Another question about upgrading my team

[Red Leader]

Here is my roster:

C- Varitek
1B- Klesko
2B- Durham
SS- Garciaparra
3B- Alfonzo
OF- S. Green
OF- B. Giles
OF- J. Cruz
UTIL- K. Millar
UTIL- C. Crawford
UTIL- F. Thomas
Bench- A. Ramirez

SP: R. Johnson
SP: M. Prior
SP: J. Schmidt
SP: J. Vazquez
SP: K. Benson
RP: E. Guardado
RP: K. Foulke
P: Ramon Ortiz
P: M. MacDougal
Bench: T. Lilly


I was thinking about packaging Ramon Ortiz and Frank Thomas to either land a good hitter, or another good pitcher.

These are the hitters I'm going to try and package these two in trade: B. Abreu, L. Walker, G. Sheffield, B. Williams and J. Damon. (I'm trying to get someone that will get a lot of hits and have a good avg.)

The pitchers I'm going to target will be: T. Hudson, K. Wood, Od. Perez, and M. Mussina. (Don't neccessarily need P's that have good K numbers, but need low ERA and Wins)

If I do a trade for a hitter, I have to pick up a pitcher on the WW. Available pitchers are: J. Santana, B. Radke, B. Myers, R. Rodriguez (CLE), D. Dreifort, H. Ramirez, and K. Ainsworth.

If I do a trade for a pitcher, I have to pick up a bat:
Available hitters are: O. Vizquel, J. Phelps, S. Finley, M. Kotsay, A. Huff, and B. Wilkerson.


Which should I target the hitter or the pitcher, and who should I pick up off the wire? Like to hear opinions from all....

[Red Leader]

I'm really starting to run out of patience with Aramis Ramirez. He has looked horrible at the plate. He has Giles in front of him and hot hitters like Randall Simon and Reggie Sanders behind him, and yet he has done nothing. His plate discipline has looked horrible as well, posting a 3/10, BB/K rate. Someone in my league just dropped 1B Derrek Lee and I'm thinking about dropping Ramirez for Lee. Would this be a good move on my part? I need more players on my team that hit for average, and get on base. While Lee is no definate .300 hitter, I think his average will be higher than Ramirez's. I'm also considering a trade of Mike MacDougal for Randy Winn. I'd really like to get someone like Sheffield, C. Jones, G. Anderson, Manny, M. Ordonez, or an upper tier OF like that, but no one seems to be biting on a MacDougal / F. Thomas combination in return for them. I picked up Isringhausen and he is on my DL, so MacDougal is not needed for my team. I'm going to gauge the other teams intersts in a Isringhausen / F. Thomas combo to see what that would get me.

[Red Leader]

Another trade offer I was sent:

I get OF Luis Gonzalez for DH Frank Thomas and RP Mike MacDougal.

Not sure whether to accept this or not. If I accept and I get Derrek Lee off the wire my team would be:

C - Varitek
1B - Klesko
2B - Durham
SS - Garciaparra
3B - Alfonzo
OF - Giles
OF - S. Green
OF - L. Gonzalez
UTIL - Millar
UTIL -J. Cruz, Jr.
UTIL - C. Craword
Bench - D. Lee


SP - R. Johnson
SP - M. Prior
SP - J. Vazquez
SP - J. Schmidt
SP -K.Benson
RP - K. Foulke
RP -E. Guardado
P -Ramon Ortiz
P -Ted Lilly
Bench: Open
DL -J. Isringhausen

With the open spot on my roster until Izzy comes off the DL I was thinking of picking up Johan Santana, Kurt Ainsworth, or Rocky Biddle. The only problem with picking up Santana is that once Izzy is healthy I'd have to drop Santana to activate Izzy, unless I can do another 2-1 trade.

Would this be a good trade for me. MacDougal is just on my roster to keep Izzy's spot warm, so I'm not concerned about dealing him. His value is probably as high as it will go all season.
I expect Gonzalez to outproduce Thomas in AVG, HR, RBI, SB, TB, 3B, and be better in K's.

[LvJ]

I would do the Gonzo trade for sure. You don't need Macy as you have two closers (one on the DL) and as you said, expect Gonzo to outproduce the big hurt. I say go for it.