Two weeks is too soon to panic. At least that’s what worried fantasy baseball managers tucked down the standings will try to remember before blowtorching their rosters.
It’s human nature to fret when things go poorly. When a lineup that seemed perfect before Opening Day can’t buy a hit, even an experienced player will get antsy. The savvy gamer, however, will ultimately stay calm and instead test his or her peers’ nerves.
Everyone inevitably jumps to faulty conclusions in April, when the sample sizes are smaller than a scaled-down Jose Altuve. We’ll look back and laugh at these premature conclusions, but the benefit of hindsight doesn’t exist yet. What does exist are players batting over .500 and pitchers with an ERA below 1.00.
For now, let’s assume the competition doesn’t consist of complete idiots. If someone is foolish enough to worry about Mike Trout, great. Nobody will fault an opportunistic owner for checking the pulse of whoever rosters the superstar, but it’d take a real novice to panic-trade him.
Let’s also give them enough credit not to offer Jeremy Hazelbaker for an All-Star. While the St. Louis Cardinals outfielder should be owned by now, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll fetch a strong return on the trade market. Also, anyone expecting a Trevor Story sell-high slide should click here first.
Proactive managers looking to make early moves should target these guys as buy-low and sell-high candidates.