Ian Desmond becomes the second infielder to jump from Scanlon to Richie in the last 2 months
Jeremy and Richie came to terms on a deal yesterday that would send the struggling Ian Desmond (one of Scanlon's keepers) to Richie for the red hot Nolan Arenado and the injured Ben Zobrist.
From Richie's perspective, it looks to be a move made for roster flexibility reasons, with an added sell high/buy low twist. Many questioned Richie's strategy of drafting two third baseman to go along with keeper Adrian Beltre, and when Arenado got off to a great start, and Kris Bryant started tearing up the league, those concerns were justified. Richie had to bench one of those 3 every day. The tight rosters we use nowadays don't allow for a lot of roster flexibility, and that is partly done on purpose to create a more trade friendly environment.
Scanlon saw that Richie not only had a surplus of 3B's, but a lack of a consistent SS. Richie's opening day starter, Ben Zobrist, hasn't played since April 24th, and won't be back until mid-June. So last week he picked up Alexei Ramirez, but that quickly became his weakest lineup position. Meanwhile, Jeremy's backup SS, Alcides Escobar came back from his small stint on the DL on a tear, with 4 multi-hit games in his first 5. And while Yangervis Solarte wasn't having an awful season, Arenado is definitely a step up for Scanlon at 3B.
In my opinion, it's a pretty good trade on both sides. It fills a roster need for Richie, giving him a shortstop and keeping him from benching one of his three talented third-basemen every day. And since he's getting a better SS, and his 2B and outfielders are all playing great, Zobrist is a player he has no strong need for, and is therefore just a throw-in. For Jeremy, it allows him to hang on to his 'hot' shortstop and let go of the struggling one, so that he's not wasting his UT spot on a middle infielder (Only John gets to do that). Also, Zobrist will be back in a month (maybe a little more), and Jeremy can enjoy the added bonus of having a great OBP guy who you can plug in at 6 different spots in the lineup.
Overall, I think Jeremy is going to win in terms of overall production, but I think Arenado is overperforming and will come back down to Earth (maybe via a trade to take him away from Coors), and I think Desmond will break out of his slump and get back to being a top 30 fantasy option, so I love the buy-low/sell-high outlook for Richie. This isn't quite a dollar for 4 quarters trade, but it's pretty close, and usually (this time included), I'm on the side of the team getting the better player.
But of course, it's interesting that the last two trades in this league have been between these 2 teams, and Jeremy clearly won the last one. (Effectively Beltre, Gerrit Cole, Hunter Pence to Richie for Felix Hernandez and some other bums - Benoit and Syndergaard)
In other news, Eric has effectively nullified my last news of the day by picking up Marcell Ozuna again. THAT WAS A CALL-OUT LEAGUE!!! WHY DID WE LET ERIC PICK HIM UP AGAIN! I HAD FANTASIES OF HIM TAKING THE LEAGUE BY STORM AND ERIC GETTING BURNED FOR CUTTING TIES TOO EARLY!!! ALEJANDRO DE AZA IS BETTER THAN HIM?? DANNY SANTANA??? LEONYS MARTIN?? JAYSON WERTH?? (Oh wait, that one's my bad).
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