The Art of the Deal: Or, How to Build a Dynasty in Ten Days
It wasn’t a bad team. Record and second-to-last place standing aside, my squad had a great amount of talent, and – even if I had done nothing the duration of the campaign – a very good chance of repeating as champion of my keeper league, Milwaukee County Stadium. But this early in the season, no driven and successful fantasy owner should ever be completely satisfied with their roster.
Ergo, at precisely 5:21 p.m. CST on May 14, the makeover of my team, Willie Mays Hayes, began. Ten days – and eight trades later – I had put the finishing touches on an emerging dynasty.
Before the dealing began, my starters – around the horn – were Josh Willingham, Ryan Howard, Jeff Kent, Miguel Tejada, Alex Rodriguez, Chone Figgins, Scott Podsednik, Vladimir Guerrero, and Jimmy Rollins. Riding the pine, I had Chipper Jones, Mike Lowell, Dave Roberts, and Javy Lopez to utilize as I saw fit.
On the mound, the triumvirate of Milwaukee Brewers starters – Ben Sheets, Chris Capuano, and Doug Davis – anchored my rotation, which also included John Patterson, Livan Hernandez, Jake Westbrook, Ted Lilly, Kerry Wood, and Roger Clemens.
In embarking on this monumental trek, I sought to fill a couple of key holes. Four months before the postseason, I was primarily interested in bolstering my pitching staff – eschewing relievers (ignoring saves) with ten pitching categories in play is my preferred method – by acquiring as many stud starters as possible. As for batters, I look for position flexibility – hence my fondness for Willingham (C, LF), and my adoration of Figgins (2B, 3B, LF, CF, RF) – but, more importantly, capitalizing on injuries and underproduction to acquire top-notch talent at below-market rates.
My first deal was innocuous enough. As many of my readers know, I absolutely loath the Chicago Cubs. So a deal made earlier – one that sent Barry Zito and Rafael Furcal to anchorage moose for Rollins and Wood – had a dual rationale. First was to re-acquire J-Ro (see below), one of my favorite players and the seminal reason I took home the title last season.
The other? To take advantage of the four Cubs fans in my league – sad saps for the ‘boundless potential’ of the oft-injured Wood. Ironically, I ended up dealing the fragile Wood to The Replacements – a fan of the Milwaukee Brewers – along with Doug Davis for outfielder Craig Monroe and the D-Train, Dontrelle Willis.
Three days later, I reprised my strategy in acquiring the Cubs Mark Prior – along with Tigers closer Todd Jones and welcoming back to my team Barry Zito – from anchorage moose for Lilly, Roberts, and – sadly – Philadelphia Phillies phenom Ryan Howard.
The next night, LA Dodgers came calling. And when he offered John Smoltz, one of my favorite pitchers, for Jeff Kent, a guy – despite his impressive historical production and his first and second base eligibility – who I had been trying to deal since I acquired him with Furcal for Rollins on April 16, I knew I had to accept.
At 2:30 a.m., the night was still young.
Noticing moose was awake in The Last Frontier and on Yahoo! Messenger, I decided it was time to assuage my guilt and get Howard back. Knowing it would cost me, though, I first solidified my left field spot – allowing Figgins to move around the diamond and putting Peapod back in center – by trading Willis for Colorado Rockies emerging superstar Matt Holliday. That done, I made the most difficult trade in my fantasy career, moving Brewers ace (and my one keeper pitcher) Ben Sheets to return Ryan Howard to the fold.
Before turning in for the evening, I made the biggest Cubs fan in our league an offer he couldn’t refuse. Proposing not only Prior but also Jones and (at that time) the white-hot – and three position eligible – Pedro Feliz, I awoke the next morning to find a most coveted hurler on my squad: Rich Harden.
The fact that he was hurt – with no timetable set for his return – immensely helped me land him. But playing on the love for those baby bears had to have a tremendous impact on NoWaitT’llNextYear!’s decision. After dropping Adam LaRoche and Craig Counsell – the other two players acquired in the deal – I picked pitchers Chien-Ming Wang and Matt Morris out of the free agent pool.
My transformation from contender to champion was nearly complete. On May 22 at 8:15 in the evening, I once again traded Jimmy Rollins to anchorage moose, this time to reacquire Dontrelle Willis – the darling of trade talk and pitcher of two consecutive complete games – before his stock soared. And then, two days hence, a deal nearly one and one half years in the making, finally came to fruition.
The next evening, in his first game donning a Willie Mays Hayes jersey, Manny Ramirez hit two home runs against the Evil Empire. The cost to get him was high – Matt Holliday, Chris Capuano, and Jake Westbrook – but worth it on so many levels.
With Figgins now taking over for Kent, Manny for Figgins, and Chipper Jones and Mike Lowell now platooning (the latter always plays at Fenway, his affinity for the Green Monster a welcome sight) in the utility spot, my lineup is stacked, balanced, and explosive, my keepers set. For years to come, poor opposing pitchers will have to face a lineup anchored by A-Rod, Vlad, Miggy, and Manny.
As for those all-important hurlers, sadly all the Brewers have moved on; Cain and Wang will pick up some of their innings. Mostly, though, in their stead, Smoltz, Willis, Harden, Zito, and Jon Garland – acquired off waivers the morning after Manny arrived – provide power, durability, and consistency to my squad. But most importantly, like nascent Met El Duque, my most recent signing, they all know how to win in October.
FANTASY TIP OF THE WEEK: Aubrey Huff will be playing for a new – and better – outfit soon enough. Better sign him before he changes uniforms.
Next Week: All-May Team
Disagree with the TFM? Believe his advice not so sage? Think you could easily dominate him in a round-robin fantasy tournament? Email him – fantasy_man@atomicsportsmedia.com – to talk smack or set the record straight.
