COREYJRO - Seattle Mariners Baseball Blog

Most fantasy trade deadlines are this Friday at noon ET. This means if you want to leverage some assets to make a run or set-up your keeper situation, this is the best time. Now depending on which side of the equation there are different players to target.

If you’re looking to acquire keepers, there are two guys that are screaming “trade for me.” The first is Jay Bruce. He’s been out for a while, but the fact remains he’s going to be a great hitter. If he had a normal BABIP this season he would have been in the middle of his first monster season. As it is he was hitting for good power. If you aren’t contending this year and want to pick up Bruce you probably only need to surrender a nice piece to a team on a championship run. Bruce isn’t expected back soon, so he’s not going to help his owner. The next name is Justin Upton. An injury has Upton out for another 10 days at the least. I’d basically sell the farm for Upton, he’s young, hits for power, runs, and hits for average. He’s going to be a monster for a long time. Basically, if you aren’t in it this year, I’d trade any expendable pieces you have to acquire the younger Upton. When I say expendable pieces I mean players that won’t be better keepers than Upton.

There are a couple more interesting guys, and depending on how many players you keep, they are more or less interesting. Rookies Gordon Beckham and Pablo Sandoval are taking over the fantasy 3B position early in their careers. Beckham can probably be had for a useful piece if the owner has someone to fill in for him. Sandoval is interesting in that he’s producing enough this year that he’d be hard to acquire in a one year league. Add to that he’s going to be a good keeper, and you have a valuable asset. That may make him the most difficult to acquire of the whole crew.

Now, if you’re making a run for things and you have a player with good keeper potential, it isn’t prudent to just giveaway your keepers. If you can get a very good package for keepers, then it is something you have to consider. Too many people don’t take the opportunity to win their leagues when it presents itself. If you’re in a five keeper league, Justin Upton probably wasn’t drafted until after the 10th round. These players become available over the years. A bunch of second place finishes will get you some respect, but the guys who win leagues are the ones people aim for. If you have a player like Jason Bay, who should probably be a top 40 pick next year, he is a keeper. If you can get a couple decent starters and a reasonable outfielder, depending on your needs, don’t hesitate to move him. These moves are less player specific, and I don’t recommend breaking apart the heart of your long term team, but the marginal keepers are ones that you can leverage for a championship run.

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