You’ve been following TDGX. You love TDGX. We all love TDGX.  And every week here at The Dynasty Guru, I am going to be bringing you commentary from our flagship experts’ league, directly from the participants themselves. Today we’re going to cover all of the transactions made post-draft, including a few trades–one involving an elite prospect and another involving a potential high-end starting pitcher.

The goal here is to give you insight into the moves made by our group of experts so that you can use this information the next time you need to make a trade or prominent FA move in your league. So let’s not mess around with too much longer of an introduction. We’re going to break this up into three sections: trades, major league additions, minor league additions.

TRADES

5/5/14–Jason Hunt trades Rymer Liriano to J.P. Breen for Ricky Nolasco

Jason: “Nolasco has proven to be an effective innings eater in the past, and based on the make up of my pitching staff, it seems like I have been running a bit short on starting pitching depth. By going out and getting another starting pitcher, I can potentially make up significant points in both wins and strikeouts, while keeping the ratio categories reasonably steady. Add in that he replaces Matt Harrison in the rotation (who has not been nearly as effective as hoped so far), and this is a nice upgrade to the back-end of my pitching staff. The prospect I gave up (Rymer Liriano) is essentially a lottery ticket, as he could return to the form that made him a 20 HR/20 SB candidate, or never make it back out of AA.”

J.P.: “With my team falling significantly behind in several categories — both due to injury and due to unexpected poor starts by too many guys — I needed to accept that legitimately competing this season is exceedingly unlikely. The possibility of moving a fringe piece like Ricky Nolasco for a prospect who may be undervalued due to an injury in 2013 was too good to pass up. Rymer Liriano may do absolutely nothing at the big league level and make this trade irrelevant; however, he also has the outside potential to be a 20/20 guy in the majors. I like that value for Nolasco, who was currently sitting on my bench.”

MAJOR LEAGUE FA PICKUPS

Nick Shlain adds Josh Tomlin for $15

“Josh Tomlin for $15 because, well, why not? I’ve hardly spent any money in this league yet and you can never have too much pitching. Tomlin was a solid starter, worthy of being owned in a league of this size, before he had tommy john surgery. Now, he’s back and he’s starting twice this week after capping off a nice run in AAA with a complete game shutout against Durham, one of the best hitting AAA teams. Not a big strikeout pitcher and that is a concern with the Indians’ bad defense, but I’m giving him a shot.”

Craig Goldstein/Mauricio Rubio add Jose Ramirez for $15

“It was probably a little pricey but this is our fill in for Jason Kipnis. Ramirez is decent, but not really good – but he middle infield market is so awful that we needed someone who was going to get some playing time while Kipnis is on the mend. My sincere hope is that this is an overpay and Kipnis is back soon, but we couldn’t afford to be down the lineup spot in case he is out for an extended period.”

Craig Goldstein/Mauricio Rubio add Aaron Loup for $8

“He’s not exciting but he is the closer (for now) in Toronto. Given that we have Casey Janssen, we wanted to secure the bridge to him while he’s on rehab assignment. I don’t think Loup holds the job beyond Janssen coming back, but it’s nice to have his handcuff since Sergio Santos was removed from the gig.”

Mike Buttil adds Collin McHugh for $5

“Despite the poor outing against the Mariners this past weekend, McHugh is still striking out over 10 batters per nine innings to go along with a walk rate under two per nine. He’ll take the place of Taylor Jordan in our starting rotation.”

Luke Chatelain adds Ender Inciarte for $4

“With AJ Pollock sidelined Inciarte has been grabbing the majority of start in CF. Inciarte has minimal pop but great wheels as evidenced by his 43 SBs in AA last year. While he really needs playing time to have any value the fact that he’s currently drawing starts bodes well for his potential and if he can get on a role he could find himself in a bigger role. This is a per speculation speed play but it’s the type that has potential to pay off down the line.”

Alex Kantecki adds David Phelps for $3

“My rotation has been hit (moderately) hard, from losing my No. 2 starter, Kris Medlen, prior to the season to Matt Garza and Scott Feldman nursing boo-boos. I’ve survived on the wings of Jason Vargas and Tanner Roark, but the latter’s rotation spot is in flux with Doug Fister on the comeback trail. Phelps is scheduled for two starts this week (at Angels, at Brewers), and he’s put together a respectable start to his career, including a 22.6 percent strikeout rate (29.6 percent in 2014).”

