Fantasy Baseball Winners and Losers Following 2019 MLB Trade Deadline

The Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals were the most active teams before the MLB trade deadline hit Wednesday afternoon.

Both National League East franchises focused on improving their bullpens, and over the last 48 hours, each side made a trio of additions. 

Washington bolstered its relief unit in front of closer Sean Doolittle, while Atlanta brought in a more reliable ninth-inning man in Shane Greene as its top acquisition. 

Few of Wednesday's deals were as massive as Tuesday's three-way trade between Cleveland, Cincinnati and San Diego in which Trevor Bauer was sent to the Reds. 

All of the moves that occurred over the last few days will have an impact on fantasy baseball owners and decisions they have in mind regarding certain players for the rest of the season. 

In some cases, like Doolittle's, the deadline action boosted their fantasy value, but others had more concerns raised about their potential impact over August and September.

Winners

Sean Doolittle, RP, Washington

Washington was not shy about bolstering its bullpen in front of Doolittle, as it chases down the Atlanta Braves in the National League East. 

Doolittle has been the best reliever on the Washington roster with a 6-2 record, a 2.86 ERA and 54 strikeouts compared to 11 walks. 

Although he has been effective, Doolittle has 23 saves in 45 appearances, but the ratio of games to saves should improve after the additions of Hunter Strickland, Daniel Hudson and Roenis Elias. 

Entering Wednesday, Washington's four most-used relievers outside of Doolittle all had an ERA over four and three of them conceded more than 20 earned runs. 

Strickland is the riskiest of the three acquisitions since has been out for most of the season with an injury, but he returned to the mound Sunday and pitched a scoreless inning for the Seattle Mariners. 

Elias provides the Nationals with closer experience and a left-handed arm to mix in front of Doolittle. 

The southpaw acquired from Seattle should improve Washington's seventh and eighth inning numbers against right-handed bats, as opponents have a .182 batting average against Elias. 

Hudson is an experienced right-handed arm that should help provide a change of pace between Elias, another setup man and Doolittle. 

Hudson is 6-3 with a 3.00 ERA and the concession of 16 earned runs over 45 games, which is a favorable stat for Washington's contention. 

By bringing in a trio of relief pitchers, Doolittle is going to be able to focus on the ninth inning only. In July, he made two outings that consisted of four or more outs. 

With improvements made at the back end of the game, the Nationals should produce more leads for Doolittle to work with, which should lead to a larger number of save opportunities. 

Hunter Renfroe and Wil Myers OF, San Diego

Tuesday's three-team deal that landed Bauer in Cincinnati and Franmil Reyes and Yasiel Puig in Cleveland should benefit the outfielders on the San Diego Padres roster. 

With Reyes offloaded from San Diego to Cleveland, Hunter Renfroe and Wil Myers should have more chances to shine at the plate. 

When Reyes was part of the roster, four quality outfielders were fighting for three spots, and now both corner positions in that part of the field could be occupied by Renfroe and Myers on a consistent basis. 

Renfroe has the chance to move up the San Diego order in an attempt to replace the power void left by Reyes. 

The 27-year-old has 29 home runs and 58 RBIs in 98 games, but there could be concern about his percentages with a .237 batting average and .296 on-base.

Myers' appearances have been more sporadic throughout July, but he should have a full chance to regain his position in the order with Reyes in Cleveland. 

The 28-year-old holds a four-game hitting streak in his possession, and he has three doubles during that span. 

If Renfroe and Myers take advantage of their growing chances at the plate, they should be able to provide fantasy owners with impressive numbers in August and September. 

Losers

Luke Jackson, RP, Atlanta

Luke Jackson carried value in fantasy leagues because of his closer role with the Atlanta Braves, but that could change after the trade with Detroit for Shane Greene. 

Jackson has 17 saves over 46 appearances with a 3.60 ERA and 19 walks to go along with 67 strikeouts. 

The lack of saves in Jackson's high number of games made him a less-than-ideal relief option in the first place, but now that Greene is likely to take ninth-inning opportunities away from him, he could be dropped by some owners. 

Jackson gave up five earned runs in two games against the Nationals in two of three appearances prior to Wednesday, which already sparked concern for some of his owners. 

The 27-year-old did not help his case by giving up two runs in the ninth inning against the Nationals Wednesday just hours before the deadline. 

Greene has a 1.18 ERA and 22 saves in 38 appearances, and the biggest difference between himself and Jackson is the five earned runs he has let up in 2019. 

Since he has strummed up plenty of concern with his recent outings, Jackson might not be a valuable option on fantasy rosters.

Will Smith, RP, San Francisco 

The San Francisco Giants found themselves in a pickle Wednesday, as they measured their playoff chances while trying to get value in return for coveted trade assets. 

By the time 4 p.m. ET passed, the Giants, who are 2.5 games back in the wild-card, had a weaker bullpen than they started the day with. 

San Francisco held on to Will Smith, Sam Dyson and Tony Watson, but lost a key cog in Mark Melancon in a deal with the Braves. 

Melancon was 4-2 in 43 appearances that spanned 46.1 innings before he was shipped to the NL East.

In his last eight appearances, Melancon did not concede an earned run over 8.2 innings. Two of those recent outings featured the right-handed throwing two frames against Colorado and the New York Mets. 

Dyson and Watson are still reliable options to have in front of Smith, but if either of them slip up, it could lead to the left-handed pitcher entering games early, or losing out on save opportunities. 

Smith has been forced to work multiple innings once in 2019 partly due to the strength of arms in front of him in the late-inning order out of the bullpen. 

The Giants' closer is still a solid fantasy option, but based off the moves that happened ahead of the deadline, he is considered a fantasy loser because he lost support with his team going after a playoff position.

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.

Statistics obtained from Baseball Reference.