Ace SP Dilemma - who to keep who to deal WHIR

[The Artful Dodger]

I would try to trade Price. He's a top shelf talent, but was a tad lucky and his value is inflated by a high win total. Also, I wouldn't bank on Price putting up a low-mid 3 ERA, facing AL East competition more often than not... let alone to replicate last season.

As for the other arm to trade, it's up to what kind of return you get for either. JJ, Liriano, and Verlander have durability issues to certain extents, after all.

Off the top of my head, here's how I'd rank them:

Verlander
JJ
Liriano
Price

Really close, I can see Liriano outproducing Verlander and JJ as well.

[nyy28]

I'm definitely keeping Verlander here - if you think Johnson will be healthy enough to get 25-30 starts then go with him, but Liriano would be a fine choice as well. I think Johnson's higher injury risk + Liriano's soft schedule makes me lean towards keeping Liriano.

Price might very well be the best pitcher of the bunch, but pitching in the AL East puts him behind all three of your other choices in my opinion.

[chargerss24]

JJ (going out on a limb & predicting he'll be healthy all yr)

I'm not.

I don't like to gamble when it comes to keepers. You're prediction may be correct, but why take that chance, especially when JJ was shut down the last month of last season with shoulder inflammation?

Verlander/Price. You can improve your keepers if you're indeed moving you're two non-keeper starters in Johnson and Liriano.