Giambi and Thome were traded for each other two years ago in a deal which also brought the Wheels Glendon Rusch and a 13th round pick. Rusch didn't turn out so great but the pick was Brandon Duckworth, who exists in the form of Ramon Ortiz. Thome went 1.050 O+S with 84 HRs and 232 RBIs over the last two years, whereas Giambi went 1.200/84/257. Same age, Thome slightly better in 2002, but Giambi has been more consistent. Overall, a good trade for both sides.
Nashua NoNames trade
Marcus Giles, KIE 13th (Johan Santana), KIE 20th, KIE 21st
Kiev Cossacks trade Jeff Kent
These three picks were traded for Kent in the other direction just a year ago. Kiev has far too many holes and not enough draft picks to be able to use Kent profitably, and taking a chance on Marcus Giles isn't the worst idea. Whereas the 14th pick in the draft isn't going to be anywhere near a Kent, this is a good deal for the NoNames.
Pocono Pines Buffalo
Wings trade Roy Halladay, 20th pick
Kiev Cossacks trade Tom Glavine, A.J.Pierzynski
Halladay is about a dozen years younger than Glavine, but Glavine's consistency has been outstanding. The player Kiev will miss most will be Pierzynski. Young, durable, good offensive, good defensive catchers are hard to come by and teams can spend years and valuable assets trying to replace them. Just look at Einar Diaz, who cost Louisville a 1st round pick.
Sycamore Flatlanders
trade Jeff D'Amico
Carolina Hurricanes trade 18th round pick
Sycamore traded a 20th last year to acquire D'Amico, and got an 18th back. The signing could have only been a year's production from Ruben Sierra or Craig Paquette, but the Flatlanders were so horrible that it didn't matter that much. Carolina gets 145 halfway decent innings, but others just as adequate would probably been around later. Still, for certainty, Carolina can't be faulted.
Carolina Hurricanes trade Ken Griffey, Chris Carpenter
Exeter Early Birds trade Danny Graves, Chris Reitsma
Part of the skill in IIBL is knowing when to bail out of a local favorite. Ken Griffey hit 207 homers and drove in 592 runs in the 688 games he appeared in a Carolina uniform. But even last year there were signs of slippage, and 2002 promised to be much worse. Getting Danny Graves and Chris Reitsma, both useful pitchers with good upsides is much better than a bailout.
It's hard to understand the incentive from Exeter's part here. Chris Carpenter is hurt for 2003, so he can't be integral to the plans of the future. Griffey becomes the oldest hitter on the roster, so it's hard to justify this as a youth-oriented rebuilding program. It's hard to justify this as an investment into a solid centerfielder, since Mark Kotsay is probably the Early Birds' best position player.
Sycamore Flatlanders send KIE 14th (Jorge Julio), GRN 16th, 28th
Greencastle Cannons send John Olerud
This is the #35 and #58 pick overall, and let's just assume that it'll still contain such luminaries as Joe Thurston or Hank Blalock or even Carl Crawford. Does this make the Cannons a better team this year? Hardly. Are these guys even signable? Maybe. Are they likely to post EQAs of .329 at least once in their careers? Not probable. Seems to me the Cannons might have asked Sycamore for a warm body like Burnett or Wells.
Certainly, next on the list to be traded is Curt Schilling. While a couple of good draft picks seem like a good idea, the problem with this strategy is that the resulting team is usually dictated by "what's left". The Cannons look hard pressed to match their total of 58 wins last year, and once Schilling goes, possibly after the draft, 48 or even 38 look difficult.
Sycamore Flatlanders send Corey Patterson, Kerry Wood
Kiev Cossacks send Chipper Jones, Kevin Appier
Chipper has got to be a good thing for the Flatlanders, even though he doesn't have a natural position. He's behind Burrell in left, and Pujols is going to jam things more. As such, committing Kerry Wood to the cause makes this a fairly risky trade for Sycamore. Sycamore needs to follow through on their commitment to win if they want to make trades like this. For Kiev, this will be a good deal only if Patterson lives up to his potential.
Tempe Sidewinders send Jim Mecir, Steve Reed
Carolina Hurricanes send 17th round pick (Ramon Vazquez)
Way too cheap. Reed-type relievers were going in the 40s and 50s, not on the 93rd pick. That said, Ramon Vazquez is a nice pickup.
Nashua Nonames trade
13th round pick (Rodrigo Lopez), 14th round pick (Robert Fick), CUC 16th round pick (Scott
Spiezio) and
Brandon Duckworth
Greencastle sends Odalis Perez and GRN 16th round pick (Benito Santiago) and CUC 17th round
pick (Damaso Marte).
