nilodnayr

No way. He wont be able to bring any value if he does not pitch well enough to get back up to the bigs.

And then look at the salary increases you will have to pay Z and Prior in the coming years. A Zito or Zito-esque acquisition means we will not be able to retain both Z and Prior under our current payroll. After all is said and done, if we dont resign Maddux and opt out of Wood's contract, we will only have about 7M to throw and CF and 2B.

However, playing for the Nationals is big disadvantage. And RFKs affects are muted, given the fact that hes an extreme strike out pitcher.

Ehh, im not sure about that. The only way he'll be an allstar is if he has a really hot start or if Vance decides it so. :lol:

In my case, it was friends. Real friends dont cheat in fantasy baseball.

Plus, as long as they send him back down fairly quickly he probably wouldnt become a super 2.

- Rotoworld Mabry is a beast. Elbow to the back (unintentional) takes out one of the few big bats the Pirates have. Brutal. Unfortunately Wilson is a much much much bigger bat than Casey.

Wuertz sucked in ST. I thought he would have gotten sent down if Welly wouldnt have been traded. Wuertz was great when not overused. The silver lining is hopefully this will keep him from being overused and therefore make him very valuable down the stretch. Novoa didnt get any time with the valley fever, but has been excellent so far. If he would have been healthy in ST, Wuertz would have started the year in the minors.

OK, I have way too much starting pitching, albeit freekin awesome pitching. Who should I be looking to trade? Sheets Harden Patterson Lackey Escobar C. Young Lieber (just picked up as a FA) Liriano Verlander I've been selective in my managing and currently have 86 ks in 78 innings. I think I'm gonna drop Verlander to take Sheets off the DL. I'd like to upgrade my OF (Manny, Gomes, Holliday, Sanders, Michaels). I'm thinking Patterson, although very good, is probably the least underrated among the pitchers who I would consider trading (anyone not sheets, harden, and liriano).

If you dont have any friends that do fantasy then you need new friends. Or just join a league with some one here. Thats absolutely ridiculous though. At the very least i happened early so you didnt waste too much time managing your team.

Pedro Liriano? Fruedian slip

Definitely not for Cabrera, but for Kent thats good value. You already have good power and RBIs. Figgins is not a one category guy, (OPS isnt a category in a 5x5 league) he is obviously one of the top steals player, but he will also hit 300 and score 115 runs. Given the make up of your team, dont overlook the value in runs scored that Figgins brings as well.

No Wade Miller?

If he goes 3 for 4 again, I could give a s*&t where he bats. Yeah and if he goes 3 for 4 every day then screw Ted Williams...

Jeez, I hope youre in a really deep league if thats considered a stocked OF. Or you are an astros fan. I am low on Ensberg. Although he had a monster year last year, break it down. His first half was stellar, his second half was quite good. Project his second half over a full year and you get 275/24/66/72/0. Would you be happy if he put that up this year? He made the big adjustment at the plate and opened up his stance like he used to. However, it seems as though pitchers adjusted to his new stance in the second half. My advice is if you are in a league with other astros fans, try to sell Ensberg high. Ok, as for your proposed trade. In my league if you ignore a category you have no chance of winning. I'd look at your relative competition and see if other teams in your league are ignoring the holds category as well. If not, forget about trading to fill your void. Pick some one up on waivers. I can't imagine every set up man in your league is gone. If this guy really wants Abreu, offer up Abreu and Ensberg for ARAM, his best OF and another slot you need.

