Trade Dispute: Moss, Portis, Ward, Boldin & more

Q: I recently proposed a trade that would give Santana Moss, Clinton Portis and Mario Mannigham for Hines Ward, Anquan Boldin and Jonathan Stewart.  The trade has caught alot of flack.  The other guy presently has D. Williams and Julius Jones as is only RBs, besides Stewart.  I have Slaton, Ray Rice and Jamal Lewis on top of Portis.  My main WR, C. Johnson is injured.  I figured it was pretty even considering that Boldin has underperformed and Hines Ward is in a historically run heavy offense.

Unfortunately, the guys in my league are going off of the guys “name” and possible production, as well as last years production.  I feel if anything, i’m giving up more than enough.  Your thoughts?

A: This trade should not be vetoed.   Here are the players involved in this trade as ranked at their respective positions by ESPN through 5 weeks:

Team 1:
Santana Moss (17)
Clinton Portis (19)
Mario Manningham (7)

Team 2:
Hines Ward (12)
Anquan Boldini (38)
Jonathan Stewart (48)

Based off current performance, Team 1 stands to improve substantially.  However, names do matter, and we don’t expect Manningham to finish the season as high as 7 or Boldin to finish as low as 38.   That said you can’t ignore what these players have done so far this season.   No trade is going to be 100% even (and how could you tell at the time of the trade anyway).   But this trade offers both teams the chance to improve and a subjective league vote, where every other team has a vested interest in the outcome is not a fair way to assess this trade.   The trade should stand.