Aother Major Trade Announcement

So MT Baker, the 5th place team quite in the hunt, approached me last week and asked if I'd be interested in Jeremy Hellickson.  

As a $1 with an L2 contract, he's the type of guy teams in this league keep. Not just keep, but treasure! And as such, he's not the kind of guy I would even think to ask for in a trade. So this was an unexpected surprise. When he mentioned troubled Juan Pierre in the same breath as Miggy Cabrera as a potential trade, I knew we had a live one. Miggy is perhaps the best hitter in the AL, while Pierre has been a source of frustration all season, stealing only 10 bases thus far this season. I'm still a believer and expect he'll have a nice 2nd half, but OTOH, I'm happy to deal him.

The only catch? He also wanted Colby Lewis, who has been a steady source of Ks and Ws for the Skwirls since I drafted him last spring.  At only $6, I wasn't happy about giving him up, but he made me an offer I that in the end, I couldn't refuse: 

David Murphy ($11), Jeremy Hellickson ($1), Brett Anderson ($10 but option year, can't keep) and a #2 draft pick to the Skwirls for Juan Pierre and Colby Lewis.

In his first start as a Skwirl, Hellickson had mixed results -- he gave up 4 runs on a career-high 9 hits, but also struck out 9.  He threw the ball well, and the ball seems to jump out of his hand.  He could be a $1 ace for the Skwirls next year.

Week 12: Andrew Miller, Joey Devine, and Jason Varitek

I was going to bid $10 initially.  I thought that was a good, gut-feeling bid.  Then I started researching him, and when I typed in my request, I put $7.  Well, bidding went through and the winning bid was... you guessed it: $10.  Worse yet, it was made by the team directly in front of me in 6th place.  (In the event of a tie bid, the lower ranked team in the standings gets the guy.)  Lesson learned: Go with your initial gut instinct and don't overthink it. 

 What do we make of Miller's prospects?  I'm always a big fan of the top draft pick (1st rounder, 6th overall) coming back to the majors a third time -- a little more humble and a little more hungry.  After his typical wildness to start the season, he was putting up stupid numbers lately in Pawtucket.  In his last four starts, he had a 1.78 ERA and in 25 IP, he allowed 17 hits, 3 walks, and struck out 26!  Now he's up to take two starts for Boston in place of Clay Buchholz (DL-back strain-he'll be fine).  Miller's match-ups are ideal (SD and Pitt) and with the potent Bosox lineup, I like him a lot for this week.  His long-term prospects are anybody's guess.  Here are some now:

Andrew Miller (1/16)

Remember Miller? The Tigers former first round pick looks like he's going to get the call and start for the Red Sox on Monday versus the Padres. This would make Miller a two-start pitcher for Week 12 if the Red Sox don't skip Miller's turn. Miller's numbers at AAA Pawtucket have been phenomenal, and while he seems like a mega flop, he's only 26 years old. The downside to Miller is that he's never been consistent in the Majors and his stuff was never as good as advertised. Miller's a worthy gamble in deep leagues; in mixed leagues you'll want to take a wait-and-see approach.  (Mike Gianella)

Miller fanned 10 batters in his last start for Triple-A Pawtucket on Monday, as he continued to throw well before the promotion. Fantasy owners might remember the much-hyped lefty from his days as a Florida Marlin or Detroit Tiger, though he didn't have much success with either team. He was expected to start and get in the mix for the rotation regardless of any other starter's status, but the DL stint for Buchholz all but guarantees the 6-foot-7 starter to get at least two starts barring a huge letdown. Consider the 26-year-old to be a rising option for now, though his 15-26 career record and 5.84 ERA are not inciting enough to rely on him in any leagues other than AL-only formats for now. (CBS Sports)

For a great overview on this enigmatic lefty (aren't they all!), check out this great blog entry from Gordon Edes on ESPN.  There's an even better one by Edes here, which tells the story of a Cape Cod League game in which Miller struck out 12 batters in a row... and was called on account of fog!
 
The consolation prize in this week's FAAB festivities was Joey Devine, who I wanted earlier in the year but missed out on.  Somewhere along the line he was waived, and I got my 2nd chance at him.  I dropped his bullpen-mate Michael Wuertz for him.  Weurtz was not delivering what I needed, namely the microscopic ERA and WHIP numbers needed to offset ugly starts. 

