RESOLVING THE LEDGER
This is one outlet's own report from CBS Sports — the article as it was filed. Other outlets are covering the same event; open the full story to compare every source side by side.
See the full story · 1 sources
The trade deadline is closing in, and the dominoes have begun to fall. Whatever happens, the best place to find out what it means for your Fantasy Baseball team is right here in the Trade Deadline Tracker . Over the next week-plus, Scott White and Chris Towers will use this space to break down every move that's of some significance for Fantasy, updating the feed as trades happen. Be sure to bookmark it so you'll always have the latest insights and information.
Peralta is on the move for the second time in eight months, and the Rays have to believe they have a plan to fix whatever has gone wrong for them since he arrived with the Mets . What is that, exactly? Well, Peralta doesn't get strikeouts anymore, is the main problem – he's down to a 22.1% strikeout rate on the season, the first time he's ever been below even 27%. His changeup, curveball, and fastball whiff rates are all within spitting distance of last year's numbers, and his slider still has an elite 48.7% whiff rate, too – but that pitch has been getting crushed when he throws it, and Peralta has clearly lost faith in it, increasingly opting to lean on a much less effective sweeper instead. The first order of business of the Rays has to be figuring out why the slider has been so much worse this season and how to get it back.
Everything else generally looks as it should for Peralta, so making a change-of-scenery bet while giving up very little in prospect capital -- three top-30 organizational prospects, but zero top-10 ones -- for two months of Peralta makes plenty of sense. And the Rays are definitely on the shortlist of of teams we believe can fix slightly dented and broken pitchers. There's no guarantee that Peralta will turn things around, of course, but it's not a bad bet for the Rays to make – and it's one Fantasy players should be willing to see through, too.
This was entirely expected. The only thing that could have stopped the Dodgers was their own follow-through, and we've all seen they have no shortage of that. So what did it take for them to complete the deal? Ultimately, three prospects: one who's pretty close to top tier, one who would also be if he wasn't 27 years old, and one who's lesser known but has the sort of numbers that could raise his stature in the future. Their names are Zyhir Hope, River Ryan and Brady Smith. If you didn't already have Skubal as the top starting pitcher rest of season, even for as good as he's looked coming back from a midseason elbow procedure, you should now that he's joined the best supporting cast in baseball. Over his past six starts, he has a 1.95 ERA, 0.78 WHIP and 12.2 K/9. For more on the impact of this trade, and particularly what it means for the league as a whole, check out my full article here . --Scott White
While Luis Castillo is the biggest player on the move, the most impacted player for Fantasy is one that's staying put: Kade Anderson . The top-flight pitching prospect, drafted third overall last year, has been a force of nature at Double-A, as you can see from the numbers, and because the Mariners typically have their best pitching prospects skip Triple-A, the only obstacle to his promotion has been a stacked rotation that was already six deep.
The Mariners recently had Anderson take three weeks off from pitching, obviously wanting to reserve some bullets for stretch run. The only question, then, is whether they bring him up right away and stick with a six-man rotation or wait a couple weeks so as to preserve his rookie eligibility. The latter option makes them eligible for certain draft pick incentives, but they may need all the help they can get right now. Either way, Anderson needs to be rostered in all Fantasy leagues because his impact down the stretch could be enormous.
As for Castillo, he wouldn't seem to have much left in the tank anymore. He's not the bat-misser nor ground-ball generator he used to be and has struggled to keep his ERA under 5.00. He's still capable of going six-plus innings on a good day, though, so he'll be worth streaming at times. Presumably, he'll be taking Noah Schultz 's place in the rotation, though Erick Fedde and Anthony Kay aren't exactly mainstays either. What about the Mariners' return, you ask? Part of it is salary relief, but they're also getting reliever Seranthony Dominguez , outfielder Nolan Jones and catcher Boston Smith, a 23-year-old with a .291/.448/.589 slash line between Low-A, High-A and Double-A. Smith isn't the most highly regarded prospect, but numbers like that are sure to draw attention now that a trade has put him on everyone's radar. --Scott White
The 30-year-old Lane Thomas , who had a couple years of Fantasy relevance with the Nationals, had begun to draw some Fantasy interest again in July, batting .268 with five homers and three steals. Of course, that was as an everyday player. He's likely to form the lesser half of a platoon with Mike Yastrzemski in Atlanta, effectively replacing Eli White , given that he has an .800 OPS against lefties this season and an .850 OPS against them for his career. There's moderate pop and good speed here when he's playing well, but he's probably not going to play enough to matter. The other players involved in this deal -- left-hander Bailey Falter going to Atlanta and minor league pitchers Lucas Braun and Carter Holton going to Kansas City -- are of no real interest in Fantasy. --Scott White
For a minute there, it looked like Dean Kremer might be of some interest in Fantasy. I'm referring mainly to that time when he allowed one earned run in six innings against the White Sox after a three-month absence for a quad strain. He was leaning into his splitter more than ever before, and it's a pitch that yields excellent results with a .204 batting average against and 41.5 percent whiff rate. As the pitch selection normalized, though, the ERA took an ugly turn, and now he finds himself on a Twins staff that doesn't have an obvious opening for him. At first glance, he woul...
AIPROPX is an independent multi-source news index — we track, compare, and connect coverage from across the web into one place you won't find anywhere else.