Odalis comes not too cheap. Nothing to fault Greencastle for getting Lopez and Duckworth, since GRN is going to need some quantity to rebuild a pitching staff that seems destined to trade Curt Schilling as well.
Detroit Wheels send Roger Cedeno
Carolina Hurricanes send 19th round pick (#141)
Cedeno is a decent 4th outfielder, but hopeless if you have to do much regularly beyond pinch run with him.
Nashua NoNames send
Jason Kendall
Sycamore Flatlanders send 14th (#27) and CAR 18th (#116)
Seems odd that Nashua would solve the catching problems of their main conference rival. Whereas these picks were turned around almost immediately to get Ryan Klesko, Klesko isn't terribly critical in the Nashua plans either. Good trade for SYC.
South Texas Solicitors
send David Eckstein
Grand Mound Greenmen send Kirk Rueter
STX could have gotten a little more for Eckstein, given that Rueter hasn't had that many good seasons. But then again, maybe Eckstein won't either. In any case, GMG admits that their investment in Felipe Lopez wasn't a good one.
Greencastle
Cannons sends Daryle Ward and 22nd and 26th round picks
Texas Lightning send Todd Walker.
Getting rid of Daryle Ward can't be a bad thing, and Todd Walker is an underrated middle infielder. Even after throwing in two picks, a good trade for the Cannons.
Nashua Nonames trade
pick SYC 14th (Raul Ibanez) and CAR 18th (Dustin Mohr)
Texas Lightning trade Ryan Klesko
Nashua is getting to be like the Yankees, collecting relatively redundant parts like Edgar Martinez, Greg Colbrunn, Ellis Burks, and now Ryan Klesko. Sure they'll get their playing time, and scare people on the bench, but now Nashua's key will be to find pitchers who have a strikeout ratio of 27 per game, since the outfield is looking very statuesque. Texas did pretty well in replacing Klesko.
Greencastle Cannons
trade Curt Schilling and picks 277 and 381
Nashua NoNames trade Vincente Padilla and picks 204, 256 and 360
Further to my
comment above, Schilling is the right type of pitcher for the Nashua defense,
given his strikeout ratios. Bad trade in general for Greencastle. Padilla may be
11 years younger and fairly decent, but he shouldn't go anything close to even
up for Schilling.
Rosehaven River Dogs sends 16th round pick (Bobby Hill) and 24th round pick
Detroit Wheels sends Glendon Rusch
The last Rosehaven lefthanded pitcher to start in the regular rotation was Danny Jackson in 1994. Glendon Rusch will eat some innings in a spacious park and win some games with a good offense to support him, but overall he's not a huge commitment.
Hollywood Heat send
CAR 13th (Randy Winn) and 134
Texas Lightning send Rich Aurilia
Rich Aurilia would have been worth much more a year ago. As he's still a shortstop with good offensive numbers, it's a pretty decent deal for Hollywood. There are still some massive holes to fill in Hollywood.
Madiba United trade
Sydney Ponson and 13th round pick (Mark Bellhorn)
Texas Lightning send Randy Johnson
Randy has to slow down at some age. Ponson and Bellhorn is not a bad return. A switchhitting infielder with 30 HR power and a .374 OBP should be worth more than any 37 year old pitcher, but this isn't any 37 year old pitcher.
Nashua Nonames trade
CUC 13th (Aubrey Huff)
Seoul Fighters trade for 44 (Luis Vizcaino) and 61 (Greg Colbrunn)
Good trade for Seoul, since Huff is the kind of player they'll need to build around.
A trade that seemed like a giant nothing when it was made has become more interesting with the emergence of both players. Pierre had been an offensive zero in Colorado, but has now improved into an average-plus centerfielder, while Winn is an average-minus centerfielder. As such, it was a good trade for the Lightning.
Seoul Fighters
send Octavio Dotel and 20th
Sycamore Flatlanders send Jon Garland
Bad trade for the Fighters, since Dotel is perhaps the premier reliever this year. Why a draft pick was included for SYC will be one of life's little mysteries. While starting pitching is often at a premium, Garland couldn't even fetch Kenny Lofton less than a year ago.
Detroit Wheels
trade 17th and POC 19th
Cucamonga Lightning trade Terrence Long and 20th
Why anybody would want Terrence Long astounds me.
Blacks finally cash out on the disappointing Carlos Pena, sending him to Tempe for a package of maybes. But left handed shortstops with good on base percentages are in short supply, and Kevin Brown is, after all, Kevin Brown. This could be a major steal for the Blacks.
DRAFT COMPLETED
South Texas Solicitors
trade Paul Bako
Kiev Cossacks trade Doug Mirabelli
Mirabelli: .260 EQA in 173 PA; Bako .221 EQA in 257 PA. Such is the scarcity of catching plate appearances.
