Would You Trade Ichiro for Verlander?

[sweettortilla]

10 x 10 – Head to Head

I am looking to build strength in my team and feel that I have an abundance of strong outfielders, but I’m weak at pitching.

My thought is to take advantage of some early season angst to trade one of my outfielders (that has to sit on the bench anyway) to build up my pitching staff for the year.

I have an offer on the table (in a league that is somewhat reluctant to trade) for Verlander for Ichiro or Vlad Guerrero. Thoughts? Think Verlander has the stuff to be the SO king he once was?

Any other strategies for using these extra bats to bolster my bullpen?

Bats

C – Victor Martinez
1B – Ryan Howard
2B – Dan Uggla
SS – Khalil Greene
3B – Aramis Ramirez
OF – Alfonso Soriano
OF – Corey Hart
OF – Nelson Cruz
DH,1B – Lance Berkman
OF (Bench) – Ichiro Suzuki
OF (Bench) – Vladimir Guerrero
OF (Bench) – Adam Lind

Pitchers

Brian Fuentes
Rich Harden
Roy Oswalt
Jair Jurrgens
Micah Owings
Scott Baker
Todd Wellemeyer
Koj Uehara
Anthony Reyes
Carlos Marmol
Dustin Moseley
Ervin Santana (DL)
David Price (Minors)

[richiro]

You can do MUCH better than Verlander with Ichiro or Guerrero. I'd try to swing a trade for maybe Gallardo while he is down a bit after getting pelted the other night. Or I love Billingsley this year, Ichiro/Vlad should probably get that done if you're preening to get rid of one of them.

[hawaiistfball]

I am not a fan of trading Ichiro or Guerrero for Verlander. Verlander is a pretty week pitcher. I would think that you should try to get a player of Billingsley level.

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[crowcrow]

I agee that you need more strong SPs- I prefer trading Ichiro for Verlander than Guerrero (As you have enough speed in your lineup already).

[Boyakasha]

Thanks for looking at mine.

No. Just no, this is not even close. You can do much better than Verlander for Ichiro or Vlad.

[tantrix1969]

I also think you can get better pitching than Verlander,like said above try for someone of Billingsley lvl

[sweettortilla]

Thanks all - great advice. I just have to balance against the willingness of my league to trade. They tend to clutch to a Billingsley or Lester type with all their might. I'd probably have to offer both Ichiro and Vlad to have a shot at Billingsley.

Generally speaking, what do you think is Verlander's upside? Right now, it could be argued that he is down (buy low candidate), but has tons of upside. I just don't know enough about him to know if last year was more his norm and what we can expect, or if 2006 & 2007 were more accurate reflections of who he is.

All I know is that I have more bats than I can play and am REALLY thin at pitching.