But if you look at it as you’re sacrificing Saves, SB (Pierre), and some catcher-driver HR/RBI (Soto) but gaining in W/K/ERA/WHIP, it’s probably worth it. The marginal gains in those categories from Santana will help you more than what you’ll lose in the other areas.

My guess is that none of these guys except for maybe Soto is priced attractively for keeping…that would play a role in it….

@IowaCubs: I like the trade for Team Farney. I think he should immediately drop Paulino for a better catcher (assuming it’s a one catcher league).

@Kevin: Shields is in my top twenty pitchers for the year for a reason. He’s money.

re: Braun — He was infuriating me this offseason. Not because I just like to take a contrary opinion, but because it seemed like everyone was ignoring this –

a) With all sophomores you run the risk of a slump as scouting comes out.
b) He doesn’t hit righties well. There’s a lot of righties.
c) He had the Lee Gene (which is a Rudy thing, it’s basically named after Carlos Lee and Derrek Lee and it means guys that aren’t built for speed, can go from 15 steals to 7 steals real quick. Example, You look at Pence and you say, ‘Yeah, he could steal 25-30.’ You look at Braun, ‘He’s got the Lee Gene.’ He might steal 20 if everything breaks right, but I would not count on that. He just doesn’t look fast.

For more on what I said this offseason about Braun’s hype:

http://razzball.com/will-ryan-braun-suck-in-2008/

EDIT: Cuz.

I figure that Verlander’s only 25, and it’s not like he’s completely out of control (e.g., he’s not giving up a ton of BB – not like my boy Carmona). If he turns things around a little, this trade was a steal. Even if he doesn’t, I’m content with the risk I took given my lack of confidence in Street (let alone all closers).

Trade… NL Only 6×6 keeper (doubles+triples and holds are categories for some reason).

(opposing team’s offer) Mark DeRosa, Ronny Paulino and Johan Santana
for
(Team Farney) Francisco Cordero, Brian Fuentes, Juan Pierre and Geovany Soto.

Farney is like 2nd to last in every pitching category except holds and his hitting is 1st in almost every category. So basically it’s Santana for all those other dudes.

As for Braun, Grey was hating on him more than me. But I drafted a pitcher in the first round of all my drafts and a power 1B with my 2nd. My only regret with Santana/Peavy is that I had Webb #3 and could’ve gotten him later. That said, those guys are performing better than many consensus 1st rounders….(A-Rod, Reyes, Rollins, Braun, etc.)

@Russ – You might want to comment on the ‘You know your team sucks…” post…

@Baron – Nice. What fun is fantasy baseball if you don’t have rivalries. I’m loving the fact I’m trashing Grey in our league and his only solace is that I traded him Zach Attack for Melky.

@Jeff – Top tier streamer doesn’t have much value now, does it? That’s like calling a girl a high-class ho’. You pick Charlie V up when you need him and then throw his ass to the curb when you’re done…

@BSA – I like J-Shields better than Brett Myers at this point. While I think he should be owned, it’s the same with J-Shields. I’m making the swap. Let Francis be.

I see Villanueva as a top tier streamer… However much value that is.

Suck it, dude-I-actively-dislike.