Simulation baseball trade help!

[CoolHandLuke]

I am trading Jeremy Sowers (who has monster projections this year and therefor is a valuable addition to a team in the playoff hunt) and Mike MacDougal (who has solid projections and is a solid reliever.

 

The three routes I could take are as follows:

 

1) Dave Bush and Taylor Teagarden. Bush has two arbitration years after this year and will probably make around 5 next year and 8 the year after before I lose him to free agency. A guy like Bush would probably get around 10-12 on the open market, depending on what time he went up for auction. Teagarden is a solid catching prospect, but I am pretty set in that area for a while, with Saltalamacchia, Clement, Landon Powell and George Kottaras all under my control for at least 5 years (the amount of time before a minor leaguer hits free agency once they qualify, which is like 50 total ip or 130 ab's or something like that).

 

2) Dustin McGowan and possibly a prospect like George Kontos. McGowan will not hit the minor league pay scale until next year so I will have him for sure for five years (300k the first year, 700k the second year, and arbitration the following three years. Max for first year arbitration is 3, second year is 7 and third year is 10)

 

3) Jeremy Jeffress, Asdrubal Cabrera and Santiago Casilla. High ceiling pitcher in Jeffress, solid ss prospect in Cabrera and a guy who will help my pen next year at least for real cheap.

 

Obviously the third deal would have the highest bust potential, but also the highest upside. McGowan is a guy who has been somewhat of an enigma, but has always had a load of talent. Bush is the best bet to be a solid addition to the middle of my rotation but is not much of a discount considering what I could get on the open market. I am leaning towards the McGowan deal, but any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

This league is very in depth and awesome btw.

[CoolHandLuke]

And I guess I should clarify: This isn't fantasy baseball. A complete 25 man roster is assembled and the season is simulated with Diamond Mind Baseball using the player projections. What a player does this season has no effect on how they do in the simulation this season, but what they do this season does have an effect on how they project next year. Prospects are very valuable considering the salary structure.

[Rob]

Given the information to this point, I'd probably just go with option #1. However, it'd be a lot easier to figure out if you posted the rest of your team. Without the context of your team, it's fairly hard to figure out a course of action.

[CoolHandLuke]

Given the information to this point, I'd probably just go with option #1. However, it'd be a lot easier to figure out if you posted the rest of your team. Without the context of your team, it's fairly hard to figure out a course of action.

 

here is my roster not including the guys that I lose to free agency at the end of the year.

 

OF:

 

Hunter Pence

Chris Young

Gary Sheffield

Felix Pie

Bobby Kielty

 

C:

 

Kenji Johjima

Jarrod Saltalamacchia

 

IF/DH:

 

Edwin Encarnacion

Kendry Morales

Matt Lecroy (will probably drop him)

Eric Patterson

Chase Headley

Chris Carter

Erick Aybar

 

P:

 

Matt Morris

Jeremy Sowers

Matt Albers

Steve Andrade

Sean Gallagher

Hayden Penn

Jonathan Sanchez

 

notable prospects:

 

Billy Rowell

Brett Anderson

Jeff Clement

Wade Davis

Carlos Gonzalez

Tommy Hanson

Radhames Liz

Landon Powell

Nick Adenhart

Brandon Hynick

 

 

The total contracts for the players on my 2008 roster comes to about 30-32 million, so I will have close to 60 million to spend in free agency(90 million dollar cap). Haven't really looked at who will be free agents but there are a ton of one year contracts given in this league so there will be plenty of players. I really want to sign a couple of starter to put atop my rotation. On offense I am pretty set in cf with Pence or Young, c with Saltalamacchia and Johjima, and 1b/dh/rf/lf depending on where I put Sheffield. There is a good chance Patterson will get a decent enough projection so I can be comfortable with him at 2b. Between Young,Pie, and Pence I should be able to fill two of my of spots. Between Encarnacion and Headley I should be able to plug one of them at 3b. Assuming Sheff is my dh, what I would most need is a corner outfielder, a firstbaseman and a shortstop. Considering that McGowan will only make 300k next year and Bush will make somewhere between 4 and 6, and I will have McGowan for 5 years, compared to having Bush for only 2, I am strongly leaning towards McGowan.

 

Also another trade situation has popped up:

 

Carlos Quentin, Scott Olsen, Joel Guzman and Milton Loo for Sowers, Pence and MacDougal.

[Rob]

Now that I'm looking at it a bit more, I'd probably go with McGowan.