Blue Sox make two trades

The Blue Sox have made two recent trades; one good, one bad. I had some pitchers on the D/L coming back (Wang and Romero)and Willis was recently called up. I was able to back-date Willis's activation to erase a terrible outing by Chris Ray, who I gave up on and dropped. I hated to do that with him at .10, but he wasn't going to pan out this year and I'm playing to win now (although you wouldn't know that glancing at the standings where I'm ensconced in fourth, well out of third and way out of the lead). Ray has since been sent to the minors. I also had Brandon McCarthy, whom I picked up as a place filler only. Of course, he threw a shut-out and went 8 innings in his next start for another win. So I have to consider keeping him, right?

So I had to make some move on somebody and I got a trade offer of Mike Lowell and Jason Frasor for Andrew Bailey and Travis Buck. I won't bore you with my long-suffering with Buck; suffice it to say, I was eager to dump him. (He hit a home run or two right after the trade but then, surprise, ended up on the D/L.) Buck and Frasor were in this deal only as roster balance, however, as this was really Lowell for Bailey. (I dropped Frasor as part of the deal, and activated Lackey.) I knew Bailey was the future closer, but I somehow missed the announcement that he was the closer. Since the trade, he's got 2 saves (and a win from a blown save). Lowell has done okay, batting .308, with a home run and 6 rbi's, and I do have more pitching points than hitting points right now, but this is a trade I will regret for a long time.

My second trade in ten days I like a little better. When Iwamura went on the D/L I saw an opportunity to trade with his owner. The other owner (full disclosure, he reads this blog regularly) has a lot of good, young outfielders (including Nelson Cruz, who I traded him last season for draft picks -- another trade I will be regretting for years) but now needed a middle infielder. I had just traded two rookie-of-the-year candidates (Snider and Bailey) so I figured I might as well trade a third, and offered Elvis Andrus and Ricky Romero (coming off of the D/L and no roster spot available) for Shin-Soo Choo. I threw in Dewayne Wise (also coming off of the D/L with no roster spot available) to balance the deal, and asked for Ramon Santiago to take Andrus's spot. He agreed, and we made the deal. I like this deal for me. I think Andrus is the real deal, and will keep his average up, but he won't hit for any power. He might steal 20 bags, which has real value, especially at shortstop, but I think Choo will hit for a better average and steal bags as well. And, he'll hit for power. That's easier to find in an outfielder than a shortstop, but Choo is a four category guy (reminder: we only have four categories) and is currently batting clean-up. Finally, I have Sizemore on the D/L and need some offense. I didn't have a spot for Romero, and don't expect him to be that great anyway. I could be wrong, and he could be the star that was once promised when he was a first round pick, but I doubt it. Or at least I think it was worth the risk.

So, to recap, in the last couple of weeks, I've traded away Travis Snider, Andrew Bailey, Elvis Andrus, and Ricky Romero, getting back John Lackey, Mike Lowell, Shin-Soo Choo, and Ramon Santiago. Let me know what you think? Am I helping my chances this year, or selling too much of my future?