Anal Hershiser receives:
Alex Avila, Ryan Vogelsong
Ring of Fire receives:
Jay Bruce
I like this move for Dagan, definitely. Bruce is still young and has tremendous power potential, as he’s shown in bursts thus far this year. While most expected this to be his breakout season and his bottom line reveals a breakoutworthy acknowledgement (61/22/67/7/.346), a lot of that production came during a short period of time he’s been way to up and down to really be considered broken through. Next year though, watch out. He’s still just 24 and has true five-category potential if you can be patient. Dagan has shown throughout his H&T career he can be very patient. Nice move capitalizing on the value of a couple of shrewd waiver wire pickups.
For Andy, I can see the thought process, but I just think he could’ve gotten more for someone I consider a potential high-end keeper for many years to come. Really, with all the teams looking to build up for the future, it would’ve been a great time to post a message stating you were interested in dealing Bruce and needed a catcher and a starter. My guess is Dagan, who was sitting with Mauer already, probably would’ve come knocking with something a little more powerful or reliable. Don’t get me wrong, Avila and Vogelsong have been great and have excellent overall numbers, but their lack of track record and/or pedigree make it difficult to project their continued production going forward, which is when you’ll need them most. Actually, it’s the only time you’ll need them, as they’ll both be in the draft pool and (in all likelihood) will be on a different team next year. While Bruce may be on his way to a 100/40/100/15/.360 line.
So, needless to say, Dagan definitely wins here in my mind, though Andy filled a gaping catcher hole with a very capable backstop.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
Trade Review - Montezuma and Billy Chapel
Billy Chapel receive:
Hunter Pence, Jair Jurrjens, Clay Buchholz, and Brett Lawrie
Montezuma’s Revenge receive:
Ian Kinsler, Francisco Cordero, and Brandon Beachy
A trade that could ultimately prove very beneficial to Troy, while helping my team fill a void. While Billy Chapel loses recently acquired keeper Kinsler, Pence is at about the same value point in most keeper rankings and is more durable, a year younger, and playing in an offense the likes of which have never been seen in Houston. Meanwhile, he acquired Jurrjens who, despite a recent hiccup, hasn’t seen his era go above 3 all year, has a whip under 1 for most of the year, and is a QS machine. He doesn’t K a lot, which keeps him from be a top-level keeper, but he’s certainly had a season worthy of keeper status. Acquired in the second to last round, he was one of my all-time greatest fantasy picks. Buchholz is less clear as a keeper, but he’s certainly played near that level since stumbling out of the blocks in April and should be fine by spring training. Lawrie, who was called up mere hours after the trade went down, could be the real catch here if he has a solid end to the season. All in all, Troy made out pretty well.
I, on the other hand, also did pretty well filling a second base slot that has been essentially useless thus far with the underwhelming BRoberts, JWeeks, EY Jr., AHill creating a statistical void outside of BRob’s first two weeks. Kinsler appears healthy, for now anyway, and is a former member of the 30/30 club who has had up and down OBP outputs. A bit of a risk while giving up one of the most reliable players in the game, but I have JUpton, CBeltran, CRasmus, and JBourgeois in the OF, so he was expendable. The trade also gets me to the roster structure I want with one bench hitter and lots of pitchers. And suddenly I have three closers for the first time this season (drafting FRodney/RFrankling/JMcGee didn’t quite work out). I actually think Beachy will outperform Jurrjens for the rest of the season as well, as he has the K upside and isn’t facing an innings limit.
So I like my lineup a bit more today and Troy got a bunch of good players for one keeper. Everyone’s happy.
