Monday, July 20, 2009

Trade Machine: Crawford for Kershaw

For the first installment of Trade Machine, I'll post a trade that hits close to home - because I just made it.

In this CBSSports $100 league I'm in, pitching is premium. I fail at reading league rules before joining them, and it turns out that this particular head-to-head league has no add/drop or start limit. In other words, the top team streams through probably 35-40 starters per week and completely obliterates anyone they face. I took a slightly different approach - horde as many "elite" pitchers as I could and just stream the rest - focus the rest of my resources on improving my lineup. Basically I stream 2 guys a day, sometimes 1 depending on who is available to pick up to start (before the other guy gets him) and add maybe 5-6 extra starts for myself per week.

So far this strategy is working, because I own a 2 game lead in the standings in my division (luckily, the other guy is in the other division.) Here is my current lineup:

Batters:

C - Posada, Jorge
1B - Gonzalez, Adrian
2B - Kinsler, Ian
3B - Sandoval, Pablo
SS - Ramirez, Hanley
OF - Crawford, Carl
OF - Upton, B.J.
OF - Ramirez, Manny
U - Kemp, Matt

RS - Jones, Adam (OF)

Pitchers:

SP - Greinke, Zack
SP - Shields, James
SP - Oswalt, Roy
SP - Cueto, Johnny
SP - Jurrjens, Jair
SP - Hanson, Tommy
SP - Pettitte, Andy
SP - Blanton, Joe
SP - Gonzalez, Gio
RP - Jenks, Bobby
RP - Soria, Joakim

Blanton and Gonzalez are currently in the streamer spot, and Pettitte might also be there pretty soon if he doesn't shape up. As you can see, I have 5 quality outfielders for 4 positions - hence the deal.

My trade partner has no outfield depth but a lot of pitchers - so in my eyes, this makes sense. The question is, who is more valuable: Crawford or Kershaw? Is giving up the stolen base leader for a starter for a good team with strikeout potential worth it? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

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