Fantasy Radar Week 7: Pre-Trade Deadline Picks

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Trade deadline craziness is still two weeks away. Things are relatively quiet now but this is the exact time where plain rumors start looking like more serious deals. Save yourself from overpaying for good players who move to great situations by making moves while they’re still toiling in places like Oakland and Kansas City.

Players Moving at the Trade Deadline

Jose Quintana (17-20% rostered)

The former all-star starter has had a tough go of it since being traded from the White Sox in 2017. His 4-year tenure in Wrigleyville was nothing short of average with a 90-100 ERA+ in each year. It’s his year in the pitching purgatory of Anaheim that tarnished the reputation of the once-elite pitcher. In 24 games, Quintana posted an ERA+ of 66

After such a poor season, Quintana was left with few suitors in free agency and had no choice but to sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Quintana has thrived with the Pirates as he holds a FIP of 3.33 and numbers close to his glory days with the White Sox.

Quintana has played well enough for the rebuilding Pirates to yield significant trade interest. With several contenders looking to pick him up, Quintana’s already encouraging fantasy output (8.8 point avg) will skyrocket from the additional wins. Quintana should be priority number one on your waiver wires.

Frankie Montas (94-95% rostered)

After his PED suspension in 2019, Montas struggled up until this time last year. His spectacular second-half ERA of 2.17 propelled him to a top-6 Cy Young finish. Frankie Montas has shown slight improvements in nearly all metrics this season compared to the entirety of his 2021 season but he hasn’t had much to show for it.

Montas leads the AL with 9 losses in 17 games for this pathetic A’s team. Losses are widely-known now as an awful metric to measure pitchers by but fantasy puts an added importance on wins and losses. The blame lies solely on Billy Beane for his purging of nearly all of Oakland’s offensive talent this past season. 8 of Montas’ 9 losses have come in games where he received less than 2 runs of support.

He has been a less-than-ideal fantasy pick-up this year but that could change quickly. Montas is one of the biggest names on this year’s trade market and is drawing interest from many contenders. His extra year of team control should further incentivize the A’s to move him for a prospect haul but it should also be appealing to those in dynasty leagues.

There has been some worry about injury setbacks over the past month, but I wouldn’t be scared of a little shoulder inflammation. Try to complete a trade before Montas gets moved at the trade deadline.

Brandon Drury (89-91% rostered)

Brandon Drury has one of the few bright spots on this Cincinnati Reds team so it should be expected that the Reds move him for prospects. As a player with a career WAR of 1.1 over 8 seasons, Drury’s 1.6 WAR mark on the season came out of left field. Speaking of left field, Drury plays that position, and right field, and second base, and… well you get the idea. Drury’s value as a super-utility should make him especially enticing to both contending MLB teams and fantasy players. His value will improve tenfold as he gets to play in a team that gets RISP more often.

In other news

Jorge Lopez (49-77% rostered)

The new closer for the suddenly competitive Baltimore Orioles should be a priority add this week. He’s only available in 23% of Yahoo leagues but is still mostly available in ESPN leagues. Outside of a blown save on July 2nd, Lopez has racked up saves as of late and doesn’t look like he’s stopping soon. With saves coming at a premium in this league, it’d be wise for Lopez to be scooped up ASAP.

Nick Pivetta (73-76% rostered)

After winning 8 of 9 straight starts in May and June, Pivetta has dropped stinkers against division rivals in the Rays and Yankees. As a result, Pivetta has been one of the biggest roster drops of this week. While I understand that many can’t afford for a starter to drop two negative starts in a week, it should’ve been expected. Most of Pivetta’s bad starts this year have been against AL East opponents. The good news is that Pivetta will be able to avoid AL East opponents until a series against the Rays in late August. After a start against the Yankees on Saturday, be on the lookout for a Pivetta drop in your league.

See last week’s fantasy radar here