Over the past few days, I have made three trades to continue building my roster for a run in 2011 and 2012 in the UBA NL-only keeper league. Here are the deals I made:
1. I traded a $35 S2 Mark Reynolds for a $5 S2 Pedro Alvarez
2. Traded a $48 S2 Ryan Howard, $1 S2 Jeff Keppinger and a $18 S2 Brad Lidge for $5 S1 Andrew McCutchen, a zero contract Clint Barmes, a $5 S2 Tim Alderson and a second round pick in the 2011 minor league draft.
3. Traded a $24 S2 Cole Hamels for a $1 Jason Hammel, a $4 S2 Dan Runzler and a $5 S2 Simon Castro.
These deals leave me with only two more trade chips in $38 S2 Carlos Lee and $28 S2 Chad Qualls.
As my roster stands now, I have a $5 S1 Kyle Blanks, a $5 S1 Andrew McCutchen, a $5 S2 Ike Davis on my major league roster. On my farm, I have the following guys who could get a call up this season, or sometime in 2011:
1. $5 S2 Mike Stanton
2. $5 S2 Jose Tabata
3. $5 S2 Pedro Alvarez
4. $5 S2 Domonic Brown
5. $5 S2 Yonder Alonso
6. $5 S2 Drew Storen
7. $5 S2 Simon Castro
8. $5 S2 Chris Withrow
I am not sure all of these guys will see time in 2010 or 2011, but I think the majority of them will. With Blanks, Davis, McCutchen, Stanton, Tabata, Alvarez and Brown, I have solid power and speed going into the 2011 draft. Storen could be closing by the end of the 2010 season, and Castro and Withrow have legitimate shots at rotation spots in 2011. Then I have a few farm more guys who should see time in 2012: $5 S2 Dee Gordon, $5 S2 Jaff Decker, and $5 S2 Derek Norris.
My strategy is not for everyone, but I am gambling that a few of them turn into home runs. Time will tell, but if it works out, I should be able to compete in 2011 at the earliest.