Late season deals for stretch run

[Special K]

All:
I'm in a roto league with 11 teams, where we hold a player auction on draft day, 28 starters (10 being pitchers) with a cap of mythical $1400. I'm in first place and have been since May. I need a pitcher for the stretch run and have a deal on the table for Tim Hudson, who will fit into my lineup nicely despite salary cap restrictions - I'll be 3 short of a full lineup. Anyway, the guy in return wants Phil Nevin (a keeper for the next two years) and Carlos Lee (who has been en fuego post-AllStar). Anyone think I'd be giving up too much for Hudson? My team is pretty stacked hitting-wise (Soriano, Tejada, Ichiro, V. Wells, Mueller, Berroa, R. Alomar, Millar, Olerud, P. Wilson, Edgar, to name a few). I also have Torii Hunter and would be more inclined to give him up instead. Hunter, Lee, and Wells all are about the same price ($53 or $52, mythical). I've made some pretty good moves this year and have also been very, very lucky (i.e. trading Matt Morris right before he got hurt, same goes for Edmonds, and Eric Byrnes right before his slump). Interested in opinions.

Thanks,
Kevin

[elfudge35]

well, I don't think you're giving up too much, he's been the best of the Oakland 3 for a while now, Nevin will be good to have down the stretch, but I'm not sold on Lee, I think you have a great starting outfield without him, but also I'm not sold on Hunter this year, if you could substitute hunter for nevin or lee, that would be great, go with your gut

[Special K]

Another question is this: Do I even need to make the deal? I just got Mark Prior back from the DL. Along with him, my starting pitchers pool includes Brett Myers, Buehrle, Woody Williams, Foppert, Vargas, Horacio Ramirez, Eaton, Radke, Jason Johnson. I've been debating whether or not to stand pat and leave it up to Prior the rest of the year, as long as the others stay pretty consistent. One of the biggest reason why I've lost 10+ pts of my lead over the guy in 2nd place (now 4.5 pts out) is b/c my pitchers were getting lit up and I was free-falling in ERA, WHIP, and W's. Thoughts?

Kevin

[elfudge35]

wow, personally, I don't like your pitching staff, I think Hudson would be a big upgrade, you have 2 horses at the top in Prior and Williams, but it tails off drastically after that, Vargas has been great, but I don't think he can keep it up the rest of the way and has been slipping of late, Johnson started off great, but has been mediocre since, Buehrle has been turning it around and should be good the rest of the way, Radke has been horrible all year, I don't think he deserves a roster spot in any league unless he turns it around drastically, Ramirez hasn't been that great lately, but is a good source of wins pitching for Atlanta, I like Eaton, and although I like Foppert a lot, he has been anything but consistent and that's what you need down the stretch, I say make the move

[Special K]

I don't like my staff a whole lot either and was maybe going to try and ride the good waves with a few guys (Radke has been good of late and so have Eaton and Johnson) if I didn't do this deal. Some of those guys are favorable matchup only type of starts. I picked up Radke a couple of weeks ago in place Lohse, who was riding my bench. This league is pretty cutthroat. Guys really know what they are doing, as do I, most of the time anyway.

I counter-offered with Hunter and Nevin for Hudson. Nevin is the key to all of this since he is a cheap keeper for next year. I'd hate to give him up since it would have me in good shape heading into next year's draft with him and Prior as keepers and at very cheap prices. This guy wants a little more O in his lineup, which is why he asked for Lee. I have to play for this year because there is a $1k of real money involved if I win (hope you don't work for the IRS) and the closest I've come to winning this league since we started in '95 is 3rd place.

The research of done shows that Lee's hot hitting of late is a bit of an abnormality. However people were thinking he'd break-out this year. They have been saying that each of the last few season though. Thinking about it, I'd be somewhat insane to let Carlos Lee be what holds me up from doing a deal that could clinch the title for me.

I'll wait and see what the other GM has to say and let you know. I appreciate the input.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Panzram]

Originally posted by Special K
Another question is this: Do I even need to make the deal? I just got Mark Prior back from the DL. Along with him, my starting pitchers pool includes Brett Myers, Buehrle, Woody Williams, Foppert, Vargas, Horacio Ramirez, Eaton, Radke, Jason Johnson. I've been debating whether or not to stand pat and leave it up to Prior the rest of the year, as long as the others stay pretty consistent. One of the biggest reason why I've lost 10+ pts of my lead over the guy in 2nd place (now 4.5 pts out) is b/c my pitchers were getting lit up and I was free-falling in ERA, WHIP, and W's. Thoughts?

Kevin

I agree with EL. Your staff isn't the best by far. Foppert, Vargas and Radke should have been goners a while back. Who are the FA SP's that are available? I'm pretty sure you won't be able to trade any of those three to anyone unless you have great bats to counteract their sucky arms.

-KoZ

[Special K]

Wanted to let you all know that I did the deal (Nevin/Lee for Hudson). We'll see what happens. I tried every combo to get the max amount of people in my lineup while still retaining quality guys in there and it was really difficult. Just because Lee is $1 cheaper than Hunter and Vernon Wells, it might cause me to drop another guy out of the lineup if I want to keep someone like Alfonzo in it. I hope guys like Soriano and Hunter catch fire the rest of the way so my hitting doesn't start to head south.

Thanks for the opinions. Always like to hear the input of others.

Kevin