Get ready to gobble prospects

ON SEPT. 1, the day MLB active rosters expand from 25 to 40 players, fantasy baseball owners are going to feel like contestants scrambling around one of those wind-blown, cash- g rab booths. Teams in playoff contention will fortify their bench depth and rotate in numerous minor league hopefuls to keep the starters healthy while nonplayoff teams will use the final month to audition youngsters who are on the cusp of major league readiness. Your fantasy waiver wire is going to see a massive influx of talent and your job is to sift through the array of names and find the most-talented ones with the best chance at regular playing time.

There are two ways to go about this. Imagine your cash-grab booth has hundreds of singles swirling about and someone drops in a small stack of $100 bills. You can grab as many bills as possible and hope to find a few of the larger denominations in your fistfuls of cash or you can methodically hunt down the bigger bills, trading quantity for quality.

The important thing to note, regardless of which method you choose, is you cannot be afraid to employ the revolving door for your roster. For every Rafael Devers or Rhys Hoskins headed to the majors next month, you’re going to find countless Jarrett Parkers. Not everyone called up has the hot-shot pedigree and not everyone is going to produce right away. You have to understand there is no time to wait on upside anymore. If a player doesn’t perform in that first week, find someone who will.

Just remember: Opportunity is your primary concern. Players cannot offer you fantasy production if they don’t have a regular opportunity on the field. That means a player with less talent on a bottom-feeding MLB team could prove more valuable than a high-end prospect who logs time on the bench for a playoff contender. Your $100 bills are more likely to be wearing a Phillies uniform than that of the Yankees.