Hunter Pence, Jair Jurrjens, Clay Buchholz, and Brett Lawrie
Montezuma’s Revenge receive:
Ian Kinsler, Francisco Cordero, and Brandon Beachy
A trade that could ultimately prove very beneficial to Troy, while helping my team fill a void. While Billy Chapel loses recently acquired keeper Kinsler, Pence is at about the same value point in most keeper rankings and is more durable, a year younger, and playing in an offense the likes of which have never been seen in Houston. Meanwhile, he acquired Jurrjens who, despite a recent hiccup, hasn’t seen his era go above 3 all year, has a whip under 1 for most of the year, and is a QS machine. He doesn’t K a lot, which keeps him from be a top-level keeper, but he’s certainly had a season worthy of keeper status. Acquired in the second to last round, he was one of my all-time greatest fantasy picks. Buchholz is less clear as a keeper, but he’s certainly played near that level since stumbling out of the blocks in April and should be fine by spring training. Lawrie, who was called up mere hours after the trade went down, could be the real catch here if he has a solid end to the season. All in all, Troy made out pretty well.
I, on the other hand, also did pretty well filling a second base slot that has been essentially useless thus far with the underwhelming BRoberts, JWeeks, EY Jr., AHill creating a statistical void outside of BRob’s first two weeks. Kinsler appears healthy, for now anyway, and is a former member of the 30/30 club who has had up and down OBP outputs. A bit of a risk while giving up one of the most reliable players in the game, but I have JUpton, CBeltran, CRasmus, and JBourgeois in the OF, so he was expendable. The trade also gets me to the roster structure I want with one bench hitter and lots of pitchers. And suddenly I have three closers for the first time this season (drafting FRodney/RFrankling/JMcGee didn’t quite work out). I actually think Beachy will outperform Jurrjens for the rest of the season as well, as he has the K upside and isn’t facing an innings limit.
So I like my lineup a bit more today and Troy got a bunch of good players for one keeper. Everyone’s happy.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Trade Review - Cowhide and Donkey
Donkey Punchers receive
Derek Holland, 12th rounder
Cowhide Joyride receive
Ted Lilly, 11th round
Smart move by Dave at this point to start selling off the pieces for minor draft upgrades. He could make some nice headway over the course of the next 10 days. Although, he might’ve been able to get more for Holland if he waited until after his next start. The thing with Holland, as someone who suffered the pains along with the great success, is he is by far the most volatile pitcher in the league. He can go from a complete game shutout with 10ks to two-thirds of an inning and seven earned runs. That was the main reason he was jettisoned from my roster, as I don’t want to have to deal with him delivering a death blow. The volatility issue may be what makes it or breaks it for Chris, with guys like McDonald, Holland, Gallardo, Cahill, and Carpenter. Even stable guys like Hudson, Karstens, Garcia, and Marcum can only reduce the risk so much. But considering the options, yeah I’d definitely rather have him than Lilly, whose been nothing short of dreadful this year despite being healthy. So definitely a good move for Chris.
Derek Holland, 12th rounder
Cowhide Joyride receive
Ted Lilly, 11th round
Smart move by Dave at this point to start selling off the pieces for minor draft upgrades. He could make some nice headway over the course of the next 10 days. Although, he might’ve been able to get more for Holland if he waited until after his next start. The thing with Holland, as someone who suffered the pains along with the great success, is he is by far the most volatile pitcher in the league. He can go from a complete game shutout with 10ks to two-thirds of an inning and seven earned runs. That was the main reason he was jettisoned from my roster, as I don’t want to have to deal with him delivering a death blow. The volatility issue may be what makes it or breaks it for Chris, with guys like McDonald, Holland, Gallardo, Cahill, and Carpenter. Even stable guys like Hudson, Karstens, Garcia, and Marcum can only reduce the risk so much. But considering the options, yeah I’d definitely rather have him than Lilly, whose been nothing short of dreadful this year despite being healthy. So definitely a good move for Chris.
Trade Review - Prestige and Cowhide
Cowhide Joyride receive:
Brendan Ryan, Glen Perkins, 7th rounder
Prestige Worldwide receive:
Billy Butler, Andrew Bailey, 10th rounder
Nice move by Lars to replace two stinkers with legitimate category threats, while only having to eat three rounds. Dave has definitely proven to be the discount shopping center compared to Casten and may have been able to get more for the twosome, but you can’t blame him really. He too will have a fun time drafting next year and considering his keepers address some of the most shallow positions (2B, SS, 3B, C), he’ll be in good shape to fill in the holes. Meanwhile, Lars has done a nice job addressing some problem spots on his roster through a couple of trades with Dave. Neither Ryan nor Perkins belong anywhere near a playoff roster, while Butler is a great UTIL guy and Bailey is a nice third closer.
