The MLB non-waiver trade deadline is usually concurrent or perhaps a week ahead of the trade deadline in AL-only and NL-only keeper leagues.
In my AL-only league, they were on the same weekend and perhaps because of the heavy influx of crossover players to the American League, this year there was only one deadline trade.
Last year’s winner, then in fourth place, was able to get Johnny Cueto on Sunday morning for $59 FAAB units, most of what he had left. But that night he swung the only trade deadline deal to get Adam Jones ($37, first year) and David Robertson ($9 on an expiring contract) by swapping his first round minor league pick next year for a last (fifth) round pick and Kyle Gibson ($3, second year), Logan Morrison ($5, first year) and Chris Parmelee, a $10 free agent pickup. This week, he has moved up to third place but has a long way to go to overtake the second place team, who is 11 points ahead of him.
In the other Los Angeles-based keeper league I play in, an NL-only league, the trade deadline is one week later, so those trades last weekend were effective this week.
This is the league where I noted while running down the FAAB prices for the crossover players that Yoenis Cespedes wasn’t available for bidding on 8/1, so he was up on Saturday and went for $649. Unfortunately, he went to a team I am competing with for the last money spot (fourth place) or the first minor league draft pick next year, which goes to the fifth place finisher. The best I could do with limited funds was to get Joakim Soria for $69 in hopes that he will get a couple of saves, which would be another point in that category for my team.
There were three deadline trades that may affect second, third and fourth place as well as the fifth place consolation.
First, the team in a virtual tie for second place traded minor league prospect Jesse Winker along with Corey Dickerson ($14, second year) and Carl Crawford ($23 in this year’s auction) to a non-contender for James Shields ($26 in this year’s auction), Jon Jay ($1, second year) and Khris Davis ($10 in his last year).
Next, one of the teams who had previously traded away quite a bit of talent to build their team for next year found themselves in contention for either the last money spot or the first minor league pick next year, so they added Cody Asche ($5, second year), Ryan Zimmerman ($33 in this year’s auction) and Nori Aoki ($17 in this year’s auction). All they had to give up for that was minor league pitching prospect Tyler Kolek and spare parts Ivan DeJesus ($10 free agent this year) and Casey McGehee ($6 contract from last year’s auction).
My team, one of those in the hunt for fourth and fifth place, had the option of trying to add players or trying to add an impact minor leaguer, and while I had initially turned down one trade because it would cost me the hope of Hector Olivera and was too late to get Winker from the second place hopeful, I made a late offer to get Ben Revere’s stolen bases in Toronto. I had to give up minor leaguer Aaron Altherr and a $2 Josh Johnson from this year’s auction but that might just be enough to pick up two points in stolen bases, which would dramatically help my team.
Such is life in a mono keeper league. {jcomments on}