12-team Dynasty w/contracts - thoughts?

[PujolsJunkie]

Made two deals in my dynasty league, coming off back to back championships. 12 teams, 40 man roster, H2H points, $125 cap, Start 9 hitters/5 SP/1 CL weekly, players are signed to contracts from 1-3 years, and can be re-signed by doubling their contract for one year at a time (ex: Player is $1 in 2008, he can be re-signed for $2 in 2009, $4 in 2010, and so on).

Deal 1:

I traded Travis Snider ($.25, 1 yr) and Yunel Escobar ($3.75, 2 yrs)
and received
Josh Beckett ($9.50, 1 yr), Clay Buchholz ($.25, 1 yr) and Jordan Schafer ($.50, 2 yrs).

Deal 2:

I traded AJ Burnett ($11.50, 1 yr)
and received
John Maine ($1.75, 1 yr) and Billy Butler (.50, 1 yr).

The deal leaves me with $60 to spend on 15 players at auction - most of my team is set, and my only needs are at 1B where I have Loney, and 3B where I just have a vacancy (likely to just sign A-Rod). My team at the moment is:

Starters

McCann, Brian C ATL - $4.00
Loney, James 1B LA - $0.25
Pedroia, Dustin 2B BOS - $1.00
3B EMPTY
Ramirez, Hanley SS FLA - $2.00
Hart, Corey C. RF MIL - $0.50
Kemp, Matt CF LA - $4.25
Pence, Hunter RF HOU - $0.75
Braun, Ryan J. LF MIL - $1.25

Beckett, Josh SP BOS - $9.50
Harang, Aaron SP CIN - $0.50
Santana, Johan SP NYM - $19.75
Shields, James SP TB - $7.00
Wainwright, Adam SP STL - $4.00
Papelbon, Jonathan RP BOS - $2.00

Reserves

Navarro, Dioner C TB - $0.75
Johnson, Kelly 2B ATL - $0.25
Young, Chris B. CF ARI - $0.50
Butler, Billy DH KC - $0.50
Schafer, Jordan OF ATL - $0.50

Maine, John SP NYM - $1.75
Buchholz, Clay SP BOS - $0.25
Morrow, Brandon SP SEA - $0.25
Parra, Manny SP MIL - $2.25
Slowey, Kevin SP MIN - $0.25
Lidge, Brad RP PHI - $1

Would love to hear thoughts on my team's position. Thanks guys, WHIR.

[MikeeDee]

Looks like you have a great team for next year again. Tons of upside too.

You basically traded:
Burnett, Snider, and Escobar
for
Beckett, Maine, Bucholz, Butler, and Schafer

That's a pretty good deal. In my opinion Burnett vs Beckett and Snider/Escobar vs Bucholz.Schafer kind of cancels each other out. From that perspective you gained Butler and Maine. They should both be ok options at that value.

As far as free agency, aside from 3B I would try to focus on 1B since I don't think Loney is a great starting option at 1B in a 12-team league.

[PujolsJunkie]

Looks like you have a great team for next year again. Tons of upside too.

You basically traded:
Burnett, Snider, and Escobar
for
Beckett, Maine, Bucholz, Butler, and Schafer

That's a pretty good deal. In my opinion Burnett vs Beckett and Snider/Escobar vs Bucholz.Schafer kind of cancels each other out. From that perspective you gained Butler and Maine. They should both be ok options at that value.

As far as free agency, aside from 3B I would try to focus on 1B since I don't think Loney is a great starting option at 1B in a 12-team league.

Thanks a lot for the response man. Much appreciated. Interestingly, I also had Kendry Morales around, who I didn't even include here, and I can re-sign him for 50 cents. With the Angels apparently handing 1B over to him, I wonder if I'd be well-served platooning him with Loney at 1B, spending the big money on A-Rod, and then grabbing a few moderately priced pitchers that I can sign up for the next few years. Matt Cain is one guy that comes to mind, as he'd likely come in the $6-7 range. The other option is go all out for '09 and get both A-Rod (Wright is also available) and one of the three huge 1B options available (Pujols, Tex, Miguel Cabrera). That may be the way I sway.