Joe wrote in to ask us how to improve his team for the stretch run and challenge for first.
A guy has offered me Todd Helton, Ubaldo Jimenez, Nick Swisher and Jered Weaver for Carl Crawford, Josh Hamilton and Mark Teixeira. Is this a good trade? I'm reluctant about this one!! I'm in a 10 team mixed league rotisserie. I am in the top 5 in all categories except SB, ERA, and WHIP...and could also use some more saves. I'm in sixth place 1 pt behind the fifth place team but 16.5 pts behind the 1st place team so I'm lookin to shake things up. Here's a few more players on my team: Uggla, JJ Hardy, Cuddyer, Konerko, Farnsworth, Gallardo, Hudson, Soria, CJ Wilson, Zimmerman, Lohse, and League. Here are some of his other players: Mauer, Kinsler, Ar Ramirez, Andrus, Longoria, Beltran, Morse, Pence, Bourn, D Price, Nathan, Axford, Felix Hernandez, and Beckett. Could you please help me form a good trade that makes sense and would help me the rest of the way. The other owner says almost everybody on his team is tradeable...he is in 9th place.
On first glance, Joe, this trade is not in your favor. One quick way I judge a trade like this is to rank the player on each side, line them up, and do a one for one comparison. Doing that for this team, I don't see how you can even break even. The competing team is clearly trying to buy low on Hamilton and Crawford's injury stints. Even if we say Teixeira and Weaver are a wash (and they aren't, the elite hitters are always more valuable than your elite pitchers), you're getting a raw deal. Jiminez's walk rate has ballooned since last year, Swisher would be more valuable if you were in an OBP league, but his sub .800 OPS isn't worth selling low on Crawford. If you didn't include Tex, I could see the overall trade being more fair.
However, here's my recommendation: if you need to make up ground in SB, ERA, WHIP, and saves, there's no reason to trade a guy who can help you there (Crawford) for it. Saves you can grab on the wire if needed. Guys change jobs and get traded in these next few weeks.
Try to isolate Hamilton in a 1 for 1 deal for a starter. It's a 10 team league, so you should be able to replace Hamilton's homeruns with a more cost effective option (Trumbo), and get another team to pay for the Hamilton pedigree for that elite pitcher. Start this off by offering Hamilton for Weaver. Advertise you are selling Hamilton for a starter. Remember, you can't sell your bats too low, you're only getting 10-12 starts from your new acquisition.
Ride out Crawford. He'll start hitting in Boston, and start running as well; he should easily bounce back for the 2nd half.
If you have any more questions, make sure to contact us on Twitter: @Rotosavants and @fenwayhotspur if you want to reach me directly. Good luck!
