With MLB trade rumors starting to take shape, you can bet owners in your fantasy league will inevitably get the itch to trade. This is your opportunity to make a big push at improving your team heading into the second half of the season. To help you determine which direction to go when putting together trade offers, we invited in four featured experts from around the industry to provide their input.

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1. What one player are you trying to buy low and what type of player would you give up to get him?

Anthony Rendon (3B – WAS)
“Rendon’s box score is starting to catch up to his sabermetric profile, but there’s more potential there and public perception of him is modest at best. We can all agree his 25 HRs and .937 OPS was useful last year, right? Well, his line-drive and hard-hit rates are both up six percentage points from ’17 and that fly-ball rate remains relatively static. His 91.7 mph average exit velocity is up nearly two ticks from last season and I’d be willing to trade a guy like Jose Abreu or Jose Berrios to acquire him.”
– Nick Mariano (RotoBaller)

Edwin Encarnacion (1B – CLE)
Encarnacion is batting .225 and registering a walk rate below 10 percent for the first time since 2011. Buy! A 24.2 strikeout percentage would mark his worst clip since 2005’s rookie campaign, but he lowered it to 18.1 in June while raising his walk rate (11.1). He wields a 42.9 hard-hit rate with a .260 xBA and .384 wOBA, so expect a strong finish from someone who sprints to the finish line with a career .372 second-half wOBA. I still view him as a top-50 guy whom I prefer over wonder kids Juan Soto and Ronald Acuna Jr. if I need power. If you can get someone to bite on a more obvious sell-high candidate like Scooter Gennett, Matt Kemp or even Jesus Aguilar, even better.
– Andrew Gould (Bleacher Report)

Tommy Pham (OF – STL)
“I would be thrilled to add Pham right now before his owner realizes he is starting to heat back up. Pham had a dreadful June, but has otherwise been tremendous since he was called back up in May last season. Over the past calendar year, Pham has 26 homers, 25 stolen bases and 114 runs so surely it was only a matter of time before he picked up the pace and that is just what has happened the past week. Pham has got on base ten times in five games with seven RBIs during that time. If you could, I’d move quickly to deal a player like Matt Kemp or Trevor Story for him.”
– Bobby Sylvester (FantasyPros)

DJ LeMahieu (2B – COL)
“In many leagues, I’ve been trying to acquire LeMahieu. The Rockies second baseman missed a chunk of time with a thumb injury, however, has looked more like his old self over the last couple weeks. It’s not too late in the year to recover from a low batting average, and LeMahieu could certainly help the cause. I have been trying to sell where I have abundance, and a mid-to-high tier closer, for example, could get the deal done for LeMahieu.”
– Jason Johnson (Understanding Fantasy Baseball)

Clayton Kershaw (SP – LAD)
“The Kershaw owner is likely worried that another injury will pop back up every start. Likewise, they are almost certainly starting to see what Max Scherzer, Chris Sale, Luis Severino and even Justin Verlander are doing, and thinking Kershaw may no longer the king of the hill. You ought to pounce on that before Kershaw’s 2-4 record with a 2.86 ERA turns into a 7-5 record with a 2.30 ERA once again. When targeting him via trade, feel free to use a youngster like Trevor Bauer or Blake Snell with a quality hitter thrown in.”
– Bobby Sylvester (FantasyPros)

2. What one player are you trying to sell high right now and who would you want in return?

Max Muncy (1B, 2B, 3B, OF – LAD)
“If the right buyer is out there, I would shop Muncy. Upstart players that have a strong season tend to be a bit overvalued by fantasy owners, and right now, there is a lot of hype around the Dodgers phenom. If you could get a more proven player that’s also performing, it could be a safer investment long term. Targeting a pre-season top 40 player would be a good starting point to open discussions with your trading partners.”
– Jason Johnson (Understanding Fantasy Baseball)

Dylan Bundy (SP – BAL)
“Any time a pitcher has a full good month, I’m inclined to believe they may have suddenly turned a corner. It seems as though everyone shares that sentiment, which is why I am confident you can sell Bundy for a fortune right now. His 1.98 ERA and spotless record over the past month mixed with a strong repertoire has to have pitcher-hungry fantasy owners drooling. In this case, I’m not fooled, however, since his 4.00 xFIP indicates he has just been a beneficiary of some luck. Knowing Bundy, he is certain to blow up again any day now so I’d move him now for a Jack Flaherty or Tommy Pham while I still can.”
– Bobby Sylvester (FantasyPros)

Gerrit Cole (SP – HOU)
“I wager most of you can still get a haul for Cole thanks to the human mind forging perceptions early in the season. His 1.43 ERA (2.00 SIERA!!) and ridiculous 35.6% K-BB% with just three HRs allowed over his first eight starts (56 2/3 IP) led many to lean into Cole as a potential top-five SP. He’s still gone 5-1 over his last 10 outings (60 IP), but it’s come with a 3.90 ERA, good-not-great 18.6% K-BB% and 11 HRs allowed. I’d flip Cole for his teammate Justin Verlander, perhaps Charlie Blackmon or Giancarlo Stanton from a pitcher-needy team, or even a 2-for-2 with Cole + Your Other Hitter for Improved Hitter + Aaron Nola.”
– Nick Mariano (RotoBaller)

Miles Mikolas (SP – STL)
I liked Mikolas as a late-round dice roll, but he has wildly exceeded my expectations with a 2.63 ERA and 1.03 WHIP.  Although an NL-low 3.9 walk percentage and 50.1 ground-ball rate support his superb start, such elite production will be tough to sustain with a pedestrian 17.1 strikeout percentage. Seventy-four qualified starts, including Ivan Nova, Andrew Cashner, and Sal Romano rank ahead of him. He has also issued seven of his 17 walks over the last three starts. While I’m certainly not selling Mikolas for scraps, it’s worth trying to upgrade somewhere else by swapping him for a higher-upside hurler like Eduardo Rodriguez, Dylan Bundy, or Nick Pivetta. Perhaps he could fetch Matt Olson or teammate Matt Carpenter in a pitcher-for-hitter swap.
– Andrew Gould (Bleacher Report)

Aaron Judge (OF – NYY)
“As expected by most, Judge has not been the same beast we saw this time last season. Sure, he is having a quality year, but if you own him, just remember the trainwreck we saw to close last season. He batted .230 then .185 in back to back months with 73 strikeouts before posting even worse numbers in the playoffs. I’d sell him high while you can still get a haul, and there is no better time than now when he is coming off a huge week. If you move him, try to get Charlie Blackmon, who was the number one fantasy player last season.”
– Bobby Sylvester (FantasyPros)

Thank you to the experts for naming their trade candidates. Be sure to give them a follow on Twitter and subscribe to our podcast below for all the latest discussions this season.

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