Communication is my job. It's most people's jobs, in some indirect way, and a vital part of everyday life.

But good golly, it's hard. And never in Fantasy Baseball do you get a more painful reminder than when you try to negotiate a trade.

We make it harder on ourselves than we have to. If we'd just pick up the phone and make a call instead of resorting to these slow, at-your-own-leisure e-mail exchanges, we could discuss every option at length in fractions of the time we normally spend on one or two.

But alas, only the most obsessive players go to such lengths (lengths, really?) to make a trade. In my years of playing, I've only made two or three over the phone (though I've never discouraged anyone from calling me with an offer).

So unless you play in a league with the most committed players, the kind that wouldn't mind a brief interruption to hammer out a deal -- and maybe even throw in a "hello" -- you have no choice but to wait for the other person to respond. And wait, and wait.

It's slow, and it's frustrating. But if you stick with it, you'll eventually make progress.

If you want specifics, skip ahead to my AL-only and NL-only Rotisserie leagues.

12-team mixed Rotisserie (3rd; 5x5 Score: 74.5)

12-team mixed Rotisserie
Player Pos Tm
Jorge Posada C NYY
John Baker C FLA
Kevin Youkilis 1B BOS
Dustin Pedroia 2B BOS
Aubrey Huff 3B BAL
Jose Reyes SS NYM
Dan Uggla MI FLA
Todd Helton CI COL
Shane Victorino OF PHI
Shin-Soo Choo OF CLE
Michael Cuddyer OF MIN
Jack Cust OF OAK
Nick Swisher OF NYY
Melky Cabrera DH NYY
Chad Billingsley P LAD
John Lackey P LAA
Edwin Jackson P DET
Ryan Dempster P CHC
Jair Jurrjens P ATL
Brian Fuentes P LAA
Chad Qualls P ARI
Scott Downs P TOR
Mike Gonzalez P ATL
Ryan Ludwick (DL) OF STL
Pat Burrell (DL) OF TB

No wheeling and dealing here, just totally straightforward roster moves.

I crept back up from seventh place to third, which tends to happen when the people in your starting lineup actually play. Then again, Jose B. Reyes didn't play, did he? Hopefully he can soon, because his refusal to go on the DL (prior to Tuesday) forces me to take zeroes in this league without a bench.

Come to think of it, Gary Sheffield didn't play either, at least not as much as I'd hoped. I cut him in favor of Melky Cabrera, who could produce solid all-around numbers now that he plays every day for the Yankees. I don't expect 20 home runs or 20 steals from him, but I could see 15 of each, particularly if he keeps his batting average over .300.

Of course, the contributions of Cabrera pale in comparison to those of pickup of the week -- and most-added player in Fantasy, I'm sure -- Michael Cuddyer.

Not too long ago, people were cutting him in AL-only leagues -- really, I saw it happen -- and now they're fighting over him in mixed leagues, all because he had one amazing week where he hit for the cycle and had four home runs.

Hey, don't scoff at it. You shouldn't expect any weeks like it, but you shouldn't expect more of his same struggles from before either. The monster week put him on pace for a .283-25-110-103-14 season, which compares closely to his .284-24-109-102-6 numbers from 2006. He's still in the prime of his career at age 30 and pretty much lost all of last year because of injury. A career season isn't out of the question.

Let's put it this way: I now prioritize Cuddyer, who replaced Jeremy Hermida, over Nick Swisher and Jack Cust in my hierarchy of outfielders. When Ryan Ludwick and Pat Burrell return from the DL, I expect to keep Cuddyer, even if he struggles this week.

10-team mixed Head-to-Head (5th; Record: 4-3)

I managed to pull out a victory here, led totally by my pitching staff that looked like a bunch of bottom feeders at the beginning of the season.

10-team mixed Head-to-Head
Player Pos Tm
Yadier Molina C STL
Lance Berkman 1B HOU
Chase Utley 2B PHI
Kevin Youkilis 3B BOS
Hanley Ramirez SS FLA
Shane Victorino OF PHI
B.J. Upton OF TB
Denard Span OF MIN
Todd Helton DH COL
Michael Cuddyer DH MIN
Josh Johnson SP FLA
Jon Lester SP BOS
Matt Garza SP TB
Wandy Rodriguez SP HOU
Kevin Slowey SP MIN
Jonathan Broxton RP LAD
Ryan Franklin RP STL
Bench
Nick Swisher 1B/OF NYY
Carlos Quentin OF CHW
Andre Ethier OF LAD
Adam Lind OF TOR
Jeremy Hermida OF FLA
James Shields SP TB
Chris Volstad SP FLA
Chien-Ming Wang SP NYY
Ryan Doumit (DL) C PIT

What happened to my hitting? It was once the best in the league, but so much has gone wrong at once with Carlos Quentin, Andre Ethier and Nick Swisher that I have no choice but to start looking for a deal. At least Kevin Youkilis came back this week. His replacements, Mark Teahen and Pablo Sandoval, combined for minus-1.

