After a week in the books we have a few early front-runners and a few teams bringing up the rear (myself included). Don't engrave the trophy yet, there are still a lot of games. We've had a flurry of activities on the wire both because the autodrafters are adjusting their rosters and, well, sometimes one schmohawk just looks better than another. I'll spare you the blow-by-blow detail of all the adds and drops (I'll let the managers brag/cry about their moves if they are particularly proud/upset) but feel free to ask for an update.

With that said, we have also had a few trades. One is your typical BigName A for BigName B while the others are, shall we say, "microtrades". I'm pretty sure people would be trading players for six-packs if we could figure out how on Y?, its just that damn deep in the pool - and I apparently forgot my water wings.

The first major trade found SaltyBiscuits dealing Adrian Gonzales to IowaCubs for Lincecum. Six days later Hank/doublepat dealt Jeff Clement to the good Baron Von Vulturewins for Jeff Baker. The Baron, apparently enjoying the buzz from his first trade, chased the dragon and shortly afterwards dealt Alex Rios and Octavio Dotel to The Schmohawks, managed by Bob, for Sherill and Wheeler.

League Standings for week 1:



Detailed Standings:


Comprehensive Statistics:


Legend:
I'm Your Huckleberry - Chet/Doc
Cruisin' KCs - CruisinKc
Dogs of Summer - BSA
Rustic Trumpets - Hank/downpat75
The Schmohawks - Bob
Cocky's Ballas - CockyPhoenix
A's ace Dick Harden - EndlessSummer
Indifferent Fielders - BaronVonVulturewins
Sandlot's Finest - Chase
No Glove No Love. - Off-White
RodBeck's DoubleWide - IowaCubs
Daniel Plainview - BigFatHippo
Salty F. Biscuits - SaltyBiscuits
She Said...Fukudome - BJ
The Job Squad - KarlJ
Bacon Bits - p0rk burn

Don't think the standings mean much just yet (sorry, BVV!).

Lincecum to IowaCubs? I'm going on memory here, but, IowaCubs, don't you have three top pitchers already?

Rios for Sherrill and Wheeler? Wow. BVV, you really hate Rios, huh?

Sorry, had that reversed. Salty ended up with Lincecum and Gonzo went to Iowa. The other two are right.

Yeah, that makes more sense.

Nah -- I don't hate Rios. I wouldn't have drafted him in the high 4th round, where the autodraft did, but I'm rooting for him. (I still have him in my other league. I've never had more than one team before and I like that you can hedge your bets in this way. I've tried all year to get Dunn in the Other League, now I have him here. Ditto Joba, Lilly, Garza etc.)

I don't want to reveal all my Ancient Chinese Secrets, but suffice to say the AD left me with five OFs I liked (CLee, Dunn, Krispie, Granderson, Rios), with four slots (3 OF + Util). Since I'm determined to set a lineup and stick with it, rather than ride the carousel, and since my team's one obvious strength is pure, thudding HR power, I was happy to trade Rios away.

Since Rios has been, er, underperforming this year, I definitely sold him for 50 cents on the dollar. Two teams -- Schmohawks and Dick Harden's -- have cornered the closer market, either by accident or design. And the AD also left me with only one real closer (Saito). And counting stats can get away from you real quick if you don't act fast; ergo, said trade.

Now I have Saito and Sherrill to keep me afloat in saves in the short term, along with a motley crew of rag arms and misfits with some theoretical shot at saves down the line: Kobayashi, Guardado, Soriano, Gagne, and Wheeler. (Two of whom are DLed.) If even two of these five become regular closers, which is not unreasonable, I'll have a pretty productive bullpen. I think both Krispie and Granderson will have significantly better second halves than first, so in all, I feel pretty good about the trade. (In setting my priorities for the autodraft, I specifically targeted players who had underperformed so far this year; so Hamilton no, Prince yes. Trouble is, when you autodraft, you don't get the underperformers for cheap, alas.) And so far, so good.

In a sense, it's a classic trade: Schmoes sent me something I needed while only giving up something he has plenty of anyway, and in return he takes a flyer on a player who, if he rebounds to his normal self, is by far the best talent in this trade. Everybody happy!

I am really thrilled that Lincecum put up his two worst starts of the season, by far, immediately after I acquired him.

Just really brightens up my day.

I have to mention that my trade for Jeff Baker might be one of the worst trades ever. Though I never really planned on using Clement, I should have got something above a replacement player, ugh. I think I was high on crack and 4 homers in 4 games, seemed like he was making a case to stay in the lineup. Touche.

If it makes you feel better someone in a ten team league dropped Kendrick for Baker today. I tried to give him the "WTF are you doing" spiel but he still thinks its a good move. I guess we'll see after interleague ends.