Brendan Ryan, Glen Perkins, 7th rounder
Prestige Worldwide receive:
Billy Butler, Andrew Bailey, 10th rounder
Nice move by Lars to replace two stinkers with legitimate category threats, while only having to eat three rounds. Dave has definitely proven to be the discount shopping center compared to Casten and may have been able to get more for the twosome, but you can’t blame him really. He too will have a fun time drafting next year and considering his keepers address some of the most shallow positions (2B, SS, 3B, C), he’ll be in good shape to fill in the holes. Meanwhile, Lars has done a nice job addressing some problem spots on his roster through a couple of trades with Dave. Neither Ryan nor Perkins belong anywhere near a playoff roster, while Butler is a great UTIL guy and Bailey is a nice third closer.
Trade Review - Urban and Grumpy
Urban Achievers receive:
Desmond Jennings, Matt LaPorta, 8th rounder
Grumpy Munchkins receive:
Fracisco Liriano, Josh Tomlin, 2nd round
Ugh. It doesn’t reach the level of the Weaver deal, but this makes no sense. Desmond Jennings is a nice player, but he hasn’t reached keeper status yet. As well as he’s played, he’s had a cup of coffee before and failed miserably. Don’t get me wrong, I do like him, especially in an OBP league, but would I take a chance and draft him before the sixth round next year? Not a chance, no matter what numbers he puts up. But the real crime here is giving up the second round pick. For a team that called it a season earlier than anyone else, I would expect Dan to be in better shape at this point. No, he doesn’t have to be Dave and Casten, nor doesn’t he have to publish a menu of prices for the crumbs left on the plate, but the fact that he doesn’t have a 2nd or 3rd round pick heading into next year is ridiculous. Meanwhile Casten has five (count em – 5!!) 2nd rounders and won’t be drafting past the 8th round now. Makes me almost want to give up and trade off parts. Dave only called it a season 10 days ago and he’s in great shape. There’s still time, so hopefully Dan makes the most of it or he may just find himself rebuilding again a year from now. On Casten’s end, he continues to use this opportunity to the best of his abilities and will no doubt be disappointed come the Aug 14th deadline. The smartest thing he’s done is continue to be active on the waiver wire front and has turned several of those pickups into pick upgrades. As someone who loves to find his sleepers in the draft, it’ll be interesting to see if Casten reaches for some players in the draft because he really won’t be drafting at all when the gold nuggets are found in the latter stages of the draft. He’ll be fast asleep, or looking at his roster and rubbing one out.
Desmond Jennings, Matt LaPorta, 8th rounder
Grumpy Munchkins receive:
Fracisco Liriano, Josh Tomlin, 2nd round
Ugh. It doesn’t reach the level of the Weaver deal, but this makes no sense. Desmond Jennings is a nice player, but he hasn’t reached keeper status yet. As well as he’s played, he’s had a cup of coffee before and failed miserably. Don’t get me wrong, I do like him, especially in an OBP league, but would I take a chance and draft him before the sixth round next year? Not a chance, no matter what numbers he puts up. But the real crime here is giving up the second round pick. For a team that called it a season earlier than anyone else, I would expect Dan to be in better shape at this point. No, he doesn’t have to be Dave and Casten, nor doesn’t he have to publish a menu of prices for the crumbs left on the plate, but the fact that he doesn’t have a 2nd or 3rd round pick heading into next year is ridiculous. Meanwhile Casten has five (count em – 5!!) 2nd rounders and won’t be drafting past the 8th round now. Makes me almost want to give up and trade off parts. Dave only called it a season 10 days ago and he’s in great shape. There’s still time, so hopefully Dan makes the most of it or he may just find himself rebuilding again a year from now. On Casten’s end, he continues to use this opportunity to the best of his abilities and will no doubt be disappointed come the Aug 14th deadline. The smartest thing he’s done is continue to be active on the waiver wire front and has turned several of those pickups into pick upgrades. As someone who loves to find his sleepers in the draft, it’ll be interesting to see if Casten reaches for some players in the draft because he really won’t be drafting at all when the gold nuggets are found in the latter stages of the draft. He’ll be fast asleep, or looking at his roster and rubbing one out.
