Here's the situation:

 

The Cuban Sugar Kings of the Southern Baseball Association are in desperate need of some relief pitching. During the draft, there was a run on relief pitchers and I didn't jump into the fray because I didn't believe there was value in grabbing a reliever there especially with the quality offensive and starters still on the board, and with 8 teams in the league, a closer would eventually fall into my lap later on. Well, that strategy blew up in my face and the only closer I managed to land was Jorge Julio. OUCH! I know, but at the time of the draft he had just been traded and figured the great closer reclamation projects of the Marlins (Benitez, ones, Borowski, Harvey, and Urbina) would work some magic here.

 

So here's the deal. My "bullpen" currently consists of:

 

Jorge Julio

Chad Qualls

Brandon Lyon

Lee Gardner (was hoping Fredi put him in last night, but to no avail!)

Kirk Saarloos

Taylor Tankersley (DL)

 

My "starting rotation" currently consists of:

 

Chris Carpenter (DL)

Barry Zito

Scott Olsen (right now he's the ace of this staff!)

Bronson Arroyo

Zach Duke (a steal at where I got him and I've been really impressed with him)

Tim Hudson

Doug Davis

 

So, I've tried to make a move to try to acquire another closer and made an offer to one team who counter-offered with this deal:

 

Adrian Gonzalez (who is my back-up 1B/Utility -- Prince Fielder is starting at 1B) and Tim Hudson

FOR

Armando Benitez

Do you make this deal?

 

I have another offer to another team that is

Adrian Gonzalez

FOR

Jose Valverde

Bear in mind, my team is in the Top 3 of all offensive categories except one, and is currently in second place, but I need to bolster my pitching staff. As you can see, I'm "dead last" in SAVES, but I lead the league in "HOLDS" (I figured, if I couldn't get a closer, I'd stockpile those 8th inning guys!):

 

I'll hang up and listen to your comments....

That is the most lopsided trade offer ever and should NEVER make it past the league's approval process. Hold on to Julio and hope he is just going through a rough patch [i just picked him up off of waivers for this very reason]. Also, see if you can grab Dan Wheeler off of waivers. He just replaced Brad Lidge as the Closer for the Rangers. You just have to weather the injury storm and hope that Carpenter comes back soon and Zito and Hudson settle down.

 

It's way too early in the season to panic about this stuff. Just worry about gaining a strong lead in the offensive categories. Sooner or later, a pitching heavy team [looking like Polster maybe?] will need your hitting and offer you something fair.

He just replaced Brad Lidge as the Closer for the Rangers.

Hmm.

And I agree on the lop sided trade, I wouldn't do it.

That is the most lopsided trade offer ever and should NEVER make it past the league's approval process. Hold on to Julio and hope he is just going through a rough patch [i just picked him up off of waivers for this very reason]. Also, see if you can grab Dan Wheeler off of waivers. He just replaced Brad Lidge as the Closer for the Rangers. You just have to weather the injury storm and hope that Carpenter comes back soon and Zito and Hudson settle down.

 

It's way too early in the season to panic about this stuff. Just worry about gaining a strong lead in the offensive categories. Sooner or later, a pitching heavy team [looking like Polster maybe?] will need your hitting and offer you something fair.

you mean astros, right?