By The Jersey Hitman
League 6
League 17
This past Thursday afternoon at 4:00 PM ET was the MLB trading deadline. Tuesday, August 15, at Midnight, is the Mafia trading deadline. Many other leagues will also have their deadlines coming up very soon. Your last chance to make a trade is quickly approaching!
Like most everything else in life, you can find good, bad, and ugly in trades made. You try to get on the good end of a trade, but there is always a chance you will get the bad end. You just hope you don’t make an ugly trade. Like the dope who traded Daisuke Matsuzaka for Juan Pierre just one day before he went on the DL. What an idiot!
The Good: New York Yankee Trades
As a fantasy baseball GM, I am amazed at what Yankee GM Brian Cashman has managed to do this week. He has made trades to improve his ball club without giving up much in return. It is what we all strive to do in fantasy baseball but rarely get to do with such efficiency.
The Yankees had three glaring needs on their team. With the injury to Hideki Matsui, a need for a corner outfielder with a good bat arose. The need for a lefty out of the bullpen has been there all year. With one very good trade with the Pirates, both needs where filled.
OF Xavier Nady and LHP Damaso Marte go to the Yankees in return for four minor league players. None of the four are considered outstanding Major League prospects, while Nady and Marte are both enjoying very good seasons. Nady hit .330 with 13 HRs and 57 RBIs for the Pirates. Marte had recently been named the Pirate closer, due to Matt Capps injury. He was 4-0 with 5 saves, a 3.47 ERA, and 47 Ks in 47 innings.
Another need due to injury was catcher, due to Jorge Posada’s season ending shoulder surgery. The Yankees get future Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez for middle relief pitcher Kyle Farnsworth. While Farnsworth has been throwing well this season, and Rodriguez is no longer the same player he used to be, this is a very good trade for the Yankees.
Fantasy impact of these trades: Nady’s value stays about the same. While he joins a more potent Yankee lineup, he may find himself on the bench some days … especially if Matsui comes back later this month as a DH. Marte’s value takes a big hit. No longer a closer, he is now behind Mariano Rivera.
Rodriguez stays valued the same also. He goes from one big offensive lineup to another. Farnsworth is an interesting one. He moves into a beleaguered Tigers bullpen - where he may actually find some save opportunities. Todd Jones, now on the DL, lost his job to Fernando Rodney, who has been awful in the role so far.
The Bad: Jersey Hitmen Trades
I am no Brian Cashman. I have made some of the worst trades of the year. My James Shields for Hideki Matsui trade in the Writers’ League blew up after Matsui went on the DL. Yes, Gabriel. You were right!
Here’s another beauty of mine - in the MLB Radio Fans Sparky Anderson League, I had an embarrassment of riches at starting pitcher. Doing well in all categories except stolen bases, I decided to trade a starter for a base stealer. I traded away Daisuke Matsuzaka for Juan Pierre. One day later, Pierre was on the DL. Brilliant!
I have made some good trades also. Trading Jeff Francoeur for Kerry Wood has worked out so far. Nick Swisher for Garrett Atkins wasn’t bad. But it is the bad trades that stay with you. I look back at these trades and the same word keeps popping into my mind: IDIOT!!!
The Ugly: Keeper League Dump Trade
Trade deadline is coming up. Time for non-contenders to dump!
I love playing in the Fantasy Baseball Mafia keeper leagues. Teams get to keep up to five players from this season’s roster toward next season’s roster. It keeps a large portion of every league’s participants interested for most of the season.
Teams in contention for their league title stay interested right up until the end of the season. Teams out of contention stay interested until Midnight on August 15th. That is our trade deadline date. The last chance for non-contenders to have a very big say in who wins some of our leagues. The last chance for a dump trade.
What is a dump trade? That’s when a non-contender trades a few very good players to a contender in exchange for one good keeper player for next season. It is a trade that can tip the balance of a close race at the end of a hard fought season. I hate dump trades!
After putting so much work into my draft preparation, working the waiver wire, picking up free-agents, and trying to make good trades for both teams during the course of the season, the fact that I can, then, see a one-sided dump trade that will turn the tide of the league, turns my stomach.
It’s gonna happen. I can’t stop it. Hell. I will try to make one myself, if I can. I won’t feel good about it. But, I had better do it to someone else, rather than have it done to me.
I understand that these are keeper leagues. I understand why these trades are made. But, in my opinion, its just not right. Something has to be done to protect the integrity of this season. This season should not be won or lost because someone else is planning for next season.
I strongly believe that some changes need to be made. There are different things that can be done. If you haven’t yet, please give a listen to last week’s (July 26, 2008) addition of “Inside the Traders Studio”. You can find it on iTunes. Bob and Gabriel did an excellent show on this topic. The show even received an outstanding phone call from fantasy baseball legend Lenny Melnick. Yes. He is a legend. Lenny brought some great insight to the issue of dump trades.
This season is coming to the home stretch! I hope your team is still in the race! If not, I guess it is time to dump!