Transaction Regrets sort of

Over the last few years while playing fantasy baseball I've made numerous transactions through trades and picking up players as free agents. I was just thinking about some of the players that I once had that I wish I still did. It's not a situation that I don't have good players on my current team but there are certain players I once held that would make my team that much better now. I'll go through four I let go through free agency and four I sent away through trades.


The first was Rajai Davis when he was still with the Pirates. I had picked him up because of his minor league track record of four seasons with 40 steals or more. But the Pirates weren't playing him regularly so I dropped him in favor of another player. Then the Pirates traded him to the Giants and Davis started to show off what he did best. But another owner snagged him before I could pick him back up.


The next season I had picked up Adam Lind of the Blue Jays. Then I dropped him when he was sent back down to the minors. Upon his return he ended up on another roster and then next year was his break out year with 35 home runs. 


About that same time I did the same thing with Shin-Soo Choo of the Indians. One season I drop Choo when he was briefly sent down to the minors. The next season he shows he is a 20-20 player on some one else's roster.


The last is Justin Masterson who I mentioned in a previous blog. I had held him on my roster a few times over the years because I knew what he is capable of. Yet this season he sits on another roster shining at 5-0 with a 2.11 ERA.


One of the gems on my roster for a few years was Dan Uggla yet one year I traded him away for Edinson Volquez because I was in desperate need of pitching. Then karma laughed at me and sent Volquez to the DL for a year so I had neither. Why give up an elite power hitting second baseman capable of hitting 30 home runs? Seemed like a good idea at the time. 


That same year I made another trade for a better pitcher in CC Sabathia and among the players I gave up was Andre Ethier. It was a good trade but Ethier started to blossom shortly after that and exploded for 31 home runs the following season. This season Ethier is taking it to another level and had an impressive 30 game hitting streak that was snapped today.


The following season I traded away Ben Zobrist with others in exchange of Zack Greinke. Greinke was in the midst of his Cy Young season and it was a good deal at the time. Zobrist has gone from uber utility player to impressively solid second baseman with a power bat. I think I actually drooled with envy when he had ten RBI on one double header not long ago!!


The final player I traded was catcher Carlos Santana of the Indians last season in exchange for shortstop Everth Cabrera. I took a gamble to trade for a speedy shortstop the week before our draft. Cabrera had established himself as the starting shortstop for the Padres his rookie season after stealing 73 bases in the minors the year before. I thought Cabrera was going to be the cornerstone of a team burning up the base paths. Then Cabrera was derailed by hamstring problems and lost the ability to hit and is currently back in the minors trying to hone his craft. While Santana has struggled at the plate so far this year he has shown he does have good power and likely will start hitting for a better average based on his minor league career.


While it would be nice to still have these players on my roster I've still managed to start this season out in second place through five weeks. This was just your typical WHAT IF scenario. The odd thing is the number of Indians I listed above and their play has made them one of the best teams so far this season. Maybe the movie Major League can still come true.