Sycamore Flatlanders
trade Gary Glover
Kiev Cossacks trade Jason Michaels
Michaels is a useful 4th outfielder while Gary Glover will eat the better part of 150 innings, not particularly well.
Tempe Sidewinders
trade David Wells
Carolina Hurricanes trade Chris Reitsma and 20th round pick
Carolina pushes a run for the pennant. With Carolina's starting rotation consisting of Buehrle, Moyer, and now Wells, certainly someone in the division will come a-calling for a few lefty killers.
Portland trades 24th
round pick, Brook Fordyce
Tempe Sidewinders trade 32nd round pick, Joe Girardi
We're not sure why Girardi is that necessary.
Dresden trades Kenny
Lofton and Bry Nelson
Greencastle Cannons trade Brian L. Hunter, Darren Bragg, and a 20th round pick
Blacks finally give up on Kenny Lofton, who patrolled center field for the 97 and 99 championship squads. Alas, Kenny was getting old, scoring less than 100 runs for the first time in 2001. As such, he became unsignable and the Blacks cashed him in for little other than replacement innings and a 20th round pick.
Dresden trades Ricardo
Rodriguez and Matt LeCroy
Seoul Fighters trade Kurt Ainsworth and Troy Percival
A swap of young pitchers proving to have good upside potential. Mostly interchangeable parts, perhaps with Rodriguez (picked in the 23rd round; 247th in the draft) having a little more talent whereas Ainsworth is in a better park with a better team. Percival, though 33, is 4th on the all time IIBL saves list, and seems like a coup for a designated hitter taken with the 118th pick in the draft.
Kiev Cossacks trade
Roy Halladay and Victor Martinez
Seoul Fighters trade Jake Peavy and Dennis Tankersley
A panic attack. Peavy was drafted #5 as a bit of a surprise may be a pretty good pitcher after all. But Halladay is a pretty good pitcher, despite a handful of mediocre starts at the beginning of 2003. Put another way, if anyone had offered Halladay for the #5 pick at the draft it would have been snapped up immediately. Adding insult, Seoul picks up a blue chip catching prospect for a Dennis Tankersley, who is young and a marginal signee. Ridding themselves of Halladay may ensure the Cossacks of one of the first couple picks in the draft, but I'd still rather have Halladay and Hideki than Tankersley and Texeira.
Sycamore Flatlanders
sends Kevin Appier, Vernon Wells, and Scott Williamson
Seoul Fighters trade Roy Halladay, Willie Harris, and Eric Munson
Sycamore's starting pitching beyond Zito wasn't really playoff caliber, but trading Vernon Wells opens a hole in center field manned, temporarily we assume, by stopgaps like Quinton McCracken and Denny Hocking. Picking up Willie Harris and Eric Munson instead of older throw-ins is a temptation to sign one or the other as a prospect, but it's probably more important for the Fighters to avoid this temptation.
Nice turn of events for Seoul, who turn Jake Peavy into four signable players: Appier, Wells, Victor Martinez, and Williamson.
Sycamore Flatlanders
sends Sean Douglass, 15th pick [23rd, 24th and 25th picks until signings]
Antioch Wizards send Joe Borowski
The bullpen depth is needed to make up for sending Williamson in the Halladay trade, but the kicker is that Borowski is a signable candidate. Antioch would rather draft than sign relievers, even though their track record (Derek Lowe, Steve Kline, Mariano Rivera) is a lot better than the Scruffy Moellers that sometime emerge on the late April list.
SIGNINGS IN
Nashua NoNames
send 20th, 21st, Colby Lewis, and Danny Kolb
Rio Salado Scorpions send Kaz Sasaki and Jason Grimsley
Nashua is right insofar a good bullpen is needed for the playoffs. Whereas the existing cast had loads of guys who had gaudy sybermetric stats, the truth was the bullpen ERAs in Nashua were prettly lousy. Hence, Sasaki and Grimsley, two guys on paper who should help, but sabermetrically aren't any better than the guys they're replacing. Rio Salado gets draft picks for next year, which should help them challenge Rosehaven.
Hollywood Heat trade
Steve Finley
Nashua NoNames trade Ellis Burks, Jason Grimsley, and Yorkis Perez
Pretty good trade for Hollywood as they pick up a better hitter and 100 usable bullpen innings. For Nashua, it was a trade they had to make as the sight of Ellis Burks roaming around with Adam Dunn, Ryan Klesko, and Edgar Martinez was just a little too much to bear. Burks is a more natural fit with Torii Hunter in CF and Austin Kearns in RF.