Well the only way he would include Harden is if he got Santana. He wouldn't do the deal without Santana. But if he was giving up Harden for just Santana, he wouldnt include Liriano or Andy LaRoche. I eventually decided to trade Santana and Prior and got back Andy LaRoche, Liriano, McCarthy, and Harden. I know McCarthy wasn't great last year in the minors but I'd hardly call a 3.92 ERA with 130 K's to only 32 BB in only 119.3 IP in AAA "sucking big time". I think he's going to be a very good setup man this year and eventually move into the rotation. Liriano is just filthy. I expect him to move into the rotation by the end of the year, or at worst, the start of next year. Harden isn't as good as Santana, but he isn't too far behind. Andy LaRoche is a top 20 prospect and arguably the best 3b prospect. Considering I have Todd Walker, Aaron Boone, and Frank Thomas as my best options for my IF and Util Positions, I really could use LaRoche. It was a very tough decision, but I got a ton of talent back. As you maybe know, Liriano is said by everyone in the Twins organization to look very similar, if not better, than Santana at the same age. I think the trade hurts me a little bit this year (assuming Prior would come back and be healthy) but I think I'll come out the winner in this trade in the long run. I also agree with what you are saying about Valentin. I was offered Brian McCann for Rafael Soriano, but I'm hesitant on it. I really like Soriano as a setup man and I think by the end of the year, he'll be closer. I think between Lieberthal and Valentin, I should be fine. I think it was a good trade. You got a pirate's booty for two players. And my comment regarding McCarthy sucking big time was definitely overblown. I didn't really follow how well he did after about 1/4-1/3rd of the way through the season, but I'm pretty sure he was sucking big time (like 5ish ERA) at that point in the season. I think Liriano will get into the rotation before you think. Gardenhire is already talking to the papers about it. All it takes is one Lohse tantrum or maybe even two more bad starts for Liriano to get his chance. I think if you break the trade down, Harden for Prior favors you, Liriano, LaRoche, McCarthy for Santana is about even. And the best part about it, if Liriano does get a job in the next month, you dont lose any IP for 2006.

Well Ramirez is sort of locked up, it's just a matter of whether he opts out or not after this year. I cant think of a better option at 3B. How much does he have left? "I want to be a Cub for the rest of my life." I think it would take a lot for Ramirez to opt out. Either a season so astronomically good that he knew for sure that he could get a lot more on the FA market, or major shakeups that he didn't like involving the Cubs. I highly doubt he opts out. I hope he doesn't opt out either. I can't remember that one statistic, on how many 3rd basemen the Cubs used ever since Santo retired, but it was a high number. Before he gets the chance to opt out his contract is going to be reworked, upped, and extended. All it was, was basically a bargaining chip in the middle of his deal.

OK, based on your last two posts it sounds like you could get Prior for Harden and LaRoche. Which LaRoche? Although, IMO it really doesnt matter. I think I'd trade Prior for Harden straight up. I'm not that high on Adam, but if its Andy, then its a steal! I wouldnt trade Johan unless I'm uber wowed. I love Liriano (have him on my team), but McCarthy is a risk. I can easily see him flame out. Although he was impressive at the end of last year he sucked big time in the minors for most of the year. LaRue is probably gonna get dealt because of his contract, opening up time for Valentin. I know hes not a long term solution, but at least hes not Lieberthal. I wouldnt give Santana up for anything less than two young very good players to fill your holes.

Thats not just a no, thats no a no fricken way no.

Just imagine how good Wuertz will be when hes not overused. And we have Novoa waiting in the wings.

Good point SSR, although I would not lump latroy in with the other tree at all. Latroy clearly disappointed, even if the other three suck, at least they will be meeting expectations. Plus, that was such a ridiculously lopsided trade, it would have been impossible to turn down.

Yes because those 3 deals are the reason the Cubs aren't expected to win. Real franchise cornerstones there. That's over 10% of the payroll that's sunk into mediocrity, though. You can't gripe about the cheapness of the TribCo if they give a GM $95m and he uses up a 10% chunk of it on bad players. Where would we be if that 10% was given to only the good players? IMO those 3 deals aren't as "horrible" as one would think at first glance. It's the number of years that they have signed for that's the biggest sticking point. However, as evidenced, Hendry can get rid of contracts fairly effectively and should he can't trade them, waiving them would be a huge cost that would make it difficult. Hendry's only given up on inherited contracts, never on any hes signed. His recent quotes regarding dusty baker reflect that hes quite stubborn in his evaluation and cant open up his eyes to his mistakes. Dont expect him to ditch Jones, Rusch, and Perez.

So, it seems as though a lot of pguys in my league are reacters so I'm gonna try to take advantage of Sheltons hot start against crappy pitching in Ameriquest. I proposed Shelton, Loretta, and Michaels for Dan Johnson and Grady Sizemore. Thoughts? I think Shelton is only slightly better than Johnson and although I love Loretta, I also have Ellis, Hardy, Figgins and Peralta in my MI. I could really use Sizemore for his speed and to round out my OF of Manny, Gomes, and Holliday.

You guys don't love his as much as me...I drafted him with my 4th to last pick.

Snagged Shelton in the 20th round when I heard he had moved up to 6th in the order...laughing all the way to the bank. He had an awesome year last year and will be better this year.