With a little less than three weeks to go before Major League Baseball’s trade deadline, front offices are heating up around the league as general managers make their final pitches to each other in order to better their teams’ chances of making the postseason. Whether your team is distinguishing itself as a buyer or seller, the fact of the matter is is that your fantasy team can be effected in a very big way by such trades. Here’s a look at three players whose fantasy value could skyrocket if they were to be traded to a legitimate contender.
The Tampa Bay Rays have been overachieving for a number of years now. While they currently sit at the bottom of what still is a very competitive American League East division, it appears that their time close to the top has run out, and rightfully so. David Price has been the subject of trade talks since the offseason, and there’s no reason to believe that these talks won’t come to fruition. Much to the chagrin of his fantasy owners, Price currently holds a record of 7-7. Due to the lack of offense that the Rays have given the 6’6” lefty, although Price has been on fire as of late, seven wins on the season just isn’t going to cut it. If Price gets traded to a contender, expect his run-support to increase, thus making his numbers in the win column jump as well.
Not only could the Kansas City Royals be the recipients of a sizeable return if they were to deal James Shields, so would your fantasy baseball team. Shields is the type of pitcher that deserves to be on a contender, and now that the Detroit Tigers appear to be back on track with their winning ways, the Royals should no longer be considered a team that could make it out of the American League Central division and into the playoffs.
If Shields finds himself on a playoff contender over the next few weeks, expect him to improve on his 8-4 and 92 strikeouts performance thus far this season. As of right now, other than a new contract after the 2014 season, Shields doesn’t have much to play for in 2014. He wants to win, and he wants to win now. If Shields is dealt out of Kansas City, expect him to do big things for your fantasy team down the stretch run of the season.
With the San Diego Padres presumably out of the playoff race as their National League West rivals, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants continue to dominate the division, expect the Friars to be sellers and expect Chase Headley to be part of their plan. Headley has greatly underachieved this season, and his stock as a starting third baseman has increasingly dropped since the start of 2014. Headley is currently only 32% owned in most leagues, but we should expect that to change if he finds himself in another uniform over the next two and a half weeks. Although his dismal .216 batting average and minuscule 25 RBI suggest otherwise, Headley does have some pop in his bat, and playing everyday with a new club may do him some good. If Headley makes his way to another city and your fantasy club is without a legit third baseman, take a chance on Headley.