GatewayRedbirds.com

it's really aggravating, especially since I don't think the deal was lopsided one way or the other. I guess the guy felt like he had to win the trade convincingly or something.

FWIW, this was the deal:

I give Adrian Beltre, Jay Bruce, Gordon Beckham, Jonathan Sanchez, Gio Gonzalez, and Jhoulys Chacin

He gives Ubaldo Jiminez, Jose Bautista, Kendry Morales, Aaron Hill, Vernon Wells, John Lackey, and Johan Santana.

Dynasty league. I get older and take on considerable risk with a DL'd Morales and Santana (who likely won't contribute this year until the second half if at all), an increasingly horrible Lackey, and Bautista repeating his outlier year. Of course, if all hit their potential I'm coming out pretty sweet in the deal. He countered with this monstrosity to me after we had been discussing smaller 2 for 2 and 3 for 3 deals.

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I think you should thank him for his cold feet.

I'd probably give you Ubaldo, Bautista, Morales, Hill, Wells, Lackey, Santana just for Gio/Beckham/Bruce alone in a dynasty league and feel dirty after, like I should buy you breakfast and pay for your cab home.

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www.themiddle54.com

people overvalue youth all the time in these leagues, though. The point is to win. Doesn't matter if it's now or in 5 years, but it doesn't make a ton of sense to not try to win now, especially when you don't know if the league will last long enough to pay off your patient stocking of youth. And even if the league does last that long, rosters roll over and change a ton in that time frame, anyway. There are always new young, potentially great players to grab; players who have actually produced don't come around as often.

In this deal, I was willing to part with Gio because I don't know if he'll ever harness his control and Beckham due to his disappointing performance last year. I own both for a reason and can see their potential, but I'm not going to wait forever for them to reach their potential if I'm offered players who have reached that potential and have a good chance to continue to for the next 1-2 years. Bruce was the harder one to let go of, but he's really in the same boat.

But, like I said, I certainly didn't think the deal was lopsided in my favor and he really shouldn't have backed out. His team isn't in great shape pitching wise right now and this would have helped him a lot.

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I agree. Bruce and Beckham are primed for breakout years. I also think Gio and Chacin are gonna be beasts.

I guess Morales was the centerpiece of this deal? If so, I wouldn't sweat a 1B as the position is so deep.

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Ubaldo, Morales, and Bautista are the centerpieces and, for this year at least, are likely better than any of the players I would have given up in the deal.

This league has a CI position and a deep bench. I currently have Justin Smoak filling that position and Morales is potentially a big upgrade there given Smoak is now residing in that black hole of offensive production in Seattle. I like Bautista to repeat something close to his numbers last year (35 HR, 100 RBI) more than I do Beltre. And Ubaldo goes a long way towards softening the blow of losing the pitchers I lose. I also value hitting over pitching by a wide margin for scarcity of production and health reasons.

Like I said before, I get the "primed for breakout years" thing. I fall for that myself and that's why my team is filled with those guys. But you aren't going to hit on all those.

At any rate, the fact that I'm having to defend my side of the trade further shows how silly this guy was being.

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I was wondering why Billy Wagner hadn't pitched this season. Turns out he's retired...

So far my pitching staff has an ERA of 10.125 and a WHIP of 1.977. Don't think I'll be winning those categories this week against fan_in_ny.

like I always say, if you're gonna lose, lose big

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The Anti-Vent Post:

Someone in my keeper league dropped Waino because he had several guys on the DL and needed roster space apparently. I was first in the waiver order. Hello keeper.

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Is anyone keeping Ryan Zimmerman active this week? All I've seen is it could be a couple days up to a DL stint.

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