FF Baseball League Trade 4/29/2009

Buc Fever acquires Carlos Beltran:
Needing offense I think Buc Fever made a nice trade in acquiring Carlos Beltran.  Beltran has been knocking the cover off the ball this season and is looking like the player the Mets expected to get when they signed him to a big deal 4 years ago.  To get something you have to give something.  He parted with Cole Hamels, who was actually the second best pitcher on his team behind Tim Lincecum, and Shane Victorino.  Trading something you have an excess of for something big that you need is how you win at this game.

arepooandasstaken2 acquires Cole Hamels and Shane Victorino; Drops Andre Ethier:
This team was really hurting for a star pitcher and acquiring Cole Hamels will take care of that.  Since this team acquired two players for one, it was required to drop a player to make the trade complete and the dropped player was the hot hitting Andre Ethier.  Without Beltran and Ethier, the offense of this team has taken more of a downgrade than maybe expected.  Shane Victorino swung a very hot bat this past weekend but up until then only had 5 RBI in 14 games.  He's a great source of runs and has a sweet spot in the lineup between Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley, but I don't think around 60 RBI and 100 runs will replace Ethier.  This team still has Miguel Cabrera, Ian Kinsler, Nick Markakis, Lance Berkman and Justin Morneau, but I think the value of this offense went down more than the rise in value of the pitching staff.

Trade Analysis: 
I think this trade will ultimately favor Buc Fever.  I think arepooandasstaken2 lost too much offense in exchange for one pitcher.  While it did address a need, it cost them a lot and I don't know if making big roster moves is a good idea when you're at the top or near the top of the standings.  Buc Fever on the other hand still has a pretty good pitching staff and once everyone gets healthy will have a pretty solid offense as well.

What do you guys think?  Who came out on top?

Posted Apr 29 2009, 07:00 AM by Nick Fruscello
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Comments

Buc Fever wrote re: FF Baseball League Trade 4/29/2009
on Thu, Apr 30 2009 12:12 AM

I thought the actual trade was a good one for both teams, but the dropping of Ethier kinda tipped it in my favor (though, not so much in MY favor...thanks to Barry's Juice who used a waiver claim to pick up Ethier...I was waiting for him to hit FA).

I really did need offense, since injuries and slow starts have just decimated my team. Texiera has been disappointing so far...everyone's hitting HR's in the new Yankee Stadium...why not Tex?! I think he'll pull out of the funk, after all, I did expect him to be in contention for the AL MVP this year hitting in the Yanks stacked lineup. But he needs to do it fast if I'm gonna get out of the cellar!

Geovony Soto is KILLING me right now. He's hitting like .046 and is just playing terrible. Add in Vlad Guerrero hitting the DL and Ramirez not playing, but not on the DL...and with no bench spots, that's a combo that I figured was going to keep me in last place for a while unless I pulled the trigger and brought in some more offense.

I'm happy to have landed Beltran, but it was hard to part with Hamels. He's had a rough start (noticing a theme here?) but he'll surely bounce back and rack up the points as the Phillie's ace. I went from having probably the top rotation, to moving back to the middle of the pack...so the price was steep. I am hoping that Clayton Kershaw can continue to rack up the K's and the W's playing for the Dodgers. ERA and WHIP (where he is getting KILLED) don't really matter much the way this league is set up, so if he can average 8-9K/9innings and get 12-15 W's, I think I'll be OK.

I'm surprised that he dropped Ethier to be honest. He's got Miguel Cabrera, who is 1B and 3B eligible, along with Lance Berkman as his utility guy. I would have dropped Figgins at 3B, moved Cabrera to 3B and put Berkman on first...then moved Ethier to the Util spot. But, then again I'm not 100% sold on Ethier either, so who knows. I just know he's better than about everyone on my offense right now! lol

Nick Fruscello wrote re: FF Baseball League Trade 4/29/2009
on Thu, Apr 30 2009 10:02 AM

I'm sure it was hard to part with Hamels, but you got back some much needed offense in Beltran.  Guys like Soto and Tex, you just have to wait it out unfortunately.  Its tough to watch guys struggle in the early part, but remember, there's still 5 more months of this thing to go.  I was in a points based league three years ago had a HUGE 700+ point lead at the All Star break and watched it get wittled down to 2 points (thank you Ryan Howard) before being able to pull away.  

I did the same thing earlier this season when I dealt Webb for A-Rod.  Trading your extra pitching depth to significantly improve your team is a great move.  I think Kershaw will only get better over time, my only concern with him would be will he get better with the Dodgers.  I could potentially see them sending him back to the minors, rather than getting touched up in the majors.  At the very least, he'll be a good source of K's.