2009 Trade Discussion

[Chris - D-Town Diamond Dusters]

I am posting the recent trade discussion on the CBS board here, and will continue it with my thoughts below.

[Chris - D-Town Diamond Dusters]

This question would probably be better suited for the
discussion board we used to use. Chris, I went to the
discussion board and it looks like it is still there. Any
way we can revive it? Anyway I wanted to ask this question
and I would love to see everyone put their thoughts into it.
What do you look for in a trade? There has been very little
trade activity here the past few years and I have my
thoughts on why but I will keep them to myself for now. But
when I look to make a trade I look for:

(1) What are my needs?
(2) Who has the player or players I need?
(3) Does the other team need or would want the players I am
offering?
(4) Where are the strengths in my roster that I can deal
from?

I would love for everyone to put their thoughts into it and
maybe we could discuss later why the trade activity is so
low in this league. Thanks.

[Chris - D-Town Diamond Dusters]

Don't worry about it Kenny, I got thick skin.

This is my sixth year playing fantasy baseball. I've only
been able to make 5 to 6 trades. It's tough to make it
happen. What I look for in a trade is exactly the same as
your's Kenny.

I believe that it would be easier to make trades if you
could vocalize what you want in a trade w/ the other
manager, over the phone for example. Trading by "email" is
not very personal. If you want to trade, using the trading
block would help out a bunch. It's listed under "My Team"
and "On the Block". Make sure that you list any players
that are untouchable.

I also believe that there are some managers that don't want
to trade at all. Some managers think that their players are
worth more than they really are. Sometimes a manager will
not research what the other team needs before offering a
trade, for example, asking for a teams only SS or 2B. Also
offering a person a 3B when the other manager has too many
3B already. There are too many variables involved to make
trades happen all the time between good and smart managers.


Please do not take any offense to anything that I have said
about bad trading. These comments aren't directed at anyone
in particular, just some observations of my experiences in
trading.

Feel free to send trades my way, my door's open. You can
reach me by email too. I will offer a my ph# if we really
need to hammer one out.

Oh... Kenny, I am sorry for beating you the last two weeks.

[Chris - D-Town Diamond Dusters]

I think both of you made some very good points.

I'd like to think of myself as a pretty active trader. In fact, in the AL and NL only roto leagues I am in I have made 6 trades in each league this season. (On a side note, my AL team the trades are rebuilding trades, the NL team is currently in 1st and trying to stay there). However, in this league I have found it very difficult to make trades happen. This season I don't think I've sent out more than one or two trade offers, for the most point because I know they largely go ignored.

I have a few different reasons for why I think this league is pretty dead trade-wise.

The first is a general unwillingness to deal. I'm not positive if its because some people end up not wanting to make a mistake or they become too infatuated with their players, but it seems there are some teams that just don't really want to trade regardless of the offer.

Another problem I see is that sometimes when a team is out of the race for the playoffs, they just turn their attention to other leagues or sports or what have you, instead of trying to tear down their team and rebuild for the next season. When I took over the Charleston team last year mid-season, I traded away all of the high priced and/or expiring contracts, and guess what? That team is 9-7 and in a 4-way tie for the Wild Card right now. I think this problem is also one that has contributed to the competitive inbalance in the past.

A lack of decent offers might also be a part of the problem. In the last few years, there have been a few completely unreasonable offers sent my way, and I'm positive to other owners as well. I know my initial thought when recieving those is to just delete them and move on, without thinking about a counteroffer. I know its good business to aim high and come to an agreement in the middle ground, but an offer of something like Willie Bloomquist and Robert Andino for Jose Reyes is pretty much an insult to ones intelligence. Like Kenny said, its good trading practice to offer something of value to the team you're attempting to trade with. I personally sometimes will offer a trade that slightly favors me, but there is always a rhime to the reason of my offer for both sides...if I see a team is SP heavy and light on 3B's, and I have 4 3B's and want to add pitching, thats going to be my selling point on the deal.

Like Doug talked about, communication is also a huge problem. Although 90% of my trades in my other leagues happen thru email, it doesn't exactly have that personal touch, or the instant response of I don't like player X or I want player Y. Even getting together once a month or so in a chat room could prove beneficial to getting some trade activity going. I've tried to get this concept going in the past with little to no following, maybe its time to try and revive that thought?

Thats about all I have off the top of my head, but if I think of anything else I'll post it here.

[Kenny - Carolina Mud Cats]

I am inclined to agree with pretty much everything Chris and Doug said. Currently I have 5 players on my roster that I aquired through trades. Chris spoke earlier about when he took over the Copenhagen team last season. When he announced to the league that that roster's players were available I targeted Mark Teixeira and Josh Beckett. I think I gave up 5 players, James Loney, Matt Garza, Fausto Carmona, Carlos Gonzalez and Nick Adenhart (RIP) from my minor league roster. I never asked Chris but afterward I wondered if there were any other offers on those guys and if I way overpaid? I figured Chris would be loaded with offers (serious offers that is) but I am not sure if he was or not. Usually when I get a trade offer now, it is a 2 for 1 offer, my stud for 2 players that usually don't start for the team making the offer. I am not against 2 for 1's as long as the player's I am getting are more useful to me that the player I would have to drop to make my roster legal. As for the "On The Block" feature, I have posted my entire roster on there many times because as far as I am concerned, no player is untouchable. But if you want an Evan Longoria, Mark Teixeria, Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez etc, you had better WOW the hell out of me. I have done like Chris said and built for next year. That's what I did last seaon, even though I was in the wildcard until the last week.

I'll get back later because my computer is about to reboot after some updates and I don't want to lose this. lol

[Kenny - Carolina Mud Cats]

Man this board really has collected a lot of dust. It has my old logo. lol. Anyway I had to quit the last post because I was about to get booted but I was about to mention the Charleston Chew. There are probably only a few people that remember that guy. He was a real pain in everyone's ass, especially mine. he used to make one trade offer after another to you the if you rejected it he would tell you how stupid you were. Like his only reason for the trade was so he could make your team better. I wasn't sorry to see him go but now I knida miss the guy. He did make things a little more lively here.

Let's see if we can get some more input on this subject besides just the same people. I would really like to know what everyone else thinks.