Preseason Trading

Well, it’s official. The fantasy baseball preseason has begun. Why would I make such a claim, you may ask? In the past week, I’ve had two trade proposals thrown my way (in a keeper league obviously). The interesting thing about these trade proposals is that they both involve two pitchers that were heavily discussed during the MLB winter meetings: Danny Haren (I still like to call him Danny), and Erik Bedard. What makes these proposals so interesting is that it brings to light a quandary that I have every baseball preseason: Do you try to trade your players before Spring Training starts?

Let’s take a look at both players and their situations:

Dan(ny) Haren: I believe that Haren was in a rather unique situation. The two strongest rumors (before he was traded) had him going to either the Yankees or the Diamondbacks. In either case, he would be leaving a very pitcher-friendly ballpark and heading to two hitting havens. Where these two rumors differ, however, is that with the Yankees, Haren would be facing the mighty bats of the AL East while with the D-Backs, Haren would be facing the likes of the Dodgers, Padres, and Giants (all strong pitchers parks).

Here’s a quick synopsis:

Haren – Yankees: Wins up, ERA and Whip rise slightly, and potential K’s slightly down.

Haren – D-Backs: Wins up, K’s up slightly, ERA and Whip slightly rise.

Either way you look at it, the potential trade to either team is about a wash with both being better than his current situation. Now, eventually, Haren was traded to the D-Backs for a slew of prospects. Was I thrilled? No. Was I bumming? No. I didn’t really care either way as I believe it really didn’t affect his value too dramatically. If you put my feet to the fire, I would say his value increased slightly.

Erik Bedard: I am all for Erik Bedard being traded. He has put up stellar numbers (when healthy) even though his team resides in the hitting-friendly AL East. Could you imagine what would happen if he left the AL East and pitched in a pitchers park like Shea Stadium or Dodger Stadium (two of the stronger trade rumors)? His K’s would go up markedly. His wins would almost have to go up by default and his ERA and Whip would most certainly fall as well. This is a win-win situation for any Bedard owners. With that being said, however, he is still very much keeper-worthy pitching in the AL East as he has proven he can pitch there.

What is the point? My point is that you need to take every player on a case-by-case basis. Personally, I plan on hanging onto both of these players because I believe that they both will have stellar years. Also, I don’t like to trade players before the start of spring training. I like to know the situations of all my players going into the season before I start trying to peddle them.