Pulling the trigger on a deal

Right now, it’s the off-season in the Illowa APBA League.  We officially finished the 2012 campaign in January. Don’t ask how my Twin City Thunderchickens did.  Let’s just say losses were in the triple digits.  It’s the second year in a row that we’ve finished in last place and though I’m not a competitive person by nature, I made a promise to myself that it wouldn’t happen again.

And it won’t.  It helps that my pitching staff is bolstered by long awaited starter Stephen Strasburg (BXY).  When Strasburg was injured all 2011 in the MLB, I had the option to just receive a rookie draft pick for him in the 2012 draft just like every other uncarded player on my team.  However, I chose to keep him on my roster as an uncarded player sitting on the bench all year.  Seeing how he performed in real life in 2012, I believe it was right move.  Heck, he’ll even have a good hitting card too (four 0s and a 44-7).

But my 2013 team would still have weaknesses. Troy Tulowitzki my former first round draft pick and star shortstop was injured for most of the year in the majors.  Both of my catchers (John Buck and Geovany Soto) have 25-22 on their cards.  And I still am woefully short of innings on the pitching staff as well as at-bats in the outfield.  Fortunately, I have five draft picks to take care of those needs.

Sometimes rookie draft picks can’t take care of those needs and if I can help with my needs from a trade, I will.  I made my first trade in two years a few days ago.  My trading partner in the deal was my friend/rival across town, John Brandeberry who manages the Rising Bamm Beanos.

Let’s get the principal details out of the way:

I traded:

• Troy Tulowitzki (1-4-5, 44-7 and 181 ab in league that restricts player usage)
• Tommy Hanson (CY)
• 12th pick in the draft

for

• Jose Reyes (2-5-6, two 11s)
• Jonathan Papelbon (A*YZ)
• 18th pick in the draft

First of all, this deal was made by Thunderchicken management with the intention of getting us to the playoffs in 2013.  Tulowitzki will no doubt make a comeback and I’ll regret it come 2014.  That said, this deal does a couple things for our team.  One, it frees up two picks for us.  We won’t have to shopping for a shortstop in the draft nor looking for help in the pen.  It also bolsters our already stable bullpen (we already have two B*s in Chris Perez and Aaron Crow).

I won’t speak for John but my guess is that this is a futures trade for him.  He’s getting a potential franchise shortstop in Tulowitzki and a possible future B starter in Hanson.  It doesn’t hurt that he’s moving up in the draft either.  More power to him.  The best trades are the ones that help both teams.

While we lowered our standing in the draft a bit with the trade, we can now use our current picks to cure our ailing outfield and add some innings to our staff.  Having pulled the trigger on this trade today, I still feel good about it knowing why we did it.

Funny enough, the biggest sticking point for me was Tommy Hanson who was another first round pick of mine.  Grade CY or not, it was hard for me to let him go. I knew what I was letting go in Tulo … for Hanson, not so much. Could be risky.

Now if I could do something about Buck and Soto and their light-hitting sticks, we could really contend.

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