Trade Justin Upton

[MPrior]

A bunch of classmates and I just started a keeper league which will almost definitely go on for at least 4 years, and I've been proposed a trade:

 

I get: Clayton Kershaw and Carlos Lee

I give: Justin Upton.

 

Our categories:

R, HR, RBI, NetSB, OBP, SLG

W, K, SV, BB, ERA, WHIP

 

I'm VERY high on Justin Upton (who isn't?). I also need pitching pretty badly, and I'm particularly weak on Ks, which Kershaw would help a lot with. However, he walks a TON of batters, and with WHIP and BB as categories, he could hurt too. Carlos Lee is Carlos Lee - uninteresting, but reliably pretty good fantasy value.

 

My inclination is not to take this trade, since Upton is one of a small handful of players who will be very valuable as a keeper all four years, but I wanted to see what you guys think.

 

Thanks.

[rawaction]

What's the rest of your team look like? I would say NO on the surface, as Upton is likely to be a top 5 player within 4 years. Kershaw could be a top 5 SP then though. But where Kershaw would help you in Ks, ERA and WHIP (his WHIP was a solid 1.23 despite the walks), he will hurt you in BB. At this point, Upton definitely has Runs, Net SB, OBP and SLG over Carlos Lee (who I assume would be replacing him in your lineup), and it's at best a tossup between Upton and Lee in HR and RBI, and that's if Lee is healthy and remembers how to hit.

[MPrior]

The rest of my team (as you can probably see, I made some mistakes in my draft - I have a TON of injured players, and too many hitters on the bench, because my plan was to use my surplus players in trades for pitching. This was a bad idea, but there's still a lot to like here):

 

C Miguel Montero

1B Miguel Cabrera

2B Brian Roberts

SS Jose Reyes

3B Alex Rodriguez

MI Erick Aybar

CI Aramis Ramirez

OF Justin Upton

OF Carlos Quentin

OF Alex Rios

OF Denard Span

OF Adam Jones

Util Austin Jackson (I just took a flier on him to see how he does)

Bench Geovany Soto

Bench Scott Sizemore (just picked him up to fill in for Roberts, who hurt himself yesterday)

Bench Everth Cabrera

Bench Lance Berkman (injured, but my DL spots are full)

DL Carlos Beltran

 

SP Cole Hamels

SP Gavin Floyd

RP Joakim Soria

RP Chris Perez

P Brian Matusz

P Mat Latos

P Clay Buchholz

P Cliff Lee (injured, but my DL spots are full)

DL Kerry Wood

 

10-team league.

 

The reason my pitching is so weak is that I just traded Felix Hernandez for Miguel Cabrera. It hurt my pitching a lot, but I thought the better value I got was worth it.

 

What I'm hoping to do is trade some of my bench players (Soto or Montero, Everth Cabrera, Aybar, and/or Sizemore) for some serviceable pitching - nothing fancy.

[TruffleShuffle]

yeah don't do it, your outfield isn't that good relative to your pitching. i'd hang onto upton unless there's a great deal to be had.

[The Logan]

I'd pass. FWIW, Kershaw was a little lucky last year. His xFIP was 3.90. While he's going to be real good real soon, Upton is already real good and as was noted, is going to be a top fantasy player for years to come, starting as soon as this year.

 

Yourp itching is already really heavy on young talented upside. You don't need Kershaw as much as you need Upton. Plus, you could probably trade Upton for way more than Kershaw and Lee if it came to that