Tricks
of the Trade
We’ve
reached the point of season where teams have to start looking for trades to
help make that playoff push and the key to a trade is value. This applies to fantasy baseball just
as much as MLB since at this point there probably isn’t much available in your
waiver wire. So what do you do
when you’re offered a trade and wonder what to do? Do you need to figure a trade for a player but no clue if
you’re about to over pay? Well
here are some of my simple tricks of the trade to help you win your fantasy
trades; results may vary.
1)
Pay attention to team needs- This is a big key
to getting any deal done. The
common mistake I see in trades is people offering trades when the players offer
don’t make sense for the receiving team because it doesn’t fill their
needs. Lets say a player offers
the following trade: Player A) Adam Jones for Player B) Ian Kinsler. Player A is looking to acquire a new
middle infielder and has an excess amount of OF. On paper this trade is fine but Player A neglected to look
at the rest of Player B’s team. As
it turns out Player B not only has a surplus of OF but is 1st in
every category that Jones would help in.
There by making this trade a bad trade in for him to do. Look at the team your thinking of
trading and see if there’s a way to appeal to their weak area making it likely
your trade will be accepted.
2)
Gauge the value- This is going to vary from
person to person and is the hardest thing to predict. As an example here is a trade offered to me in one of my
leagues. I was offered Justin
Verlander for Hunter Pence; now I had no need for Verlander and to me his value
was greatly under that of Pence.
So I looked at the numbers and made the counter offer of Hunter Pence
for Freddie Freeman. To me this
was a fair deal not only filling my need of a 1B it filled his need for an OF
and the numbers backed up that value wise this was fair. He countered offer with Freddie Freeman
and Aramis Ramirez for Hunter Pence and Adrian Beltre. I laughed for a few seconds till I
realized this was a real offer. To
me Pence was an equal value to Freeman but to the person I was trading with it
wasn’t. Though that second trade
was just an insult to me and I flat out ended talks right there and then which
leads us to number 3…
3)
Don’t insult your trade partner- This is an
important one and never forget it!
I have been offered bad trades and renegotiated to good ones, heck I
even start off with deals that easily favor me to make the bidding war aim
slightly to my favor. But when you
start to insult your trade partner your not just losing out on the chase to
make a deal your losing on future deals as well. That owner isn’t going to forget your conversations and your
offers very easily and will likely not negotiate with you in the future
remembering how you insulted him before.
Its ok to shoot for the best deal for you but in the end if you offer
Drew Stubbs and Khris Davis for Mike Trout and Justin Upton be prepared to get
few deals done in your league.
4)
Start strong and work back- This is a tricky
strategy but it can pay off big in the end. Lets say your looking to acquire Yasiel Puig, a tough sell
in the first place but a doable one.
You look at his team and see that he has a pitching problem. Obviously you could start out the gate
with an offer of James Shields or Steven Strausberg to start big but instead
why not offer with Jake Arrieta and Jose Quintana? The likely this trade is accepted is low but what it does is
set up a negotiation point that may actually favor you where the Puig owner may
now look for lower tier options rather just starting at the highest level. Now don’t go crazy with this one since
if you over do it you could run into an issue with number 3 of this list.
5)
Don’t trade for trade sake- This is one that
competitive players know but still do from time to time. There’s been so little action and it’s
gotten a little stale so a trade might liven the game up. This can lead you to make trades that
in no way favor your team and in fact could end up hurting you in the end. If your trading for a favorite player
that’s fine but don’t trade McCutchen for Jason Haywerd is all I’m saying.
6)
Look for the low hanging fruit- What does this
mean? Look for the teams on the fringe of the playoffs and try and make a trade
with them. Now obviously if your
on the line and need a trade your going to take offers that help your team in
any way possible even if it hurts your team overall. Well that same logic can work for you so take advantage of
teams that are in panic mode and don’t feel bad they’d do the same to you if
the roles get reversed.
7)
Buy low/sell high- This is a very popular tactic
but one that can be burn people.
This is tied into the value point I made earlier and it’s the idea that
you have player that’s over performing and you want to get more for him than he
normally would be worth. Example
would be Alfredo Simon of a classic sell high pitcher since we have no idea if
he can keep this up and nothing in his past that supports his current
streak. On the other hand buy low
candidates would be players that are playing below what was expected and more
importantly players that show all the signs that they’re able to come back and
be productive. Chris Davis is a
great example of a buy low candidate.
You have to be careful in this strategy since it can just backfire
terribly, the numbers can say one thing but that doesn’t mean they will regress
or make a come back. Use your
instincts and check the numbers before doing these strategies.
8)
Know when to walk away- People will try very
hard to get a trade going and they will try and try and try. You have to know when a trade is going
no-where and its time to end the talks.
The last thing you really want to do is get caught with an “ok fine I’ll
accept this trade just to get you to stop already!” Also don’t do this to someone else or you’ll end up getting
the person mad at you and refuse to trade with you.
Hopefully
these tips can help you when your looking to trade this deadline though all
these tricks can work no matter what time of the season it is. Now also remember these aren’t
guaranteed or anything and they don’t fit every situation. The best thing to remember when you’re
making a trade is to keep your head and to use your best logic. Lastly remember to have fun, after all
it is a game and you need to have fun…unless money is involved then no mercy!
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