Trade Review - Donkey and Urban
Urban Achievers receive:
Mariano Rivera, Russell Martin, 9th rounder
Donkey Punchers receive:
Yovani Gallardo, Mike Napoli, 12th rounder
Nice move by Chris to push Mo off as a keeper after Bell didn’t end up being traded. Gallardo has had an up and down season and remains very volatile, but the overall line (3.69era/1.32whip/124k/15qs) is still high quality. And Martin has predictably hit a massive cold streak after being fantasy’s top catcher for the first couple months. Napoli doesn’t play everyday, but sometime’s it more valuable to have an empty spot than someone that just sits their and chews away at your OBP day in and day out. And when Napoli is hot, there are few better. Chris solidified his staff without giving away much of a draft pick and avoided having to carry five closers. Meanwhile, I really don’t like the move from Urban’s point of view, namely because I don’t every condone keeping closers in a six keeper league (no, not even Mo). But that’s my strategy; at least he’s not sitting on his hands.
Mariano Rivera, Russell Martin, 9th rounder
Donkey Punchers receive:
Yovani Gallardo, Mike Napoli, 12th rounder
Nice move by Chris to push Mo off as a keeper after Bell didn’t end up being traded. Gallardo has had an up and down season and remains very volatile, but the overall line (3.69era/1.32whip/124k/15qs) is still high quality. And Martin has predictably hit a massive cold streak after being fantasy’s top catcher for the first couple months. Napoli doesn’t play everyday, but sometime’s it more valuable to have an empty spot than someone that just sits their and chews away at your OBP day in and day out. And when Napoli is hot, there are few better. Chris solidified his staff without giving away much of a draft pick and avoided having to carry five closers. Meanwhile, I really don’t like the move from Urban’s point of view, namely because I don’t every condone keeping closers in a six keeper league (no, not even Mo). But that’s my strategy; at least he’s not sitting on his hands.
Trade Review - Anal and Ring of Fire
Anal Hershisers receive:
Vance Worley, 13th rounder
Ring of Fire receive:
RA Dickey, 6th rounder
Nice move by Dagan to maximize value on a shrewd waiver wire pickup, while not really taking much of a downgrade. In a league that counts wins, this is a nice gain for Anal, but Worley really isn’t that much better than Dickey, both are regression candidates, and neither are considerably better than players on the waiver wire. Worley has never been viewed as much of a prospect, so the likelihood of him keeping up the ace pace is unlikely. Dickey finished last year strong and could prove to be very valuable if he does that again. Meanwhile, the 6th brought along guys like Bourn, Beckett, Anibal, CPerez, Adam Jones, Valverde, and Kendrick. It’s a little easier to make judgment on trades where both teams are in contention because they’re less likely to work for both teams. In this case, I’ll take Dagan’s side.
Vance Worley, 13th rounder
Ring of Fire receive:
RA Dickey, 6th rounder
Nice move by Dagan to maximize value on a shrewd waiver wire pickup, while not really taking much of a downgrade. In a league that counts wins, this is a nice gain for Anal, but Worley really isn’t that much better than Dickey, both are regression candidates, and neither are considerably better than players on the waiver wire. Worley has never been viewed as much of a prospect, so the likelihood of him keeping up the ace pace is unlikely. Dickey finished last year strong and could prove to be very valuable if he does that again. Meanwhile, the 6th brought along guys like Bourn, Beckett, Anibal, CPerez, Adam Jones, Valverde, and Kendrick. It’s a little easier to make judgment on trades where both teams are in contention because they’re less likely to work for both teams. In this case, I’ll take Dagan’s side.
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