4 buy-low aces to trade for now

OK, maybe “replacements” is overselling it a bit. Let’s be honest: For fantasy baseball owners who drafted him this year, there’s no replacing the rare combination of upside and consistency that Tarik Skubal brought, nor is there any replacing the opportunity cost of a first-round pick. Losing the Detroit Tigers lefty for at least a couple of months — and quite possibly longer — to an elbow procedure is a huge blow, no doubt.

But it doesn’t have to be a death sentence — at least, not if you’re willing to get proactive. Sure, you could simply pay full freight for another ace, but that would almost certainly blow a hole in your fantasy lineup that could do more harm than good. You could fill Skubal’s roster spot with someone off the waiver wire, but unless you’re in the shallowest of eight- or 10-team leagues, that’s unlikely to give you the upside you need. If you want to give yourself a chance to not just survive but maybe even thrive while Skubal is out, though, you need to look for diamonds in the rough, buy-low candidates with ace-like potential who might be available for less due to slow starts this season.

RHP Eury Perez, Miami Marlins

Stuff is not the problem for Perez. We know this because, under the hood, his stuff is every bit as electric as it was when he set the league on fire as a rookie in 2023: a fastball that sits in the high 90s paired with a hard, biting slider.

The reason the young righty has an unsightly 4.46 ERA and 1.38 WHIP so far in 2026 is command, or more precisely a lack of it. That manifests in both an ugly walk rate that puts men on base and hard contact after falling into hitter’s counts. I’m not here to tell you that the command problem can be ignored, or that it’s going to go away any time soon; there’s a chance that it takes the rest of the year or even longer.

But what I am here to tell you is that an arm this talented is going to take off sooner or later, and when it does, he could be a legit SP1 for fantasy purposes. Getting that sort of potential for pennies on the dollar if his current owner has soured on him is the sort of risk you need to take when you’re scrambling after an injury.

RHP Logan Webb, San Francisco Giants

This is a bet on track record, pure and simple. It hasn’t been the start Webb owners had expected, with a 4.30 ERA and 1.36 WHIP across his first seven starts. But the righty’s profile is about the same as it’s always been; this is simply the sort of blip on the radar that you occasionally get from a sinker-baller who pitches to contact and is thus vulnerable to fluky dips in batted-ball luck.

Unlike Perez, Webb is by no means a one-for-one replacement for Skubal. His WHIP will always be on the high side, and you shouldn’t expect anything more than an average K rate at best. He’s been one of the most consistent starters of this decade, though, and the odds are good that he’ll get back to his usual metronomic effectiveness sooner rather than later. Especially if you’re in a quality starts league, you could do a lot worse.

RHP Bubba Chandler, Pittsburgh Pirates

In a lot of ways, you could simply copy and paste what I wrote about Perez and apply it to Chandler. Like Perez, there is no doubt about the electricity of Chandler’s right arm; we saw it down the stretch of his rookie season last year, when he allowed just two runs on seven total hits with 19 strikeouts across his final three starts, and you see it every time you watch him pitch. Also like Perez, though, Chandler has disappointed so far this year, with an ugly 4.97 ERA and 1.48 WHIP largely fueled by a 15.4-percent walk rate that ranks him in the ninth percentile of all starters.

Again, I’m betting on the pedigree, and on the fact that this sort of stuff is going to play eventually. If you want floor, Chandler isn’t your guy. But if Skubal’s absence has you chasing ceiling, Chandler could provide it in spades if he locks in.

RHP Spencer Strider, Atlanta Braves

If the Strider owner in your league is looking to cut bait after his bumpy debut start, be ready to buy low. Yes, the final line was ugly, and no, the fastball wasn’t anywhere near where it was during his heyday. But coming back from injury at Coors Field is about as tough an ask as you’ll find, and Strider still managed to generate plenty of swings and misses. It was the five walks that did him in, and you have to think the command will improve as he shakes off the rust.

As will the fastball velocity. Strider was ticking up as spring training came to a close, only to be shelved due to an oblique issue. He’s only going to get better from here, and while I don’t think we’ll see a 2023 stat line out of him (much less 2022), he should be an above-average starter who will give you Ks and win potential on a very good team.

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