If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it again-dynasty leagues are the best. There are so many ways to build your team, and you get to roster players for years and watch them develop (or fizzle out) in hopes that they make the impact on your roster that you’ve always dreamed they would.
A great aspect of dynasty leagues is the varying opinion on players for the short- and long-term success of your team. One person’s trash is another person’s treasure, but since we are talking about actual humans here, we’ll say one person’s lack of interest in a player doesn’t mean that someone else in your league views them through the same lenses.
So when you’re looking for who to sell in your league, you want to find players who give managers reasons to be excited, and not just sell the players who nearly everyone feels have next to no value.
I’ve broken this article down into categories of players, with examples of players in each category, that you should look to unload in your dynasty leagues while you can still get close to even value for them.
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Out-of-nowhere Breakouts
Baseball is really hard! Sometimes it just takes players a while to fully put it all together. Look at Lucas Giolito, who was a total mess for his first few seasons before finally figuring out in Chicago.
In one of the more extreme examples, you can point the figure at José Bautista, who enjoyed a breakout at the age of 29 thanks to a slight approach change. He was passed over by every team in the league and then hit 54 home runs in Toronto. Bautista maintained his late-20s changes, but that can’t be said for all of the other players who put together interesting seasons late in their 20s.
But because we are a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately society, a lot of fantasy players (not you, of course) will just look at last year’s surface-level stats and expect that to be the new norm, ignoring the previous years of less-than-average production.
Like Bautista, some players made legitimate changes, which should help them maintain their gains going forward (looking at you, Robbie Ray), while others, should be toward the top of your list of chips to cash in.
At the top of my list is Frank Schwindel. Yeah, an attractive start here.
The minor league track record isn’t too bad, and some people are in on him at his price (Paul Sporer, notably), but I have a hard time investing in a 29-year-old who hasn’t been able to crack a big-league roster for a substantial period of time with the Royals, Tigers, or Athletics before arriving in Chicago. If you need a corner infielder, sure, go nuts. But if there’s a Cubs fan in your league (there certainly is) or a first-base needy team (also, probably), see if you can cash in on his stellar 2021 season.
A few others to consider cashing in on:
Carlos Rodón (injury concerns, spotty track record), Cedric Mullins (I buy the changes but the price is a little too high for me), and Adolis García (I think the fantasy industry is fading him in redrafts a little too hard but the numbers were there in 2021 for a potential buyer).
Young Phenoms
We always look for the next big thing in fantasy baseball. Sometimes they hit, as is the case with Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Wander Franco, and Fernando Tatís Jr.
But they aren’t always locks.
Remember Kevin Maitan? Remember the sky-high stock of Jasson Domínguez (I’m still high on him and buying the dip) last year? What about, on a lower level, Víctor Víctor Mesa.
Tim Beckham. Bubba Starling. Mike Olt. Alex Jackson. Jon Singleton. The list goes on and on and on and … well, you get it.
Were all of these aforementioned players phenoms? No, I use the term loosely, but they were all highly-touted and highly-regarded in the fantasy community.
The two best times to cash in on prospects are when they first debut, and when they are first drafted/signed.
Some of the young prospects that I’m OK trading away based on the helium they have are Dominguez (if others still view him the same way they did last year), Elly De La Cruz, Anthony Volpe, Noelvi Marte, almost any catching prospect,
Pitching Prospects
TINSTAAPP. If you’ve played fantasy baseball—especially dynasty or keeper leagues—you know the phrase by now. And it is, overall, true. There really is no such thing as a pitching prospect.
Don’t believe me?
Go back and look at some top prospects lists over the past few years and you’ll see some names you forgot about.
Alex Reyes? Forrest Whitley? Brent Honeywell? A.J. Puk? MacKenzie Gore?
The list goes on and on and on of pitching prospects who were highly-touted and highly-coveted who have just flamed out. Now, of course, this isn’t the case for all of them, and yes, position players turn into busts, too.
But for pitchers, it’s at a much higher rate, and if they are prep arms, they have a higher likelihood of turning into busts. But they are so, so fun to dream on.
Remember Anderson Espinoza? He was going to be the next Pedro Martínez. At just 23, he’s trying to work his way back to relevancy. It happens every single year, even with someone like Gore, who was thought to be one of the surest – and safest bets that you could make for a pitching prospect. Now, his stock has plummeted.
For drafting prospects or trading for them, I will always, always recommend going hitter over a pitcher. In points leagues, it changes a bit, but you’re still taking a greater risk by going with a pitcher and the increased injury risk that comes with them.
One pitching prospects that I am looking to trade away is Eury Perez (for full disclosure, I have seven shares of Perez and am FULLY in on him, but he’s 18 years old and there is enormous risk with him).
Relievers
This should be self-explanatory, I hope, but relievers have a really, really short shelf life of being fantasy contributors. Sure, there are your exceptions, but they aren’t the rule.
Investing heavily in relievers for dynasty leagues is going to cause you to miss out on other players who can hold value longer. Of course, if you’re built to win now, it makes sense to grab those extra saves and holds where you can, but we see guys pop up every single year who turn out to be fantasy studs with ratios and with saves and holds.
The approach that I take is trying to identify the relievers who are up next a year or two before they get the job. There’s little investment needed, so if they get the job, it pays off. If they don’t, you didn’t pass on other players for these arms.
The way that teams are using their bullpen in 2022 makes it hard to count on just a guy or two during any given season, let alone for multiple seasons.
If someone really wants that reliever that you have, trade them. Your squad will be better off for it.
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Michael Waterloo is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Michael, check out his archive and follow him @MichaelWaterloo.
