Weekend Trade Roundup

IMMERSION HEADQUARTERS

If you can believe it, even more trades went down this weekend. The 2012-2013 offseason has surpassed all previous offseasons combined in terms of activity.

Friday, April 19, 9:56 PM*

The North Point Chitons sent LB Clay Matthews to the Bestine Banthas in exchange for DE Cliff Avril.

Clay Matthews only scored 90 points in an injury-plagued 2012 campaign. And that’s with 13 sacks. He will cost the Banthas $9.11 for his final year of service. The verdict? Bum!

Cliff Avril only scored 98 points last season from the defensive end position. He has since been traded to the Seahawks, who might use him at OLB, which will only hurt his value more. He is also in the final year of his contract, and the Chitons will be on the hook for $13.20. The verdict? Bum!

Both of these players have big-play capability, and they can get after the passer. Perhaps a change of scenery will benefit both of them, and they can rebound after mediocre 2012 campaigns.

Saturday, April 20, 1:22 PM

The Banthas were at it again, this time giving up new Colts WR Darrius Heyward-Bey. They received LB Stephen Tulloch from the Pirates in return.

DHB is a mediocre talent who has led a mediocre life to date, but working with Andrew Luck might unlock whatever latent potential he might have. Some speculate that he will start opposite Reggie Wayne, but TY Hilton might have something to say about that. He might say, “Oh no you won’t!” He will only cost the Pirates $1.33, so there’s virtually no risk involved for Jason Enright.

Stephen Tulloch is a middle-of-the-road type linebacker who posted around 125 points last season. He’s not a terrible player to have on your team, but with two years left at salaries of $14.35 and $17.94, he is overpriced in a big way. The Banthas only have $10 in cap space for 2013 at press time, because they have a bunch of players who are overpriced. Brandon Lloyd is a man without a team, and he should be cut soon, since he is costing Bestine $34.16. They are paying $24.04 for Terrell Suggs, who just got classified as a linebacker. And who wouldn’t want to pay over $16 for Pierre Thomas? Of course, let’s not forget the priciest player of all time, Adrian Peterson, who is costing the Banthas over $72. At least he’s good though.

Monday, April 22, 10:58 PM

The Sweet Home Gridiron Gang jumped on the Colliders’ trade bait, offering pick 5.02 for CB Cortland Finnegan. Finnegan was the only corner that Batavia had rostered for 2013, and he was holding out for $5.65. Finnegan didn’t play much last season, because he was behind all-world corner Charles Tillman. Even so, Finnegan is a corner much in the Tillman mold – he’s physical and records a lot of tackles. After the regular season, he was 7th among corners in scoring, prompting the holdout (he finished the entire 17-week season 9th among corners in scoring.)

The fact that the Colliders let Finnegan go all but guarantees that they will be applying the franchise tag to Tillman once again. Sweet Home management immediately met Finnegan’s holdout demands after he passed a physical with team doctors.

The Gridiron Gang has been steadily acquiring players that can actually play. Beaver Nation is turning into quite the interesting division. The Gridiron Gang has put together real players recently, and they have the 2nd pick in the draft. The DownState CornChutes wisely franchised Drew Brees, and they have the 4th, 5th, and 6th picks in the draft.  It’s entirely possible that the Pirates could take a modest step back given their dire salary situation. The Oregon Dream Team, while holding the first overall pick in the draft, seems to be falling behind by virtue of doing nothing in the wake of intra-division activity.

* All times are EST for the purpose of this story.

© 2013, Josh Hammond. All rights reserved.