Yeah, I figured you'd say that:
Outfield:
G. Matthews Jr. 72 runs; 14 HR; 65 RBI; 07 SB; .310 season avg.
C. Crawford 70 runs; 15 HR; 64 RBI; 43 SB; .313 season avg.
Infield (or utility where I played Guillen and will play Thome)
C. Guillen 74 runs; 14 HR; 70 RBI; 17 SB; .309 season avg.
J. Thome 93 runs; 36 HR; 90 RBI; 00 SB; .294 season avg.
Stud vs. waiver wire with Crawford versus Matthews? Yeah, I know where I got him but look at those numbers right there. And while I'd agree that Matthews is down for the week, that's because they're away from Texas, where he hits a lot better (as do the rest of them). I consider it a fair trade and I needed to unload one of the three Texas outfielders I'm sitting on. I picked up SB in the deal, but gave back some (not all, obviously) by giving up Guillen, who was slotted in my utility spot specifically for average (which I gave up to get Thome) and stolen bases.
I'll agree with your comment more in the Thome vs. Guillen aspect. I'm gaining runs, HR and RBI potential but giving up average and stolen bases. I won't argue with him being a waiver wire pickup versus a great early pick, but that's part of why I gave up Capuano....
You see Capuano for Putz but make no mention of Julio being in there as well. I had to give up an extra guy to make the deal work for me, or drop a guy. Julio had a crappy outing last week and the reports are that he may not hold his closer job. Yeah, here are the names of the guys I've dropped that have had that said about them earlier in the season:
JJ Putz
T. Jones
Now go look at their stats and see what an idiot I was to drop both of them based on Yahoo reports they might be losing their jobs. I picked up Zumaya at one point based on four consecutive bad games by Jones. Not really a reliable source of information.
What that means is I gave up one of my closers AND a pretty darn good pitcher, not just Capuano for Putz. And I just lost Street to the DL as well, so I'm pretty desperate in sitting in first with one closer threatened with demotion and another on the DL.
I offered Scott up Liriano, who is on the DL and may not pitch again this year for Hoffman earlier this week. Part of that is humor from a deal we'd sort of worked out when I was down in MN but I renegged on because I decided I didn't have that great of pitching after all (look at Contreras, Pettitte and Capuano's winning of late to see I was right). But it's a gamble trade if Liriano does or doesn't come back.
No way are you or Scott going to trade with me. I don't like Famine's relievers that much and didn't see as much upside with the other guys he has in certain respects (e.g. SB). I didn't think the Cuspids or Diablos were far enough out to go for a trade like that.
I needed a reliever and got one, giving up a guy that has been a good reliever for me and also a good pitcher. Capuano's ERA and WHIP are both below my season averages meaning he's been helping keep them down. Julio has one win and 16 saves. For BOTH of those guys I'm getting Putz, a guy I used to have and who can help my ERA and WHIP. On top of that I need to take a pitcher out of rotation because my innings are high.
Matthews for Crawford is fair alone. All I gain is SB which I'm sitting at the top of anyway.
Thome for Guillen is less fair, but that's where the pitching duo comes into play as well. But I give up some SB by offloading Guillen (compensated for by Crawford), some average (which could gain you a point) but I gain some HR potential, which might get me a point. Thome was drafted in round 14. That was after I had drafted Coco Crisp, Jason Varitek, Cliff Lee and the same round as Doug Davis. All of those guys I've dropped. Yes, his numbers are really nice now, but he's a bit of a surprise too.
Read that and tell me what you think. I totally expected you and Scott to be displeased and specifically tried to make the trade as fair as possible. Do you think I did a bad job of that?