How trade deadline could change pitchers’ fantasy baseball fortunes

If you’ve ever played the board game “Risk,” you know it relies on rolls of the dice to determine the outcome of battles. It’s a game of chance in which even a player with a superior number of troops can still lose to a lucky roll of the dice.

Trade deadline moves are no different than playing “Risk” as general managers roll the dice on new acquisitions, hoping they will be the missing pieces needed to achieve their ultimate goal: Conquering the world!

You could say the Blue Jays rolled the dice Thursday acquiring Shane Bieber, who has not pitched in the majors this season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. It is a bold move, but the payoff could be huge — for fantasy managers, too.

Think about it: How often do you get the opportunity to add a former Cy Young winner to your fantasy rotation this late in the year, even if it is for, maybe, 10 starts (some of which may be on the short side) after a likely mid-August return?