Three weeks ago, I traded away Joe Nathan and got back Jose Contreras, Chad Cordero and Fausto Carmona. Right after that deal went down, Carmona proceeded to get lit up in four straight outings; four losses and three blown saves in that span as we all know. So before things got too out of hand, I managed to trade Carmona away and got El Duque back.
Also, last week, I traded away my third baseman Chad Tracy, since I felt that Edwin Encarnacion's playing time was going to increase in the final two months, and got Takashi Saito in return for Tracy. I'm now running three closers out there daily (Fuentes, Cordero and Saito).
OK, now, this year's trade deadline is today Sunday, and I needed to get myself a solid pitching keeper for next year as my best SPs are Contreras, Harang and Cain, and our league keeps 5 players (has to be at least 1 batter and 1 pitcher), so today I traded away Carlos Lee and Jon Lester and got back Jake Peavy and Brad Hawpe. Eh, whatever, I think my offense can handle the loss of Lee. That's my 7th trade this year, not too shabby.
We're only three weeks away from the start of the head-to-head playoffs, and I'm in 1st place out of 18 teams at the moment with most likely a 10+ game lead in the standings after this week is over, not bad. Looking at a bye in the first round of the playoffs for sure.
Current roster:
C-Johnny Estrada
1B-Paul Konerko
2B-Felipe Lopez (he's 2b eligible)
SS-Michael Young
3B-Edwin Encarnacion
OF-Jermaine Dye
OF-Brad Hawpe
OF-Gary Matthews Jr.
Util-Shin Soo Choo
SP-Jake Peavy
SP-Jose Contreras
SP-Matt Cain
SP-Aaron Harang
SP-Joe Saunders
SP-Chad Billingsley
SP-Orlando Hernandez
SP-Nate Robertson
RP-Chad Cordero
RP-Brian Fuentes
RP-Takashi Saito
(2 SP, 1 RP, 2 P starting spots and the rest are bench)