I’m going to take a look at the guys moved all around during the deadline, but only from the fantasy angle. So it is less about judging the team’s front office on the returns whether short or long term, but rather about how these players can have fantasy impact for you in the next two months and beyond (for prospects). You’ll see what I mean right away with this first guy…
Edwin Jackson, SP (CHW to TOR to StL) – Jackson is pretty easily the best player who switched from the AL to the NL and for teams in dire need of starting pitching, he will be the perfect jumpstart to their rotation and comes for “free”. Free in that he simply costs FAAB and your worst pitcher as opposed to going out and trading for a starter which can be costly. Judging Jackson by his 3.92 ERA at the time of trade is foolish at best and horribly misguided at worst. Anyone paying attention sees how well he’s been pitching since a rough April (5.86 in 35 IP) having posted a 2.99 ERA in 93 innings including his first start with the Cards.
His second-level numbers are even better with a 3.21 FIP, 3.49 xFIP and 3.69 SIERA. The WHIP is a bit hefty for the year at 1.41, but again that is inflated by April’s 1.71 mark. His 1.31 WHIP in the subsequent three months still isn’t great, but it is quite a bit more palpable. Keep in mind also that WHIP is especially tough to move this late into the season for better or worse. Over the final two months, Jackson at a 1.31 WHIP might move a team up 0.01 in WHIP and that depends entirely on how the rest of the team’s staff pitches around him. So don’t overrate that aspect of his game.
Jackson’s 7.1 K/9 rate ranks 27th among qualified starters in the National League and could stand to tick up facing non-DH lineups the rest of the way. Combine that with his already favorable rates and a better home park and all of a sudden you have an “all-in” type of player when it comes to FAAB if pitching is your biggest need down the stretch.
Corey Patterson, OF (TOR to StL) – It is Jon Jay who will benefit most from the trade of Colby Rasmus, but Patterson becomes the backup at all three outfield positions so he will get some at-bats on the Cardinals. A .251/.284/.375 line in 347 plate appearances this year should tell you all you need to know about Patterson and his fantasy prospects. He does have six home runs with 13 stolen bases so he has a tick of power-speed potential, but at what cost to your batting average? If you have a dead spot at UTIL or your OF5 and you want to start getting some ABs that could result in something then Patterson warrants a few bucks of FAAB. Otherwise, pass, because he isn’t an impact player even if he were somehow guaranteed regular playing time.
Derrek Lee, 1B (BAL to PIT) – My thoughts on Lee to Pittsburgh can be found here in greater detail, but from a fantasy perspective his value is similar to what it was in the AL with the Orioles which is to say minimal at best. He is the 30th rated first baseman according to ESPN’s Player Rater. In fairness, he has been 14th over the last month so if he stays warmish (.250/.294/.510 w/6 HR, 19 RBI) then he could be a low-level corner infield/utility option. Then again, I say warmish because most of that 14 ranking is RBI driven which has little to do with actual skill. He hasn’t been much of a power source in a friendly home like Camden Yards, so don’t expect a sudden uptick in PNC Park.
Marc Rzepczynski (pronounced Zep-chin-skee), RP (TOR to StL) – Dynasty NL-only leaguers might want to file The Chin away for a buck or two looking forward to the future because this 25-year old could move back to the rotation eventually. He started 23 of his 25 appearances in 2009-2010 before shifting to the bullpen full-time this year. After two years of a 51% groundball rate in the rotation, he has upped that mark to an eye-popping 65% in 41 relief innings.
All the while his 8+ strikeout rate has maintained (8.1 K/9 the last two years, 8.8 in 2009) suggesting some legitimate promise going forward. His major hurdle will be figuring out righties more consistently as his strikeout to walk ratio against them is 1.7 while he posts a much healthier 3.2 mark against lefties. Similarly his OPS allowed goes up 200 points from .578 to .778 when facing righties.
Brad Ziegler, RP (OAK to ARI) – If Jackson’s WHIP in 60+ innings the rest of the way isn’t really going to hurt you then Ziegler’s (1.35 this year and last, 1.50 in 2009) in far fewer innings (maybe 20 or so) will barely register. Ziegler is a solid real-life reliever, but he doesn’t strikeout enough batters (career best 6.9 K/9 this year, career total of 6.0) to even have much NL-only value as your ninth pitcher on the staff.
Octavio Dotel, RP (TOR to STL) – Dotel does have the strikeouts that Ziegler doesn’t (9.2 K/9 this year, 10.9 career), but his ERA is always around the mid-3.00s and you can definitely find a high strikeout, low ERA guy who would better fit that middle reliever last spot on your staff.
Orlando Cabrera, SS (CLE to SF) – When bringing in a guy with a .268 wOBA improves you at a position, there is trouble at that position on your team. Cabrera, owner of the aforementioned .268 wOBA, is marginally better than Miguel Tejada (.260) and Brandon Crawford (.239), but he has been abysmal defensively at second base so why would the Giants think he could be better at shortstop? He has zero fantasy value so don’t let the name recognition fool you into a bad move.
The only way I could see justifying so much as a dollar of your FAAB on him is if you have a dead spot at shortstop and your standings are tight in runs scored and driven in and you want to get something out of the roster spot. And even then, you better not have a tenuous hold on your batting average spot because his .244 isn’t doing you any favors. Perhaps he gets back to the .263 level he showed in the NL a year ago and hurts less.
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There will be several pieces like this including:
- NL players moving to AL
- NL players changing teams in NL
- AL players changing teams in AL
- AL prospects moving to NL
- NL prospects moving to AL
- NL prospects changing orgs in NL
- AL prospects changing orgs in AL
I think this is easier for fantasy purposes that analyzing every single trade one-by-one. I’ll have them all out as soon as possible, but it might not be finished until Tuesday. In the meantime, if you want my opinion on a traded player for your FAAB or waiver pickups that happen sooner, mention something in the comments below or hit me up on Twitter (@sporer) and I’ll get to you there.
Baseball By Paul 
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