Buy Low or is it a Lost Season ....

[86mets]

When is it time to consider trading for talented players having bad starts, and when does one consider that these talented guys may be having 'off-years' due to some combination of nagging injury, bad karma or _____ ?

My 2 biggest enigmas are Dice-K & Rollins.

Dice-K had storm clouds on the horizon with a pretty crap WHIP last year and few quality starts. But this guy throws 100 pitches in 5 innings when he lasts that long now. Is it just a flesh wound ?

I am more optimistic on Rollins. But he has enough inconsisteny too to merit concern.

As for buy low candidates I was eyeing Berkman, Hart and Ervin Santana.

Off year or rebound on the horizon ? Advice appreciated.

[cwk1963]

Personally, I'm not buying Dice-K, Rollins or Hart. I am buying Berkman and Santana if the price isn't too high.

[brooklyn49]

When is it time to consider trading for talented players having bad starts, and when does one consider that these talented guys may be having 'off-years' due to some combination of nagging injury, bad karma or _____ ?

This is the interesting part of your question. When is it time to say enough is enough? Assuming you can't just bench the guy, and there are no FA options, I don't know if there is an answer.

[86mets]

I drafted Rollins at end of first round as 'net-stolen-bases' is 1 category for us and this seemed a strong suit for Rollins. I figure if Rollins has a down year I just lose as I am all-in on the guy and if i trade him I lose potential upside as he likely reverts to the mean for his stats. Others like berkman or oswalt would fall into same category I'd think. So my thought is if I am wrong I am done so am willing to let it ride.

[roche]

When is it time to consider trading for talented players having bad starts, and when does one consider that these talented guys may be having 'off-years' due to some combination of nagging injury, bad karma or _____ ?

Trading for talented players having bad starts is a time-proven winning strategy. You are buying studs at a discount and generating extra profits. However, lets not forget that there is some risk involved in this type of transactions. Some of these guys are going to crap out for the entire year. You are not going to come out ahead 100% of the time. You are going to lose some of these trades but win a lot more. In the long run, this has been a winning strategy for me.
Because there is some risk involved, I limit the number of these trades depending on how I'm doing in the standings. If I'm way behind, then I take more chances and make more trades.