It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Written by Dr Furious on July 07, 2005

With the kids jingle-belling and everyone telling you to be of good cheer! It’s the most wonderful time of the year

That’s right lady and gentlemen, the midseason classic is almost upon us. Half of the season is officially over, and trade talks are heating up as the deadline is fast approaching. Even in The Matrix (The Rotogods "experts" rotisserie baseball league), there are owners who already feel the need to pack it in. Since The Matrix is a keeper league (4 players can be protected for next season), it's common for these owners to dump large quantities of second tier talent in exchange for a top ten keeper. This seems to be the popular move over the past couple of days; hence the title of my offering.

Some of you may be surprised to see an offering from Furious on a Thursday. Quite frankly, I am surprised to be writing the damn thing, myself. Since it is not Friday, I have full license to hate to my little heart’s content. This is what you can look forward to this morning: My two cents on a couple of keeper trades, a short list of underachievers who were kept coming into this years Matrix, and maybe a l’il bit of hate. We will see how it goes; I may not have the time or inclination to get through all that. In the meantime, in-between time, get that coffee brewing and print this bad boy out.

Trading Keepers
The latest deal in the Matrix sends Vlad Guerrero to the last place team for Scott Rolen, Kevin Mench, Carlos Zambrano, and Derrick Turnbow. This trade resembles the traditional form of selling your whole team for a keeper. This is a great deal in any league, but even more so in the Matrix because Turnbow is a closer who can be played in a starting pitcher's slot (very few of these players are available, making them very valuable). Since it is a little early for this kind of trade, and given the lack of balance, three owners in the Matrix have chosen to protest the trade. If the trade receives two more votes, it will be cancelled. While it is clear that this trade is lopsided, even by keeper-acquiring standards, I am choosing not to protest. If Rolen were back to mashing the way he normally does, then I would protest immediately. There is no doubt that the owner who traded for Vlad is packing it in, but in a keeper league a trade of this nature has to be expected sooner or later.

The other deal
This deal is a lot larger, so I will make it easy for you all to handle.

Team 1 (Players to Trade)
A. Jones (Atl - CF)
S. Casey (Cin - 1B)
B. Clark (Mil - CF,RF)
M. Buehrle (CWS - SP)
R. Dempster (ChC - SP,RP)

Team 2 (Players to Trade)
B. Abreu (Phi - RF)
R. Sexson (Sea - 1B)
R. Mackowiak (Pit - 2B,3B,LF,CF,RF)
C. Guillén (Det - SS)
B. Radke (Min - SP)

It is easy to tell that this keeper trade is much more balance than the first. Bobby Abs is definitely the best player in the deal, but the likes of Buehrle and Dempster (another one of those SP/RP closers who are extremely valuable in The Matrix) were packaged up to acquire him. There are quality players on both sides, and the deal helps both owners accomplish their goals, both for this season and next.

Not quite Exposo
The Exposo list comes at the end of the month, but I will take this opportunity to highlight some fruadulent behaviour. All this talk about keepers has allowed Furious to take a look at some protected players that were disappointments for the first half of the season.

Both Schilling and Martinez have been huge disappointments thus far and I bet their owners wish they had kept other players.

I will wrap this puppy up here and give you all a very small dose of hatred. I am off to the gym, while you are probably heading to work. Hopefully it will not be pouring outside, because I might lose it if I get caught in torrential downpours again. I hope the commute is not a killer this morning. If it is, may the force be with you.

-- Written by Dr Furious on July 07, 2005