Fantasy Question: Trading Away Reyes?

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Question from: Joseph - Originally received on 07/30/07

Question - I'm in second place in an 11 team league where we keep only 3 players for next year (I have 83 points, 1st place has 86.5). Right now my keepers are Reyes, Utley and Morneau. I have the option of trading away Reyes to get Vlad and Tejada from a team who has just about decided he's out of the race. This could give me the players I need to win this year but I lose my top pick and possibly best keeper. Reyes would probably be replaced with Vlad who doesn't seem to be performing like a 1st round pick and hasn't for a couple years now.

Here are the numbers - I can gain 3 (maybe 2) points and take one from first place if my average improves maybe 5% and gain another 2 points and take one from first place in RBIs if they increase a little (I'm only 7 behind the RBI leader and 3 behind the guy in 1st). But, if I don't pick up more stolen bases I could lose 3 or 4 points there because everyone is pretty close (I might be able to trade for SBs from the same guy). Overall, it looks like I can get 4 or 5 points and take 2 unless I lose stolen bases in which case I can lose 4 more. Is Reyes worth giving up forever for Vlad? Utley will come off the DL in a few weeks which will help my RBIs and average especially since I just traded for him, but will he have enough time?

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