Trading 101

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A 101 Guide to Trading for Fantasy Baseball Owners

     I have decided out of the kindness of my own heart to take some time to write a guide about the dos and don’ts when it comes to trading in Fantasy Baseball (FB). Before we go on if you have thin skin or snarky comments hurt your precious ego please leave this page and continue to be mediocre. If you are one of those individuals who thinks you have nothing to learn from anyone please leave now. I don’t claim to know it all when it comes to trades but, when I think back over the many years I have played FB I have made around 500+ trades and been in maybe 5-6 times as many trade talks that didn’t work out. So I feel confident in the points and advice I’m providing. I am really writing this to those owners who maybe don’t know trading very well or fear trading in FB. I can tell over the past season and a small sample size into this season we have some owners who could use some of these tips. These tips can actually help in any Fantasy sport you play. So let’s get to it.

     1. Never, never, never tell the league or individual owners you’re not taking trades right now. You never know what type of offer could show up on your door step. Think of it this way. Your team is a business and you’re in the business of scoring FB points. Why would you close your shop and basically cut off the ability for that business to grow? The supplies that make your team/business better come from other owners and you’re saying I don’t need any more supplies. Owners who say or do this are actually are saying to the league “I have been overwhelmed in recent trade talks and I’m not comfortable/ confident enough to continue them”. You are only kidding yourself when you raise this flag. In fact you’re tell more about yourself to other owners than you realize. Once you raise this flag to the league you damage future trades coming your way and actually increase the aggressiveness of negotiations coming your way because blood is now in the water. Your blood. Would these owners ever admit that to the league this lack of confidence…no never. Smart owners are always looking for talks because they know talking creates opportunities and opportunities increase the chance of winning. Turning away trade talks of any kid is the worst thing an owner can do. Which brings us to our next point.

     2. No player is off limits! No not even you’re favorite all time I collect all his baseball cards and own a pillow with his picture on it you sleep with player. If you want to be good at trading then all players at all times are on the table. Does this mean you have to trade them…NO. This goes back to what I said at point 1 of never turn off the ability to maybe have the chance at getting better. Just like the famous WWF wrestler Ted “The Million Dollar Man” DiBiase always says “everyone has a price”. If you get nervous when high level players are asked for in trades you need to read this article twice. Always listen to any offer. Most importantly always, always counter an offer. Trades should end with both sides stating what works but middle ground could not respectively be reached. If you think an owner asking for your best player let’s say it’s Trout = trade talks are over you’re an idiot. You always counter with what it would take to get him. Now that owner might not like the price and that’s their problem, but don’t miss an opportunity to counter with what you will want to make it happen. This counter does multiple positive things for you. 1. It tells the owners you’re talking to “Yes I know the value of the guy you’re asking for and I also know your players and what it would take for me to move him” 2. That owner knows you are not scared of talking A level players and will most likely improve the future offers because he know where you stand. Which is extremely important. There is nothing worse than an owner who always says no to trades, never counters any trade and never provides feedback then that same owner complains the trades he receives are dog shit. No shit they’re dog shit! Owners have to shotgun spray a wide range of offers at you because you don’t know your players enough to counter and never tell owners where you stand. Most owners don’t realize this but you create/ shape most of the types of offers that come your way not the other way around.

     3. Names don’t mean shit. I run across this so many times when talking to owners and to be honest it took me years of playing FB to change my mindset on this. In one way it’s good to hear an owner talk this way because I immediately know what type of owner I’m dealing with and on the other hand it sucks because I know the type of owner I’m dealing with. Put on your math hat for a second, you know the multi-color one with the spinning blade on top. This is FB not baseball card collecting. Your job is to what? No it’s not win the popular vote for your players to get into the All-Star game. Your job is to score as many fantasy points as possible on the most consistence basis you can. If someone offers you 2 B players for 1 A player you need to seriously consider that offer. Here is the easy math to help you understand. Player A is amazing (you know the pillow player you own) and he scores 500 fantasy points a season. Someone offers you 2 player B’s that each score 400 fantasy points a year. Hmm yep that increases your output of fantasy points by 300 points. This means your team is more competitive now. But but but its Mike Trout… (Insert sad face). Say no to these types of trades and keep warm and fuzzy Tout while watching the other teams in your league get better than you. Now I know what you’re thinking. What about all the other variables of age, injury history, past performance that could complicate this simple 1 A for 2 B scenarios I presented. Yes you would be right and all that needs to be considered. I’m trying to make the point that fantasy output is far more important than player names. If you’re confused read point 2 about everyone has a price. Bottom line if someone offers you a trade and your immediate reaction is “What! He’s asking for Mike Trout, you’re still clueless. You need to get in the mindset of “He asked for Mike Trout, what would this trade do to my current or future output and what is the cost for me to move Trout. Then COUNTER for god sake.

