Trade: Buchholz for Moore

I’d do the deal, but I’ve liked Moore for 3 years already and Bucholz (injury aside) has not impressed me as much as I thought he would. TB does pitching the right way and Moore will succeed as soon as he’s up. And what’s not to like about Moore? Did you see him in the futures game?

First, full disclosure is that I own both in my dynasty league, and managed to snag both a year before their breakouts thanks to some alert flags from their stats. I say this because I can recall the ascents of both, and Moore’s is a lot like Buchholz Redux.

Moore is indeed wicked impressive…but don’t forget to check out Buccholz’s stats from both 2006 and 2007, which covers a rise from A thru AAA. He was incredibly dominant, on a par with standout performers in other years like Bailey, Hughes, Garza, and now Moore. Moore is the star of the moment, but that doesn’t do Buchholz justice because his numbers were mighty damn good too. And both had the scouting reports to show the numbers weren’t smoke and mirrors. Do a search for comments by Eric Van going back a couple years here, and you will find some pretty sweet reports on Buchholz’s stuff.

So now what you have is two strikingly good minor league performers. One has gone on to have reasonable success, while still showing teaser glimpses of possibly taking a step forward to the next level. His scouting report still shines, and his health (at least his arm) has remained good. The other has yet to throw a major league pitch, and not nearly thru the squishy “injury nexus.” Who do you want? The somewhat proven guy who still hints at better days ahead, or the unproven guy whose minor league number look a lot like…the proven guys?

Overall, I’d choose Moore because TB seems to do a good job keeping their people healthy (McGee excepted) and because I think he may have more of a killer instinct than Buccholz…but those are intangibles, and there’s very good logic behind swapping the two.

Hope that helps.

Buckholz sucks