Some momentous events...and the Trade

It's been a while since I had time to post...and several big events have finally happened...Bonds hit 756 (and 757); A-Rod hit 500; Greg got married...and the Homers made the trade they needed to make to win the league.

My assessment of the Roblisserie race was that the Homers were in the driver's seat all along - even as some teams flirted with catching them in the standings. When you looked at the standings and the Homers' position in categories, you saw lots of upside potential, especially if the Homers could pick up a closer. For a while I was worried that Jonathan Broxton would be that guy, given Saito's shoulder, and he still could be the Dodgers' closer any day...but Broxton is no longer a Homer, which brings us back to the Big One!

The Del Lords dropped their shorts and traded not only one closer, but two closers to the Homers. The official trade was as follows:

Del Lords trade Jose Valverde and Ryan Dempster

to the TC Homers for Jonathan Broxton, Ian Stewart, Michael Wuertz, and the Homers 15th round pick in 2008.

Before I get into the trade analysis (and invite you to comment), I must also point out that there is some controversy with this trade, with regard to the timing. The trade itself was executed early Monday evening (ET) and it has been announced as effective as of 8/6/07. The Slackers have formally protested the timing of this trade, citing the rules which do indicate that the transaction deadline is noon, ET. No word yet from the commissioner's office on the formal protest - my guess is that Erik stood up and put his hands in his pockets and said nothing. But I think he did issue a statement, acknowledging that despite the controversy with this trade, the fact that the Homers fleeced the Lords is notable and remarkable.

I am personally surprised that Erik bent the rules here, even if it's in the spirit of the game, since no games were happening until that evening and the fact that our website technically allows transactions up to an hour before the first game. But unlike previous rule controversies, this one is in black and white - namely the League Constitution that was produced by none other than Chris himself (actually by Chris' former assistant who probably quit the Charlotte Sports Felon firm due to bullsh*t duties assigned to her such as typing up the rules from a book on chicken roasters.)

Anyway, back to the irony of an attorney ignoring the Constitution - I guess rogue attorneys in Carolina are the norm. Anyway, I'm surprised that Erik let this one slide - in fact, I think this is the first time he and I have been on opposite viewpoints on a rules decision/interpretation - I thought we got away from loosey/goosey commish decisions once the Del Lords were dethroned.

Anyway, back to the trade. There have been several emails about this and I invite the owners to revisit the comments here on the blog - to generate some more traffic and dialogue here. All in all, it wasn't a horrible trade for the Lords despite my needling...but I think Chris could have done better.

True, the closers were funny money to Chris but to Doug, they were gold. And that's the problem I have with the deal from the Del Lords' perspective. He sold based on his cost rather than value to the customer. Also, I didn't understand the rush to do a deal by the deadline* (asterisk similar to Bonds' HR record; actually if the Homers win the title by a save or two that occurs this week, do we put an asterisk next to their name in our record books?)

As I was saying, time was on Chris' side. Doug was desperate to do a deal - so why didn't Chris use time to his advantage? I was even trying to pull together a competing offer...so Chris could have used the Toland "I'm talking to another owner" technique to extract more from Doug. (That will be another post - analyzing owners' trading styles, etc.)

The trade itself wasn't horrible, as I said. You could argue that Broxton for a closer is a fair deal and that Stewart for another closer is ok. (Although Bruce would have been a better pickup than Stewart in my mind.) But again, if you're going to hand an owner the keys to the title, make them pay for it. (Unless it's my team in a future year...)

Finally, what's with the dangling 15th round draft pick? Why did Chris care about picking up the very last pick in the draft? Or was that Doug's subtle way of putting an exclamation point on his bounty - since he isn't going to need the 15th pick anyway since he'll be protecting Jay Bruce.