Now that I've got Devine, I will probably hold onto him for the duration.  His numbers are sick!  Check this out:

2.45 ERA / 0.95 WHIP / 13 Ks in 14 IP. 

Now check out his line from the minor league rehab:

3 W / 3 SV / 0.00 ERA / 0.41 WHIP / 17 Ks in 12 IP.

Fluke?  His 2008 campaign (before surgery) was just as sick:

6 W / 1 SV / 0.59 ERA / 0.84 WHIP / 49 Ks in 45 IP.

Set-up guys like him are gold, Jerry, gold! They can vulture you a win or a save, but their real value is in the ratios, where over time they can serve to clean up some ugly starts. Or in my case, some bad middle relief: 

Jenks 9.35 ERA / 2.53 WHIP
Dotel 7.45 / 2.06
Perry 10.00 / 2.33
Wuertz 5.79  / 1.50

Eesh, thanks for nothing guys.   Joey, you've got some work to do. 

Jason Varitek 

I also picked up Tek for a buck.  He was sitting on the waiver wire all season.  I kept Jake Fox in that 2nd catcher slot thinking something good would happen with him, and now that he's in the minors, I can simply reserve him and add Tek who, for all his offensive limitations, has the most HRs (3) and RBI (15) off all waiver-wire players in our league.  He doesn't play enough to really hurt the Skwirl's batting average, and he can add a dinger and some ribbies here or there in the counting stats.

Of course the big news at catcher is that I got Joe Mauer back.  (Way to bury the lead there Scott!)  Mauer may prove to be the secret weapon I need to move into the lead pack. 

During the week, I also slotted Scott Sizemore into the 2B position and dropped Andino, who contributed a measly .208 with 2 RBI and 6 runs scored to the effort. 

Back to FAAB, I told a dollar flier on Graham Godfrey, too, but didn't get him.  He's not a prospect, per se, but he does pitch in Oakland, which makes anybody look pretty good, right Vin Mazzaro? 

Zach Stewart is another under-the-radar rookie starting pitcher.  Our league made no bids on him whatsover, despite his 7 IP / 2 ER debut.  As a former 3rd round pick, he's one to keep an eye on.  

So much good news!

The Skwirls have moved up to 6th place with 70 points!

We have been on a steady march up the standings for weeks now.  This past week, we won the HR (13) RBI (45) and Runs scored (52) categories.  We also won the Wins (5) and WHIP (1.05) cats, with strong showings in all the other categories.

Hell, we even picked up our first save of the season! That broke the tie for last place and gave us a half-point. Thank you Daniel Bard, at $14 the most overpaid set-up guy in the league by far.  (I bid him up this year thinking about next year, when he could be an attractively priced closer.)

The news wasn't all good this past week, however. I did receive a bit of a shock when Jake Fox was waived by the O's. It's never a good sign when a guy you own in fantasy isn't even good enough for his team in real life. But that's life in AL-only sometimes. The deal on him is basically the wants (and needs) more playing time, and he feels his sporadic PT is responsible for his .188 BA. So he was designated and, according to reports, will likely be traded. Given that he's got serious pop (10 homers in Spring Training) and qualifies at C, I'll just keep him and see what happens. 

When you consider that I've gotten essentially nothing from my 2 catcher slots, my recent surge in the standings is all the more heartening. To add a guy like Joe Mauer sometime this month will be the equivalent of making another blockbuster trade.

Speaking of which, Miguel Caberera is good.  Really good.  Since I traded for him, he's hit 5 homers and has 13 RBI... in 13 games.  On the flip side, Mark Trumbo has 4 homers, and Franklin Gutierrez has 1. So I guess we're even. Nice trade so far for both sides, but Miggy's BA is way higher. 

And the trade I didn't make? Juan Pierre is really heating up, scoring 10 runs in his last 11 games and stealing 2 bags, and (get THIS) hitting his first home run of the year.  The window to buy him at a discount is closing. 

Andino scored 4 runs this week but hit only .208.

One to Watch: SS Yunel Escobar. Scored him with FAAB last season for a reasonable $12, and kept him -- that move is really paying off. Offered him for Papelbon recently and am now rethinking the wisdom of that. Overshadowed on my team and in AL-only fantasy in general by the mighty Asdrubal Cabrera, Escobar has quietly put up some very nice numbers himself: .290 / 7 HR / 24 RBI / 36 R / 1 SB  Bear in mind, his .256 last year is the outlier in his career thus far (.326 .288 .299).  That's a career .289, and he's hitting .290, so... there you go. 

1B Daric Barton was an absolute pest in Fenway this weekend, with 2 hits in all 3 games. He looked very comfortable hitting in the Cozy Confines, taking the ball the other way off the Green Monster. The announcers on radio and TV kept ragging on him for his low batting average and lack of a single home run, but this is a guy who hit 10 last year and walked over 100 times. He's not a slouch. He's just off to a pathetically slow start, and I think playing in Oakland is a real detriment to his style of hitting. He's an everyday player at $6; a good AL-only team needs a couple of those slot-fillers.

RP Al Alburquerque turned out to be a brilliant move, as he vultured not one but two (2!) wins in relief immediately after I rostered him.  That's just the way I drew it up on on the chalkboard.