Fantasy Baseball Impact Of Top Players Moving Leagues: Shohei Ohtani, Josh Hader, Sonny Gray
Cam takes a look at the huge impact some of this offseason's moves have had on a certain type of fantasy baseball league.
In baseball, there are a slew of fantasy leagues a person can join. You can join an AL or NL-Only league, or play in an interleague. You can play Head-to-Head, or Rotisserie. You can draft in different ways, usually either Snake or Auciton. And you can alter long you hold onto players, playing in a Redraft, Keeper, or Dynasty league.
For anyone playing in a Redraft league (traditional fantasy, where you select an entirely new team each year), the offseason doesn’t matter much, especially if you play in an interleague, which includes both the AL and NL player pools. And even if you are in an AL or NL-Only league, you don’t care that much about offseason moves. Sure, if you’re in an AL-only league, you may care a little that Shohei Ohtani switched to the NL because you enjoyed him being in your draft pool, but other than that, it’s no big deal.
The leagues where offseason moves matter the most are AL or NL Keeper or Dynasty leagues. Typically, in these leagues, if you have a player and they switch from the AL to the NL or vice versa, you lose them. Every offseason, a handful of free agents sign with a team in the opposite league. If you have them and were prepared to keep them, you no longer can.
This offseason, there seems to be an inordinate number of free agents who switched leagues. I may be hypersensitive and noticing it more this year because a surprising amount of these players were on my league-specifc teams, but I think there has also just been greater movement in general.
As I mentioned, I have been a big victim of all the inter-league movement this offseason. I have lost Ohtani, Eduardo Rodriguez, James Paxton, and Teoscar Hernandez. When you lose that much talent in the offseason, there is a ton of work to be done at the draft.
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Here are the top 15 free agents who signed with the opposite league this offseason. if you have any of these players and have now lost them, I’m sorry.
Top MLB Free Agents That Switched Leagues
- Shohei Ohtani: Los Angeles Angels to Los Angeles Dodgers
- Josh Hader: San Diego Padres to Houston Astros
- Eduardo Rodriguez: Detroit Tigers to Arizona Diamondbacks
- Sonny Gray: Minnesota Twins to St.Louis Cardinals
- Seth Lugo: San Diego Padres to Kansas City Royals
- Jordan Hicks: Toronto Blue Jays to San Fransisco Giants
- Marcus Stroman: Chicago Cubs to New York Yankees
- Michael Wacha: San Diego Padres to Kansas City Royals
- Teoscar Hernandez: Seattle Mariners to Los Angeles Dodgers
- Frankie Montas: New York Yankees to Cincinnati Reds
- Craig Kimbrel: Philadelphia Phillies to Baltimore Orioles
- Luis Severino: New York Yankees to New York Mets
- James Paxton: Boston Red Sox to Los Angeles Dodgers
- Aroldis Chapman: Texas Rangers to Pittsburgh Pirates
- Martin Perez: Texas Rangers to Pittsburgh Pirates
