Don’t be afraid to pull trigger on trades
Fantasy owners often are told to be patient with their teams, especially in the early going, because it takes time for the statistical anomalies of small sample sizes to normalize.
For the most part, that’s excellent advice. But occasionally, it doesn’t take long for a fantasy squad to show its true colors.
I have a couple of teams that fall into that category. If I’m going to accomplish anything with those teams this season, I’m going to have to do some trading.
LET’S MAKE A DEAL
Trading is one of the few areas in fantasy sports where owners don’t have to follow a uniform set of rules.
While everyone starts with the same draft budget (number of picks or auction dollars), the same roster construction and the same number of starters, trades can come in all shapes and sizes.
There are different types of deals to address different needs, but nearly all of them fall into one of three basic categories.
As it happened, I spent part of this past weekend trying to make all three types:
The dump trade: Usually, we don’t start discussing dump trades until much later in the season, but my AL head-to-head league team isn’t very far from being a lost cause already.
I just fell to 0-6 with my top three pitchers — David Price, Garrett Richards and Carlos Rodon — tossing a total of 4 2⁄3 innings so far.
Fortunately, it’s a keeper league, so with little to no hope of turning things around, I have the option of looking ahead to next year.
My most tradeable assets in that league are hitters Justin Upton, Carlos Gomez and Brian Dozier, who have fairly expensive salaries that likely will prevent them from being kept for next season. (We keep a total of seven.)
On the pitching side, closer David Robertson is my best trade chip. He should continue to close all year, but he isn’t a great keeper candidate because the Chicago White Sox could also trade him. While we allow players to continue accumulating stats if they’re dealt to the other league, they can’t be kept for the following season.
While it’s not a lot of fun to give up on a season so quickly, it’s often advantageous to be the first one in a keeper league to start selling — especially in a competitive environment where multiple teams could be doing the same thing.
I wasn’t able to work out anything for the upcoming week, but the groundwork has been laid, and I did get a couple of trade offers Monday morning that could end up leading to something.
The mutually beneficial
trade: Most fantasy trades fall into this category. It isn’t that difficult to see a weakness on your roster and find another team with a surplus in that area.
In the League of Alternative Baseball Reality’s 15-team mixed league, I have a decent team that began the week in fourth place. I drafted two solid closers in Mark Melancon and Raisel Iglesias and was fortunate to hit on Greg Holland with one of my last picks.
Predictably, I’m leading the league in saves, but I’ve struggled in wins and WHIP.
A quick check of the standings revealed a natural trade partner in RotoExperts’ Jake Ciely, who was just ahead of me in third overall. He had starting pitching depth but was light on saves.
Iglesias for Kyle Hendricks wasn’t going to work for him, so we expanded the offer to include a lesser starter from me and a lesser reliever from him. To balance things out, we both included an outfielder to get a deal done.
The end result: Iglesias, Justin Upton and Nate Karns for Hendricks, Scott Schebler and Carl Edwards Jr.
The trade should help both teams move up in the standings.
The purposeful overpay
ment trade: Here’s a strategic option that doesn’t get as much attention as the other two but can be just as effective.
If a fantasy team has a need that must be addressed, the cost might only be a secondary concern.
My AL LABR team just got J.D. Martinez back last weekend, but he’s not going to be able to dig me out of last place in homers, runs and RBI all by himself.
Sitting in the middle of the league standings, I could only dig myself a bigger hole on offense if I waited any longer to address that lack of power.
My offer of starting pitching (Eduardo Rodriguez, Ervin Santana) in exchange for a solid hitter did result in a couple of nibbles. After a few email exchanges, I struck a deal with the fourth-place team belonging to FanGraphs’ Eno Sarris.
Once again, a 1-for-1 trade wasn’t easy to make. But we were able to include secondary pieces to fill out each roster.
The end result: Rodriguez and outfielder Jake Marisnick for Josh Reddick (who homered on Sunday) and reliever Joakim Soria.
With the second players added, I might not have ended up overpaying to get Reddick. But it was a deal I needed to make sooner rather than later.
TRADE GUIDELINES
While these examples might seem fairly limited, there are some things all fantasy owners can apply when it comes time to deal.
When preparing to engage in trade talks, remember that the best way to reach an agreement is when both sides get something they want. 1. Always let the other owners in your league know when you’re looking to make a deal. If everyone is aware, no one can complain about being blindsided when a trade is made. This is especially important in keeper leagues when the balance of power can be significantly affected.
Dump trades — giving up players with considerable immediate value for players with mostly future value — are the greatest sources of controversy and animosity in fantasy leagues. Unless they’re the ones involved, league owners will often object to the trade because it’s “lopsided.”
As long as everyone has a fair chance to make an offer, there’s no room to complain when a deal is finally done.
2. If at first you don’t succeed, try again by making a
counteroffer. A potential trade partner doesn’t always see things the same way you do. Start with the basic thing you’re trying to accomplish, what you have to offer and work from there.
If one person doesn’t feel the two sides are balanced enough, don’t be afraid to add other players to make it more palatable to both sides. Neither of the LABR trades I made this week could have succeeded without expanding the scope of the deal.
The worst thing to say (or hear) when a trade proposal is made is “no.” If you don’t like an offer, keep the dialogue going by changing a player or two.
3. Trades don’t need to have
a winner and a loser. I get a lot of questions on social media from owners seeking trade advice. Most will list two sets of players and ask, “Which side wins?”
To me, that doesn’t seem to be the best way to approach things. If you’re looking to trade, the main goal should be to make your roster better. If it accomplishes that objective, it’s worth doing.
One of the best traders in our industry leagues is MLB.com’s Fred Zinkie, who once told me the best trades are ones that give both owners a slight sense of remorse after they’re completed.
There’s no free lunch. Even in fantasy baseball, you have to give up something to get something.