Thursday, January 27, 2005
AL Trade: Bingo's Fuzzy Puppies trade a 5th rounder and 12th rounder to Carl for Jason Giambi
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Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Yo Yo Yo! Nobody f*s with DeJesus, man
The trading of Jason Kendall from my AL team was as slow and painful as my original trade to get him on my NL team was quick and painless. I remember reading his "Yo Yo Yo" article in the Post-Gazette and calling Matt immediately and offering him a pick per Yo to get him. 7 years later, he's gone. I couldn't justify starting him over Victor Martinez so it was time to get maximum value from him.
Kendall is a great asset for a Scoresheet team - a .400 OBP batter at catcher. Unfortunately, most of the good catchers seem to already be in the AL: Martinez, Jorge Posada, Joe Mauer, Javy Lopez, Ivan Rodriguez, and Jason Varitek are all very solid backstops and their owners wouldn't have a strong desire to trade for Kendall. That left two teams - Carl's Highway Kind and Jeff's Wookies - with weak catching and who could use Kendall.
Going into the holds, it looked like I wouldn't have a shortstop or a center fielder (Thanks, Boras!). Carl had Edgar Renteria coming over from the NL in addition to Miguel Tejada. So I offered him Kendall for Renteria. Carl said no, he was going to play Renteria at second, but offered me Mark Bellhorn. With Bret Boone, declining but still maybe ok, already onboard I couldn't do that. And then Carlos Beltran then finalized his move to the NL. So I moved on to my other option for position and trade partner.
Jeff had 3 center fielders of value - Rocco Baldelli, Torii Hunter, and Steve Finley who came over from the NL. My holds were already looking very lefty heavy and Baldelli was going to miss some percentage of the season already due to injury so I aimed for Hunter, a great defender and a solid hitter. Despite past pronounciations to never try to trade with Jeff again, I foolishly wrote up a couple offers, and received some sparse replies and a few weeks of deadlines for answers that never happened. Still, I was assured, the trade would probably happen.
When the Scoresheet lists came out, for whatever reason, Carl offered me the Renteria for Kendall deal again. Maybe it was because Bellhorn's range at 2B was actually much better than expected. I felt I couldn't drop the negotiations with Jeff, especially when he'd said he was almost positive he was going to do it, so I had to tell Carl no for now, but maybe in a few days. I shared with Jeff this added pressure to get an answer as soon as possible.
With the deadline looming for players to switch leagues, Carl moved on another offer and traded Renteria to Lou for Rafael Furcal. Then, the other shoe dropped a few days later as Jeff pulled out of the trade.
Frustrated and panicky, I started trying to work out some three- and four- way trades to get Hunter. Jeff wanted young players and/or pitchers and Carl was offering me Aubrey Huff for Kendall. Huff would have been a big and younger upgrade for Jeff at 3B so I thought we could do a three-way trade but I never heard back from Jeff. I also floated Huff towards Ken Smith to see about getting one of his shortstops, but didn't have time to wait for a reply. I knew Slave had a surplus of young pitchers, crap for 1B, and he would value Huff so I thought maybe a four-way deal of Kendall going to Carl, Huff going to Slave, a pitcher going to Jeff, and Hunter going to me but then negotiations with Carl took another turn before those options materialized.
Carl offered David DeJesus, who I hadn't been too impressed with in past assessments and also he batted left-handed and had only slightly above average CF range. He didn't want to do Kendall straight up for DeJesus but liked Eric Byrnes, who I didn't intend to hold, so it wouldn't be a big deal to throw him in too. I researched DeJesus and he really had some nice OBP's but no power really. But he's very young and his range will likely improve after he plays a full season at CF instead of half there and half in right. Plus, DeJesus has the added bonus of being on Carl's rookie squad, allowing me to hold a guy who was on the bubble of my holds, and just draft DeJesus at the end of the draft. And Carl also sent a pick over which is always good.
So, I cut the deal. DeJesus and Hunter are somewhat similar in value. Hunter still has the edge defensively and with power, but DeJesus gets on base a lot more. DeJesus also has a lot of room to improve. Hunter is at the top of his game. I'll probably have to draft a platoon partner for CF, though. In a way, I'm happier with DeJesus than Hunter. I can hold Dmitri Young now too, which will give me some stick from the right side. Plus, he's funny.
The trade: Jason Kendall and Eric Byrnes from the Burninators to the Highway Kind for the rights to David DeJesus and a 7th round pick.
And I can go back to my pronouncement to not trade with Jeff. I just don't have the patience. I am hyperactive about trades and need to know answers right away. Jeff is very busy with lots of things other than baseball and at this time of year is not usually prepared to assess the merits of a trade. I should have remembered that but didn't and paid the price. But maybe the consolation prize will turn out to be better than my original intention. Who knows?
Finally, Jason Kendall's career stats for the Dancin' Homers.
So long, Yo Yo Yo. I'll still be rooting for you. Stupid Pirates never understood how valuable you were.
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The trading of Jason Kendall from my AL team was as slow and painful as my original trade to get him on my NL team was quick and painless. I remember reading his "Yo Yo Yo" article in the Post-Gazette and calling Matt immediately and offering him a pick per Yo to get him. 7 years later, he's gone. I couldn't justify starting him over Victor Martinez so it was time to get maximum value from him.