Geez, I might as well have just started Youkilis.

I have extra pitching in the form of Chris Volstad, who I haven't started yet even though he clearly deserves to start. I realize I might have to rely on him myself and trade one of my bigger-name pitchers, but I'll start by shopping Volstad and see where it goes.

For now, I'll have to learn to mix and match better with the hitters I already have. After previously deciding on Adam Lind and Nick Swisher as my two no-questions-asked designated hitters, I now wouldn't even consider the ultra-streaky Swisher. Lind has gone cold too, so I opted to bench him. I haven't given Denard Span and Todd Helton enough credit even though their peripherals make them especially valuable in this league. Their consistency should probably make them the favorites to start over Lind and Swisher not just this week, but every week.

I added Michael Cuddyer in this league as well, cutting Sandoval, and immediately got him active for the struggling Ethier, whose cracked toenail pretty much solidified his inevitable benching. I also decided to give Carlos Quentin one more week to prove he's over his nagging heel injury. He's struggling, after all.

So if you're keeping score at home, that's Span, Helton and Cuddyer in for Ethier, Lind and Swisher. Good? Good.

Oh, and with the demotion of Brett Cecil, I had another free roster spot that I decided to use on Jeremy Hermida. Look, I'm not married to him, and if someone else emerges on the waiver wire, I won't hesitate to drop him. But if I have a roster spot to burn, I don't mind crossing my fingers and hoping for a breakout. It's better than hanging on to someone I won't use, like Sandoval.

12-team AL-only Rotisserie (11th; 5x5 Score: 46.0)

12-team AL-only Rotisserie
Player Pos Tm
Gregg Zaun C BAL
Francisco Cervelli C NYY
Aubrey Huff 1B BAL
Brian Roberts 2B BAL
Alex Rodriguez 3B NYY
Jhonny Peralta SS CLE
Alexi Casilla MI MIN
Billy Butler CI KC
Shin-Soo Choo OF CLE
Andruw Jones OF TEX
Ty Wigginton OF BAL
Gabe Kapler OF TB
Lou Montanez OF BAL
Jeff Larish DH DET
A.J. Burnett P NYY
Jon Lester P BOS
Daisuke Matsuzaka P BOS
Edwin Jackson P DET
Kevin Slowey P MIN
Tim Wakefield P BOS
Jeff Niemann P TB
Fernando Rodney P DET
Michael Wuertz P OAK
Bench
Mike Carp 1B SEA
Aaron Cunningham OF OAK
Kila Ka'aihue DH KC
Koji Uehara P BAL
Rich Hill P BAL
David Purcey P TOR
Neftali Feliz P TEX
Jose Molina (DL) C NYY

I've spent much of my Memorial Day afternoon negotiating trades in this league -- totally in the spirit of the holiday, right? -- and I'm close, so very close, to making a couple.

First, let's go back to that trade last week where someone offered me Placido Polanco for Edwin Jackson. I wasn't exactly turning cartwheels over it because I think Jackson has more value than Polanco right now. I also want to make sure I get some homers or steals in whatever trade I make, and Polanco offers neither.

But Polanco would do my offense some good, no doubt about it. Any everyday player would. I just want to make sure I fill as many needs as possible since I'm way behind in the standings and have only so many bargaining chips. I noticed the guy who offered me the deal had Xavier Nady sitting in his DL slot. He could hit some homers when he returns in mid-June, and my opponent shouldn't have any real attachment to him since he's gotten nothing from him so far. So I offered Jackson and Koji Uehara for Polanco and Nady.

He didn't sound totally opposed to the idea but said he didn't really like Uehara. He offered the same trade, only with Maicer Izturis instead of Polanco. Yeah, right -- that's worse than the original deal. So I asked him if any pitcher other than Uehara would work, and he responded with Polanco and Nady for Jackson and ... Fernando Rodney.

Oh, that sly devil.

Rodney's not a pitcher; he's a closer. Yeah, yeah, I know closers are pitchers, but they provide something completely different for a Fantasy team. That's like me asking, "Would any of my other sluggers work?" and him responding, "Oh yes, Michael Bourn would do nicely." Guess I should have specified, huh?

