesterday.

I'm not so much worried about Cole as I am trying to clear a little more cap space for the draft, but I'm fine with keeping him. Between the time before the season and the run-up to the deadline, I've probably gotten six offers for him. None of them were even close to what I would consider fair value. I really did want to try to pry Voit away, but his owner ended up getting Machado, Aaron Nola, and Castellanos for Adley Rutschman, Jarred Kelenic, and Jurickson Profar. He got more than I was offering and manage to hold on to Voit. The other guy just made a better offer than mine.

I don't like Happ quite as much, but his development did not just happen out of nowhere. He was an elite prospect, and he showed signs of this in limited playing time last season. As is the case with Voit, you've got a very talented player whose breakout seems to be a natural progression rather than an aberration.

Of course, all of this stuff is difficult to judge this year. So many things are out of whack, and the corrections to the good or bad that would come over 162 games may not come at all in a shortened season.

 

Would like to thank Yahoo for showing Greinke starting on Friday and then having him start this afternoon so I couldn't play him in either league.

 

Happ took a foul bounce off the eye today. For the record, I blame oop.

 

As soon as I heard about it, I posted on my money league site that teams should pay me not to have their guys on my roster.