[mtw]

This is going to be a long post, but necessary to explain my concern (you can skip ahead to July 30 & 31 for the meat of this):

Here are the trading deadline trades of my most recent simmed season:

Monday 7/29/2002 :
Minnesota: Free agent 1B Jonathan Edwards has been signed to a contract of
$364,800 per year, for 1 year.

Detroit: Put P Jamie Moyer on the trading block.
Trade between Boston and Detroit :
Detroit gets :
1B Tino Martinez
P Francis Vella
Boston gets :
C Benjamin Mandujano

Trade between Boston and New York (N) :
New York (N) gets :
P Matthew Petway
Boston gets :
1B Wayne Johnson

Trade between Milwaukee and Boston :
Boston gets :
3B Samuel Perez
Milwaukee gets :
C Benjamin Mandujano
P Albert Saavedra

Trade between Milwaukee and Boston :
Boston gets :
C Leon Silva
P Albert Saavedra
Milwaukee gets :
3B Victor Kreitzer

Trade between New York (A) and St. Louis :
St. Louis gets :
CF Joe Limon
New York (A) gets :
SS Frankie Pena

Trade between San Diego and New York (A) :
New York (A) gets :
CF George Naugle
San Diego gets :
SS Alex Ramirez

Trade between Milwaukee and Chicago (N) :
Chicago (N) gets :
C Benjamin Mandujano
Milwaukee gets :
2B Ray Durham
P Corey Kulas

Trade between Minnesota and St. Louis :
St. Louis gets :
1B Jamar Gula
Minnesota gets :
2B Leandro Santiago

Trade between St. Louis and New York (N) :
New York (N) gets :
P Sylvester Mendoza
P Alfredo Dorazio
St. Louis gets :
SS Alvin Manriquez

Trade between Chicago (N) and Minnesota :
Minnesota gets :
CF Preston Wilson
Chicago (N) gets :
2B Leandro Santiago

Trade between St. Louis and Chicago (N) :
Chicago (N) gets :
CF Mark Kotsay
P Larry Feldman
St. Louis gets :
2B Leandro Santiago

Trade between Seattle and Detroit :
Detroit gets :
SS Charlie Iraheta
Seattle gets :
1B Tino Martinez
P Jesse Labonte



Tuesday 7/30/2002 :
Trade between Detroit and Philadelphia :
Philadelphia gets :
CF Ken Griffey, Jr.
Detroit gets :
1B Carlos Delgado

Trade between Detroit and Philadelphia :
Philadelphia gets :
1B Carlos Delgado
Detroit gets :
CF Ken Griffey, Jr.
P William Castaneda

Trade between Detroit and Philadelphia :
Philadelphia gets :
CF Ken Griffey, Jr.
P Francis Vella
Detroit gets :
1B Carlos Delgado

Trade between St. Louis and Philadelphia :
Philadelphia gets :
1B Jamar Gula
St. Louis gets :
P Vincent Salguero
P Jesus Pascarella

Trade between Philadelphia and Detroit :
Detroit gets :
LF Ray Lankford
P Forrest Stout
Philadelphia gets :
1B Carlos Delgado

Trade between Detroit and Minnesota :
Minnesota gets :
1B Charles Licata
Detroit gets :
CF Larry Richardson

Trade between Texas and Philadelphia :
Philadelphia gets :
LF Ryan Klesko
Texas gets :
1B Carlos Delgado
P Oscar Hardy

Trade between Seattle and Detroit :
Detroit gets :
CF Diego Gomez
P Jesse Labonte
Seattle gets :
3B Gustavo Calabro



Wednesday 7/31/2002 :
Trade between Philadelphia and Minnesota :
Minnesota gets :
2B Vincent Morales
Philadelphia gets :
P Christopher Takacs
P Christian Molina

Trade between Detroit and Texas :
Texas gets :
LF Ray Lankford
P Forrest Stout
Detroit gets :
1B Carlos Delgado

Trade between Detroit and New York (N) :
New York (N) gets :
P Steven Ludwick
Detroit gets :
3B Felipe Cavazos

Trade between Texas and Detroit :
Detroit gets :
LF Ray Lankford
Texas gets :
1B Carlos Delgado

Trade between Detroit and Texas :
Texas gets :
LF Ray Lankford
Detroit gets :
1B Carlos Delgado

Trade between Texas and Detroit :
Detroit gets :
LF Ray Lankford
Texas gets :
1B Carlos Delgado

So if you've read this, you probably see my concern. If it wasn't so funny, I'd probably be more peeved than I am. At the deadline, Carlos Delgado got swapped 9 times, including three times on one day between the same 2 teams (for Ken Griffey, Jr.), and 4 times on the last day between the same two teams, with these teams swapping Ray Lankford for Delgado each time (and for good measure one time the day before, for a total of 5 Ray Lankford for Carlos Delgado trades in two days between the same two teams.)

Other interesting notes: besides the three Griffey for Delgado trades, Griffey seems to have lost value to BOTH teams after the initial trade, as a throw-in prospect was necessary to complete the last to Griffey-for-Delgado swaps (his hammy acted up on his way to Philly?).

It seems that the computer creates a "hole" on its team, and then fills the "hole" with the same thing it took away to create the hole in the first place (a similar player, if not the same one).

Besides the obvious concerns, another concern is that the trading frequency was set to Very Low and the league only has 16 teams. July 29th alone had more trades (12) than I would have liked to see for the entire season, much less the deadline.

On the bright side, I love the fact that the teams that are out of it will shop their players at the deadline, and the trades made (looking at team needs and player ratings) are generally sound. I also like the "three-team swap" of a player acquired being immediately dealt to another team (albeit usually to fill the hole created by the initial trade.)

I would like to see the number of trades drastically reduced, and of course not involve the same player beween two teams 4 or 5 times.

[ March 07, 2002: Message edited by: mtw ]</p>