The MLB trade deadline is one of the most exciting times of the season, but also one of the most stressful and anxiety-ridden periods for those playing fantasy baseball.
It isn’t like the early days of fantasy when many were playing in AL- or NL-only leagues and you were worried about your players being dealt to the opposite league. It is about your players being traded out of a starting job, most notably your closers.
All too often we have seen a closer dealt to a contending team and instead of serving as the ninth-inning fireman, he becomes a setup man. This season was no different.
As the Yankees restructure their bullpen, they added both Camilo Doval and David Bednar to their roster.
Doval was closing for the Giants, Bednar for the Pirates, and now both sit behind incumbent Devin Williams. If you play in a league that counts “saves plus holds,” you’re still in business, but unless something drastic happens to Williams, neither has the value they had before the deadline.
The same thing happened to both Kyle Finnegan of the Nationals and Ryan Helsley of the Cardinals.
They gave their fantasy managers 21 and 20 saves respectively, and now neither is likely to see another save opportunity the rest of the way.
Helsley may still have a bit of value as a reliever who can augment strikeouts and stabilize ERA, but Finnegan should probably be dropped. But the real blow comes when your closer’s team trades for a better closer.
Robert Suárez of the Padres currently leads the league in saves with 30, but the addition of Mason Miller and his triple-digits fastball pushes Suárez to setup.
This happened in Philadelphia as well, as Jordan Romano gets shoved aside in favor of former Twins closer Jhoan Duran.
The Romano demotion doesn’t hurt as much, but losing Suárez is going to hurt several contending fantasy teams.
But most situations do have a silver lining in the form of those who were left behind.
With Bednar gone, the Pirates will turn to Dennis Santana, who likely is available on your waiver wire.
The Twins are expected to turn to Cole Sands, the Athletics are going to Jack Perkins and Michael Kelly, the Giants will use Randy Rodríguez and Ryan Walker, and the Nationals will lean on the lefty/righty platoon of Jose Ferrer and Cole Henry.
The Cardinals also will employ a committee until someone stands out, so give a look at the trio of JoJo Romero, Riley O’Brien and Gordon Graceffo.
None of the situations are ideal, but if you lost your fantasy closer and need saves, desperate times call for desperate measures.
Winning a fantasy championship requires intelligence, skill and knowledge, but it also is about being able to think on the fly and roll with the punches.
With any trade that slams the door shut on your saves, there is a window of opportunity that opens somewhere else.
Howard Bender is the head of content at FantasyAlarm.com. Follow him on X @rotobuzzguy and catch him on the award-winning “Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel weekdays from 6-8 p.m. Go to FantasyAlarm.com for all your fantasy baseball news and advice.
