Fantasy Baseball Rest-of-Season (ROS) Rankings: Trade Fallout

Last week’s Major League Baseball trade deadline was one for the record books. There were a total of 63 trades across the sport. Many of these trades impact not only the MLB landscape but the fantasy baseball landscape as well. That is why I am updating my rest-of-season (ROS) fantasy baseball rankings. Plenty has changed over the past few weeks, so let’s see where the players on your roster have landed.

Hitters and Starting Pitchers

Most of the big swings in fantasy value involving traded players occur on the pitching side of things. Carlos Correa was one of the biggest-name hitters who changed locales last week. But it is hard to say his ROS value changes all that much.

Houston is a slightly better team than Minnesota. However, their offenses are relatively similar. The Astros have played one more game than the Twins have so far this year. They have scored 16 more runs and have a combined 103 wRC+ as a team, compared to a 98 mark for Minnesota. Park factors slightly favor Target Field over Daikin Park. The net effect is relatively negligible. As such, I gave Correa a slight bump, but I have not fundamentally changed how I view him going forward. On the pitching side, however, it is often a much different story.

I do not know if JP Sears will prove to be an above-average Major League pitcher. He has a career 4.48 ERA, with an identical 4.87 FIP and xFIP. Neither of those is awe-inspiring by any means. But the shift in teams and ballparks should not be underestimated. The Padres are 14 games ahead of the Athletics in this year’s standings, and have finished at least 24 games better than their California counterparts in each of the last three seasons. And Sutter Health Park has not done Sears any favors this year. Sears allowed 14 home runs in just 47.2 innings when pitching at home. A move to Petco Park should increase his ability to keep the ball in the ballpark. I have given JP Sears a 50-spot boost in this edition of my ROS rankings compared to last month.

Relief Pitchers

Teammate Mason Miller, however, is significantly lower in my latest rankings than he was before the All-Star break. That is because there is a massive difference from a fantasy standpoint between being a team’s closer and set-up man. Miller has been one of the best in the business since coming into the league. And his ratios should remain intact and may even improve. But if he is not getting saves, his value is capped.

He has fallen over 100 spots in this week’s rankings. Even though he is excellent, I cannot justify ranking him ahead of players who are likely to approach double-digit saves down the stretch. I would still start Miller due to the advantage he provides regarding ratios and strikeouts relative to other relievers, but fantasy managers will have to look elsewhere for saves.

Jhoan Duran and Kyle Finnegan seem to have avoided the same scenario. Duran is now the closer in Philadelphia, while Finnegan has landed with the American League-leading Detroit Tigers. I gave both a slight bump in this month’s ROS rankings.

In Duran’s case, he did not have too much room to climb in my mind. He is now my overall RP4 going forward. Finnegan is an interesting case. The move to Detroit from Washington is another one that cannot be discounted. However, I am not 100 percent sure that Finnegan cements himself as the team’s closer. Finnegan has allowed 10 earned runs over 9.1 innings since the beginning of July. The Tigers also have other options, including Will Vest, who has excelled when called upon. I may be proven wrong here, but I believe Vest is the better long-term option in the Motor City.

Fantasy Baseball ROS Rankings