Before yesterday’s moves, my team looked like this:

C: Buster Posey
1B: Adam Dunn
2B: Brandon Phillips
3B: Alex Rodriguez
SS: Hanley Ramirez
OF: Ichiro Suzuki
OF: Matt Holliday
OF: Jason Heyward
Util: Alfonso Soriano
Bench: Johnny Damon
Bench: Matt Wieters

SP: Adam Wainwright
SP: Ubaldo Jimenez
SP: Mat Latos
RP: Leo Nunez
RP: Kevin Gregg
P: Juan Gutierrez
P: Chad Qualls
P: R.A. Dickey
Bench: Ted Lilly
Bench: Barry Zito
Bench: Joe Blanton

A quick side note: I traded Stephen Drew, Francisco Liriano and Cole Hamels for Hanley Ramirez and Ted Lilly on May 16th and then Phil Hughes for Kevin Gregg on July 30th.

Yesterday was the beginning of the roster overhaul. Here’s how it broke down:

- Dropped Juan Gutierrez for Aaron Heilman after the former was placed on the disabled list.

- Dropped Chad Qualls for Hong-Chih Kuo

- Dropped Hong-Chih Kuo for J.A. Happ (Happ was available because he’s been hurt for so long)

- Dropped Joe Blanton for Carlos Zambrano (he’s returning to the starters role and I thought he might be worth the risk due to his high strikeout rate this year)

- Dropped Johnny Damon for Mike Lowell (another injured player who was still available, but should be getting some playing time thanks to the injury to Kevin Youkilis)

But then the real action started.  While I was making these moves, I was presented with the following trade proposal:

Derrek Lee and Tim Lincecum for Alex Rodriguez and Adam Dunn

While the guy in my league wouldn’t know this, I absolutely hate Derrek Lee in fantasy baseball.  I’ve had him once before and he just ruined my team, plus I always feel that his owners always think he is better than he is.  Look, I know he hit .335 with 46 HRs and 107 RBI in 2005 and I also know he’ll never do it again.  No thanks.

I countered with Alfonso Soriano for Tim Lincecum hoping that his glut of pitchers would allow him to do this (he also owns Roy Halladay, David Price, C.C. Sabathia and Matt Cain, to name a few).  My offer was firmly rebuffed, as expected.

His counter was an interesting one, offering me Carlos Pena and Tim Lincecum for Alex Rodriguez.  It was a pretty fair offer, but I had no interest in adding Pena’s .212 batting average despite his homerun numbers.  My other problem at this point was that if I traded Rodriguez (who hit his 600th career homerun as we were negotiating), I would be empty at third base, clearly not an ideal position.  It was at this time that I tried to see if Evan Longoria might be available.

I emailed the guy who had Longoria and asked him if he’d be interested in one of my pitchers, assuming he’d be most interested in Ubaldo Jimenez or Adam Wainwright.  While he’s been awesome this year, I was hoping that Jimenez would be the one he liked more, but alas, he wanted Wainwright.

While I thought it might come down to it, I wasn’t thrilled about trading Wainwright for Longoria.  The former was the #4 ranked player overall in our league and while I don’t really like to rely on rankings, it’s a tough thing to ignore when it’s a top-five player.  Luckily for me, my potential trading partner hinted that he might be interested in a combination of Mat Latos and a hitter for Longoria; now we’re getting closer.

I offered up Latos and either Heyward or Holliday, neither of which I really wanted to trade, but might be willing to give up for Longoria.  I naturally preferred to give up Heyward, he wanted Holliday, which I eventually balked at.  However, he decided to roll with the young guys and agreed to trade me Longoria for Latos and Heyward.

Separately, I was IMing with another guy in our league who was talking about how Jacoby Ellsbury was returning soon but that he was so frustrated with his injuries that he wanted him gone.  I offered him Barry Zito and the deal was accepted.  Just like that.  It couldn’t have been easier and I think it was a good move for both of us (which is my way of saying that it will help my team and I don’t care what happens to his team).

Back to the A-Rod deal.  Our negotiations kept going back and forth, with me looking for a closer in addition to Lincecum.  While I like Lincecum a lot, I didn’t think trading him straight up for Rodriguez was a good deal; luckily, my trading partner felt the same.  I told him I was looking for a closer and he offered me either Carlos Marmol, Huston Street or Bobby Jenks; I jumped at Marmol and proposed Marmol and Lincecum for Rodriguez.  At that point, we were close, but not quite there.

“How about adding Wieters?” he asked.  With Buster Posey playing most days and filling my catcher position, I was more than willing to give Wieters up.  And with that, we had agreed to exchange Alex Rodriguez and Matt Wieters for Tim Lincecum and Carlos Marmol.

