Fantasy Baseball: Adam Frazier MLB trade deadline deal raises questions about playing time for Padres

With the MLB commerce deadline looming, the following week is the final time the Fantasy Baseball panorama can actually be shaken up this season. Sunday’s reported trade between the Padres and Pirates is not going to be a type of landscape-altering offers, however the transfer to ship Adam Frazier to San Diego has some fascinating wrinkles Fantasy gamers should contemplate. 

Frazier is having the most effective season of his profession, hitting .324/.388/.448 via 428 plate appearances. He minimize his strikeout price from an already low 13.1% profession mark right down to 10.7%, whereas matching his career-best stroll price. He is been a strong contributor for Fantasy, although his .359 BABIP suggests there’s been greater than a bit of excellent luck. A .338 anticipated wOBA based mostly on Statcast information from BaseballSavant.com in comparison with his .368 mark again that suspicion up. 

Nonetheless, Frazier’s contact-heavy method will assist him maintain a excessive batting common, and his means to play a number of infield and outfield spots matches in effectively on a Padres workforce that closely values versatility. Frazier will be a part of Ha-Seong Kim, Jake Cronenworth, and Jurickson Profar as swiss military knives for the Padres to deploy everywhere in the area.

After all, you’ll be able to see the place issues would possibly get difficult for Frazier’s worth. Proper area and first base are the 2 relative weak spots within the Padres between Wil Myers and Eric Hosmer, so the query is how will they deploy Frazier? Will he play proper area? He is logged over 900 innings within the majors at a nook outfield spot, so which may work. Or, will he stick at his pure place at second, with Cronenworth pushing Hosmer is not a platoon function? 

The reply to each questions might be, “Sure, relying on the day.” I might guess he’ll play a bit lower than on daily basis, and on condition that he has little or no energy or pace, means it might be powerful for Frazier to stay within the beginning Fantasy dialogue. Do not go seeking to drop Frazier proper now, however until the Padres are keen to place Hosmer or Myers on the bench full time, Frazier’s worth virtually definitely takes a success from this commerce. Myers and Hosmer are each already fairly fringe-y Fantasy choices themselves, and neither’s outlook is helped by this commerce, for certain. 

The Padres want to stockpile expertise, they usually’ll work out learn how to deploy these gamers every day. As for the Pirates, effectively, they wished to verify they received one thing for Frazier throughout his career-best season. He will not be a free agent till after subsequent season, however he’ll even be 30 in 5 months, so this was most likely the very best his worth available on the market would ever be. 

So, what did the Pirates get again? The Padres are reportedly sending infielder Tucupita Marcano because the centerpiece of the deal, together with outfielder Jack Suwinski and pitcher Michell Miliano. 

Marcano has struggled in 50 plate appearances within the majors this season, hitting .182/.280/.205, however he was hitting .273/.367/.444 as a 21-year-old at Triple-A, and truly form of resembled Frazier within the minors. He struck out simply 101 instances in 256 video games whereas hitting .278 and enjoying three completely different spots alongside the infield. The contact expertise stand out, however the query is whether or not he’ll ever be capable of hit for sufficient energy or steal sufficient bases to be way more than a fringe Fantasy choice. With simply six homers and 4 steals in 44 minor-league video games this season, he is most likely finest left for NL-only leagues, although he might be fairly beneficial there if the Pirates play him on a regular basis. And they need to — in any case, they will be sending $1.4 million again to the Padres to offset the price of Frazier’s contract. 

Suwinski has already hit a career-high 15 homers in 66 video games this season as a 22-year-old at Double-Some time additionally strolling a career-high 16.9% of the time, making his strikeout-prone method extra palatable. Perhaps he will get a style of the majors later this season if he retains hitting, however Suwinski appears to be only a very, very deep league prospect for these of you in Dynasty codecs. 

Miliano is a 21-year-old reliever who has 59 strikeouts in 30 innings this season, although with simply 4.1 coming at Excessive-A, he is most likely somebody who might be ignored in all codecs.