This reply may be way over the top, I think I wrote it, more as a reminder to myself, then an official set in stone, rule book.
Fair warning, amateur, self-written article to follow.
The Trade Play Book (Version1) 01-28-2011
Well, first by way of introduction, some background. I’ve been playing Fantasy Football since 2003, but trades and trading didn’t really click for me until 2007.
What happened in 2007? I played in a league with a limited number of moves, and I ended up using all my roster moves by week 5 of the season, due to my hyper-active, competitive nature and constant line up tweeking. (Admittedly not great planning on my part.) How was I going to stay competitive for the remainder of the season? I had bye weeks to cover, players to upgrade, etc. I could no longer make free agent moves, but I still had 5 trades I could make. This is what forced me to sit down evaluate how to get trades done.
Honestly, do I always win my trades, no. Trading can be a lose-some, win-some, affair, sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and believe in a player (after appropriate research.) and try and buy them at the right price. So the point of the ideas below, aren’t to always win your trades, but rather provide ideas on how to get trades started or moving.
First some starting points, and some of these may be obvious, and may just be reminders, regardless, here they are.
1. Know each team in the league, not just your own. At what position are they strong, weak, have too many of a certain player? Know their bye weeks.
2. Try and a have a dialogue going with each team in the league. This makes discussing a trade so much easier when you have established rapport, rather than a cold call out of the blue.
3. Try and have trades be win-win, this helps keep things amicable, and ensures repeat business. Multiple transactions which you win some on, might be preferable to the one mega whale trade, as you may have league members resent you after it, and not want to trade with you in future.
At the end of the day, have fun, and remember sometimes it’s the trade you don’t make, which ends up being the best trade of all.
Trade ideas:
1. Noisy trade ( so many moving part it makes analysis more challenging, though typically the team getting the best player has won.) This works well if a lot of the players thrown in are fungible and easily replaceable.
2. Competitive vs non-competitive trade (older productive players should be shipped off from rebuilding teams.) And vice versa.
3.Consolidation trades, 2 for 1, 3 for 1, etc. The player getting the 1 is also receiving empty roster spots they can reload with other talent.
4. Bye week trade, more common in redraft, but it may slightly factor in other places as well.
5.Balance trade, if a team has too many of one position it will likely let them go for lesser than absolute vacuum value to bring their team back into competitive balance.
6. Hate trade, you may get a player at a discount, ie an Eagle from a Cowboy fan, Vick from an animal lover, etc.
7. Love trade, you may get someone to overpay for their favorite player or favorite team.
8. False confidence trade, try and obtain someone’s QB1, when their QB2 has put up big points perhaps leaving with false confidence they don’t really need QB1 as much, as a bump at another position.
9. Ambulance chaser trade, player has a injury of some sort depressing their value, potential opportunity.
10. Scoring system trade, LBs are gold in a 2 point per tackle start 7 defensive position league, treat them as such. While common perception may have them devalued.
11. Push-pull trade, if you’ve tried selling Tomlinson to a Greene owner, with no success, turn it around and try and acquire Greene.
12. Jail break trade, if you cannot secure your handcuff from a team, attempt to obtain the handcuff they need from another team in your league to jail break the player you want away from the team in question.
13. Play Off Performance Trade, Monday Night Performance, Sunday Night performance, a big performance while fresh in everyone’s mind and shown on prime time TV can boost the value of a player.
14. Magazine cover trade, buzz trade, anything in regards to national attention augmenting the value of your player, may help get a trade started.
15. IR Trade, risky but acquiring a player on IR, can pay dividends due to their typically lower cost to acquire.
16. Strength of schedule trade, if possible acquire a stud after a string of bad games against tougher defense, any good fantasy football player will know why the performance is depressed, still it’s enough to plant the seed of doubt in their mind.
17. 3 way trade, if common ground can be found on a 3 way exchange, this may open some possibilities.
18. Waiver wire trade, if you have a higher priority then someone who has a specific need for a player, you may wish to scoop the player up as a trade asset.
19. Contract trade, if you see a player with a really advantageous/disadvantageous contract try and use these to change the valuation of the player in question. (ie he’s a good player but at that price? I can offer player XYZ almost the same performance for ½ the cost.)
20. As a starting point, make a list of players you want to buy, players you want to sell, and see which teams have compatible needs with where you can afford to part with players.
21. Appeal to doubt, or to enthusiasm for a break out performance, or grab an opportunity another team may want before they can, but don’t insult the other person, either. They will recognize what you are doing, so don’t push it. Plant the seed sure, and say you are considering it, as a factor, but ultimately persuasion makes a trade happen, not force.
So those are just some starting point ideas on getting trades moving, but also remember.
A) Don’t annoy someone to death into a trade, treat others like you want to be treated.
B)Trade Rape: Just say no.
C)Put yourself in the shoes of the other team, would you even consider taking the trade?
D) Have a goal in mind, is it to get younger, get depth, get studs, get balance on your team? Don’t just trade to trade.
Of course those are just starting points... open to feedback.
