Blockbuster trade: Need advice

[Mike Lowe]

I have trading set to hard, frequency very low, and slightly favors prospects.

On the surface, it looks like I'm basically giving the Blue Jays team away for free. However, we have some major financial problems looming after this 2009 season and with the team in the gutter halfway through May, it's time to cut our losses and not let these problems grow beyond this season.

Toronto sends:
1B Kevin Millar 37 year old backup, $850k, wants to start and is not (Overbay)

2B Aaron Hill 27 years old. Tried waiving him as his salary gets huge for the next 4 years, no one claimed him and now he hates me. I would basically trade him for $1 just so I don't have to play him. We have some ML depth at 2B plus I signed Ray Durham to play 2B for this year until the kids are ready next year.

SS John McDonald 34 years old. Backup, defensive wizard making $1.9M.

CF Vernon Wells 30 years old. Studly, but is going from $10M to $20-$21 million until 2014. With him being 30, that scares the crap out of me and I am forcing myself to trade an otherwise solid player. I do believe I get can a valuable replacement for probably a third of his price by next year (if not from the trade).

C Raul Chavez 36 year old AAA catcher making $500k for the next 2 years. See ya.

LF Adam Lind Lind is 25 and having a breakout year. His numbers so far:
138 AB's
8 HR's
.312 AVG
.406 OB%
.580 SLG%
While I don't really want to trade him as he'll still be cheap for at least one more season, I'm not sure how legit his success is and I can live with losing him as I like having more defense in LF.

RFJose Bautista 28 year old underachieving backup OF. He has some decent ratings but I don't feel like paying him the $2.4M salary while waiting to find out.

SP Jesse Litsch He's 24 and the Yankees were demanding either him or Travis Snider and I refuse to trade Snider as he's having a similar year to Lind, is better defensively, and is only 21 years old. He'll be around for a while hopefully. Anyway, I like Litsch but he's not a strikeout pitcher, something I tend to look for in my pitchers. We have some depth in AAA and I think we can fill his spot for what this deal is providing us.

Yankees send:
SS Ramiro Pena 23 year old defensive SS, cheap, and who is holding his own at the MLB level with the bat too. Can easily hit 9th and perhaps can surprise us.

CF Austin Jackson 22 years old and will continue to stay in AAA until Johnny Damon becomes a FA. Jackson will likely start at CF in 2010 for us.

LF Johnny Damon We have no long-term plans for Damon and while he is a heck of a player and having a nice year, he's simply added to offset some salary in this trade. His upside comes from that fact that we wont have to pay him a dime after the 2009 season and can use our money elsewhere.

CF Melky Cabrera Originally, I was going after Gardner but when he got hurt in the middle of negotations, we had to expand our offer so that we could include a player like Melky. I like Melky a lot and while he may not seem to have the pop that Lind does, I think when Lind comes down to earth, Melky can outhit him and is a far superior defender.

Well, how does this look? I've never pulled off such a huge trade and it's one I've been working on for 2-3 weeks in game with the Yankees time and time again rejecting my offer. Finally, some players began to fall into their scope of interest and it looks like we have a deal done.

I still want to trade Overbay and his $7M contract as I have a lot of ML depth at 1B. No team can take on his salary right now but perhaps at the deadline I'll trade him to some team for some dead weight in return (1 year deal expiring).

CL BJ Ryan makes $10M for this year and next and I simply don't believe in playing closers big money, especially when our team sucks. I'll try and get something for him 1 for 1, like a young stud hitter, or SP perhaps from a team who's playoff bound.

Thanks for giving me some feedback on how fair this trade might be for the Yankees. FWIW, my scout is not convinced...

[Mike Lowe]

Basically, how I see it is that I am liking the trade as it gets me some good youth but most importantly frees up a ton of money in future seasons for us to begin rebuilding with.

For the Yankees, they get nice upgrades at LF and CF to make a playoff run. While Damon is a nice player, he's nearing retirement and Lind can play for them for the better part of a decade if he keeps producing. Vernon Wells is definitely an upgrade over Melky Cabrera.
Not to mention, some of the other vets like Hill and McDonald make nice depth pieces heading into the playoffs later this season.

[SilentFox]

So basically pillaging the AI.... ...
um .... I guess

[RchW]

Originally Posted by SilentFox

So basically pillaging the AI.... ...
um .... I guess

LOL

Ask yourself if you or the other GM would ever make such a trade IRL.

