Before the first week of the season has even completed, I have constituted my first trade of the season.  Now for some, this is not a big deal.  However, I tend to agree with most experts that you should not make any serious moves during the first month of the season.  This is the part of the season that you should be evaluating what you have, and letting your top picks progress into their normal rhythm.  Trading key components of your team at this point in the season seems silly at best.  Besides… you had reasons for drafting that player during the draft.  Be patient and let your choices play out.

So why did I make a trade?

Every so often you can really screw up the balance of a team during the draft.  This is what happened to me.  In the Fantasy Gameday Keeper League, I underestimated where closers should be taken.  Due to this I wound up with only one true closer… B.J. Ryan.  Needless to say, that is not going very well for me.  I also drafted Manny Corpas, but as we know, Huston Street is the official closer in Colorado.  However, with Ryan’s struggles, I did pickup Scott Downs as protection.  So here I sit after one week, and I have zero saves.  Normally this would not concern me, but we have holds as a category in this league.  The waiver wire is a bit thin as all of the elite setup men are already rostered, and people are more willing to carry the next in line for saves since they will help in the holds category.  That is why I still have Manny Corpas.  Even though he is not closing, he has some decent value in this league.  So the only way to acquire a closer is to hope one of your middle relievers becomes one, or trade for one.

After figuring out that I had a surplus at 2B (Uggla, Lopez, Casilla), I decided that I could move one of them. Dan Uggla is one of my keepers, and is a consistent source of power.  Lopez is a solid hitter, and Casilla is a young player with speed potential.  After attempting to trade Uggla last season, and finding no takers, I figured I would get the same reaction this season.  I also need to have Casilla in my lineup, because I have so few guys that can possibly steal more than 15 bases this season.  So that leaves Lopez as my trade bait.  Don’t get me wrong, I think Lopez will have a solid season, and I was excited to draft him.  However, sometimes you have to give up something to get something.

So as I looked over all of the teams before the season started, I noticed that my buddy’s team had no player for the middle infield spot.  I talking with him one day, I found out that he was trying several players for that roster spot and wanted to see how it paned out.  I knew that he had several closers that I would not mind having.  So I waited, and watched him go through several players throughout the week attempting to find a starting middle infielder.  After looking at the draft results, I noticed that he drafted Brian Wilson several picks after I selected Jose Lopez.  Thinking that this would help both teams, and we had equal value (at least from a draft pick perspective) I offered the following trade…

• Jose Lopez for Brian Wilson

So why Brian Wilson?  First of all, he had Joakim Soria, and I knew that I did not want to pay the high price for him.  In addition, Huston Street was a non consideration since I already have Corpas.  So Wilson was a perfect fit for me, especially considering he has a solid hold on the job.

I am one of the few that think Wilson is a solid closer.  He had a solid K/9 of 9.67 last season, but a terrible walk rate of 4.04 ruined his K/BB ratio.  The 4.62 ERA is a bit disconcerting, but Wilson did have FIP of 3.93.  After looking a bit deeper into the numbers I noticed that he had a .336 BABIP and a .261 batting average against.  Both numbers are a bit high for someone with such a solid K/9 rate, but the BABIP is what stands out the most.  A little more luck, and an improved defense up the middle, and the ERA becomes more respectable.  If those two factors happen, and he lowers his walk rate, then you have a very useful closer that will not hurt the ratios while accumulating the saves.

The trade has been accepted, and I will receive Wilson on my roster for Tuesday. Only time will tell if I actually improved my team as a whole, but there is no question as to whether or not I addressed a glaring need on my team.