18-Player Trade

So the big trade of the year happened last Monday...I haven't had a chance to break it down but my initial reaction was "Wow, big trade...but on the surface, seems like a good trade for both teams." Just as a reminder, here was the trade:

Slackers (10th place at time of trade, 46.5 points) traded:

Greg Maddux, $12/1st year
Tom Glavine, $8/2nd year
Heath Bell, $10/1st year
Aaron Heilman, $5/final year
Scott Rolen, $27/1st year
JJ Hardy, $7/final year
Andruw Jones, $36/first year
Omar Vizquel, $13/first year
Bengie Molina, $10/first year

to the Prowlers (5th place, 76.0 points) for:

Chad Billingsley, $8/1st year
Chuck James, $2/2nd year
Scott Linebrink, $8/1st year
Randy Messenger, $2/1st year
Rod Barajas, $5/1st year
Albert Callaspo, $5/2nd year
Scott Thorman, $5/2nd year
Joe Koshansky, $10/1st year (rookie status)
Andy Laroche, $4/1st year

I thought the Slackers did well on the pitching front, for the future, and even for the rest of this season. Maddux and Glavine are more proven, but Billingsley has the most upside and James is still of value, despite his WHIP. Also, Billingsley and James are much better on the strikeout front. With the Giants bullpen you never know about Messenger as a potential closer and Linebrink could get traded into a closer role sometime.

On the hitting front, it all comes down to Laroche and Koshansky. The Slackers gave up a fair amount of hitting (partially to offset the pitching it gained) and picked up a couple of guys (Barajas, Callaspo) that I wouldn't have valued much. As far as catchers go, I think I'd almost rather have Molina than Barajas for next year. But as I said, if Laroche ends up with the 3b job by next spring and if Koshansky could land into a 1b job, then the overall trade was probably worthwhile for the Slackers despite how uneven it looks now. I was high on Thorman as a keeper when I saw the trade, but didn't realize he's hitting .217 and even sat tonight versus a righty. At least the Slackers have Salty though...