By Dan O’Shea
The MLB trading deadline draws nigh, and it seems quite possible that the biggest deal already has been made. It involved a player named Holliday rather than one named Halladay (totally different name, startlingly similar pronunciation). The deal we speak of is the one that sent OF Matt Holliday from the Oakland A’s to the St. Louis Cardinals. It is still quite possible that starting pitcher Roy Halladay could be moved to Philadelphia, though his Toronto Blue Jays reportedly were holding for too much.
Among other possible moves, the C/1B Victor Martinez could end up at a new address, and any number of smaller deals could be done, but at least as of Tuesday night not much was happening. The only other trade of note in recent days sent 1B Adam LaRoche from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Boston Red Sox.
The Holliday move must be considered a serious boost for Holliday owners. It takes him out of a ball-eating canyon in Oakland, and puts him in a park friendlier to homerun hitter, and in a line-up stocked with menace.
Here’s a quick take on some recently traded players and other names in the news, complete with Fantasy Fix Action Ratings:
Player:Adam LaRoche, 1B
FFAR: PICK UP
Comment: He’s only 28% owned in Yahoo! leagues and could see his stats balloon in a better lineup the same way Jason Bay’s did last year when he arrived in Boston. Though, watch closely to see how many at-bats he’s getting.
Player: Mark DeRosa, 1B/2B/3B/OF
FFAR: HOLD
Comment: He also recently was traded to St Louis, and is already having an impact with 5 HRs, but watch him closely, as he just came back from a wrist injury.
Player:Mark Kotsay, 1B/OF
FFAR: SKIP
Comment: He came to our own Chicago White Sox in the trade that sent Brian Anderson to Boston. Kotsay probably will see more playing time than Anderson, but most of his value lies in his glove and arm, not his bat.
Player: Josh Willingham, OF
FFAR: PICK UP
Comment: Wow, two grand slams in two innings this week, and he was only 21% owned as of Tuesday. He’s got a lot of power, and tends to be a strong second-half player. Not in a great lineup, but take the power boost if you need it.
Player: Mark Buehrle, SP
FFAR: HOLD (Duh)
Comment: A perfect game in what could be his best season yet. Always a marginal fantasy pick because he doesn’t collect many strikeouts, but he could end up with a Cy Young.
Player: Ted Lilly, SP
FFAR: HOLD
Comment: On the disabled list until mid-August, but he’s a gamer, and will do good things toward the end of the seaon.
Player: Ryan Zimmerman, 3B
FFAR: TRADE
Comment: 3 HRs and 5 RBIs in the last week, but he’s coming off a long fade after a very strong open to the season. Was poised for a career year, and could still finish around 27 HRs, 90 RBIs, but you are better off trading him for speed, more power/lower average or maybe a pitcher.
This Week’s Expert Wire:
* Roto Arcade has a closer look at SP Joe Blanton, who is usually a bottom-of-the-rotation guy in fantasy terms but is humming along for a Phillies team that always scores runs for him.
* USA Today has a lesson in “fanalytics” that suggest players who cross from one league to the other at the trading deadline – like Holliday – don’t assure happy returns. It’s a decent thesis, but not really proven, or at least not proven last year, when Bay, CC Sabathia and Manny Ramirez all changed leagues in July and produced stellar half-seasons that looked like full seasons. I think there is every reason to believe Holliday can finish with around 23 HRs, 90 RBIs, 20 stolen bases and a .300-plus average.
* Bleacher Report also looks at the impact of the Holliday trade on the big man’s numbers, making the case that it doesn’t change a whole lot for him, which is actually okay. I don’t know why more fantasy baseball watchers aren’t more excited about this trade.
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Next week, we’ll give out our Fantasy Fix monthly awards for July (sorry, we have a couple days left yet, and don’t want to cheat anyone). Also, our initial fantasy football ratings (which are mostly all set, but now we need to scratch out Brett Favre’s name and possibly add Michael Vick’s.
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Dan O’Shea’s Fantasy Fix appears in this space every Wednesday. He welcomes your comments. You can also read his about his split sports fan personality at SwingsBothWays, which isn’t about what it sounds like It’s about.
Posted on July 29, 2009