Swap Meet

By Dalton Del Don – Senior Writer

After not making a trade all season, I pulled the trigger on not one, but two deals last night. Neither was an easy decision, and both have to take team context into account.

Trade One:

I give up: Nick Markakis
I receive: Carlos Quentin and Brad Penny

Let’s analyze: I’m a Markakis fan; in fact, I drafted him pretty high in both of my leagues. However, since he doesn’t steal bases, is useless versus lefties and his power looks like a 25-HR ceiling, his upside is a bit limited. Still, hitting mostly third in the lineup, 100 runs and 100 RBI are both reachable. There’s no telling if Quentin’s shoulder injury will linger and affect his power, but the 14/9 K/BB ratio is encouraging. So is hitting in Chase Field. I expect most of Arizona’s youngsters to turn in big second halves, with Quentin leading the pack. Since there’s about a 30 percent chance Quentin matches Markakis’ production from here on out, I had to do this deal.

Now, I’m fully aware of the hypocrisy in this trade. Just two days ago I wrote on this here site to sell-high on Penny – in fact, I think the owner was having a little fun with me by offering him after reading the article – and since Penny’s faded after the All-Star break more often than not during his career, it was a good time to deal him. However, I really needed a SP after drafting Felix Hernandez, John Patterson and Brett Myers, and Penny should be an asset in the wins department pitching for LA. One stat that often gets overlooked when analyzing pitching is HRs allowed. Penny’s K/BB ratio is unimpressive, but the fact he’s yet to allow a single homer on the year is very telling. If you can limit HRs allowed to 1 per 10 innings, you are doing a terrific job. During his career, Penny has allowed one long ball per 10.5 frames. Now, I can only hope he’s not allowed to pitch in the All-Star game this year.

Trade Two:

I give up: Brett Myers and Hunter Pence
I receive: Rocco Baldelli and Shawn Green

Let’s analyze: Despite being the highest ranked player in the deal, Shawn Green was nothing more than a throw in. He’s off to a terrific start, but I’m not counting on much from him. Because he had such a big first six weeks and Lastings Milledge is hurt, he at least has established quite a bit of job security, and in that potent lineup, he could produce solid counting stats even while being a mediocre hitter.

I think Myers is a top-8 closer from here on out. He’s been lights out since joining the bullpen – 12.1 innings, 0.73 ERA, 17/4 K/BB ratio – and there’s no way Tom Gordon reclaims that role, even if healthy. The problem was, I drafted him to be a starter. With the way my team is set up, I’m not going to move up or down in the saves category, so Myers wasn’t nearly as valuable to me as he would be to someone else. On the surface, however, I probably gave up more in this deal than I got in return, at least when looking at it in a vacuum.

There’s a legitimate chance Hunter Pence outhits Baldelli over the rest of the season. He has big time upside, but is also a bit risky, since he’s not off to a torrid start. The 7/1 K/BB ratio is a little concerning. Nevertheless, I’m fully aware of the potential I let go. Still, I’m pretty big on Baldelli. He’ll probably pull his hamstring by the time I’m finished writing this paragraph, but he’s on pace for 25 HRs and 20 SBs this year, despite a .233 batting average. Factor in how important steals are in this league – 10 people are within 10 steals from one another – and Baldelli could have a huge impact on the standings.


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2 responses to “Swap Meet”

  1. Superfantasystud Avatar
    Superfantasystud

    Looks like that trade backfired on you pretty bad.

  2. RotoScoop Avatar
    RotoScoop

    At least Baldelli can’t hurt my BA from the DL.

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