We have heard this theory for a long time. It is very hard to do both sides of this (not everyone is as good as Theo). Let’s look at some fantasy options of players to Sell High on right now.
Nelson Cruz is obviously the No. 1 target here. He is having a monster start to the season, .340/.382/.796/1.178. Sometime before MLB starts heating up with trade talks, I would want him off my roster. I know many people keep writing him off and he keeps producing. But his year’s stat line and view of him is helped by hot starts and numbers working down versus a slow start and working up to the final line. Last year his first half line was .287/.353/.570/.923. But his second half was still good, but not great, .249/.306/.463/.769. Is he someone to just get rid of, of course not, if you can’t get good value back, keep him but don’t expect his second half point total to keep up with this hot start.
Stephen Vogt is the next guy. Yeah I know what you are saying, who? Stephen Vogt is with Oakland and is one of their annual ability to get production from mostly unknown players. But look at this line, .372/.462/.718/1.180!!! And he has eligibility at first base and catcher and that is how you can get your return. Catchers keep dropping like flies and teams are looking for some production. I would move him sooner than later as your best opportunity is right now with the injuries we have seen and young unproven guys being added to fill the holes.
Dee Gordon is the next one. Funny as I am doing research on him with a Google search the first search result is an article saying is he the ultimate sell high guy. I would say yes. He is dominant right now. .433/.460/.500/.960 are great numbers for a non-power guy. But the OBP split of only .027 shows that he isn’t going to walk much and he has an unsustainable .489 BABIP. Sell him now and get a huge return. Some will think he will continue and he may still put up good numbers. But with no power and no walk rate, his bad weeks will be really bad and he could go on some stretches of little production when the BABIP comes down to a normal level for him.
Aaron Harang, Francisco Liriano, Edinson Volquez, Bartolo Colon, Dan Haren are all in the Top 23 for points and all are nearing the end of their career. But when pitching is at such a premium, sell these guys off now while their numbers are big.
- Aaron Harang – 108 points – 18.0 per game
- Francisco Liriano – 98 points – 19.6 per game
- Edinson Volquez – 97 points – 19.4 per game
- Bartolo Colon – 92 points – 18.4 per game
- Dan Haren – 87 points – 17.4 per game
Now are you going to get the same value as a much younger pitcher with these numbers? No, but you should be able to a very good return that by the dog days of summer you are happy you pulled it off.
Each week we will review the best performances of the week in all of MLB.
A trio of Astros makes this week’s Top Five and a tie at fifth gives us seven players. Josh Reddick led the week with 44 points. Reddick has been gaining ownership every week and is up to 98.8%. Kipnis reminded us how good he was and could be again. Nelson Cruz continues his hot start to the year, let’s hope for his owners he doesn’t have his normal second half fall off like I outlined above. But how about those Astros!! Jose Altuve, Evan Gattis and George Springer had great weeks and helped the Astros to a perfect week.
New Yankees closer Andrew Miller makes the Top Five with three saves on the week and joins five, two start pitchers. Sonny Gray, David Price, Anibal Sanchez all are expected to make the leaderboard but our own Jason Hammel with a good week and former Cub Jason Marquis picking up two wins to make the list. Hard to trust Marquis, but with the right match-ups in a two start week, he can be useful.
Chicago Cubs Batters
We all knew there would be stretches of games where the young offense struggled, here we had it in the second half of the week. Hard to believe they struggled for the week with a .293 batting average and a .357 on base percentage. But only two home runs for the week are just not enough. Never thought power would be an issue with this group. Addison Russell has settled in fine and is showing off his power by hitting a home run before Kris Bryant. Bryant had a tough week, but I still think he will break out his home run trot and it will come in a bunch to start. Miguel Montero is getting hot and is showing what he can be if he is able to get days off and stay healthy.
Chicago Cubs Pitchers
A team 3.33 ERA for the week and an offense that scored only 2.7 runs per game led to a 3-3 week. Some better outings for our starters led to Jason Hammel, Jon Lester and Travis Wood having good weeks. Jake Arrieta had one of his bad outings but expect a bounce back next time out. Very good to see Lester have an outing like you expect your fantasy ace to have, but Wood was right there with him. But the bullpen was not good and that is obvious when you see that Edwin Jackson had the best week for the bullpen.
CCO Fantasy Leagues
CCO League
And then there was one! Daverj’s Batsmen is the lone undefeated team at 4-0 and we now have no winless teams. What you have to love about fantasy baseball, the Batsmen are not doing it with huge points as they are 11th in points for the league, but they are just winning the games on their schedule with consistent weeks. Leading the league in points is the Waveland Division leader at 3-1, What’s Optimism? Vivid Reality. A 2-2 record is in the playoffs at the seven and eight seed.
CCO Fans League
Two undefeated teams lead each division in Stu’s Studs and Old Style. They are also one and two in total points so far. Only one winless team still stands and the GM and Manager are on the hot seat to be replaced early in the season. The playoffs are 3-1 records and with only three 2-2 teams many teams are almost in a must win situation this week or risk falling too far behind in May. Just like in real baseball, you can’t win in April or May, but you can miss the playoffs in April and May.