If it’s # 2 vs #9, for example, that might be enough to tilt the balance right there.

If they’re equal, I’d go with 1. You seem like you’d take 1 anyway if not for position scarcity, but if you get Wood added to #1, he may well be a better SS than Brignac anyway.

I very much appreciate the help and opinions.

Im pretty torn over this. I like both these players and its a really close call. Gonna hurt either way.

I’d take the Carlos option. I think he has more fantasy upside than Brignac, despite the position difference.

I went for option #1.

I sent:
Javier Vazquez (12M through 2010)
Orlando Cabrera (impending free agent – can’t be kept)
Bartolo Colon (impending free agent – can’t be kept)
Remaining 2008 salaries for these players (to make the trade salary neutral)

I received:
2009 1st round draft pick
Carlos Gonzalez
Chris Carter

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-
I appreciate all the help and I feel great about this trade now. Thanks again.

Wood was apparently not possible… we could have added on to make it happen, but the trade was getting too complex and unwieldy and I felt I would end up losing value.

for anyone that is interested – which I realize wont be many, but what the heck…

10 team AL only. Salaries are either what we paid at auction or for younger players coming from the minors .35M. When guys reach arb its either .35 or what they got at auction or real life – whichever is highest. You may only keep players who stay on the same team. So if they leave in free agency for another team they must go into the auction. If they re-sign with the same team or are traded and stay you have the option of keeping them at their new real life deal or whatever you were already paying them for the real life years – whichever is higher.

C LAA Mike Napoli 2.5
1B BOS David Ortiz 13
2B BOS Dustin Pedroia min
3B BOS Kevin Youkilis 3
SS CLE Asdrubal Cabrera min
OF DET Curtis Granderson 5.65
OF BOS Jacoby Ellsbury min
OF MIN Delmon Young 1.16
UTIL

BN KC John Buck .5
BN CLE Franklin Gutierrez 1
BN TB Akinori Iwamura 6.5
BN OAK Carlos Gonzalez min

SP BOS Josh Beckett 17
SP LAA John Lackey 5.67
SP DET Jeremy Bonderman 9.5
SP TEX Kevin Millwood 10.5
SP CHW Gavin Floyd 5
SP CLE Aaron Laffey min
SP BAL Garrett Olson min
SP KC Luke Hochevar min

Roster of 15.

1B BOS Lars Anderson
SP TEX Michael Main
SP KC Dan Cortes
SP OAK James Simmons
SP MIN Tyler Robertson
SP KC Daniel Duffy
SS CLE Josh Rodriguez
SP BAL Chorye Spoone
SP TEX Omar Poveda
1B OAK Chris Carter
SP OAK Fautino De Los Santos

These three will likely be replaced:

SP TB Glenn Gibson (received for Elijah Dukes)
SP DET Virgil Vasquez
RP TEX Beau Jones

I was offered a list of four prospects to choose from to pair with the first rounder and gonzalez:

1) Chris Carter (who I chose)
2) Aaron Cunningham
3) Ryan Kalish
4) Trevor Crowe

Did I make the right decision??

My thinking was – no more f*ing OFers already. Which, if you look at my team above… well, you see where Im coming from there. Crowe was out. I like Kalish – but the chances of him being productive fantasy wise anytime soon are remote. When is he going to break the Sox OF? Is he even healthy yet? I also have a bunch of Red Sox already… and while I am a Sox fan – its getting to be too much of a good thing. Heck, I drafted Ellsbury and Pedroia as minor leaguers – and basically because they dropped to me and I thought they were being undervalued. Though all my Sox players are studs… which is nice. I do like Cunningham, but I figure Im getting a guy on the same team who is a better prospect at the same position in Gonzalez.

In the end, although I very much liked Cunningham, I went with Carter because of the raw power… that is the rarest asset and everyone always covets it in fantasy.

I ranked my preferences like this:

1) Carter
2) Cunningham
3) Kalish
4) Crowe