Fantasy Baseball Week 4 – Buys, Sells, and the Waiver Wire

It’s three weeks into the Fantasy Baseball season and games are being played and stats are being accrued. Whether you are playing redraft or dynasty you are following your fantasy teams closely. Some teams are hitting well, and other teams are not hitting. For the teams that aren’t doing well is it time to panic? The simple answer is no. It’s only three weeks of a six-month season.

Some players are off to slow starts but it’s a very small sample size. Many rookies such as Bobby Witt Jr and Julio Rodiguez are struggling. This is their first taste of MLB pitching and they are overmatched right now. They are high pedigree prospects who will make adjustments.

April is typically not a great month for hitting because the weather is cold in some areas and the ball doesn’t tend to travel as far in those conditions. When the weather heats up the bats tend to heat up as well. There is plenty of time to make up ground if you are down in the standings. Let’s look at some things that you can do to improve your team hitting. 

Hitters – Buy Low

In leagues that allow trading you can try to buy low on some hitters. Some fantasy managers are quick to part with hitters who are performing poorly for players off to a good start. It never hurts to reach out to league mates to see if they want to trade someone like Bo Bichette, Kyle Tucker, or Marcus Semien. These three hitters were drafted within the first five rounds but have both gotten off to very slow starts.

In dynasty, there is probably little chance their manager is selling low on these players but in redraft, you may get a slight discount. Hitters to offer for example are Ty France, Seiya Suzuki, and Joc Pederson who are all off to really hot starts.

Ty France

France was good last season batting .291 with 18 home runs and 73 RBIs. So far this season, France is hitting .375 with five home runs and 19 RBIs. It’s possible that he can hit more home runs and knock in more runs than he did last season but he’s not going to sustain a .375 average.

Seiya Suzuki

Suzuki has been red hot to start his MLB career. He is hitting .354 with four home runs and 13 RBIs. He is a tough player to evaluate because he has such a small track record in MLB despite being a star player overseas.

Joc Pederson

Pederson is scorching hot hitting .362 with six home runs and 10 RBIs. Pederson has a long track record in MLB and in 2,629 at-bats he has a career average of .234. Pederson could be a solid source of home runs and RBIs, but the average will not be anywhere close to his current batting average based on his nine-year MLB career stats. If you can offer any one of France, Suzuki, and Pederson for Bichette, Tucker, or Semien who are more proven commodities that’s something I would do.

Waiver Wire

In leagues that do not allow trading, you can still improve your hitting. Make sure to check your waiver wire daily to see what players are being dropped. I’m in a deeper league with 20 teams and both Charlie Blackmon and Joey Votto have been dropped already. Always stay active so you don’t miss out. Take a chance by picking up some hitters who are having a hot start. Maybe it’s just a hot streak or maybe they can help you for the remainder of the season.

Be aggressive if there is a hitter available that you really like. It’s okay to bench a struggling hitter for a week or two if you have a hitter who has been performing better. In most cases always start your star hitters whether they are doing poorly or not. You don’t want them to have a good week on your bench. That’s almost as frustrating as them doing poorly in your lineup. In FAAB leagues where you have a certain amount of money to spend for the whole season, it’s okay to spend more earlier in the season to get the hitters you want. 

In summary, there are many things you can do if your hitting is struggling. Make sure to be patient with your star players who are currently struggling. Do not sell low on them. This is especially important in 15-team and deeper leagues. Fantasy baseball is a marathon, not a sprint as there are 162 games in a season. You could currently be in last place and end up winning the league. Make sure to have fun, be active, and always look for ways to improve your team. 

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