Keeper League Strategy - Rebuilding is a Strategy Too: Part 3

This is part 3 of my Rebuilding is a Strategy Too series, and today I will run through a few more trades I made last season in an effort to build a roster that could finish in the money for the next year or two. Along with that, I will provide you with Here are links to the first two parts in this series:

Part 1

Part 2

Like I mentioned in Part 2, I drafted guys with an eye to make some trades early in the season. My first deal was executed on April 16th, where I landed Jesus Montero, Manny Machado Jurickson Profar, Francisco Lindor and Mike Olt. I was pretty happy with the players I received as they were all highly ranked prospects close to major league ready. You can read more details in the link to Part 2 in this series above.

My second deal was executed just a few days later, on April 19th, and it was another big one, one where I landed one of my preseason targets, Eric Hosmer.

I traded:

$32 Ben Zobrist

$26 David Ortiz

$20 Raul Ibanez

$10 Bruce Chen

$1 Wade Davis

$1 Jake Arrieta

for

$10 Eric Hosmer

$15 Ervin Santana

$10 Michael Saunders

$10 Octavio Dotel

$1 Brendan Ryan

$4 Kevin Gregg

Other than David Ortiz, I didn't give up anyone I would keep for 2013, as Zobrist is either at full value, or several dollars above value. Ortiz is still a productive hitter, but questions remain about his health. I felt that Hosmer's potential, even after his sophomore slump last season was enough to give up several productive hitters for him.

In return, I get one of the best young hitters in the game in Hosmer, and I expect a solid bounce back season from him in 2013, and he could be one of the breakout stars as well. Did I give up a lot in this deal? Yes, but remember how much hype Hosmer received heading into the 2012 season? Yeah. I do too.

Like I said, I was looking to build a team for 2013 and beyond, so here are details of another deal I made on April19th:

I trade:

$28 Kendrys Morales

$5 Danny Valencia

for

$5 Manny Machado

$5 Chris Parmalee

$5 Alex Liddi

$5 Billy Rowell

At the time of the trade, I had never heard of Rowell, but he was just a throw in. The main piece I received in this deal is Orioles shortstop, and later to be third baseman, Manny Machado. Here is what I wrote about Machado last April after making the deal:

Machado is an advanced hitter for his age, and some have speculated that he could be a September call up this season. I doubt we see Machado in Baltimore this season, or even in 2013, but if all goes well for him, he should be up in 2014.

Funny how things turn out with prospects, huh? Who would have thought that he would be called up in 2012 to play third base, a position he had never played before. Now, he will be the Orioles starting third baseman this season after holding his own at the position, and at the plate, last year.

To get Machado, I dealt Morales who is coming back after almost two years out of the game due to injury.

After these three deals, you would have thought that I was done dealing. Nope. My next deal, on May 11th, landed me another player I had targeted after the auction draft. His name-Desmond Jennings. To get Jennings, I traded Yu Darvish, Ricky Romero and Cody Ross. Here are the details:

I trade:

$22 Yu Darvish

$10 Ricky Romero (who I received in a small deal on May 7th)

$11 Cody Ross

I receive:

$10 Desmond Jennings

$10 Glen Perkins

$12 Francisco Liriano

Darvish had struggled out of the gate, but the other owner did not seem to mind giving up Jennings, and the Twins future closer Perkins in the trade.

On June 9th, I traded Liriano for Rays young starter $5 Chris Archer and Yankees young starter $5 David Phelps. Liriano had just come off of two consecutive excellent starts, where he gave up just one run over 12 innings, with a 17-3 strikeout to walk ratio. I was happy to grab Archer in this deal, as he could land a starting gig in Tampa Bay this season.

Here are a few more trades I made:

July 9th- I trade a $5 Ryan Cook and Shelley Duncan for a $12 Colby Rasmus

July 10th- I trade a $10 Glen Perkins for a $17 Nick Markakis and $10 Bruce Chen

July 20th-I trade a $10 Michael Saunders, $10 Chris Carter, $1 Brian Matusz for $1 Colin Cowgill, $3 Brandon McCarthy, $10 Dewayne Wise and a $8 Mike Adams. Not one of my greatest trades, as I would love to have Carter on my roster now that he is with the Astros. Saunders almost went 20-20 last season, so I regret making this deal.

August 4th-I trade $5 David Phelps and $10 Eric Thames for $22 Yu Darvish. Yeah, and about two weeks later Darvish went on a major roll on the mound. I am leaning toward keeping him at that price this season, as a result.

And I have been busy this offseason as well:

I traded a $1 Macier Izturis and $5 Jake Marisnick for $46 Robinson Cano, about two days before the Blue Jays traded Marisnick in the blockbuster deal with the Marlins.

I traded $10 Montero and my second round pick in the minor league draft for $22 Yoenis Cespedes. Love Cespedes this season.

In this league, we are limited to keeping just 5 prospects, and I have more than 5 that I wanted to keep, so I turned one of them into a trade piece recently. I traded $5 Taijuan Walker, $10 Mike Olt and $12 Rasmus for $10 Jesus Montero. Yes, I got him back. We are allowed to keep 14 MLB and 5 MiLB players when our keeper lists are due in early April, and Walker would have been the odd man out on my MiLB roster. Similarly, Olt was on the outside looking in as well, so this deal was basically Rasmus for Montero, which I will make any day of the week. I don't think we have seen the best from Montero, and see a bit more power output from him in 2013.

So, after all of these trades, my keeper roster looks like this right now:

$7 Victor Martinez

$10 Jesus Montero

$15 Eric Hosmer

$46 Robinson Cano

$10 Manny Machado

$22 Yoenis Cespedes

$17 Nick Markakis

$15 Desmond Jennings

$22 Yu Darvish

$2 Brett Anderson

$5 Anibal Sanchez

$10 Jarrod Parker

$3 Joakim Soria

$8 Andrew Bailey

My MiLB keeper roster is stacked:

$5 Dylan Bundy

$5 Jurickson Profar

$5 Xander Bogaerts

$5 Miguel Sano

$5 Nick Castellanos

A couple guys I am pondering keeping over Bailey are $10 Nolan Reimold, $5 Chris Archer or a $7 Alberto Callaspo. I am just not sold that Bailey is the next in line for saves in Boston with the presence of Daniel Bard in the bullpen again. I have a feeling the Red Sox will flip both Bailey and closer Joel Hanrahan at midseason for prospects to continue their rebuild.

My plan on draft day is to target one of the available closers and a power hitter or two. I may go into more detail in Part 4 of this series.

So how does my roster look heading into the 2013 season? I am pretty excited about the possibilities.

I leave you with one more question: would you deal a $15 Desmond Jennings for a $1 Tom Wilhelmsen?