Fantasy Trade Help?

Question

Alright fantasy folks, heres my question.

Scott Kazmir and John Maine
for
James Shields and Tim Lincecum

I have the James Shields and Lincecum part of the deal, but I was wondering if this was a fair trade or not. Give me your opinions.

Also, what about a James Shields and Lincecum for Dan Haren trade?

Answer 1

Keep Kazmir and Maine but jump on Haren for Shields and Lincecum. Shields and Lincecum will be good in the years to come but a healthy Haren now will get you more

Answer 2

It's difficult to determine who will get the better end of this. All five guys you mentioned are hardly proven fantasy stars yet.
There has been some misinformation in response to your question so I'll try and give you the real deal.
1. Lincecum is going to stay in the Giants' rotation all year barring injury. Ortiz has to pitch his way back, and has already been told if he wants to play for the Giants, it will be in a bullpen role.
2. Haren's BABIP is very low, but he's a ground ball pitcher with a good defense behind him. He won't be able to keep it at the level it's at now though (.221) so his numbers will go south.
3. Shields BABIP is also unsustainably low.
4. Maine's BABIP is not too low, though he is in the bottom half of the league. He' probably destined for the biggest fall, being the only one of the five with a GB/fb ratio under 1.0. Plus, his WHIP is getting out of control.
5. Kazmir's probably destined to be the best from here on. He's got the highest BABIP of the five, and a good gb/fb ratio for someone known as a strikeout pitcher.

The Verdict: It's a gamble either way, these guys are all too young to accurately predict who may get the better end of the deal. It comes down to which one(s) you'd personally like to gamble on. I think I'd personally like to have Lincecum and Kazmir. Is that an option?

Answer 3

There's nothing really wrong with the trade. I'd prefer the Shields/Lincecum side myself. And I'd choose the pair over Danny Haren as well.

Both Haren and Maine have had lucky BABIP (batting average on balls in play), so their stats are artifically better than they've pitched. Kazmir is my favorite of the group you mentioned, but pitching in the AL East and with a varied injury history is enough that I'd lean towards Lincecum and Shields as a combo.

Lincecum in particular looks to be a very nice choice. After a shaky debut (nerves?), he's had two excellent starts in hitter's parks (Houston and Colorado). His unorthodox delivery should also help him the first time around the league, kind of like how Dontrelle Willis or Hideo Nomo benefited from their first stretches.

Answer 4

It sounds like a fair deal to me. The only question mark is if Lincecum stays in the majors when Russ Ortiz comes back from the DL. If he does stay i probably would stick with the two pitchers that you have.

And no i would not trade Shields and Lincecum for Haren.

Answer 5

the trade seems pretty fair... It also depends on what kind of league your in... If it's a keeper league you gotta look at the players' upside... Kazmir and Lincecum have a lot of upside.
Maine is a good young pitcher and will benifit from the Mets offense.
DO NOT DO THE HAREN TRADE... He'll get hurt at some point, and it isn't worth losing two pitchers over.

Answer 6

I would hold onto Shields and Lincecum. Both are talented young pitchers who will have a good ERA and WHIP plus they are both strikeout pitchers. Shields is 6th in all of baseball with 62 K's. Lincecum struck out 10 batters his last start in only 7 innings pitched. Lincecum got roughed up a little in his first start but has shown why he has so much hype his last 2 starts allowing 2 earned runs in his last 14 innings pitched.

Kazmir is good but I don't think he will be as good as he was last year. Maine got off to a great start but as I suspected from the start, he has started to cool off allowing 8 earned runs his last 10 innings pitched, but the fact he has 30 walks shows he has some control issues.

If I understand this correctly, you have Shields and Lincecum right now. If that is so, do not trade them. I think they have to much upside and have shown too much potential to trade at this point.

If you are trading FOR them, then yes do it.

That would be too much to give up for Haren if you traded them, so I will answer no to that question as well.

Hope this helps.

Answer 7

That sounds fair to me.