This week I’m going to cover some good buy low and sell high candidates in your league. These suggestions would be or one year leagues only, in general you should be looking for guys who are hot now and do not have the history that would suggest they will keep it up all season long. Locate those guys and trade them now while they are at their peak. Also look for players who have traditionally done well and are struggling and buy them while a fantasy manager is hitting the panic button.

I’ll start with the group of buy low guys. To start off with I’m going to name guys that you wont be able to buy cheap in terms of what you give up, but they should come at a cheaper price than they would of preseason. The top two guys in this category are Prince Fielder and David Ortiz. Prince has yet to hit a home run so far this season which would suggest that another 50 HR season is very unlikely. However 40+ is still within reach and 50 is not completely impossible at this point. Ortiz is struggling mightily at the plate. His batting average was under .100 until recently. On a nationally televised game on ESPN the analysts were discussing how Papi is opening his shoulder early and it’s leading to his struggles. Here is the thing, Papi is a great player, a smart player, he will figure things out and continue to be one of the best sluggers in the game. Hopefully there is a guy in your league who is looking to ship these guys off for a hot bat. Odds are you will have to give up some big named guys to get one of these guys but hey, you are getting top two round talents here.

A few more names to look for on the cheap end of the trade block are Jason Bay, Erik Bedard, Dan Uggla and AJ Burnett. Bay is a guy who was a 2nd round pick two years ago, however following a horrible season last year (for his standards) and a slow start to this year, people are probably ready to deal him off at a steep discount. Erik Bedard might be joining fantasy managers’ trade blocks really soon as he has struggled to stay healthy this year, and dealt with injury last year. His injuries this year have all been minor and should not effect his pitching ability when he does get back. Word out of Seattle is that he will not have to go on DL. Dan Uggla is underrated because he doesn’t hit for a good average. He will hit for an average above .250 and the key is his 30 HR power from the 2b position. Go get him now before he starts hitting all his long balls. AJ Burnett is a guy who is always undervalued because of his injury history. There is no doubt you need to take that into consideration this year as well. However what most people don’t realize is that he only missed a few starts last year and had a great sub 4.00 era and a very solid 160+ Ks. Treat him as an above average #2 guy and you might be able to pay for him as if he is a #4.

Some guys I would look to sell high right now are Mark Reynolds, Zach Grienke, Justin Upton, Nate McLouth, and Xavier Nady. Reynolds will likely have a very long career and be quite productive. However the guy has the tools to be a consistent 25 HRs a year not the 35 he seems to be showing now. Greinke has all the tools of being a very high quality pitcher in the near future, however right now he looks like a fantasy ace, and if someone is willing to pay for him like he is an ace, jump on it. He is capable of a very nice season this year, but he will not be a top 20 SP this year. Justin Upton is arguably the most talented player under 25 in all of baseball and he is off to a great start to this season. However, he will not keep up this pace. He could put up very quality numbers and sit around a 20/20 season. If you ask most people what they’d predict after these first two weeks you might get a few 35/25 predictions…those are the guys you want to deal Upton to. McLouth is off to a great start to the season but this guy is not a power hitter and is not a real candidate for 25 HR. This is the type of guy who will end the season with 10-15 HR and 25-30 SB. If you can find someone who values him as a 25 HR hitter with speed, dump him. Xavier Nady is one of my personal sell high players every year early in the season. This guy is probably the best April baseball player in league history. Over the last few seasons it seems like every year he gets off to a great opening month hitting close to 10 HR for the month. Then he gets hurt or slumps and ends the season with 15 HR. If you can get anybody to give you anything that is dependable for this year, I’d pull the trigger.

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