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.

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

Luke Chatelain trades Jaime Garcia, a fourth round pick and a fifth round pick to Andy Barnes/Noel Baldwin for Drew Smyly.

Luke: “Sadly my sneaky addition of Jaime Garcia only paid dividends for 7 starts and then his arm basically fell off. With him in no place to help in 2014 and us unsure of his long term outlook we moved him and a few late round draft picks for one of my favorite upside starters in Drew Smyly. Smyly’s Ks have dropped a bit this year and he’s lost about one mph on his fastball since his time in the pen in 2013 but he’s still a relatively safe pitcher to post a decent ERA/WHIP while piling up good Ks and adding some Ws pitching for the Tigers. I don’t expect the world from him but he’s a clear upgrade over our recent run with Chris Young and at 25 he has plenty of good years left with the chance for some growth and improvement down the line.”

Andy: “Even though this trade raised some curiosity from other managers, it was a pretty easy one for our team to make. When Smyly is actually a SP for Detroit he puts up solid average numbers with some flashes of higher tier production. When/if Jaime Garcia comes back in 2015 he can provide a similar set of stats with the possibility for more. The risk factor for Garcia is high because of his injury but if we are wanting to make a large jump in the 2015 standings, we need to take risks. Adding in 2 draft picks helped us recoup the lost keeper from our Invisible Hand bid for the inaugural draft. I feel that a year ago, Garcia would have warranted Smyly/draft pick compensation in a trade and by taking a risk on his recovery we were able to flip that trade around and potential increase the overall value of our team.”

MAJOR LEAGUE FA PICKUPS

Jason Hunt adds Marco Scutaro for $7

“I’ve been looking for another middle infielder for a bit, and with Scutaro returning from the disabled list right before the All-Star break, I was able to get one with a tinybit of upside. He’s not likely to provide more than batting average with a little bit of power and speed the rest of the way, but should get a majority of the playing time at the position if his back is healthy enough for it. Still an upgrade at the position for me.”

Ian Kahn/Tim McLeod add Chris Coghlan for $3

“What happens when you lose Tanaka? You get a free spot on the roster. Coghlan is just doing it right now. The former Rookie Of The Year has a job right now. He’s like a Ruggiano type who’s really hot and hitting. In this 20 teamer… he has some value.”

Craig Goldstein/Mauricio Rubio add Marwin Gonzalez for $1
Craig Goldstein/Mauricio Rubio add Eduardo Nunez for $1

“I don’t think we’ve have a solid MI option at the major league level this year and it’s been killing us. The revolving door continues as we bring in the utility part time player best known for breaking up Yu Darvish’s perfect game, Marwin Gonzalez. He’s hitting .261 and he’s getting at bats. Considering the list of names we’ve run out there, that’s all we can ask for. In a similar vein we added Eduardo Nunez who can fill a few holes with his multi position eligibility while not kill us with the batting average.”

Nick Doran adds Jordan Walden for $0

I picked up Walden because he was the only “next-in-line closer” who wasn’t taken in #TDGX. In the unlikely event that Craig Kimbrel gets injured Walden would likely take over the closer role. I doubt he will see my starting lineup much if at all unless he starts getting Saves.

Wilson Karaman adds Ichiro Suzuki for $0

“With Old Man Beltran falling apart at the seams Ichiro’s been playing regularly and hitting regularly. I don’t care about the lack of counting stats from my 5th outfielder right now, I care about a desperately needed AVG injection, and that’s something -probably the only thing, actually – Ichiro can still provide. Plus, even if he is a shell of his former self there’s still something satisfying about picking up 4,000 career hits for free on the wire in a league this deep.”

Luke Chatelain adds Vidal Nuno for $0

“Putnam sadly hasn’t ended up the closer and honestly he looks more like a 3rd chair at this point. So welcome to the squad Vidal Nuno. The K rate and BB rate are pretty solid but he’s more of a fly ball pitcher who moves from one hitter friendly part to another. This is really a hope/flyer on the fact that the NL can help his overall numbers, if only he would’ve landed in a place like Petco it would have made it all that much sweeter.”

Craig Glaser/Tom Trudeau add Bobby Parnell for $0

“When we saw Parnell dropped we decided that he was worth stashing if we could pick him up on the cheap. Parnell has been a consistently good reliever for the past 4 seasons and it wouldn’t be shocking to see him win back the closer spot next year for the Mets. His velocity has always been there and he keeps the walks low and balls in the yard. Even if the Mets decide to go with Jenrry Mejia, Parnell is good enough to be closing somewhere.”

Wilson Karaman adds Josh Fields for $0

“Since returning from the disabled list Fields has looked like a different reliever, striking out 11 while allowing no runs and just two hits over 5 1/3 innings. He’s currently getting a Pedro-esque 17 miles an hour of differential between a lethal mid-90’s cut fastball and change-up, and the change has now supplanted the curve as his primary secondary (?) pitch. With the deadline looming and the possibility of Qualls getting dealt to a contender I like Fields as a darkhorse to sneak into a vacant closer’s chair. If not he still presents some intriguing ratio potential over the next couple weeks.”

MINOR LEAGUE FA PICKUPS

Mike Buttil adds Michael De Leon for $0

“The youngest player in A-ball by a full year, the 17-year-old shortstop’s name surfaced in a recent chat with BP’s Ryan Parker. There aren’t many prospects left floating on the wire and who better to trust than Parker with an under-the-radar bat?”

J.P. Breen adds Roberto Osuna for $0

“Osuna is returning from Tommy John surgery, but he was seen as a potential #2 starter before the injury. It’s a risk to grab a TJ alumnus. However, it’s no more risk than De Paula represents, as he’s extremely unlikely to be a starter at the big-league level. That’s the type of risk to take at the back-end of a rebuilding roster.”

Nick Doran adds Matt Olson for $0

Olson is having a breakout season in the A’s minor league system. He is an Adam Dunn style of hitter who strikes out a lot but also walks a lot while cranking homers every other game. He already has 26 blasts with 82 walks and 93 whiffs in half a season in the High A Cal League. Last year he walked only 72 times and whiffed 148 times in the full season in Low A ball, so he has made a lot of progress this year in improving his BB:K rate. That has helped take his OPS from last year’s .761 all the way up to this year’s .914 thus far. He was a 2012 1st round pick and has started to really turn some heads this year. If I’m lucky he will be the next Joey Gallo and shoot to the top of the rankings. It’s not likely but I will take the flyer.

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