Introduction
Trading players is probably one of the most enjoyable but challenging aspects of being a Fantasy Baseball Owner. Knowing who you can afford to trade, when you need to make a trade, and what you need to get in return for your players are subtleties best learned through experience. I have compiled a short list of observations I've made throughout my 13 years of managing Fantasy Baseball Teams. With a little work, hopefully these tips will help you enjoy the trading process!
When should you begin to consider trade offers?
In leagues that allow trading players, I have always believed that trading is the key to winning a fantasy baseball league. I've rarely come out of a draft thinking that I have the ultimate team. I believe that the top owners begin looking to upgrade their team immediately after the draft. That doesn't mean you have to make a trade in the first week of the season to win, but you definitely need to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your team, and begin searching for teams that you can make trades with.
There have been many times that I have called or emailed another owner early in the season proposing a deal of some sort. A lot of owners think making trades early in the season is similar to panicking, but I see trading as being a proactive means to position your team for the season. If you have all power hitters and another team has all of the speed demons, it's obvious that both teams have weaknesses that could hurt their league standings if they don't act early on. There is no reason to wait one month to see what you already know will develop. It is extremely difficult to tank one or two categories and expect to win a league. When you choose to ignore certain categories early in the season, you eliminate your chance to make late season surges in those dead categories via trade deadline deals.
What you need?
When analyzing your teams weaknesses and strengths, don't ignore how any trade will also affect the rest of the teams in your league. If you have two similar offers on the table, the value of the trade is not just in the players involved, but what effect the players will have on all of the teams involved. The players you'd trade to one team may help him seal his victory, while trading the same players to another team may help you climb the standings faster than just the players you receive can accomplish.
Always look to improve in categories where one player can gain you several points in the standings. Throughout the season, there always seems to be a few categories that are so close, that on any given week you can have as many as 10 points or as few as 4 points in the category. Sometimes the addition of one extra player will push you to the top of that category.
What categories can you afford to trade?
There are two ways to find tradable categories. If you are near the top of a category's rankings, and you have nice margins over the teams chasing you in the category, then you have an obvious strength in the category that you can use in a deal.
You may also be able to turn your team's weak categories into trade surplus. When analyzing weaknesses, you must determine if you can improve in that category or if you are going to be stuck in your current position. If you can't easily make gains in a category and you have a comfortable lead over the players beneath you in that category, you can treat that category as a position of strength. You can trade your excess to teams already above you in the rankings of that category in order to make gains in other weak categories that can be improved with a little effort.
Who can you trade with?
You can trade with anyone! Don't be concerned about the team's current position in the league's standings. The only thing you should use standings for is to gauge how much you can get from one team versus another. If a team on top makes you an offer, you should at least consider it or make a counter offer. If you get more than you expected for your player, there is no reason to reject the trade. If you are not in first, your view of a trade should be if it helps me improve in more categories than he improves, make the deal. If you continually do that throughout the season, you'll eventually be the top team!
Usually, most trades will occur between teams that are close to one another in the standings. If you make fair trades, a deal can help both teams move up in the standings. Eventually you'd like your team to come out on top, but you can't control how the players involved in your trades perform. You can generate good karma for your team though by making trades that help both teams move up in the standings. Remember, a lot of player movement can happen near your league's trade deadline, so if you have made fair deals throughout the year, you'll normally get more things done near the trade deadline.
Picking between multiple offers!
This is probably the most fun you will have throughout the regular season. Picking between multiple trade offers simulates what real General Managers must do to improve their teams. There is no magic formula that guarantees that your trade will improve your team. Believe me, if you make enough trades, you will eventually have some that hurt your chances more than you ever thought possible. On the bright side, you'll also get lucky and get those sleeper deals that sometimes propel you to the league championship.
Summary
If you don't ever make a trade, you are definitely missing out on half of the excitement and fun of running a fantasy baseball team and you are likely to finish near the bottom of your league!