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I have a team that's either underperforming or more likely poorly designed http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2007/team/team_other.html?user_id=10083.

My offense isn't cutting it. I was looking at some different moves to lessen my pitching and raise my offensive power. I have a trade offer that at the outset I don't love, but want some thoughts on:

You give up:
German, Esteban (6,710,000)
Lo Duca, Paul (2,790,000)
Payton, Jay (2,850,000)
Vizquel, Omar (6,520,000)


Other team gives up:
Bard, Josh (6,910,000)
Hudson, Orlando (6,090,000)
Mackowiak, Rob (1,780,000)
Young, Michael (3,970,000)

I like your team, I think the offense looks pretty well designed to me, and most of the bullpen, I wonder about Harden and Clemens being overpriced for your needs. If I was to make a trade, I would look at trading one or both of them in a package for cheaper starters who are good in pitcher's parks, a stronger set up guy, and possibly an upgrade for Payton.

As the offerer I'll add some points from my side.

I only offered for his players that we underperforming. I basically was looking to get German as a replacement for my failing leadoff platoon of Cruz/Mack. We are both struggling, as my record is one game worse than Rant's. Also mind that by offering Bard I'm giving up my only player in the top 25 in OPS (though this won't go through for 2 days as he got injuted last night for 5 additional games anyways).

Mind you this is a limited keeper league, so we would both be swapping potential keepers as well.

I'll let the gallery chime in, I'm actually interested in hearing the opinions as well...... :D

I like your team as well.

My main issue with this team.... D up the middle. This is of course a basic rule for any team but IMO a pitchers park should be golden up the middle. Many will say the park will protect some spotty D and it will. But why not take advantage of both the park and great D. Maximizing middle D in a pitchers park will give your staff even more breaks. You have Pierre and his noodle arm in CF...bad idea in a pitchers park where keeping runners bottled up is even more important. Keeping runners in check and having the potential for the Gb(a) is huge in a pitchers park. You have a stud like Harden who really only gives up walks. With the above D he gets an extra out or 2 a game because runners aren't advancing via hit, error or baserunning. This also makes guys like Cabrara, Woods and other high walk issuing sub 2 mil guys useable in a pitchers park. I don't think you need Sanchez and Oliver in the pen. From past performance on my teams I'd stick with Sanchez and try to find some match up guys instead of Oliver. Why is Escobar getting more innings then Clemens?

Have to agree w/Splinter on Pierre. Someone did an analysis comparing a -3 arm to a 0 to a +3. It was determined that the difference between -3 and 0 was relatively small, but between 0 and +3, the impact was much larger. And in Kaufmann, it's critical to keep runners from getting an extra base, especially if that extra base is home plate.

Regarding the trade, it looks like mostly a push. You middle def gets a little worse, which you may not want. Also, it seems like you'd trade your high onbase German for a high onbase Bard. The bad thing there is that, while both get on a lot, Bard can't do much on the base pads. He'd struggle to score 100 runs even in the best environment.

You're team is close to .500. That's not too bad really. Maybe need more of a tweak than a make over.

You could ditch Pierre and put Payton in CF. Payton's not great, but for the money, he has the hitting and speed to hold his own.

Aurilia doesn't seem to be doing much. He doesn't really have enough hits or is fast enough to do much. Lot of money for a 5L guy.

It's a balanced trade as the salary exchange suggests, but I kind of like it from your side. I like the ops upgrade youre getting at catcher, as well as replacing Payton's righty bat with a lefty one. None of the players involved would seem to have tremendous keeper value though, so its a wash from that standpoint. And I do think your team is underperforming. Good luck.

[quote:a1ddebe3b3="geekor"]As the offerer I'll add some points from my side.

I only offered for his players that we underperforming. I basically was looking to get German as a replacement for my failing leadoff platoon of Cruz/Mack. We are both struggling, as my record is one game worse than Rant's. Also mind that by offering Bard I'm giving up my only player in the top 25 in OPS (though this won't go through for 2 days as he got injuted last night for 5 additional games anyways).

Mind you this is a limited keeper league, so we would both be swapping potential keepers as well.

I'll let the gallery chime in, I'm actually interested in hearing the opinions as well...... :D[/quote:a1ddebe3b3]

geekor ... sorry not to get back to you earlier on the in-game. been in the animal hospital with my dog since the morning. It seems like a balanced trade enough trade to me in the context of what we're working with that I wanted to test the thought pool.

Thanks everyone for the comments. Escobar's getting more innings b/c Clemens is getting yanked (he's on slow hook). He needs to get back on his HGH regimen. Debated about Pierre, but took a flier since I didn't like the other options particularly. I have Aurilia b/c he kills lefties -- unlike my other big bats who slant right. And b/c I didn't like a whole lot else at third. His numbers in a pitcher's park aren't horrible versus right. He's high inj. roll, though, and not perform with much gusto.