By Robby Wellington – Staff Writer
The trading deadline came and went with a flurry of activity that actually had a fairly insignificant impact on the fantasy landscape. That is unless you’re in one of those silly NL/AL only leagues, in which case Carlos Lee, Bobby Abreu and even Julio Lugo caused some major waves. I don’t exactly understand the whole “a guy switches leagues so his team loses him” concept. Why don’t you just let the league-switching player continue to be available in your fantasy league, or does that somehow ruin the integrity and purity of having NL/AL only. But I digress; onto the moves, or at least the major ones.
Bobby Abreu and Corey Lidle got shipped out to New York and, as previously noted on RotoScoop, the Yankee lineup should be ferocious come fall. That said, Sheffield and Godzilla are suffering from the same ailment as my main man Derrek Lee, and we all see how seamlessly he has recovered from that sore wrist (sorry, another quick tangent: I now have Lee, Sheffield and Harden on my team with only two DL spots, and I am seriously looking at dropping Lee. What a waste). Anyway, Abreu’s value will receive a very slight bump as he is in a better lineup, but not by much, as hitting between Chase Utley and Ryan Howard really was not too shabby. The park effects, short porch and all, seem to be negligible. Lidle should see a spike in his wins, so upgrade him a bit as well, but there is a long list of pitchers who simply crumbled under the pressure of throwing in the Bronx. Utley, Howard and company, though hot right now, will certainly miss Abreu and his remarkable .427 OBP in the lineup. Which brings me to another aspect of this trade. Since when did the Phillies become a small-market team? I understand that Abreu is owed a lot of money next year, but this is money that is essentially commensurate with his skill set, slightly eroding as it may be. Not to mention, Corey Lidle is a solid, if unspectacular pitcher. A bad team is going to win the NL wild card this year, and with the Phillies only a few games out and budding superstars Utley and Howard coming on strong, they seemed to have as good a chance as anyone. That was, of course, until they traded away Rheal Cormier to the amazingly talented Cincinnati bullpen. Yikes.
Carlos Lee’s big year should get even bigger, as he’ll benefit from the positive effects of hitting at friendly Ameriquest Field. Effects that many folks are still waiting for Mark Teixeira to feel (his OPS is 160 points lower at home than on the road this season, after being 300 points higher last year). Francisco Cordero should step right into the closer’s role in Milwaukee and hold it down the rest of the season, assuming he doesn’t return to his April meltdown form at any point. Happy trails Turnbow. Kevin Mench should enjoy a solid starting gig now in Milwaukee and continue to put up decent enough numbers to grab the final outfield spot on someone’s fantasy team. A move to the cleanup spot certainly can’t hurt.
Greg Maddux’ season fell by the fantasy wayside after a brilliant April, that is until he was dealt to the pitcher’s paradise that is the NL West. Unless Maddux is throwing at Arizona, go ahead and start him. The Dodgers also grabbed Julio Lugo, who should see a decrease in value for the same reasons Maddux’ value rises. The Dodgers paid a relatively steep price for Lugo’s services, especially with Jeff Kent coming back soon, but I like the move, assuming they can lock him up for a few more years. The sagging Dodgers really did give themselves some serious hope in what is still a wide-open division.
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