     4. You may say “ATL I know all this but I still can’t seem to get trades done and I do engage in trade talks, however I never feel like I am in control/ getting what I need from trades”. Well it’s time to have some thick skin here. It’s because you don’t know your team and you sure as hell don’t know other teams in the league. Whether you want to admit that or not is not the point. You have to know the commodity you’re willing to trade before you get to the trade table. You also have to know who you’re trading with before you get to the table. This is the number 1 reasons owners fail when it comes to trades. It’s a lack of knowledge. You have to assess your team’s strengths and weakness. You need to know each teams strengths and weakness and how that can help you when you do decide to talk to them. You need to always know the financial ramifications of a trade on your team and their team. Mostly you need to read about players, have sites you can dive into to help understand players more. If you don’t have 5+ sites saved that you can call upon to help with research and trades you’re wrong. If you feel your lack of milb players knowledge is not that big of deal you’re wrong. If you have no idea the depth chart of the teams you have players for you’re wrong. If you avoid trades because the title wave of league chat coming scares you you’re wrong. Fuck them. If you avoid coming on the Fantrax site because you don’t want to talk trades (this article is for you)…why are you playing FB? If you intentionally don’t return trade offers or talks because you are scared to engage in those talks your wrong, but hopefully this article can help you.

     5. You need to give something to get something. Yes as simple as this concept is many owners have no idea how this actually works. So in this point we are going to talk about 2 concepts with regards to trades. One is the give and get mentality and the other is goal of achieving balance in a trade. Think of it this way. If you go to a Ferrari dealership and you say “hi I would like to trade this cash I have for that red Ferrari, but I only want to give you $50,000” the dealer will respond the Ford Pinto dealership is down the street. So why should it be different in FB trades? That being said if you are about to approach an owner for a trade and all you have thought of is what you want out of the deal you are doomed to fail. If you think how I can fuck this guy over, you’re doomed to fail. You should work towards I got better and you got better when creating, offering and working on trades with someone. Which brings me to a famous quote from owners I often hear when asked about a player they love. “I would need to be blown away to trade him”. Lol makes me laugh every time I hear it. What you just said to an owner who knows what they’re doing is “ I don’t know my players enough to counter and I have no idea what the true value of the player you asked for is…please don’t continue to expose the fact I’m clueless by continuing to ask about him”. Read point 2 an 3 again if you don’t know what I’m talking about here. Here is a shocker for you, that massive overpay is not coming. No one is going to come to you and basically say “Hello, can I get worse in this trade big time and you get a lot better please”? If any of this rings true it goes back to what I said before when I said you have a lack of knowledge problem.

     6. Hard Questions and final thoughts. Much like an alcoholic needs to admit he has a problem before he can fix the problem you need to admit you have problems before you can work on them. Don’t be scared to look into the mirror and ask yourself these questions. Do you have time to take time? It’s a dumb question and yet a simple one. Do you have time in your life schedule to get better at FB? Do you want to? Do you care? Is this league to you a “I check in 2-3 times a week, other than that I’m very busy” for you type league? Are you wasting your time by playing in a league that requires a lot of time and knowledge to be successful, yet you have neither? Are you here because you primary goal is just to have fun and not win? Is this your first true Dynasty FB league? Do you have under 3 years of FB experience under your belt but act like you have 20? I can’t answers these questions for you, but these are the type of questions you need to ask yourself before you can take a serious step towards getting better at FB trades. I hope this article helps you improve with trades and not avoid trades. I also hope it can open some eyes to a different way of looking at trades and the work it takes to get them done. Hope this helps. Take care.