Kendall is a great asset for a Scoresheet team - a .400 OBP batter at catcher. Unfortunately, most of the good catchers seem to already be in the AL: Martinez, Jorge Posada, Joe Mauer, Javy Lopez, Ivan Rodriguez, and Jason Varitek are all very solid backstops and their owners wouldn't have a strong desire to trade for Kendall. That left two teams - Carl's Highway Kind and Jeff's Wookies - with weak catching and who could use Kendall.
Going into the holds, it looked like I wouldn't have a shortstop or a center fielder (Thanks, Boras!). Carl had Edgar Renteria coming over from the NL in addition to Miguel Tejada. So I offered him Kendall for Renteria. Carl said no, he was going to play Renteria at second, but offered me Mark Bellhorn. With Bret Boone, declining but still maybe ok, already onboard I couldn't do that. And then Carlos Beltran then finalized his move to the NL. So I moved on to my other option for position and trade partner.
Jeff had 3 center fielders of value - Rocco Baldelli, Torii Hunter, and Steve Finley who came over from the NL. My holds were already looking very lefty heavy and Baldelli was going to miss some percentage of the season already due to injury so I aimed for Hunter, a great defender and a solid hitter. Despite past pronounciations to never try to trade with Jeff again, I foolishly wrote up a couple offers, and received some sparse replies and a few weeks of deadlines for answers that never happened. Still, I was assured, the trade would probably happen.
When the Scoresheet lists came out, for whatever reason, Carl offered me the Renteria for Kendall deal again. Maybe it was because Bellhorn's range at 2B was actually much better than expected. I felt I couldn't drop the negotiations with Jeff, especially when he'd said he was almost positive he was going to do it, so I had to tell Carl no for now, but maybe in a few days. I shared with Jeff this added pressure to get an answer as soon as possible.
With the deadline looming for players to switch leagues, Carl moved on another offer and traded Renteria to Lou for Rafael Furcal. Then, the other shoe dropped a few days later as Jeff pulled out of the trade.
Frustrated and panicky, I started trying to work out some three- and four- way trades to get Hunter. Jeff wanted young players and/or pitchers and Carl was offering me Aubrey Huff for Kendall. Huff would have been a big and younger upgrade for Jeff at 3B so I thought we could do a three-way trade but I never heard back from Jeff. I also floated Huff towards Ken Smith to see about getting one of his shortstops, but didn't have time to wait for a reply. I knew Slave had a surplus of young pitchers, crap for 1B, and he would value Huff so I thought maybe a four-way deal of Kendall going to Carl, Huff going to Slave, a pitcher going to Jeff, and Hunter going to me but then negotiations with Carl took another turn before those options materialized.
Carl offered David DeJesus, who I hadn't been too impressed with in past assessments and also he batted left-handed and had only slightly above average CF range. He didn't want to do Kendall straight up for DeJesus but liked Eric Byrnes, who I didn't intend to hold, so it wouldn't be a big deal to throw him in too. I researched DeJesus and he really had some nice OBP's but no power really. But he's very young and his range will likely improve after he plays a full season at CF instead of half there and half in right. Plus, DeJesus has the added bonus of being on Carl's rookie squad, allowing me to hold a guy who was on the bubble of my holds, and just draft DeJesus at the end of the draft. And Carl also sent a pick over which is always good.
So, I cut the deal. DeJesus and Hunter are somewhat similar in value. Hunter still has the edge defensively and with power, but DeJesus gets on base a lot more. DeJesus also has a lot of room to improve. Hunter is at the top of his game. I'll probably have to draft a platoon partner for CF, though. In a way, I'm happier with DeJesus than Hunter. I can hold Dmitri Young now too, which will give me some stick from the right side. Plus, he's funny.
The trade: Jason Kendall and Eric Byrnes from the Burninators to the Highway Kind for the rights to David DeJesus and a 7th round pick.
And I can go back to my pronouncement to not trade with Jeff. I just don't have the patience. I am hyperactive about trades and need to know answers right away. Jeff is very busy with lots of things other than baseball and at this time of year is not usually prepared to assess the merits of a trade. I should have remembered that but didn't and paid the price. But maybe the consolation prize will turn out to be better than my original intention. Who knows?
Finally, Jason Kendall's career stats for the Dancin' Homers.
Plus four golden rings!
G AB R H D T HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG
745 3949 456 1183 175 20 57 397 498 371 124 59 .300 .374 .397
So long, Yo Yo Yo. I'll still be rooting for you. Stupid Pirates never understood how valuable you were.
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
A couple other trades
Carl sends Edgar Renteria from the Cholesterol Kings to the Crooked K's for Rafael Furcal just before Renteria switches leagues.
Slave sends Sean Burroughs from the Rabid Woofers to the Cholesterol Kings for Chris Carpenter.
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Carl sends Edgar Renteria from the Cholesterol Kings to the Crooked K's for Rafael Furcal just before Renteria switches leagues.
Slave sends Sean Burroughs from the Rabid Woofers to the Cholesterol Kings for Chris Carpenter.
