In the Illowa APBA League, I’ve gone months without making a trade for the upcoming 2011 season. Then within the last 48 hours, I’ve made two deals. It kinda happens that way sometimes. It just snowballs.
Trade #1
I trade Casey McGehee and Mike Cameron to the Moline Upperdeckers for John Buck and Rafael Perez.
and Trade #2… well, I can’t tell you about Trade #2. I’ve been asked by the manager in this trade if I could keep it under wraps till after the postseason this weekend.
Ok, I’m adding #11 in my Top 10 Tips for trading in an APBA League. “Don’t insist on keeping your trades a secret after they’re made”. Announcing your trade gives it a sense of legitimacy. Keeping it secret makes you wonder if you wonder if it’s a done deal or not. It also makes it difficult to make further trades.
But back to Trade #1. Let’s look at the card numbers real quick:
| Casey McGehee 3B-3
1-0-0-0-7, 3 14s, 157 G, 610 AB |
John Buck C-7
1-0-0-0-7, 1 14, 118 G, 409 AB |
| Mike Cameron OF-2
1-0-0-7, 3 14s, 42, 48 G, 162 AB |
Rafael Perez
B*, 70 G, 61 IP |
I’d like to break this deal down and show what made it feasible and attractive to both managers. I’ll show facets of the deal that aren’t necessarily visible just by looking at who got what. Some may even say I’m trying to justify the trade (maybe they’re right).
Key Player…
No doubt, Casey McGehee was the key player in the deal. He’s young and has plenty of potential. It doesn’t hurt that he can hit NOW and can play pretty much every day.
Some background on McGehee, he was a surprise pick by me in last year’s draft. I didn’t need a thirdbaseman. My thought? He could be valuable trade bait in the future (ta-da!).
…but not a Key Player for me
All that said about Casey McGehee (all true, I do like the guy even though he started out 0 for 20 for me last year), I had to face the fact that he didn’t have a spot on my team with Ryan Zimmerman already manning the hot corner. The most time he’d put in would be playing those games that Zim had to rest. He’d be relegated to pinch-hitting for the rest of the year.
I knew if I could get something of value for him this off-season, I should do it.
Covering Needs
With my long time catcher, Jason Varitek, retiring from the IAL, I needed help behind the plate. With Johnny Buck available, he filled a need. With Buck on board, I won’t need to spend a draft pick on a catcher (no more dreams of Buster Posey).
It doesn’t hurt that Buck had a career year and his card is pretty tasty.
The Enticement
Mike Cameron has lost a step or two. He’s an OF-2 this year. But the biggest numbers to look at with Cameron are his playing time (48 games and 162 AB). I wasn’t willing to part with McGehee for Buck one-for-one and I needed pitching. After much back-and-forth, the Upperdecker manager agreed to throw in Perez, a B reliever for Cameron. I don’t know about your particular league but in the IAL, a B* is always in demand. I dumped a non-player and got back a pitcher who will put in all of his quality innings.
A few notes
The McGehee-Buck part of the deal was in the works for a good month. It took us that long to agree on the incidentals. The deal went through many iterations before we finally arrived at something we were happy with.
No doubt, the Upperdeckers came away with the best player and five years down the road, that player will probably be the only one still playing in the league. Perhaps that is the best gauge of a long term deal. Unless, if you consider that I’ve freed up one rookie draft pick (or maybe two since I would probably would have to otherwise draft bullpen with only two graded relievers on my team).
Now I’ll just have to learn how to draft well.
