fantasy baseball trade advice...

[fhqwhgads]

not sure if this belongs here or in the lounge, but my guess is i'm in the right place...

so in my fantasy league, i've been saddled with injuries and have gone from making the playoffs last year to finishing well out of the running this year. our league's trade deadline is noon today, and one of the front-running teams in the league wants to deal. he has offered two trade proposals...

in both scenarios, i would be trading roy oswalt (sp, hou). in scenario a, i would get joe mauer (c, min), gustavo chacin (sp, tor), and either brandon webb (sp, ari) or chris reitsma (rp, atl).

a few minutes ago he sent me a scenario b, in which i would get tim hudson (sp, atl) and an unspecified position player...let's say, for argument's sake, that player is either mauer or nick swisher (of, oak).

i am trying to build for next year. my starting catcher is piazza, who's obviously in steep decline, i'm thin at closer, and the other starting pitchers in my top four are jake peavy, mark mulder, and kris benson.

would you do either of these deals? any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[chelsea0011]

1. How many keepers do you get?

Reitsma may not be a closer next year. Farnsworth may even take his job before the year is over. I like the second trade because Hudson is a better pickup than Webb of Chacin. If you don't get many keepers than I would like to get Mauer with the second choice. If you get many keepers I would keep Oswalt and Piazza for another year.

[fhqwhgads]

3. thanks feeney...

...and to answer your question, we we get 13 keepers plus 5 "minor league" slots. the minor-league slots can be used to protect anyone who was a rookie in the previous year (or, of course, actual minor-leaguers). so both mauer and chacin could be protected that way without using up keeper slots.

i just got an email saying that in the hudson deal, the other position player could be mauer if i want.

the central issues, i think, are a) whether hudson is a better pickup than chacin (i could probably get the guy to give me someone other than webb or reitsma as the third player in the deal)...and b) whether i want to lose oswalt (who i've had on my roster since his first year in the bigs).

i've got about 2.5 hours to make a decision...any other thoughts?

[NWHarkness]

2. I'd take deal A

Mauer will anchor you at catcher for the next 10 years, and Chacin will probably surpass Oswalt by the time you are ready to contend.

BTW, credentials wise, I've been playing fantasy baseball since 1986, and have won two championships in an extremely competitive league.

[fhqwhgads]

4. chacin vs. hudson

nwharkness - i'm kinda wondering that about chacin, as far as what kind of pitcher he'll be long-term. i don't know whether he'll surpass oswalt, but i do know that he's 6 or 7 years younger than hudson...and oswalt is like three years younger than hudson for that matter.

of course, if i do take deal a, i need to figure out who the third player i'd be getting back would be. i'm really not all that interested in reitsma, and webb is a guy i had until last year and ended up not protecting. i feel like he's a solid number 3 but not better than that...

[fhqwhgads]

5. updated trade proposal

just got an email...here's the updated scenario A trade proposal...

i trade oswalt and my 4th round draft pick for mauer, chacin, swisher, and a 7th round pick.

feels like an ok deal...thoughts?

[fhqwhgads]

6. anyone else got advice?

the current proposal is that i trade away roy oswalt and a 4th round pick, and get joe mauer, gustavo chacin, nick swisher, and a 7th round pick in return.

should i pull the trigger on the deal?

[chelsea0011]

7. If you are sure you want to trade Oswalt, I'd do it.

Chacin is a big ?, playing for Toronto. If he stays with them for the next few years, it might be tough to get many wins with him. Swisher is a player that might pay off big time in a large keeper league. With 13 keepers, I'd go with the bodies. Mauer, Chacin, and Swisher? Do it. It's funny. I just traded for Reitsma. I'm in 4th and down the list in saves. I gave up Griffey.

[nickgutierrez]

8. I'd make the trade, but don't expect much from Chacin

His K rate is only average, and his walk rate is too high to expect a whole lot of future success. He might be a decent back of the rotation guy, but that's about it.

[dad]

9. Make the trade!

It's harder to get a good solid young C than anything.
My catching situation this year is a fantasy nightmare. Posada has hit the wall and there really are no other options out there.