Done Deal

(Note: I wrote this without seeing Seth's analysis below. Bell is only $4, so we've got 10 for $72, not $73.)

Book the trade: our best player, Jim Edmonds, to the Cappers for Chad Tracy (5-06), Dustan Mohr (5-06) and Jesse Foppert (3-06). In expectation of our deal getting done, George swapped Sean Casey and Luis Ayala to the Cartel for Craig Wilson.

He threw in Foppert, who we don't really need, but might use in a trade when Seth successfully suggested that he couldn't take a chance that Foppert would be sent down between cutdown day and draft day. This is a small possibility, but significant for George who can keep Kip Wells instead. To be honest, we would have done the deal without Foppert, and were prepared to ask for Schneider instead when he accepted. It's probably not significant since both teams likely would have thrown him back into the pool.

George made the deal with Doyle to get a cheaper keeper with more flexibility (1B/OF plus who knows if he'll play catcher this year) and with more power than Sean Casey who principally provides BA and RBI. By obtaining Edmonds, who hit .300 last year, he protected the loss of BA by giving up Casey, saved $5 and got a nicely priced stud. George's team now looks like: Freel, Lane, Wilson (bump 5), Castilla (bump 5), Reyes (bump 5), Edmonds, Mota (bump 5 or 10), Hoffman (bump 5), Burnett and either Wells or Guzman depending on Guzman's status. A total of 91 (or 88 with Guzman) plus probably $30 in bumps for 121 for 10 good players. He's got speed, power, 2 closers and likely 2 starters, plus 2 1st round picks to boot. This team is a contender.

Doyle got Ayala thrown in. We would have bid up Ayala, but he's probably going to keep him. He's desperate for saves, though the Borowski pickup is looking more interesting. Ayala might end up the closer in DC, who knows. Casey is a little better than Wilson with potential power improvement, though a little more expensive. He's got to extend him to 19. Greg's got one of the toughest keeper lists to predict. Presumably Casey, Wilson, Cabrera (bump 10), Borowski (maybe bump 5?) and Otsuka for sure, and then a list of maybes led by Branyan at 7 (looking good in spring training so probably), Walker at 9 (ok, he's probably a sure thing), Castillo (I wouldn't do it, but maybe), Livan (not me at 17) and Ayala. This team has a ways to go, and Greg will be under pressure at the draft.

Meanwhile, back at the Pickle Ranch, our 10 looks set with Foppert and Hardy in reserve: 7 hitters (Barrett, Bell, Tracy, Mohr, Drew, Werth and Gonzalez maybe sliding into the infield) and 3 pitchers (Tomko, Suppan and Looper). 7 hitters for 39, 3 pitchers for 33, $72 for 10 players. Everyone but Gonzalez is a starter, and Luis will get at least 350 at bats. We're going to have to spend some serious money on big players, including one boomer (maybe Thome), a stud starter (we like Hudson and Oswalt), and some speed. We can chase anyone with that kind of money to spend. We've got about $150 to spend on only 8 hitters, and we expect to buy 3 cheap ones in there (catcher, MI and UT) so that's 140 to spend on 5 hitters, an average of $28. We'll be noisy early. We have the potential with a great draft, so it's all about player evaluation from here.