Should I do it? Should I give up my only real source of saves to help my offense in several key areas? I mean, I basically did the same thing in my NL-only league when someone offered me Jayson Werth and Emilio Bonifacio for Ryan Franklin. It's not like Rodney has helped me that much in saves -- I currently rank eighth in the category and probably wouldn't drop to worse than 11th since one team has zero saves and nobody on the verge of getting any. I guess I hesitate because I feel like the raw components of the trade still lean in the other guy's favor, especially having recently witnessed how much people overpay for saves in these deeper formats. Still, needs are needs, and I don't see anyone else stepping up to try and fill mine.

I want to try one thing first. I offered someone else in the league A.J. Burnett for Pat Burrell and Jose A. Bautista. He countered with Burrell and Brad Bergesen (bleh) for Burnett and Jeff Larish. Interesting. I hate giving up a sleeper like Larish when I have so many needs on offense, but I'd rather have the proven guy in Burrell. I countered with Burnett and Larish for Burrell and Dan Wheeler, hoping Wheeler would somewhat deflect the loss of Rodney if he takes over for Troy Percival in Tampa Bay. Is he the best man for the job? No. But he has experience closing, and managers usually lean toward experience with the game on the line.

If the one guy doesn't take the Wheeler trade, I don't know what I'll do with the Rodney trade. My gut tells me I'll probably take it. I can't bide my time in the bottom half of the league forever.

I have only a few roster changes to report. I dropped Sean Gallagher to activate Daisuke Matsuzaka. Gallagher got demoted and was only so-so last year, so no surprise there. With Matsuzaka back, I could only start one of Uehara, Rich J. Hill and Jeff Niemann. I opted for Niemann, who seems to be coming around with 14 innings, a 2.57 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP over his last two starts. Plus, Uehara has a hamstring injury, and Hill's two so-so starts have come against poor-hitting teams. He faces Toronto this week.

12-team NL-only Rotisserie (9th; 5x5 Score: 55.5)

12-team NL-only Rotisserie
Player Pos Tm
Yorvit Torrealba C COL
Koyie Hill C CHC
Travis Ishikawa 1B SF
Emilio Bonifacio 2B FLA
Jerry Hairston 3B CIN
Hanley Ramirez SS FLA
Stephen Drew MI ARI
Chad Tracy CI ARI
Carlos Lee OF HOU
Jayson Werth OF PHI
Garret Anderson OF ATL
Micah Hoffpauir OF CHC
Craig Monroe OF PIT
Angel Pagan DH NYM
Yovani Gallardo P MIL
Ryan Dempster P CHC
Brett Myers P PHI
Jorge De La Rosa P COL
J.A. Happ P PHI
Braden Looper P MIL
Micah Owings P CIN
Mark DiFelice P MIL
Kyle McClellan P STL
Bench
Angel Salome C MIL
Blake DeWitt 2B/3B LAD
Greg Dobbs 3B PHI
Ryan Roberts 3B ARI
Nate Schierholtz OF SF
Nick Evans OF NYM
Ron Villone P WAS
Aramis Ramirez (DL) 3B CHC
Alfredo Amezaga (DL) SS/OF FLA
Elijah Dukes (DL) OF WAS
Jose Valverde (DL) P HOU

Yeah, I lost a few spots in the standings, but mostly because of the natural give and take of my pitching staff. My offense is slowly creeping up the standings, so I feel better about my team overall than I did at this time last week.

But I still aim for improvement, and last week, I offered an opponent -- one openly shopping middle infielders -- Braden Looper and Micah Owings for an underachieving Mike Fontenot. I didn't have any expectations, really. I just wanted to feel him out. He rejected the trade but said we should revisit it later, after he finishes negotiating with someone else.

Wow. Sounds like a possible go to me.

So naturally, when a week passed and he hadn't made a trade yet, I made the same offer -- Looper and Owings for Fontenot. And what did he do? Not only did he reject it, but he made some snooty retort about how Fontenot won't stay this bad forever and how he could find pitchers as good as Looper and Owings on the waiver wire.

My, that was a sudden change in tone.

I don't have a problem with anyone rejecting any of my trades -- not ever. In fact, that's almost the way it should be. If I like Fontenot better than Looper and Owings, then I have to expect my opponent to feel the same way. It's a wonder trades ever get done, if you think about it, and not a surprise that the vast majority of offers never go anywhere.

So turn it down, fine. But don't lead me to believe it might work only to make me feel like an idiot when I bring it up again. What does that accomplish?

