Keeping JR's trend alive, I have compiled what I believe to be the 10 best trades in the VUFSA this past year. On the flip side, they can also be considered the 10 worst, depending on who's side you're looking from.
10. JR trades Peerless Price and Rodney Harrison to Champ for Aaron Brooks
-JR addressed his biggest need (QB) and had to give up just a low scoring Wide Receiver (who was waived by the Falcons this year) and a defensive player. JR rode his new QB all the way to the Football Championship game. This is little revenge, however, for what Champ got from JR further down this list.
9. Gun trades Chris Webber and Kirk Hinrich to Ed for Mike Bibby, Carmelo Anthony and Larry Hughes
-Seemed like a good idea at the time. Then, Webber got traded to Philadelphia and played terribly, while Hinrich started hobbling around on a bad leg late in the year, which helped open the door for TheGun (who later flipped 'Melo to Champ as a package for Steve Francis) to oust Ed in the Semi-Finals. Bibby will get strong keeper consideration.
8. Lincoln trades Sammy Sosa to Champ for Scott Podsednik
-Say what you will about Podsednik's value in real life, but in Fantasy Baseball, he has few peers in stolen bases. Pods accounted for 40% of Lincoln's total steals this season, while Sosa hit .221 with a paltry 14 homers and 45 RBIs.
7. Gun trades Lance Berkman and Huston Street to Stem for Jake Peavy and Jason Bay
-This is a top10 trade because Berkman was picked up off the wire. It's not higher because Berkman is a very good player, and theGun was already running away with the season. Nonetheless, Jake Peavy is a keeper, who leads the NL is Ks and has an ERA under 3, while Jason Bay (.295-25-74, with 96 runs) is no throw-in.
6. Viano trades Tony Parker and Erick Dampier to Drew for Gilbert Arenas
-Gilbert Arenas was a borderline top10 player last year, while Parker struggled to break the top100. Erick Dampier and his rebounding skills went on IR shortly after the trade, pouring salt into the already gaping wound. Arenas might be a keeper, while Dampier and Parker will be around in the back half of this year's draft.
5. Gun trades Duce Staley and Keyshawn Johnson to Champ for Torry Holt
-Running backs are like $20 bills in fantasy football, and wide receivers are like $10s. Champ, needing an every Sunday runner gave up one of his stud receivers for the Pittsburgh back. Unfortuanately, Staley would continue to concede goal line touches to Jerome Bettis and later, be removed from the backfield entirely (injury), while Holt continued his stretch as an elite WR, and a is rock solid keeper for Gun in the upcoming season.
4. Lincoln Trades Onterrio Smith to Drew for Joe Horn
-Again, RBs are tons more valuable than WRs in Fantasyland, but this trade can be summed up by one word: Whizzinator. Wolfman had a spare stud receiever after landing Terrell Owens earlier in the week, so parted ways with Horn to make up for the loss of Corey Dillon. Smith never played up to par, while Horn is a keeper, and the WR1 for Lincoln this year.
3. Ed trades Derrick Mason to the Gun for Domanick Davis and Larry Fitzgerald
-Davis is a borderline top10 back, and was a keeper for Ed this year, while Fitzgerald scored 4 touchdowns in the playoffs (two weeks) to help his team win the Championship. Mason never found a rythym with Titans QB Billy Volek, and watched from the other side of the field as Drew Bennett kept theGun out of the playoffs.
2. Champ trades Marshall Faulk to JR for Randy Moss
-Moss is the best receiver in Football. In JR's own words; Faulk was benched in the championship game in favor of Nick Goings. Randy is a permanent keeper, while Faulk doesn't even have a starting job this year.
1. Ed trades Rod Gardner and Chester Taylor to Lincoln for Chad Johnson
-Eeks out the Faulk/Moss trade because Faulk was still productive at points last year. Ed bought low on a struggling Johnson for a hot WR and Jamal Lewis' (owned by Lincoln) backup during his suspension. Johnson went off the very next week on Monday Night Football, and finished the year with 95 catches. A keeper, and a #1 receiver, Johnson proved (as did the top 5 trades in this list) that football is the hardest sport to predict.
7 comments:
No doubt the Faulk thing was a terrible, terrible move.
However, I can't help but think what happens if I hang on to Moss. I get hardly any production from him last year with injury (at least, not the production I got from other people instead...Faulk actually had more fantasy points, if I recall) and probably play him in those weeks when he was threatening to play and never did. It may have cost me one win on the year, which would have cost me a playoff spot.
This year, I would have kept him along with my other receivers and not kept Andre Johnson (probably the wrong call, looking at it now, but what I would have done). I would have exposed Hines Ward to the expansion draft, and he certainly would have been taken given his better name recognition.
Thus, I would be left with four keepers instead of five and just Moss and Harrison at receiver instead of Harrison, Ward and Johnson. Sure, I would have had the sandwich pick and probably gotten a slightly better running back than JJ Arrington, but not MUCH better.
Justification for the terrible maneuver? Perhaps. But if Johnson out-performs Moss this year (unlikely, I know), I will never think twice about the move again.
I still think you overvalue the "name recognition" of a receiver with 4 touchdowns last year.
And even if Faulk outperformed Moss point-wise, and might have cost you a win- that's no justification for not even shopping around the 9th overall pick and best player at his position. Even if Johnson outperforms Moss, you'll never be able to say with a straight face that you got even a fraction of what you could have for Randy. That's probably the main reason it's so high on the list.
God, I gave up Larry Fitzgerald in that trade, too?
I deserved my fate in football last year. I'm a moron.
Well, Gun, at least you didn't appear on this top 10 only as a schmuck. In fact, one of them was even summed up with "whizzinator."
-Drew
Ed only put the last trade as number one over the Moss trade because he was in it.
Homo.
-Tomke
I might agree, as I don't really see the Chad Johnson acquisition as being the most significant on this list. My deal was far more one-sided. Also, the move for Arenas should be much further along the totem pole, if we're talking about one-sided deals.
If you're looking for BEST deals, or just the TOP deals, I think this list is different in many ways.
Not to go tit-for-tat, but I feel like I can keep the dialouge open by defending my positions.
The first thing I looked at was who got the most for the least. In JR's baseball post, he mentioned the Wright/Oswalt-Hafner/Glaus trade. While it was a good one for the Gun, Glaus and Hafner have performed very well. That's why it's not on here.
In addition to grading overall talent exchanging hands, I evaluated the overall impact that a trade had. For instance, my team won the championship in football, thanks in large part to Chad Johnson. As good as Randy Moss is, Champ rode him (and his aforementioned injuries) to a 6th place finish. Same goes for the Arenas deal- Drew still made the playoffs, and Viano didn't make the championship game even with Arenas. Besides, when you boil it down, Chad is a top 5 receiver, and he was traded for a backup running back and a WR who isn't even starting this year. Faulk was at least a starter, and will likely get some touches this year.
This list would look a little different in a year's time; for instance if Gilbert Arenas struggles without Larry Hughes in the backcourt, that trade drops. Same if Domanick Davis gets hurt, or Jake Peavy stops striking out hitters. Drew will go on there if Terrell Owens has a monster year or if Juan Pierre reverts back to the player he should be next season.
And I'm not a homo, you're a homo.
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