Fantasy Baseball Trade

[Vince]

Ok, in a league with my buddies from College, a friend of mine offered me this trade. I'm almost tempted to do it, but I'm not sure...so I was hoping you guys could help me out.

H2H league, here are the offensive stats:
Runs, HRs, RBIs, Average, SBs, Total Bases

I give:
Albert Pujols (1B, LF, 3B eligibility)
Nomar Garciaparra

I get:
Alex Rodriguez
Hideki Matsui

Currently I have Pujols playing 1B, with Helton at my Infield Utility slot, so Helton can replace Pujols in the lineup.

I think it's an interesting proposal...and if Matsui has a good year (20+ HRs, decent average) I could win. But I think Matsui is a little too iffy...what do you all think?

[GoldenEagle]

I agree. Matusi is to iffy.

I think you will get ripped if you make the trade. Garcipara and Arod are both injury prone and could both wind up injured. Arod is already injured. So basically you give up the verstaille Pujos and much more productive for Matusi.

[lynchjm24]

Originally posted by GoldenEagle


I think you will get ripped if you make the trade. Garcipara and Arod are both injury prone

http://baseball-reference.com/r/rodrial01.shtml

Injury Prone eh? He's played in 148-162-162 games the past three seasons.

He did miss 33 games in 99 when he got hurt on that play IIRC where he took a head to his knee turning a double play, I'd hardly call that injury prone however.

[GoldenEagle]

Maybe injury prone was the wrong word. He does seem to get injured in spring training (I know this year and they were a couple of other years) and I would be afraid that it would lead to a long term injury. That being said, I would take him on my team in a heart beat, but not at the price of two great players.

He could just not like spring training, who knows.

On a side note, his salary jumped from $4.5 mil to $22 mil.

[lynchjm24]

Originally posted by GoldenEagle
Maybe injury prone was the wrong word. He does seem to get injured in spring training (I know this year and they were a couple of other years) and I would be afraid that it would lead to a long term injury. That being said, I would take him on my team in a heart beat, but not at the price of two great players.

He could just not like spring training, who knows.

On a side note, his salary jumped from $4.5 mil to $22 mil.

Maybe if they just don't play - noone will get hurt.

I wouldn't make the trade - I have zero faith in Matsui and if Pujols really is 22 - then those are some awfully special numbers he has put up so far. Throw in the stories on the Mia Hamm/Nomar off-season workouts and I was trying like hell to trade for him in my league.

There aren't many trades for ARod that don't look good - but this one is a lot to swallow.

[oykib]

Pujols is the important one in this deal. That 3B eligibility is too valuable to give up easily. There aren't any other .325-30-120 third baseman. Why he's not at third for you, I don't understand. Since Chipper moved to left, no one in the majors can give you that produiction at third.

Somebody's third sacker either sucks or will go down later this year. That's when you should move Pujols, if you don't need him, for your needs.

[tucker342]

It's a little bit risky as Matsui might be a bust. Even with ARod, I still wouldn't do it if I were you.

[QuikSand]

While dealing high-caliber players like this is always risky, I just want to offer my belief that now is the time to pursue Matsui. I know people here are saying he's too risky, and for this particular deal, that may be true.

But I firmly believe that he will be a top-shelf rotisserie player, very good BAvg and very solid power. And I do not believe it will take him an adjustment period to deliver- he should be very solid this year.

So maybe not this deal... but if the guy who has Matsui in your league is trying to seel him at "market price," I recommend that you look to make that deal. By the first of June, I think Matsui will be worth $10 more than he is right now, in the marketplace of public roto opinion.

[cthomer5000]

I see the horror of a future containing 50 polls a week seeking advice for fantasy sports.

[lynchjm24]

Originally posted by QuikSand
While dealing high-caliber players like this is always risky, I just want to offer my belief that now is the time to pursue Matsui. I know people here are saying he's too risky, and for this particular deal, that may be true.

But I firmly believe that he will be a top-shelf rotisserie player, very good BAvg and very solid power. And I do not believe it will take him an adjustment period to deliver- he should be very solid this year.

So maybe not this deal... but if the guy who has Matsui in your league is trying to seel him at "market price," I recommend that you look to make that deal. By the first of June, I think Matsui will be worth $10 more than he is right now, in the marketplace of public roto opinion.

I couldn't disagree more, but that could just be my feelings about the signing creeping in :).

[Vince]

Thanks for the input guys...

Great points Quik...I think I might look into getting Matsui, however the guy is really interested in Pujols, so I'm not sure a trade would work. We'll see however...

EDIT: I also forgot that I told him he was welcome to check out this thread to see how you guys thought of it, as he's my roommate. So getting Matsui for cheap might not be an option anymore ;)

[Logan]

Originally posted by QuikSand
While dealing high-caliber players like this is always risky, I just want to offer my belief that now is the time to pursue Matsui. I know people here are saying he's too risky, and for this particular deal, that may be true.

But I firmly believe that he will be a top-shelf rotisserie player, very good BAvg and very solid power. And I do not believe it will take him an adjustment period to deliver- he should be very solid this year.

So maybe not this deal... but if the guy who has Matsui in your league is trying to seel him at "market price," I recommend that you look to make that deal. By the first of June, I think Matsui will be worth $10 more than he is right now, in the marketplace of public roto opinion.

Sorry Quik, I have to disagree too...

Matsui isn't a pull hitter, which is problem #1 for any lefty who plays in Yankee stadium.

Add in the fact that he was awful in his (brief) time against major league pitching in Japan, and how I feel he WILL have a somewhat large period of adjustment, I think it would be better to look elsewhere.

If I had to predict his numbers for this year, I'd say somewhere in the neighborhood of .275, 20 HRs, 80 RBIs. Awful? Not at all. But nothing special from a fantasy standpoint. And you can get those numbers from plenty of OFs who will also give you some steals.

[ISiddiqui]

It's a wash, but Pujols elgibility at numerous positions is incredible valuable.

[GoldenEagle]

I still think your going to get ripped here. Sure Arod will probably be more offensively productive than Garcipara, but I think Pujos is still to valuable to give up for Matusi.

[oykib]

I think that some of you guys are really underestimating Matsui. Really, living in Japan I had some idea of the ridiculous pressure that he was under during that exhibition series.

Matsui is a really good hittter. This is a guy that will be successful even if he's not on top of his game. He will walk 100+ times this season. So, even if he only bats .270, he's going to have an OBP of around .400. In the Yankees lineup, batting fifth most of the time, that's going to translate into near 100 runs and 100 RBI. If he's on pace for that in June or July, you can expect him to really loosen up and start putting up numbers.