Carlos Santana for Jon Lester?

[Mr. Nor'easters]

I have been offered John Lester and AJ Pierzynski (or Soto) for Carlos Santana. This is a competitive 14-team H2H league, daily subs, that stresses good pitching and run production. The team offering the trade is my arch-rival, and this qualifies as a blockbuster.

As a points league, our scoring stresses RBI and runs, so Santana is right up there with Napoli. All other catchers are two tiers below. But I feel good about my offense and need pitching. Pitching scores big, with quality innings, Ks and wins. For us, a save is about the same as an HR and a double.

Here is my offense (we use career position eligibility):
OF: Holliday, D. Young, BJ Upton, Kubel, Ross
1B: Pena, Ike
2B: Alexei Ramirez, Lowrie, Raburn
3B: Aramis, Encarnacion, Lowrie
SS: Tulo, Lowrie, Alexei
C: Santana, Hundley

My pitchers: Shields, CJ Wilson, Buerhle, Minor, Floyd, Niemann, Hughes, Bard, Blanton (have Wang and Dice-K stashed on the DL) ... closers are Santiago, Capps (Farnsworth on the DL) ... Bard?

I really like Santana and wonder if Lester is enough ... I would be left with AJ and Hundley at catcher, but my offense looks good to me. Is Lester a Tier One pitcher ... he used to be ... And: Is AJ better than Soto?

all thoughts are welcome ... thanks!

[Gregg]

Now that you are comfortable with the idea of trading Santana, find a better deal.

I do think AJ is better than Soto.

[Pauly]

I say go for it if it's not a keeper league, but stay away from Soto. If you can keep Santana, I'm not sure what I'd do.

[Mr. Nor'easters]

I can keep Santana (5 keepers) ... I agree that Lester is on the cusp of what I would want, but it's no stretch to see him winning 16 and piling up quality starts.

[Gregg]

I can keep Santana (5 keepers) ... I agree that Lester is on the cusp of what I would want, but it's no stretch to see him winning 16 and piling up quality starts.

Lester may do that. He may not. I think Santana should get you a better pitcher.

I also would not want to help my "arch rival" and certainly would not do it for a question mark. Lester may be a slow starter but his era is 6.00 and whip 1.50.

There must be someone near the bottom that would trade a better pitcher for him?

[Mr. Nor'easters]

The only other likely trading partner with a pitcher who is better has Greinke ... and would probably throw Salty in as the catcher to replace Santana

[Riff Raff]

I'm not sure you can lose Santana's bat.
Can you clarify the point system used by your league (both hitters and pitchers). This would help evaluate both players.

[Mr. Nor'easters]

I agree about losing the bat ... it's a black hole at C.
Our scoring basically gives 1.5 points for an RBI and 1 point for a run ... it adds up to 3.25 points for an HR, 4.75 points for a 2-run HR.
A solid pitching win (say 7 innings, 2 ERs, 6 Ks) adds up to about 15-17 points.
We plays 3 and 4 day games and can have 5 SPs in a game.