Trade Advice

Feb. 18, 2007

Here are TheBaseballStars we take our jobs seriously. We like to give advice when we can, and we like to be entertaining. If you’ve been reading us for any length of time, you’ll know that we like to find a good balance of the two. That said, we recently answered an e-mail from Max, the first brave fantasy baseballer to sed a letter. You can read it at the bottom of the page. Let’s get started with two more letters.

Tim’s keepers 

How are you guys doing?  I just found your site and love what you guys are doing.  I have a question about keepers in my league.  I am in a 11 team 5×5 roto points based league.  We have 5 keepers, one of them has to be a pitcher but you can keep as many pitchers as you want.  My definite keepers are Hanley Ramirez, Carlos Lee, and Brandon Webb.  I am debating between Alex Rios, Garrett Atkins, Eric Bedard and Justin Morneau.  I would love to hear your opinion about which two of these four you would keep.
Thanks,
Tim

Sounds like a great league Tim.
TheBaseballStars has a similar format. You have a great core of guys in a steady Lee, the next big thing in Hanley and one of the most consistent pitchers in Webb. Work around your keepers. Who would best compliment Webb?

Bedard has better stuff than Webb and was on pace for the overall strikeout title before being shutdown in August. Pitchers are hard to come by in keeper leagues because pitching wins championships. Any keeper team can have a good offense, but only a select few have pitching. The Jon always likes to have two pitchers in his keeper pool, and you have two in the top 5.

Atkins just doesn’t do it for The Jon. He is a second-tier third baseman. He tanked in the first half in the season and needed a hot August to get numbers that look good at the end of the season but are inconsistent when put in a practical use in fantasy baseball.

Rios is the real deal and will produce upward numbers like he always has. Is he going to be a dominant five-tooler such as Alfonso Soriano was with Texas and Vladimir Guerrero was with the Expos? Probably not, but he is a steady player and nice keeper option when you have young team. But you have Carlos Lee, who is in his prime power-hitting phase. Which leads to  …

Justin Morneau. Morneau has already broken out and has proven to be a top 10 power producer. Whenever The Jon has won a league he has had a prime power spot at 1B. You need at least three top homer producers and you already have two. It is easier to draft one guy that has 40 homer potential than two.

So the keeper list: Webb, Hanley, Lee, Bedard. Good luck, and keep coming back.

There are some who call him …Tim:
I think everyone on this site would agree that Bedard is a must keep in your situation. The real question is Rios or Morneau. In keeper leagues like yours, its good idea to look at you opponents and determine who you think they might keep as well. If a lot of first baseman will become available, maybe you lean towards Rios. In a vacuum, I live Morneau a little better. True power hitting first baseman are not as easy to come by as they were five years ago. On top of that, he has good protection and guys that get on base ahead of him. Especially in an 11 team league, as oppose to 10, that is one less 1b available. While Rios does produce across more categories, you can find other outfielders who do what he does. Unless, you know there will be a first baseman there for you in the first round of your draft, I would keep Morneau.

Andrey’s proposed deal

Someone proposed this trade to me and I’m not sure if I should take it. I’m giving up Josh Hamilton and Dan Haren and he is giving me Ian Kinsler, Jonny Gomes, and Gary Matthews Jr.
My other starting pitchers are Dontrelle Willis, Carlos Zambrano, Andy Pettitte, Chien-Ming Wang, A.J. Burnett, and John Maine. And my other outfielders are Alfonso Soriano, Melky Cabrera, Jose Guillen, Cameron Maybin, and Joey Votto.

Andrey, this is what we call offering a bunch of crap for a fantasy stud. The guy that proposed the deal also had the guts to ask for a second player. Ian Kinsler, Jonny Gomes, and Gary Matthews Jr. suck. The only guy of any value is Kinsler, and he is not worth Haren. Haren is the ace of your squad. Dontrelle can get a lot of wins, but his ERA blows. Zambrano’s mindset is laughable and can implode at any minute. Pettitte’s needles and wife are liabilites. Wang is a workhorse but his WHIP is a killer. Burnett loves injuries and the verdict is till out on Maine’s effectiveness. With Haren, you have a scrappy and competitive staff.
Don’t bother with this offer.

 

Mad Max beyond Fantasydome

Max is new to fantasy baseball and is currently playing in a 12-team, 5×5, head-to-head league. He’s got two offers on the table. Here’s his team before the trades:

Offense:

C-Brian McCann; 1B-Ryan Howard; 2B-Dan Uggla; 3B-Josh Fields; SS-JJ Hardy; OF-Alfonso Soriano, Andruw Jones, Jeff Francoeur; Util-Paul Konerko; Bench-Ryan Garko, Garrett Anderson, Rocco Baldelli (put on DL and picked up Joey Votto) and Hank Blalock

Pitching:

SP-Erik Bedard, Brandon Webb, Rich Hill, Oliver Perez and Gil Meche; RP-Francisco Rodriguez, Francisco Cordero and Jason Isringhausen

 

 

 

The offers:

1) Ramon Hernandez, Carl Crawford, Cole Hamels and Brad Lidge FOR Brian McCann, Erik Bedard, Garrett Anderson and Jason Isringhausen.

2) Garrett Atkins, Phil Hughes, Dontrelle Willis FOR Hank Blalock, Brandon Webb and Oliver Perez.

 

TheBaseballStars responses:

 

Max, the way your team is set up, you’re basically punting stolen bases and batting average on a weekly basis, so Carl Crawford really is waste of time in your eyes … and he is the key to that deal. When you go head to head against other teams, you’re going to lose stolen bases with or without Crawford, so Deal. No. 1 makes no sense to me. Hamels is a nice name, but Bedard is better. And I’m sure you can tell that McCann is much better than Hernandez. Lidge for Izzy is a wash, especially since either one would be sitting on your bench.

 

As for Deal No. 2, I think you’ve got to pass on that one as well. The hold up here is Brandon Webb. He is a Top Five fantasy pitcher. Your offense is already set up to take care of homers and RBIs, so adding Atkins doesn’t really put you over the top … at least no so much that he is worth losing one of your two top pitchers. Having Bedard and Webb together will win you three or four categories a week. In a 5×5 league, you only need to win six categories to be victorious (this becomes more important in the playoffs.)

 

Player wise, Hank Blalock and Josh Fields will serve you fine for the time being, but you may want to see what other options are available through free agency or through trades. One guy you might want to consider moving is Konerko. Explore other trade options to obtain Garrett Atkins. Atkins is a good fantasy player, just not worth a top-of-the-line pitcher.

I would smack the crap out of whoever sent you those deals. Obviously they think they can get over on you since you are new to the greatest fake sport of all time. Max, you get on those boards and post those trades and tell them to stick it. Assert you authority Max, drop bolos and take names later. We at thebaseballstars will definitley have your back … well except for Newspaperman. He’ll show up to the brawl with flowers and a geetar in his hand. Peace. And good luck. Godspeed! Kick @$$!

Need trade advice like Max? Send us an email and we’ll post an in-depth response to most requests.