8 Dynasty Fantasy Baseball Players To Fade For 2025


Image credit: Chris Sale (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
Just about every fantasy baseball manager has a list of players they tend to avoid for one reason or another. While this can sometimes be purely irrational, it’s when those reasons are backed with statistical data and expert experience that a dynasty manager can make smart decisions to keep a successful roster humming along year after year.
Knowing that, Geoff Pontes and Dylan White have put together their own list of players they’ll be fading in 2025.
Fantasy Baseball 2025: Rankings, Sleepers & Dynasty
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Check out the full list below, which includes a mix of production drop-off candidates, overpriced youngsters and aging stars nearing the twilight of their careers.
Alec Bohm, 3B, Phillies
Bohm has been a contributor and steady source of RBIs, knocking in 97 in each of the past two seasons. Despite that production and some higher batting averages, Bohm has found himself unable to surpass the 20-home run plateau as a major leaguer. His underwhelming power production has me looking at other options at first and third base. While Bohm is a solid floor player, he fits into a profile that has a capped ceiling. He’s a corner infielder that contributes in batting average and RBIs—and nothing else. Given Bohm’s age (28) and value, you’re better off going in another direction. [Geoff]
Spencer Steer, 1B, Reds
After a 2023 season in which he hit .271/.356/.464 with 23 home runs and 15 stolen bases, Steer was a popular sleeper for 2024, especially given his multi-positional eligibility. To his credit, he lived up to those expectations in 2024, homering 20 times and stealing 25 bases (though his batting average and OBP slipped to .225/.319.) While he still has 1B/OF eligibility in 2025, he does not play either position particularly well, and his potential for full-time at bats is more at risk with the full-season return of Matt McLain and Christian Encarnacion-Strand. Under the new managerial regime, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that, at the first signs of a slump, he loses playing time, especially because he is not a defensive asset. Although he is only now in his offensive prime and much more likely to put up the same offensive numbers that I outlined above as hopeful outcomes for Miguel Vargas and Tre’ Morgan, there is increased precarity in him being able to sustain it over multiple years that does not seem to be accounted for in his current cost. [Dylan]
Willy Adames, SS, Giants
After a career year in 2024, I’m highly suspicious of Adames repeating that season again. Always a solid source of power from the shortstop position over the years, Adames stealing 21 bases in 2024 nearly doubled his career total. I doubt he repeats most of his 2024 numbers, but the 21 stolen bases is especially unlikely to ever happen again. Adames is a solid player overall, but ideally you can find middle infield options with higher upside. [Geoff]
Marcus Semien, 2B, Rangers
For the fourth year in a row, the Rangers second baseman had over 700 plate appearances while topping 20 home runs and 100 runs. In 2025, Semien should bounce back from his poor season and once again be an above average hitter with 20+ home runs and 10+ stolen bases, but at age 34, relying on him to continue to be one of the premier stat accumulators for the next few years is becoming riskier and riskier. [Dylan]
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF, Cubs
It was a very solid second half for Crow-Armstrong as he started to show something at the plate. While I buy into the skills long term, over the next few seasons, I view him as a fringe asset. He’ll certainly provide some stolen bases, but there’s no true 25+ home run upside, outlier bat-to-ball or on-base ability to cling to. It’s always a risky bet to gamble against young major leaguers with a long leash due to strong defensive capabilities, but I’m not buying. [Geoff]
Nick Castellanos, OF, Phillies
For the second straight year, Castellanos hit 23 or more home runs with 166 or more runs plus RBIs for a first division team. The bad news is that, heading into his age-33 season, he has had three straight seasons—and essentially full seasons at that—never having accrued more than 1.5 fWAR in any one campaign. He’s one of the worst defenders in the league and, if not for Kyle Schwarber, the Phillies would have moved him to DH years ago. It’s not going out on a limb to identify a hitter entering his mid 30s who is a near-replacement level player in real life as someone to be avoided in dynas–and it’s a drive to deep left field…. [Dylan]
Chris Sale, SP, Braves
Look, it was a great season for Sale as he captured his first Cy Young Award and won the NL pitching triple crown. Despite this, I’m less likely to buy in on a repeat performance. It’s not due to any decline in skills but rather a skepticism around his ability to stay healthy. Back spasms kept him off the Braves’ roster for the Wild Card Series, and it could be a sign of things to come. Sale is entering his age-36 season, and with his health history the past six years, I’d look elsewhere for a reliable veteran starter. [Geoff]
Kevin Gausman, SP, Blue Jays
In 2023, Kevin Gausman threw 185 innings and struck out 237 batters. In 2024, his fastball’s velocity was 0.7 mph slower and, in a near-equivalent 181 innings, his strikeouts plummeted to 162. His xERA, an estimator on the ERA scale modeled from the quality of batted balls yielded, ballooned from 3.85 to 4.71, while his xFIP and SIERA also added essentially an extra run year-over-year. Most of it can be attributed to the fact that his killer splitter didn’t garner the chases that it used to. In the three years prior, Gausman elicited chases in the top 10% of the league, but in 2024, his chase rate was barely average. Whether he was tipping pitches or just becoming predictable is not clear, but at the age of 34, it is probably too risky to invest assuming a bounce back due to seasonal variance. If you have him on your roster, you may need to hold, but if you don’t, trade for him only if you understand that 2024 might have actually been the beginning of the decline period. [Dylan]