RealGM

I'm in a 16 team keeper league that keeps 9 players and 4 farm prospects. usually the good teams stay good and the bad teams stay bad because the draft is usually scarce with difference makers and full of mediocre pitchers and outfielders.

I was offered johan Santana and Mike Young for Miguel Cabrera and Alexis Ramerez.

I have Loney and Konerko as back-up first basemen. I have gordon as my third baseman.

My starting pitching staff consists of Buerhle, Floyd, Arroyo, Zito, Moyer, bush , Angels' Escobar and price is on my farm team. Obviously, my starting pitching staff is rather mediocre. but, i only start 4 each week.

On the surface, this would look like a trade of a first baseman for a pitcher and a swap of two shortstops. However , when considering this is a keeper league and the ages of the players and the fact Young loses his shortstop status while Ramerez gains shortstop status, makes me rethink as to who is getting the better deal.

Everything i read says Alexi Ramerez is a better shortstop over young. yet Young bats second in a potent Ranger line-up and ramerez bats 8th for the White Sox. Ramerez is supposedly 5 years younger than Young.

Johan Santana is 5 years older than Cabrera. he's a stud pitcher, but will he continue to be a stud for the next 5 years? There are reports his velocity is down, and he's already reached his peak.

if this were an anual league, i'd do the deal without hesitation. Santana would make a huge addition to my pitching staff. I could replce Cabrera with loney, and Ramerez for young would be a wash this year. My concern is for next year. Young would be a mediocre third baseman, and I'd be without a quality shortstop as all the good ones and top ss minor league prospects would be protected.

everything i read says Cabrera has a higher current value than Santana, and Ramaerez has a higher current value over Young.

Is Sanatana worth it? Will he make that big of a difference to my starting pitchers. is ramerez overrated ?

Long term effects?

Given the state of your rotation, you really need to make this deal. None of your current pitchers are even remotely valuable in fantasy circles (unless your league rewards pitchers closest to league average mediocrity without going over); Buerhle is probably your most valuable pitcher until Price arrives, which…yikes. Zito? Moyer? Bush?

I think you make out rather well in this deal. Losing Cabrera is obviously going to hurt but, as you mention, you’ve got Loney and Konerko backing him up; either are decent fantasy options for 1B. I’ve never liked Young and there’s good reason to believe that he’ll never come close to replicating his peak again. Ramirez, by contrast, is a much better option, especially in keeper leagues, as he has yet to reach his peak, has already flashed considerable talent in his rookie season, and should stay at short for the next few seasons.

Even with Santana’s decline a real possibility (which would drop him from fantasy god to fantasy ace) over the next few years, you don’t have anything close to him in your rotation. Cabrera faces a similar threat of decline, as he may just eat himself out of the league and, as a first baseman, it shouldn’t be hard to find adequate replacements. Hell, you already have them for this season. Ramirez will be much more valuable over this season and next, line-up be damned. You desperately need a pitcher and you’re getting a SS upgrade to boot! Hell, Santana for Cabrera would be an even-strength deal. Adding Ramirez at the expense of Young makes this a steal for you. Do this deal in a heartbeat.

I'm the guy who has ramerez.

he wants to give me young and Santana for abrera and ramerez.

I was thinking of countering with just cabreera for Santana.

Whoops…probably should get my eyes checked soon.

That muddles things up a bit. I still think that Santana-Cabrera is even strength, but you definitely need pitching help, which justifies the downgrade at short. I wouldn’t worry too much about that, provided you have enough offensive depth elsewhere to cover the loss of Miggy and Ramirez. What does the rest of your offense look like? More importantly, which pitchers are on the waiver wire?

trust me , the pitchers on the waiver wire are much worse than the ones I have.

While looking at my pitching staff once more, Santana may not be a huge upgrade over buehrle, but having him would mean i would not have to pitch zito, moyer or bush and that would be a tremendous difference.

the rest of my offense is Posada at catcher, Loney and konerko at first. kendrick at second. gordon at third. Matsui, Tampa Bay's Upton, Abreu and Ordonez in the outfield With Cordero, Broxton and Qualls as relievers.

my starting pitching sucks so much because I used to have Maddux, Randy Johnson and Jason Schmidt. With 16 teams each keeping 9 players each year and also 4 farm team members; it's hard to replace a Schmidt or Maddux with a great pitching prospect.

Santana may not be a huge upgrade over buehrle

Seriously, what? That statement is wrong on so many levels. Buehrle is an average pitcher in all facets of the game – he doesn’t strike out anybody (career 5.28 K/9), relies primarily on the defense behind him, pitches for an awful club, and provides, what, 10-15 wins a season? Real-life? Not so bad. Fantasy-wise? Waiver-wire talent.

the rest of my offense is Posada at catcher, Loney and konerko at first. kendrick at second. gordon at third. Matsui, Tampa Bay's Upton, Abreu and Ordonez in the outfield With Cordero, Broxton and Qualls as relievers.

Hmmm…It actually may be prudent to keep Miggy then. The offense isn’t bad as much as it’s kind of old (Matsui, Abreu, Konerko) and risky (Loney, Kendrick, Gordon…especially Kendrick). Miggy’s a bit of a stabilizer.

It seems as if the trade-off might not be worth it. Even if Miggy gets fat, he’s still a good-hitting 1B/DH type in the prime of his career…you don’t have many of them.

Curious though; who is out there on the waiver wire for pitchers? You really may be able to find a sufficient upgrade or two to make trading for Santana less necessary.