Help me with this trade!

[Red Leader]

I'd send him an email telling him to call me when he decides he needs saves.

Hang onto those extra closers for a couple of weeks. You might get extremely lucky and catch 6 or 7 extra saves from them. Then you can make a more advantageous deal.

Yeah, I just sent him an email along those lines. Told him to make me an offer when he's done drinking and that I wasn't giving up Bay, Utley, or Victor Martinez for Hafner, and wanted to move one of my closers for a bat. If he didn't want one of my closers, then I was going to move on to a different team to try and find a hitter.

I just got an email back that says "I'll look at your team again...."

[Red Leader]

Another trade just got accepted in our league:

3B Hank Blalock and SP Mark Mulder for OF Manny Ramirez.

[Red Leader]

Still waiting for a reply....

[Red Leader]

He countered back with OF Coco Crisp and RP B.J. Ryan for DH Travis Hafner.

A very tempting offer, but I didn't want to lose my best, and most consistant RP. Hmmmm. What to do.

I used my excellent negotiation skills and said "hey, you have Gagne, why don't you DL Gagne and take Baez, that way IF Gagne does come back, you've got that position covered, you can just drop Baez and you'll already have Gagne, or drop Gagne at that point if he's not going to be put back in the closers role...

He took it.

So, I ended up dealing OF Coco Crisp and RP Dennys Baez for DH Travis Hafner, a no-brainer of a trade for me, and I couldn't be happier about that trade

[Buckeye33]

Another trade just got accepted in our league:

3B Hank Blalock and SP Mark Mulder for OF Manny Ramirez.

This trade better be vetoed. That is a horrible horrible trade. That's a trade someone who has 2 teams in a league would try to pull off.

As far as your trade, you did quite quite well. Hafner is incredibly useful in your league settings. Baez means nothing for you, and now you can even pick Gonzalez back up now that you dealt away 2 for 1.

So really, you traded Crisp and Baez (who you got for nothing off waivers) for Hafner and Gonzalez..

You should seriously pick Gonzalez back up, that allows you even more trade possibilities with all your closers. He is going to have a very good year for the Pirates.

[Red Leader]

You should seriously pick Gonzalez back up, that allows you even more trade possibilities with all your closers. He is going to have a very good year for the Pirates.

Shhhh! I was planning on it.

Either that or pick up Kelvim Escobar, who I dropped for Papelbon.

[Buckeye33]

Red Leader, you and I seem to answer a lot of questions in this forum and I like a lot of the ideas and issues you bring up.

So I am going to ask you about one of my teams. This is the league I want to win the most since it has all friends in it. Bragging rights, etc.

R-HR-RBIs-AVG-E-BB-SB

ERA-W-SV-K-BB-HR-CG

Here is the team:

C- Willingham
C- R. Hernandez
1B- Lee
2B- Weeks
3B- Wright
SS- Reyes
OF/1B- Dunn
OF- Holliday
OF- Winn
OF- Mench
Util- Hafner
2B/3B- Polanco

SP- Buerhle
SP- Patterson
SP- Haren
SP- Lackey
SP- O. Perez
SP- Blanton
SP/RP - Papelbon
RP- Nathan
RP- Hoffman
RP- Gonzalez

My thoughts are that I need to add a stud starter to really round out my team. An Oswalt-Halladay type. Now that I have picked up Papelbon, if he does become the permanent closer in Boston, I feel I could package a starter and a closer and try to get a stud starter.

My other thought would be that Willingham is going to become OF eligible soon and that would allow me to have an excess amount of OFers. That could also allow me to possibly move Dunn for a really good starter.

Anyways, what are your thoughts? I am also pretty content to ride it out for awhile because I believe I have a very good team over the long haul. It will pretty much come down to if my younr starters can turn the corner and become consistent.

[Red Leader]

Sorry, I left work before seeing this.

You start 2 C's? If so, moving Willingham to OF probably isn't a good idea. If not, I wouldn't move Dunn, I'd move Willingham to a team that needs a catcher. Probably package him with a closer and you could get your #1 starter. Buerhle is good for the CG's. I still have hope that Patterson will take it up a notch from last year, and if so, he could be scary good. Haren has potential to improve on last year as well. O.Perez, I'm assuming is Oliver, and he's going to be up/down a lot, but in the end, better than last year.

I do think you need a #1 starter, but I think you'll be fine until your players establish enough value to get you one, though.

As I've said in other threads, Rickie Weeks is going to go gangbusters on the league this year. He's a good pick. Lee, Wright, Hafner, and Dunn are top players, and that foursome should win you a lot of matchups by themselves. I really think your offense is solid. Only question marks I have are Kevin Mench and Randy Winn. I think Winn can produce like he did last year, and I think Mench can do a little better, but I'd have guys tagged on the waiver wire in case they do start to fade.


Yeah, my idea would be to package Willingham and a closer to get your stud pitcher if you don't start 2 C's. If you do start 2, then I'd probably go toward trading a starter (maybe Patterson if he's not stepping up enough - he'll struggle to get wins as well) and a closer go get the #1.

[Red Leader]

Alright, so I made this trade last Friday.

OF Coco Crisp and RP Dennys Baez for DH Travis Hafner.

Two hours after the trade was accepted (about 5:30pm Friday) news broke that Gagne may only miss 2 months following surgery (hurting Baez's value). The next day Coco Crisp injured his hand. It is now being reported that Crisp might miss 4-6 weeks with a broken knuckle. Both news items came after the trade was accepted, but I feel bad. I feel like I ripped him off for some reason. Should I offer to take Crisp back and give him Wilkerson or Matt Holliday in exchange? What would you do? I'm not obligated to do anything. He accepted the trade for those two players and they got hurt after the trade was accepted. Hafner could have just as easily broken his leg and missed the rest of the season and he problably wouldn't have done anything to compensate me. Just not sitting well with me, and I don't want the rest of the league thinking I made a lopsided trade and gave him a player that isn't going to be useful after the All-Star break, and another player who may not play until close to the All-Star break. Your thoughts?

[Buckeye33]

I personally would not worry about making up for an injury that happened after you made the trade. Like you said, Hafner could have easily and still could go down for the year just as easily as Crisp can/did.

Personal feelings can't be brought into fantasy baseball. You did nothing wrong and bad luck hit for the other guy.

Also, I can't see Gagne just coming back and being 100% healthy and taking over for Baez, especially if Baez does well in the role.