Fantasy Baseball Trade Analyzer: These big-name hitters may be worth moving this summer
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After all, the manager either drafted this player or added him via the waiver wire because they believed that the player could be successful. When they see their predictions coming to fruition, they feel validated and want to see the season through to the end. However, there are times when a player is outperforming even the optimistic predictions the manager had for him, and the right move is to trade the player away before he experiences regression.
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This week's article is solely comprised of hitters who are off to terrific starts in 2025 but are likely to take a step back this summer. I'm not saying they are 'must trade' players, but I believe their managers would be wise to see what they could fetch on the trade market. There could be league mates who are watching their season slip away and will be happy to swap slumping superstars such as Gunnar Henderson or Mookie Betts for packages that include a player who has been excellent thus far.
Byron Buxton, OF, Minnesota Twins
Buxton has been undeniably excellent this year. Despite missing two weeks due to a concussion, the five-tool outfielder has been the 10th most productive fantasy outfielder by hitting .273 with 12 homers, 12 steals and 42 RBI in 55 games. Still, there are reasons to be concerned that Buxton will leave fantasy managers high and dry at some point in the season, as his 102 games last season were his highest total since he played 140 games in 2017. Managers may be wise to trade the career .247 hitter for someone who is more likely to remain healthy all summer.
Jeremy Pena, SS, Houston Astros
Many managers would be surprised to know that Pena has been the third-most valuable player to this point in the season at a loaded shortstop position. The 27-year-old deserves plenty of credit for utilizing his 97th percentile sprint speed, and he could post his first 30-steal season. But the rest of his production has been impacted by a .356 BABIP and 12.5% HR/FB rate that doesn't line up with his 88.1 mph average exit velocity. There are plenty of shortstops who have thus far been less productive than Pena but should be better the rest of the way.
Jacob Wilson, SS, Athletics
This one is tough for me, because I love Wilson. In fact, in our preseason Bold Predictions article, I predicted that Wilson would lead the AL in batting average. But the rookie is playing over his head right now, and could fetch a sizable trade return in some leagues. The youngster is not going to sustain his lofty .360 average, as his .364 BABIP doesn't line up with his mediocre marks in average exit velocity (86.2 mph) and line drive rate (21.3%). His eight homers are also a fortunate total for someone who doesn't hit the ball especially hard and has a lowly 25.3% fly ball rate. Wilson is similar to Pena, in that, he has been a top-6 shortstop so far but will likely be outside the top-12 from this point forward.
Hunter Goodman, C/OF, Colorado Rockies
Goodman continues to stay ahead of the pack at his premium position; his .285 average and 14 homers made him the second-most valuable catcher thus far. And this may be the perfect time to sell high on the 25-year-old who is playing his best (1.211 OPS) in June. Goodman is a regression candidate because he has outperformed his expected stats in most key areas, but that isn't the main reason I chose him for this article. The catcher position is unusually deep this year due to the emergence of several players, such as Goodman, pushing some of the usual stalwarts further down the list. I would be happy to trade Goodman for a good player at a different position and buy low on players who are outside the top-15 such as Adley Rutschman, Salvador Perez or Agustin Ramirez.
Jose Altuve, 2B/OF, Houston Astros
Altuve is a sell-high player in two ways. Not only is he having another productive season that includes a .270 average, 11 homers and six steals in 70 games, but he has been more effective in June than he was in April or May. The diminutive sparkplug often outperforms his expected stats, but it's worth noting that his 85.0 mph average exit velocity is a career-worst mark, and his .388 xSLG and .299 xwOBA are his lowest marks outside of the shortened 2020 season. I wouldn't force an Altuve trade, but I also wouldn't walk away from a reasonable offer.
