Week 1 Roster Moves

There were a number of free agent moves in week 1.  This is fairly typical as teams that ran out of money or left the draft early are trying to solidify roster spots.  Heres a quick look around the league at the transactions that took place during the week of 3/24/14.

There were several drops made of players that are injured or not projected to be on the MLB roster this year.  One, in particular, stands out.  Dusty's Nustys managed to surprise us all by dropping Jhonathon Solano.  As you can see, he is devistated.  And yes, I did manage to find a picture of him. Much like giant talking M&Ms, he does exist.  Dropping Solano left the Nustys with exactly 0 catching options on the roster (which, to be honest, is what they had with Solano so its really a lateral movement, not a downgrade) and hinted that Dusty would be ponying up some FAAB for a new starting catcher.

FAAB Acquisitions:
SP Yordano Ventura - $20 - Bob's AutoTrackers (newly updated team name = Bob's intro profile is on the horizon!!!)  -- Ventura has been a huge buzzy prospect name floating around fantasy baseball circles over the past several weeks. He was named the Royals 5th starter and, according to some websites, will strike out everyone who tries to bat against him. Bob needed a solid 5th starter and paid for him.

OF Byron Buxton - $13 - Bob's AutoTrackers -- Buxton is the #1 overall prospect in baseball.  He might be a year or two away from making an impact but I know that Bob was very excited about the NA spots and wanted to get them filled ASAP.  Bob may have spent 1/3 of his FAAB budget before the season began, but he picked up two pretty solid players in doing so.

SP Chris Tillman - $10 - Dusty's Nustys -- Wait...what?!?  Does Tillman secretly play catcher and no one told the Orioles about it?  Because, if he doesnt, that means the Nustys will play all of week 2 without a catcher as well.  Thats not an encouraging start to the season.  That said, Tillman is solid but Dusty could have had him at the end of the draft for $1 and chose to go with 4th OFer Josh Willingham instead.

SP Ervin Santana - $4 - Merry Tyler's Moors -- This is a solid pick up.  Santana moves to the NL on a great team and should put up numbers that would require a salary much greater than $4.  To me, dropping Cole Hamels was the curious part of this move as he could have been stached on the DL.

RP (soon to be SP) Tanner Scheppers - $2 - MBAS -- Its a RP,SP guy?  I should probably have him on my team.  Really though, Scheppers is stepping into the opening day starter's role for the Rangers and should have every chance to stay in the rotation long term.  If not, he is a great ratio guy (Ks, WHIP, ERA) from the pen.

Hochevar learns he was picked up by Lester's Molesters
 and has to spend the season on the bench next to Lionel.

RP Luke Hochevar - $1 - Les Moles -- Sorry Tom. You must not have seen the news that Hochevar is down for the season with a serious elbow injury requiring Tommy John surgery.  At least it was only a buck.

RP Luke Gregerson - $1 - Merry Tyler's Moors -- I love when guys have two first names because you can switch them around and the name still works.  In this case Greg Lukerson, another solid ratio guy, should be a decent RP option especially pitching in Oakland.  He likely will never get the big chair at the end of games, but with saves+holds, he is a valuable addition.

SS Jhonny Peralta - $1 - The Zach Attack -- Peralta is the starting SS on what is possibly the best team in the NL (and i hate myself for thinking that, much less writing it).  He will help for our purposes because we dont lose points for our guys being fat or being bad at fielding baseballs. To get Peralta, Zach dropped Jonathon Villar.  I mention this only to include this picture.

OF Brett Gardner - $1 - MBAS --  With Springer and Tavares both being optioned to AAA, MBAS needed another warm body to stick in the OF.  $1 for decent OBP and steals is a nice parachute in case the Kole Calhoun experiment goes south.

RP JJ Hoover - $1 - Les Moles -- Hoover has been an above average RP for the past 2 seasons.  Another ratio guy who could get a few save opportunities with Chapman recovering from being hit by Debo.


Trades:
MBAS get SS Jose Reyes
Les Moles get SP/RP Tony Cingrani

Les Moles needed arms and has Ian Desmond at SS.  MBAS had a glut of arms and only Xander Bogaerts at SS.  Both players involved have question marks (Cingrani control, Reyes injuries), but needs aligned on this one that should be a benefit for each team.  Advantage: PUSH


Les Moles get RP Joe Nathan
MWP Masters get 3b Pedro Alvarez

I honestly have no idea what MWP is going for here.  Les Moles picks up a great RP who should garner a ton of saves and ks while posting solid ratios.  MWP gets a 3b to back up Ryan Zimmerman and leaves himself an RP short of having a full squad.  John, I know you like Tom and all, but you dont need to try that hard to show it. Advantage: Les Moles


The Zach Attack gets OF Ryan Braun, 2b/SS Brad Miller
Springfield Isotopes get OF Matt Kemp, SS Jhonny Peralta

Trading Places

Zach was able to turn a SS he just picked up for $1 and the DL'ed Kemp into Braun and a criminally underrated Miller. Strange how Kemp and Braun are repeatedly tied together and both come into the season with huge question marks and fairly high expectations.  The difference between them, for me, is that Kemp is already hurt and when he comes back, there is a log jam that means he may not have a clear path to regular playing time.  With Carl Crawford, Yasiel Puig, Andre Ethier and super prospect Joc Pederson waiting in the wings, Kemp may end up being the odd man out, or perhaps worse, end up as a platoon player.  In weekly leagues, that is an awful situation to be in.  As for the SS swap, Peralta will likely end up with the better lines, but not by much and Peralta is prone to random craptastical seasons.  Miller has decent contact skills and marginal power and speed.  With a clear path to the Mariners starting SS gig, Miller's floor is higher than Peralta's.  Also, I just checked spring stats on Miller...holy balls.  Spring stats are admittedly meaningless but he is hitting .463/.522/1.000 fo the spring.  I think that would be some kinda record. Advantage: Zach Attack