Wrapping up Bob's second championship

Bob has established himself as the premier team of the Keeper League. If not already, it's likely all teams will be gunning for him next year.

After a shaky 0-2 start (again), Bob rebounded true to form and simply dominated the league, going 18-4 from that point forward. He had a five-game winning streak and an eight-game winning streak.

He blew out his playoff opponents. He was unquestionably the top team and deserved the title this year.


"It was a season for the ages," said Bob, who set the best regular-season mark in league history. "I started out slow again, but I didn't have any doubts that I would be back in the same place at the end of the year again."

Bob's midseason trade wasn't as big as in past years. He got Jayson Werth, Placido Polanco and John Danks for Jon Lester, Johnny Damon and Delmon Young. Still, Werth was excellent in the playoffs, a big reason why Bob won.

"I would like to thank Mike for giving my team that extra push it needed at midseason," Bob said. "He got a really good pitcher in Lester, but I got a really nice balance to my offense and a consistent pitcher."

Maybe the league should take a cue from this quote and just simply not trade with Bob anymore. If you have any interest in winning, that is.

We raised the question before of whether this is a dynasty. Bob feels it is.

"I've had the best record in the league now for three out of four years," he said. "I'm the only team in the league to win three division titles, along with being the only team to repeat as division champion and to repeat as league champion. ... Even with time constraints, I've been able to put a good club on the field."

He loses Ryan Bruan and Prince Fielder this offseason. It won't matter. He has the players to keep to make up for the losses.

"I'm not thinking ahead to next year just yet, I want to let my guys take in this championship and let them enjoy the parade," Bob said. "It's the first time around for some of these guys, let's not forget. But come November, it will be back to business in trying to figure out how to construct this club going forward in the wake of Braun and Prince's departure."

Bob will go into next season once again as the favorite. Whether the league can catch up to him remains to be seen.

"I'm just entering my prime of fantasy domination and I don't see that changing anytime soon," Bob said. "I'll believe I can be beaten, when someone actually unseats me, but until then I am unstoppable."

Read more!

Breaking down the trade: Bob's side

After breaking down our first trade of the season from Mike's side, let's today look at it from Bob's side.

This is all speculation because, surprisingly, Bob did not respond to an interview request for this article.

Unlike for Mike, for Bob, it was not quite Jayson Werth for Jon Lester. He also got Placido Polanco to fill a hole at second base, but unfortunately for him, Polanco quickly went on the disabled list. Long-term, however, he is an upgrade over Orlando Hudson.


Bob took a hit in pitching, obviously, by giving up Jon Lester. John Danks isn't close to him in talent, but he's serviceable. Plus, Bob has Cole Hamels locked up and Stephen Strasburg in the waiting, so Lester was expendable. And he got back a possible keeper in Werth, especially if he leaves for Boston or New York next season.

It will be very interesting to see how Bob handles his keeper decisions. He only has two open slots. Check out these names, all reasonable hitting keepers: Werth, Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Dunn, Nelson Cruz.

Clearly, Bob has loaded up on hitting, identifying that as his best chance to win this season.

Question is, though, could he even have gotten a better player than Werth straight up for Lester? Probably. Instead, he took the route of trying to plug holes in adding Polanco and another pitcher in Danks to the trade.
Read more!

Breaking down the trade: Mike's side

We had our first trade of the season, after three long months. Let's first look at this from Mike's side.

He made it clear he was a seller and his season was basically over. The playoffs will not be happening, and Mike was in rebuilding mode.

When it comes down to it from Mike's side, the trade was basically Jayson Werth for Jon Lester. Sure, there were some other pieces thrown in (including a very recent pickup and a now-injured player), but for Mike, this trade was Werth for Lester.


Before this trade, he obviously had Ian Kinsler locked away for next year. Who else? Well, good question. Werth certainly was part of that discussion, I'm sure. But he really lacked a pitching keeper. Jeff Niemann? Joel Pineiro? John Danks? If he goes into next year with any of those three, he's already starting the season behind the eight ball.

"Knew I had to make some trades for keepers going into next year, with this year all but done for me," Mike said.

So it was obvious he was going after a strong pitcher.

And there's no denying Mike got one in Lester. The guy has been awesome this year, 9-3 record, 2.86 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 111 strikeouts, and complete-game potential. Great, great numbers; absolutely a top-of-the-line pitcher. This seems like a no-brainer that Mike will be keeping him next year and maybe beyond, filling a big hole in a pitching keeper.

"We knew we needed to find a stud pitcher," Mike said. "And Lester fit the mold nicely for us."

It's hard to speculate whether Mike traded away too much. Clearly Placido Polanco and Danks mean nothing to him long-term, but now he will be hard-pressed to make a trade from this point forward. He does not have very many chips left, now that he has traded his best long-term value on offense in Werth.

Mike says he's "not done trading."

"We will be looking over everyone's teams again to see who we can target that would be keeper worthy," he said.

At this point, though, it's hard to believe Mike will be able to land another player that he can keep - that is, unless he can find a trading partner to take Tim Lincecum or Justin Verlander and deal with the penalties that come with it.
Read more!