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Opening Time: Jays and Rockies make a roto trade, swap Tulowitzki for Reyes (and prospects)

Opening Time: Jays and Rockies make a roto trade, swap Tulowitzki for Reyes (and prospects)

While it’s a seismic move in the real baseball world, the Troy Tulowitzki-Jose Reyes deal isn’t nearly as important to fantasy owners. The two key players are universally owned and their values don’t change much. Nonetheless, we should offer up a few thoughts before we move onto subtler things.

I’ve been out on Tulowitzki for a few years now, worrying about his injury risk and whatnot. You know what you’re signing up for with him. I give his fantasy value a minor boost in Toronto, now that he’s in the hitter’s league and with a better lineup around him (the best lineup in baseball, of course).

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The risk of Toronto’s cruel turf is partially mitigated by the fact that Tulo can also DH now and again. I also think it’s possible Tulowitzki will be more encouraged to play through injuries down the stretch, now that he’s back on a contender. Sometimes there’s a bounce after being released from Purgatory.

The Rockies probably screwed up waiting so long to make a Tulowitzki deal; consider what the haul might have been a year or two ago when Tulo had a better public rank and reputation. Here’s one way to frame that: a year ago, Dave Cameron of Fangraphs ranked Tulowitzki No. 6 on his trade value column - that includes the weight of Tulo’s contract. Cameron pondered if Colorado might get a “Herschel Walker trade” someday.

This summer, Tulowitzki didn’t make it into Cameron’s Top 50. And no, Reyes and some prospects is not a Walker payday.

The Rockies figure to shop Reyes aggressively this week, and into August if necessary. He’s carrying a meaty contract, too, which lowers what Colorado can ask for but also means Reyes is a good bet to clear August waivers if needed. While Tulo’s defense has slipped notably (both in the eyes of scouts and on the metric scoreboard), Reyes’s has fallen completely off the table. Surely the contending clubs have noticed.

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If I were shuffling bats right now, I’d have Tulo in the $22-24 range, and Reyes around $19-21. If I knew Reyes were in Colorado for good, take the high side of that.

With Reyes gone, the Jays have an opening in their leadoff spot. Fantasy owers would love to see 2B Devon Travis get another look there. If that move comes to fruition, Travis gets a $2-3 bump on my sheets.

LaTroy Hawkins is also headed north, but he's none of your concern. Roberto Osuna has been fine in the closing chair. Hawkins is just a support guy. As you were.

As for the pitching prospects Colorado gets, let’s pray for all of them. I wouldn’t wish Coors Field on my worst pitching nightmare (Mat Latos sighs relief). Jeff Hoffman was the ninth overall pick in last year’s draft, but he’s also coming off Tommy John surgery. Maybe Miguel Castro will be something down the road; the Jays clearly rushed him as a 20-year-old earlier this spring. Jesus Tinoco is the third piece; he has a 4.25 ERA in the minors, nothing above Single-A.

We should also mention Colorado infield prospect Trevor Story, the team's presumed shortstop of the future. Take a look at his minor-league stats. If Reyes gets moved, the 22-year-old Story could have 2015 value.

The Eck (1993 DT)
The Eck (1993 DT)

• From a fantasy perspective, Monday’s trade between the A’s and Mets has a little more relevance. Tyler Clippard heads to New York (where he’ll set up for Jeurys Familia), and that means the A’s have a ninth-inning opening.

Now we have to play the stats-versus-role game. From a numbers view, Fernando Rodriguez has been the best of Oakland’s bullpen (a 3.60 ERA belies a terrific strikeout and K/BB rate). Edward Mujica has a mediocre 4.13 ERA over two stops this year and doesn’t miss bats (6.4 K/9) like Rodriguez does, but he also has previous closing experience. Sometimes that matters to teams, sometimes that does not.

Of course, the 2015 A’s aren’t going anywhere, so the organization doesn’t have to stay up nights worrying about this.

Evan Scribner? He’s too homer prone for me to bet on him. Sean Doolittle? I hope he makes a strong 2016 comeback, but I’m writing him off for this year. Why would the A’s push him when the season is shot?

In some leagues where I had all Oakland options available to me, I took a stab at Rodriguez. If nothing else, I'm most confident he'll give me innings of value. But obviously the handshake is the main thing we want, and maybe a lesser arm like Mujica could do just fine if handed the push-button role. Share your speculation thoughts in the comments.

• Let’s give a Wiggy nod to the job Matt Duffy is doing in San Francisco. If the Giants had any idea Duffy was this good, they wouldn’t have bothered negotiating at all with Pablo Sandoval last winter.

Duffy had a good-field reputation at Long Beach State, but he didn’t hit much: .253/.305/.289, zero homers in 501 at-bats. His bat perked up during three seasons of minor-league seasoning, but he still didn’t show much pop (.304/.387/.413, 13 homers in 248 games). Duffy opened 2015 as a super-utility player for the Giants, while journeyman Casey McGehee was the regular third baseman.

San Francisco gave up on Hits McGehee (.213/.275/.299) a while back, finally releasing him in July. Duffy, meanwhile, has grabbed the third-base job with two hands and turned into a surprising Rookie of the Year candidate. He’s on a .330-22-3-13-2 run since stepping into the No. 3 spot in the order, having a blast with the National League’s second-best offense.

If I were ranking infielders right now, I’d have Duffy around $15. He qualifies at three infield positions (2B, SS, 3B), does a little bit of everything, and is an easy story to root for. Strangely, he's still unowned in about 40 percent of Yahoo leagues.

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