Fantasy Baseball: When Buy Low Goes Awry

One of the most important things for a fantasy baseball manager to do is keep your eyes open for deals. Slumping players tend to be great candidates for buy low opportunities. Maybe the player is hurt, maybe his owner doesn’t trust him, or maybe he’s just having a slow start. Regardless, if your team needs a boost a buy-low candidate could pay off in the long run.

But, as with anything, the buy low strategy doesn’t come without its risks. There’s always the possibility the player in question won’t bounce back the way you expect or hope. Sometimes the injuries are just too much to overcome, sometimes the age catches up with you, and sometimes things just don’t work out in your favor.

Such may be the case for struggling slugger Adam Lind. Fantasy owners and the Toronot Blue Jays alike have to be incredibly disappointed in Lind’s performance this season: an average of .186, three home runs, and eleven RBI to date. And that’s only scratching the surface, Lind hasn’t performed at all this season. These stats are coming from a man who has gone from a career high WAR (wins above replacement) of 3.6 in 2009, to a WAR of -0.7 this season. The low WAR is off from his career low of -1.3 in 2010, and is just one of the stats that had some people trying to buy low on Adam Lind.

But things went even worse for Adam Lind and his fantasy owners today as the Blue Jays dropped the slugger to Triple-A in favor of Yan Gomes, who is set to make his major league debut tonight. While this is far from the end of the line for Lind, it is concerning to see a 28 year old struggling this hard to put it together. You have to believe that when Lind does get the call-up, fantasy owners will need to take a wait and see approach before putting in a waiver claim.