By Robby Wellington – Staff Writer
I have always advocated trading for talent and not worrying about your team’s perceived deficiencies when dealing during the regular season. In fact, pointing out that an owner needs help in steals or is really struggling in home runs will often prompt them to overpay you for the services of Dave Roberts or Richie Sexson.
However, with league trading deadlines fast approaching, now is the time to assess where your team can improve or slip the most and target players who will help in that category. Conversely, by figuring out in which categories you don’t stand to experience an appreciable point swing, you know which assets can be traded off without taking a major hit. In my league, I’m really struggling in home runs and RBI but can’t gain many points in either category, while batting average and steals are two categories where I can pick up more points. Therefore, I’m trying to ship off Prince Fielder for an Ichiro or Carl Crawford.
Another very viable trading strategy is weakening your enemy. Don’t hesitate to deal a closer to a cellar dwelling team if it allows them to take a point away from a team above you in the standings. A point lost by another team is just as valuable as a point gained by your squad if you are the only two teams competing for the title.
Additional Random Thoughts:
Why are Matt Leinart and Adrian Peterson hawking NCAA Football ’08 by talking about their teams’ painful upset losses in bowl games? It just doesn’t seem right to me.
Paul Byrd had issued a meager 8 walks in 112 innings this year before walking the bases loaded to start the 5th inning Sunday night. He was able to work out of the jam unscathed (and pick up a crucial spot start win for me).
Stuart Scott made this painfully awkward reference to “Rent” in the lead into a SportsCenter piece about the bouncer paralyzed in the Pacman Jones Vegas shooting: “How Does Urbanski measure a year in the life, 525,600 minutes? By renting out time… in his mind.” I hate Stuart Scott; he is so not “now.”
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