We have our third trade of the season, as Naterade and Orc Mischief deal from their strengths to shore up their weaknesses. Besides myself, Naterade and Orc Mischief are the only other teams to have completed a trade so far this year, with two trades apiece. Let's look at the trade's principals.
Naterade has struggled in the HR category this year and adding Jose Guillen will help to strengthen a young and inconsistent outfield. Naterade doesn't have many sluggers on his team and Guillen will give him a veteran outfielder with 25 HR and 100 RBI upside. Guillen is a career .273 hitter, so he could hurt Nate's BA, but Guillen did hit .290 in 2007. Guillen missed a couple of weeks earlier this season, but he has been hot since coming off the DL, hitting .343 with 3 HR and 11 RBI in 10 games.
Orc Mischief has had very poor pitching so far this season, and he's only won two pitching categories other than Saves this year. Besides Johan Santana and Jon Lester, and Lester hasn't pitched that well yet, Orc Mischief has a lot of soft-tossing pitchers with little major league success. I'm not a big fan of Jered Weaver, but he should give you double-digit Wins with an okay WHIP and ERA. He should be a top-40 pitcher, and he will become the Orc's 3rd or 4th best pitcher. Weaver has started out very hot this year, and he could be a fantasy surprise if he can return his strikeout rate to last year's levels.
Not every trade has to be a blockbuster deal, and I like how both teams evaluated their own strengths and weaknesses and then dealt accordingly. Neither team will miss the players they gave up too dearly, and they both will enjoy the services of the players they received.
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