Trade Help

[sveto]

I've been offered I.Rodriguez&Soriano for Green&Varitek.
my batters:
C Varitek, Jason
1B Thome, Jim
2B Polanco, Placido
3B Nevin, Phil
SS Garciaparra, Nomar
LF Dunn, Adam
CF Cedeno, Roger
RF Green, Shawn
Util McLemore, Mark
Bench Martinez, Tino
Bench Blalock, Hank
categories: R H HR RBI SB FPCT AVG OBP SLG

Should I accept that offer?

[Arlo]

Tough call. Very tough, actually.

You'd essentially be replacing Varitek, Polanco and Green with I.Rodriguez, Soriano and T.Martinez or Blalock (assuming you play McLemore at of), depending on how well Blalock does, which sounds like a significant upgrade in both speed and power.

The downside, however, is that Pudge comes with a substantial risk. He came to camp overweight and out of shape, bad signs for a catcher. Soriano has some question marks, too: everyone expects that his plate discipline will improve, but that's not a given.

Varitek is no sure thing either, of course. It looks like he could take a while to return to his old form. Of the players in this trade, only Green comes without serious question marks, which is reason enough to be a bit skeptical.

How soon do you have to decide this? If I were you, I'd first see if I could make a different deal instead of this one, perhaps by offering Blalock for upgrades at c and/or 2b. Blalock's stock is high, and you're already set at 3b - you might be able to plug your holes without dealing Green.

If no other options are available, however, I'd probably accept this deal, not because you're getting significantly better players, but because of the configuration of your team. But hopefully you can upgrade at 2b (and maybe at c) in some other way.

Let us know what you decide!

[sveto]

should I offer Cedeno for Soriano?

[Arlo]

Sounds like a good solution. Cedeno will probably post slightly better numbers than Soriano in the categories you're using, even if he doesn't return to his 1999 form, but factoring in positional scarcity and the opportunity to move Polanco to the bench, your team will benefit.

Trading a player who might put up 60+ steals is never an easy decision, but since (a) you have more than the regular 4-5 roto categories, (b) Soriano is no slowpoke either, and (c) your lineup will produce respectable sb's anyway with McLemore (30+), Green (c. 20) and possibly Garciaparra, this deal makes sense.

One word of caution about Soriano, though: take Joe Torre's talk that Soriano might bat leadoff with a grain of salt. If it happens, his stats will improve, but at the moment, this is still just an idea.

In sum, this sounds like a solid deal. If the other team has a viable replacement at 2b, both sides should benefit. Go for it, and let us know how it turns out!