Hot Sauce Guy
Footballguy
Let’s talk trades, and approach.
What is your approach to trades? Do you dangle value & wait to see what comes to you?
Do you target a player & make offers until a dialogue is engaged where some haggling occurs?
Is it more important to you to “win” the trade or to get the player(s) you targeted?
Are you ok with a perceived over-pay to get the end result you want?
It’s an interesting subject, and I think one that’s worth discussing. From what I see on the boards, we’re collectively wanting to win trades. The literal question of “who wins this deal” comes up all the time. We hear size of league, scoring system, league style (redraft, keeper, dynasty) but the most significant context always seems to be missing: psychology.
If you need or want a player, or a position for your team, you’re automatically in a position of weakness. Even when dangling value (players, future picks) potential trade partners may take the bait, but you’re still the one trying to create a trade. You’re the one with the need.
And everyone values players, and picks differently. And when in the season effects that as well. Half my dynasty league in the glow of the draft completion seemed to over-value every one of their players. “I have a 1st round value for 2019 on that player” - dude, you paid $4 chill with the hyperbole.
For an example, I just finished up a start-up dynasty draft where I kinda f’d myself & had to get creative.
It was a slow auction, but it started while I was working - I had huge bids on 3 players & meant to back off of one of them once I got the other two. I got busy & blew 75% of my budget on 3 stud players. I was then only able to draft 14/28 players. With 28 players/team & no K or D/ST requirement, the FA pool is slim pickins.
So I started dealing draft picks. I now have very little left for 2020 (a 3rd & a 5th) but landed several players I liked. Boyd was my top target, as I am a believer in his long-term dynasty value, so I’ll use that as an example. The owner, an experienced dynasty dude, valued him as a 1st rounder, spent 8% of his budget on him, and did not want to trade him.
We went back and forth about a dozen times, and finally he put up a deal where I paid a 2020 1st & 2nd, and he gave Boyd. A 3rd and a 4th.
Did I overpay for Boyd?
You bet!
Am I ok with that?
You bet!
My team is significantly better for this season (Boyd slides in as my WR2 behind Hopkins, ahead of ARob, Sutton, TyWill & Fitz) and helps me for the future. Could I have found another Boyd in the 2020 draft? Who the hell knows, but now I don’t have to because I have him.
Immediately after the trade I felt a little down, knowing I overpaid. But then I realized that value is all relative.
The broader context is what mattered. We can’t be obsessed with whether or not we “won” the deal as a matter of perfect balance. Rather one should focus on the accomplishment - did you achieve your goal, and was it at a price you can live with regardless of what the draft calculator says?
In my case, that’s an “absolutely, yes”. For one, I weakened a strong team who was already a little thin at WR by taking away his WR2. In the process I strengthened my 2019 roster; and added a player I see as a top 10 dynasty WR.
With our collective obsession to “win” trades, sometimes in the FF community I think people would rather not make a deal and be “right” than make what some might consider a “less than fair value” deal, even if it helps our teams.
Don’t get me wrong - there are still “bad” trades.
But when it comes to draft picks, and even some players, aren’t those all judgement calls? I mean, just like NFL teams, you’ve still got to hit with those picks. Some of the picks I traded away will he spent on absolute busts. For every Boyd, there’s 10 highly regarded rookies who wash out of the NFL. Maybe more. For every perceived “imbalanced” trade where one side gets a little more than the other, does that really matter if it addresses a significant need?
where are you on this? Are you ok overpaying for an asset to obtain that asset?
Or are you the type who’d rather stand pat than make a deal you’re not the clear winner of?
The old expression about “both sides walking away feeling they got the better of the other” as the definition of a fair deal comes to mind.
But as I get older, I feel like it’s even ok if I walk away feeling like I overpaid, because I achieved my desired result. And if I don’t value draft picks like my trade partner does, why do I care what the trade value calculators say?
Curious how everyone else approaches trades. Go!
What is your approach to trades? Do you dangle value & wait to see what comes to you?
Do you target a player & make offers until a dialogue is engaged where some haggling occurs?
Is it more important to you to “win” the trade or to get the player(s) you targeted?
Are you ok with a perceived over-pay to get the end result you want?
It’s an interesting subject, and I think one that’s worth discussing. From what I see on the boards, we’re collectively wanting to win trades. The literal question of “who wins this deal” comes up all the time. We hear size of league, scoring system, league style (redraft, keeper, dynasty) but the most significant context always seems to be missing: psychology.
If you need or want a player, or a position for your team, you’re automatically in a position of weakness. Even when dangling value (players, future picks) potential trade partners may take the bait, but you’re still the one trying to create a trade. You’re the one with the need.
And everyone values players, and picks differently. And when in the season effects that as well. Half my dynasty league in the glow of the draft completion seemed to over-value every one of their players. “I have a 1st round value for 2019 on that player” - dude, you paid $4 chill with the hyperbole.
For an example, I just finished up a start-up dynasty draft where I kinda f’d myself & had to get creative.
It was a slow auction, but it started while I was working - I had huge bids on 3 players & meant to back off of one of them once I got the other two. I got busy & blew 75% of my budget on 3 stud players. I was then only able to draft 14/28 players. With 28 players/team & no K or D/ST requirement, the FA pool is slim pickins.
So I started dealing draft picks. I now have very little left for 2020 (a 3rd & a 5th) but landed several players I liked. Boyd was my top target, as I am a believer in his long-term dynasty value, so I’ll use that as an example. The owner, an experienced dynasty dude, valued him as a 1st rounder, spent 8% of his budget on him, and did not want to trade him.
We went back and forth about a dozen times, and finally he put up a deal where I paid a 2020 1st & 2nd, and he gave Boyd. A 3rd and a 4th.
Did I overpay for Boyd?
You bet!
Am I ok with that?
You bet!
My team is significantly better for this season (Boyd slides in as my WR2 behind Hopkins, ahead of ARob, Sutton, TyWill & Fitz) and helps me for the future. Could I have found another Boyd in the 2020 draft? Who the hell knows, but now I don’t have to because I have him.
Immediately after the trade I felt a little down, knowing I overpaid. But then I realized that value is all relative.
The broader context is what mattered. We can’t be obsessed with whether or not we “won” the deal as a matter of perfect balance. Rather one should focus on the accomplishment - did you achieve your goal, and was it at a price you can live with regardless of what the draft calculator says?
In my case, that’s an “absolutely, yes”. For one, I weakened a strong team who was already a little thin at WR by taking away his WR2. In the process I strengthened my 2019 roster; and added a player I see as a top 10 dynasty WR.
With our collective obsession to “win” trades, sometimes in the FF community I think people would rather not make a deal and be “right” than make what some might consider a “less than fair value” deal, even if it helps our teams.
Don’t get me wrong - there are still “bad” trades.
But when it comes to draft picks, and even some players, aren’t those all judgement calls? I mean, just like NFL teams, you’ve still got to hit with those picks. Some of the picks I traded away will he spent on absolute busts. For every Boyd, there’s 10 highly regarded rookies who wash out of the NFL. Maybe more. For every perceived “imbalanced” trade where one side gets a little more than the other, does that really matter if it addresses a significant need?
where are you on this? Are you ok overpaying for an asset to obtain that asset?
Or are you the type who’d rather stand pat than make a deal you’re not the clear winner of?
The old expression about “both sides walking away feeling they got the better of the other” as the definition of a fair deal comes to mind.
But as I get older, I feel like it’s even ok if I walk away feeling like I overpaid, because I achieved my desired result. And if I don’t value draft picks like my trade partner does, why do I care what the trade value calculators say?
Curious how everyone else approaches trades. Go!
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