Power Pros Forum

I'm enjoying the trading aspect of the game and just made one that I considered "iffy," meaning I think I'll get the better deal, but it's more suspect than most of the trades I've done so I'm hoping to generate a discussion about it. Maybe I'm 2nd guessing myself because this was listed as a 4-star trade and I usually only do 3 star trades. WIth this one, whenever I tried to add another young Met to the deal, it'd drop to a 1 or 0 star deal.

Anyway, I'm in my 2nd season with the Rays so the players are modified, but here's the basics:
Carl Crawford (CON B, PWR B, SPD C), Troy Percival (CTL E STAM E; CB & CHG of 1), and some guy named Foulk (E/E, CHG 3; SPLT 2) that I picked up last year to be my setup man, but also dropped to from B/E to E/E this year, in exchange for the Mets' Aaron Heilman (CTL A or B (I forget), STAM E, and 3 or 4 pitches with a 4 ranking).

Before you condemn me, here're some other considerations:
- Percival and Foulk were salary dumps at this point - big contracts and no control or stamina,
- with neither of those guys able to close, I wanted a closer and Heilman should be solid or great for several years,
- I've got some quality starters and some fine middle releivers, but no one reliever with a CTL over C and at least 2 strong, quality pitches, which is what I think I need in a closer. The quality pitches is what I need for me; I think I need the strong control rating for when I sim games. J Peralta (CTL B STAM E, CB & SPLT at 2 - I traded Garza for Peralta and Bannister last year) will be my main setup man.
- Crawford was in the last year of his contract and I couldn't get him to sign a multiyear deal last off-season (I sort of feel like I can't just pay out unlimited money like I'm the Yankees even though there's no true penalty (that I know of) in this game)
- I also have Nick Swisher (CON C PWR B) to play left with 3 years before free agency (last year, I traded Cliff Floyd & a middle reliever (Dohman) for him)
- I picked up Dan Johnson from free agency last year and converted him to play 1B or LF

So, with that said, what do you think of my trade?

Hmm. Pretty tough to say. Losing Crawford would be a big blow to your hitting. Not to mention his speed at the top of the lineup. If you have another viable top-of-the-order guy to replace Crawford, then I think it'd be in your best interest to accept.

If it's a 4 star trade and you only want to do 3 star trades you could add some points to their side of the deal to get it down to 3 stars.

Those are both good responses. Re steals, BJ should get up to an A this year, I picked up a top flight 2B through free agency who is a B and I've got 3 or 4 players who are Cs.

Re points - that's a great idea and I wish I'd rememberred that!

Yeah, its always nice to have points when you're simming, 'cuz sometimes you can't resist those big FA signings. Or at least I can't.

No, don't do it. Trust me, I've traded for Heilman many times before, and he's good, but not that good. While he has very high ratings, he most likely isn't going to put up top-level stats. Crawford is going to be worth much, much more than him.

If you want a good control reliever to dump Percival and Foulke, I'd recommend Rafael Betancourt of the Indians. He is the only pitcher in the entire game with an A control rating, and shouldn't be too hard to acquire. He is pretty cheap. He is a little bit on the old side, but from my experience he consistently puts up good stats, although he doesn't have dominant breaking pitches.
Another cheap and easy to acquire reliever is Fernando Cabrera of the Orioles. He is young and comes with two excellent pitches: a level 4 CB and level 4 SPLT. However, he only has E control. Still, have him train control all year and he should do fine.
There are plenty of good relief pitchers that are at least at the level of Heilman that shouldn't be as hard to get. If the above don't suit you, try Bobby Jenks (White Sox), Heath Bell (Padres), Takashi Saito (Dodgers), or somebody else. Heilman isn't worth that much.