And his reasons for turning it down were completely out of touch with the realities of this league. Looper and Owings don't belong on any mixed-league rosters -- I won't deny that -- but in a league as insanely deep as this one, they have value. Looper won 12 games each of the last two years, with an ERA and WHIP that wouldn't do any harm. He could win 15 this year. For the record, not a single major-league starting pitcher is available on waivers, so my opponent clearly couldn't get a pair as good as Looper and Owings -- or as bad as Brian Moehler and Tim Redding, for that matter.

In his defense, at least he said something. I suppose he could have done what most of the other teams in these leagues do and not say anything at all, leaving the trade untouched for weeks and weeks at a time.

Can you tell I'm starting to get frustrated?

All right. Now that I've made friends, let's turn our attention to some moves that actually happened. I pulled the plug Kip Wells -- no saves happening there -- and replaced him with Kyle McClellan. I preferred Edward Mujica, who has a higher strikeout rate and is probably next in line for saves in San Diego, but someone put in a bid for him the same night I did. Lucky duck. I also added Angel Pagan and immediately started him in place of injured Elijah Dukes. Geez, can this team stay healthy already? I don't expect much from Pagan, but he gets occasional starts and could steal a few bases.

I also added Ron Villone. I'm serious. I realize I'm probably the only person in the world who owns him, and my reason for it is totally speculative. The Nationals have looked everywhere for a closer. Villone is the only reliever in their bullpen who consistently gets outs. He doesn't seem to be a closer, but the Nationals eventually have to look to him, right?

It's a complete shot in the dark, but it's not like that sort of thing has never happened before.

20-team mixed Head-to-Head (3rd NL-only side; Record: 4-3)
(10 teams NL-only, 10 teams AL-only)

20-team mixed Head-to-Head
Player Pos Tm
Chris Snyder C ARI
Lance Berkman 1B HOU
Mike Fontenot 2B CHC
Pedro Feliz 3B PHI
David Eckstein SS SD
Carlos Lee OF HOU
Shane Victorino OF PHI
Jayson Werth OF PHI
Nick Johnson DH WAS
Ryan Dempster SP CHC
Brett Myers SP PHI
Randy Johnson SP SF
J.A. Happ SP PHI
Todd Wellemeyer SP STL
Chad Qualls RP ARI
Heath Bell RP SD
Bench
Brandon Phillips 2B CIN
Jose Reyes SS NYM
Randy Winn OF SF
Chris Young SP SD
Braden Loopez SP MIL
Chris Iannetta (DL) C COL
Elijah Dukes (DL) OF WAS
Franklin Morales (DL) SP COL
Anibal Sanchez (DL) SP FLA

What's this? I lost, but I didn't move down in the standings. How does that work?

I had an awesome week -- the kind that made me feel better about my team -- but I happened to play one of the best teams in the league. Well, maybe. Ironically, I actually have more points than he does, but he's 7-0. Ain't that the way it goes?

And wouldn't you know as soon as I have reason for optimism, everything starts falling apart. Brandon Phillips has a fracture in his hand and seems almost certain to go on the DL (whether he admits it or not). Jose B. Reyes has a strained calf and finally gave in to the DL on Tuesday. At least Chris Iannetta's hamstring injury actually did put him on the DL early enough, allowing me to pick up an extra player.

Those are three big blows, including two of my first four picks at two of the hardest positions to replace. I had Mike Fontenot -- who I recently added in place of Emilio Bonifacio -- ready to step in at second base, but I had to turn to the waiver wire for help at the other positions.

At catcher, I lucked out with Chris Snyder, whose numbers right now look remarkably close to Iannetta's. I'll miss the upside more than the actual production.

At shortstop, I didn't get so lucky, having to resort to David Eckstein. Eckstein has a special place in my heart. I tend to use him as a basis for comparison whenever I want to illustrate how bad a player is. And now he's on my Fantasy team.

Well, not anymore. I cut him right after the lineups locked, replacing him with Gerardo Parra.

I could have gone with Gary Sheffield, who I cut to get Eckstein, instead of Parra, but Parra is the hotter name right now as a prospect playing every day in the majors. I have my doubts about his ability to contribute right away -- he won't hit more than 12-15 homers even in his prime -- but if I'm wrong, I'm still the one who benefits. See how that works?

As for my starting lineup, it remains more or less the same. I did finally bench Chris R. Young, who has a 17.72 ERA in "hitter's parks" compared to a 1.76 ERA in "pitcher's parks" and happens to pitch at Coors Field this week. I replaced him with J.A. Happ, who I probably would have added even if he didn't move into the starting rotation.

Why, you ask? Oh, you must have missed last week's column.

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