Kiev Cossacks trade
Jake Peavy
Seoul Fighters trade Jeremy Affeldt and 16th round pick
The ultimate in bail out. If you're Kiev and going to trade a pitcher like Roy Halladay (see above) for a young pitcher like Peavy, at least have some conviction in the trade. But NNNNOOOOO. Panic strikes. We're down now to Affeldt and a pick for Halladay. That said, there's another theory that it's best to cut one's losses and the pick might be worth more than the difference between Jeremy and Jake.
At the end of the day, Seoul turns Jeremy Affeldt and a 16th round pick into Vernon Wells, Victor Martinez, and Scott Williamson (not counting unsigned players). That may not have a whole lot to do with this trade, but it shows that the earlier trades were pretty good for the Fighters.
Hollywood Heat trade
Joe Crede and 13th round pick
Seoul Fighters trade Aubrey Huff and 17th round pick
Hollywood has a chance for the playoffs, so picking up Huff solidifies their quest. It's less clear why Seoul did this. Huff was a #17 pick overall last year, and the pick isn't likely to be any better than 17th again. It's not as if the Fighters can't use Huff; he and Vernon Wells were the only two signed offensive players at the time of the draft. Cynics might think that losing Huff (one of only two good offensive players) would help Seoul's chances at moving their own pick into the Mark Texeira bowl, but it's not going to be clear that's all that better than Rocco Baldelli or Hideki Matsui. As for Crede, this sounds like a Seoul diversity campaign, as in every Crede there is a Seoul Fighter. (OK, this has been a long trip.)
Carolina Hurricanes
trade Brett Tomko, Jason Kershner & #18 pick
Lakewood Pointed Sticks trade Paul Byrd, Mark Loretta, and Buddy Groom
Good trade for the Hurricanes, as all three players fit well. The Hurricanes desperately needed a righthanded starter to compliment their three lefty starters (Buerhle, Moyer, and David Wells), a lefthanded reliever to replace B.J. Ryan, and Mark Loretta is a good option at 3b. The investment of a signed Brett Tomko and an 18th round pick (likely to be somewhere around 120 overall), is a reasonable one. Lakewood gets something essentially for nothing, since Byrd et al weren't signed. Still, with Lakewood only 3 games out of a wildcard spot at the time of the trade, the raising of the white flag seems a bit premature. Last year, the Sticks made the playoffs through a strong second half.
Scorpions send Scott Stewart
Hollywood sends their 20th round pick
Rio Salado gets a pick for an unsigned player. Scott Stewart is an underrated, underused reliever who’ll help Hollywood towards a playoff run.
Nashua sends 22nd and 25th,
27th and Tarasco
Antioch sends Gant & Braden Looper.
Nashua trades Braden Looper
Madiba sends 21st pick
Nashua essentially gets Gant for Riedling and Tarasco. Gant has always hit lefties well, but the last thing the NoNames need is to add to their platoon situations. It's not clear why Dunn, Finley, and Klesko can’t patrol the outfield in the playoffs, but if Nashua wants to get cute with highly skewed platoon players like Mackowiak and Gant, the opponents can probably get cute too and run them out of players. For Madiba, Looper is a necessity for a team that’s running out of relievers in the middle of a playoff race.
Kiev trades Bill "what's
the" Haselman, Paul Bako and 28th pick
Tempe sends Walbeck, Fordyce, and 22nd pick
Not sure why this was done. Haselman has some at bats to back up Paul LoDuca, Bako doesn’t. Too much to consider. The 22nd will be the jewel.
Sycamore trades Blake Stein
and 22nd pick
Antioch sends Steve Kline
Kline is a useful reliever who ought to be the second lefty behind Arthur Rhodes. He earns a little less than Scott Stewart, who also unsigned, went for a 20th. Funny, since Kline is arguably the better pitcher.
Kiev sends Bobby Higginson
and Damion Easley
Tempe sends Homer W. Bush, Benny Agabanyani and Kiev's #17 & #21
President Bush is such a bad player, it requires him and an couple of picks who hasn’t had a decent season since the Nixon Administration. Kiev only signed 12, now has 11, and gets only a 17th for their 12th players, but getting anything for Higginson is a plus.
Sycamore sends Josh Beckett
Lakewood sends Eric Gagne
Normally, trading a starter for a reliever is a bad idea. Even the Darren Dreifort/Billy Wagner trade of a couple years ago probably worked in Dresden’s favor. This time it’s probably different. (It's what we always say, isn't it?) Notwithstanding the implications of this year’s playoff landscape, Gagne is probably a better long term prospect than Beckett. Gagne is Eckersleyesque. If Beckett’s just another decent starter, Lakewood’s not going to be too happy. It’d been a lot easier if the Sticks had signed Wayne Franklin and Livan Hernandez.