Sometimes in fantasy baseball, all it takes is a trade for an uber-prospect’s value to change dramatically one way or another. The question with Seattle’s new C/DH Jesus Montero now is: Which way will the trade swing his value?

Montero immediately becomes the Mariners’ top hitter in terms of their lineup and overall future value, but playing for an offense-challenged team in a pitchers’ ballpark is going to be drastically different than playing in the bandbox that is Yankee Stadium with one of the league’s top offenses.

I think the difference here may be playing time and pressure. Seattle manager Eric Wedge plans to keep his bat in the lineup nearly every day by playing him at catcher and DH and the Mariners can even play him higher in their lineup. The Yankees, however, would probably have played him towards the bottom of the order and would have been more likely to sit him during a prolonged slump.

RotoAce thinks the trade will help him overall, though playing in Safeco will surely bring a hit to his power numbers. But as Adrian Gonzalez proved, playing in an extreme pitchers’ park doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t hit for power. Extreme talent always wins out. Plan for a nice .275-.280 average with 19-21 homers and 65-70 RBIs in his first year and those of you in keeper leagues can expect better numbers down the road.