Joe sent keeper Dan Haren and Howie Kendrick to Chris for keeper Zack Greinke and Jhonny Peralta. Then, a few hours later, Andy sent keeper Kevin Youkilis and Jair Jurrjens to Ken for keeper Cliff Lee and Ryan Ludwick.
All four managers will lose an 11th-round draft pick as a result of trading the keeper contracts. So how much did that restriction of losing a draft pick matter to the participants?
"The draft picks really worried me at first," Ken admitted.
"It played a small role," Joe said.
"Very little," Chris said.
"None. None at all," Andy said.
These trades really made sense on all levels when you look at them closely. Joe has three one-year deals right now, and he didn't have three legitimate keeper options. So he traded Haren and his expiring contract for Greinke, who still has another year left. And Joe gets value in a big third-base upgrade.
"This gives me flexibility with my keepers going into this offseason," Joe said. "I also think Greinke is a buy-low move, while Haren was a sell-high move. Besides Greinke's ERA, all of his other numbers are fantastic, including his strikeout-to-walk ratio. Meanwhile, Haren is known for poor 2nd halves. Aside from last year."
On Chris's end, he gets rid of Greinke, a player who has caused him nothing but torture the last year and a half, and won't have to deal with him next season. But it does leave him a little thin on choosing another starting pitching keepers if he doesn't re-sign Haren.
"I had lost an even higher draft pick this year when I chose to cut Grady and am still in line to make a run at the playoffs, so I'm not too concerned about losing an even lower pick," Chris said.
The Chris-Joe trade set off a flurry of other action, including one between Jack and Ken, and then the other trade between Andy and Ken. It was a domino effect, whether meant to be intentional or not.
"Absolutely loved it," Chris said. "Thought it was awesome that within minutes of the trade being accepted I had multiple messages from different managers. ... I particularly liked hearing about the hysteria that was raised amongst some managers; makes me laugh."
We've detailed Ken's trades already, so let's quickly look at Andy's side of making the keeper trade. He admittedly made a mistake in the offseason by signing Youkilis to two years instead of just one. So, not only did he have to trade a 2-year contract, he had to find someone who could take him on.
Enter Ken.
"I'm ecstatic I was able to get rid of Youkilis," Andy said. "Once I acquired Hanley (Ramirez) earlier in the season, I had been trying to trade Youk because I had planned to cut him to keep Hanley. Losing the draft pick wasn't as bad if I traded him as opposed to cutting him. So that was my goal, and then to get Lee back was more than I ever expected. I'm thrilled to be going into next year with Hanley, Carlos Gonzalez and Lee."
Andy makes it clear there that he will be re-signing Lee to the final year allowed, which would cost him another high draft pick. Interesting strategy to already make that known, especially when he has possible 1-year options in Clay Buchholz, C.J. Wilson, or maybe even a long-term option in Stephen Strasburg.
No matter what happens, Andy has taken a bad season and successfully traded to go into 2012 with a roster he is happy with. And, heck, even Chris was thrilled when he saw this trade.
"Seeing Cliff Lee get traded is awesome," Chris said. "No doubt Ken actually got value in this deal, but still good to know I may not have to see Lee in the playoffs. I like my team's chances (now) and think we will take the division."
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