Sep 18 2008
Playing For The Future
A big trade went down in my keeper football league last night between two teams within my division. The Huntington Beach Bad Boys, piloted by a guy in our league named Carmine, traded Peyton Manning ($22) and Steve Smith ($17) to my friend Eric’s team, The Foot Clan. In exchange, Carmine received David Garrard ($2), Randy Moss ($12), and Steve Slaton ($4). NOTE: $100 league.
So why was this deal done? Eric did the deal because he felt it put him in a great position to win the league this year. He now boasts a starting lineup of Manning, Marshawn Lynch/Willis Mcgahee, Smith/Torry Holt/Brandon Marshall,and Heath Miller. There are simply no weaknesses up and down this lineup, and has to put him as the favorite to win our league now. This lineup would be a monster in any 12-team league, period.
Carmine did this deal to stock up on keeper prospects. He felt he had no shot to win this year, so he decided to trade his few blue chips away for guys who had keeper potential. Garrard and Slaton are cheap guys who could contribute in the future, and even Moss is a viable keeper target at just $12. Carmine now has a slew of keepers on his roster, including Chris Johnson ($6), Michael Turner ($3), D’sean Jackson ($3), Anthony Gonzalez ($3), James Hardy ($1) and Jordy Nelson ($1). With his current total salary at $85, Carmine can afford to be a big spender in next year’s draft while holding on to a lot of his cheap young talent.
On the other hand, Eric’s salary now sits at $127. It will leave him with little to no flexibility in terms of keepers for next season. He has basically put all his eggs into this year’s basket. But as the old adage goes, if you have a chance to win a title in a keeper league, you have to try. Playing for the future is foolish, unless you are certain you have no chance to win the league in the current year. So as far as this trade goes, in my opinion it has helped both teams immensely.
Now comes the difficult task of getting my team to a point where it can compete with Eric’s this year.
