Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios
Baseball probably isn't coming back any time soon. Fantasy baseball, on the other hand, can still live on. And in that life, interested parties — like myself — have stumbled upon a strategy to adapt to our new reality.
The state of play: Without the pandemic, we'd be exactly one week into the 2020 regular season right now. But with the season delayed, certain players' fantasy values could change drastically.
What they're saying: Jared Diamond and Andrew Beaton explored this idea for the Wall Street Journal:
"Both experts and casual players say this bizarre situation has led them to new strategies that had never previously been considered. Injured players are suddenly a great value. Young pitchers who were going to have their seasons cut short because of team-imposed innings limits are a giant market inefficiency."
My take: I'm in two leagues myself, and though one postponed the draft indefinitely, the other took place as scheduled on March 21. While making my selections, I considered the uncertain, but definitely shortened season.
- Padres starter Garrett Richards hasn't pitched a full season since 2015 and only returned from Tommy John last September, but when healthy he's shined, so I took a flier on him in the 20th.
- Orioles slugger Trey Mancini is a top talent, but just two days before our draft he underwent surgery to remove a malignant tumor that will keep him out a while. But with plenty of time to recover, a rival manager drafted him pretty close to where he'd been projected to go pre-surgery.
Go deeper: How an inconsistent baseball threatens trust in MLB