Trades Help

Since I went on a trading spree last week things are starting to look up. Cool HWIP is now up to 98 points, up from 89ish since I made my first trade. Also, first place has gone from 124ish all the way down to 115. So with 8 full weeks left I find myself only 17 points out of first place. SEVENTEEN. Just two weeks ago I was a good 35 out, so I'm halfway there. The key is for the first place team to stay down in the 110-115 range as I think there are 17 points for me to gain - anything more than that would be too much to ask for.

So how did I make this little run in the last week? Well, Doc Halladay certainly helped. In two starts he got me two wins, eighteen strikeouts and helped my ERA/WHIP. So, thank you Doc. Yovani Gallardo, another new addition, had two starts, two wins and 19 strikeouts. So huge from both of these guys. Then, Brett Anderson in his second start off of the DL gave me a gem. Ol' Mainstay Cole Hamels? 7 innings of one run ball and eleven strikeouts. Heck, even Hiroki Kuroda gave me 7 big innings with 8 strikeouts. I also got two saves each from Joakim Soria and new pickup Michael Wuertz.

So as you can see, its all about the pitching. If I can just keep on piling on quality starts, accumulating wins and strikeouts while improving my ratios one start at a time then I have a serious shot here.

On the offensive side, so far I'm not feeling the effects of the stud hitters I traded out. This can change, but so far so good. Waiver wire pickup Alex Gordon's been big. The once heralded prospect is playing the best ball of his career. I also have Martin Prado and Shane Victorino on the DL, when they get back that should solidify any offensive shortcomings I've developed, so I'm not worried there at all.

This leads us back to the pitching. If my pitching can just stay at the level its been since I made these last two trades I will make a run at the money. I also picked up Mike Minor, a minor league stud just called up by the Braves for a two start week. He was okay last night and pitched better than his numbers indicated as he was the victim of some bad luck like bloop hits and such. He gave me 6 innings with a 1 WHIP and 5 k's. 3 earned runs sucked and I would've loved the Win, but I'll take it. It was a gamble I needed to take.

What's next? I still have a monster lead in both Runs and Steals, so ideally I'd like to trade from excess there. If I can move Andrew McCutchen or Denard Span for either a power bat to help me gain some ground in homers and RBI or one more stud pitcher. The value of these two guys is way way more for anyone else than me as their value is tied up in Runs and Steals, and as just mentioned those categories mean nothing to me, I have them both locked up for first place. So far, I'm having trouble finding any takers but we will see, I'll keep trying.

Okay, as we're winding the season down and I find myself closer than I've been in months I'll update a little more often. Keep your eyes open for more posts...

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