Trade Talk
Last week was a ridiculous trading week with $73 of next year’s money swapping hands and $10 of this year’s. The trades got kicked off with none other than the Gauntlet’s Jerry Dipoto, Evan Clay, spending $23 lavishly to acquire Mondessi from Sam. A trade I already wasn’t a fan of due to Mondessi’s poor production since mid-April got even worse when Mondessi promptly went to the IL. Evan now only has $101 of his trade allocation remaining and would currently line up to face Cameron in the playoffs. Only time will tell if all this Dipoto-ing was worth it.
Sean made his first purchase of the year this week buying Benintendi from Sam for $15 of next year’s money. To me, $15 is a slight overpay for Benintendi, but a person in Sean’s position who just needs a few consistent players to fill out his lineup, it’s a fine trade. Sam did pretty well this week, racking up $38 and has now made a whopping $79 in next year’s money. While a possible favorite for the $25 penalty at the end of the year, Sam still has a few assets to trade and will come out of this baseball season ahead.
In only the 5th trade this year that involved no money, Ronak traded away Hunter Renefroe for Tommy LaStella. Both have had career years this year, and Ronak finally gets a 2nd basemen.
The best baseball player of all time got moved once again last week. Mike Trout boomeranged himself right back to Ronak’s team for $35 next year, $10 this year. This trade marks a big shift in likely playoff contenders with Ronak and Cameron possibly swapping playoff spots by season’s end. This trade essentially works out to Chris Paddock and $28 next year, $3 this year for Josh Bell, George Springer, and Didi Gregorious. Ronak definitely came out ahead with this series of trades, especially after one of his largest competitors just paid $23 for Mondessi alone. Cameron could still steal a playoff spot, but this season is a win for him after already racking up $100 in next year’s money.
Matchup Recap
Ronak’s Dumb Team Name squeaks by Brennan Huff 6-5-1
In what was a close matchup all week, Ronak just barely beat me 6-5-1. Ronak’s pitching put up a ridiculous 8 QS and 7 Wins with solid ratios, but his offense left much to be desired. Neither owner can be too happy with these results as Ronak likely wanted Trout to inject his offense with firepower, and I would have liked a win to make some playoff noise. The season series between us finishes at 12-11-1 favoring Ronak. After handing Ronak all my money last year, only finishing a half game below Ronak is a small victory for me.
2019-20 Gauntlet Champion crushes Mondeseez Nuts 8-4
In what should be no surprise, Adam cruised to victory against Sam 8-4. Adam had a surprisingly poor pitching performance down the stretch which cost him the ratios. Adam owned Sam 18-6 in the series. With this win, Adam solidified his baseball lead and is 6.5 games up on Cameron, and 16 up on 4th place Sean.
Team Chippy demolishes Vlad the Impaler 11-0-1
In the upset of the year, Taylor’s bats finally woke up and helped lead him to a dominating victory. After crushing Sam and calling him out for saying his team is a “wasteman in disguise” Sean turned into an actual wasteman this week.
With this one matchup, Taylor has catapulted himself into playoff contention, while Sean has both Taylor and Ronak on his heels as only 5 games separate them. Taylor takes the season series 14-9-1 with this win.
Threat Level Midnight splits with Mr. Conway Twitty 6-6
After trading away Trout and having approximately 100 pitchers get injured, Cameron managed to tie with Emmett this week. With Sean faltering, and Ronak only squeaking out a win, Cameron managed to solidly hold onto is 2 seed this week. For Emmett, this baseball season might be a question of what could have been. Even with this matchup, Emmett is only 11 games back of a playoff spot, ahead of other playoff hopefuls myself and Jacob, even after prematurely trading Verlander. Cameron takes the season series from 13-10-1.
Ronalds Lobos scoops Xan Pham 8-4
After being only half a game up going into Friday night, the Lobos offense ignited and pulled away, and the pitching made a surprising comeback in QS, getting 4 over the weekend. This win allowed Evan to leapfrog Sean and pull away from Ronak, as he know sits with the 3rd seed. For Jacob, this loss puts him in a tricky position; he has $17 this year and $33 next year invested in baseball. He’ll have to ask himself if he should continue to push or try to recoup some value. Evan takes the season series 13-10-1.
Team Clark ties with The Bounceback Braves 6-6
In what was no surprise after looking at the matchup Friday, Hunter and Jake tied 6-6. Hunter swept hitting while Jake swept pitching. Both teams remain in the cellar after this week with Hunter staying half a game up on Jake. With Sam dropping his matchup, both Hunter and Jake gained ground on the dreaded last place. The season series between Jake and Hunter split 12-12. Congrats I guess?
Looking Forward
The biggest matchup of the week will be Ronak against Evan. A big win for either team will cause a big playoff swing. Other storylines to watch out for include: Can Cameron hold onto his playoff spot with an “easy” matchup against Jake? Can my interesting hitting strategy pay off against Adam? Will Taylor continue his hot streak against Sam? Can Sean bounceback against a persistent Emmett? Will Jacob get it rolling against Hunter? Come back next week to get all these answers and more.
The Fantasy Gauntlet 