The Fourth of July is a special time, amirite? The country celebrates its Independence Day, some of us get a three-day holiday weekend, there’s plenty of tasty food cooking up on the grill and, of course, the fireworks. But for many of us in the fantasy community, July 4 also signifies the industry shift from baseball to football. I may not be a fan of the early push towards the NFL, but as a fantasy baseball player, I have certainly found ways to take advantage and exploit it.

I’ve said it a million times – to win a fantasy baseball championship, it takes knowledge, skill, tenacity and dedication. But any knuckle-dragging mouth-breather can get lucky and win a fantasy football title. No one lucks into a fantasy baseball championship. With all of the injuries, waiver periods and the extensive player pool, you need to be vigilant. You need to know all the news, stay current on all the latest streaks and trends and there is definitely no taking time off from following the games.

But while fantasy football may only occupy your time two or three days a week, its players are as ravenous as they are abundant and that pushes NFL coverage to seven days a week, 365 days a year. Most of the offseason stuff is nothing but beat writer fluff and coach speak, but the closer we get to Week 1, the more intense people get. And once we get to the Fourth of July and SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio shifts its programming more towards football, we start to see the attention dwindle in our fantasy baseball leagues. 

Most of the folks who are in the bottom half of their baseball standings start to check out. Coming back from a 30-point deficit with half a season to go becomes a much more daunting task for some and the promise of a fresh start for their fantasy football league is all they need to check out mentally. Waiver wire deadlines get missed, roster changes are forgotten and from there, a shift in the standings begins to occur. It’s not an overnight change, but within a matter of a few weeks following the All-Star Break, you really start to notice teams at the top grabbing points you may not have expected as the bottom-feeders plummet even further.

While quitting midway through a season is garbage, if it means giving my team a boost in the standings, I’m going to do everything I can to help make it happen. Yeah, that’s right – I’m not saving anyone from the ledge. I’m giving them a push and you should too. If I see a team teetering on the brink of giving up because they would rather do a best-ball football draft, focus on their Scott Fish Ball draft and/or stare at player rankings for the next two months, then I am going to fully encourage it. Hell, I’ll even join in a few of those drafts just so they feel like they have a buddy supporting them.

But seriously, if you start to see this happen in your league – people missing waiver weeks, stuff like that, it’s time to target them in trade talks. Nothing says “I give up” than making a bad deal because you just don’t care. I’m not saying be egregious with your offers – you have to make them look fair, right? But start floating people in the bottom half of the standings some trades that make sense for you. As for them? Who cares? If they don’t then why should you. Usually, I will tell you to look closely at someone’s team before making an offer and give them something they need. But if they’re likely to quit on the league, then who cares what they need? You’re not doing anything wrong and you aren’t breaking any rules. 

There is nothing that says you can’t trade with a guy who is at the bottom. Maybe he has nothing to gain, but if the deal is fair, that’s all you need. People will piss and moan, don’t get me wrong. But unless you have an unscrupulous commish who doesn’t want to see you succeed because he/she is vying for the title as well, the deals should go through. Again, don’t get greedy and start pushing for bad deals. These folks may be quitting on the league to give football their attention but they’re not a bunch of morons. Or maybe they are. It’s a win-win, baby!

Quick Cuts

It looks like the Rays are calling up Vidal Brujan, so if you’ve been stashing him like we told you to weeks ago, your time is now. If you don’t have him and he is available, pick him up as soon as you can. Don’t worry if he gets off to a slow start. He’ll turn things around and should prove to be a valuable fantasy asset. 

Oh yeah, and don’t forget about Josh Lowe either. He’ll be another one to stash, for sure.