Fantasy Focus: Savvy Vets Makes First Trade

My Savvy Vets fantasy baseball team won its first H2H contest 7-1-2. We won all 5 offensive categories quite handily as well as K's and WHIP on the pitching side of the ledger. Lost only ERA and tied in W's and Saves. In all honesty, I'm not sure the other manager is actively managing his team as he has 2 players on the DL in his starting lineup with very good players sitting on the bench.

There is usually not a lot of trading done in my league. Last year, I think there were only about 3 all year. Another manager is very active in the FA market for closers. He just picked up Santiago from the White Sox and Fernando Rodney from the Rays. He put out a message saying he wanted to trade a RP for a SP. He's a Cardinal fan and said he wouldn't trade Jason Motte, but all other RP's were on the block. As you know, I stockpiled pitchers at the end of my draft and have a stable of 11 SP's. The only two I feel are untouchable are Grienke and MadBum. I ended up offering Ricky Romero for Jordan Walden and he accepted.

Now, before you go all ballistic on me, let me give my explanation:

My league carries 3 RP slots plus 2 P slots and does not count Holds. This alignment almost demands carrying a minimum of 3 closers and the possibility of 5. WIth 10 teams in the league and at least 10 of the closer situations very unstable at any given time, you can see there simply are not enough stable closers to go around, if any such animal even exists. I like to carry at least 4 closers if I can. 3 plus a spare, plus having 4 gives you a leg up on the average team in that H2H category each weak. If I can get 5 without spending too much, all the better. I then use my bench as an extended starting rotation.

Yes, the closer position is inherently unstable, and you can pick up good closers during the season, but you have to be thinking at least 2 steps ahead or you will be left hungry when the flock of vultures descend on the carcasses of another imploded closer situation. You can burn up a tremendous number of your alloted 40 in-season FA pickups chasing Saves. The one year I won the league championship, I grabbed a couple of closers early in the draft. My worst season was when I punted the category altogether.

I think I've mentioned that I am not all that enamored by Ricky Romero. He had a great ERA last year, but it came with a low K rate and some of his other peripherals were quite mundane. Plus, he pitches in the AL East which is a beast for pitchers. He's the type of pitcher that a lot of fantasy owners find attractive for W's and ERA but in the long run there are other options that are better. I have never had trouble finding SP on the FA market that are as good or better than Ricky Romero, so I considered him expendable for the right player or players coming back. It was worth it to me to use him to solidify my RP situation so I don't have to burn up 25 moves chasing Saves.

Here is Savvy Vets current roster after the trade:

C Matt Wieters
1B Prince Fielder
2B Dustin Ackley
3B Jose Bautista
SS Dee Gordon
IF Pablo Sandoval
OF Andrew McCutchen
OF Melky Cabrera
OF Alejandro De Aza
UT Freddie Freeman
UT David Ortiz
SP Zach Grienke
SP Madison Bumgarner
SP Cory Luebke
SP Brandon Beachy
SP Jordan Zimmerman
RP Jordan Walden
RP Brian Wilson
RP Joe Nathan
P Grant Balfour
P Vinnie Pestano
BN Brandon Morrow'
BN Ervin Santana
BN Chris Capuano
BN Matt Harrison
BN Bartolo Colon
DL Kyle Farnsworth

Right now, I'm watching De Aza and Colon closely and I'm a bit nervous about Luebke. I'm confident I can find good alternatives on the FA market for all of them if the need arises.