Crawford is definitely a good player, and if you really want to trade him, you should go for a high quality starter. However, I believe that it would be in your best interests to keep him. If there's no room for him in left, just convert him to a different position in spring training - I find that he makes an excellent infielder. I'd also recommend you try to sign him a to 5-year deal - it seems that players are more willing to take less money on long term deals. In any case, Crawford is a reliable performer and you should try to keep him at all costs.

You are a fountain of wisdom, Longball.

Thanks for all the replies - i appreciate em!

Something that's surprised me is the lack of value for catchers. I like to have 3 catchers on my roster, and currently have 4. I figured id develop the 4th a little bit and then trade him to a team in need. Anyway, tis is a young guy (3 yrs in, 3 yrs to FA) named quintero and ive got him at F pwr, F ctl, E def C arm, E err. Not great,but hell continue to develop. Anyway, the computer teams with only 2 or even 1 catcher dont seem to value him. My other backup catchers also arent gettting valued highly, by these teams or by the teams that have all older catchers. Ive checked with my other backups, who are also young guys and their ratings (con, pwr, def, arm, err - Im lvg out speed - theyre all slow!) are d,d,d,d,c and d,f,c,a,c, and again, adding them to a deal doesnt generate more stars.

Another example, im having trouble keeping my OF healthy, so i sought a trade for a young guy who can play multiple OF slots. #s are e con, e pwr, c spd, d def, e arm, f err. A Quintero (ratings above) trade got 1 star so i put in a 2b who was developing real slowly (e con, e pwr, e, spd, d def, d, arm, d err), got a 2 star ranking that was approved yesterday

comments?

This is a bit unrelated, but I edited Quintero's Arm and Fielding up a bit, since I felt they underrated him in the game.

As for why catchers are undervalued, I don't know. Perhaps if you converted them to another position during ST, you could get more value?

I just completed a 2 step trade that im very happy about and walnted to share it. 1st, ill apologize that in giving most stats, i leave out the error proclivity - i keep forgetting to note it down.

For background, i'll just say im in my 2nd season and my team is stacked with strong players at every position except 3rd where im developing E Longoria and W Aybar, and have pretty solid backups, too. So...my interest is in trading dead weight and backups for other backups with 3 or 4 yrs left and guys who're rookies 5-6 years away fr free agency so i can develop them. So far, ive got 4 or 5 3rd string OF & INF who are all Cs & Ds (maybe 1 E) and in their 1st year or 2 in the league, and a catcher 2 yrs in whose stats are CFFAC. Oh yeah, my starting RF is M Kemp fr the Dodgers (CCBCE) - that becomes important later.

1st, i traded my backup 2b, Iwamura (CCBCD) & 2 scrub pitchers to the Twins for OF Young (CBCCF), and IF Harris (DBGDD). Harris is my new backup 2b & can also backup ss & 3b. I consider Harris a slight downgrade at the backup 2 slot, but not a significant drop.

Next, i traded Brian Bannister (who was the odd man out in my rotation after i traded my other backup ss/2b, Cairo ((35 yrs old; CDCBD) to the Giants for starter Lincecum (100 mph, 3 pitches @ lvl 4; under 30 yrs old)) to the Mets for a rookie scrub pitcher and RF R Church (DBDFD). So i now had Kemp, Young, & Church vying for the RF slot, plus my backup RF, Spillsborgh (DCDEF)

Then, i traded Church & Young to the Astros for RF Pence (BBDCB) and a rookie ss (EFDDD).

So...at the end of the day, i gave up my backup 2B and an older extra starting pitcher and got back a new backup 2B, a new, stronger starting RF (relegating my prior starter to a backup), and a promissing rookie ss.

Im real happy about this and think im positioned well for the next several seasons, as most of my 3rd stringers should develop into starters to replace whatever FA i dont resign.

Thank you for this suggestion. I added manning 2b to Quintero's repertoire and just traded him for a RF with similar stats, but younger (5 years away fr FA). Not the "killing" i was hoping to get from a team in dire need of a catch, but a solid trade for a more useful play to develop.