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Hard work leading to improvement isn't uncommon, but the remarkable aspect of Koskie's story was how rapidly he progressed and how much room he had to grow from a non-baseball background. He was an average-ish third baseman by his second season, and by 2001 — Kelly's last year before Gardenhire took over as manager — Koskie was one of the league's better-fielding third basemen. Corey Koskie going all out in Game 1 of the 2002 ALCS…a 2-1 Twins win. #MNTwins — Jeff (@MNTwinsZealot) October 16, 2019 Koskie required no such improvement at the plate, hitting .310/.387/.468 as a rookie and topping an .800 OPS in each of his six seasons with the Twins. His offensive profile changed, as Koskie traded some batting average for power, but his production was consistent. In those six seasons, only Chipper Jones, Scott Rolen, Troy Glaus and Eric Chávez had a higher OPS among third basemen. 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Twins gift David Ortiz peanut butter in homage to epic prank. — theScore (@theScore) June 11, 2016 In addition to his strong defense at third base and consistently good production at the plate, Koskie was also known as a clubhouse prankster who pulled off his most famous trick on David Ortiz during spring training in 2002. As the story goes, Koskie was upset over some minor offense, so he went into the clubhouse during a game and filled Ortiz's underwear with peanut butter. Chunky, too. Later, a freshly showered Ortiz somehow got fully dressed — underwear, jeans, shirt, jacket, shoes — before noticing, at which point it was way too late. Years later, the Twins honored a retiring Ortiz during his farewell stop in Minnesota by having Koskie, Hunter, Gardenhire, LaTroy Hawkins and Eddie Guardado present him with a new jar of chunky peanut butter. It wasn't just pranks that made Koskie a popular teammate. Morneau, who later became a Twins leader himself, credits Koskie for taking him under his wing as a wide-eyed kid drafted out of Canada in 1999. They quickly bonded and years later, when Morneau was a top prospect invited to his first major-league spring training, Koskie was there to mentor him. They still play hockey together. 'He looked out for me and checked up on me in the minor leagues,' Morneau told The Athletic last year. 'My first big-league camp, I made plenty of mistakes. And he was there just saying, hey, you can't do this, you can't do that. There are certain ways you've got to conduct yourself. That's the way the game works. Everyone who's been there understands. They remember what it's like to be a rookie.' Advertisement Koskie probably remembered that rookie feeling more than most, since his path to the majors was anything but standard and his first manager wasn't shy about letting him know his fielding wasn't good enough. In response, he improved his defense as much as anyone in Twins history and emerged as one of the biggest driving forces for the team's return to prominence in the early 2000s. Gary Gaetti is almost universally regarded as the greatest Twins third baseman of all time. And for good reason. He spent 10 seasons in Minnesota, starred on the 1987 championship team, won four Gold Glove awards and has the eighth-most homers in Twins history. Gaetti is unquestionably an all-time Twins great and deservedly was inducted into the team Hall of Fame in 2007. Koskie is, at worst, the No. 2 third baseman in Twins history and has more of a case for the No. 1 spot than most fans would be willing to even consider. Gaetti played four more years and 67 percent more games in Minnesota, yet the career WAR in a Twins uniform is relatively close (27.1 to 22.1) because Koskie was far more consistently an all-around asset. Gaetti's production varied wildly from year to year, and he was a notorious free-swinger prone to terrible on-base percentages. He's most remembered for being a middle-of-the-order slugger on a World Series-winning team, but Gaetti was an above-average hitter relative to the league average in just three of 10 seasons with the Twins, whereas Koskie cleared that bar easily in all six seasons. Gaetti had a .744 OPS for the Twins at a time when the league as a whole had a .728 OPS. He was great from 1986 to 1988 but almost exactly average overall. By comparison, Koskie posted an .836 OPS for the Twins at a time when the league OPS was .771, and he topped the league-wide OPS by at least 40 points in every season. Koskie was a better hitter than Gaetti, often by quite a bit. In fact, Koskie was a better hitter than most everyone in Twins history. 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But there's also a reasonable argument to be made for Koskie, and the fact that would come as a shock to so many fans is evidence for his being vastly underrated. And now Koskie is deservedly joining Gaetti in the Twins Hall of Fame this weekend. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
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