I make the trade for the solid overpaid pitcher. If he can get us to the playoff's it's well worth it. Since he is overpaid, I'll take on the extra expenses for the rest of the year. Then I would take that big bat (and probably big contract) that I was going to trade for the superstar and unload him for a couple prospects. Since I made the playoff's this year, and hopefully went deep into the playoffs, I don't mind getting a little younger. Now, I will not only have my ace back the next year, but my pitching dept will be even better. You can replace a bat, but you can never have enough pitching.

I'm not sure if I made it clear, I would not trade my big bat until after the season is over for those prospects.

I would see what starting pitching contracts I had that were ending within the next year or 2 and pull the trigger on the solid pitcher. That way in the long term if there was a pitcher on my staff with one year left in his contract who matched this new pitcher in terms of skill, we could let him go to free agency to help foster this new "overpriced pitcher" for the next 3 years. Also this scenario would help fill in for the short term by having someone proven to take the spot, while not giving up a big bat in the process,thus making our team better overall for the remainder of the year. Then when the superstar pitcher comes back next year we have him, the big bat we would have given up, and a complete and proven pitching staff.

I think there are a few key things here that you have listed that will influence my decision. Being that they are in the playoff race, I am not going to give away a big bat in my line up which could weaken my line up. So making the trade for that superstar pitcher for the big bat is not going to happen for me. Given the fact that the team is in the play off race, the other pitchers in the rotation have to have been performing well to this point, so I have my confidence in the 4 guys in the rotation. Obviously, internally, there is not going to be any one who can match a 14-3 record with a 2.88 ERA. So what I would do is keep my faith in what has been working, obviously losing the Ace pitcher like that is going to put more weight on the other guys in the rotation to pick up any slack. And since its a playoff race, that big bat is staying in my line up, and I will not risk losing offense that might be needed later on in the season. Therefore, I will call up a starter from AAA who has had the best stats so far, and bring him in to see what he can do. Give him one or two starts to see how he handles it, if it goes well, keep him. If it is disastrous, I would possibly drop him back to AAA and then bring someone else up. Another thing I would possibly do, is drop a bench player who has not been performing well, and bring up an extra reliever to strengthen the bullpen in order to help with any extra work the bullpen now faces from losing the Ace. Maybe possibly even see if I could pull off a trade for a reliable reliever and only give up maybe a few prospects.

So basically, I am keeping the big bat, not making a trade for any starters, and bringing up a starter who can hold his own at the Major league level. Then I will also drop down an unproductive bench player for a promising reliever in the minors, or possibly trade away a bench player and a prospect or two to get the reliever, but not giving away any of the pieces of the puzzle which have been successful for me to that point.

No way do I trade a starting bat in the middle of a playoff race. I would make a deal for the average pitcher and try to get the other team to pay part of his contract. If that doesn't work I throw prospects around as trade bait. I take the philosophy if you can win now, do it. Sure a "can't miss" prospect could help in a couple years, but now is the time to win if you can.

Zhariken, it seems as though you are pretty upset about the whole question number 3 outcome, however the Bereavement List is set up for the whole purpose of allowing for players to go be with families during a family emergency. Restricted list is more of a way to punish a player for some action. Therefore there is rules and reality to these questions. Appreciate the fact that MMChris is giving us the opportunity to win this game.

Well, everyone BUT Zhariken gets the chance to win this game goallout, because his little tantrum just DQed him for this and ALL future OS contests that I oversee (read: just about 100% of them). There are much better ways to handle this than throw little fits, baseball is a game of multiple philosophies and I think I have stated there are multiple good answers but only a few specific answers I would be looking for. Anyways, a couple more hours and then we'll move onto the next situation!

I hope I get on the board lol.