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Grading Fantasy Baseball Trades: Justin Upton, Robinson Cano, Jeff Samardzija

Grading Fantasy Baseball Trades: Justin Upton, Robinson Cano, Jeff Samardzija

It’s that time again – time for our weekly Grading Trades column, and you know what that means. That’s right, we get to take a look at this week’s trades that went down across the fantasy baseball world and decide how much or how little we like them or provide some feedback on trade offers you might be a bit torn on. As always, thanks to all who submitted their trades to us.

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I’m in complete rebuild mode since I took over a team in a dynasty league that needed some serious work. I traded Carlos Gonzalez and Justin Upton for Noah Syndergaard. How’d I do?

I can certainly understand the motivation behind this trade. Flip two aging, slugging outfielders for a stud pitcher in his prime. Even though Noah Syndergaard has dealt with some injury struggles this season, I don’t completely hate this trade. I feel like you may have been able to pry an additional player from your trade partner, but you did alright for yourself given the long-term nature of your league.

Carlos Gonzalez and Justin Upton both have plenty left in the tank, but Upton is about as streaky as they come and CarGo is constantly surrounded by trade rumors. Getting Thor in return brings a certain degree of stability and certainty to your rotation.

Long-term, well done for you. I give this trade a B+.

I know this is for grading trades, but I’m in some trouble. My starting pitching is atrocious and I’m willing to trade Robinson Cano. What do you think I could get in return for Cano? H2H, 5×5 standard but OBP instead of AVG, and 12-team keeper league.

Right now, not a whole heck of a lot. The Seattle Mariners placed Robinson Cano on the 10-day DL with a strained right quad. The good news is Cano is eligible to return on May 23 and the team expects him to be right as rain in about five or six days. The bad news for you is your league mates will try to use that as leverage against you in any trade discussions once he does return.

You can counter those concerns by citing his performance this season, and last, as well as the fact this is a very minor issue in the long run.

As far as what you could get in return for him pitching-wise; if you need more than just one capable starter, I’d target 2-for-1 deals with you getting two pitchers in return for Cano. Now, you aren’t going to get a Chris Sale or any other Top-10 starter for Cano but you could end up picking up two Tier-2 or bottom of the first tier starters in exchange.

If I were you, I’d go after guys with high strikeout upside. ERA fluctuates from week-to-week in H2H matchups, so I’d focus on trying to dominate in one or two particular categories. My go-to is high strikeout pitchers like Robbie Ray, Michael Pineda, and Eduardo Rodriguez who won’t cost as much to acquire in a trade as the Chris Sale’s and Max Scherzer’s of the world.

Given the struggles of Jake Arrieta, maybe you could get whoever owns him to trade him and another starter for Cano. Arrieta scares me a bit though, but I also don’t believe he’ll be this terrible all season long.

I just traded Jeff Samardzija for Rougned Odor, straight up. I feel like I won the lottery. Did I?

I love it when straight-up trades like this are completed. Even though I don’t know the setup of your league, I’d say this is kind of a disappointing trade for you. I give it a C+ because I don’t want to be too hurtful of your feelings. Nevermind. You get a D+ instead. I don’t expect Rougned Odor to be this terrible all season long, but his OBP last season was .296 – my recently-turned 80-year-old grandmother could probably muster that just by standing in the batter’s box and not swinging at a single pitch all season long.

Admittedly, I’m not much of a fan of Odor’s game. I think he’s a bit overhyped because of the power, but he kind of tops out for me in regards to his batting line what he did in 2015. He hit .261/.316/.465 that season with 16 home runs in 120 games. Replace the 2015 SLG with 2016’s .502 and that’s what he is. A potential 25-30 home run hitter with a mediocre batting line.

Jeff Samardzija, on the other hand, has an unsightly 5.26 ERA – completely inflated by a .343 BABIP, which is nearly 50 points higher than his career average. I’m guessing you didn’t take a look at his FIP, which sits at a crisp 3.10, or the fact that he’s rocking a BB/9 rate much in line with his 2014 season. His K/9 rate is likely unsustainable and I expect that to drop closer to his career norm as the season progresses. But you got fleeced, in my opinion.

My advice – wait for Odor to go on a hot streak where he tears off home runs over a week-long stretch and flip him for something else.


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To satisfy that fantasy baseball itch that is making trades, we’re grading and providing feedback on them as you submit them. Tweet us at @FantasyProsMLB with the trade details and use #FantasyBaseballTrades and we’ll let you know what we think about the deal.

Lance Rinker is a correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Lance, check out his archive or follow him @LanceMRinker.

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