never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut

Thursday, February 08, 2007

leveraging draft picks

Consider the following transaction:

I trade my first round pick to Andy for something other than his first round pick. Thus, I no longer have a first round pick. Can I nonetheless keep David Wright (my first rounder)?

I think the answer might be yes, and that Wright now costs me only a second round pick. That is my answer because if I had one first round pick but two first round keepers, I can keep both but the second only costs me a second round pick. If I have one first round keeper and no first round pick, the situation is analogous to the second keeper above.

On the other hand, this seems fishy. If I want to keep Wright, I have (at least) the following options:

(1) keep Wright w/o trading first round pick; lose first round pick for Wright
(2) trade first round pick for something valuable; keep wright; lose second right pick for wright

Why wouldn't I chose (2)? Should I be allowed to chose (2)?

If I am allowed to chose (2), my first round pick just became available. I'm looking for starting pitching and speed/runs.

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