With just over a month to go until the MLB trade deadline, smart fantasy baseball managers will be looking to free up some space on the roster. We’re going to see a lot of players emerge as fantasy factors as a result of deadline deals, and those with some room on their bench can add those guys right away, and in some cases, they may be able to get a head start by picking up players who could benefit from the most rumored trades. To do this, managers will want to make 2-for-1 or 3-for-1 trades this month, giving up multiple useful players for a single difference-maker. And as they look for deals of this nature, here are a few players who could potentially get their names involved.
Sell high
Ryan Helsley (RP, St. Louis Cardinals)
There should be a strong market to trade Helsley to a team in need of saves. After all, the right-handed pitcher leads baseball by a wide margin with 31 saves and also sports a 2.54 ERA. But Helsley has walked a tightrope in securing close wins of late, walking 10 batters in his last 11 appearances. The point of including Helsley in this article is not to predict that his season is due to a major downturn. Instead, the suggestion is that managers trade him for a premium return and then either acquire a less desirable reliever or scour the waiver wire for a replacement. Helsley is a fine reliever, but he has benefited from the fact that the Cardinals have generated the most save opportunities (45) of any team. There are clubs with similar records that have generated 10-15 fewer save opportunities.
Buy low
Josh Hader (RP, Houston Astros)
This is getting ridiculous. Hader has been healthy all season, holding opponents to a .196 average and surrendering just one save. And despite controlling what he can control, the left-hander is 16th in baseball with 13 saves. Even a recent hot stretch by the Astros hasn’t helped matters much, as Hader has just five saves in June. Many fantasy managers will look at his low save total and mediocre 3.82 ERA and conclude that he’s having a bad year, but a closer look reveals a remarkable 60 strikeout total, the second-highest mark (behind Mason Miller) of anyone who’s earned a save this year. It’s easy to imagine a scenario in which Hader is the most valuable closer in the second half.
Ha-Seong Kim (2B/3B/SS, San Diego Padres)
Even with the rise in steals across the league, players who put up significant totals in both homers and swipes have been hard to come by. For instance, only eight players have collected at least 10 homers and 15 swipes, and nearly all of those guys were selected in the first three rounds of the 2024 draft. Kim, Brenton Doyle and Jarren Duran are the outliers of the group, and most managers agree that Duran and Doyle are in the midst of breakout seasons. Kim will undoubtedly be the easiest guy of the group to acquire, and he becomes more enticing when he finds that Statcast is assigning him a .251 xBA, which is 23 points higher than his actual mark.
Buy high
Marcell Ozuna (outfielder, Atlanta Braves)
As hard as it was to predict during the draft, Ozuna has emerged as the best hitter on a star-studded Braves lineup. We shouldn’t be surprised to see the 33-year-old putting up eye-popping power numbers, considering he’s fresh off a 40-home run season. And perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by his .296 average, either, considering he hit .312 in 2017 and .338 in 2020. The key for Ozuna will be that he absolutely crushes the baseball, as his average exit velocity of 93 mph is equal to his mark from the 2020 campaign and up 1.2 mph from last season. Ozuna trails only Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Shohei Ohtani in xSLG, which accurately reflects his second-half power potential.
JD Martinez (OF, New York Mets)
Martinez hit well in June (.874 OPS), but likely wasn’t dominant enough to dramatically increase his trade value. The recommendation here is to make a reasonable offer for the 36-year-old, who ranks ninth in baseball in xSLG and could be one of the best power hitters in baseball this summer. In a perfect world, Martinez gets traded to a contending team this month that’s playing on a bandstand. But even if that doesn’t happen, he could fit well enough in the Mets’ emerging offense to remain in any fantasy lineup. Martinez missed Tuesday’s game with a sore ankle caused by wearing new cleats, and managers will want to see him back in the lineup before making an offer.
Sell low
Alex Bregman (3B, Houston Astros)
While Bregman hasn’t been bad this year, his disappointing season only included nine homers, two steals, and a .248 average. Furthermore, his .702 OPS is over 100 points lower than his numbers in each of the previous two seasons. Statcast suggests that the 30-year-old has been fortunate to post merely average stats thus far, as his xBA (.235) and xSLG (.360) are noticeably lower than his actual numbers. This is shaping up to be the worst season of the nine-year veteran’s career.
