And In The End...

I made the trade with the guy who was trying to deal me speed for power.

I got: Asdrubal Cabrera, Carl Crawford, David DeJesus, Curtis Granderson and Andruw Jones.

I gave up: Jason Bay, Hank Blalock, Russ Branyan, Mike Cuddyer, and Paul Konerko.

Without looking at the standings, the obvious thought is that I'm giving up a ton of power. This is true, but I've got a 12 HR cushion on the next team and a 20 HR cushion on the team after that. My projections show me keeping all 12 HR points (though if Delmon Young keeps behaving like Babe Ruth for the team in 2nd, that goes out the window.

I'm also conceding RBI without giving up any points I haven't already gained. I was only projected to gain one point (over a team that had dumped) and now I probably won't. Again, the team behind me is 39 behind and I'm hoping to keep him at bay.

What's the good news for me here?

Speed is obviously the play. I should jump three points in steals with Crawford, Granderson and (to a lesser extent) Cabrera all running.

The sneaky part of the deal is that the team I traded with isn't as much of a perceived threat as others and he's going to take HR/RBI points from the two teams that I do project ahead of him. I see my team picking up 3 1/2 points, but the projected first place team is projected to lose three points...so I'm hoping for a 6 1/2 point swing.

These calculations are rough but useful. If you're trading late, you always want to try and figure out what you have to gain and what you have to lose before pulling the trigger.