With the other moves I made earlier in the day, my team now looks dramatically different than it did a few days ago:

C: Buster Posey
1B: Adam Dunn
2B: Brandon Phillips
3B: Evan Longoria (previously Alex Rodriguez)
SS: Hanley Ramirez
OF: Matt Holliday
OF: Ichiro Suzuki
OF: Jacoby Ellsbury (previously Jason Heyward)
UTIL: Alfonso Soriano
Bench: Mike Lowell (previously Johnny Damon)
Bench: Open (previously Matt Wieters)

SP: Adam Wainwright
SP: Ubaldo Jimenez
SP: Tim Lincecum (previously Mat Latos)
RP: Leo Nunez
RP: Kevin Gregg
P: Aaron Heilman (previously Juan Gutierrez)
P: Carlos Marmol (previously Chad Qualls)
P: R.A. Dickey
Bench: Ted Lilly
Bench: J.A Happ (previously Barry Zito)
Bench: Carlos Zambrano (previously Joe Blanton)

Will it win me a championship?  I sure hope so.  A pitching staff anchored by Wainwright, Jimenez and Lincecum seems liks it should be solid enough and with three legitimate closers,one more than most teams in the league, I should be able to jump in that category.  If this were a keeper league, obviously the moves would most likely not have happened, but since it’s only a one-year league, it’s much easier to roll the dice.

Things seem to already be moving, as the guy formerly in second place dropped three points last night and combined with my 1.5 point gain, I am not firmly in second place only eight points back of first.

Utley, acquired in a trade on May 11th for John Smoltz and Joe Borowski, was hitting .359 with 53 runs scored, 11 home runs, 52 rbi and 4 stolen bases for the team before going down with a broken wrist. According to Ken Mandel of Phillies.MLB.com, Utley took part in running and fielding drills last week, but did not throw. He is scheduled to meet with hand specialist Randall Culp, where he could be cleared to starting hitting again. If that is the case, he could be back in two weeks.

Pence, added on May 18th for Stephen Drew, was hitting .338 with 25 runs scored, 6 home runs, 17 rbi and 5 stolen bases before going down with a chipped bone in his right wrist. He was scheduled to begin hitting off of a tee yesterday, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Renteria, acquired in a trade last week along with Jake Peavy for Ichiro Suzuki, Jim Thome and Dontrelle Willis, never even played a game for Tiene Leche?. He suffered a sprain right ankle and was immediately put on the DL.

Soriano went down with an injury last night in a game against the New York Mets. He left the game after trying to go first to third on a single with a strained right quad and is scheduled to have an MRI today. He could be out anywhere between two weeks to a month. Soriano was acquired on June 3rd by trade, along with Bartolo Colon for Barry Bonds, Adrian Beltre, and Billy Wagner. The outfielder was hitting .296, with 41 runs, 12 home runs, 28 rbi and 10 stolen bases for Tiene Leche?.

Initially drafted somewhere between 2-4 (depending on the combination of Albert Pujols, Jose Reyes and Johan Santana), Rodriguez is trying to prove that he belongs as the top player in baseball. “I just couldn’t believe it when people drafted Pujols or Reyes over me. I mean c’mon, how many other great first basemen and shortstops are there out there? Clearly I am the best third baseman and overall player in the game.”

In addition to being the #1 fantasy player, Rodriguez was also the top vote-getter for the annual Major League Baseball All-Star game, to be played tomorrow night in San Francisco. Rumors are rampant throughout baseball that Rodriguez could be a Giant next year after he opts out of his current contract with the Yankees, which happens to be the biggest in baseball history. Whoever does sign the three-time MVP will have quite a marketing push ahead of them, as Rodriguez continues his ascent up the all-time home run list. He is currently in 22nd place with 494 home runs at the age of 31.

Chien-Ming Wang had one of his most dominant performances to date, pitching 8 2/3 innings, striking out 10 and only allowing a single walk. Mike Myers came in to close out the game and did so by striking out Carlos Delgado.

In addition to his league leading 27th home run of the season, Rodriguez also increased his RBI total to 73, 9 more than the second place hitter. Rodriguez is now just 9 home runs shy of the illustrious 500 mark for his career.

Jorge Posada added a home run, his 9th of the year. The Yankee catcher is now batting .345 on the year, which is third in the American League behind Magglio Ordonez (.371) and Ichiro Suzuki (.356).

The Yankees have an off day on Monday, but will head out west for six games against Colorado and San Francisco. Mike Mussina will face off against Josh Fogg on Tuesday, Andy Pettitte will pitch against Jeff Francis on Wednesday and Roger Clemens will close out the three game series against Rodrigo Lopez on Thursday.