Ok, I am in 3 NL-only roto leagues this year. Two are keeper leagues, and one is a non-keeper, snake draft league. I am currently in 1st place by 5-6 points, depending on the hour, in the non-keeper league. This is my BIG league, where I dish out $350 per year, but have finished in the money the last two years employing a closer/MR strategy. Have never won it though....maybe this year??
In one of my keeper leagues, I have won the league the last two years. This year.....not so good. But I have a plethora of keepers including Hanley, Uggla, Bills, Broxton, Milledge, Maybin, Laroche, Gallardo, Loney, Cueto, Capps....so I should be set for another run next year.
In my other keeper league, UBA-a 12-team 4x4 league, in which Eric Hinz is also an owner, I am currently in 2nd place. I took over a team at the beginning of last year, and somehow ended up in 3rd place....sheer luck, as it is a competitive league with experienced owners.
Tonight was our trade deadline, and as luck would have it, I lost the following players to trade or DFA-Teixeira, Jose Castillo, and Paul Loduca. Not much after the loss of Tex. I am currently in the top 3 in the 4 hitting categories-Avg, HR, RBI and SB. I am in the top 4 in Wins, ERA and WHIP, but am in 9th place in saves, but am slowly moving up. My closers are Jonathon Broxton and Salomon Torres-two closers on two wildcard contending teams. I also have Adam Wainwright, currently on the DL and approaching his 3rd rehab start on Saturday. Depending on the day, he may come back as a starter should Chris Carpenter miss more than one start, or their closer even though prospect Chris Perez has saved 3 games in the last week. I also have Manny Corpas, who will be the Rockies closer next year, and possibly this year should Dan O-Dowd figure out that the Rockies won't get back into the NL West race anytime soon, and deal current closer Brian Fuentes.
With that backdrop, I get to my deals. Last week I was offered a very fair deal to add a 3rd closer which would probably net me 5 points in the standings. But that closer is Francisco Cordero, who pitches for a bad Reds team. The offer was Cordero, and Jeff Baker for Kyle Lohse and Pirates OF prospect Andrew McCutchen, who Keith Law drools over. Baker would fill 1b for my losing Tex. I REALLY went back and forth on this offer. Do I trade a very good prospect for Cordero, and his $33 salary. This trade would have reduced my chance of adding an impact bat to replace Tex. I was very close to accepting this offer.
Until I got this offer this morning.
I was offered $50 L1 Manny Ramirez and $1 S2 Ryan Spilborghs for Mark Teixeira and a $15 L1 Jeremy Hermida. Call me crazy, but I accepted this offer. To fill the loss of Castillo at 2b, I also traded $10 S2 Kyle Lohse and $2 S2 Castillo to Eric for $7 out-of-time Jeff Baker and $1 Justin Miller. I give up Teixeira, who is a free agent after the season, and Hermida-the once highly touted prospect for a month an a half of Manny and two years of Spilborgh, and I get the impact bat to replace Tex.
I know. I know. I didn't get that 3rd closer to guarantee me 5 points in the standings, and as of this minute, I am 4.5 points out, and 2.5 points in front of the 3rd place team. Did I mention I am a DIE-HARD Dodgers fan?? I think you knew this already. I was outbid for Manny after his trade to LA, so I had to deal for him with the loss of Tex, right? I think so. The addition of Spilborghs, who I think will start for Colorado next season, to the Manny deal sealed it for me.
Can I make up the 4.5 points in the standings? I think I can...but I will need some help. I am currently 8 saves from 4 more points in the saves category. The 4 teams above me: one team has no closer and Capps on the DL, one team has Hanrahan, one team has Hoffman, and the 4th team has Lidge. Can I make up 8 saves in a month and a half? I'm rolling the dice. Torres and Broxton should get more saves than Hoffman and Hanrahan....that's two points. The 3rd team has no closers and Capps on the DL.....he's 8 saves ahead of me, and Pittsburgh has no reason to rush him back. That's 3 points. Can Torres and Broxton get me 8 more saves than what Lidge will accumulate? It will be tough. Lidge has had a very good year, but is suffering from a tired arm. He hasn't blown any saves this year....is he due?
If I am lucky, O'Dowd trades Fuentes and Corpas becomes the COL closer; or Carpenter misses only one next start and Wainwright becomes the STL closer. Should either happen, I could add a total of 5 points....maybe. One more thing, I am 3 HRs behind the team in first place. If I leapfrog him in HRs, I gain two points. With Manny and Baker added to my current lineup that includes Wright, Holliday, Kemp, CoJack, Reynolds, Ethier, and Burrell, I think I have a good shot.
Was I stupid for rolling the dice with two closers and not dealing McCutchen for Cordero, or did I make a good move by adding Manny to replace Tex?