[EMSoccerCoach]

You should forfeit your license just for playing Ray Durham over Aaron Hill

[Mike Lowe]

As far as Hill goes, this is after the 2008 season which he was hurt and underperformed. Looking at his career stats up to that point, it seems he'll never be much more than a .700 OPS type player which to me is certainly not worth anywhere near the contract he currently has. At least, that's the prediction I'm standing by at the beginning of the year. I don't see him having the real-life 2009 season he had, but he certainly has the ratings to do so.

I would never accept such a deal if I were the Yankees because I'm a cheap skate and don't like spending money. However, if the Yankees want an Aaron Hill (who is good obviously...just I don't trust him), a Vernon Wells, Adam Lind (whom they demanded), Jesse Litsch (whom they demanded as well) then they are going to have to take some dead weight along with it. That's the whole reason why I want to make this trade and am willing to lose some otherwise very good if not excellent players.

I could have gotten much more in terms of prospects from another team likely for the 2-3 good players leaving Toronto in this deal, but the sole purpose of such a deal here is to cut payroll in future seasons. This is why I've listened to the Yankees more than other teams because they have some payroll space still which other teams do not have as much of.

I'm one for not focusing on the problem but instead the solution, so I'm hoping to hear what you as to what you would do if you were the Yankees. Straight up reject? Counter? What would make such a deal "realistic" in your opinion?

I'd be happy to post 2009 mid-May stats if anyone is interested as it's obviously not mirroring real life 2009 MLB.

I have not accepted the trade yet and I'm now going to go and change the settings to the highest level of valuing prospects to see how different things look.

[toxicavenger74]

So, from a talent perspective I think that the Yankees are getting the better deal. Hill, Litsch, Lind have good upside and Wells can be a very good player.

Damon is essentially a nonfactor and the other minor leaguers look to be role players and Melky Cabrera is the only sure fire good player.

Overall, I don't see an issue with it, If I was the Yankees would I take this deal.....yes since I make myself better without losing much.

[SilentFox]

Originally Posted by RchW

LOL

Ask yourself if you or the other GM would ever make such a trade IRL.

I see you saw my joke ^^
its actually a great deal and they are pillaging you mike XD

[Mike Lowe]

Originally Posted by SilentFox

I see you saw my joke ^^
its actually a great deal and they are pillaging you mike XD

Ok, I'm confused haha...explain yourself!

[yoyoma]

The Yankees are getting the better part of the deal. Its a good salary dump for you but not getting much back. I'm not a big fan of Jackson. Could you do it and keep Lind. You can trade him later for more prospects

[s0ni42]

i rarely trade with divisional opponents unless it is a reliever/utility swap. Say Vernon Wells signs longterm (if not already) with the Yanks, then you will look like a goat for 5+ seasons. That would suck. Just something else to consider

[Matt Arnold]

My scouts are never convinced, so don't go with that.

You're basically dealing Hill, Lind, and Litsch for mediocre players and the ability to dump Wells off on another team. For me, if I were managing the Jays, in OOTP, I'd do it. Real life, no, since Lind and Hill both really stepped up this year. But Cabrera + 20M FA > Lind + Wells, most likely, so I think it's not that bad of a deal.

[mgom27]

I would do it for Hill,Wells,Lind and so on only if I have to give up somebody who's not going to make it to the majors.

[Mike Lowe]

I ended up swapping Litsch for Tallet and I added in some lame 1B "prospect" from my rookie league which the Yankees got. I also ended up getting 20 year old SS prospect Carmen Angelini.

Nice that I at least got to keep Litsch. They wouldn't even talk a deal without Lind so it had to be done. Either way, it's nice having that money freed up.

Now, I need to think about moving Rios, BJ Ryan and Overbay. We'll see how things shake out!

[zukes]

I did similar things in my Blue Jays season, trading Wells, Rios, Overbay, Millar, Bautista, Rolen. I could not get rid of Ryan though no matter what I did.

I ended up with Bobby Jenks in the Rios trade to the ChiSox so I have a $10 million LOOGY in Ryan for this and next season.

Must have done something right though I have just knocked off the Mariners after winning the Wild Card. Cleveland upset the juggernaut Red Sox and I am up 1-0 in the ALCS.

In my world, I am resigning Halladay any way I can. Getting Wells and Rios off the books should be the extra money I need.

[Matter2003]

Originally Posted by yoyoma

Its a good salary dump for you but not getting much back.

You are doing the Florida Marlins proud...they want to know if you could come work for them...

[Mike Lowe]

On the same day Adam Lind won batter of the month for June, Vernon Wells goes down with an injury for 7 months!

[kev24fan]

Do you have scouting system and coaching system checked in your settings?

Just wondering cause I want to try a league setup like you use.

[Mike Lowe]

Yes for both.