Chris Cwik adds Ed Lucas for $2

“This is actually the first pickup I’ve made all season. That’s mostly due to the fact that I’ve had a ton of injuries, but don’t want to get rid of my injured players. I also made the mistake of taking chances on undervalued assets at MI that haven’t paid off yet (Stephen Drew, Nick Franklin, Didi Gregorius). Lucas is a warm body, and that’s all I’m looking for at this point.”

Ian Kahn/Tim McLeod add Jordan Walden for $2

“We had grabbed Franklin Morales in a two start week hoping that we might snag a win and some K’s without hurting our ratios. Got the win…that was about all. So Kimbrell is looking healthier. However, if that shoulder gets pesky on us, it will good to have his handcuff in Jordan Walden.”

Alex Kantecki adds Casey Fien for $1

“Over his four-year career, Fien owns a 4.28 K/BB rate and a sturdy 1.05 WHIP. Adding the talented right-hander was simply a way to help stabilize my ratios if my starters flop in a given week. And who knows — with Jared Burton struggling, maybe Fien could see a couple of save chances along the way if Glen Perkins needs a day of rest.”

Chris Crawford adds Brandon Hicks for $0

“I don’t think HIcks can sustain this “success” but I needed to get Goins off of my roster, and he was substantially better than any of the other middle-infield options out there.”

Wilson Karaman adds Brayan Pena for $0

“I attempted to add him last week, but due to a roster limit snafu on my part I did so unsuccessfully. No more! With Mesoraco and my back-up AJ Ellis both wallowing away on the DL I needed to snag a catcher, and Pena’s been playing nigh-on every day in Cincinnati during the former’s recovery from a hamstring strain. The Reds have a short week with just five games, but two are in Fenway and the other three are in friendly Great American. Plus I figured the built-in rest makes it likely I get a minimum four starts from him this week and very possibly all five games. He’s been hitting and he’s playing every day – a rare combination to find on the wire in a league this deep when injury comes a-callin’.”

Jason Hunt adds Yusmeiro Petit for $0

“With Matt Cain out with an injury, Petit was called upon last week to take his spot in the rotation. He’ll get the start this week as well, and could potentially be called upon even when Cain returns if another member of the rotation proves ineffective. For a $0 cost, he should have a decent start or two in the next couple weeks which can help my overall counting stats on the pitching side, and potentially could provide more if he sticks long-term like he did last year.”

Nick Doran adds Marco Scutaro for $0

“Scutaro has missed the entire season thus far due to a back injury but when he returns he is likely to be an everyday player, which is a very valuable commodity in an ultra-deep 20 team league like this one. I will stash him on my DL until he returns to action. Hopefully he can help me out during the stretch run or I can use him as a trade chip in a deal with a team who is starting a part-time player at the keystone.”

Luke Chatelain adds Stefen Romero for $0

“At 25 Romero really isn’t much of a prospect but for some reason the Mariners seem to really like him and are overly willing to give him a shot. He wont hit over .275 but he could put up 10 HRs and 10 SBs if given a full time roll. It’s not much but it’s something.”

Chris Crawford adds Gaby Sanchez for $0

“I actually like Doumit as a player, but catcher is one of the few positions that I feel that I have depth, and Sanchez is an upgrade over both he and the super disappointing Daniel Nava for my lineup.”

Nick Doran adds Brett Cecil for $0
Nick Doran adds Steve Delabar for $0

“With Sergio Santos being removed as Closer in Toronto, the 9th-inning gig for the Blue Jays is up for grabs in a wide open battle amongst several imperfect options. Delabar and Cecil are both in the running, along with Aaron Loup. I grabbed these two candidates with the hope that one of them will snare the role and run with it, at least until Casey Janssen returns to action (who knows when that will be?). My team is already leading the league in Saves, but you can never have too many closers in fantasy baseball. I think Delabar as the only righty is the one who will get the most Saves. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Santos regain the role in a few weeks.”

MINOR LEAGUE FA PICKUPS

Ian Kahn/Tim McLeod add Tsuyoshi Wada for $2

“Tsuyoshi Wada is doing some exciting things for Iowa in the PCL. We are giving up on the Germen Gonzalez idea, and 37 K’s in 31 innings with a .638 whip is worth a look. If he keeps this up, and Hammel gets traded for prospects, I can see Wada giving it a go for the Cubs sooner rather than later. Anyway, a fine stash in the minors, which gives us space to bring C.J. Cron up to our big club and our lineup.”

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