The trade deadline is one of many times when the real life game can turn the entire fantasy game upside down. These trades have some major implications for owners moving forward and the value of the players, so let us take a look at these players on the move and see what changes.
Johnny Cueto- Kansas City Royals
Cueto was having another fine season for the Cincinnati Reds when they up and traded him to the Royals. Cueto’s numbers across the board are right on par with the projected preseason numbers and his career totals. Really, there is nothing to report on his numbers other than small increases of one to two percent or so which is not enough to get all worried. The big question is how will Cueto play outside of Cincy, and let's be honest, probably just the same since both Great American Ballpark and Kauffmann Stadium are not known for being too “pitcher friendly”.
Owners of Cueto are going to hold onto him for the most part and the only leagues that have any real change are AL-Only leagues but odds are he is already owned by the time this article was posted. Cueto is easily worth the waiver pick in AL-Only leagues and is the best thing that AL-Only leagues have coming their way…or is it?
Troy Tulowitzki- Toronto Blue Jays
See what happened there? It is called a flawless transition and it is beautiful. All joking aside, Tulo getting traded was not out of the realm of possibility but it did come out of left field, or shortstop as it were. Tulo had one heck of a slow start in 2015 and led many to wonder if he was still hurting from his injury in 2014 but since then has accumulated a .300/.348/.471 slash line with twelve home runs and fifty-three RBI’s. Obviously the home run rate is down quite a bit from 2014 but very few thought that was repeatable for Tulo, and his OBP is down from his career .371 due to only having a 6.8% BB% which is an interesting development for a player that has a career 9.9% and has been trending up in BB%. It should also be noted that the K% is up by five percent in 2015 from his 2014 season and is four percent above his career line. This is not something to worry about for now but owners in keeper leagues need to watch this and see if this is the start of a negative trend for the thirty-year-old.
Tulo should slot in perfectly in the Toronto lineup and actually stands to gain quite a bit fantasy wise. This could be the big trade for teams to make if they can and in AL-Only leagues he is a must add for any team even if Cueto fits better. Having Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Josh Donaldson behind him almost ensures and increase in R’s, AVG, OBP, SLG, HR, and maybe even RBI’s. This was a great trade for Tulo owners and a slightly less happy outcome for Jose Reyes owners.
Jose Reyes- Colorado Rockies
This is potentially just as good of a place for Reyes as Tulo going to Toronto but with the Rockies having difficulties staying consistent, the numbers could see a small decline in rate. Reyes was actually having a pretty typical year for the new Reyes hitting .285/.322/.385 with four home runs and thirty-four RBI’s. Granted runs and stolen bases is what he was drafted for and with thirty-six runs scored and sixteen stolen bases he was doing quite well for owners this year. In fact Reyes has only been caught twice in the eighteen stolen base attempt he has made meaning he has only been caught nine percent of the time he steals, and that is a pretty solid success rate. To be fair to the Rockies, they do have a pretty potent lineup when healthy but the loss of Tulo is going to hurt that offense and with Corey Dickerson, Carlos Gonzalez and Nolan Arenado having injury problems from time to time, it could be a little hard to get solid fantasy numbers the rest of the way.
Shane Victorino, David DeJesus, David Murphy- Los Angeles Angels
While none of these guys are very important to basic leagues it is worth mentioning the new roles as a platoon trio, something very few people has seen. As reports go DeJesus will take left field versus RHP while Murphy and Victorino platoon, a platoon within a platoon, versus LHP. Honestly the only reason this is noteworthy is in very deep AL-Only leagues where Victorino and Murphy still a little value but nothing to really write home about.