in OOTP 13.

Sincere apologies if this is an inappropriate use of a fanpost, but I need a bit of advice.

So, I got OOTP, and set out to salvage the 2012 Red Sox by dealing like mad. And, with a lot of luck, it worked. I opened the season by sending Saltalamacchia, Aviles, and Darnell McDonald to the Mets for R.A Dickey (who didn't have a Cy Young season, but was an excellent #4) and Daniel Ray Hererra (who was great until he got hurt). Ryan Sweeney caught fire, making Cody Ross superfluous, so (in severe need of a closer after my bullpen imploded) I sent him and Mark Melancon to the Pirates for Joel Hanrahan (who posted a 244 ERA+ and made the all-star team) and two prospects. With Youkilis batting .204, I shipped him and Matt Albers to St. Louis for Matt Carpenter (who had a quite nice year) and a prospect, and took the same "go for a rookie with a huge OPS" approach to get Zack Cozart for Iglesias and Bobby Jenks. When my 5th starter went down, I sent Che-Hsuan Lin and Oscar Tejeda to Detroit for Jacob Turner, who turned out nicely. I spun off Kalish and Shoppach for Deck McGuire and Erasmo Ramirez respectively, and picked up Allen Webster from LA, all of whom are waiting at AAA. Most crucially, I sent Dice-K, Ryan Lavarnway, and Clayton Mortensen to Clevelnd for Carlos Santana, who's been an absolute monster.

The playoffs went well, and I thought I just needed to make a few minor upgrades. I sent Punto and Aceves to Pittsburgh for Tabata, who I'm starting in RF, and I picked up Jeremy Affeldt and Todd Coffey on cheap deals to shore up my pen. And then, just for grins, I floated the above trade to the Mariners--and they said they'd take it.

Am I crazy for even hesitating? I worked really hard to get cost control (not easy when I've still got Crawford, and Beckett, not to mention the millstone that is John Lackey), and I've got $25 million in budget room to play with. This would blow almost all of it up. My starting was more than good enough with the pitchers I had last year, and Buchholz was pretty good--but Hernandez was 0.82 better in DIP, with an even wider gap in the conventional measures. And his contract is up in 2014 if I decide to decline arbitration. I just feel like it couldn't be this easy unless I'm missing something.