Give Nelson Cruz, get James Shields

[jt1267]

AL Only, 5x5, 10-team league that is a 3-year keeper league and begins each year with an auction.

Hitting is standard (BA/HR/R/RBI/SB), Pitching is unique (W, K, S, Holds, WHIP)

I am in 6th place and need so make some moves to acquire pitching help (W's/K's/WHIP). I was offered Shields for Cruz, but am having a hard time evaluating this trade. Won't say more than that so as to get (hopefully) unbiased opinions. Although it is a back-burner issue (I want to make a run this year), Shields would be an attractive keeper for next year only. Should I make this trade?

We start 15 hitters and 9 pitchers. Roster is below...thanks in advance for any thoughts on this trade or anything else you think I should do.


C Flowers, Tyler(1B,C) CHW
C Quintero, Humberto(C) KC
1B Teixeira, Mark(1B) NYY
2B Kinsler, Ian(2B) TEX
3B Moustakas, Mike(3B) KC
SS Hardy, J.J.(SS) BAL
MI Jeter, Derek(SS) NYY
CI Pena, Carlos(1B) TB
OF Cruz, Nelson(OF) TEX
OF Hamilton, Josh(OF) TEX
OF Kelly, Don(1B,2B,3B,OF) DET
OF McDonald, Darnell(OF) BOS
OF Viciedo, Dayan(OF) CHW
DH Martin, Leonys(OF) TEX
U Revere, Ben(OF) MIN

(Only bench/reserve worth mentioning is Carl Crawford)

P Burton, Jared(P) MIN
P Cordero, Francisco(P) TOR
P Downs, Scott(P) LAA
P Fister, Doug(P) DET
P Haren, Dan(P) LAA
P Hernandez, Felix(P) SEA
P Hughes, Phil(P) NYY
P Peralta, Joel(P) TB
P Santiago, Hector(P) CHW

Bench/Reserves

Bench (P) Beckett, Josh(P) BOS
Bench (P) Hendriks, Liam(P) MIN
Bench (P) Iwakuma, Hisashi(P) SEA
Bench (P) Jones, Nate(P) CHW

Here are our standings by category if that is helpful at all...

Rank Team BA HR RBI R SB K WHIP W S HD Total
1st 0.2613 117 444 483 68 489 1.2181 36 31 17 80.00
2nd 0.2691 94 425 468 79 337 1.1961 18 43 38 68.50
3rd 0.2522 109 420 380 52 512 1.2922 43 14 23 61.50
4th 0.2564 98 382 389 57 484 1.2739 33 43 15 54.50
5th 0.2592 98 377 359 44 461 1.1380 32 30 40 53.50
6th ME 0.2597 112 397 414 50 388 1.3288 23 12 40 51.50
7th 0.2663 91 386 415 62 463 1.4162 32 16 19 50.50
8th 0.2397 102 370 362 51 510 1.3046 34 18 25 50.00
9th 0.2460 99 332 353 31 451 1.2040 43 29 22 42.50
10th 0.2576 93 337 407 88 469 1.4774 28 1 15 37.50

[moochieh]

I've gotta say, I looked at the standings for a while and it hurt my eyes and I couldn't make heads or tails of it, so this opinon is just based on names involved. I am also out of my element in talking about an AL only league, so take it with a grain of salt.

The categories make me think that hitters are worth a lot more than pitchers because SP affects only 3 categories rather than the standard 4 (ERA). But, your OF seems pretty strong compared to your pitching. Is Cruz a keeper too? My gut says stand pat, but you understand your league better than me, so you may want to go for it.

Help please:
viewtopic.php?f=26&t=449503

[jt1267]

First, thanks for the help/reply. Sorry about the standings. Thought they might help, but obviously just a nightmare to decifer.

Basically, here's where I am (1-10) in each of the categories:

BA 4th
HR 2nd
R 4th
RBI 4th
SB 8th

HD 1st
K 9th
S 9th
W 9th
WHIP 8th

Ultimately I have the most to gain in the pitching categories. I guess it seems like if I add starters they'll help me catch up in Ks, Ws, and maybe a little help in whip. I added Haren last week, and it seems like I could have a shot at Price through a different owner. Maybe getting Beckett back by August combined with a couple trades will put me in the mix at the end of the season.

Again, thanks for the reply.

edit: Cruz could be kept for two more years, but he is more of a high-salary guy, so probably not.