Troy Tulowitzki was one of several trade deadline ‘winners’

While there were clearly winning and losing team’s at this year’s trade deadline, below we’ll take a look at some fantasy baseball players that saw their values increase along with a few others that experienced a drop in value.

Biggest Winners

• Troy Tulowitzki – SS – Toronto Blue Jays
  I covered this in greater detail last week, but you can already see the benefits Tulowitzki has reaped and should continue to gain into the future.

• Hector Olivera – 2B – Atlanta Braves
  In a complex trade that nearly fell apart, the Braves acquired 30-year-old Hector Olivera from the Dodgers in a somewhat risky move for the organization. In terms of fantasy impact, Olivera is listed as a second baseman but will likely play third base when his sore hamstring is ready. There are some concerns in regards to his age and health, which does introduce a bit of a risk for those looking at him in dynasty leagues, but as a player the Braves are looking to get an immediate impact from, there’s some value to be had in standard redraft leagues. He has decent hitting skills, but is limited a bit from a power standpoint. I would compare his ceiling to a Matt Carpenter at best, with obviously no limit in terms of potential downside. Nonetheless, he definitely won out with with trade as his track to the major leagues was filled with roadblocks as a member of the Dodgers.

• Mike Leake – SP – San Francisco Giants
  As a pitcher, anytime you shift from one of the best parks for hitting home runs to the worst park for hitting home runs it has to be considered a plus, especially when your biggest weakness is dishing out home runs. Leake is a pitch-to-contact starter who does not strike many hitters out (5.98 K/9) while generating a high number of ground balls (51.5%), but that approach can lend itself to giving up a healthy dose of home runs. One quick peek at his career home/road splits tells you exactly what the Giants are hoping comes true and that is the difference in home runs allowed at home (1.24 HR/9) versus on the road (0.97 HR/9). If all else holds true with Leake, he should certainly see an improvement in his run prevention numbers.

• Cole Hamels – SP – Texas Rangers
  Usually a switch from the National League to the American League can be tough on a starting pitcher as a designated hitter is introduced, but Hamels certainly wins out here as he shifts away from a bad situation in Philadelphia. The park switch is essentially a wash, but he is now part of a team who is at least pretending to care about winning, which should boost his chances of getting victories as well as getting a general boost in psyche.

• Mat Latos – SP – Los Angeles Dodgers
  There were some concerns early on with Latos in regards to his health, but he quickly erased those as he regained the lost velocity on his fastball that was leaving him susceptible to getting bashed. While Latos isn’t Hamels, he is a much better option than most and with him leaving behind a floundering Miami team to join a Dodger club who has their sights on a postseason berth, things can only get better for the right-hander.

• Closers
  Even the relatively obscure pitchers can gain fantasy relevance in the blink of an eye, and this certainly appears to be the case post-deadline. Names such as Ken Giles, Arodys Vizcaino, Edward Mujica and Alex Wilson are all worth targeting as the door has been opened due to fallout from trade deadline moves. Giles has been waiting in the wings while Jonathan Pabelbon was the closer, and he now gets his crack to be a high-end closer. He has a live fastball to go with a nasty slider and he has done an excellent job at preventing runs. Vizcaino has been given his shot to close for the Braves with Jim Johnson having been shipped to Los Angeles, and he could be very valuable if he can keep his injury-plagued past in the rear-view mirror. He has a 98 MPH fastball that moves and brings a plus curveball to the table to generate strikeouts. While Atlanta is clearly looking towards 2017 when they open their new park, it is still not a bad idea to pluck Vizcaino, especially in dynasty formats.

Biggest Losers

• Drew Storen – RP – Washington Nationals
  Owners were certainly disappointed by last week’s developments, as the arrival of Jonathan Pabelbon “shuts the door” on any consistent save opportunities in the near future. See what I did there?

• Michael Conforto – OF – New York Mets
  Conforto was brought up to fill the void left by the struggling and injured Michael Cuddyer, but he didn’t inspire enough confidence. The Mets are clearly serious about contending in the NL East now by trading for Yoenis Cespedes. While Conforto showed promise Monday night, he is still likely the odd man out for the time being.

• Dan Haren – SP – Chicago Cubs
  In stark contrast to Leake, Haren is an extreme fly ball pitcher (49.1%) who had the benefit of pitching half of his starts in a very pitcher-friendly park. With that figure in mind, he still had a 1.47 HR/9 on the season, so imagine what will happen at Wrigley Field, especially if the wind is blowing out on a warm summer day.

• David Price – SP – Toronto Blue Jays
  OK, before you go crazy just hear me through. I am by no means pegging Price as a bad starter when in fact I believe he is a top-tier option. However, the shift to an extreme hitter’s park when he has pitched his entire career in pitcher-friendly parks will not help in terms of run prevention, especially for a fly ball pitcher (37%). He will likely offset this with his usual dose of wins, strikeouts and innings, but do not be surprised if a rise in ERA is in the cards for Price.

• Mike Bolsinger – SP – Los Angeles Dodgers
  The arrivals of Latos and Alex Wood left Bolsinger as the odd man out, despite having a relatively solid 2015 to date. He sported a 5-3 record with an ERA of 2.83 to go with a high ground ball rate (55.7%) and an acceptable strikeout rate (7.89 K/9). Unfortunately for those who jumped on board as spring turned to summer, he will likely need an injury to regain a spot in the rotation.

Adam Sutton is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Adam, follow him @DraftStars_Adam. You can find more of Adam’s work at DraftStars.net.