MLBeat

Fantasy baseball's greatest weakness thus far is its ephemeral nature. More so than the real games themselves, fantasy baseball's results are instantly forgotten and even poorly archived online to boot. Some may remember who won and lost, but nobody remembers the pivotal trades, the astute waiver-wire pickups, the team that won it all back in '99 solely on stolen bases and middle relievers.

I have a vague memory of trading Cliff Floyd for Eric Milton at midseason in a league full of strangers several years ago. Everyone mocked and jeered my newbie move as Floyd had been an MVP thus far and Milton was completely unproven at the time, but sure enough the former injured himself and the latter helped me come from behind to tie the first-place team on the season's final day. But other than that, I can't recall a single other memorable trade I've made over the years, which is sad considering the time and thought I poured into them (not to mention the ones that didn't even get accepted).

Okay, last May I did trade Jonny Gomes for Felix Hernandez and Justin Morneau in a keeper league. Better yet, the numbers at the time were such that nobody even questioned the deal. That one was, and continues to be, memorable....

I harbor few illusions that a complete stranger's fantasy baseball travails can be of any interest but himself, but because MLBeat serves at least in part as a repository of hidden details I may want to be able to recall someday, here's a message I posted to my league's board last night, an hour after the trade deadline had passed. Yahoo--for all its perks--doesn't keep a record of these, so if I don't post it here, it could be lost forever.

Backstory: this is the first year of It's a League Game Smokey, at least in its current 16-team five-keeper format. It's head-to-head, 6x6 (OPS and losses), comes with a pittance of a $30 buy-in that gets pooled to the top three finishers, and it's joyously combative, combining proud and grizzled veterans with eager first-timers and everywhere in between. I'm the league's commissioner and loving caretaker, and if I may fan my feathers ever so slightly, it's far and away the best fantasy league experience I've ever enjoyed.

One note that though it doesn't fit, I cannot omit: despite the overall high level of activity there has been one wild aberration: Funky Cold Madina sits in third place, virtually assured of a place in the coveted playoffs here in the final week of the regular season, despite:
1) not knowing anything about baseball,
2) managing an autodrafted team,
3) making a total of two roster moves, both to drop injured or worthless players, and
4) only logging in once since June.

And that login was solely to post a trash-talking message to the dozen deeply embarrassed managers behind him in the standings. That this was the only dead team in the league puts the whole enterprise into a certain absurd perspective, no?



So that’s a wrap on all the trading activity for the ‘07 season. Well done, noble participants: twenty trades and not a single league-ruiner. And at least in my case, plenty of heated negotiation right up to the deadline, although in the end Akira was unable to consummate his lust for Brandon Webb.

League sluts were Mofos on a Diamond and DurrrtySouth Mudcats with 6 trades apiece.
League prudes were Agents of Fortune, Train Wreck, Smiley Mets Fan and (of course) funky cold madina with 0 trades each. (Which is fine, but how about at least *replying* to my offers, eh guys?)

Just in case folks were hoping for an authoritative final word on the year’s deals...well, don’t mind if I do:

4/17 -- the long shot trades Todd Jones to Lickin’ Cactus for Rich Harden
Jones hasn’t been perfect, but he’s been the closer all year. Harden barely even took the field.
Winner: Lickin’ Cactus

4/28 -- Mofos on a Diamond trades Adam Dunn, Jason Frasor to Otis Nixon Overdrive for Lance Berkman, Mike MacDougal
Neither Frasor nor MacDougal amounted to much of anything, so it’s Dunn vs. Berkman, and Dunn has simply had a better year. Next year, who knows.
Winner: Otis Nixon Overdrive

4/28 -- the long shot trades Phil Hughes to Mofos on a Diamond for Al Reyes
Hughes hurt himself immediately following this but is now back and looks to help Akira out down the stretch. Reyes only has ten saves since this trade and two in the last two months.
Winner: Mofos on a Diamond

5/6 -- El Kabong trades Corey Patterson, Jake Peavy to The Pimply Backs for Garrett Atkins, Mark Teahen
This trade “coincided” with Jay starting to run away with the regular season. Peavy’s been better than the other three players put together, although Atkins has finally come around. Patterson has too, but Jay gets no credit for that since he’s doing it for Satter instead.
Winner: The Pimply Backs

5/10 -- Chrum trades Frank Thomas to The Pimply Backs for Andy Pettitte
Thomas has hit 16 of his 21 HR since the trade, and Pettitte has gone 9-5.
Winner: Push

5/17 -- DurrtySouth Mudcats trades Paul Konerko, Aaron Harang to Teen Girl Squad for Adrian Gonzalez
Konerko has hit 21 of his 26 HR since the trade, while Gonzalez has only hit 13 of his 23 (thanks to four in the past week). And then there’s the Harang part: 8-2, 3.32 ERA, 113 K in 120 IP since that date. Yeah, I’d probably be in 10th-12th place if not for this trade.
Winner: Teen Girl Squad

5/31 -- the long shot trades Yovanni Gallardo to Mofos on a Diamond for Melvin Mora
Mora has been, how shall I say, thoroughly nondescript. Gallardo was a major boost to Akira’s starting staff for awhile, though he’s hit a bit of a wall recently.
Winner: Mofos on a Diamond

6/14 -- Mofos on a Diamond trades Kenny Lofton, Brad Hennessey to The Pimply Backs for Javier Vazquez
Vazquez went on a 8-2 tear after this trade - he’s had a very solid year. Lofton’s only stolen six bases since the trade, and four of them were in the same game. Hennessey’s been decent in relief but hardly gets any saves because the Giants suck. This trade hasn’t killed Jay or anything, but I’ll give a slight edge to Akira on this one since it helped vault him into second place.
Winner: Mofos on a Diamond

