Just like targets and sleepers, fades are a part of fantasy life during the draft season. Often it’s the ADP that cools us to a candidate, or surrounding factors. Sometimes it’s more directly tied to the player himself.
Let’s examine a few players I’m unlikely to write tickets on this month. And if these are your favorite guys, no worries — that’s why we have a game. It’s a marketplace of opinions.
[Draft your Yahoo Fantasy Baseball team for the 2026 MLB Season]
Plenty of name players are listed in this column, and that’s also standard for a useful fades piece. What’s the point of telling you not to draft someone outside the top 200? The ground rules set, let’s steer into some fades.
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3B José Ramírez, Guardians (7.3 ADP)
Ramírez has been remarkably consistent into his 30s, and he’s coming off his two busiest seasons with respect to stealing bases. He also plays a thin fantasy position, so what’s not to like? Well, his supporting cast, for one. The Guardians ranked 28th in runs per game last year and Ramírez is the only top-150 player in the current Cleveland batting order. You want your early picks to be insulated by their lineups.
3B Junior Caminero, Rays (16.3 ADP)
Although Caminero’s homer output was evenly split home and away last year, we can’t ignore that he slashed .313/.358/.595 at stand-in Steinbrenner Field, but just .218/.266/.477 at home. The Rays are returning to their refurbished dome for 2026, generally a poor park for offense, and Tampa Bay’s lineup around Caminero is also underwhelming. Regression feels likely, but the ADP remains in a lofty area.
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OF Corbin Carroll, Diamondbacks (17.9 ADP)
Carroll was a first-round staple in early drafts before suffering a broken bone in his right hand a month ago. It’s possible he could be ready for Opening Day, but does the power return right away? Will the hand issue discourage Carroll from stealing bases? I never want to be the injury optimist in my leagues, and it’s not like Carroll’s price has fallen that far anyway.
OF Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs (37.3 ADP)
PCA was a god in the first half last year (.847 OPS, 25 homers, 27 steals) and a slump-ridden player in the second half (.216 average, six homers, eight steals). Left-handed pitching was a problem all year, too (.188/.217/.376). While Crow-Armstrong’s outstanding defense should keep him in the lineup every day, it’s possible he could downshift to the bottom third of a deep Chicago lineup. And given how poor his plate discipline metrics are (high strikeout count, low walk rate, poor chase rate), you worry about collapse risk with his batting average.
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SS Mookie Betts, Dodgers (38.5 ADP)
Betts already has a Hall of Fame resume punched and the depth of the LAD lineup will buoy his run production. But Betts is also coming off a pedestrian offensive season (104 OPS+, an eyelash over league average) and his stolen-base rate was the lowest in 11 seasons. Betts shows signs of decline entering his age-33 season, and I’d like most of my early picks to be on front-9 players.
OF Yordan Alvarez, Astros (36.9 ADP)
He has the batting eye of an angel but the knees of an old man, costing him chunks of time for five straight years. The current Houston lineup is probably its weakest in a decade, especially with Jeremy Peña now hurt.
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SP Chris Sale, Braves (38.9 ADP)
He’s rebuilt his career nicely since joining Atlanta, but he’s also moving into his age-37 season, which makes me nervous. And although starting pitchers are asked to work less all through baseball, Sale in particular is difficult to trust for a full season. He’s qualified for the ERA title (162 innings or more) just once in the past seven years (excluding the pandemic year). I need more workload upside if I’m drafting an early pitcher.
SP Dylan Cease, Blue Jays (70.8 ADP)
His last three seasons are remarkably similar — tons of strikeouts, and an ERA that’s significantly above what the ERA-estimators suggest. When a pitcher does that ERA trick once, we call it bad luck. For three straight years, maybe it’s simply part of Cease’s profile. His walk and homer rates were also moving in the wrong direction last year, and he no longer has Petco Park to hide some of his mistakes (although Toronto should support him with a plus defense).
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