6/18 -- Teen Girl Squad trades Stephen Drew, Mike Cameron, Eric Gagne to Tieagles for Miguel Tejada, Moises Alou
Miggy broke his wrist and missed over a month right after I acquired him, but now he and Alou are both back and looking strong. I was unlucky in that respect, but lucky enough to trade Cameron at the tail end of one of his patented hot streaks. Gagne was great as a closer but the trade to Boston killed his value. Drew has been flat-out worthless, much to my (and Nathan’s) disappointment.
Winner: Teen Girl Squad

6/19 -- DurrtySouth Mudcats trades Jack Cust, Tim Lincecum, Chad Billingsley, Jason Schmidt to Tieagles for Torii Hunter
Tough to evaluate since Hunter and Billingsley got traded again, but this was a good haul for Nathan even though Schmidt went down for the year about 45 seconds after the trade was accepted. Cust is actually looking like a borderline potential keeper, which none of us thought at the time of the trade. And Lincecum is the balls.
Winner: Tieagles

6/22 -- T’Bags trades Vladimir Guerrero to DurrtySouth Mudcats for Torii Hunter, Joe Mauer
Unless Mauer is hitting .360 he’s going to be overrated because he doesn’t hit any homers or steal any bases. And I’d take Vlad over Torii any day.
Winner: DurrtySouthMudcats

6/25 -- DurrtySouth Mudcats trades Andruw Jones to Tieagles for Robinson Cano, Chad Billingsley
Andruw’s playing hurt for maybe the first time in his career. He has shown occasional signs of getting his shit together, but not enough to be worth giving up as promising a keeper as Billingsley.
Winner: DurrrtySouthMudcats

6/27 -- Otis Nixon Overdrive trades J.J. Hardy to Lickin’ Cactus for Brad Penny
Satter was trading from strength to land a hitter, and now that Hardy is heating up again he probably is what Satter needs more going down the stretch. But still, he sucked pretty hard for the end of June and all of July, and Penny continues to pitch like an ace and remains the better keeper of the two.
Winner: Otis Nixon Overdrive

7/8 -- The Pimply Backs trades Jim Thome to the long shot for Tim Hudson
Thome put up a .970 OPS in July and is up to 20 HR after missing time early. But Hudson has gone 7-1 since the trade and has been cruising. Both sides won this one.
Winner: Push

7/10 -- El Kabong trades Chase Utley, Ryan Dempster to Mofos on a Diamond for Ryan Braun, Howie Kendrick, Jeremy Accardo
I initially favored Akira’s side of this blockbuster, but of course Utley immediately broke his hand and the outlook is uncertain for the rest of his season. Braun has continued his tear and is going to be a valuable keeper in his own right. (I’d still take Utley over Braun for ‘08, but that’s neither here nor there.) Also Accardo > Dempster, and Kendrick > nothing. Even if Utley hadn’t gone down, Wade would still have done pretty well for himself here.
Winner: El Kabong

8/1 -- Teen Girl Squad trades Delmon Young to DurrtySouth Mudcats for Chien-Ming Wang, Chris Capuano
At this point Delmon had more value to a team more focused on next year and beyond. It’s turned into a disappointing year for a so-called future superstar, and I haven’t missed him at all as Alou was ready to step in for him by now. Wang has been as advertised, but Capuano didn’t pull out of his tailspin like I’d hoped (though his K/BB ratios are still great, strangely enough). I actually dropped him without ever starting him.
Winner: Push

8/5 -- the long shot trades Travis Hafner to DurrtySouth Mudcats for C.C. Sabathia, Robinson Cano, Gary Matthews Jr.
This was when Jeremy still had a, uh, long shot to make the playoffs. A decent haul for a guy playing on one knee, I’d say. But Banjo is playing for next year and Pronk is a gamble worth taking in that respect. Not to mention that Pronk and Banjo sound like two people who should be together at all times. Seriously, I think Banjo needs Pronk, and Pronk needs Banjo. (No disrespect to Cowbell.) I’ll give the edge to the guy who definitely helped himself in ‘07 though.
Winner: the long shot

8/7 -- Mofos on a Diamond trades Michael Cuddyer, Fausto Carmona to Chrum for David Ortiz
Ortiz is banged up too, but apparently so hopped up on painkillers that he still can hit homers without too much problem. Either way he’s the most valuable keeper of the bunch. Carmona still looks ace-like and Chrum was trading from strength (OPS) to land a good pitcher, but he’s having to roll the dice that Giambi can fill Ortiz’s shoes over the next few weeks.
Winner: Mofos on a Diamond

8/14 -- Tieagles trades Mike Piazza, Adam Wainwright to The Mooninites for Justin Upton
Both teams got what they needed here - Joey a solid catcher and resurgent SP for the playoffs, and Nathan one of the most coveted keepers in the game.
Winner: Push

8/23 -- Tieagles trades Jack Cust, Orlando Hernandez to The Pimply Backs for B.J. Upton
One person I discussed this with called it a panic trade for Jay, who may have lost Cole Hamels to the elbow monster last week. I wanted to agree with him -- it’s true that B.J. is an excellent keeper who will stay 2B eligible next year -- but I can’t agree until first I see El Duque show his age and lose a game or two. And Cust sure isn’t looking like a flash in the pan this deep into the season. Jay may have dealt a blow to his chances in ‘08 but he helped himself in the meantime. The bad news is that I don’t think I’m mentally ready to deal with the possibility of Nathan’s team being competitive next year.
Winner: Push

Labels: fantasy baseball, time capsule